Chapter 10

Hopes and Truth

Hi! Sorry for the time it took! I'll try to be faster with the next chapter.

Gideon immediately called Garcia while Reid was driving, they might have their killer now.

"Yes sir?"

"Garcia, I need you to find a man named William Curly, send every information to Hotch, tell him it's highly probable that this guy is our killer."

"Okay, I do it right now."

He hung up and looked at Reid who seemed agitated; he could understand that, he was too. They were close to resolve a case which was really old and important to his protégée. But more of all, they would arrest someone dangerous for children; he despised child killers or rapists. A moment after, he received a call from Garcia:

"Yes?"

"I found him sir, he lives on 5 Mapple Road. Hotch and the rest went to the house already."

"Good."

He hung up and didn't make Reid wait, he was obviously impatient to know:

"5 Mapple Road, does that sound familiar to you?"

The young man paled when he heard this.

"I know where it is...It's out of the town but not that far. So he wasn't far from us..."

"You had no way to know, you were too young at the time."

"But he was so close..."

"I know, it's often the case."

They didn't say anything else after that, Reid focusing on the road and Gideon thinking. Meanwhile, Hotch, Elle and Emily were heading toward the house with several police officers and the Sheriff. Morgan and JJ weren't back yet but they had all the support which was needed. They parked before the small house, it was a little old but it seemed all nice and calm like this, with its walls painted in fair green and the plain but fine garden. Who could have guessed that the man living here had bought a child? His car was parked before the house, hinting that he was certainly here. Emily was breathing heavily, when she had heard what Reid and Gideon learned, it had been a shock: Gary's mother had sold him to a man, and they simulated a kidnapping! Now she was before his house, the last step to find her long lost friend. The mystery that taunted her, Jordan and Spencer for years would soon be resolved, it was as if she was standing at the edge of a cliff and preparing herself to jump.

The agents and officers surrounded the house, some going at the back and others at the front, doing this as silently as possible. Hotch had his gun pointed out while the Sheriff kicked the front door. They all ran inside, checking every corner, no one was in the living room. Emily and Elle were in the kitchen already and yelled RAS. They went to the other rooms and after long minutes, realised that no one was here. Yet the car was still parked near the house, so where was William Curly?

Emily was agitated and frustrated now, when she had heard they found the man she really thought she was going to get some answer, that they would find him and hopefully find Gary alive. Yet it seemed like there was nothing here.

"GARY?!" She yelled almost desperately.

She called him twice, and she felt Elle's hand on her shoulder. She smiled sympathetically to her, telling her she was sorry but he wasn't here obviously.

"Maybe there is a secondary location..."

"I'll ask Garcia," Hotch offered.

"Hey wait, look at this!"

They all turned toward an officer who had just lifted a small carpet from the floor: a trapdoor was here, hidden underneath the piece of cloth. It had a round metal handle, Emily's guts constricted: here, it was here that Gary had been imprisoned, she was sure of it, and maybe he was still here!

"I felt the handle under my boot, which was luck," explained the man.

"Okay, we'll cover you, open it."

They all surrounded the trap door, their gun and torches pointed out just in case. A cop opened it.

"Police!"

No response, however the light of the torches showed a body on the floor, the person who seemed to be a man wasn't moving and a foul smell was emitting from the basement. They descended with precautions; lightening every angles possible in the room to be sure no one was hidden here. Hotch and Emily checked the body, the man was dead and it was surely William Curly. While two cops inspected the corpse, everyone else was checking the room: it was obviously a prison. There was a mattress on the ground with a blanket, a small toilet and a sink, and some books, toys, notebooks and pens sprawled on the floor. A child's prison. Yet it wasn't the stuff here that really caught their attention, but the writings and drawings on the walls, there were many sentences written and most of them broke Emily's heart when she read those:

Why did it have to be me?

I hope my friends are okay

Jordan, Spencer, Emily, I'm not dead yet!

I hate my mom, that fucking slut will burn in hell!

I want to see my friends again. When will I see them again?

I want to leave that place

A monster lies here, when will someone slay it?

Why can't monsters leave us alone?

I hope my friends will be happy. Spencer, Jordan, Emily, I love you all.

This last one almost brought tears in her eyes, she wished so much they had found him long ago, she wished she could have comforted him, tell him everything would be okay now, she imagined him writing those things on the walls and it was unbearable. She looked at some drawings and saw portraits of monsters but also portraits of four children, who vaguely looked like them as kids. They represented surrounded by trees, smiling. Gary said once he wished they all lived in the forest, away from adults and monsters. She looked at the corpse again and felt disgust, not at the fact it had already started to rot, but because she was aware of how this man made her friend suffer.

"No trace of Gary," Elle said gently, "maybe he moved him."

"Maybe he killed him," Emily answered gravely.

"We have to inspect this place," Hotch declared and turned to the cops, "inspect the garden and the rest of the house, we will inspect this room. And I want one of you to call a forensic team."

They all did as they were told and exited the prison. Te team's chief turned to Emily, she was maintaining a composed face but her eyes were betraying her. She looked at the stuff Gary was keeping while Elle was looking at the corpse. Hotch went at Emily's side, saying nothing, just sharing her work. He took a notebook and opened it: the first page showed a picture of four children in a garden, smiling happily. He showed it to Emily.

"It's you?"

He saw amazement and emotion invading her face.

"Yes, it's...the farmer who proposed us to work for him who took it one day, he was really nice. Gary kept it. It's the first time I see it since..."

She stopped talking and turned away, Aaron knew she was holding back some tears and wasn't sure if he should try and comfort her. She was obviously proud, she wouldn't want to cry before people she barely knew and comforting her would only bring those tears. Maybe he would wait to be in another place. He heard his phone ring, and saw it was Gideon.

"Jason?"

"So, did you find them?"

"Curly's dead, and we didn't find Gary, but he was obviously here."

"What? You mean you don't know where he is?"

"No, not yet. We are inspecting the house, where are you?"

"We're close, we'll be here soon."

"Okay."

He hung up and they continued to look at the stuff here. The cops found Curly's driver license and thanks to the fact his face was still recognizable enough, they were sure that it was really him. Soon enough, the team of forensics came in, followed closely by Reid and Gideon. Spencer was walking in a trance like state, when he looked at the wall, all colours left his face. Emily went to him immediately, put a hand on his shoulder and showed him the picture on the notebook. He looked at it with tired and empty eyes, and then turned to Emily.

"He never stopped thinking about us...When I think that sometimes I wished to forget..."

"I did too. It's normal Spencer. Now focus," she instructed gently. "We are close to discovering the truth."

He nodded and began to inspect along with the others. Elle gave him a sympathetic smile and approached him.

"You'll be alright?"

"Yes...I'm fine."

He was lying obviously but it seemed like he wasn't about to open up to her. He looked around the sink and toilets, to see if Gary had hidden something or not. He found nothing, and soon, felt as if the room was smothering him. He looked at the others and then realised something:

"Did anyone tell Jordan about this?"

"I called Morgan, he certainly told her," Hotch said, "He is coming."

"What about JJ?"

"She is staying, she still has works to do, she'll have to contact the press soon about the case."

"I think I should help the cops upstairs, you don't need me here."

"Alright, tell us if you find anything."

He nodded and went upstairs, he couldn't handle to imagine Gary here, his friend had been through hell, he was sure of that. He worked without paying attention to the cops, not caring about what they whispered or the looks on him. They didn't matter much, he would just do his work.

Time passed, Morgan joined them. As time went by, some cops were allowed to go home. Sheriff McFerson decided to take some rest, even though the agents would continue, not that he was really tired, but the sight of Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss was beginning to be hard to handle. His drive home seemed incredibly long.

When he passed the door, the Sheriff didn't know if he was glad to be divorced or not. If his wife was still around, she would have asked questions that he didn't want to answer. Since the feds came, he had faced one of his worse shames, seeing Emily Prentiss, Jordan Todd and more especially Spencer Reid, the kid he had refused to believe years ago. At the time he was a narrow-minded man, to him women couldn't be rapists, and a kid with a father who cleaned corpses was certainly slightly deranged. Plus this kid didn't look trustworthy to him; at the time he tended to strongly dislike those he would call the smartasses. To him those kinds of people were just good to read useless books and poison people's minds with ideas which were going against society and America's values and didn't know anything about hard work. He appreciated much more athletic, neat and hard-working people.

When he had seen Spencer Reid, he looked very much like one of those smartasses, all skin and bones, with his glasses, his neglected look and the way he moved his hands while talking and the way he would speak so quickly. He had already seen the kid and never really liked him, so when he came here, to accuse a poor, hard-working single mother of something women couldn't do anyway, he had definitely refused to consider that it could be true. At the time, he had thought that he had taken the right decision, but when another kid had complained, and then others, and the truth about Mary was discovered, he had been destroyed. He had let a paedophile hurt children, and it's not as if no one ever gave him a hint! The first time he had seen Spencer Reid after that, he hadn't seen the smartass anymore, just a kid who had trusted him to help and had been betrayed. The girls had looked at him the same way, probably because their friend told them. This revelation made him reconsider a lot of his ideas and believes.

Now that he knew that Mary had sold her child he regretted even more. If he had believed Spencer, if he had taken Gary away, his mother would have never sold him to that man. When he had seen his prison and the writing on the wall he had felt heartbroken and guilty, imagining everything the child went through. He hated himself at this moment, more than ever, that's why he was somehow glad to be divorced. Yet, having his wife around would have provided him some company; he wouldn't have been alone in this house with his regrets and self-hatred. Maybe he could call his son? Maybe he would accept to take a drink with him, plus Tyler knew how to respect people's private life, he wouldn't be forced to talk about everything that was happening if he didn't want to.

He took his phone and called Tyler, only to hear his voice mail. It was okay, if he didn't see him now, maybe later. He just left a message for him:

"Hey son, I...I thought we could see each other maybe for a drink...Hum, well call me when..."

Before he could finish his sentence he heard a noise in his house which stopped him immediately. He hung up the phone and went for his gun. Maybe he wasn't that alone after all. It happened once, some junkie tried to scare him by breaking into his house. When they had seen him with his gun however they had ran away like crazy. He was pretty sure this time wouldn't be different.

With his gun pointed he walked slowly, it was almost natural for him. He checked the kitchen quickly to see that no one was here and went in the corridor. He checked a closet and closed it, no one here. He kicked his room open and inspected it to see that no one was here either. Only four doors were left: the bathroom at his right, the toilets at his left, and at the end of the corridor the guest room and the laundry. If someone was here, it was necessarily in one of those rooms. He went for the bathroom first, opened the door with a kick and went in with his gun. One quick look showed him that no one was here. Everything seemed calm. He began to wonder if he wasn't slightly paranoid, after all maybe it was just some noises, the wood was old, and sometimes it could be noisy for no reason.

He thought about that when he heard someone running and before he could turn round and point his gun someone tackled him off the ground, making him let go of his gun when his head hit the bathtub in the fall. He wasn't knocked out yet, and he saw a figure above him with a white mask. The person went to stab him with a big knife but the Sheriff caught his wrist and pushed him to the side using all his strength and weight, and the attacker fell on the ground. He punched him, the blow made the hold on the knife lessen and McFerson took it and threw it at the other side of the room.

He went for his gun when a hand viciously gripped his hair and pulled his head back, stopping him from taking his weapon. He tried to get the fingers out of his hair while pinning the attacker's wrist on the ground, until he received a knee in the crotch, hard. This made him yell out and the other ripped his wrist off his hold to hit his ear hard which made him fall, losing all his balance. The attacker got away from him and tried to stand but the Sheriff reacted and tackled him against the wall, near the sink. He was about to punch him when the person took the glass on the sink he used to wash his teeth every day and smashed it in his face. This made the policeman fall, shards of glasses planted in his face, one eye bleeding heavily. The attacker ran to his knife, grabbed it, and when the Sheriff tried to get up, he used all strength to plunge it into his neck. A gargling scream went out of his mouth. The killer took the knife out and watched the man dying, his blood flowing out of his body.

When the man died, he began the first part of his work, it was quite exhausting but he eventually did it. Once he was finished he dragged the man to the freezer for the last part. Once it was done, he closed the freezer and let a letter on it, one he had written with all his heart. His next surprise had asked him a lot of energy but it was definitely worth it. He wondered when they would discover his new surprise, and hoped they would like this present. He was sure Emily appreciated his last one; she must have felt as if she was in Whitechapel.

With this work accomplished, he exited the house, and ran away in the night.

Hope you enjoyed! Please review!