Chapter Nine
There was a palpable tension in the air as David Rossi stepped into the observation room. They had been called in early this morning- a young girl went missing from her home in broad daylight while she was home alone and local police had reason to believe that it was connected to a similar case that happened one day earlier.
The team immediately flew to Philadelphia to aid the local authorities in the search for the girls. A few hours later, the FBI agents arrived with a laser focus and split up to interview family members, neighbors, and get up to speed on the investigation. No one had to tell them what was at stake: the first 48 hours in missing children cases were the most crucial and they were running out of time.
Morgan and Prentiss were taking their turn with the first missing girl's parents. Lily Sampson, an only child, disappeared while playing in her front yard after school, ten minutes before her parents got home from work. Joanna and Greg were absolutely destroyed, as any parents would be- Joanna had burst into tears several times despite Emily's soft touch as they asked the same typical questions they would after every kidnapping. Were there any strange people hanging around the house, or on the street, in the days leading up to the kidnapping? Did they know of anyone who would want to kidnap their daughter? Had they received any ransom demands from the kidnapper?
The answer was almost always no; no one ever thought this could happen to them. Perhaps that's why it always seemed to shatter the very world they live in, when they found themselves sitting in a police station while their precious little girl was somewhere out there, praying she was still alive.
JJ burst through the door, still holding the phone to ear as she addressed the older agent.
"We have a list of registered sex offenders and people with priors from the Sampson's neighborhood and surrounding area. Phillie PD is tracking them all down as we speak." she whispered, looking up and at the one-way window into the interrogation room. Her heart was breaking for Lily's parents; she couldn't imagine what she would do if someone ever took her son. The cases involving children were always hard for her, but now that she was a mother, she had an entire new perspective on them.
"I'll call Hotch." Rossi began, but JJ stopped him.
"I already talked to him- he's bringing Agent Kent back here so we can help interrogate all the possibles. Penelope's looking into their financials and phone records for anything suspicious, but we really need to narrow down the list," she explained.
Hotch had taken Kristina with him to talk to the Davids', whose daughter Jenna was the young girl who went missing earlier that morning. Both missing girls were nine years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. This might seem like an arbitrary fact to the untrained eye, but to the profilers, this meant that the unsub had a type, and was therefore probably already in the system for prior offenses.
"How's Reid doing with the geological profile?" he quizzed, realizing how long he had been sitting here watching for any signs of a slip-up between the young girl's parents as he glanced at his watch.
"It's hard to pinpoint any specific area with only two points," she sighed, hating that a third victim would likely give them a stronger area of focus.
Rossi knew that nothing was going to make them feel better until they caught the unsub and brought him to justice. Diving headfirst into the job helped them avoid the reality that these families were facing.
"Well, let's get to work, then."
"What have you got for me, Baby Girl?" Morgan pressed his cell phone to his ear, hoping for good news from the Technical Analyst back at Quantico.
"I would say I've got nothing but love, Sugar, but I have a lot more than that for you today," Garcia grinned, "I checked cell phone GPS locations on all the pervs on the days leading up to the kidnappings and two of the creeps had their phones ping off a tower that is smack dab between both homes. Mark Reese and Aaron Garner."
He smiled.
"You always come through for me, Penelope."
"Go catch the bad guys, my Chocolate Thunder," she replied before she hung up.
"Hotch," Derek turned to the team's leader as he entered the room, "that was Garcia- we've got two guys- Reese and Garner were both near enough both houses to have their cell phone GPS ping the same tower."
Hotch processed the information.
"We profiled that the unsub would have issues communicating with women. Have Prentiss interrogate Aaron Garner, and JJ can talk to Reese. I want him out of his comfort zone."
Morgan paused.
"JJ is with the press outside."
Hotch thought fast- it was a risk, handing the reins someone so new to the team that he wasn't entirely sure he trusted yet, much less knew her personal style of interrogation. Still, it didn't seem that he had much choice.
"Get Agent Kent in here," he muttered to Morgan.
Kristina stood on the far side of the interrogation room, leaning against the wall, arms folded as she spoke to the eerily smug man sitting at the table.
"Mark, I don't know what you think you're getting away with here..." she addressed him casually, but with a firm undertone in her voice.
He simply cocked his head, not fazed enough to turn and face her.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Well, let me explain it to you," she snapped, pacing the length of the room and turning to him with fire in her eyes.
"We know what you did. We know you kidnapped Lily and Jenna. We know they're probably still alive. And you're going to tell us where to find them."
He leaned forward in his chair, still calm.
"If I knew where these people were, why would I tell you?"
"They're children," she shot back, approaching the table to get in his face, trying to bring him out of his comfort zone, "they're nine years old. Blonde hair, blue eyes...just your type, isn't it, Mark?"
He shook his head.
"I can't help you here."
"Nine years old," she reiterated, "and wherever you're keeping them, we will find them. And when we do, you're going to jail for a very, very long time," she promised, not caring to hide her disdain for the man in front of her.
He didn't even flinch.
"I still can't help you...I do hope you find them, before something terrible happens."
Kristina blinked.
"If anything happens to those girls, I swear to God..." she spoke so only he could hear, her hazel eyes narrowing on the suspect... "You'll wish you were dead."
Jennifer had returned from handling the press, turned to Hotch, and lowered her voice.
"Hotch, I'm going in."
He nodded in approval, then exited to the rest of the department to see the progress the uniforms were making at the suspects' homes. The young blonde took a deep breath and slipped through the door. As she passed the suspect, he reached up and stroked her arm gently.
"Well, aren't you adorable?"
Something inside Kristina snapped. She grabbed his wrist and forcibly pinned it to the table, then twisted to pinch the nerve in his shoulder. For the first time since he sat down, Mark Reese's concentration broke.
"Trust me when I tell you that I would love nothing more than to rip your arm off," the brunette seethed through gritted teeth, "touch her again, give me a reason."
Jennifer observed this interaction, and frowned.
"Kristina, I've got this."
"You piece of scum," Kristina continued to address him, still gripping his left arm.
"Kristina!" the other woman frowned. "Can I talk to you outside for a sec?"
It was only then that the angry brunette loosened her hold on his arm, stomping out of the interrogation room to the eerily quiet observation room.
"Okay, what the hell was that?" JJ folded her arms, a frown still furrowing her brow.
"That guy is a creep," Kristina fumed.
"That was out of line," the blonde reprimanded her, "We're not even sure he's our guy yet. Take a walk. You need to clear your head. I'll finish talking to him alone."
She pointed to the door for emphasis, and Kristina stormed out of the observation room.
Derek Morgan caught the brunette agent as she breezed past the rest of the department, visibly angry as she burst through the front doors. He followed after her, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Agent Kent!" he called after her, frustrated as she didn't even flinch.
"Kristina!" he tried again, and this time, she halted in the middle of the sidewalk as he caught up to her.
"What the hell is going on? Why aren't you in there interrogating Reese?" he frowned.
"Jennifer tagged in," she muttered, trying to keep her emotions under wraps in front of the supervisory agent.
"What?" he folded his arms, determined to get to the bottom of this.
"I lost my temper," she admitted, jaw clenched.
"I'll say," he shot back, taking a step forward as he continued, "you made quite a scene in there. You wanna tell me why you can't seem to keep your composure?"
"Back off, man..." she snarled, cut off before she could speak again.
"I'm just curious," he snapped, "how on earth you lasted this long in the FBI if you can't even interrogate a suspect without getting kicked out of the room!"
Flames flickered in her hazel eyes as she replied.
"You don't know anything about me, Agent Morgan. Don't pretend like you do."
"No, I don't," he conceded, "because everything is a big fucking secret when it comes to you. I don't like it. I can't trust you if you're hiding things from this team."
"Well, what do you want to know?" she threw her hands up, tears threatening to flood her eyes as she continued.
"You want to know how I spent the past fourteen years of my life searching for the man who killed my sister? You want to know how I was the one who found her, stabbed twenty-seven fucking times in the chest- how we had to get the wood floors in my room replaced because the blood stained it beyond repair? How I could hear my mother sobbing, every night, through my bedroom wall? How it tore my family apart, to the point where I can't even call my parents because it feels like I'm the world's biggest disappointment? You want to know how I feel that guilt every time I see another victim, another person whose life is completely destroyed by pointless violence?"
Kristina's walls had come crashing down, and Derek Morgan seemed unable to speak as she continued.
"You want me to talk about how I failed to do my duty in Nashville, how I failed to keep Katie safe? How he captured her, raped her, destroyed her? The only way I can even sleep at night, Derek," she spat his name, not caring to stop the tears falling from her cheeks, "is if we put the people responsible for all that pain in their place. It's too late for Bridget, it's too late for Katie, and I just cannot lose anymore. Failure is not an option," she sobbed, slightly embarrassed at her outburst but more angry at herself for losing her composure.
"Kristina, I..." Derek lowered his voice, but she stopped him.
"You know what, save it."
A stunned Derek Morgan stood frozen on the sidewalk as Kristina walked away, wiping her tears away on the sleeve of her jacket.
Seconds later, Hotch found Derek outside.
"Morgan, what happened?" He frowned, looking around the building for his new agent, seeing the conflicted look in Derek's eyes.
"Nothing, man...I sent Agent Kent to Garner's house," he lied, hoping his boss wouldn't question it. After she had poured her heart out- even though she was screaming at him- he felt sorry for her. He knew what is was like to carry something like that with you, letting it eat away at your insides. That wasn't something you could just forget.
"Okay..." Hotch let out a deep breath.
"Let's get back inside and try to find these kids."
