Chapter 14
Cat's POV
The rest of her day after lunch was a significant improvement from earlier. Not as many people stared at her when she walked past and thankfully no one came up to offer condolences. They left her in peace to work on her research, although Savannah did stop by to bring her a piece of vanilla cake from someone's birthday celebration. It was peaceful and uneventful, just what she needed. So at the end of the day when she headed home, she felt that she had nothing to worry about.
When she was about to turn to go to Michael's though, she realized she had nothing to change into. Most of her clothes were at Spencer's but he had texted her saying he needed to stay late, something had come up at the office. Michael oddly had said the same thing and the only clothes that would fit her there were Rosie's which she was not about to use. Quickly, she turned around and went back to her apartment. It had been a little while since she had been back and it was calming to be home at her own place.
She was digging through her purse for her keys as she climbed the last set of stairs to her front door when her phone rang. Pulling it out she saw the ID read 'Spencer Reid.' That was odd since he had said he needed to stay late for work, which was only about 30 minutes ago. She let it go to voicemail, figuring it was probably just a butt dial, and continued searching for her keys. As soon as she found it her phone rang again, Spencer's name once again popping up.
"Hey Spence," she answered.
"Cat, thank goodness. Where are you?" His voice was frantic, almost as if he thought she would not answer.
"About to go into my apartment, why?" She put the key in and turned.
"No, don't go in! Come back to Quantico!"
"Spencer it's fine, I'm just-Oh god," she dropped her purse when she turned on the light to her apartment. Cat made the mistake of taking another step into her apartment, so distracted by what she saw that all sense left her. Everything she had been told was thrown to the back of her mind in a single moment of horror.
Spencer's POV
Spencer was packing up to leave when Hotch came out of his office and called the entire team into the conference room. From the look of Hotch's face and the way Garcia came rushing into the bullpen, Spencer knew it was something serious and they would be there for a while. He quickly sent a text to Cat so she knew. With both of their jobs being so hectic with almost no free time, Spencer had decided to actually try texting. Although he still wanted to stick to the classic flip phone; it was just so much more practical than ones with glass screens.
"Just now I received this message from an unknown, untraceable number," Hotch said once the team was gathered around the conference table with the door closed.
"It was definitely from a burner. I tried to trace it but it disappeared as soon as the caller hung up," Garcia quickly said before Hotch pressed the play button on the machine in the center of the table.
A deep, gravelly, male voice began, "You tried to hide her from me…But you failed. Ha. I found her…She's mine now." A dark laughter followed but Hotch cut it off.
"Do we have any idea who the "her" is?" Morgan asked.
"None. That's all he said."
"Are we sure it's a he? I know it sounds weird but maybe the Unsub used a voice changer," JJ looked around.
"From the possessiveness of the voice and the cruel laughter, it's almost definitely male. Very few female Unsubs, even kidnappers, would go out of their way to taunt us about what they were going to do to a victim," Reid interjected.
"He said we tried to hide her from him, that means the "her" is probably a previous victim," Morgan nodded to Garcia, who sat down and opened her laptop. "Garcia pull up a list of all previous female victims from BAU cases. If we find the girl we might be able to find him"
"Filter out any who did not survive, both as a result of the case and then recently. If he found her, the way he laughs means she is definitely still alive," JJ went around the table so she stood behind Garcia.
"I'm sorry my furry friends, but this is a really long list of people," Garcia sighed.
"Rossi you okay? You've been awfully quiet," Hotch said, looking at the older agent who was just staring at the machine.
"Garcia filter the list so it is only unsolved BAU cases," Rossi called out. The others all turned to look at him with confusion. "He's taunting us. That level of confidence usually comes from someone who got away with a crime and is fairly certain they will get away with another."
"Okay, that makes it a little better but not by much," Garcia looked around, searching for something to help.
"Search for victims who are the sole survivor of their case, like in a targeted case or something," Reid said, the wheels in his brain starting to turn.
"And…nada. Sorry Junior G-Man."
"Reid's onto something though. Garcia go back and put in all cases where the surviving victim went into Witness Protection," Hotch looked at Reid thoughtfully.
"Excellent! That's it! I've got four names," Garcia gave a little clap before reading them off, Morgan and JJ leaning down to look at the list. "Patricia Applebottom, Kailee Bingham, Linda Scott, and Abigail Warner."
"Reid call Cat," Rossi murmured. Everyone looked over to him, the confusion in the room nearly stifling.
"What? Why?" Reid asked but still pulled out his phone, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Now!" Reid dialed. "Garcia, Abigail Warner. That's her. That's the one he wants."
"Dave, how can you be sure?" Hotch went over to Rossi.
"Trust me, I know."
"Oh this poor girl," Garcia moaned as she read over the case file.
"What is it, Baby Girl?"
"It went to voicemail!" Reid couldn't keep the panic out of his voice when he heard Cat's answering machine.
"Try again!"
"When she was nine years old an unknown suspect broke into her family home in Stafford, VA, and brutally murdered her entire family with a shotgun. Everyone. Father, mother, brother. Her mother was even pregnant at the time. Abigail was found hiding in a crawl space in her room by BAU agents."
"Why was this a BAU case?" JJ asked.
"Because her father was Terrance Warner. He had been named Section Chief the same night he was murdered," Hotch answered. "Garcia, where is Abigail now?"
"Cat! Thank goodness, where are you?" Spencer tried to tune out the rest of his team when he heard Cat's voice on the other end. He tried until he heard Garcia's answer.
"She's here. Abigail Warner is Cat Grant." The whole room looked to Spencer, who could feel the world drop out from under him.
"No, don't go in! Come back to Quantico!" His shock was overcome with fear, his brain piecing together what Garcia's information and Rossi's grave look meant for Cat.
"Spencer it's fine. I'm just-Oh god…" Cat stopped mid-sentence. For Spencer there was nothing but him and the phone, his team was forgotten.
"Cat! Cat!" He screamed into the phone. God, why wasn't he there with her? "Cat! What's wrong!?"
"Spencer…"
"I'm here! What's going on? Is anyone there with you?"
"Spence, I'm so sorry. I should've told you everything. You deserved to know."
"Cat it's okay. I know. I forgive you. Just tell me what's happening. Tell me you're okay." Spencer couldn't stop the tears from running down his face. This could not happening. He could not lose her.
He could just make out Hotch motioning for the team to get ready to move out. Morgan and JJ ran out of the room, Hotch following close behind.
"Spence, tell Michael I'm sorry too. And I want you both to know how much I love you. God I love you so much Spe-" a loud thud cut her off and Spencer could hear the clatter of the phone on the wood floor of Cat's apartment.
"Cat! No, Cat!" Spencer gripped the back of the chair he stood behind.
"I've got her now. You're too late," the gravelly voice from the message answer Spencer's plea before hanging up.
"NO!" Spencer cried out. He collapsed onto his knees, sobbing as the tears flowing freely down his face now. Rossi come over and kneel beside him.
"I'm so sorry kid."
Garcia left her chair and joined them, pulling Spencer into her arms and holding him tight.
"She's gone," Spencer murmured.
