Hotch called Emily just minutes after she disconnected with Garcia. She let the phone ring through to voice mail the first time. She took a deep breath. For four years, Emily had practiced the art of not hiding anything, letting her emotions play out, letting people in. But she knew if she wanted in on this investigation, she was going to have to call up the person she'd left in her past, the one who could hide expressions, both on her face and in her voice, who could emotionally lie her way in and out of situations to her advantage.

The phone rang again and she took another deep breath before exhaling, letting the person she used to be, long before the BAU, rise to the surface.

"Hotch," she said. Her voice was tense, but in control. Much like she knew his would be. "What do you have?"

"Emily, you shouldn't come here."

"That's non-negotiable. What do you have?"

Hotch let out a deep breath and conceded. "There's a sister. It's the only real connection Robert Foster has to anyone. She didn't receive an ounce of inheritance when the mom died, Foster got it all. So I'm not sure she would help him, but Reid was thinking if Foster offered up those accounts, she might. Foster only made calls to a burn phone when he was in custody, we're not sure if it's hers. We found the hijacked car Foster took this morning a couple of blocks from the scene. He escaped with Morgan in a different car from that alley that was already waiting there. No reports of any stolen vehicles in the area, so we're thinking someone helped him. The state police are picking the sister up and bringing her in for questioning. She should be here in thirty minutes."

Emily saw the Maryland Welcomes You sign and pressed down on the accelerator a bit more, hoping she wouldn't get pulled over. "I'm doing that questioning, Hotch."

"Emily," he said warningly.

"Aaron, if this was any other person we were looking for, I would be the first person you'd want in that interrogation room. Trust me to do this."

She heard him give a deep sigh. "You need full disclosure first. Are you sure you want this?"

Emily felt bile rise in her, but she clamped it down and said with determination, "I'm the one who's going to have to deal with whatever lies on the other side of this. Tell me what you know."

"There were letters found in Robert Foster's personal possessions in his transport vehicle. We only found out about this a few minutes ago, after everything went down. They never mentioned a name so never came under much scrutiny, but they speak in the second person to someone and I think it was Derek, Emily. About how he could tell in an instant that he knew what his victims went through. Foster knew he found someone who could understand what he went through as a child. We didn't know about Foster's childhood at all. It never came up in our initial investigation, Emily. Though it was a suspected part of the profile, it was never confirmed." Hotch paused.

"Tell me," Emily said fiercely.

"The letters spiral out of control about anger towards the person, who we think is Morgan, for his ability to live a good life. He mentions seeing the wedding ring and a steady job. He becomes obsessed..."

Emily wanted to scream every profanity on the planet, but she didn't. She inhaled steadily instead. "I'm doing the questioning on the sister. I'll be there before she is."

Hotch was silent for a moment. "How fast are you driving? Jesus, Emily. I'll talk to Baltimore PD about a highway patrol car meeting up with you and escorting you in."

Though almost every part of Emily's being was devastated, she had a brief moment of satisfaction at her ability to make it through the conversation and get what she wanted. It was almost like riding a bicycle, if you want to ride one while feeling like your heart was about to tumble of of your chest.

While almost every fiber in her being wanted to pull the car over and throw up and cry and pound the pavement with her fist, she didn't. She was doing what she needed to do, she was going to interview the sister, she was going to find Derek.

Five miles later flashing lights pulled in front of her car. She followed them into Baltimore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Robert Foster's sister, Helen, was a small woman, with greasy hair, a defeated demeanor and a look that combined both innocence and hardness. Emily picked up on it right away; this was a woman who likely did something she didn't want to do out of financial desperation, who had lived a hard life in her adult years, because by all accounts, her childhood was picture perfect on paper. But Emily knew what picture perfect on paper was in reality much of the time. She quickly decided on a tactic and went for empathy and warmth.

Emily took Helen's hand between her own, even though what she really wanted was to grab her and shake her. Emily smiled sweetly at her, "I know it came as a big shock to you to be brought in here today, and I'm sorry about that. We just need some answers in order to rescue someone and even if you don't think you have them, you might, somewhere in your head. You're our best hope."

Emily ran through a series of questions about Helen and Robert's childhood and their present life, noticing that strange undercurrent of energy she now felt when she did these interviews when people were lying or trying to hold back.

Once Emily got to the kicker question where she really needed the answers, Helen was on the verge of crumbling, while insisting she hadn't talked to Robert in years.

Emily took her top hand off Helen's and brought it gently to the woman's shoulder. "You did a really good job, Helen."

"So I did okay, then?" Helen asked.

"More than okay, Helen."

Emily patted Helen's shoulder for two beats before bringing her hand back to cover Helen's.

"I just have a few more questions, OK?"

Helen nodded.

"Do you know a woman named Marianna Swift?"

Helen shook her head, "No, I don't."

Emily squeezed Helen's hand between her own gently, "Oh, I was just wondering," said Emily innocently. "You see, Marianna Swift spent quite a long time killing men by biting into the skin on their necks, ripping through their arteries and watching them bleed to death. She was convicted and she'd currently being held in a Federal Correctional Institution pretty close to us. I think Marianna tries, but every once in awhile she she messes up. Her last roommate lost her earlobe. And you see, Helen, I have a lot of friends who work in the system. If, for instance, something happened to the federal agent your brother currently was held in captivity, you'd be an accessory to murder. It wouldn't be anywhere close to a country club and I'd make sure your first roommate was Marianna Swift."

Helen's eyes snapped open wide and landed on Emily's. Emily gave her a sickly sweet smile, "Ready to talk about the truth now?"

And Helen Foster sang like a canary. She knew her brother was being molested by their father. But when Robert finally said something to their mother, who didn't believe it, Helen backed her father and mother, not Robert. She'd spent her life feeling guilty about that, and when her mother was weakening due to cancer, ten years after their father died, Helen finally told her mother the truth. When her mother died, she left everything to Robert, as a repayment for years of doubt and accusations that tore their family apart. Robert bought the burn phone not long after that. Robert used his attorney's phone to call Helen, with promises of a cash payout the public defender couldn't refuse. Robert told Helen to have a car parked in that alley with the keys inside the trapdoor of that building that only their family knew about. He promised her every penny if she did that, said she owed him.

Emily, who wanted to literally kill this woman with her bare fists, went back to Kind Emily. "Helen, I'm so sorry. I know that must have been so hard for you. But we need to know where Robert is, and we need to know now so he doesn't hurt anyone else. You're in some trouble, but if we can save the person he has in custody now and you testify, I'm sure we can work something out."

Helen shook her head, claimed she didn't know. And Emily let the kind, loving, heartfelt woman come back to the surface of her being. She gave Helen a hug that made Emily internally want to vomit. "You do know, Helen," she whispered. "Where would Robert go if he wanted to hide and he had no place else?"

And then Helen talked about a cave behind one of the properties where they lived for awhile as children. She'd only been there once, she'd followed Robert and their father. That was how she knew what was happening.

Reid came in with a map and demanded, "Where?"

Helen pointed to one side of Patapsco Valley State Park and said through her tears, "The house was here, but I can't tell you where the cave was exactly. It took me maybe fifteen minutes to follow behind them? The path went uphill. But after, after I saw, I couldn't find my way back home for a long time."

And then Helen Foster put her face in her hands and sobbed.

Emily and Reid emerged from the interview room and JJ, who was barely containing back her own tears, looked at Emily and said, "Fucking amazing, Em."

Hotch was looking at the map with Rossi. They were debating. They considered the gun Robert had. They were worried that if a huge team swarmed the area, Robert would use that gun on Derek. In the end, they decided that just their reduced team of four should go at first; Hotch, Reid, Rossi and JJ.

Emily knew she'd never be part of that group. She played her next role, the devastated wife who trusted these people. And though she did trust them with every ounce of her being, she just desperately needed to be there. There was only one way.

"Emily," said Hotch with love, "You have to stay here."

"I know," she despaired convincingly. "Just go. I'll stay in touch with Garcia. Bring him home."

They left and Emily called Garcia, playing the role, but speaking the truth. "I'm so scared," whispered Emily.

Penelope sniffled, "Me, too, Em. I love you both so much. Do you want to be patched in?"

"No. I just can't, Pen. You'll call me if anything significant happens or they have him, right?" Emily asked in a desperate voice.

"In an instant, Em."

Emily disconnected that call, pretended to walk nonchalantly through the Baltimore Police Department office she was in and to the bathroom. No one took much notice of her she realized with satisfaction. She walked out the front doors and to her car.

She was four minutes behind them.