My Life Had Stood
Chapter 42: Morland Somerfield
Quantico:
Somerfield sat quietly, the agents who had picked him up from the airport leaving the room after his lawyer requested to talk with him alone. His wizened hands were folded on the table in front of him, his demeanor composed. His lawyer - his sister's originally - however wasn't as calm, though he gave the woman credit for maintaining herself publicly.
"Why didn't you come to me weeks ago?" She demanded once the door shut, her teal eyes livid. Unlike Alvarez, who exuded an aura of calmness, this lawyer, Lucille Sands, was feisty with a fiery temper. A temper which had served her well over the years. Somerfield certainly preferred her to Alvarez. "You evading the FBI wasn't the smartest decision."
"I know. Though I trust you to negotiate the best deal." Somerfield replied remaining calm, his eyes roaming over the contours of Sands body. "You are one of the best."
"I could've guaranteed you a better deal if you contacted me weeks ago. Before the FBI had time to investigate." She shook her head, glowering. Her temper however was already cooling down, and she gave the old man a look, having noticed his gaze. "What were you even doing over in Nevada?"
Somerfield merely smiled smugly, before leaning forward.
0
Rossi glowered at the door to the room where Somerfield was meeting with his lawyer, a coffee cup in hand so he had something to occupy him. He'd hoped that something would've delayed the man's lawyer from showing up until after he and his team had a chance to speak to Somerfield. To get him to confess before there was any talk of a deal.
"At least we have him in custody." Morgan offered standing not that far behind the senior agent. JJ and Lewis were close by as well. "He won't be able to hurt any other families or children."
"..." Rossi shook his head, taking a breath as he mulled things over. He hadn't known what to suspect when the old man turned himself in, whether the man would be remorseful or defiant. The smugness in the man's demeanor and the self-assured way he carried himself even as he was escorted by agents, didn't sit right with him. "Why now?"
He turned around to face the three other agents of his team, who each gave him a questioning look.
"Think about it. Somerfield has gotten away with his scheme with the Connells for over thirty years, he even managed to evade the FBI for weeks. Yet he just suddenly gives himself up?" Rossi shook his head, furious and concerned by what kind of motive the older man had. "It's not like he's full of remorse."
"I hear you. It's obvious he believes he has some kind of information that can get him a good deal. Or maybe he thinks we don't have a case against him." Morgan replied, understanding the suspiciousness of this turnaround.
"Then he's clearly misinformed. The team who took over the investigation searched his home and work, along with that of his sister's. They even discovered a storage unit he'd placed in his deceased wife's name. There were files going back to the sixties. Many concerning experiments done on children, mostly orphans or runaways, and much of it was similar to what James said he endured." Lewis crossed her arms as she spoke, wondering if the old doctor was growing senile or just hadn't cared about destroying the evidence. "He's not going to get much of a deal. The charges for illegal experimentation alone will ensure he's locked up for years."
"Yeah. Even if we can't connect him to all of the abductions, he's likely to spend the rest of his life in prison."
"And how long will that be? Ten, maybe fifteen years, seeing he's in his eighties already. While his victims have to live with the effects of his experiments. If they even survived them." Rossi seethed, feeling the urge to storm into the room Somerfield was in and sock the man in the jaw.
"I understand how you feel, it just doesn't seem enough." JJ grimaced, her thoughts on the children and especially what had happened to Rossi's son James. If she had had to endure something like this with either of her sons, she knew she wouldn't be able to stop herself from attacking the one responsible.
"What if...what if he does manage to swing a deal?" Rossi mumbled, voicing the fear he had ever since JJ and Morgan had told him what James had said the other day.
"We won't let him. Nothing could possibly..."
"What if he knows where Jemma is? What if he and the younger Connell did take James and Alsie's daughter?" Rossi scowled, his eyes angry but also fearful. "If he knows where my granddaughter is..."
JJ, Morgan, and Lewis attempted to respond but couldn't. Unable at first to think of a way to reassure their friend. JJ was the first one to manage.
"It...it isn't likely Somerfield knows where she is. The unsub who attacked Alsie and took Jemma did so recklessly and outside of the hospital. If Connell or Somerfield were involved the abduction would likely have matched the other ones. The same M.O worked for twenty-eight other abductions, there wasn't any reason to change it."
Rossi nodded, inhaling in a calming breath. JJ's reasoning made sense and allowed him to fight against the fear of Somerfield getting away with his crimes. Though it didn't help his fear for his granddaughter. Since if Somerfield and Connell hadn't been responsible, then they had no leads at all on Jemma's abduction.
"Agents." Lucille Sands said after opening the door to the meeting room. "My client is ready to talk now." She quipped before reentering the room where Somerfield sat.
Rossi took in a deep breath, ready to finally meet the man who had stolen and hurt his son. The man whose skewed experiments ruined and twisted his son's life and mind.
He approached the room, JJ following him after briefly talking over with Lewis and Morgan about who would be best to join Rossi in the interview with Somerfield.
It didn't take long for the two agents to enter or sit down at the interview room table. The silence of the room following a few brief introductions was suffocating.
Rossi glowered at the man sitting across the table. Morland Somerfield's peppered hair and wrinkled face abhorrent to him. Next to Somerfield sat the doctor's lawyer, Lucille Sands.
"Ms. Sands, we understand that your client is seeking a deal regarding the charges leveled against him, correct?" JJ spoke, sitting down beside Rossi.
"That is correct. And I'd like it duly noted that my client came in willingly and with full intent to cooperate." Sands stood up straight, her teal eyes seeking out those of the senior agent. She stared into Rossi's dark hued eyes, her gaze intense.
"Duly noted." Rossi replied, his face unreadable. "As long as your client cooperates and gives a full confession to the illegal experimentation he conducted on children, and his part in Dr. Connell's abduction and child trafficking scheme..."
"Very well." Sands spoke after a brief pause, noting Somerfield's tilting his head in acquiescence out of the corner of her eye. "In return for his confession, we'll be seeking the minimum sentence to be served in a minimum security facility..."
"No." Rossi bristled, his livid eyes glaring sharply at Somerfield. "After the lives you and the Connells ruined? You deserve nothing less than to spend the rest of your life in a maximum security prison."
Somerfield observed Rossi carefully, while his lawyer protested that unless the terms she put forth were met, there wouldn't be a deal or confession.
"We don't need a confession. We have enough evidence for the illegal experimentation charges to put your client away for life. We also have connected him to at least four of the twenty-eight families Connell sold babies to." Rossi glared across the table, fighting the urge to lunge at the doctor. The man simply stared smugly back at the agent, something that rankled Rossi.
"Only twenty-eight?" Somerfield asked, interrupting his lawyer who'd been on verge to speak. His smug look intensified into a fully confident one when the two agents' eyes widened, not missing the emphasis on the word 'only.'
JJ took in a breath, recovering from the shock quicker than Rossi. The possibility that there'd be more victims that they'd missed had occurred to them. They just hadn't been able to find them. "How many more were there?"
"Hm..." Somerfield pretended to mull over what to answer, teasing the agents with the possibility of not answering. "A half dozen, I suppose, give or take."
"Six children? You'll give us the names of six more children and families Connell victimized?" JJ asked, to which Somerfield tilted his head to say 'yes'.
"Provided the conditions stated earlier are met, my client will give you the names of the six families you haven't found." Lucille Sands said, sitting rigidly in her chair. Her teal eyes watched as Rossi bristled and stood up, glaring at Somerfield.
"...Excuse us for a moment." JJ piped up, noticing how close Rossi was to attacking Somerfield. She motioned for the older man to follow her out of the room, which he ignored at first. She persisted though, and soon she and Rossi both exited the room.
"We can't make that deal." Rossi seethed, able to calm down a little now that Somerfield wasn't in his view. "After all he subjected James to, he thinks he can spend a minimum sentence in a minimum security prison?"
"I feel the same way, I do." JJ started, her arms crossed as she thought. "But, Rossi, six more victims? There are six more families out there whose babies were stolen. Six families who think their children died, and six children going through the same hell as those others Connell sold. We need those names."
"..." Rossi inhaled angrily, not wanting to, but realizing that JJ was right. He understood all too well what the parents of the stolen children were going through. The pain of believing that their babies were dead. Some of the children were likely to be adults by now, but there were possibly others, like Jenna Fletcher, who were teenagers. He paused, considering something that had slipped his mind before. "I know we haven't found any evidence that Kenneth Connell had stolen babies like his uncle Tobias Connell, but..."
JJ nodded, quickly understanding the senior agent. There could be children that the younger Connell stole, children that would likely be young enough that finding them would really make a difference.
"We should make the deal only if Somerfield agrees to give all the names of both doctors' victims. If he leaves even one out...the deal is off the table." JJ said, to which Rossi agreed.
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Alsie trembled at the solitude of the room, Spencer's abrupt and angry departure lingered in her thoughts. Her heart and head pounded, her mind filled with self-deprecating curses. If she'd only been able to explain, perhaps...
She flinched, her head suddenly throbbing. The pain situated around her scarred, right temple. She hissed and rubbed her eyes, trying to steady herself.
Was it her fault? It wasn't, right? Spencer shouldn't have gotten that angry at her, right? She hadn't known for a fact that they...and she still didn't know if it was the truth. Aside from the feeling in her gut. And even that wasn't something she trusted.
'Spencer...' She mumbled, the quiet of the room deafening. Her stomach clenched and she shut her eyes tightly against her surroundings.