Hey everyone, thank you again for your favorites, follows and reviews. It genuinely makes me happy knowing that you're enjoying it.
I watch the show, getting the actual dialogue and edit it to my liking.
In other words, I own nothing but my OC's.
Thank you for your patience in waiting for this chapter. Made it through finals with passing grades Hope ya'll enjoy.
Chapter 3: The Poet's Fire.
Eleonora wasn't sure if Ryan was still in the house as she got dressed and ready for the day, but she assumed in the fact that she couldn't find Claire that they were not to be disturbed. As she roamed through the kitchen making barrels of coffee for everyone, she saw Ryan come downstairs.
"Good morning." She said as politely as she could. Eleonora was not a morning person to begin with, but if she spoke to you before she had a single cup of coffee, you were lucky. People have made the mistake of trying to engage her in conversation right after waking up, and all they would receive would be a death glare. Ryan nodded at her, and left the house to prepare himself for the day. Elle continued with her routine, showering and dressing in business casual clothes, letting her curly hair go wild for the morning. As she drove into the parking lot of the detention center in Richmond, she saw Ryan pull up at the same time. She swung her bag over her shoulder, sighing at the weight it contained. She had brought any documents that she had kept of Joes' hoping that perhaps it could help. She continued sipping her coffee as she and Ryan fell into step together, both receiving pounding headaches from the night before.
"How are you doing?" Ryan asked her, remembering that now would probably be a safe time to talk to her instead of when he saw her at the house.
"I'm fine." She lied, hoping to forget about the lump that she still felt on her forehead that Jordy gave her last night. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." He agreed, not wanting to actually admit what he was feeling. He had just spent the night at Claire's, in her son's room, keeping watch over her. He wasn't entirely sure where Eleonora slept last night, considering that it was not easy to remove the smell of death from her closet, but he thought that she looked decently rested. As they walked in, they saw Parker studying the pictures that she had hanging on her walls. She felt the eyes on her back, and turned to see Ryan and Eleonora, in similar fashion.
"How'd you sleep?" She asked as they walked in. Both shrugged, and she accepted that as an adequate answer. "Motel the FBI stuck us in has beds like bricks."
Ryan nodded understanding, he would rather have slept in a chair than sleep at the motel. Elle shrugged, not wanting to think of having to sleep in Denise, or Emma's room. It didn't have a floor covered in blood, and didn't smell like a dead dog. She would have preferred a hard bed rather than sleep in that room.
"How many finger prints?" Ryan asked as they all started looking around at the diagrams that Parker had made during the night. It seemed that in the short hours that she was there, she was making the office a very effective map as to who is whom, and what is where.
"Nine in total. Upstairs in the attic, we found six sets. They're the newest, and I'm assuming that that, is where they gathered most." She pointed to the pictures that depicted the attic. "Four sets belong to Jacob, Emma, Paul and Jordy." Eleonora studied the picture closely, seeing the poetry written in marker on the walls.
"The man in the Poe mask, that's five." Ryan added still continuing to look around. "Do you really think this cult is limited to six people?" He pointed to a photo of the house. "We weren't supposed to find their little club house." He let his mind begin to work, "There's gotta be something here that will tell us where Joey Matthews is."
"I've been through every piece of it." Parker admitted. "Nothing says where he is or why they took him, but what I don't understand is what this cult is about." She was getting fired up, Eleonora could tell. Parker was a great cult related teacher, and when she got fired up, it was because this case was getting difficult. "What's Carroll's message? Jones and Manson all used mind control to reinforce family and unity over the individual."
"Didn't Manson convince them to kill for his own selfish means?" Ryan asked still holding his coffee close.
"Yeah, but he dressed it up in several other motives." Eleonora clarified. "He would test his followers, make them kill for him. Brilliant motivator."
"Joe was a teacher." Ryan scratched his eyebrow, remembering how he sat in on some of his lectures. "He was a man of ideas, and he was brilliant at it. He could engage and inspire his students in ways I've never seen before." The phone began to ring, and he faced Eleonora again, who was also clutching her coffee closely.
"He would try to get me to listen to his literature lessons, and give input as to how to get others to listen." She reviled. "I was only able to do it until I reached about ten. As I got older, the more I became interested in other things. I got to the age where I didn't want to hang out with my dad. But I've seen videos of him teaching and read transcripts, and I could easily see how someone my age could get pulled into his words."
"How's your bedside manner?" Parker asked with a bit of pep. Something good happened. "Jordy's awake."
The three of them walked into Jordy's room, finding him awake, alert, and happy. They all thought it was weird, but as the door closed, Ryan smiled at him.
"How ya feelin, Jordy?"
"How am I feeling?" Jordy repeated angrily. "You shot me."
"Yeah, sorry about that." He clearly wasn't. "Tell us where Joey Matthews is."
Jordy smiled, but contained himself. "Oh, is that all? Do you think I'm stupid?" Elle looked to Parker and they both wanted to nod signaling that he was stupid. "I'm not talking." He leaned his head back into the pillow, and tried to ignore the people in his room.
"I think you're looking at the death penalty." Parker pointed out to the officer. He laughed again.
"I'm never going to make it to the chair. I'm a corrections officer. I won't last a week." He looked to Ryan who made his way to Jordy's bed side. "Can I tell you something?" His voice clearly happy. "It was worth it. To kill those girls." His smile grew. "To hold them in my hands as they took their last breaths."
"You know I talked to Joe right?" Jordy's smile fell as Ryan's grew a little.
"He is very upset to find that you were still alive." Elle chimed in.
"Why is she here?" Jordy finally realized that one of his victims was in the room with him. He began to panic.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?" She stepped to the opposite side of Ryan. "Why is that?"
"You're… You're…"
"Oh, come on Jordy. You could say it. You weren't this shy last night."
"You're Joe's daughter." He finally spat out.
"Didn't stop you before. Tell me, why did you try to kill Claire, but only knock me out?"
"But he failed at killing Claire." Ryan pointed out. Eleonora nodded and looked back to Jordy.
"That's right. You did fail. Bit pathetic, I'd say."
"I know what you're doing. It's not going to work." He tried to close his eyes again, and began to hum.
"Come on Jordy." Ryan egged him on. Jordy's singing only got louder. "Tell us where-." He's getting frustrated by the officer's singing. Ryan lifted his hand and slammed it into the bullet wound.
"Hey!" Parker yelled at him, and he pulled his hands back as Jordy screamed.
"You can't do that!"
"Sorry, it slipped." Ryan said simply. Elle smiled, walking towards the door, but they stopped. All three of their phones were blowing up. They had to get back to the detention center. Weston had new information, and it was important. Parker sent Eleonora ahead of her and Ryan, once they were in the parking lot.
As Eleonora walked in, Riley stopped her, surprised that she was there.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay." She sighed, and leaned against the desk.
"Hey!" Weston said walking in with a smile. "No goose egg I can see."
"It's delicately concealed with makeup." She joked as Riley joined her on the desk.
"It's good to see you're okay." Weston smiled at her as he began to prepare the video that he got wind of, and Parker and Ryan came in, just in time.
The video was of a man, dressed in a Poe mask, like the ones found at Emma's house, and he was reciting The Raven. A group of people stood around, recording him, as he recited the poem accurately, and cheered for him as he threw confetti onto the crowd.
"He's doing this in public?" Ryan asked confused.
"It's the historical district. Live performances like this are done a lot around this time of year." Weston explained. "But the part that concerns us, is coming up." Only a moment later, they saw the same man, dressed in the mask still, dump a liquid on a gentle man, then set him on fire. The masked man walked away, and it was clear that the victim died.
"Who is the victim?" Eleonora asked.
"Stan Fellows." Riley said standing up. "Book critic."
"Yeah, Richmond paper." Ryan realized. "I interviewed him for my book, he wrote a scathing review for The Gothic Sea. One of the worst I read."
"Through this on the crowd," Riley said handing the evidence of confetti over to Eleonora who looked at it. "It's got writing on it."
"Generous critic fan, the poet's fire-." Eleonora didn't read any more. "It's Poe. Surprise." She said dully.
"So, Carroll wants his followers to exact revenge on his critics?" Parker asked, hoping to uncover the meaning behind the cult.
"That could take a while." Ryan deadpanned. Eleonora raised her eyebrow to him, thinking that it could definitely take a while. There were a lot of people to blame for his downfall.
Parker and Eleonora were working together with Riley, trying to decipher the chemical components of the confetti, hoping to find the place where it was purchased, when Mike called them over. He found information.
"Hey guys, security footage from a business owner down the block sent us this." It was footage of a man, putting the mask on outside of the trunk of his car.
"Did you get a license?" Ryan asked, and Weston let out a little laugh.
"Way ahead of you." He pulled up the DMV records, and the license information for a Rick Kester popped up on the screen. "Car is registered to a Rick Kester, twenty-nine. 120 Churchill Road." Parker nodded at him, and they all prepared for going to the house.
It had only taken a few moments to get from the detention center, to the Kester residence, and they had Mike dress in a gas man's uniform, to see if there was anyone home. As he got ready, putting on a cap, Parker, Elle, and Ryan sat in another car.
"Elle, how are you holding up?" Parker asked her.
"I'm okay." She sighed. She was already tired of having people ask her that. She was hit in the head, not fatally attacked. And to be honest, she's been hit harder than that before. "Are you sure it's okay with the bureau for me to be here?"
"I wasn't going to tell you this until we got back to the center," Parker smiled at her. "But I have your official badge at my office. They were actually happy to hear that you were working with us early."
"Really now?" Eleonora grinned.
"You're officially an agent with the BAU." Parker smiled at her student. "We'll get your records straight when we get to the center."
"I'm not going to worry about that right now. Let's worry about getting Joey." Parker nodded at her and they watched as Mike walked up to the door, and knocked. When there was no answer, he nodded at them, and SWAT joined him at the door, pushing it open. Ryan, Parker and Eleonora followed them inside, and they found that no one was in the house. The home looked normal, and lived in, but it was almost too normal. Nothing like Emma's house. There was no writing on the walls, no obvious Poe references. Elle found herself in the kitchen, and she heard rattling behind a closet door. She caught Ryan's attention before grabbing the door to open it.
A woman was behind the door, screaming, and had a knife in her hand, prepared to stab Eleonora, but she avoided the knife, as the other agents prepared their guns to shoot. Elle caught the hand with the knife, pushed the woman against the wall, holding her by the neck.
"Please don't hurt me." The woman begged under Eleonora's hand.
"We're not going to hurt you." Parker said, as they all still held their guns to the woman. "Who are you?"
"Maggie Kester, I live here."
"Do you know Rick Kester?" Ryan asked, furious as he stepped up to the women.
"Yes, I do, he's my husband." The woman explained, and Ryan nodded to Eleonora to let the woman go.
"Drop the knife." Eleonora told Maggie, and she dropped it to the ground, and once Weston picked the knife up, away from them, Elle let Maggie go. Ryan pulled Eleonora away from the scene, and stood on the porch.
"You can't go doing stupid things like that Eleonora." Ryan scolded her.
"Really?" Eleonora asked in disbelief. "Like you wouldn't have done the same thing," Ryan looked at her conflicted. "Ryan, I am an agent here. I know what I am doing. You don't have to worry about me."
"Of course I have to worry about you."
"Claire asked you to, didn't she?" Ryan looked at her sadly, but knew that he couldn't let her go doing more stupid actions, possibly getting herself killed. "Ryan, I am going to do my job, and if that means that I get hurt in the process, so be it. But it will be on my hands, not yours. I don't want to be a liability to you." Ryan thought about what she was saying, and sighed, realizing that she was partially right.
"You did do well." She looked back to him, confused, and he continued, "You handled this well."
"Thank you." Eleonora smiled at him, happy to hear his praise for her. They walked back into the house, and she thought it best to avoid being around Maggie. She did put her in a choke hold. She found herself in the living room, looking through books with Riley, hoping to find something in the literature.
"You did really well." He said to her, as they focused on the books. "Don't know many new agents that could handle a knife coming at them that fast."
"Well, I'd hate to say that there's experience behind it, but sometimes that experience could save your life." She said quietly, continuing to look at the books. Riley shot Weston a glance, knowing that he was still listening to the conversation, and Weston nodded. It was soon after, that the Crime Scene Unit arrived, and the agents were allowed to leave, and, Ryan found Eleonora in the upstairs rooms, still with Riley and Weston.
"Eleonora." He called her to the door, and they stepped out of the room. "Parker and I are going to take Maggie back to the detention center. You going to be okay going back with Riley and Weston?" Eleonora shrugged, not particularly caring. She was comfortable with the team, and she got along well with them. Ryan said goodbye to her, and she went back into the office area.
"You guys mind if I ride back with you?" They looked at her, and she continued. "They're bringing Maggie back, and I don't think they want me in an enclosed area with her. Might freak her out."
"Yeah, you're more than welcome to ride with us." Mike nodded with a smile, and they cleared out the computer room, before heading back to the detention center.
Together, they all found Maggie's legal and personal information, and built a file of it. Mike went to hand it to Ryan and continued to look for information on the Kester's friends.
"So you believe her?" Ryan asked Parker as they stepped out of the interview room with Maggie still inside.
"I do. I believe her." Parker said definitively. "I know her well."
"How so?" Ryan asked.
"She's sad and pathetic. She wants the man in her head, not the man she married. She's my mother, my sister, my other sister."
"Well, she's our closest thing to finding Rick, and we need Rick to find Joey." Eleonora made the argument. Ryan nodded agreeing with her, and sighed.
"Why don't you let me see Joe?" Ryan asked, hoping that he could get some more information.
"Let me try. I think it's time for me and Joe to meet anyway."
Riley, Ryan and Elle all watched the information through the monitors. Parker walked in, with a smile on her lips, and she sat down.
"It's nice to finally meet you." Joe looked at her suspicious. "I have to say, you are doing a GREAT job." Joe softened a bit. "I mean, how much planning has this taken? I mean, seriously, good job!"
"Thank you." He finally said. "For my book." She had given him a book the other day before he went to sleep, and he hadn't forgotten.
"You're welcome." She smiled kindly at him. "So, why torch critics?"
"Has someone been playing with matches?" Joe asked with a smile. "I'm not above revenge, agent, I think we've established that. After all, revenge is a primal theme; every good story needs one." He looked to the camera, "Don't you agree? Ryan?" And brought his attention back to Parker. "Of course, his theme, is somewhat different."
"So your accolades, come up with ways to make you proud, help you write your book."
"Everyone has a story to tell, agent"
"So you're little devotee, is gunna torch all your critics?"
"There are only three people that I really hold accountable for my professional downfall." Joe said, fighting the smile on his face, looking to the camera again. "Isn't that right? Ryan?" He looked back to Debra who was no longer smiling, then back to the camera. "I wonder who he holds accountable for his downfall." Ryan was watching the interview, and Eleonora could tell that he was not enjoying the conversation that was being held. "Must be very hard for you, to be surrounded by the stench of death again. I know this takes a terrible toll on you. You must be careful well, with that little heart of yours." Ryan walked away, leaving Riley and Elle to watch the end of the interview. "Speaking of fragile people, how is Eleonora doing?"
"She's doing well."
"Tell her, I'd like to see her again." Eleonora could feel the chills running up her back, and she walked away, finding Ryan in Debra's office. He and Debra were talking about the dean of literature.
"Do you think he's still the dean?"
"This was years ago," Ryan admitted.
"He's still there." Eleonora spoke up. "Claire emailed me about him a few weeks ago. Said that he was a jerk."
"Let's go." Ryan said. They gathered the team and headed to Windsor University. When they arrived, he was already dead. Eleonora and Parker all were looking through the crime scene, when Mike walked inside.
"The press is officially using the 'cult' word." He approached Parker who sighed in defeat. "Are we going to comment?"
"No, let them speculate. Where's Ryan?"
"He went outside."
"Well, shit." Elle sighed realizing that he was going to be overthinking outside. Parker walked out, and Mike looked to Elle.
"What's with him?"
"He's going to blame himself for this death. When it comes to Joe, he takes everything too personally." Eleonora explained to Mike.
"But it wasn't."
"Doesn't matter. He will blame himself because he didn't get here in time to save him. This also leaves Ryan as the final person who is responsible for Joe's professional downfall. That's gunna weigh on him like an elephant."
"You've known him a long time." Mike noted as he joined her looking through the professor's desk.
"That's an understatement." She smiled. "Even though Claire and Ryan haven't spoken in years, we have kept in contact every few months." She caught Mike's eyes and shrugged. "He's probably thinking about when he first met Joe. It was actually right on this campus."
"How do you feel being back here? Did you spend a lot of time here as a kid?"
"Spent more time in Claire's office than Joe's, and to be honest, it's not exactly the best memories to be thought of." Eleonora admitted. It wasn't until she stepped foot onto the campus that the majority of the murders took place on, that her memory began to jump. She was only fourteen when the murders began, and she spent so much time with her parents, in their offices, and in classes, that she was almost a fixture on the grounds. Eleonora was on her way to Claire's office when she was receiving glares from students, some whom she had known personally. When she arrived at the office, she found Claire crying hysterically. Joe was arrested for the murders, not long after had he admitted to it, and soon began the trial. Not only are the middle teen years among the hardest years people go through on their own, but Eleonora was cast out due to her father's crimes. She lost friends at school, became the target for bullies, no one except news reporters wanted to speak to her. When Claire decided to move, and take Eleonora with her, they had an in depth discussion as to whether or not to go through with the adoption.
Eleonora spent the last day crying in her room. She was sent home from school for fighting with another student, but to be fair, she was not the one to instigate the fight. The girl was again, picking on Eleonora for her father's crimes, and Eleonora was only trying to defend herself. Claire knocked on her door, and saw the girl wrapped in her blankets, trying to hide from her problems. Her crying had quieted to held back sobs, as Claire was now sure that Elle was aware of her approaching the bed.
"Ellie?"
"Number one," Eleonora sniffed her nose, and sat up, "Ellie is a dog's name." She pushed her long messy hair out of the way, but it still flew in opposite directions on her shoulders. Claire smiled softly at her, realizing that she would prefer the sound of a letter over a more childish nickname. "Number two, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course sweetheart." Claire sat with her, and took in the sight of her eyes. It frightened Claire, not in a life threatening way, but in the way that a mother was scared for her child. Her usually green eyes were so vibrantly unnatural, that they almost resembled a false plant's leaf. The fact that her irises were surrounded by bloodshot pigments only made the color more frightening, and more emotionally driven.
"Why am I still here?" Eleonora asked quietly bowing her head, and causing more hair into her face unintentionally. Claire pushed it out of her eyes, forcing her to look back at her.
"Elle," She began softly with a smile. "You're here because I love you."
"But you hate dad."
"I'm scared of him." Claire admitted, hoping to clarify her feelings. "And, to be fair, I do kind of hate him a little bit." She weighed her thoughts, and when she saw that the attempt at a joke failed, as Elle took a deep breath, preparing for the worst, "Does NOT mean that I hate you." She moved so that she could grab the folder that she had put on her nightstand before she sat down. "I actually wanted to ask you a question." She showed the documents inside to her, and before Eleonora could read the documents, Claire moved to sit next to her. "I want to adopt you."
"Why?" Eleonora whispered confused.
"Because, to be honest, I've been thinking about it for a long time. Longer than this entire thing has been going on. I know I should have done it when Joe and I got married, but I was scared of motherhood, and I wasn't sure if I was ready. But I don't want you away from me. I don't think I can handle loosing you." It was true. Claire had been terrified of dating a man with a nearly teenage daughter, but as she grew, and as the romance blossomed, the more inseparable the pair became. Once the adults were married, Claire and Eleonora were more like replicas of each other. Even with Joe's arrest, all Claire could think about was Eleonora, and if she would be taken away from her. The thought of losing her made her mind and heart race at night.
Eleonora could see the honesty behind Claire's eyes and dropped the papers to the bed, throwing her arms around Claire, and began to cry again. "You and Joey are the best things that have happened to me. And Elle," Claire made her look at her again, "I wouldn't trade you for the world."
"Thank you."
This was one of the only pleasant memories of that specific time frame.
It was soon after that the agents returned to the detention center, and Eleonora had just received more of Maggie Kester's records, when she saw Mike talking to Ryan about how coffee was an equalizer.
"Ryan, you really should not be drinking, especially in here." Eleonora leaned over his side, so he was boxed in between the two agents.
"Yeah, well, I'm not. We were just talking hypothetically."
"Okay, Ryan." She rolled her eyes standing back up.
"Anyway, I've got Rick Kester's credit card records." He opened the folder, and they saw a long receipt from a toy store. "Um, Elle." He handed the paper over to her. "Do you recognize any of this?"
"These are some of Joey's toys." She said after reading over the list. "They bought him toys?" She asked in surprise; if anything that was the last thing that she would have expected from a cult of killers.
"I'm going to call Claire."
"I'll go talk to Maggie." Ryan nodded, leaving to call Claire with another confirmation and to let her know their findings. Mike however, gave her a warning look. "What?" She shrugged. "I think it's time we met anyway."
"She's just a woman Elle. You don't have to go hard on her."
"Who said I was going hard?" She asked him as they approached the door.
"Can I go now?" Maggie asked. "I've been here all day."
"Not yet." Elle said coming to face her. "Mrs. Kester, I am Agent Eleonora Matthews." Maggie looked at her with dried tears on her cheeks, and new ones forming in her eyes. She twisted the tissue in her hands as she watched the woman in front of her cross her arms, stressed, and exhausted. "Do you have any idea why your husband would buy toys?"
"I don't know." She shook her head, a fear in her eyes, Eleonora was sure she didn't notice before when she passed by the interview earlier. "It's his credit card, you'll have to ask him." Suddenly, her phone began to ring, and everyone's attention was brought to it. "It's Rick." She read.
"Answer it." Eleonora moved to lean against the desk. "Put it on speaker phone." She looked to Mike who she knew would go get the GPS of the phone as Ryan walked in.
"Rick is calling." Parker briefed him quickly and he prepared himself for the call as well. She answered it, with everyone concentrated on keeping their cool.
"Rick." She answered sternly.
"Where are you?" He asked almost robotically. It kind of seemed like he had something in his system, and he was not doing well.
"The FBI came to the house, Rick. What have you done?"
"Are you with them now?"
Ryan nodded at her to tell him the truth.
"Yes," she pushed her hair out of her face with stress, "Yes Rick, they're looking for you. You're in trouble." She could barely say the words. "How could you hurt those people?" Eleonora caught her attention and mouthed.
"Where is he?" To keep her on track.
"Where are you, Rick?" There was silence.
"Is Ryan Hardy or Eleonora Matthews there?" Maggie looked to them with a confused look. "Either way, tell Ryan it was all for him." The line was cut off, as Parker looked to both Hardy and Matthews. They decided to let Maggie have some time to decompress, and they exited the room, as Mike came back to them.
"It's being routed internationally, like the internet. We can't trace it." He sighed heavily.
"What do you think?" Riley asked Parker after weighing his thoughts. "Should we try to make contact?"
"I don't know." Parker admitted. "Take her home." She resolved. "Stay with her. I'll send someone to relieve you in the morning." Riley left to get Maggie prepared to go home.
"I'll go with him." Ryan volunteered.
"No, what you're going to do Vodka breath, is go back to that dumpy little motel the FBI dumped us in and get some rest." She ordered. Eleonora had to hold back a chuckle, loving the fact that Debra had the guts to call Ryan out on his shit.
"I feel totally fine." Ryan insisted.
"When was the last time you had more than an hours sleep?" Parker asked again. When she didn't get an answer, she kept her persistence. "You're going to go, get some rest, and tomorrow, we're going to find Joey. Do you understand?" Ryan looked pissed. "Look, I get it. You over identify with the victims, the guilt makes it personal, you unravel. I get it"
Elle couldn't identify with all the victims, but just knowing the source behind the murders made her guilty. Ryan walked away, feeling like he had his tail between his legs, but he had to follow orders, or so to make it seem. He left the other three, sharing awkward glances. Elle met Ryan at his desk as he put his jacket on, grabbing his bag.
"Are you okay?" She asked him, crossing her arms, hoping to get an honest answer out of him. One look said it all. He was disappointed. In himself, in his work effort of the day, in losing more people. No, he was not okay.
"You're not going back to the motel, are you?" Mike noted, joining the conversation.
"I think Rick Kester knows where Joey is."
"Well, they gave me a rental car." Mike suggested with a hopeful shrug. Ryan perked up to the possible help he'd be receiving, and Eleonora shrugged her shoulder.
"Or, we could use my car. No government GPS installed." She suggested, hoping that it would help conceal their expedition.
"Get your stuff." Ryan told her. "Blue Jeep?" He hoped to confirm what he thought he saw her get out of that morning.
"Blue Jeep." She confirmed, as he headed out to the car, hoping that the different departure times for the agents wouldn't strike suspicion. She and Weston made it out to the parking lot to find Ryan standing beside her car, keeping watch, hoping no one noticed.
They climbed into the Wrangler, and Ryan sat upfront, leaning his head against the window. It rattled as Eleonora shifted gears, and she looked at him with an apologetic look.
As they pulled up to the house that they raided earlier that morning, and parked down the block a bit, hoping to avoid nosy neighbors. Mike called Riley, who picked up quickly.
"Hardy, Elle and I are outside."
"What?" They all could hear Riley on the other line. "Does Parker know?"
They all shared an unsure look, before Mike took a deep breath. "Yeah." Ryan leaned back, bored already.
"Do you really think Kester would be stupid enough to come here?"
"He's already killed two people today. He's escalating." Elle had to agree. He was getting more violent as the day progresses, and there could be no telling what happens next. Mike soon ended his call, and Ryan looked back to him again.
"Does Parker really know where we are?"
"She told me to watch you." Mike admitted with difficulty.
"Me too, actually." Eleonora figured as long as they were being honest. Ryan rolled his eyes, figuring that this is how the FBI babysits now.
"Listen, I know that you march to your own drum, and everything, and hey, that's cool. But I'm the second youngest agent in the BAU and people still look at me funny." Ryan responded with a bored look. "This is my career sir."
They sat in silence for a while before Mike tried a more casual conversation from the back seat.
"Do you still live in Brooklyn?"
"Yeah."
"Make it up to Albany?" Ryan gave him a look. "Read your book. Know you grew up there."
"Not in years. No reason." Elle shook her head.
"Right," Mike tried to be respectful. "Family, sorry. Um, I'm a military brat." He tried again. "Born in San Diego."
"Really? Where bouts?" Eleonora responded, finding him in her mirror.
Ryan jumped out, "I'm gunna take a look around, stretch my legs." Mike looked a shot down as Ryan walked away, closing the door. Eleonora, who was shocked at Ryan's rudeness, tried to push it back, patting the front seat next to her.
"Come join me, Weston." She said happily, hoping to relieve some of the tension. He got out of the back seat, and sat up front. "I'm sorry about him. You're right when you say he marches to a beat of his own drum, but sometimes, that drum is his inability to realize how rude his is."
Mike nodded, accepting her apology, and she smiled at him. She had to admit, he was handsome. Always a fan of beards of all length, a sandy blond haired man, with adequate scruff and piercing blue eyes, crossed her radar every once in a while, but this time, she could actually get to know the man without it being on a date.
"So, San Diego."
"Yeah, Orange County actually. But I've lived all over the place."
"Do tell."
Mike Weston, as Elle could tell, liked to talk when he was nervous, or bored. Elle wasn't sure which of the emotions applied to the current situation. He was born in San Diego, lived in Texas, Alabama, Georgia and even spent some time in Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. He has three brothers, but only enjoys the company of one, and he has a small dog.
"Probably shouldn't have mentioned the dog." He muttered to himself, realizing that Eleonora's Cyclops was murdered last night.
"It's okay." She sighed. "I mean, its heart breaking, but if he was the only one that was killed in Jordy's attack at the house, it's something I could live with. If anyone else had did, I'm not sure I'd feel the same way." She looked to him, and found him staring at her again. "But your terrier mix, it's the one with the Dumbo like ears, right?"
"Yeah, he's a little weirdo." He laughed pulling out his phone, initially to show her a picture, but they heard gunshot like noises come from outside the house. He called Riley.
"Hey, you okay?" Mike asked.
"There's someone in the back yard." Riley admitted, but Eleonora was surprised he sounded so calm.
"Alright, we're coming in." He got out of the car, and Eleonora followed, locking the Jeep behind her. They found Ryan about a block up, just as Elle's phone rang. It was Parker.
"Hey." She answered.
"Elle, Jordy just told me that Maggie Kester is one of them. She's lying."
Mike and Ryan looked at her, and it was clear, Eleonora was shocked. "Maggie is one of them." Without hesitation, they took off running to the house, knocking the door down, and rushing into the house again.
They found Riley on the floor, blood around his neck, "Get an ambulance." Ryan ordered Mike, and Eleonora grabbed a towel to hold over his neck. There was so much blood, and Mike was in shock as he was trying to order the ambulance to their location, but Ryan heard a noise out the back door.
"Put pressure on this." Elle told Mike, and he nodded, kneeling next to his friend, trying to reassure him that he was going to be okay. Ryan took Mike's gun, and Elle followed him out.
"STOP!" Ryan yelled at Maggie who was trying to cross the lawn.
"No, PLESASE!" She begged, "He's trying to hurt me." She was a good actress, almost convincing, but Ryan and Elle saw her divert her eyes from Ryan, and they turned, seeing Rick come closer with a shovel in his hands. Eleonora shot him first, and they heard Maggie scream in protest as he fell to the ground.
Both Ryan and Elle turned back to Maggie, but Ryan was jumped on, and Rick was still fighting. Elle tried to rip him off of Ryan, but Ryan fought his way out of the grip, and shot Rick down once more. Elle was splattered with the ricocheting blood, and Rick fell limp in her arms. Ryan was in shock as he saw Eleonora's eyes focus behind him.
"Shit!" She shouted, and Ryan noticed that Maggie was gone. Probably ran in the beginning of the tussle, but as Ryan continued thinking of how he had just killed Rick, Eleonora dropped him, running back inside to help Mike.
She came inside to see Mike sitting beside Riley, who had passed away. Ryan was right behind her, as they saw Mike exhale, trying to hold back his emotion. Ryan put his gun down, frustrated, and Eleonora turned to him quickly. "You okay?" She asked. Ryan nodded, knowing that Mike needed more help than he had, and he was not the one capable of giving the young agent that help. Eleonora crossed the walkway to Mike, and knelt next to him.
"Come on." She said softly to him, as she wrapped her arm around his torso, helping to pick him up onto his feet. He was numb, covered in blood, and shaking. Eleonora could hear Ryan talking on a cell phone to a dispatcher, as she pushed Mike to the kitchen sink.
She ran the water, and let it warm, making sure he was stable on his feet before she began to look for soap. She found Dawn dish liquid in a cupboard, and hurried back to him. He was staring at the running water, not even thinking to put his hands under it.
"Mike?" She asked quietly, hoping that he could still at least hear her. He looked to her, but just as he stared at the water, he stared at her, and she nodded, understanding. Sometimes it was just easier to not think. She took his hand, and began to rinse the blood off for him. When one hand was clean, he held onto the sink as she cleaned the other hand, and finally, reinforcements arrived. Eleonora could see the look in Mike's eyes that read like he'd rather be anywhere but in this moment.
"Elle?" He finally asked as she dried his hands with a towel.
"Yeah?"
"Did you get her?"
She wanted to tell him a lie. That they got both Maggie and Rick, that Maggie was in custody, and Rick was dead, but she couldn't do that to him. She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. "No, we didn't." She sighed heavily, and Mike felt her breath against his forearms. "Rick Kester is dead, and Maggie got away while Ryan, Rick and I were fighting." It was then that Mike noticed the blood that covered Eleonora.
"Are you okay?" He asked holding onto her arms, looking for injuries. She shook her head.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She said quietly. Parker came over with another detective who took Mike to get his statement, and Parker took Eleonora to another.
"Elle," Parker started.
"I'm sorry." Eleonora bowed her head. "I know I must have disappointed you."
"No. That's not what I'm getting at." Parker stated as they exited the house. "I wanted to ask you how you're doing."
"I'm okay." She nodded, trying to hold back the emotion of the day. Not only had she aided in the killing of a man, but one of her team mates was now dead.
"You did well. We will need your statement."
Eleonora spent another hour giving her statement to a detective, who gave her an indication that it would be ruled a 'clean shooting', a shooting that warranted the death of an assailant. Once clear, she was given directions to bring Weston back to the motel, before returning home herself.
The ride back was quiet, but once they pulled into a parking spot, Eleonora looked to Mike, who now had a few stray tears running into his beard.
"You gunna be okay?" She asked quietly. "We could go get a milkshake or something, if you don't want to be a lone." It at least broke a small smile on his face.
"No, I'll be fine. We need to get some sleep." He looked over to her, and she smiled kindly at him. "Thanks for the ride."
"Anytime." She nodded. He reached for the handle, but before he could get out, Eleonora grabbed his hand. "Mike," He stopped and looked back to her. "If you need anything, just call. I'm only ten minutes away."
He nodded, squeezing her hand. "Thank you Elle." He squeezed it one last moment before they retracted their hands, and he left the car.
She waited until he was safely in the building, a habit that she picked up from dropping Joey off at school, before she made it back to her house. Claire was already asleep, thank god. Elle wasn't sure if she would be able to take the one million questions about the day and how close they were to finding Joey. But she was definitely not able to face telling Claire that they had no idea where Joey was, and their only suspect got away.
Elle stumbled into her bedroom, thankful that someone had cleaned up the closet during the day, and changed into her pajamas. It wasn't long until sleep found her.
It was early in the morning when she woke, still with a splitting headache, and her body sore. She heard the stairs creek as someone ascended them, and she opened the door to see Ryan heading towards Claire's room. He was still dressed in the same suit from yesterday.
"Ryan?" She asked and followed him into Claire's room.
"Ryan. Elle!" Claire hugged Eleonora, grateful that she was okay.
"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, and the women released each other, and Claire handed Ryan the laptop.
It was a video of Jacob telling Joey how to kill a mouse, with a jar, and a magnifying glass. Joey had no desire to kill the mouse, and wanted to keep it instead. The thought of the mouse suffocating terrified, him, but once he had the cap on, he commented,
"I've never killed anything before."
"It's okay buddy." Jacob smiled. "We're only getting started." Eleonora felt her heart drop as Claire dropped more tears.
"Hey Joey, can you say 'Hi Ryan'?" They heard Denise – Emma, from behind the camera.
"Who's that?" Joey asked, still holding the jar.
"A friend." Emma said simply.
"Hi Ryan." Joey smiled with a waive, before the camera cut off.
"They're teaching him to kill." Claire said standing from the bed.
"We're going to find him, Claire."
"I want him home, Ryan!" Claire demanded.
Claire went to look through her window, leaving Ryan and Eleonora to share a knowing look that they needed to find Joey, today.
Please read and review, enjoy!