Disclaimer: See chapter 1
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"Is Morgan alright?" Emily posed the question on all their minds.
"He says he is," Hotch responded. "He sounded okay. Ken Bryer wasn't so lucky. According to Morgan he's in pretty serious condition."
"We've got to find a way to stop this woman. She can't have fallen off the face of the earth," JJ stated.
"I'll try Garcia again," Prentiss said, pulling out her cell and pushing speed dial. She informed Garcia about what had happened to the ATF agent and reassured the excited woman that Morgan was okay."
"For somebody who's trying not to hurt people, she's not doing a very good job of it," Garcia replied after Emily had finished.
"Garcia," Hotch interrupted, "You have to find us something, anything, that we can use to help us find this woman. She has to be staying somewhere. She needs a place to make these bombs."
"I've checked vehicle registrations sir. There's nothing. I'll keep trying." Garcia ended the call and Prentiss returned her cell to the pocket of her navy blue suit jacket.
Hotch looked over at Reid and noticed the look that he got on his face when an idea was taking shape. "What are you thinking Reid?" the unit chief asked.
"I was thinking about something JJ said once. A mother would never forget. Denise Chartier is doing all this because of the pain of losing her children. She can't forget them. I would bet she visits them."
Rossi was punching buttons on the phone before Reid had finished speaking. "Garcia, can you find out where Denise Chartier's family is buried?"
"Sure I can sir." They heard Garcia's fingers tapping on the keyboard. "Peaceful Pines Cemetery in Toledo," came the tech's reply.
"Thanks Garcia," Rossi said as he ended the call.
"JJ, get in touch with the cemetery and find out who cares for the Chartier graves and if Denise Chartier is a regular visitor," Hotch ordered.
"Right," JJ got on the phone.
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"I'll call him, that's what I'll do," Linda said to herself. He'll answer the phone and I'll say… what, that I thought he'd been blown up. He'll really think I'm a hysterical female. Oh well, it didn't matter what he thought. She had to know. She picked up her cordless phone and punched in the number. The cell began to ring. It rang over and over, unanswered. Linda's face fell as she turned off her cordless phone. He hadn't answered. He wouldn't not answer…unless he couldn't. Linda covered her face with her hands. Something had happened to him. He'd been the man in the ambulance. The team didn't know about her. They wouldn't notify her like a wife or a girlfriend. How could she sit here when her heart was breaking and not go crazy?
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"I'm going to call Morgan," Reid said as he pulled his cell from his pocket. He pushed speed dial but nothing happened. He put the phone back in his pocket.
"I thought you were calling Morgan," Emily said.
"Uh yeah, I was but my phone is dead," Reid said rather sheepishly.
"Don't you charge it at night?" Rossi asked.
"Yeah, I guess last night I uh…forgot."
JJ hung up the phone. "I just spoke to Mike Rainford. He manages the cemetery. The graves for the Chartier family are well cared for and Denise Chartier brings fresh flowers to all five graves every Sunday."
"That's tomorrow," Prentiss remarked.
"So, we'll have to be there when she gets there," Hotch said.
"I'll call Morgan and let him know what's going on since Reid didn't charge his cell phone," Rossi said.
"Don't you charge yours at night Reid?" JJ asked.
"Yes JJ, of course I do, but last night I couldn't…couldn't find my charger."
"I thought you said you forgot about it," Emily reminded him.
"That's right, I couldn't find my charger and then I did something else and forgot about it."
"Dave and I are going to talk to Chief Bowles and inform him of the new developments," Hotch said. As they left the room the unit chief turned a rare grin on Rossi and whispered, "Why won't he just admit that he didn't go home last night?"
"Would you want to have to explain something like that to Garcia?"
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"I think you hit the nail on the head Garcia," Emily giggled into her phone. She explained about Reid's cell going dead and his differing stories of why he hadn't charged it. "I don't think he did go home last night which means he got lucky with Linda."
"You think my sweet boy finally got laid?" Garcia replied.
"Well I don't think he'd stay over to play gin rummy but with Reid you never know!"
"This is so exciting. I can't wait to tell Shirley."
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The team was in place early on Sunday morning. The dew was still thick on the grass. JJ, dressed in a black pantsuit, put some flowers on a grave not far from those of the Chartier family, the five graves side by side showing the dates of birth and death. The youngest had been a mere eighteen months. JJ thought of Henry and Will. What if some contractor's greed had caused their deaths? Would she have been able to hold it together any better than this poor woman?
Reid and Prentiss sat on a bench near the water fountain that stood amidst the columbariums. Hotch was a little farther off in the military section. Rossi and Morgan stood next to some trees practically invisible amid the low boughs and the shade. All were ready to move in when their target was sighted.
About an hour had passed when a dilapidated old Ford pickup appeared on the roadway that wound its way through the cemetery. A petite blonde woman with her hair cut short emerged from the vehicle. She wore a navy fitted suit, or one that had at one time fit the woman's body, but now hung loosely on her emphasizing her weight loss. She retrieved some flowers from the passenger seat while Reid, whose cell was, this morning, fully charged, called Garcia relaying the license number of the vehicle.
"That vehicle is registered to Calvin Spicer. Just give me a moment." Garcia's digits danced over the keyboard while Reid waited. "Calvin Spicer, 89, is a resident of the Hillcrest Nursing Home in Toledo. Wife Gwen still lives in Toledo. They had one daughter, Gloria who happens to be the mother of Denise Chartier. Grandpa also owns a cabin out near Defiance Reservoir. Should I let ATF know and they can get a warrant for bomb making materials?"
"Yeah Garcia, go for it." Reid ended the call and relayed the information to the others.
As Denise Chartier neared the graves of her loved ones, the team closed in. "Freeze FBI," JJ said as she pointed her glock at the grief stricken mother.
"How did you know?" she asked calmly, almost relieved, Hotch thought.
"We figured it was someone with an axe to grind with the construction company. You were the most likely candidate," he responded.
"I didn't mean to hurt anyone, really I didn't. I just didn't want anyone else," tears began to trickle down her cheeks, "to go through this." She pointed at the five graves.
"Tell that to the Jacobsons and the Foleys," Morgan said, "or Agent Ken Bryer, a good man who lost his right leg."
"I'm sorry," she began to weep in earnest while Morgan grabbed her wrists, letting her flowers drop to the ground and cuffing them behind her back. "No prison you can put me in could be worse than the one I've been in since I lost my family. Henry Fieldstone should pay!"
"He will," Reid told her. "I examined the apartment building. I can testify to the shortcuts he took. He'll never build another building."
She nodded as Morgan led her away. JJ bent and picked up the flowers Denise Chartier had dropped and gently laid some on each of the five graves.
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The doorbell roused her from sleep. How had she slept? She'd fallen into a fitful sleep when no more tears would come and she'd made a good dent in a bottle of single malt. She struggled to her feet trying not to sprain her other ankle. The bell sounded again. Why wouldn't the person just go away? She would tell them as much she thought as she opened the door.
She had died. She was sure of it and she was now standing at the gates of heaven and he was waiting for her. No, it was more likely a dream from all the liquor she'd drunk. That was the answer, maybe she was just drunk because she could swear Spencer was standing in her doorway. "Spencer," she said and Reid noted the confusion on her face.
"Linda," he said, equally concerned. He reached out to touch her face as her eyelids fluttered. He caught her just before she hit the floor.