I've been building a playlist for Spencer and Rosemary and right now as I type this chapter I'm listening to Nitesky (Cato Remix) by Robot Koch ft. John LaMonica and wow is this chapter emotional I'm sorry. Also I know the whole song per chapter thing is so 2011 but since I'm heavily invested in music and playlists and songs that tie into my writing it just makes sense for my brain to match themes with certain songs so... take that as you will!
"Oh my god," Penelope breathed out as she watched the video playing on the laptop screen, tears forming in her eyes. "Sir, I can't- I can't watch these-"
"Just copy and send us whatever is on the laptop," Hotch told her through the connection. "What are we looking at?"
"Um, well it looks like multiple video files saved from the camera Derek brought me," she explained, blinking away the wetness in her eyes. "Pictures, too... of the crime scenes. Before we found them anyway. The videos are of the other victims- you were right, they were taken in different locations."
"But why Rosemary's laptop?" J.J. inquired, light brown eyebrows crinkling into a frown. "How did it just happen to end up there?"
"Well, if her father is really the one we're after, he could have stopped at her place just to grab the laptop after questioning and then disappeared," Blake suggested, shrugging lightly. "He locked up and left everything else where it was, probably thinking we wouldn't catch on that fast to just one missing item."
"Then why leave it for us to find?" Hotch shook his head. "And why use hers specifically? It doesn't make sense. We profiled that the unsub is narcissistic and even feels the intense need to prove his abilities, but it seems a little strange that he would use a stolen item like that- one that even implicates someone else as being him. He wouldn't want to let anyone else have the opportunity to take credit."
"I've sent you all the video footage and images now," Garcia interrupted over the speaker.
Hotch clicked the remote and the files appeared on screen, a video immediately playing.
"That's Rosemary," Blake noted suddenly.
Spencer's eyes were glued to the screen, the brainiac silent for once.
"Turn it off, please," he requested quietly. The other agents looked at him strangely, and J.J. gave Hotch a nod- but before he could pause the video, it cut off.
"That's strange, are any of the other videos missing footage?" Morgan asked Garcia while Hotch turned his attention on Spencer.
"Not that I could tell- that's the only video that cuts off before we get to see anything else."
"Reid, are you okay?" the chief agent asked quietly, his hawk-like gaze trained on the uncomfortable young man.
"I'm fine I just- didn't want to watch that," he explained, still looking down.
"Why don't you go check on Rosemary?" J.J. suggested, although Morgan quickly sent a pointed look her way. Her eyes challenged him in return and he gave in slowly and silently, Hotch noticing the entire exchange.
"Okay," Spencer agreed, still rather reserved, before he got up and left the room.
"Sir, there's something else," Garcia said out of nowhere. "Forensics got a chance to look over the laptop for prints."
"And?"
"Well, sir- the fingerprints found on the keys match Rosemary," she finished.
An uncomfortable silence suddenly came over the room and everyone looked a little bit stunned. Hotch walked over to the window and peeked through the blinds, watching Rosemary and Spencer interact, the latter in seemingly much better shape now that he was out of the room.
"We have no choice but to take her in for questioning," Hotch announced to the agents, turning away from the blinds.
"What else was on the laptop?" Rosemary asked Spencer quietly, looking around the FBI headquarters in discomfort. Normally, it would be incredibly amazing to be in such a prestigious building- but not when you were part of an ongoing investigation and it was your laptop agents had recently uncovered.
"Video footage, pictures of the crime scenes," Reid admitted, though his eyes would not focus on her.
"Was... was there footage of me on there?" Rosemary inquired further, biting her lip anxiously.
"Yes," he confirmed, still refusing to look at her.
"Spencer, what's wrong?" she urged, growing worried by his odd behaviour.
"I couldn't watch it," he finally told her, looking at her warily and swallowing something hard in his throat. "You looked so-"
"I know," she said as she dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
"You have no reason to be sorry," he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that this happened to you."
Before Rosemary could reply, the agents were emerging from the conference room and coming right for them. They quit talking, tearing their eyes away from each other as they awaited information.
"Rosemary, Morgan is going to have to take you in for questioning," Hotch announced, and the brunette suddenly shot a panicked look at Reid.
"Questioning for what? I know it's my laptop, but I didn't put it in that warehouse-"
Just as Hotch opened his mouth to respond, his cell phone went off. He quickly answered and nodded at Morgan as he put it to his ear. The agent came towards Rosemary to begin leading her off and she glanced back at Spencer, her eyes wide. He clenched his jaw tightly, knowing he could not do anything because his job was his priority- but this seemed all wrong.
"Wait. Morgan, bring her back."
Morgan and Rosemary turned around, staring at Hotch for an explanation, the brunette's chest moving up and down at an increased pace due to her fright.
"Police found Mr. Lennox," Hotch told them, suddenly avoiding Rosemary's eyes.
"Where is he?" she demanded, relief flooding through her. This would all be okay, they had found her father!
"Let's go," he said, ignoring her question as he revolved to walk towards the elevators. The other agents swiftly followed, Rosemary hurrying up to fall in step beside Spencer.
"Why won't he tell me anything?" she whispered as they walked.
"I don't know," he lied, allowing her to step into the elevator first. Rosemary frowned but said nothing further, focused on seeing her dad again after the past few days.
Rosemary watched out the window as the SUV sped down different roads, wondering how far away her father was. Soon they turned into what seemed like a forest preserve, one that became vaguely familiar to her. Here were the Great Falls of Virginia, a place she had been perhaps once years ago with her family.
"I don't understand why we're here," Rosemary remarked as the SUV drove further in. As they turned down one road, however, she could see the blazing of police car lights and crime scene tape. Her stomach fell down ten flights of stairs.
"What's going on?" she asked louder, quickly losing control of herself.
Spencer glanced at her from his seat, turmoil in his eyes. He had picked up on Hotch's behaviour quickly back at headquarters- but he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth then.
"Rosemary, just stay calm," J.J. said from the passenger seat in a soothing voice, turning her head back to look at her with sympathetic eyes.
"I won't "stay calm"!" Rosemary burst out, unclicking her seatbelt in a hurry.
"Rosemary, what are you doing-"
"Rosemary, no!" Spencer shouted as she opened the SUV door, Morgan slamming on the brakes as he heard the commotion. The brunette scrambled out of the vehicle, losing her balance from the sharp brake and falling. Her hands dug into the tiny pebbles that covered the gravel, as did her knees, but she didn't care. She quickly heaved herself back up, rushing towards the crime scene tape and police cars.
"Rosemary, wait!"
She ignored Spencer's pleading, hearing the car doors slam in the background as she ran. She ducked under the tape and shoved past crime scene investigators, continuing to ignore the voices coming her way until she was forced to come to a screeching halt.
A scream got caught in her throat as she stared, her face draining of all colour. She felt trapped in a state of sleep paralysis, a true waking nightmare. She couldn't speak as she stared at her father's lifeless body, resting on a wooden float that was now on shore beside the slow-moving river.
"Rosemary!"
She recognized her mother's voice, but even that could not tear her gaze away from the display. And it truly was an exhibition- her father was dressed in pure white material resembling the fashion of Ancient Greece, his feet bare. In his hands, seemingly glued to stay put was a conch shell. This was a taunt, a proving of capability.
Rosemary's mother reached to bring her daughter close, but the brunette squirmed out of her grasp and turned, running away from the scene. She ran past the agents who watched her in silent sympathy. Spencer looked towards Hotch, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.
"You should have told her," he stated with hurting eyes. "You should have told her."
Hotch said nothing, his mouth shut and his eyes betraying a sliver of guilt. Spencer found himself suddenly repeating the words over and over and J.J. was forced to step closer, detecting that his emotions were now spiraling out of control and forcing him to fall into glitch-like habit, something she could not bear to witness.
"Spence, focus on me," she murmured, putting her hands on his upper arms with a slightly firm grip. "She's going to be upset, she would have been upset no matter what we told her-"
"But you didn't tell her and now she's even worse!" he argued, his features shifting in conflict with his whirling emotions.
"Spencer-" Hotch began, trying to break in.
"Just leave me alone, okay?" Spencer tore himself out of J.J.'s hold, putting his hands up defensively. "I- I need to check on Rosemary."
He made his way past the group, Blake's eyes showing surprise at the encounter.
"I told you he was getting too attached," Morgan told them all, growing frustrated. "What's he going to do if he finds out she's the one we've been looking for this whole time?"
"We don't know that yet," Hotch argued quietly.
"But if we do?" Morgan pressed, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's too late now. That kid is going to get his heart ripped out of him if this goes on much longer."
No one else said anything further, most of them realizing deep down that he wasn't entirely wrong.
"I'm going to go talk to the investigators," Hotch remarked before walking away from the group. Blake glanced back at the SUVs where Spencer stood hesitantly before the door. She sighed to herself before following Hotch, and J.J. took the liberty of stepping after them. Morgan crossed his arms and sighed deeply, staring at the body a few feet away that lay peacefully in permanent rest.
Spencer muttered a few calming words to himself before he opened the car door, revealing Rosemary staring out the opposite window in the backseat. He climbed in, opening his mouth to speak.
"Rosemary, I-"
"You knew," came the trembling, deadly quiet words. "You knew and you chose not to tell me."
"I didn't want you to get upset," Spencer whispered, eyes wide and guilty. "I knew if I told you-"
"But you didn't!" she accused loudly, whirling to face him. Her cheeks had turned a dark pink flush and her eyes were flashing, but full of tears threatening to spill over.
Reid was good at confrontation when it came to his job- but it was incredibly different confronting a dangerous criminal in comparison to being in that situation with someone you cared about deeply.
"I'm sorry," he frowned, finding it suddenly hard to redeem logic in such an emotional situation. "I didn't think telling you then would do any good... I couldn't bring myself to-"
"To what?" she shot back with quivering lips, her forehead crinkling up as she tried to restrain the tears.
"To hurt you."
She stared at him in silent pain, tears finally dripping out of big brown eyes.
"But it hurts, Spencer," she choked out. "It hurts."
She covered her eyes with her shaking hand, beginning to cry without shame. Spencer knew he could not just sit by and let this pain consume her. He had done that too many times already. He slid closer to tentatively wrap an arm around her, allowing her to melt into his embrace. Her body shook with her sobs and she gripped his sweater tightly. But he did not say a word or push her away, finding an odd sense of personal comfort in it. He stared out the window, unable to erase the fact that he had made a mistake from his mind.
But making a mistake did not mean he had to let it ruin her- or him.