Chapter 3
"Emily?" Reid said when they were in the SUV on their way to the hospital.
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking..."
"Aren't you always?"
"Yeah..."
"Well?"
"Erm...I think we're missing something. If Rose is the leader of this operation, she might not be looking to avenge her sister's death."
"Why wouldn't she? You would want to, wouldn't you?"
"Well, I wouldn't know...but I think it is more likely that she wants to kill her over and over again. Her sister was apparently loved by her father, but Rose was sent into the ER again and again, seriously beaten. Wouldn't she hold a grudge?"
"Well, she would be more likely to want to get revenge on her father wouldn't she?"
"Not necessarily, especially since according to the reports he is dead, because she might blame her sister... or think that she did something right that Rose-Alicia didn't... hey! Maybe she wants answers? Perhaps she believes that similar kids will have the same experience?"
"That's unlikely, but it's a possibility. You want to call Hotch?"
"No... I'll talk to Rose first. This is a very peculiar case...It's not very often we figure out the un-sub on the jet, then find her lying down in a hospital bed waiting for us..."
"True...I guess we have to work backwards...we've figured out the victimology, and we have the un-sub, we just have to figure out where the heck the victim is. But where does Dean come in?"
Reid thought for a while. "Perhaps Dean doesn't exist at all...Garcia couldn't narrow down the search because this person doesn't exist!"
Prentiss look utterly confused... "We only established that Rose was the leader, how could Dean not exist?"
"He might be a figment of her hallucinations..."
"You're saying she's mentally confused?" Emily sounded confused herself.
"Well, if she wants answers from these girls, she could be under some impression that Dean is helping her to do it, so she would look up to him. Maybe Dean is a recreation of her father... but, if she was Paranoid, she would occasionally break out of her illusion, and she might regret taking Sasha, and let her go. Or, she might have been brought out of her illusion in the crash, freaked out, and killed her. I'll get Garcia to check for mysterious car accidents last night, or reports of abandoned vehicles."
Reid sat back in his seat and closed his eyes.
"Are...you going to call Garcia?" Prentiss was concerned, what the heck was going on with him?
"Yeah... Sorry." Reid took out his phone, and called Garcia.
Prentiss thought for a while. They were almost at the hospital, and she thought about what she was going to say to Rose-Alicia, and how she was going to get answers. If Reid was right, despite the fact that he appeared to be in some sort dream world, they needed to be very careful what they said to Rose, and if they said the wrong thing, they might trigger a reaction causing her to go into a schizophrenic break, and then they probably wouldn't get another word out of her.
Morgan and Hotchner had gone to the scene of Sasha's abduction.
Back at the Police Department, Rossi and JJ were looking over the files of each of the other three girls previously abducted from Galveston, to see if they could make any more connections, such as addresses, helping them to find Sasha.
"Ok, the first two girls were abducted from their homes, both in the same neighbourhood, about ten doors apart...why weren't we informed of all this?" JJ was becoming increasingly annoyed with the Sherriff, who had not been a lot of help throughout the investigation.
Rossi replied, "And the third...was taken from a park... three miles west of the neighbourhood where the first two lived. Ok, whether this is Dean or Rose's work, one of them lives, or has lived in this area."
"Well, Rose-Alicia's previous address was a couple of blocks away, but she moved house when she was 13... Just after her sister died." Garcia appeared on the webcam beside Rossi, making him jump.
"Ok, so Rose-Alicia is definitely our leader, if Dean actually exists." JJ moved to pick up her phone to call Prentiss, but Garcia stopped her.
"Incoming call from Dr Reid," she said through the webcam. "Yellow, what can the mistress of all technology do for one tall and handsome man this fine day?"
"Hey Garcia, we think Rose-Alicia is the leader –"
"Yes, Reid, JJ told me that," Garcia interrupted with a smile.
"Ok, but we think she could be a Paranoid Schizophrenic, who is hallucinating – I hope you have me on speaker?"
"Oh – yes, right now, Dr!"
"Ok," Reid repeated himself, then went on, in a rather fast, babbling fashion, "We think she is under and illusion that Dean is helping her get answers from these children she takes, and then kills them so they can't tell on her. No witnesses type thing."
"Whoa, slow down, Reid. What answers?"
"She wants revenge on her sister, for doing something to make her dad love her, and not Rose-Alicia. She thinks that girls of a similar background may have a similar experience, so they could tell her how she could have made things right with her father. Oh yes, and Dean might be a re-invention of her father."
"Riiiiight..." Said Rossi.
"So, what do you want me to do?" Garcia replied impatiently.
"Look up recently abandoned vehicles, in the east direction from the McClelland house, that's the direction Morgan reported the vehicle had gone. Tyre tracks apparently. Inexperienced driver-style skids."
"Ok...there were two within a three mile radius, and five more, within the next five miles. No fatalities last night, Sirs, Miss's and Dr's..." she trailed off.
"Go for the one closest to the crime-scene, Sasha might have tried to escape, causing an accident," said JJ.
"Ok, I'll send Morgan and Hotch." Said Prentiss, the anticipation of the chase creeping into her voice.
When Morgan had received the call, he and Hotch went directly to the scene of the accident.
"So, Hotch, what on earth do you think this girls playing at?"
"Well, that depends how accurate you think Reid's profile is..."
"I'm pretty sure he would be able to tell if someone else had the same condition as him -" Morgan broke off under Hotch's glare.
"You just said he was schizophrenic."
Morgan looked stunned for a minute. "I..." He started to walk away, "Forget it. I didn't mean it... I..."
"Don't worry... I think we've all started to notice. Just don't say anything to him, ok?" Hotch tried to speak as calmly as possible, "We all knew something could happen one day...and I guess it's starting to."
"Yeah... I just... Wow." Morgan was lost for words.
"Let's focus on the case?" Hotch tried to bring them back to reality.
"Yeah... Ok."
"So, she has Sasha in the back seat? Or in the front with her..."
"Either way, Sasha would easily be able to stop Rose-Alicia, or grab the wheel. She could have covered her eyes or something?"
"It's a possibility, but she would be able to grab the wheel more easily in the front, so Rose-Alicia probably forced her in the back..."
"So she grabs the wheel, and Rose spins out of control...landing the car here..."
"Rose is knocked unconscious, so Sasha runs away...but where does she go?"
"Not back to the house anyway."
"Or maybe Rose-Alicia was the first to get away, and felt that it would be safe for her to turn up at an ER because they wouldn't be able to trace her back to the accident.
"That would explain why she's not hiding... but where on earth is Sasha?" Hotchner was slightly less anxious now that they knew Rose-Alicia was not with Sasha.
Morgan put in, "But say Dean is real...would he have been able to find Sasha? Did he have contact with Rose?"
"It's a possibility, but I don't think we should worry too much about Dean. He doesn't appear to be either dominant or even closely involved in any of this."
Hotchner had an idea. He called Garcia, "Hey, Garcia, what more can you find out about Rose's mother?"
Garcia replied, "Her name is Heather Johnston, and she is... 48 years old. She was a lawyer in Washington for 12 years, but she was recently sacked...and is now living in Galveston, unemployed."
"Ok, so we could talk to her, and see if she knows anything about anyone called Dean, or if she could help us to find out where Rose may have been trying to take Sasha."
"So, if Sasha was knocked out she would be confused, or have a concussion, so she may have willingly gone with Rose wherever she wanted her to. Rose may have been able to get a taxi somewhere, with Sasha following her because she was confused."
"Exactly, which is why we need to talk to Heather."