"So, I think that I have some good news for us. Not, 'I've found that rat bastard and here's his address' news, but rather, I think that this will push us ten steps closer to finding him, maybe even more." Erin smiled at the delight in Penelope's voice, since it was so good to have a spot of hope after the long day that the team had put in yesterday. Even the police were beginning to look askance at them, since they were supposed to be an elite team and were still unable to get any more information out of the ether.
"All right, what did you find?" Aaron asked as they call came to sit down around the conference table. Erin grabbed hold of David's hand beneath the table, wanting to feel more connected with his as they listened to Penelope excitedly tell them about the fact that she had managed to track down the man who had delivered the tainted wine to Sean's bar. At the end of the call, she gave them a name and address, and Erin paused a little to hear how close the apartment was located to where they currently were. "Thank you, Garcia. We'll touch base with you when we have more information to go on."
Aaron hung up on her, and Erin looked around at everyone there, seeing the same determined look on their faces. It was a bit inspiring to know that they had all come together to bring John to justice, though she also knew that they were doing it more for Sean and Aaron than for her. "I think that Erin and I will go interrogate this jagoff once the police bring him in for questioning. We need something to do, after all."
"Isn't that a breach of etiquette, old man?" Agent Morgan asked, though from the look on his face, Erin could tell that he was teasing them both a little.
"I think that we'll make a good tag team. Erin will be the stern cop, I'll be the sarcastic cop."
"Wait, it's supposed to be good cop, bad cop. Those both sound like bad cop tropes," Doctor Reid protested, and Erin arched an eyebrow upwards at him. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but it does! I've seen you be nurturing and warm when with your children, so shouldn't your husband perhaps rethink this plan a little?"
"Well, darling, what say you? Should I play the warm, mothering, type when we interrogate this man?"
David squeezed her hand a little, quickly winking before replying to her question. "Or maybe we could play against type, and I could be the warm, fatherly, type while Erin is strict and authoritarian. I mean, she's taken a stripe out of all of you here before, and you've survived to tell the tale." He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "And it is so hot when you play the straight man."
"And that is inappropriate for the workplace, David." She tempered her words with an indulgent smile. "Aaron, would you please let one of the officers know that we need this young man brought in for questioning? I have this itch in my palm to crack the proverbial whip."
Agent Jareau burst into a fit of giggles at that, and she nodded a little as Alex leaned over and nudged her with her shoulder. "You are good at that, Erin," the woman replied as they watched Aaron leave the conference room. "Now, Spencer and I will take lunch duty today, and I hope that you all don't mind the fact that I'll be getting our typical Chinese order."
"That sounds fine with me," Erin quietly replied as she slid her notepad closer to her, hastily scribbling out some notes on things that she wanted to ask the man once he was in their custody. While she knew that he could be completely innocent, that John could have just chosen some random man to carry out part of his reign of terror over them, she also wanted to just thoroughly lay into him and tear everything down to the bone until she had the answers that she wanted.
The others started to talk amongst themselves about the case, and yet she just kept doodling and coming up with questions to ask this man. Finally, Aaron returned and gave them an update on when their suspect would be brought by, and she nodded a little as she stood up and took a short walk around the room in order to relieve some of the frustration that she was feeling. As the minutes ticked by, Erin found it more and more difficult to concentrate as she dwelt on the fact that they were so close to John and yet so far away.
"We've brought him down to interrogation room number two," the woman in charge of the case said as she peeked her head inside the room about thirty minutes later. "Good luck trying to get him to talk."
Erin nodded as she and David got to their feet. "Agent Jareau, if you and Aaron want to listen in on us, perhaps you can see if there's anything that we miss as we go along. Agent Morgan, if you want to go with Alex and Doctor Reid to pick up food for us, I would appreciate that. I don't want to bog everyone down at once with this case, after all."
They all nodded as they separated to their different assignments, and Erin felt a weird sense of anticipation start to fill the pit of her stomach. She didn't know if she would be able to handle questioning the young man, now that the moment was finally upon them. She was starting to become too worried about fucking something up and then losing out on their one chance to chase down John before he got even closer to her team, her family.
"Erin, wait." She turned to see Alex jog over to her, and she waved the other three away so that they could have a private moment, since that's what she felt that Alex wanted.
"Yes?" she asked as her friend stopped in front of her, reaching out to take hold of her hand tightly as they took a few deep breaths in tandem. "Alex?"
"You need to stop worrying that you're going to make a mistake. Anything that we can get out of him will make our job that much easier. Just think, a few hours ago, we didn't even know who he was, and now you're going to interrogate him. Go for the jugular, take no prisoners, because we both know that John will do the same. You have this." Before she could protest, Alex was pulling her into a warm hug before they parted once more. "And I'll make certain to find a Chinese food place that sells those fried dumplings that you love so much. Good food helps to settle hearts, after all."
"That is very true, Lexie." She rubbed her lips together a few times in an effort to stem the warning signs of tears, knowing that she had to go into that interrogation room with a head held high and a clear thought process. "And I would love if you could find honey sesame chicken, please, and those delicious sesame seed fried dough balls."
"I will do my best, Erin." Alex leaned in for another quick hug, brushing her lips against Erin's cheek before turning and jogging out the door. With that small boost of confidence, Erin straightened her shoulders and followed her husband into the interrogation room, ready to find out the answers they needed in order to get all the closer to John.