Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Author's Note(s): A massive thank you to smokeylove, Dr. Cameron, didi2909, Nat365, bumblebee917, tearbos, TV Hottie, Carla-Leigh, MrsDrReid, RavennaNightwind (lol what's wrong with my summaries!) and SLITH. You are all hugely motivating. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Easier to Lie
Chapter 6
Emily was not usually one for pacing. But pace she did.
Garcia had found the team a new hotel, a far more satisfactory one than the last. It was clean and tidy and served breakfast. Emily would have been lying if she said she hadn't been intensely relieved when the highly amused computer techie had phoned them with the details of their new rooms.
"Prentiss," said Hotch, in a way that suggested he had been trying to get her attention for quite some time.
Stopping dead in her tracks, Emily turned around to look at Hotch.
"Could you please stop pacing? You are making me feel dizzy," he said.
"Sorry," Emily muttered, sitting down on the end of Morgan's bed.
The three team members where currently sat in Morgan's hotel room, trying to think of the best plan of action to find Reid and JJ. They had been missing for several hours now and no matter how many times they tried to phone them the call went straight to voicemail. If Emily had her way, they would be out there in the car looking for their two missing friends, but the stupid snowstorm was stopping them from going anywhere at all, let alone traipsing across the countryside with no idea where they were going.
"Emily!" Hotch said sharply.
She snapped her head around, "Hmm?"
"You're pacing again!"
"Oh," Emily felt a faint blush taint her cheeks and she sat down again, "Sorry."
"We can't just sit here, Hotch. We have to do something," said Morgan, who had been scowling at the wall for the past twenty minutes.
"We don't have any choice," Hotch replied in a resigned voice.
"What if that David Canvan did something to them?" said Emily. She knew she sounded paranoid but at this point she didn't really care.
"The man is eighty-seven years old, Emily," said Hotch, pursing his lips in a manner that let Emily know he was displeased with the way this conversation was going.
"Yes but…Stranger things have happened," Emily protested.
"No, they have not."
But Emily was not to be deterred. Somehow she couldn't stop the thousands of ideas from floating through her head about what could have happened to them. Each of the pictures was worse than the last. The only thing that any of them had in common was that they involved JJ and Reid in a good deal of trouble with nobody around to help them. Emily wasn't sure JJ could cope from another mishap so soon after their abduction.
Quickly, she pushed all thoughts of their kidnapping aside. She seemed to have developed some sort of adverse affect of nausea whenever thought about what happened. With a stab of worry she noted that it seemed to be getting rather out of hand too, she had woken up every night for the past week with nightmares and had to run to the toilet to throw up each time. It was beginning to become a serious problem, but Emily had no idea what she was supposed to do about it. The aftermath of being abducted had unfortunately not been covered in FBI basic training.
Emily could feel herself beginning to stand up again but forced herself to remain sitting. It was not like her to fidget but she just couldn't keep still. Even though she could tell she was really starting to annoy Morgan and Hotch, it was hard to stop.
"They probably just realised the snow was too deep to keep driving so they find somewhere to stop and stay the night," said Morgan reasonably, "And there's no signal in this God forsaken place so they couldn't call us."
"Maybe…" Emily replied, not really paying attention.
"Emily, go to bed," Hotch said firmly.
"What?"
"I said, go to bed. You're exhausted and fretting yourself ill isn't going to help," said Hotch, "If they aren't back by morning we will go and look for them."
"But–"
"No buts, Prentiss!"
Emily bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from answering back. Hotch was her boss after all and there was no point in arguing the toss with him. She wouldn't win. Instead she left the room without another word, knowing she wouldn't sleep but knowing she should.
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From her sitting position in bed, Emily watched the sunrise. It had stopped snowing just over an hour ago and the sky had cleared of the dark, menacing clouds miraculously quickly. If Emily hadn't been drowning in her worry she would have stopped to think how beautiful it was. She had always liked to watch the sunrise ever since she was small.
The snow was still too deep to go out in the cars or Emily would have been banging on Hotch and Morgan's doors as soon as the first sign of light had appeared. As it was she just stared out the window in what can only be described as a sulk.
On the plus side, if the snow had stopped them from doing anything then it was likely that it had also stopped the unsub from killing again. Emily felt a surge of anger as she remembered the look on Sheriff Regal's face when they had told him that JJ and Reid hadn't come back yet. It was one of smug amusement. And Emily was sure she heard him mutter something about the FBI not being infallible after all very sarcastically to his deputy. If he had been stood any closer to her, Emily was not sure she would have been able to resist the urge to punch him in the face.
With a resigned sigh, Emily resolved to have a shower. At least it might make her feel more awake for their search.
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As it turned out, there was no need for the search party Hotch was setting up. He got a call from Reid just after Emily had got out the shower. He told them that he and JJ were okay and that they were making their way to the hotel. But even though Emily now knew they were all right, she still couldn't quell the feelings of anxiety that she knew wouldn't go away until she'd seen them with her own eyes.
They were in Morgan's room again, as it was the biggest, setting up a nice table of food for when they arrived. They were bound to be hungry. Hotch had just called Regal to tell him they would be a tad late. By the darkening expression on his face, Emily guessed the conversation was not going well. But Hotch's professionalism prevented him from snapping at the man on the other end of the phone and he politely explained the reason and then cut him off without another word.
"What is his problem," Morgan said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Hotch opened his mouth to reply but a tentative knock on the door stopped him.
"Door's open," said Morgan loudly.
In stepped JJ and Reid, who looked exhausted and cold, but otherwise perfectly fine. Emily felt her heart fill with intense relief, so much so that for a moment she couldn't breathe. She resisted the urge to leap to her feet and examine them both to make sure there were in fact no hidden injuries. It was with great difficulty that she stayed seated and kept her face neutral.
"Um…hi," said Reid after a minute of silence.
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The team had officially eliminated everyone who lived in the town from their possible suspect list. They had moved on to Staten Island, and due to its much larger size and population, it was a bit of a struggle to come up with a list of names. Garcia was on it though, and if anyone could find their unsub, she could.
The tiny Seriff's office that they had used yesterday had been abandoned and the team had moved to the Staten Island Police Department to discuss their predicament with them. Regal had followed them of course, unwilling to leave the case into the hands who he apparently perceived to be amateurs.
JJ had just done a press conference, warning possible victims of the danger and providing them with a number for a tip hotline. This was what everyone was doing now, sitting at phones, waiting for something to happen. Everyone except Emily, Reid and Hotch that was, who were discussing a geographical profile, even though they knew it was an impossibility until the unsub killed again.
As soon as JJ had gone off air the police station had been flooded with calls, predominantly from paranoid middle aged women. At the end of the room, Regal seemed to be having a rather heated conversation with someone, earning himself some very unkind looks from the agents and officers around him. Emily was taking great enjoyment from how red in the face the sheriff was becoming in his anger. After another minute, the short sheriff slammed the phone down and stalked over to the table where Emily, Hotch and Reid were sat.
"There is someone on line eight who refuses to talk to me. She'll only talk to you," he said angrily.
"Who?" Hotch said, raising his eyes to meet the sheriffs.
"She didn't tell me her name," Regal replied.
"No, I mean, who does she want to speak to," said Hotch, far more patiently than Emily would have done.
Regal seemed to grit his teeth in annoyance before jerking his thumb towards Emily, "Her."
Emily raised her eyebrows and picked up the phone.
"Put it on speaker," said Hotch, ignoring Regal who was silently fuming next to them.
Nodding, Emily did as she was told.
"Hello, this is Agent Prentiss" said Emily.
"Oh Emily, thank goodness it's you," Emily felt a small smile spread across her face as she recognised the voice, "Who on earth was that awful man you have picking up the phone? A few lessons in polite phone etiquette would not go amiss."
Emily risked a glance and the man in question; his face was becoming alarmingly red.
"Hello, Charlie," she then said, looking again from Regal, "What's up?"
On the other end of the phone Emily heard the other woman clear her throat, "I think I may have just met your unsub."
"What makes you think that?" asked Emily.
"Well, he barged into my office with blood on his hands claiming that he couldn't stop himself and that I needed to help him."
Looking up sharply, Emily saw the way Hotch contracted his eyebrows and looked thoughtfully at the phone.
"I take it he isn't still there?" said Emily quickly.
"No, he ran when he saw my assistant pick up the phone," Charlie replied, the faintest trace of annoyance detectable in her voice.
"That means there is another victim," said Hotch, looking at Reid who was nodding his head.
"We'll be right over," said Emily, putting down the phone.
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Author's Note(s): Hmph, I would have posted this chapter yesterday, but apparently, and I quote, my 'computer has recently performed spam like activity' and it wouldn't let me log in. I was most annoyed. I have done nothing of the kind!
Anyway, next chapter from Hotch's point of view…maybe.
Thank you for reading!