JJ and Blake decided to begin their interviews with Valerie Prescott, reasoning that since she had been held captive the longest she would have the most information on what had occurred. While their stated objective was to build a profile of George Wyatt, it was no secret that they were also building a profile of Christine Nielson. The agents were hoping to discover why she had chosen to disappear.
"Thank you for coming in," JJ began the interview with Ms. Prescott. Due to the unusual circumstances, the FBI had arranged for them to use a hotel suite, thinking that it would make the women feel more comfortable than if they were in one of the usual interrogation rooms.
"I'm not sure what I can add," Ms. Prescott began as she nervously twisted the cuff of her blouse. "I have already given my statement several times to the police. But, my therapist advised me to come. She feels that sharing my experiences with someone like you will help in my recovery."
"We understand that you have been through a terrible ordeal," Blake commiserated. "We are just trying to get some insight into your abductor's state of mind in the hopes that we may be able to help prevent something like this from occurring again in the future."
"Well, in my opinion, he didn't have much of a mind," Ms. Prescott spit out angrily. "He was all anger and impulse and reactions. Christine always said that he was lashing out at anyone who he felt had wronged him or who had gotten in his way."
"What else did Christine say?" JJ questioned.
"She advised us to go along with him as much as possible," Ms. Prescott reported. "She explained that we needed to play into his fantasies if we wanted to stay alive. She also continually reminded us that none of what was happening to us was our fault."
"She was right," Blake reassured the woman. "And, what you did was right. To a man like that, their fantasies are their reality. To contradict those fantasies is to risk upsetting them, causing them to strike out. And, in that state, he could quite possibly kill you.
"Well, Christine seemed to be able to keep him under control to a certain extent," Ms. Prescott told the agents. "I don't know what she was saying to him, but his angry outbursts seemed to be less frequent after she arrived. And, the physical abuse seemed to become less frequent, too. Or, maybe I was just getting used to it." She sighed resignedly.
"Okay, she talked to him. What else did she do?" JJ asked.
"Well, she tried her best to take care of the rest of us," the former captive replied. "She somehow managed to convince him to give us more food and water and, when necessary, she stole it for us herself, even though that meant he beat her and dragged her around by her hair afterwards."
"Anything else?" Blake inquired.
"She worked to keep our spirits up," Valerie Prescott smiled at the memory. "The minute we knew for sure 'he' was gone, she would start guessing games, or riddles, or just sing-alongs. She did her best to get us laughing. I guess she was trying to give us a reason to stay alive."
"I do have one last question," JJ brought up the team's main concern. "In all your discussions, did you ever talk about what you would do or where you would go when you finally were rescued?"
"Oh, Yes!" Ms. Prescott replied. "We all agreed that the first thing we would do was find the biggest bath tub we could, fill it full of bubble bath, and spend at least a year soaking in it."
Valerie Prescott paused and took a deep breath. "I just want you to know," she told the two agents. "As far as I am concerned, Christine Nielson is a hero. Not just to me, but to all of the women who were there."