A/N: Reposting because I found an annoying typo after I originally posted it. :o)
Emily smiles at Victor Tobbin. "Hi, Victor. You're looking better today."
"Thank you, Emily," he says softly.
Emily is thrilled to hear him speak so much. She had seen other children too traumatized to speak for weeks. She gestures behind her to JJ and Pete.
"Victor, do you remember my friend JJ? She helped when you came out of the attic." Victor nods. "Good. And this is our really good friend Pete."
Victor looks nervous as he stares at Pete. Emily swallows and continues.
"You know, Pete has children of his own: 2 daughters and a son. It makes him upset that someone hurt you and he wants to make sure he finds the bad man so he can't hurt you or anyone else ever again. Would it be okay if he and JJ speak to you about what you saw?"
Victor looks pleadingly at Emily. "Can't you do it?"
Emily shakes her head. "I wish I could but I…I have found out some things that could influence what you say. We have to make sure you tell us everything you remember without me saying the wrong thing. But I promise: JJ and Pete are here to help you and they are both very, very nice."
Victor bites his lip nervously. JJ steps forward.
"Victor, I have a little boy. His name is Henry. If someone hurt him the way they hurt you I would hope he could be as brave as you've been so far. Can you be brave a little longer and talk to me and Pete?"
Victor looks at Emily. "She's nice?"
Emily nods. "Very nice."
"And he doesn't hurt kids?"
Emily shakes his head. "He would never, ever hurt you, Victor. I promise." She takes out a business card and gives it to him. "This is my phone number. If they hurt you, call me and I will race back here to stop them, okay?"
He takes the card, clutching it as most children clutch a stuffed animal…as Henry clutches his teddy bear. She runs her hand over Victor's head.
"I promise you, Victor, you will be just fine with them."
The boy slowly nods. "Okay, Emily. I'll talk to them."
Emily smiles. "Thank you, Victor. Can I come see you later? Just to see how you are doing?"
He nods, almost smiling. "Okay."
"Good. I have to go now. But I'll see you later."
"Bye, Emily."
Emily gives JJ and Pete a smile as she leaves. JJ steps to the bed as Pete hangs back a little.
"Thank you for speaking with us, Victor. Now, can you tell us had you ever met the man who took you?"
Victor shakes his head.
"Okay. How did you end up with him?"
He glances towards his parents and shakes his head. JJ turns to them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Tobbin, what I am about to ask you is going to be so hard for you. But can you please let us speak to Victor alone? He doesn't want to upset you or disappoint you."
Mrs. Tobbin grabs her son's hand. "Oh, Vic, you won't upset us. I promise."
JJ gestures for the couple to step away from the bed a moment. They reluctantly agree. She speaks so only they can hear.
"You all know he went through a horrible ordeal there. And he hasn't had time to talk it out with a professional or with a police officer. Both of those things will help him see he is not in trouble with us or you. Everything that happened is exactly what you have taught him not to do; taught him not to let happen. He won't talk it out in front of you because he doesn't want to get into trouble. By speaking with us and getting it all out in the open he will be able to face you when you finally hear it yourself."
The parents look at each other. After a heated whispered conversation Mr. Tobbin nods to JJ. He walks over to the bed.
"Victor, we'll be just outside, okay? Just…tell them whatever they ask, son. We love you."
Mrs. Tobbin just pats his leg and follows her husband out. JJ moves back to Victor's side.
"Okay, now you can tell us. We promise: we won't tell them what you say. You can tell them when you want to, alright?" Victor nods. "Right. So, Victor, how did the man get you?"
Victor plays with Emily's business card. "He told me he had puppies. I really wanted to see them. I could even hear them."
JJ nods. "Hear them? Where?"
"He had them in the trunk of his car. But then when he opened it they weren't there. He smacked me and shoved me in. He told me if I screamed or made noise he'd kill my Mommy and Daddy but if I was a good boy I'd get a reward."
"I see. Then what happened?"
"He closed the trunk and drove for a real long time. It was dark and I was scared. When we stopped he opened the trunk and we were between two big buildings. He put tape on my wrists and ankles and over my mouth. He then shoved me in a bag like Daddy takes to the gym but bigger. Then he drove some more and next time we stopped he carried me out of the car and we were in the house."
"That's great remembering, Victor," she praises him. "Really good. What happened in the house?"
"He took me upstairs to a bedroom. He cut the tape off my wrists and ankles and took it off my mouth. He smiled and said I could have a treat for being so good." He shivers. "He…he gave me a bad lollipop."
"What is a bad lollipop?" JJ asks.
"It was…it looked like…like my…" he can't say it but he points between his legs.
"Oh, Victor," she says sympathetically.
"He made me eat it while he took pictures. Told me how to eat it."
JJ nods, sure she can imagine just what was asked. "He was very bad. What did he do next?"
"He said my clothes were dirty and needed to be washed. He made me take them off."
And from there he describes the first time he was violated. JJ and Pete are both fighting to maintain control of their emotions when all they want is to track down the bastard that hurt Victor and the other boys and make the man pay for the crimes. Sometimes even officers of the law see the benefit of vigilante justice.
By the time they leave an hour later Victor actually seems less nervous. He had told the horrors of what happened to him and had not gotten in trouble for it. And his parents had not been hurt because he told the truth, which had been the threat over and over again. JJ smiles and pats his leg.
"I am very, very proud of you, Victor. You are a very brave boy. Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome. Will you tell Emily I was good and brave?"
"I sure will. She will be very happy to hear it. I'll get your parents now, okay?"
"Okay. Bye, JJ. Bye, Pete."
Pete smiles and nods. "Bye, Victor."
As the two agents leave the parents hurry to them. JJ smiles at them.
"He did great. It helped him to talk it out. It gave him back some of the power that the unsub took from him."
"Uh, unsub?" Mr. Tobbin questions.
"Unknown subject. It's what we call the perpetrator until we know who he is. When we find him Victor will be key to getting him convicted. And he will do a great job taking down his tormentor."
The Tobbin's nod and go in to be with their son. Pete smiles at JJ.
"It was good he acknowledged me at the end. He's getting better already."
"Yes. With the right love and support, kids tend to get past these types of things better than adults. And catching the bastard that did this and making him pay will help, too."
"Then let's get to the house and see what we can do towards that end," Pete says.
JJ nods and the two agents make their way back to the house of horrors.
Rossi and Morgan carefully study the four exposed graves in the basement floor. Three are children, naked and showing signs of torture. The fourth is clothed and most definitely an older woman. Morgan uses a gloved hand to lift a mummified hand.
"Her mother's wedding ring." He turns the hand. "Nice watch. Bastard didn't even take the time to rob her. He just wanted this house."
Rossi nods. "Yeah. Here's where I'm a little confused: the whole floor was poured at the same time. There's no sign he ever dug an area up, buried a body, then resealed the flooring." He walks over to one body. "This one is a full skeleton, meaning it was decomposed when it was entombed. The others aren't."
Morgan stands. "So, he kills the woman and decides to bury not only her but 3 other bodies. These children came with him, probably already dead."
"He couldn't leave them in his last place. Why not?"
"It was a rental property? Couldn't risk them getting found and being identified?" Morgan suggests.
"Maybe. Or maybe his last place was discovered. If we can i.d. these kids maybe we'll find out the police were closing in on their suspected kidnapper."
Morgan nods. "And he ghosts and takes them with him so the police are left with nothing."
"Not with nothing. If they were buried and uninterred to be moved the police would have found the graves and evidence of decomposition," Rossi states.
"Baby Girl has another search to run."
Rossi nods. "And I think we need to send that thought to Katie Cole, too. Her Crimes Against Children's Unit may know the case if it happened the way we think."
Morgan nods. "You call her, I'll go get with Garcia. And after that I want to check on Emily."
Rossi nods. "Go ahead. I'll check her this afternoon."
Morgan smiles. "Deal."
Morgan gets upstairs to find Garcia with her glasses off rubbing her eyes. He starts to massage her shoulders. "You okay, Baby Girl?"
"I'm starting to pull the images Emily has isolated as good shots of the children and identifying marks on the men. God, Morgan, how the hell can she sit there watching all this when…when I'm just looking for specific images and it's tearing me apart? How can someone do this to children, Derek? How? And how the hell can Emily watch it without screaming?"
"I know this doesn't answer it completely, but Emily watches it so she can make these men pay for hurting these kids and get justice for them. It's just…the job. As to how these men do it? They are monsters. And it's our job to slay them, figuratively speaking."
"Well, if you want to be literal about slaying them I am all for it," Garcia says.
He kisses the top of her head. "I hear you, Baby Girl. Do you have time to run a pretty broad search that could help us narrow in on who this guy is?"
She slides her chair to another computer. "If it means stopping these bastards Hell's yeah I have time."
Morgan explains to her what he and Rossi are looking for. Garcia nods and starts to type.
"This is nationwide so it may take a while. If you think of anything that could help us narrow it more let me know."
"Until the M.E. gives us times of death for Ethel Steinberg we won't be able to narrow down when the kids were put down in the basement. We'll be able to work back from there to figure out when the bastard ran from his last hideout."
"Okay. Are you and Rossi getting ready to go question the neighbors?"
"We're going to try. But first I'm going to check on our princess."
"Good. Give her a kiss and hug for me."
"Will do. Be good, my goddess."
Morgan heads upstairs to the office. He opens the door and sees Emily is shaking with rage.
"Em?"
"Two, Morgan. Two fucking bastards hurt that little boy," she says through clenched teeth.
He wraps her up in a hug from behind. "Damn, Emily."
"But the fuckers messed up," she turns, her eyes like fire. "There was a mirror in the room."
Morgan's eyes widen. "Are you serious? You got a face?"
"I got both their faces. And we're going to use those images to find them and fry them."
Morgan nods. "Damn right we are."
Emily hands Morgan a DVD and a note with the counter information. "Get this to Garcia. We need this in facial recognition now."
Morgan gives her a big kiss on the cheek. "Faster than a bumble bee sipping whiskey, as my goddess would say."
Emily smiles, her eyes still hard. "Fucking A."
Emily follows him out of the room. She slowly walks through the upper level and looks at each room. She frowns.
"Shit. And the basement was a torture chamber. That wasn't shot here. Shit. Shit. Shit." She heads downstairs to let them know what she's just realized. Just as she gets to the bottom, Reid runs out of the living room.
"GOT IT! I know who's dubbing the DVD's and where!"