"Hey now. What's going on? What's with the gun? Is this a joke? If it's a joke tell Nola it's NOT funny!" Emily says indignantly.
He cocks the gun. "Cut the crap, Agent. Stabler told me all about how you all were asking about me. He told me to run. I think he expected me to leave the area. But, see, I have a job to do. I have to show the public I'm not the monster the press and Salem cops are making me out to be. Here….here they are talking about a vigilante doing a good job cleaning up mistakes made by the cops and the courts."
"Where's Nola, Pace?" Emily asks, letting the persona she'd adopted fall.
He gestures to the cabin. "In there. You're welcome to go see her."
"I don't think so," Emily says. "My guess is you've already killed her and disposed of the body out in the lake."
"Have I? Or do I have her tied up below being my little sex slave?"
Emily stiffens, a rush of rage-filled blood filling her head at the implication. "That's not your style. You rape them and kill them. You don't keep them around."
"Or maybe I'm, what do they call it…escalating? Moving on to torture to increase my pleasure. Come aboard, Agent. Serve and protect Nola."
"Emily, keep his attention on you," Morgan says in her ear.
Emily shakes her head. "No, I don't think she's down there. You don't get off on that kind of sex. Men like you only get off when the woman is dead. It's called necrophilia and all sociopaths like you have it. You can't reach orgasm with a live woman so you fuck a dead one." She shrugs as if he's no big deal to her. "To each their own but I prefer a hot-blooded fuck to a cold-blooded fuck."
The more she had talked the angrier he had gotten. But that's fine because Emily could see Morgan easing along the thin barrier between Nola's boat and the one next to it. She knows JJ has probably taken up a vantage point to give her a shot if it's needed. If all goes well, Morgan and Emily will take out Pace before any shot is fired.
Pace steps closer to Emily. "Get on the boat."
"I can't. He won't let me."
Pace frowns. "Who won't?"
"Me, bastard!" Morgan says.
As Pace spins, Morgan and Emily both leap. They wrestle the man to the ground. The gun goes off, harmlessly blowing a hole in the side of the boat. They are still struggling with him when JJ jumps on board, her gun aimed at the man.
"I believe they want you to stop struggling," she says calmly. Pace looks up to see the barrel of her gun pointing at his head. Her eyes narrow. "In case you're wondering, yeah, I will take the shot."
Pace sees something in her eyes that tells him she's not bluffing. He stills and Morgan knocks the weapon away from them as Emily cuffs the man. They quickly pat him down and also remove a 7" folding knife from one of his pockets. Just as they finish, the local cops arrive. As they stand him up, they see Pace is about the same height as JJ, which also fits with their profile of a shorter than average killer. He leers at Emily.
"I'd have made you scream better than any man ever has."
Emily raises an eyebrow. "No chance. You're too short to make me scream."
She shoves him to the officers who drag him up on the docks. Morgan joins them to read Pace his rights and call Hotch. Emily turns and sees JJ glaring at her.
"Uh, what? Fuck, Jen, I swear I would have never gotten on the boat with him."
"Oh, I know that," the miffed agent snorts.
Emily frowns. "Then, uh, what's wrong?"
JJ steps right up to her wife. "That bastard is the same height as me. You'll pay for that 'short' comment, woman. Count on it."
Emily slowly grins as she sees the mischievous sparkle in her wife's eye. "I look forward to the punishment, mistress," she whispers as they both start to giggle. After a minute, Emily looks around. "Come on: let's take a quick look around. Unless Nola really is out of town I have a feeling this boat is a crime scene."
JJ nods sadly. "Yeah, I bet it is."
A brief tour of the houseboat reveals no Nola…but a rather large stain in the galley that is most likely blood. As they exit the cabin, Morgan is waiting for them.
"Nola Stabler?"
"Not here. Large stain that looks like blood inside. If she was here when he showed up her body is probably in the lake," Emily reports.
"Damn. Well we need to head back to the station. Emily, he says he'll talk about all the cases, both here and in Salem but he'll only talk to you."
Emily nods. "I had a feeling he'd say that after this confrontation. Let's get back and see what Hotch has to say."
"Sounds good. By the way, good job up there, partner. You kept your head when he…well…insinuated…you know…"
Emily smiles and squeezes Morgan's arm. "Because I knew you and Jen were here for me. I never doubted for a minute that you would keep him off of me."
"You're damn right. Let's go."
The three agents head for the SUV, eager to get this case finished so they can go home.
Hotch turns as he feels someone approaching him from behind. He sees two men who could only be the cops from Salem approaching. He extends his hand.
"Captain Fred Meadows? SSA Aaron Hotchner."
The older man nods and shakes the offered hand. "Good to meet you. This is Detective Ivan Caruthers. He's been after this ass for months."
"Well, he's promised to confess everything to Agent Prentiss. Luckily she's one of the agents that looked over your files so she should know fairly quickly if he's lying about anything. To be safe, she'll be wearing an earbud so we can communicate with her if necessary."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but he's a rapist. Will she be safe with him?" Caruthers asks.
Hotch stiffens. "Agent Prentiss is quite capable of handling anything thrown at her. Even if he wasn't going to be cuffed and chained to the interview table she would be perfectly fine. Unlike his victims, she knows who and what he is. And she will use that knowledge to get him to confess to everything he did in Salem and Portland."
Meadows frowns. "How do you know he'll confess? He could just string her along; string us all along."
"He won't because he's a narcissist at heart. He's proud of what he's done, he knows he's caught, and he will want credit for everything."
"Why does he want Prentiss to take his confession?"
"Because he didn't get the response from her he wanted. He wanted her to be scared or repulsed by him. Those responses give him power. He will use this time to try to drive her to react in the way he needs her to; he wants her to be his last victim."
"Will it work?" Meadows presses.
Hotch smiles. "Trust me when I say Agent Prentiss has seen and experienced things in her life that Pace can't even imagine. She won't even break a sweat with this guy."