Chapter 41

Rossi stood staring through the one-way window of the interrogation room, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. There was a folder tucked securely under his arm. He stared at the man who was cuffed to the table, ankles chained to the legs of the chair in which he was seated for several minutes. So absorbed was he that he appeared to not notice the woman approaching him from the side. She stood quietly beside him with arms crossed over her chest, staring at the man on the opposite side of the window. It appeared almost as if neither acknowledged the other.

"How's Hotch?" he asked with eyes still on the prisoner.

JJ licked her lips. "He didn't want to speak to me at all, and ordered me to leave. Then he apologized for ordering me to leave." She glanced at the Senior agent sadly. "Rossi, he's so depressed, and he's blaming himself. I tried telling him he's not to blame, but it's like he didn't hear a word I said. I'm afraid he might not come back from this."

Rossi nodded his head, eyes still on the prisoner in the room. "You called Garcia, didn't you?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah, I did. I felt if anybody can get through to Hotch, its Penelope. I'm sorry for not calling you after I visited him, even though I understand you're his best friend. But in this instance, Hotch needed somebody he wouldn't argue with and push away in anger. And the only one I could think of was Garcia."

A slow smile crossed Rossi's face and he turned his head toward JJ. The sadness in her eyes mirrored that in his own. "It's okay. No harm done. I'm glad you sent for kitten, too. Aaron would never give her the same grief he gives the rest of us. And he'd never do anything to hurt Garcia because he knows we'd kick his stoic ass. Also, I kinda figured out that's what you did when I spotted Kevin Lynch sitting at Garcia's computers. He told me she had left to go run an errand, but didn't say what that errand was."

"What's that?" JJ asked gesturing to the file under Rossi's arm.

Rossi held up the file for JJ to see. "Before she left, Garcia did a background search on our Mr. Scanlon. Seems he has a rather lengthy rap sheet. Everything from selling drugs, to possession, to assault, to theft, and finally scamming people under investigation by CPS by posing as an agent for CPS."

JJ's eyebrows narrowed. "But why threaten Hotch? I mean, he isn't being investigated by CPS for anything." Just remembering that phone call to her boss enraged the blonde. On top of the pain and humiliation Hotch had suffered physically, he didn't need this on his plate as well.

"No he isn't. But it was our Agent Hemminger who arrested him years ago when he was involved with his scam. And that might be useful to get him to roll on Hemminger."

The blonde was confused. "What do you mean?"

"There is something in Scanlon's background that caused him to make that phone call to Hotch. And if Emily's right, and I bet she is, and Hemminger is behind Scanlon making that call, then he must have something on Scanlon." His eyebrows knitted as something suddenly came to him. "I gotta go." He turned away from a puzzled JJ and grabbed the door handle. Before turning it, he glanced back at the blonde. "JJ, since I'm gonna be busy here, Prentiss is gonna question Agent Sizemore. Then she and Reid are gonna stop by the hospital and pick up Doctor Caswell. Morgan will be back in Quantico later today."

"Since you and I won't be questioning Agent Sizemore then, what do you want me to do?"

"Check with the lab and see if they found any fingerprints on either the box, envelope, or letter I received. I somehow doubt it, but we might get lucky." He saw her confused expression. "I'll tell you later. Also, find out if there's a DNA match on that strand of hair that was included in the box with the letter. It's probably Alana Wheaton's hair."

"You got it. Good luck." JJ turned and briskly walked away as Rossi opened the door to the interrogation room and stepped into the room.

The man in front of him was a nervous wreck. Part of his nervousness was due to having gone without a fix; the other half was due to sheer terror. He looked up at the agent with bleary, bloodshot eyes. The agent could see the man before him was scared. Rossi wanted him scared. Scared worked for him. He pulled back the metal chair and sat down with his eyes focused on the man, dropping the folder onto the table.

"Who are you?" the man asked wiping his nose on the sleeve on his shoulder. "Why am I here? I didn't do nothin'. You cops ain't had no cause to arrest me."

Rossi remained silent. He opened the folder and proceeded to go through the contents inside, quite aware the man was watching him, and becoming more nervous by the moment. "I'm not the cops," he said still reading.

"C'mon, man. Say somethin'!"

Rossi ignored him, and continued going through the folder. He just needed to wait a few seconds longer for the prisoner to be right where he wanted him.

"You had me locked up all night, and then had me brought here just to ignore me? C'mon, man."

After several more minutes, Rossi looked up from his reading, and clasped his hands on top of the open file.

"Mr. Scanlon, I've just been reading through your history with the police. Seems you've been a naughty boy, and a guest in their establishment many times."

"Yeah. So?"

"So what made you go from drugs to impersonating an agent with Child Protective Services? Was it a golden chance to rip people off and separate them from their money?"

When Scanlon answered, it was with more nerve than he had. "You ain't got nothin' on me. Besides, you said you ain't no a cop. So who are you?"

"I'm not as you put it…a cop. I am Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi with the FBI." He stared into the man's eyes and smelled the fear emanating from the man's body.

Scanlon's panicked eyes widened. "A fed?" Oh shit! Jason, what d'ya get me into, man?

The Senior agent's dark eyes burrowed deeply into Scanlon's and smirked. "Yes. And that's what I want to discuss with you, Carson. Can I call you Carson?" He didn't wait for an answer. Instead, he pulled out a 4x6 color photo from the folder, and pushed it across the table. It was a photo of Aaron Hotchner. "Recognize this man, Carson?"

The man picked up the photo, studied it, and looked up at Rossi. "I ain't never seen that fed in my life." He sat the photo down on the table, and pushed it back toward Rossi.

Rossi smiled deviously as he retrieved the photo. He arched an eyebrow. "I never said he was a fed. What made you say he was a fed, Carson?"

Scanlon shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his shirt beginning to stick to his sweaty body. "I…I didn't…I kinda figured he was is all."

"Really?" Rossi studied the photo of Hotch himself. "Might be a fed. But that wouldn't have been my first guess. My first guess would have been an attorney, or maybe a CEO of a large corporation. Even a businessman. Yet, your first guess was a fed by one look at his picture. You sure you've never seen him anywhere, Carson? Maybe on television, or…or a picture taken for an article in the newspaper." He pushed the photo again toward Scanlon. "Why don't you take a good loooong look this time?"

Scanlon's heart dropped into his stomach when faced with the photo again. He averted his eyes. "Don't need to see it again. I still don't know 'im."

Rossi picked up the photo and put it back in the folder. "Now I find that strange. From what I understand, you asked for Agent Hotchner by name at the beginning of the phone conversation, so you knew he was an FBI agent at least. Now, I can see how you might not have an idea what Agent Hotchner looked like, Carson. But there's still the matter of that phone call you made to 'im."

"I didn't make no phone call. I told you I ain't done nothin'."

"And I might believe that, Carson, except for one thing. We have an agent who spoke to you on the phone after you spoke to Agent Hotchner, and..."

"She's lyin'!" Scanlon shouted at Rossi.

"I never said it was a woman. See, I believe you're the one who's lying, Carson. I believe you called Agent Hotchner claiming to be with CPS, and threatened him with the loss of his son. But what made you get sloppy was when a female agent got on the phone. It threw you off your game, so to speak. So why don't you just admit what you did, then tell me why you did it?"

Scanlon hung his head. "I didn't do nothin'," he repeated disconsolately. He now realized he was cornered, and wished Hemminger was there to help. As he wasn't, he needed to reach a decision on his own. And he was scared.

Rossi shrugged. "Jason Hemminger told you he'd protect you if all you did was make a phone call to Agent Hotchner pretending to be a CPS agent. And that as a CPS agent, you threatened to take Agent Hotchner's son from him. But funny thing about that is, who's sitting here now under arrest? Is it Jason? No, it's you. And where is Jason right now, Carson? I'll tell you. Jason is out there free as a bird. So you just keep telling yourself that nothing will happen to you because that's what Jason told you."

"He promised me," Scanlon said to nobody in particular. "He said Hotchner liked to bang guys in alleys, and was probably molestin' his own kid. I couldn't let 'im touch his own kid like that. Said he only pretended to be all proper and upstanding."

"I see," Rossi remarked. "Also, I can understand where you're coming from, Carson, because you supposedly were molested growing up along with other kids in your neighborhood. In fact, you claimed you were molested over a ten-year period by your own father. And because he got away with it, once an adult, you got angry whenever you heard of someone else's dad abusing their own kids. So you decided to become somewhat of a protector of young kids who couldn't defend themselves, didn't you?"

"Somebody had to step up," Scanlon said weakly.

"But according to the report by Agent Hemminger, you lied about being molested yourself," Rossi lied. He kept a neutral face when Scanlon stared at him with shock on his own face.

"I was abused by my father! And he abused other kids to cover up what he was doin' to me! Jason told me he understand what had been done to me, and didn't blame me for what I ended up doin'."

"So you say, Carson. But see, from the information Agent Scanlon wrote in your file, there was nothing backing up your claim of being abused sexually or of your dad molesting anybody. He claims that you killed your dad after he found out you were molesting other kids in your neighborhood and that you were aware he was going to turn you into the police."

"That's a lie! My dad abused those kids! And I killed 'im and…and..."

"And let someone else take the fall?" Rossi asked quietly.

"Yeah..." Scanlon replied looking down at his hands.

Rossi leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. He shook his head. "This may be true. But what do you think other prisoners will think when they're told you molested kids. And then you killed your own father when he tried to stop you. And what about that innocent man who's serving a life sentence for killing your father when he didn't? I wonder how he'll react when he finds out." Rossi shrugged again and closed the file in front of him. "Oh well…"

Scanlon's head spun around as if it was about to come off his neck, his eyes wide with terror. He was well aware what happened to men who molested children in prison, and he didn't want to die like that. He saw Rossi prepare to get up from his chair.

"I killed my old man after ten years of abuse by him. I didn't intend to let that guy take the fall for what I done. I couldn't go to jail for doing a public service killin'."

Rossi arched an eyebrow. "Is that what you call it? A public service killing?"

"That's what Jason called it. Did he really lie about everything in them reports you read?"

"He did," Rossi lied again. "I'm afraid I've seen this before, Carson. Jason is hanging you out to dry and making everything appear it was all you and you alone. Face it. You're gonna go away for a long time, Carson." Rossi stood up and picked up the folder. "Unless somebody stops him, that is." He walked away toward the door. The agent gripped the door handle and opened the door.

"Wait!"

Rossi paused in front of the open door, and glanced back at the prisoner. "You say something, Carson?"

"I…I don't want to die in prison as a pedophile. I ain't no pedophile. It was all Jason. You gotta protect me."

Rossi closed the door, turned around, and returned to the table. "Protect you from what, Carson?" He slowly placed the file on the table, and rested his hands on the back of the chair. The agent stared down at Scanlon.

"I…you gotta protect me from Jason." Scanlon repeated looking up with tears leaking from his eyes. "He's crazy. He'll kill me if he finds out I talked."

Rossi pulled out the chair and sat back down in it. With hands folded in front of him, he watched the prisoner, sensing his terror was genuine. "If you talk to me, I can put in a good word with the District Attorney that you cooperated. And we can protect you from Jason Hemminger who will be cooling his heels in a jail cell."

"Okay." Then the floodgates opened, and Scanlon told everything about Hemminger and his obsession with Aaron Hotchner. When he was finished, he looked at Rossi. "I killed my old man because he abused me for ten years, and I couldn't take it anymore. Also, he was sexually abusin' kids in the neighborhood. He had to be stopped. So I shot 'im with his own gun. I don't know what Jason did with it. All he ever said was that he had it somewhere he could get his hands on it if I ever refused him. I believed 'im. I...I let a neighbor take the blame. As his kid was one of those my dad molested, it wasn't difficult to make him look guilty. Jason realized I had killed my old man. He used that to get me to call Hotchner. That and he told me Hotchner was sexually abusin' his own kid, and that got me mad. I only did it to protect the kid. I swear."

"Sure you did, Carson," Rossi said sarcastically with an impassive face. Scanlon didn't seem to notice.

"He also supplied me with drugs and cash to buy them," he added. "I'm sorry."

Rossi mulled other what he had heard. "And is Hemminger responsible for the rumors being spread about Agent Hotchner as well?"

Scanlon shrugged. "Don't know about any rumors, but sounds like what he'd do. He wants to humiliate and embarrass the guy. He hates 'im I can tell you that. I also suspect he's behind Child Protective Services bein' involved seein' as he wanted me to pretend to be an agent with 'em."

"Why did he want you to call Agent Hotchner and pretend to be a CPS agent? What did he hope to obtain with that phone call?"

"He…he wanted to torture Hotchner and make 'im suffer, I guess. I told you he was obsessed with the guy. Blamed 'im for killin' his old man and mother he said."

Rossi had suspected Hemminger blamed Hotch for the death of his father, and a year later, the death of his mother. But he needed more. He shook his head. "Carson, did Jason ever tell you what else he planned to do to Agent Hotchner after you called him?"

"Like what?"

Rossi leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well…did he have any plans to do anything else? You said he wanted to torture Agent Hotchner by having you pretend to be a CPS agent threatening to take his son from him."

"Yeah…"

"I guess what I'm asking is did he have anything else planned for Agent Hotchner after the phone call was made?"

Scanlon shrugged. "I guess he was gonna make it look like Hotchner and that sister-in-law of his was careless and allowed the boy to get hurt."

Rossi's body stiffened hearing those words. They'd profiled Hemminger wanted Hotch believe that CPS was going to take his son from him. But would he go so far as to cause physical harm to Jack to carry out that goal? He couldn't take that chance. Not with Jack. The Senior agent jumped up from his chair.

"Excuse me…" he hastily said to Scanlon. "I'll be right back," and raced out the door yanking his cell phone from his pocket. He pressed the numbers for Garcia's office.

"This is Kevin Lynch here, Agent Rossi. Puddin' Cup said I should help you if…"

"Kevin, be quiet and listen carefully," Rossi interrupted. He wasn't in the mood nor the patience for rambling at the moment. "I need you to get someone out to Jessica Brooks' house right away!"

Lynch was grateful Garcia had told him about Jason Hemminger's intent to harm Hotch by threatening his son. "I'll have an army out there lickety-split, agent."

Rossi calmed down, knowing the tech analyst wouldn't fail him, but wouldn't breathe easy until he knew Jack and Jessica were safe. "Good man. Call me when you hear from them about what they find."

"Yes, sir. Roger-wilco." And hung up the phone. Rossi returned to the interrogation room putting the cell phone back inside his jacket. He found Scanlon looking up at him questioningly.

"Sorry about that…" the agent remarked. "Had a phone call I forgot to make." He sat back down in his chair. "Now, we were talking about what Jason wanted to have happen to Agent Hotchner after your phone call. Did he intend to hurt him?"

"Not sure, but I heard 'im say he was plannin' on makin' it look like Hotchner killed himself."

"How was he intending on doing that?"

Scanlon shrugged. "Maybe cause of all the talk 'bout 'im likin' to do it with men in alleys he would kill himself. Figured he'd be embarrassed at work with all the talk 'bout 'im and all." Scanlon averted his eyes and studied his fingers. "He often said Hotchner liked to pretend to be so proper and such at work, while pokin' men in alleys at night. Claimed Hotchner liked to be on the receivin' end of a poke or two if you get my drift. Figured it wouldn't be difficult to convince CPS to believe he was doin' his own kid, and get his son taken away cause of sexually abusin' the boy. But I ain't sure."

"What did Jason give you payment for your help, Carson? Was it drugs? Cash?" Hearing Scanlon's inflammatory insults about Hotch inflamed Rossi. But he kept a tight reign on his emotions.

"Depends. Sometimes coke. He knows I like coke. Sometimes cash so I can score coke. He was supposed to show up last night when I got busted."

Rossi arched an eyebrow. "He was? Do you know what kind of car he drives?"

"Green Datsun. A ninety-nine, but I ain't sure."

Rossi fought to control his mounting anger. Hemminger's plan for Aaron was more involved then they originally suspected.

"One last thing, Carson. Will you be willing to testify against Jason?"

"Do I have to?" the man asked shakily.

"If you don't there's no deal."

"And you'll protect me? You gotta protect me."

"He will never lay a finger on you, I promise."

"I don't like it, but I'll do it if you can keep him away from me."

"I promise. Jason Hemminger will never bother you again. You have my word," Rossi promised. But he was still disgusted by the man.

About an hour later, Rossi had finished talking with Carson Scanlon and hurriedly left the interrogation room, file folder tucked under his arm, and a smile on his face. He reached into his jacket, and pulled out his cell phone. After punching several digits, he pressed the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Carl? Dave Rossi. I need a favor and it's urgent. I need a BOLO(1) on Jason Hemminger and his car. It's a green Datsun…1999 year. No license plate available. As he's an FBI agent, he's to be considered armed and dangerous. And Carl, we need to find him. He's not only a threat to Hotch, but to Hotch's son, Jack, and his aunt, Jessica Brooks. I have a unit on their way. We have word that Hemminger might do something to cause serious injury to Jack Hotchner. Good. Call me back."

About an hour away from the Brooks' house, Jason Hemminger had stopped at a sandwich shop for a ham and cheese on rye with yellow mustard sandwich. He was going to head directly to the Brooks' house, but the rumbling of his stomach made him stop for something to eat first. Little did he know this act would cost him his freedom, and put and end to his revenge against Aaron Hotchner.

(1) A BOLO is 'Be On The Lookout' for when a specific person or vehicle is wanted in connection with a crime or perhaps as a key witness.