Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

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'Did you know?' Derek said looking Hotch and Rossi. They both looked at him Hotch's eyes told him everything. 'Why didn't she say anything?'

'Because she never expected it to come out like this.'

Derek was about to say something but he remembered back to when he was arrested and it was him on that side of the glass, he looked at Penelope as she stared at a photo, her eyes looking everywhere but at the glass, she knew that he, Hotch and Rossi were behind the glass. They were the interrogators of the team so she knew. Now they knew what had happened, understandably Hotch knew but she didn't want anyone else to know, it was supposed to stay the past. She wanted to release it when she was ready.

'I'm going to go in there.' Hotch said as the detective came in.

'You can't.'

'And why not?'

'You're personally involved.'

'To hell with that...' He saw the detectives face. 'Fine get me the case files, her assault and the cold case and then you let me in there.' The detective knew not to argue and got the secondary copies of everything. Hotch looked through the glass to see Penelope wipe a tear away. 'Will we get her out of this.' he said. Moments later the detective came in and passed over the files and left the three men as they opened the files. 'What one first?'

'The assault... we need to know what motive she truly had.' Rossi reasoned.

They all took some photo's and looked intently, there before them in photographic imagery was Penelope, completely unrecognisable. Her hair had been hacked off, her face completely swollen, her jaw screaming out broken, her shoulder suffering a gunshot wound, lacerations from a dragged knife all over, her legs and arms hacked about.

'It is concern for pay back.'

'Yeah but I can't see it somehow... something doesn't add up. According to the reports, this happened 2 months after she was released from the hospital, she wouldn't have had the physical ability to do so much damage.' Hotch said looking at the photos of a dead Chase McClusky. 'There is too much physical assertions to his entire body for her to have done.'

'Would she have got help?'

'I doubt it... Penelope would have been preoccupied with these injuries to worry about 'eradicating' someone don't you think?'

'Exactly... so someone snubbed him out for other reasons.'

'One problem... how do we know who?' Just then they heard the door open and close to the interrogation room, they moved their attention to the window again as the detective paced.

'Did you get help?'

'No.'

'Well you couldn't have done it alone... so who helped?'

'I didn't do this.'

'I'm having a hide time believing that.'

'Why's that then?' Penelope questioned him, having some idea where this was going.

'Well reading your medical file over, it seems Mr McClusky came to see you in the hospital.'

'Yes... did you read on from there?'

'I did...'

'Then you would have seen what he did.'

'I did... I read how he tried to 'finish' you off.' He said almost mocking you.

'So how does that help you think that I could've done this? He tried to kill me twice; do you seriously think I was that stupid to go near him after that?'

'Well if you had an accomplice.'

'I could give you a list of people that would have wanted Chase McClusky taken off this earth... just because he did this does not mean I was the only one.' Penelope looked at the photo of her. 'How about the girlfriend he did this to before me?'

'Ah now we are having problems finding her.'

'But she has motive as well.'

'Well she wasn't as bad as you... that was a mere beating.'

'But still... it was beating, meagre or not, he still beat her. She still ended up in hospital.'

'How do you know this?'

'She was a friend of mine.'

'Why didn't she warn you off him?'

'Because she disappeared... it wasn't difficult to back then.'

'Hmm... did you ever contemplate knocking him off?'

'It was mutual feeling...'

'Was that your first thought when you woke from the coma?'

'No.'

'What was?'

'That I was safe... that I was away from him, from his actions.' Penelope said as she fiddled with the pictures. 'Don't you think I was too preoccupied with dealing with the repercussions of this to start plotting a death plan for a twat?'She said facing the photo to him.

'Insulting a dead man.'

'Oh seriously... are you for real?' She said in disblief as the man sat there and defended one member of the multiple scum in the world.

'Oh very.'

'He was picked up more than enough times to get warranted every name under the sun... his name was kind of like a house hold saying... every police officer knew he had it coming one day... he couldn't simply live in the shadows forever.'

'What's that suppose to mean?'

'There is always someone bigger and better than ourselves... he believed he was the big shot, he played that.'

The detective left without another word. He walked into the viewing room. 'So you think she's still innocent?'

'There's not enough evidence to convict her... she didn't have the ability to arrange something like this, motive or not.'

'You can go into her, one of you, I'm going to get Chase McClusky's file.'

Hotch left the room and enter the interrogation room, Penelope sat in silence, her head running off the various results of this arrest.

'Penelope... look at me.'

'Do you think I did it?'

'No... I think you were set up.'

'Well why can you believe I didn't do this...' She held the photo up. 'And he can't?'

'Because he's after a conviction we aren't.' Hotch took a seat opposite. 'Are you okay?'

She shrugged her shoulders. 'Who knows.... who's in the room with you?'

'Rossi and Morgan.' She hung her head, obviously ashamed and embarrassed. 'Penelope, they want to help you as much as me, they know the things with interrogations...'

'I never wanted this to come out like this.' She said as she put her head in her hands. 'Hotch I didn't do this.' She said as she lifted her head up to look at him. So much emotion playing on her voice, her pupil's didn't dilate when she said it, showing innocence. Her body language portraying her innocence. 'I know you're profiling me.' She gave him an all knowing look. 'And for once I'm grateful for it.'

'We will get you out of here.'

'Hotch I got a letter about two days ago, it's in my kitchen, I have a feeling it has something to do with this.'