Chapter 10
Ft. Drum Military Reservation
New York state
October 2011
Emily hooked up with Andi Swan, and they returned to the Parson Farm building. "Hey, Five," Emily called to her guide from earlier.
"Emily!" The girl looked up from where she was helping with the evening meal and greeted her with a sunny smile. "Did you hear? We're spending the night here!"
"Oh, really?"
"They said it wasn't safe to go back yet, we're going home after breakfast. What an adventure!"
"I know." Emily looked around. "Have you seen 2711? I need to talk to her."
Five looked around at the people in the room. "Um, no, I haven't seen her all day."
"Okay. I'll go look for her." Emily's first stop was with the liaison. "Sergeant Hern, is everyone off Parson Farm?"
"Evacuated out, yes. Foreman sent a small crew back with my men an hour ago to settle the farm animals in for the night but they're accounted for. Why?"
"Has 2711 been processed?"
Hern turned to his computer. "Um...no, no one with that identification came through here. They might have gone to one of the other buildings by mistake, literacy has been a problem."
"Not this time. She's one of the teachers."
"Really? I'll check the other buildings anyway, and with medical. Do you have a description?"
"I'll go ask your friend for one." Andi said.
"Why do you want to find her?" Hern asked.
"We think she might be a witness to a particular incident."
"There's a laundry list of those."
"This one involving a Federal Agent."
"Ahhh, that makes sense." He checked his computer. "No, she hasn't gone through any of the other buildings. Are you sure she even exists?"
"My guide said she did. Who has the records they found?"
"One of the techs at Quantico was taking point on that."
"And I can guess which one. Thank you." Emily pulled her phone out. "Hey Garcia."
"Hey lady."
"Have you transcribed those records yet?"
"All of them? Not even. It's going to take days; there is a ton of data."
"Damn. How far have you gotten with Parson Farm?"
"Oh, you are lucky. Parson Farm is the only one that kept digital records; we have all of them up and ready to go."
A lucky break at last. "What can you tell me about 2711?"
"2711...she's 21, she was acquired when she was seven, poor kid...according to this she was tutored by another slave, who looks to be the former schoolmaster, then apprenticed to that slave...and then she was given the job of schoolmistress when that slave died of natural causes three years ago."
"So Parson was paying her special attention?"
"From the looks of it. There's a note in here that someone named J. Duncan was to see Parson about her assignment."
"Who is J. Duncan? What assignment, it sounds like she already had work."
"The head Overseer. He's in custody. And I have no idea."
"I might go talk to him then. Thanks Garcia."
Andi came back about then. "According to Five, and confirmed by some of the other women, 2711 is Caucasian, under four-ten, under a hundred pounds, and brown eyes."
"Man, she's tiny! And no one has seen her?"
"No one I've talked to so far."
There was one other person to ask. Emily headed to a nexus of activity. "Excuse me, Housekeeper?"
The woman was very efficiently keeping everything running. But when she saw who was calling she gave them her full attention. "Yes?"
"I need to speak to 2711. Have you seen her?"
Housekeeper had lived on the island since the beginning. She'd been thirteen when she got there, and now, at 45, she'd lived a lifetime of hiding her true feelings to pacify her captors. But Emily was a well-trained profiler; she saw the flash of fear and concern that crossed the older woman's eyes. "I'm sure she's here somewhere." She answered calmly.
Damn. "Housekeeper, she's not in any trouble. None of you are. And the people who have been tormenting you are in prison, you're safe now. We just need to talk to her for a few minutes, that's all."
Housekeeper looked at her for a long moment, and then at the others around them before nodding them over to the side. "Some things you need to leave alone."
"But..."
"Foreman and I know what's going to happen. We know what you have to do."
Wait a minute. "We?"
"Just leave it alone for now. Give them a little time." With that Housekeeper walked off.
"What was that about?" Andi asked.
"I don't know. But my hunch tells me that Reid is in the middle of it. And he's not talking."
"Look." Andi nodded to where Housekeeper was talking to Foreman. Foreman looked at them and then they both went to talk to the others, spreading the word. "We're being stonewalled. Now what?"
"First we find that girl." Emily went back to Hern. "Someone's missing." She said.
"2711?"
"She might be back on the island somewhere." She gave Hern the description. "We need to find her. And I don't think these people are going to help."
"I'll have the men on it."
"Thank you." Emily turned to Andi. "I think we should head to the island, see if the scene tells us anything. In the morning we try the Unsubs."
Candlewood Suites
Watertown NY
Outside Ft. Drum Military Reservation
Morgan hadn't intended to ask Spencer anything today. His memory would hold, that wasn't an issue, and whatever it was it was clear that when his little brother got too close to it he couldn't hold it together anymore.
But now someone was missing, and that changed things. So when Spencer came out Morgan looked. "2711." He said.
Spencer stopped in his tracks. A look of fear crossed his face, followed by a wave of guilt, which ended in dull resignation as he sank into a chair and rested his head in his hands. Morgan could see the weight he was carrying then; it was nearly bowing him in two. "I...fucked up." Spencer admitted quietly, "Probably twice now."
He fucked up. This might explain it. But Morgan wasn't going to make any assumptions now. "Any way we can fix it?"
"Part of it. The rest..." Spencer couldn't look at him. "The Bureau is going to fire me." He said. "You should all hate me."
"Is this worse than what happened after Hankel?" Because they didn't hate him or fire him when he was using. How much worse could this be?
"I think so." Spencer blinked as another thought came to him. "I'm clean. It's not that."
Uh oh. "That's good. You know, the rest of us might disagree with you." But that didn't help. "First things first." There was no way to ask this gently. "Are we looking for a body?"
"No." He slumped even lower.
"Then where is she?"
"Hiding." Morgan saw that defensive wall go up in his little brother's eyes. "I already hurt her once, Morgan. I know she's going to be hurt again by the questions everyone needs to ask. She deserves at least one night of freedom before that happens."
Oh hell. "You hurt her?" Whatever he did that was what was eating Spencer alive. The Spencer Reid he knew would never deliberately harm anyone. "And you think she's safer out there?"
"I tried to go get her."
Wait, what? "You tried to go get her? When?"
For a moment the older Spencer peeked through. "You really thought I needed a two-hour nap at nine in the morning? I stole your keys and went back to the island for her."
Son of a... "Okay, okay, stop. Don't worry about the Bureau right now, we can work around that." He was trying to keep her out of the system. Morgan wasn't sure he could blame him for that; the system could be a nightmare. "Emily is on her way there, let's have her go get her and bring her here and we'll figure it out. No matter what happened you're not losing us." Morgan pulled out his phone.
"She deserves one night Morgan." And with that Spencer shut down completely.
Son of a bitch.
Parson Plantation
Grindstone Island
St. Lawrence River
New York state
"Okay, so where would he hide her?" Emily asked Andi
"Well, she's a teacher. Did we actually clear the schoolhouse?"
The schoolhouse. It was a good call, Emily thought, the last place they would go to look for evidence. And the schoolmaster was an Agent, if he said the building was empty they'd take him at his word.
Emily got out of the car and walked up the hill, her following the well-worn path in the grass. She opened the door and walked into a room of rough desks and simple blackboards. And at the front a pile of books on the teacher's desk. There was a figure sitting there, a woman little bigger than a girl who's feet did not quite touch the floor and who was intent on her reading. When she heard their steps she looked up, surprised.
Emily smiled. "Hello Teacher."