Sheriff Gardner quickly followed Mrs. Jenkins and the two agents back to the empty office they had been using.
Once all four of them were in the room, with the door securely closed, Mrs. Jenkins looked over at the sheriff and blurted out, "These agents are describing Sydney Masters!"
"Sydney Masters - Oh My Gosh!" the sheriff gasped. "You guys kept saying 'He' so I never even thought of her."
"Sydney is a woman?" Blake questioned.
"Well, yes and no," Mrs. Jenkins replied hesitantly.
"Transgender?" Blake suggested.
"Not by choice," was the sheriff's careful reply. "You really need to hear the whole story in order to understand the situation."
He glanced over at Mrs. Jenkins. "Is Don Woods here? He's the one who most likely knows all the details."
Mrs. Jenkins nodded her agreement. "He should be in one of the card rooms," she replied, glancing at her watch. "And, we probably need to move this discussion to one of the other card rooms. It's larger and I think all the agents need to hear this."
A short time later the BAU team, along with Mrs. Jenkins, Sheriff Gardner, Detective Wade, and Don Woods was seated around a table in one of the card rooms with the door firmly shut.
"Why don't I start this story and Mrs. Jenkins here can chime in when necessary." Don Woods glanced over at the retired school teacher who nodded her agreement.
"Okay, this really starts with old Charlie Masters," he began. "Charlie was extremely proud of the fact that he had taken over the local grain elevator from his father, and he envisioned founding a dynasty in which the business would be passed down from father to son on into eternity."
"However, Charlie's plan fell apart when he fell in love with Claire Logan," he continued. "Claire was a lovely girl but she was what in those days they called 'Sickly'. I can't tell you exactly what was wrong with her and today the doctors would probably pump her full of drugs and vitamins and whatnot, but back then after she had one of her episodes they would just send her home with instructions to 'take it easy'. Anyway, Charlie fell in love with her and, eventually, he married her."
"Excuse me," Rossi interrupted. "But was she related to the first victim, Missy Logan?"
"She was Missy's aunt," the retired lawman told him.
"They had been married about 18 months when their first child was born," Mrs. Jenkins took over the story. "A lovely, healthy little girl they named Mary. And, that was it for the next four years. There was talk around town that Claire had suffered at least one miscarriage during that time, but it was never discussed and she just continued on with her life. From time to time I would hear that she was confined to her bed, but she always seemed to recover and resume caring for Mary and handling her responsibilities around the house. When she officially became pregnant for the second time Charlie was ecstatic. He was so sure this was going to be the son and heir who would carry on his legacy."
"It wasn't a boy," Rossi guessed.
"Another girl," Don Woods confirmed. "And, they named her Sydney."
"An androgynous name," Blake observed.
"And androgynous is the way Charlie proceeded to raise her," was the reply.
"I remember them bringing her home from the hospital wrapped in a plain white blanket," Mrs. Jenkins said. "And, I never saw that child dressed in anything pink or frilly or even remotely girly, not even in Mary's outgrown clothes."
"Claire died when Sydney was about two and a half," the retired lawman again took up the story. "And, Charlie then hired a series of relatives, from both his and Claire's families, to help him out with the house and the girls. All of them eventually left, partly because Charlie was so cheap and partly because of the way he insisted that Sydney be treated and raised."
"Among other things, he insisted that she be constantly dressed in bib overalls and shirts with her hair cropped off extremely short," Mrs. Jenkins explained. "And, she wasn't allowed any stuffed animals or dolls, only trucks and tool kits and what Charlie considered to be proper 'Boy Toys'. Then, when she got to high school, he insisted she take auto shop and drafting and other mechanical classes."
"I only saw her in a dress once," Sheriff Gardner remembered. "It was during a Christmas pageant at the church. I don't know where she got the dress from."
"Her cousin, Susan," Mrs. Jenkins told him. "I recognized it. It was a bright blue and the belt had rhinestones in a pattern on it. Charlie took one look at her as she walked in with the other children and literally yelled at her to take it off – Right in the middle of the church! The poor child took off running and I don't think anyone in town saw her again for at least a week."
"When she finished high school, despite the fact that she could easily have gained admission to any college she wanted, Sydney went directly to work with Charlie at the grain elevator, and she has been there ever since," Mrs. Jenkins concluded the story. "And, ever since Charlie died about six months ago, she has been running the business all by herself."
"Charlie is dead?" Morgan confirmed.
"An unexpected heart attack, verified by Dr. Chase," Sheriff Gardner explained. "Mainly because of the amount of life insurance money involved. Nothing suspicious there."
"What was Mary doing all this time?" JJ asked curiously.
"Shortly after Missy was killed, Charlie decided that Mary was old enough to look after the house," Mrs. Jenkins replied. "So, she took over all the responsibilities of running the house, as well as looking after Sydney. After she graduated from high school, she took a two year accounting course at the local community college and then began working for Charlie, doing the books for his business. She has dated several young men over the years and, about nine months ago, got engaged to one of them – Marcus Anderson. I believe they are planning on getting married in a couple of weeks."
"Who actually owns the grain elevator business at this point?" Hotch questioned.
"I believe Charlie's will left half of the business to each of his daughters," Detective Wade said thoughtfully. "If Sydney is doing this, do you think it is because of the business?"
"I'm not so sure she wants to keep the business," Mrs. Jenkins reported. "I heard a rumor that there was a small business broker over there last week, valuing the business, and that is something you generally do before selling."
"I heard a rumor that Mary's fiancée wants to take over the grain elevator and run it himself," Sheriff Gardner told her. "And, that would probably involve buying Sydney out."