My Life Had Stood
Chapter 36: To Comprehend a Nectar
James glared at the prison guard as he was handcuffed to the table to await his visitors. Apparently the prison staff thought him too dangerous to not be shackled. Though he supposed attacking the on-call prison psychiatrist during a check-in that afternoon wasn't smart.
To be fair, that bastard had made a comment that he couldn't leave unpunished.
He waited quietly as the door opened again and in stepped his visitors. His lips twitched as he caught sight of the woman agent, and then her companion. His eyes gleamed as he recognized Morgan from his arrest and sequential interrogation.
"Ah." James mumbled, focusing on the other man. He barely even glanced at JJ who sat down next to Morgan. "I wondered how long it'd take before you came to question me again."
"James Wag..." Morgan started to speak, only to be interrupted by the other man.
"Rossi. James Rossi. Call me that." James goaded, smirking at the way Morgan seemed to flinch at the name. It was obvious the other agent still had difficulty reconciling his connection to David Rossi.
"All right." JJ jumped in after glancing at Morgan, who seemed stuck between playing James' game or barging out of the room. She too felt shocked at the way the other man insisted on using that name. He hadn't before. "James Rossi...we're here to ask you some questions."
James stared at JJ, his dark eyes narrowed.
The next moment he smirked and leaned back, hindered only by the way his arms were handcuffed to the table top. His body language was clear - he had no intention of answering any questions, and had only agreed to this questioning to mess with them. "Ask away."
Morgan glowered at the man across from him, but refrained from reacting to the attitude by reminding himself of who James was. And that he was here in order to help figure out who had taken Alsie's baby - Rossi's granddaughter.
"James," JJ continued after sharing a look with Morgan. "...we're here to ask about your daughter, and her mother Allison Schmidt..."
James immediately tensed, his eyes gleaming. He glared at JJ, then at Morgan, studying both agents with a renewed vehemence. It was clear that, whatever the man had thought they'd come to question him about, this was not it. Nor was it welcomed.
"There's nothing to ask about. They're gone." James spoke after a moment, his tone no longer goading. Nor sarcastic. Instead it was angry and cold, as were his eyes. "...dead."
"No, they're not." JJ replied, searching the thirty-six year-old's face. His eyes were filled with loathing, but for once he seemed not to be enjoying himself.
"...you're lying. They died three years ago."
Morgan shook his head. "Alsie survived the accident, as well as the injection you gave her when you visited her in the hospital."
JJ and Morgan watched as James reacted to the information, that Alsie had survived and that they knew what he'd tried to do. His eyes widened and he leaned forward, staring at his bound hands. His eyes remained locked on his hands, but without seeing them for a moment or two. He then slowly shifted his eyes back to the two agents.
"...what about Jem?" He asked, the glower he had had shifting into more of a concerned gaze. He fidgeted with the chain binding his hands to the table.
"Gem?" Morgan repeated the new name, trying to fathom who the other man referred to. His surprise at James' change in demeanor stopped him from making the connection until after the other man replied.
"Our daughter. Jemma. With a J not G...That's her name...well, what it was supposed to be anyway..." James returned to staring at his hands, refusing to look at either agent.
"...we haven't found her, but we're looking." JJ said, her tone instinctively changing into a reassuring one after hearing how deaden James' sounded. It was evident that he had already given up on finding his daughter, and expected them to deliver news of her death.
"James..." Morgan spoke, his earlier frustration at the other man's attitude significantly less. Though it was possible he was faking it, the deadened tone in his voice matched that of a few other parents Morgan had dealt with over the years. Parents he knew cared about their missing children, but who had given up hope. Or had it taken away by confirmation of death.
"...go on, gloat. Like you want to." James suddenly spat, glaring across the table at Morgan. The latter flinched in surprise, the next moment shaking his head.
"Why would either of us gloat?" JJ asked, her expression confused and concerned.
"...because I couldn't protect my child either..." James replied, picking and scratching at his fingernails. His eyes however were still on the two agents across from him. "...I couldn't protect either of them."
Morgan's eyes widened. The tone of voice James used as well as what he said, unexpected. It was more than remorse or regret. It sounded like guilt. "...James, do you know who took your daughter?"
James didn't respond, but only shifted his gaze back to his hands.
"James, if you want to help your daughter. To help Jemma, you need to answer our questions." JJ spoke, and then repeated Morgan's question. "Do you know the man who took your daughter? Who took Jemma?"
James shifted his eyes back to the two agents, but otherwise didn't respond. Not for a few seconds. His gaze flitted from one agent to the other, as though trying to figure out what they were thinking. "...have you found Somerfield?"
"Not yet. But we're looking for him." JJ replied, while considering whether to mention that he hadn't answered their question. "Trust us, we're going to find him and make sure he answers for everything he's done to you, and to all the others he and Connell took."
"..." James scowled, but didn't reply. Just picked at his fingernails, which seemed close to bleeding from the subconscious abuse.
"Ja..." JJ was about to re-ask their earlier question but stopped, an idea occurring to her. "...do you think Dr. Somerfield took your daughter?"
James stopped abusing his fingernails and glared at JJ. "Who else would it have been? He wanted her. From the moment Kenneth Connell told him about Alsie's pregnancy, he wanted her."
"Somerfield knew about your and Schmidt's daughter?" Morgan asked, his gut feeling like it'd been punched. Beside him, JJ glowered while thinking about Somerfield, her motherly instincts strengthening her disgust for the horrendous man who dared to call himself a doctor.
"Yeah, he knew. Connell said as much when he called." James narrowed his eyes, his nails pressing fiercely into his palms, enough that it seemed likely he'd break the skin. He suddenly stopped however and glanced at his hands, as though only then noticing the pain.
The two agents shared a look, concerned. Both by James' self-injurious behavior and by what he had just said.
"Kenneth Connell called you? When was this, James?"
"Alsie was at an obstetrics appointment." James replied in a low voice, not looking at either agent but rather at his hands. Specifically at the reddened indentations his nails had made in his palm, then at the swollen skin around his picked at nails. "It was her second appointment that week, she was paranoid. She didn't want to have another miscarriage." James fell silent, his brow furrowing. It took a few more moments before it became obvious that he wasn't going to continue.
Morgan studied James quietly, what the other man just said not quite adding up. "Why did Connell call you, James? He was Somerfield's partner, why would he warn you that Somerfield was going to take your daughter?"
"It wasn't a warning." James replied, glowering at the other man. His voice laced with bitterness and an undercurrent of anger. "It was a game. An experiment, just like all the others. He wanted to see what I would do. Who I would choose."
"Choose?" JJ repeated the word, a sickening feeling growing in her gut. She glanced at Morgan, who seemed to have also realized what choice Somerfield and Connell had forced James to make.
"Whether I would give him my daughter or kill her mother..." James continued before either of the agent could form their question into words.
"That sorry son of a..." Morgan cursed, while JJ scowled and pursed her lips. Though she mentally cursed Somerfield, the fact that James had tried to kill Alsie hadn't escaped her.
"You picked Jem..." JJ whispered, only to have James interrupt.
"No. No." James denied, shaking his head violently, his face and voice intense. "I didn't. I cou...I refused to choose. Refused to play his game. Not with what was mine. Not with Alsie or Jem."
"Then what did you do? Connell clearly threatened you, and your family. You did try to protect them, right?"
James scowled at Morgan. "I...went back. Back to that bastard's institute." He paused while across from him the two agents shared a look, one that asked if they should question the man what he'd expected to accomplish. James saw and read the look, his eyes narrowing. "I planned on making sure that bastard knew he couldn't bully me anymore. I was done being his guinea pig."
"...Were you planning to kill him?"
James glowered at the two agents, but didn't answer. Not even after JJ repeated the question.
"James..."
"What I planned on doing, isn't relevant." James spat, his dark eyes vehement. "That place was abandoned when I got there. Some sort of fire had burned it to ruins a year or so before, according to the locals. Somerfield wasn't there anymore."
"What did you do then, James?"
"..." James stiffened, his expression pure hatred. "What do you think? I looked for him. Then not long after, I heard what happened to Alsie. I knew then. I knew. Connell must have called to get me to leave."
"All right." Morgan said after a short silence descended on the room. He thanked James for cooperating and then motioned for the guards to return the man back to his cell.
It wasn't until James had been escorted out of the room, that either agent spoke.
"Do you believe him? About Connell and Somerfield taking Jemma?"
"Maybe. But why not wait until Alsie went into the hospital to give birth, like with all the other children they stole? Attacking her and ripping her child from her is such a different M.O." JJ answered and shook her head, her arms crossed. "Not to mention it's much more dangerous. To both the mother and the baby."
"Maybe that was the point." Morgan mumbled, feeling sickened by the thought that had occurred to him. "Maybe Connell or Somerfield wanted to punish James for not choosing? For not playing their sick game."
JJ glared at Morgan, shaking her head. "No. Unless we find proof that Alsie and James' daughter died...I'm not giving up on finding Jemma. For Rossi's sake. And for Alsie's."
"I hear you." Morgan agreed. "But what happened to Schmidt doesn't make sense then. Connell and Somerfield were still getting away with their scheme, so they would've waited until Alsie went into labor."
"Maybe they didn't want to wait. Or maybe James is wrong, and someone else took Jemma?"
"That would be one hell of a coincidence. Someone takes the child after Connell gives James that ultimatum?" Morgan mulled things over, he and JJ starting on their way out of the prison. "Do you think Schmidt knew? About Somerfield or about Connell's call to James?"
"I don't know. If she knew, why didn't she doubt the hospital when told her daughter was dead?" JJ asked, a question to which Morgan had no answer.