Here's chapter 15, sorry chapters have been so spread out lately, I'll try to post with some regularity from now on.
Emily and Morgan quietly walked up to the front door of the Dayton household, they had gotten to Aquia Harbor just a few minutes before, and the entire team was surrounding the house to arrest Helen. They all had their weapons drawn as a few members of the swat team followed each pair of agents. JJ and Rossi went to the side door and Hotch and Reid went to the back, in case Helen tried to leave the house.
"Everyone in their positions?" Hotch asked.
Emily could hear him through the commlink. "Yes. Morgan and I are on the porch with a few of the S.W.A.T. guys."
"We've got the east side," Rossi relayed. "We're in position."
"Good," Hotch replied. "I want everyone to stay together; do not split up under any circumstance. Prentiss, you knock first, see if we can get her out without storming in."
"Understood." Emily raised her fist and pounded on the front door. "Helen Morris!" she yelled. "FBI! Open up!"
There was silence on the other side of the door. Emily pounded again. "Helen Morris, FBI! Open up!"
There was still no answer or sound of any kind from the other side of the door, so Emily turned to speak into her comm. Link. "Hotch, there's no one answering; I can't even hear anything from inside the house."
"Let's go in," Hotch ordered. Emily and Morgan moved aside for the S.W.A.T. team to bust the door down, she could faintly hear the same thing happening in other parts of the house. Two by two, they filed in, guns at the ready, checking each room. Shouts of 'Clear!" came from around the mansion.
"The west wing is clear," Reid's voice came just as Emily and Morgan entered the kitchen. Standing next to the sink was Nicole. Her hands hidden, the agents stood their ground, weapons drawn.
Nicole turned in confusion as she put a knife in the drainer. "What's going…?" she began
"Nicole, drop the knife, put your hands on your head where I can see them, and step back. Now," Emily commanded. Nicole immediately did as she was told, but whipped around in fright as Hotch and Reid came into the kitchen through a side door.
"Oh my God!" Nicole screamed in surprise.
"Get the knives," Emily told Reid. Turning toward the frightened young girl, she warned, "Nicole, I'm going to have to bring you out to the living room, okay? Let's go."
"Agent Prentiss, what's going on?" Nicole asked as she walked from the kitchen to the living room.
Emily guided Nicole over to the couch. "Nicole, we're going to have to bring you in."
"Why?" Nicole asked, her hands were still on her head and she looked scared. Tears threatened to fall.
"We believe that your mother has been the one stabbing women and that she is responsible for the death of Annalise Sinatra and Kenna Wright." Emily took in a breath as Nicole shook her head silently as if to say that the evidence had to be wrong.
Now came the hard part; she couldn't believe that she was going to have to read Nicole her Miranda rights. Nicole was only fifteen! Emily highly doubted that Nicole even knew that she'd been destroying possible evidence, but if Nicole did know? Then letting her go could result in letting a serial killer back onto the streets due to a technicality.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand each of these rights as I have explained them to you?"
Nicole nodded, it seemed like she'd been scared silent.
"I'm going to have to handcuff you Nicole," Emily explained as she got out her handcuffs.
"I can't go outside in front of my friends in handcuffs!" Nicole seemed to have found her voice now. "Please. I'll be good. I promise."
Emily looked at Nicole, the poor girl was scared stiff, and it was clear to her that Nicole hadn't knowingly helped Helen with the killings or the stabbings. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I'll have to ask my Unit Chief but I don't see a problem with that," Emily said kindly. "Your hands need to stay on your head though."
Nicole nodded and made sure her hands were still visible on her head.
"Hotch," Emily said as Hotch and Reid came out with Helen in handcuffs.
"…If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you," Reid was reading the woman her rights as they walked through the living room.
"Could I take her out," Emily gestured to Nicole, "and put the handcuffs on her in the car?"
Hotch looked from Helen to Nicole. "Make sure she keeps her hands on her head."
Nicole nodded vigorously as she stood up and was escorted by Emily and Morgan out to one the SUV's. Once Nicole was in and had her seat belt on, Emily put the handcuffs on her.
"Emily?" Nicole's voice was soft, almost tearful.
"You shouldn't say anything right now Nicole," Emily warned. "We're going to get you a guardian ad litem for you to talk to once we get back to Quantico. If you have anything to say, save it until you can talk to her."
Nicole nodded. Emily shut the door. JJ got in the back passenger seat of the SUV Helen was in and the rest of the agents went back to the other vehicles.
Emily and Morgan got back into their vehicle and started the short drive back to Quantico. As they drove, Emily called social services to see about getting a guardian ad litem for Nicole. "If at all possible, I'd like for the guardian to be female," she specified.
"We'll have one to you by four thirty," the woman on the other end of the line promised. Emily glanced at the clock; it was a 3:45.
"Thank you." They both hung up and Emily leaned back in her seat; this case couldn't end soon enough.
Once at the BAU, the team got Helen and Nicole into separate interrogation rooms. Until the lawyer and guardian ad litem arrived, they couldn't talk to either of the Morris women.
"Once the lawyer gets here, I want Morgan and Rossi to interrogate Helen," Hotch said. He turned to JJ. "Once Nicole's guardian ad litem gets here, I want you to do the interrogation for Nicole since you're a mother, you'll be able to reach her better."
JJ nodded. "All right Hotch." The blonde turned to Emily as the group broke up to start on their assignments. "I'll be gentle with her," JJ said softly. Emily nodded a thank you.
Once Nicole's guardian ad litem arrived JJ escorted her to the interrogation room. Emily went to the room on the other side of the glass. She couldn't be in on the interrogation but she wanted to listen to it.
"Nicole," JJ's voice was quiet as she opened the door to the room. The teen looked up, tears streaking her face.
"Yes?"
A dark skinned woman followed JJ. She sat down next to Nicole and started talking. "My name is Mia. I'm going to be your guardian ad litem."
"What's that?" Nicole asked.
"It means I'm a representative appointed to help make decisions concerning your welfare and safety," Mia assured gently.
"Wouldn't that be my parent's responsibility?" Nicole asked wiping her eyes.
"Since they have both been arrested, we needed to appoint a guardian for you." JJ said gently said.
Nicole nodded. "Okay."
"Agent Prentiss told you why you were arrested didn't she?" JJ asked.
Nicole nodded but then paused. "Yeah. No. I'm not sure."
"I'm going to ask you some questions and I need you to be as honest as possible," JJ said. "You were questioned by Agents Rossi and Prentiss?"
"Yes. They wanted to know about some vacations my parents took."
"What did you tell them?"
Nicole bit her lip. "I told them that I didn't really notice anything. Did my mother really kill women?"
"I can't answer that," JJ replied. Mia leaned in and whispered into Nicole's ear. The girl nodded.
"Can I have a tissue, please?"
JJ handed her a box. Waiting for Nicole to take a couple then blow her nose, JJ continued on. "What were you doing today when the agents arrived at your home?"
"I was washing dishes."
"Don't you have a dishwasher?" JJ inquired.
Nicole nodded. "Yeah, but it was being used and we needed toget the knives washed." She explained "My mom asked me to wash the knives. They aren't used every day," she added hurriedly. "They're really nice and Mr. Dayton only likes to have them used during parties. The party is next week; there's always a party the end of the public school year for the kids who live there." Nicole took in a breath "Since I'm home schooled though, I'm always asked to help get the party ready, so Mom asked me to get the knives clean. We haven't used them since Christmas and Mr. Dayton's really picky about them being used if they've been in storage for a while. He always asks that the silverware be washed before it's used," her words were rushed as her cheeks flushed red. "I got the knives out of storage like my mom asked, and started washing them."
"You got them out of storage?" JJ asked, keeping her face blank. "Where are they kept?"
"One of the storage rooms downstairs," Nicole said. "In the basement, there's a whole section of stuff we always use for the parties."
"Did you notice anything different about the box that the knives were kept in?" JJ leaned in. It was a form of intimidation. Nicole didn't move back and that was noted.
Nicole thought for a moment. "Well the lid was on wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"I remember I helped put the stuff away after the Christmas party, and I put the knives on a certain shelf in the basement, so that you could see what was in the bin. Somebody had opened the bin but instead of putting the lid back on correctly, they had just placed the lid on top - part of the box was open and a bunch of dust got in there," Nicole explained.
"Did you notice anything different about the knives?" JJ asked.
"The big knife had what looked like dried paint on it," Nicole said, confused. "I thought that was kind of weird but I put it aside to wash last. I figured it would be that hardest to wash and I wanted to get the rest of them out of the way."
"Which knife was this?" JJ began to write something on a pad of paper.
"The knife with the white handle." Nicole said.
"Where did you place it?"
"On the window ledge."
"Would it still be there?"
"Maybe, Agent Prentiss told one of the other agents to get the knives though; he might have picked it up." Nicole said. She looked hesitantly at JJ with hope in her eyes. "Could I talk to Emily? Please?" she asked quietly.
"Sure." JJ opened the door and stepped outside just in time to bump into her co-worker. "Nicole wants to talk to you."
"I heard." Emily said quietly, she went into the interrogation room and sat in the seat closest to Nicole. "What is it Nikki?"
"Ummm," Nicole's voice was high-pitched with worry. "I need to tell you something. It's about my Dad." Another pause, as Nicole clenched and unclenched her hand in worry, it was clear the teen was scared, but when she spoke though, her voice was strong. "About how he…about how he does things to me when my mom is gone."
JJ, Emily, and Mia all looked up at one another in shock.
Please revieiw! Follow me on Twitter! I'm (at) authorsomeday