Chapter 5 – Nexus
Episode - About Face
Carrollton Police Department
Dave follows Hotch and JJ through the corridors of the police station. A uniformed officer points out the detective in charge.
"Detective Yarborough," JJ inquires pleasantly as she approaches a tall, gangly, middle-aged man.
The man holds up a piece of paper he had just removed from a fax machine. "FBI? We got another flier – this time in Metro Dallas. Enid White."
The detective lopes across the room to his desk leaving the team to trail hurriedly behind him. He continues talking. "Her roommate called Dallas P.D. this morning. Enid never came home after walking her dog last night."
"So, she is missing," Reid interjects as he settles into a chair.
"Well, he wallpapered the neighborhood with fliers for 2 blocks around their apartment," Yarborough states. He hands the flier to Hotch.
"Outside. That's different," Morgan points out.
Dave eyes the flyer in Hotch's hand. He'd rather see an original of the flyer, but for now this would have to do.
"No one saw him putting them up," Prentiss asks testily. Dave eyes her, hoping she doesn't have an inappropriate emotional outburst. Of course, she probably wouldn't have made it this far in the Bureau if she wasn't able to control her emotions. This is a different world from the one he knew and he has a lot to learn about it and the people he now works with. He rarely worked with female agents before, so he doesn't know what to expect.
"Dallas P.D. is still canvassing, but nothing so far," Yarborough answers calmly. He looks from Prentiss to Hotch. "They're waiting for you on the new scene."
"Mind if I keep this?" Hotch asks.
"Not at all."
Hotch turns to the team. "Morgan, you and Prentiss go to Michelle Collucci's house. JJ and I will talk to Enid's roommate."
Hotch turns to Dave. "Dave, do you mind walking the disposal site with the detective and Reid?"
"Whatever you need," he replies amiably. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Dr. Reid perk up. He groans in his mind. 'Great,' he thinks. 'Dr. Reid is a fan.'
"We'll regroup in an hour," Hotch states. The team files out to the parking lot.
Morgan and Prentiss climb into one suburban, Hotch and JJ into the other one. Dave takes the front passenger seat of Detective Yarborough's car as Reid clambers into the back.
The Dump Site
They drive a short distance to a wooded area. The detective turns onto a dirt road, driving confidently through the area. He parks at the side of the road and they all get out of the vehicle.
Dave takes a moment to look around their surroundings. The road is well-travelled. The side where they parked seems trampled from frequent use.
"Her body was found over there," Yarborough announces. He points to a location across the road. "Down that trail is a popular swimming hole. Some teenagers saw her in the water and called us."
"Can you take us to the exact location where the body was?" Dave asks.
"Sure," Yarborough says with a shrug. He crosses the road and heads up a footpath that is clearly visible.
Dave and Reid follow closely behind.
"We went over this area pretty thoroughly. There's no evidence left," Yarborough points out.
Dave stumbles over a tree root, catching his balance by grabbing a branch.
"I just want to stand where she was," Dave explains vaguely. He stumbles over another root as if he hasn't spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours traipsing over tree roots in his own yard. This may be a good time to ask an innocuous question. "Dr. Reid, do we still keep all the old files in the fourth-floor storeroom?"
Reid frowns. "I think some are up there. You know, most of our information is on computers now."
"Right," Dave agrees. He nods like he knows what the kid is talking about.
"Have you had a chance to go through our data since you've been back?"
"Not yet," Dave replies.
"You'll be amazed," Reid says enthusiastically. "The original team – I mean you, interviewed something like forty-five serial killers, right?"
"Something like," Dave says as he steps over a rock. They arrive at the water's edge which draws his attention away from the conversation.
"Today we have interviews with over a thousand offenders. Serial killers, child abductors, sex offenders – I'll go through it with you if you like, answer any questions…"
"Sounds good," Dave says absently. His eyes scan the shallow water in front of him.
Yarborough stands at the edge of the water, lost in thought. Dave walks past him, getting a feel for the area. Reid stops next to the detective as he begins to speak.
"Michelle's body was found right here," he says with a hint of emotion. "I really thought it was a prank."
"You can't really blame yourself for that," Reid says.
"She made herself dinner," the detective says quietly.
"Excuse me," Reid replies.
"She had time to make herself dinner," the older man explains, The pain now visible on his face. "I mean, she was home for a while before he – there was time to help her."
Reid remains silent.
Dave moves further from the two men; he rounds the base of a tree at the water's edge and steps onto the roots for a better view.
"Water," he says quietly. "Obliterates a body. Destroys evidence. But you weren't in the water that long, were you Michelle?"
"She had rocks tied to her to weigh her down," Yarborough cuts in.
Reid frowns. He glances at Rossi then down at the water. "She floated to the surface before there was any other damage."
"Just what was done to her already," Yarborough states. He glances back and forth between the two agents.
"The salient point is that it was the first thing the unsub wasn't good at," Reid says.
"Green River dumped most of the bodies in the water. But they weren't weighed down," Dave says aloud.
"Yeah," Reid agrees. "We know now it's because he didn't care if they were found. He had no connection to them."
Carrollton Police Department
Dave sits in a chair and writes down his notes from the dump site in his notebook as Reid goes through the case file with Detective Yarborough. Hotch and JJ enter the room. Hotch glances at Dave who continues to write in his notebook.
"We got anything," Hotch asks aggressively.
Nervous at the tone, Reid stands up straight. "Agent Rossi pointed out that since the victims were weighed down, it suggests the unsub didn't want them found. It suggests some sort of connection between them."
Hotch glances at Dave then to Yarborough. "Detective, how long was Michelle missing?"
"She was found on the fourth day," Yarborough states.
"So, if she wasn't in the water long, then he held her for three days," Hotch speculates. He grabs his phone as it rings. "Garcia?"
Dave looks up. 'Is that the research girl,' he wonders.
"I've been running all of Enid White's credit cards," Garcia announces over the speaker. Dave's heart thumps hard in his chest.
"And?"
"She made a purchase at nine a.m. this morning at a sporting goods store in Dallas," she responds.
"This morning?" Hotch repeats.
"What did she buy?" Reid asks.
"A shotgun."
"Thanks," Hotch replies. He hangs up the phone. "She can buy a gun that easily?"
"This is Texas," Yarborough replies.
"There's no license or waiting period for most rifles or shotguns," Dave states knowingly.
Hotch frowns. "Is there video surveillance of gun sales in sporting goods stores?"
"There's supposed to be," Yarborough answers.
"JJ," Hotch begins as he turns to the blonde. "Call the store. Find out if it was Enid or the unsub using her credit card."
"Right away," JJ says.
A uniformed officer stops her leaving the area. "Detective Yarborough? There's an urgent call from a woman on one."
Yarborough hits the speaker on the phone and taps into line one. "Detective Yarborough."
"My name is Enid White," says the voice on the line.
"Where are you, Enid?" Yarborough asks.
The woman ignores his question. "The news report said that the police didn't believe that other woman when she saw the missing fliers."
"That was a mistake, Enid," Yarborough admits.
"I have a gun. I don't think I can stay awake very much longer," Enid says.
Hotch leans in and takes over the phone call. "Enid, this is Agent Hotchner of the FBI. We believe you and we want to help you. Can you tell us where you are?"
"El Royale Motel," she says. "In Dallas. It's room 6. I saw the flyers. Hurry, please. He's gonna kill me."
"Don't move, Enid. We're on our way," Yarborough tells her.
"JJ, Reid – stay here," Hotch orders. "JJ call Morgan and Prentiss, tell them to meet us at the motel."
Dave follows Hotch out to the SUV and jumps into the passenger seat. They follow Yarborough to the hotel arriving seconds before Morgan and Prentiss.
El Royale Motel
"FBI," Hotch yells as they enter room 6. It's empty save for a pile of wanted fliers scattered over the bed and a mask with the number two written on it.
"She's gone," Emily points out.
Dave glances around taking note of the condition of the room. Other than the fliers on the bed, there was nothing unusual in the room. Even Enid's belongings were missing. This man was meticulous. He had a plan and was able to follow through with it on his terms. And yet, he left a lot of clues.
He follows Hotch outside. Morgan and Emily help the local cops process the scene.
"Twenty minutes. We were here in twenty minutes. I can't believe we lost her," Yarborough exclaims as he steps outside.
"We may not have lost her," Hotch says calmly. "He kept Michelle for four days."
"But we've got nothing," Yarborough replies. Frustration clear in his voice.
Dave pulls out his notebook and begins writing his assessment of the situation. Making note of the previous phone call, the time it took for them to arrive on scene and the state of the hotel room when they did arrive.
"That's not true," Hotch states. "Look at the difference in the scenes."
"What do you mean," Yarborough asks. "There's a mask. There are fliers."
Emily comes out with a flyer in a plastic bag.
"Yeah, but the fliers weren't tacked up," Emily says. "They were just thrown around the room."
"So," Yarborough interjects.
"He left in a hurry. Like he knew we were coming." Hotch points out.
Morgan walks out of the motel room. In his hand is a small cell phone. "Ok, this was under the bed. 9-7-2 area code."
"That's Carrollton," Yarborough explains. "The hotline number."
"She used a cell phone," Emily sighs.
"So," Yarborough asks.
"You can get a cell interceptor at any electronics store," Morgan explains.
"You can?" Yarborough looks baffled.
Dave feels just as confused. 'What the hell is a cell interceptor?'
"Yeah," Morgan replies. "They don't cost that much. He probably sat right out here and heard everything she said."
"But if he followed her here from Dallas, why wait until she calls us to move on her," Yarborough asks not sounding convinced.
"To make sure it was the police who found the mask." Emily answers. Dave looks at her, impressed by her assessment.
"We need to gather your men and give a profile," Hotch tells Yarborough.
Carrollton Police station – several hours later
Dave steps into the empty copy room and closes the door. His head swims a bit from the day. He's already tired and the day was long from being over. Jack had said that working with a team would be easier, that he wouldn't have to remember or do as much, however, he felt like he was doing and remembering more.
His goal is to hurry things up and finish this case as quickly as possible to show the younger agents how his methods were the best methods. He places a paper in the fax machine and punches in the number he had written down in his notebook. This is a pretty simple case from his point of view, and he is ready to close it. All he has to do is manipulate the news broadcasts into doing the work for him.
If every case works as well as this one, he would finish his business and be gone by the end of the month. Plenty of time to help JD practice for baseball tryouts.
Pulling out his phone he dials the number Reid gave him earlier.
"Speak and be recognized by your Empress, mortal," Garcia says from the other end of the line.
He frowns and wonders if he has the right number. "Is this the technical analyst girl?"
"Who's this," she asks in return.
"Dr. Reid said this was your direct line for the team," he continues.
"It is," she says shortly.
"This is Agent Dave Rossi," he introduces himself. "We met yesterday."
"Oh! Of course, of course," she replies warmly. He feels a shiver go through his body as she continues to speak. "I'm sorry, sir. Uh, yeah, I already started processing the footprint information on Michelle Colucci…"
"No, no, no," he cuts in. "This is about something else."
"Oh?"
"All the past open cases the BAU worked on are on computer now?" he asks.
"Most of them," she replies. "There may be a few left to catalog."
"If I gave you a victim's name, could you find the old records?"
"Oh, records are my specialty sir," she says proudly.
"The original case – I'm going back twenty years."
"Won't be a problem," she assures him.
"The name is Galen. Diana and Richard Galen," he says. "They had three children."
"Ok. I will get back to you super-fast. Scout's honor."
"No, no. Just, um, put a file together," he tells her. "I'll get it when I get back."
"It's really no problem, sir," she insists. "I could just send it…"
"Not necessary," he cuts her off. "I'll look at it when I get back. And let's keep this between us, if you don't mind. For now."
"Ok," she agrees warily.
"Thank you," he smiles into the phone.
"My pleasure entirely, sir."
He closes his phone. His mind focuses on her last words. "Not entirely," he murmurs.
He picks up the paper from the fax machine and wonders why Aaron hadn't thought of using the local tv stations to help catch the unsub. He opens his phone, dialing another number. A more familiar number.
"I figured you'd be calling me," Jack says in greeting. "How was your first day?"
"Jesus, Jack!" Dave growls. "These kids, man… they sit talking about the cases and group think, they do all kinds of weird shit. They have no idea how to profile."
He pauses as he recognizes that Jack is laughing.
"What the hell is so funny," Dave demands.
"You," Jack blurts out with a laugh. "You sound like Henry McMillan."
"Fuck you! I do not."
Henry McMillan, an old-school FBI agent who had cut his teeth with J. Edgar Hoover. Flat-top haircut, beefy face with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. His face looked like it had seen too many brick walls up close. He was an ugly man, inside and out.
Jack catches his breath. "Yes, you do. Remember that first case you consulted on? The rape of the congressman's maid? You were spouting all kinds of weird shit and Henry was shaking his head, I remember he said, you fucking kids are too lazy to learn about police work. This mumbo jumbo shit you're saying is just that – SHIT!"
"He was an asshole."
"Yeah," Jack says with a tone that Dave knew only too well. Jack was calling him an asshole too. "Listen, as a wise man said once, the times they are a changing. A LOT has changed since you left and I know you've been trying to keep up, but man, you have to shut up sometimes and listen. Actually listen to these "kids" as you call them. They're smart."
Dave rolls his eyes. "I've noticed. This Reid kid…"
Jack chuckles. "Yeah, his IQ is off the charts. Pay attention, old man. You may learn something."
Dave grunts. "Thanks for the pep talk."
"You're welcome. I gotta go," Jack says before the line goes dead.
Dave closes his phone and shoves it in his pocket.
He exits the copy room and wanders down the hall to the main briefing room. Hotch and the others were updating the local LEOs. He walks into the room just as Hotch gives JJ a lashing about the masks on the news. It didn't take long for the local stations to run the info he had sent them.
"I called them," Dave cut in. All eyes turn to him.
"What," Hotch asks.
Dave looks at the tv and back to Hotch. "I said the FBI thinks the masks mean he's impotent."
"Can I speak to you for a second," Hotch demands rather than asks. Hotch ushers him into the hallway and back to the copy room Dave had just left.
He spoke again as Dave closes the door. "Why did you do that?"
"It'll make him contact us," Dave explains as if talking to a three-year-old. "He's screaming for it."
"We aren't prepared." Hotch responds.
"Prepared?"
"We need to set up a trap and trace."
"Trap and trace? They never stay on the phone long enough for that," Dave counters.
"Dave, they're a lot faster than they used to be," Hotch points out. "We also need to prep the detective on what to say to him."
Dave shakes his head. "He's not going to want to talk to the detective. He's going to want to talk to the FBI."
"We don't step over the local police like that," the younger man growls.
"They called us in."
"Yes, but if the perception is that we're going to embarrass the locals by telling the media that we're going to fix things, then they'll stop calling us."
"Relax, Hotch, I've got this."
"You see, that's the problem Dave. There is no "I". We function as a team."
Dave, taken aback by the aggressiveness of Hotch's words, responds in kind.
"I've been doing this since before you were out of high school, probably before the rest of your team was in school at all."
"I know that," Hotch responds quickly. "Things have changed."
"The bells and whistles changed. An unsub is still an unsub, and I know how to deal with an unsub."
"No, Dave, it's not just that…" Hotch begins.
The door opens and JJ peeks her head inside. "Hotch?"
"What?"
"Garcia found something," she says quietly.
Hotch gives Dave one last glare before marching out of the room. Dave watches Hotch leave the room, a gnawing feeling builds in his stomach. Doing this job was second nature to him. Doing it as part of a team was not.
Dave enters the conference room where the team sits around the table pouring over the case file. He stands in front of the case board and stares at the pictures. He knows this case, this "team" needed to learn how to trust him.
"Garcia, talk to us," Morgan says into the phone.
"Michelle Colucci recently drew up the plans for a remodel of three floors of a company called Techco Communications. It's a high-tech communications company in downtown Dallas."
"And Enid White?" Hotch questions.
"Worked there until two months ago," she replies succinctly.
Detective Yarborough walks into the room. "He's on two," Yarborough announces.
Dave turns from the board to look at the detective.
"The unsub?" Hotch questions.
"Demanding to speak to the FBI." Yarborough affirms.
Hotch looks up to Dave, they make brief eye contact. Dave realizes that this is on him now. It was time to show these young agents a little unsub 101 manipulation.
Dave steps over to the table and presses the blinking light on the phone.
"This is FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi."
A brief pause and then a voice says, "You called me impotent."
"Did I?" Rossi replies, egging the man on.
Another pause. "I'm not impotent," the man says sharply keeping his voice low.
"Why are you whispering?" Dave asks.
The man ignores the question. "You lied."
Dave continues to question him. "Is someone around you? Are you at work?"
"You have to tell the news the truth," the man demands.
"I'll get you on the news, then you can correct me yourself."
"No, you!" the man shouts. He calms himself. "You, you correct it."
Dave decides to divert the conversation. "By the way, I was, um, looking at the police security tapes for the day Michelle Colucci went missing."
"What?"
"You watched her long enough to know she didn't have visitors. She was a loner. Yet you knew that Detective Yarborough was coming over. You must have been right here in this station when he told her." Dave sits in a chair, getting closer to the phone as he ramps up the conversation. "Now, your face is gonna be on one of those tapes. And when I find it, I'm gonna paper this city with it, just like you did with those women. Everyone will see it. They won't be able to ignore you now. But you won't inspire fear, you'll inspire hatred and ridicule, because the only power someone like you has is a mask, and once that mask is removed, you be as insignificant as you've always been – a loser!"
There's another pause – did he hang up? Dave wonders if he went too far, he was certain this guy would tip his hand if forced.
"You just signed Enid White's death warrant," the man growled. The sound of paper being torn up fills the line before it goes dead.
Dave sits back in his chair. He got the response he was expecting. He looks at the faces of the BAU team and recognizes that he may have gone too far. Instead of respect and admiration, their faces were filled with anxiety and uncertainty.
"What now?" Hotch asks stiffly.
Dave looks at his once protégé and pauses. There was a time when Hotch would have followed him without question – those days were long gone it seems. Would he be around long enough to get that respect back?
"We go to this TechCo place and pick him up," Dave suggests.
"Let's go," Hotch orders.
In an SUV – on the way to TechCo
Dave climbs into the backseat of the SUV with Hotch and Morgan. Dave composes himself. He's been doing this for a long time, and he knows that he is right. He buckles in as the SUV careens out of the parking lot.
Morgan twists around in his seat. "Rossi, you really think the unsub's going to be there after that call?"
"Of course," he responds confidently. "He thinks he has all the time in the world."
"You think they got an image off the police security camera yet," Hotch asks over his shoulder as he drives.
"The camera doesn't work," Dave admits. "I lied about that."
That weird feeling crawls into his stomach again. He finds himself defending his actions. He knew he was right. He knew this would work and everything would be over soon. But that feeling, that feeling that he was fucking things up was right there in his gut. He didn't like this feeling.
Hotch catches his eye in the rearview mirror. "You lied about that?"
"He doesn't know," Dave replies casually.
Hotch turns his head to look at him directly. "Dave, that was incredibly reckless."
"Hotch, he didn't weigh the body down well," Dave says.
"What do you mean?"
"He didn't want Michelle found so quickly. He screwed that up. This kind of guy, when he plans something, if he has the time, if he's in control, he's meticulous," Dave explains. "But being out on the edge of the river, out in the open – he was not in control. He was in a hurry and he made a mistake."
"That's what you're hoping," Morgan cuts in.
"Trust me. With an unsub like this, you need to throw him off his game," Dave states firmly. "His hand needs to be forced."
"I know that, Dave," Hotch concedes. "But the point is, you did it by forcing ours."
Techco Corporation
Dave and Hotch moved around the room using their years of experience as profilers to assess the crowd. Dave feels a shift in atmosphere.
"He's somewhere in this lobby," he says quietly to Hotch.
"What?" Hotch replies with an air of disbelief.
"Can't you feel it?"
Hotch hesitates and Dave knows exactly when the younger man understands.
"Display your credentials," Hotch suggests.
They both pull out their I.D.'s and hang them on their jackets.
"He thinks we know what he looks like," Dave says quietly.
Hotch pulls one of the fliers out of his pocket and unfolds it. Both men study it for a moment then look around the room watching for unusual behavior. They move through the crowd. Hotch holds the flyer up at times as he scans the crowd.
Dave spots a man ducking and turning away.
Hotch takes a phone call.
"Yeah Reid," Hotch says into the phone.
Dave knows this is the unsub, without ever knowing his name. The man turns and walks past the elevators.
Dave draws his weapon, holding it near his thigh.
"Sir," Dave calls out. The man continues walking. "Sir!"
"Max Pool," Hotch shouts as he steps next to Dave.
Both men step past the crowd. Max stops, back to them. Dave and Hotch raise their weapons.
"We have your address, Max," Hotch tells the man. "There's no place to go."
"This is Agent Rossi, Max. If you do what you're thinking, you won't get to tell them I lied."
Dave knows this isn't going to end well. This guy wasn't going to just give himself over to the police. Dave prayed that it wouldn't end like that.
"Come on, Max," Dave begs. "Slowly put your hands on top of your head."
"Listen to him Max," Hotch says encouragingly.
"I know what you're thinking, and you don't have to do it," Dave states. "It doesn't have to end here, Max. Please."
Life turns into slow motion. Max begins to turn around as the elevator doors open and Morgan steps out. He looks at Dave and Hotch whom are both pointing guns in his direction.
"Down," Hotch yells.
Morgan leaps towards Hotch as the unsub pulls out a weapon. Dave fires hitting the man squarely in the chest.
'Son of a fuck!' Dave screams in his head as he watches the body of the unsub fall to the floor.
He lowers his weapon and leans against the wall as Hotch moves past Morgan and checks the guys' pulse.
Hotch looks up at him. "He's gone."
"What about Enid White," the local detective asks.
Hotch glances at Dave before answering. "We have his home address."
"Is she there?" Morgan demands glaring at Dave.
Another glance from Hotch. "Let's hope so."
Dave pulls himself into a standing position and holsters his weapon. It doesn't feel as good as it did two days ago. He follows Hotch out of the building and into the SUV.
End Chapter 5
