Here's chapter 7 - I hope you guys all enjoy it as we inch ever closer to all the things I know you've all been waiting for ;)
Thanks for all of the reviews, favoriting, and story alerts - you guys are wonderful! And of course, a huge thanks to my beta DetectiveNikkiBenson040709.
I don't own Criminal Minds.
Happy reading and enjoy :D
"Any luck tracking down where the flower came from?" Emily asked as she and Hotch walked into the lair of one Penelope Garcia-Morgan.
Penelope shook her head sadly as she looked at her friends. "I've gone over the footage more times than you can possibly imagine. There isn't a logo or an insignia on the delivery person's uniform anywhere. So then I decided to start with the other end and try to track down the flower. Lilac Freesias are apparently rather common and are a popular wedding flower, so all of the florists in the area carry it."
Emily nodded as she listened to PG.
"So I back hacked every florist in the tri-state and DC area looking for purchases of a single Lilac Freesia. There weren't any. So then I looked for all orders of bouquets of Lilac Freesia, I looked for orders that specifically requested Lilac Freesias…"
"And?" Hotch asked.
"Nothing, sir. I am so sorry that on something so important I wasn't able to uncover anything." Penelope apologized feeling horrible that at a time when it mattered most, her technological babies had failed them.
"Actually, the fact that you couldn't find anything could tell us a little bit more than you think." Emily said and then turned to look at Aaron. "Let's casually get everyone in here and fill everybody in at the same time." Emily said with a nod at Aaron.
Aaron pulled out his phone and called Dave. "Hey do you have a few minutes? Great can you grab Gideon and meet us in Garcia's office?"
Emily picked up her phone and called Elle. "Hey, Elle do you have a few minutes to talk? We're in PG's lair. Can you grab Morgan and Reid too?"
Once everyone was assembled and secured behind the keypad access only of Garcia's lair, Emily spoke. "We thought PG might have some luck tracking down either the delivery driver from the footage of the flower being delivered, or perhaps the flower itself. However, that wasn't the case."
"I completely believe" Emily continued, "that if the flowers were delivered by a legitimate delivery service or that if the flower was purchased at a florist, PG would have found it. So we have to assume that Doyle probably already has at least a small network set up in the US."
Everyone glanced around at one another, trying to work out just how bad that could mean things could get.
"Why don't you both have a seat" Dr. Green said as he led Spencer and JJ into his office and sat behind his desk. "I know you both want answers about what's causing your headaches." He said as he looked at Spencer. "It's going to take some time for the results of all of the tests to come back and when they do, then I'll need to analyze the results and compare anything I find to the notes that the other doctors you've seen have made."
"How long do you expect all of that to take?" Spence asked.
"A week, possibly two, in the meantime though, I want you to start using a journal to keep track of your headaches. What were you doing when it started? When does the pain increase and lessen? What are you doing when the headaches stop? Do they happen at a certain time of day more frequently than others?" Dr. Green explained. "Documenting the details of your headaches will help us to be able to look for patterns in your headaches that could help in treating your headaches."
Spence nodded and JJ squeezed his hand.
"Do you have any questions for me?" Dr. Green asked.
"No, not right now, Dr." Spence replied.
"Alright, I'll call you to set up a time for us to get back together once I've looked at all of the results." Dr. Green said as he stood up and shook Spencer's hand.
"Thank you Dr. Green." Spence replied.
Dr. Green smiled. "You're welcome, besides, my wife told me I was to take the very best care of her favorite patient's husband or there would be dire consequences." He said with a wink. "Not that I wouldn't take great care of you anyway, but I also don't like sleeping on the couch. Plus, it looks like JJ here is seeing my lovely wife on a weekly basis now. How much longer?" he asked as he walked them to the door of his office.
"About another month; but that really just means any day now." JJ replied as she rubbed her belly.
Emily sat in the bullpen looking over Ashley's shoulder and pointing something out to her in her textbook as she explained something that Ashley had questions about before the briefing started. Elle was doing the same thing for Zoe as they both had some different questions about the material that was currently being covered in their classes at the Academy.
"Excuse me, but I need to make a phone call." Emily said with a glance at her watch.
Elle glanced up from what she and Zoe were discussing in the text book and watched as Emily headed for the round table room talking on her phone.
Reid walked into the round table room and took a seat next to Emily just as she was getting off the phone with Tsia. He nodded as he heard her say 'Lauren Reynolds is dead' and then wrap up her conversation. "You want to talk about it?"
Emily sighed as she noticed the rest of the team coming down the catwalk towards the round table room. "Tsia thinks that the fact that my cover that Doyle knew me as is dead will be enough to keep Doyle from finding me or anyone else that was on the team. She made it seem like I was being paranoid… you don't think I'm being paranoid do you?"
Reid tipped his head in thought for a moment. "Emily, you had the most contact with Ian Doyle since you were the undercover agent on him. You know him the best. If something doesn't feel right to you, then you need to trust your instincts. They've served you well this far; why would you second guess yourself now?"
"Thanks Reid" Emily said with a smile, feeling better now that Reid had reassured her, although she'd feel best when this was all completely over and just a bad memory and the sooner that happened the better.
"Good morning" Rossi called out to Emily and Reid as he entered the round table room followed by Ashley Seaver, Zoe Hawkes, and the rest of the team.
"Everything okay?" Hotch asked as he glanced at Emily and noticed that she was slightly off.
"Yeah… we can talk about it later." Emily replied with a nod as Garcia's heels clicked across the floor as she entered the room.
"Hey, thank you all for coming," Penelope said as she made her way to her seat at the round table and sat down "as time is of the essence." She turned her wrist and used the remote to turn on the monitor. "Okay, Molly Grandin, 25 years old. She's been missing approximately 34 hours. Her car was found abandoned in a strip mall parking lot." She explained and then looked at Hotch.
"Syracuse Police Chief just called to tell me that four months ago another woman, Gail Langston, also 25, went missing." Hotch said as he glanced down at his notes.
"Gail's body washed up three days later in Onondaga Lake. She'd been held captive. Her hands and feet smashed and then she was stabbed to death." Penelope continued as she pulled up the photos of Gail Langston's battered body on the monitor.
"Her car was found in the same parking lot as Molly Grandin's." Hotch said.
"Other than abandoned cars, what makes them think it's the same offender?" Emily asked.
"Both women packed a bag with enough clothes and toiletries to last them for the weekend" Penelope said as she looked around the table at the team. "and in both cases the bags were found in the car along with their purses and cell phones."
"You know, if the unsub is sticking to the same MO, then Molly only has 36 hours left." Reid theorized.
"Well, let's go." Morgan said from where he stood behind Reid.
"The plane awaits." Penelope said as the team gathered up their files to head for the jet.
Zoe and Ashley stood watching through the window of the interrogation room as Rossi methodically laid out the photos of Gail Langston's tortured, mutilated, and murdered body.
Zoe tipped her head, studying how Rossi remained calm and detached as he continued to lay out the photos, allowing Lyle Donaldson to ramble without stopping him. Guilty consciences often spoke. Loudly.
"Today I do, tomorrow I will." Emily said as she bent over and looked at the motivational messages that were written on post it notes and stuck to Molly Grandin's bedroom mirror.
"Quite the student of the motivational gurus." Elle said as she paused as the goals posted on the door of Molly's room and then took a look around Molly's room.
"Definitely" Emily said as she turned to glance at Elle. "You see what else you can find in here. I'm going to go see what's in the other rooms."
Elle nodded and set about looking in all the usual places for anything that could tell them more about their victim, which in turn could potentially lead them to the unsub. She went through the closet, she went through the dresser drawers, and then she searched under the bed.
Emily entered the second bedroom in Molly Grandin's bedroom, expecting to find a study, a storage area, or an empty room. Instead she found an unmade bed but before she could examine further her phone rang.
"Prentiss"
"Morgan and I think we might be looking for a female offender." Reid's voice came across the phone.
"That explains why there was no sign of sexual assault." Emily said with a nod of her head. "With an unsub this obsessed with control and power, that's usually part of the territory." Emily said as she wandered around the second bedroom and looked things over.
"It looks like there was a female living in the other bedroom of Molly Grandin's apartment." Emily told Reid as she took in the state of the room and the clues that had been left behind.
"We'd have been told if she had a roommate." Reid said as he stood on the bridge with Morgan looking down at Onondaga Lake.
"Yeah, so Molly must have wanted to keep it a secret for a reason." Emily said as she walked across the room. "Whoever she was, she left recently and in a hurry." Emily said as she picked up the empty paper coffee cup and examined it, noting the lipstick marks on the rim. "I'll put a canvass out now. Thanks Reid." Emily said as she hung up the phone and headed to the other room to tell Elle.
When Emily walked back into the room, Elle was flipping through a book. "What'd you find?" Emily asked.
"A diet journal and a couple of prescriptions." Elle said as she lifted the pill bottles that had been in the box under the bed with the journal up. "Her journal is pretty intense. She kept track of everything that she put into and everything that came out of her body, and I do mean everything." Elle said as she showed Emily the section on one page where the weights of Molly's bowel movements were recorded. "How about you? Find anything?" Elle asked as she pulled out her cell phone to call Garcia.
"Reid and Morgan think that the offender is a female after seeing the dumpsite and it looks like Molly had a female guest staying with her that no one knew about."
"Sketchy" Elle said as she dialed Garcia's number.
"At best" Emily replied as she called Hotch to fill him in on what they'd found.
"Elle, my sizzling senorita, what can I do you for?" Garcia asked and then paused. "Actually from the little bit of Spanish you've been teaching me… I should be calling you senora shouldn't I?"
Elle chuckled. "As long as you're still going to baby sit Billy this weekend so that Will and I can go out for Cuban food and Salsa dancing, you can call me whatever you want." Elle said with a smile. "But right now, I actually need your fingers of fury."
"This weekend is definitely a go. I need me some baby time. So, then for what shall my fingers do the walking?" Garcia asked as she set the pen she'd been playing with off to the side.
"I need to know what Fluoxetine and Naltrexone are prescribed for. Molly has prescription bottles of both." Elle explained as she held up the bottle to read of the labels to Penelope over the phone.
"Oh… well Fluoxetine is prescribed specifically for Bulimia Nervosa… and Naltrexone is used to treat certain types of drug dependence… but wait… I just found this. It's also used with Bulimia Nervosa patients. It's intended to alleviate addictive behaviors such as the addictive drive to eat or binge eat." Garcia said as she read the information off the screen.
"Can you find out who or when the drugs were prescribed to her?" Elle asked.
"Mm, sadly no. That would fall under HIPA. Unless their families agree to open their files, since they're the victims and not the unsub, I can't hack them. I'll get ahold of Hotch and Rossi and have them talk to the families. It'll take me some time, but I'm guessing you want me to take a look at Gail Langston's medical records too?" Penelope asked.
"You're the best Pen" Elle said with a laugh.
"Word. Tech goddess out." Penelope said as she hung up the phone and then quickly dialed Hotch to let him know what she needed.
"Time to talk to the neighbors" Emily said as Elle hung up the phone and put everything back in the box to go back to the precinct with them as evidence.
The team sat around the table at the precinct listening to Garcia as she gave them the run down on Gail and Molly's medical histories and their financials, which she had accessed while waiting for the medical files to be released.
"Carrots and hot sauce" Ashley said as Garcia explained what she found when looking through the victim's financials over the few months prior to their disappearance.
Emily and Zoe both turned and gave Ashley a strange look.
"Then it changes about three months ago. She got a membership at a yoga studio and started paying for cooking classes."
"That matches up almost exactly with when this journal cuts off ten weeks ago." Elle said as she looked at the last entry in the journal.
"So they both went to the same hospital, but for different programs and at different times." Garcia explained as she looked at Gail and Molly's medical records on her screen.
"Maybe it's someone who works at the hospital?" Ashley asked.
Elle shook her head. "No, if our unsub conned her way into a job they probably wouldn't have lasted long enough to be able to have accessed patient files."
"Yeah, we were off in our profile." Reid said as he leaned forward on the table. "She doesn't find her victims by chance like we thought. She hunts them."
"Garcia does Syracuse General keep their surveillance footage of the entrances and exits?" Emily asked.
"Oh in this age of black market pharmaceutical drug trade you betcha. I can get you that." Garcia said and then hung up.
Hotch nodded as he stood with his arms crossed. "Garcia let us know as soon as you find anything."
"Of course sir; ta for now." Garcia said as she hung up the phone.
The rest of the team nodded and then they began discussing the case, the profile, and anything else that they might have missed.
A short while later, Garcia called back and walked the team through the surveillance footage she'd found showing both Gail Langston and Molly Grandin being stalked by the same woman.
"So she stalks them, copies them, and then uses it to strike up a conversation." Reid said as the team huddled around the computer monitor watching the stalker and Molly Grandin walk out of the hospital together, presumably discussing their matching purses.
"And here is a nice clean one of our stalker lady person." Garcia said as she pulled up a frame of security footage of the stalker walking past the security camera alone.
"Okay, now can you blow that up and print it?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, I'm doing it as we speak." Penelope replied.
"Hotch, we've got a name and an address. Jane Gould. The house is in Maple Bay where Gail Langston's body was found and she's our stalker from the hospital." Morgan explained as he grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "Penelope was able to narrow it down on the list we got from Dr. Weingold."
"Thanks Garcia" Reid said as hung up his phone and put it in his pocket. Then he spoke with Elle, Emily, and Morgan who were in the SUV with him and through the speakerphone to Rossi, Hotch, Zoe, and Ashley who were back at the precinct. "Dr. Weingold opened Jane's file. She can't release any details, but there honestly aren't many. Jane never admitted to being a cutter, let alone what triggered it."
"She started acting out after she lost her grandparents." Rossi said thoughtfully.
"Arrested for vandalism, removed from two foster homes for destruction of property, desperate attempts to get attention." Hotch said as he looked down at Jane Gould juvenile file that Garcia had unsealed.
"Is that why she started cutting?" Emily asked "Another cry for help?"
"Cutting is about control." Seaver said as she turned to look at Hotch and Rossi. "Similar to anorexia and bulimia, it's common in teenage girls who feel like they have no control over their lives."
"Her grandparents' deaths were probably the trigger." Hotch theorized.
"Loss of parental figures at such a young age turns your world upside down." Ashley added her voice breaking slightly. "There's a lot of pain, but no outlet. No one's in charge."
Zoe once again took in the somewhat strange comments coming from her fellow cadet and stored them away to be pondered later.
Rossi cast a brief sidelong glance at Ashley. He'd always wondered what had happened to her after he and Hotch had taken her father away in hand cuffs and based on what he'd heard so far in the course of this case, it sounded like she'd spiraled out of control.
"Both Molly and Gail can relate to that." Rossi replied as he looked back down at the phone.
"Jane used them to convince herself she's important." Emily said as she glanced at Morgan and Elle.
"And when they didn't need her anymore, she had to destroy them." Elle added.
"Let's just hope we get there in time." Morgan said as he pressed down harder on the accelerator.
As the BAU agents and the local officers arrived, they approached the road leading to the house slowly with their lights off, not wanting to tip off Gould that they were there and possible cause her to kill Molly. They parked on the road, blocking not only through traffic, but also any vehicle that might attempt to leave the area.
The Morgan, Emily, Reid, and Elle and the officers took moments to wire themselves with coms and pull on their bullet proof vests. After a brief discussion between Hotch and the Syracuse Police Chief over the coms, the BAU Agents led officers as they approached Jane Gould's house from all sides, sweeping the area while another group of Syracuse officers created a perimeter.
All plans for a quiet approach however, were thrown out as the sound of a horrific female scream of pain and agony wrenched its way through the night air. Morgan's leg lifted in a well-practiced move as he kicked in the door of the house.
A shocked Jane Gould paused on the stairwell with a large bloody hammer in her hand as she came down the stairs.
"Put down the hammer." Morgan shouted as he raised his gun to cover Jane Gould.
Knowing that most older houses had back stairwells, Reid took a look at the architecture of the house, trying to determine if this house did. "I need this door open." Reid said patting the door.
Elle gave him a puzzled look as to ask if he expected her to kick in the door. Then she nodded at him in understanding as an officer stepped up.
"You got it sir." The officer said and with a solid kick, the door opened.
Elle and Reid led the way in the door and after a few moments, Reid located the back stairwell. He crept up it and nodded for Elle to clear one end of the hallway while he cleared the other.
Elle discovered the locked door, and after unlocking it, discovered Molly Grandin, in a great deal of pain, but alive, on the other side.
"I'd recommend you do what Agent Morgan said and put down the hammer Jane." Reid said as he stood behind Jane with the high ground on his side where he stood at the top of the staircase.
Completely surrounded, Jane had no option, but to drop the hammer and surrender.
Spence was so exhausted by the time the team arrived back at their hotel; that he couldn't help but fall face first onto the bed after removing his tie and kicking off his shoes. He'd dropped his sports coat across the back of the chair his go bag sat on upon entering the room. Exhaustion overtook him and he slept.
The next morning after wrapping up the loose ends of the case, the team boarded the jet and was DC bound.
Zoe sat contemplatively looking at Ashley as they sat together relaxing at the back of the jet for a bit before they had to hit the books and the field training classes back at the Academy again. "Hey Ashley?" she said to get Ashley's attention.
"Yeah?" Ashley said as she lowered the textbook she'd been looking at. "What is it?"
"Well, I just… I noticed you made some strange observations during the case… and well…" Zoe trailed off, not sure how to bring up her suspicions that the reason Ashley had insight into eating disorders and cutting was because she'd done it herself.
"You're wondering how I knew what I did?" Ashley asked.
"No" Zoe shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I know why you knew what you did. I just wanted to say that if you need someone to talk to or something…" Zoe looked at Ashley in concern.
Ashley raised her eyebrows. She'd never made friends easily. Perhaps it came from keeping people at arms-length, lest they find out her secret. "I um… thanks. You know, the rest of the team already knows this… so you should too." Ashley said as she tucked her textbook away in her bag and then turned in her seat to look at Zoe. "Have you ever heard of the Redmond Ripper?"
The team stepped off the plane and was just preparing to head back to the BAU when Emily's phone rang and she paused as she looked down at the caller ID. The rest of the team paused and grouped around her as she answered the phone.
"Tsia?" Emily asked as she glanced up at Hotch in confusion and concern.
"He's gone."
"W... wh… who?" Emily asked confused about who Tsia was talking about. "What's going on?"
"Jeremy's dead." Tsia replied in a shocked voice as she held back tears for her fiancé.
"What?"
"I got home from work and he was just lying there. He…he'd been in the shower…I don't know, I couldn't see anything. They think it was a clot."
"He's not even forty, how," Emily paused briefly as someone walked past her, "how could…"
"He didn't have a pulse. I called the ambulance. They tried to revive him, but…"
"Did somebody break in?" Emily asked.
Tsia breathing rushed as she got more worked up while talking to Emily. "Uhg… I don't think so. L… l… look he… he was out for his run. He's training for a marathon."
That caused Emily to pause in her thoughts. "Was it his usual path?"
"Yes, but he came back early. He… he called me. He said he wasn't feeling well." Tsia explained.
"Did he fall down on the path? Did anyone run into him?"
"Oh god" Tsia whispered.
"How long have we been talking?" Emily asked and then pulled her phone away from her face to look at the call time. She put the phone back to her ear. "You've got to get out of there. Get a flight. Leave France. Get back to America. Cash transactions only from here on out. Am I clear?"
"It's him isn't it?" Tsia asked. "It's Doyle."
"Toss that cell phone and get home safely." Emily responded and then hung up the phone. She immediately dialed a familiar number.
"Jareau" JJ said as she picked up her phone.
"JJ, its Emily. We've got a problem. Tsia just called me. Jeremy is dead… in order for him to have already gotten to Jeremy is quickly, he'd have to have someone on the inside."
JJ sat up straight in her seat and started gathering files together. "I'm on it Emily. I'll call Garcia and have her run a background checks on everyone and I'll get everyone's files pulled who had access… don't worry, we'll figure this out."
"I know." Emily nodded as she looked around at the team. "We have to… there's too much at stake not to."