Reckless

Chapter 41

Penelope wasn't sure how she did it, but somehow she managed to hold back her tears until she was outside the giant cement fortress of a building. Federal prison was every bit as terrifying and horrible as it sounded like it would be. Maybe even worse. Just imagining her kind and gentle friend inside such a place made her want to scream. Actually seeing Spencer's bruised and swollen face on the other side of a glass partition was something she never could have prepared herself for.

When she arrived for her approved visit, Penelope wasn't sure exactly what state she expected to find Spencer in. Nothing she imagined could have been worse than the reality of his situation. It wasn't the black eye or his swollen split lip, it was the dimmed light in his hazel eyes. He looked broken. He looked like he had given up. Penelope's heart ached for him. The worst part of the whole thing was that she couldn't even hug him. The only comfort she could offer was the press of her palm against the clear partition as she promised Spencer that everything was going to be alright. It was a promise she wasn't sure if she could keep. Knowing that made it worse. Everything wasn't alright. It was never going to be alright again. Not for him. Not for any of them.

By the time Penelope reached her vehicle, she was sobbing uncontrollably. The tears were gushing out, taking her carefully applied makeup with them. Her chest was heaving and her body was shaking uncontrollably. The last time she could remember crying this hard was when Emily Prentiss died. Or faked her death. Penelope believed that Emily was dead, so it was the same as if she really died. The difference this time was that Spencer wasn't faking. This wasn't a ruse. He was being accused of murder and he was going to be held in federal prison until he was either cleared of the crime or convicted of it. From what Spencer's lawyer told Hotch, it wasn't looking good for him.

"Just breathe."

The words came with Luke's strong arms around her. Penelope turned, sobbing into his chest. He tried to comfort her. But his quiet promises that everything was going to be alright only made her cry harder. Luke kept one arm around her as he opened the back door of his car, ordering Roxy up into the front passenger seat with a snap of his fingers before he ushered Penelope inside. He leaned back against the seat, hugging her to his chest until she cried herself out.

Penelope stopped trying to hold back her tears. She relaxed into Luke's chest as she let her body purge itself of everything that needed to be released. It felt good to have his strong arms around her. The last person that hugged her while she cried was Derek. Derek always made her feel safe, but this was different. As close of a bond as she and Derek had, she was never romantically involved with him. She was never going to be the most important person in his life. She never thought she'd be the most important person in anyone's life. Not until she started sleeping with Luke. He held her in his arms like he never wanted to let go.

As her tears fell, Penelope remembered how irritated she got with Luke earlier, when he insisted on personally driving her to the prison for her visit. She prided herself on her independence. She didn't need a man to accompany her, just because she was going somewhere scary. Now, she realized that he must have known how much of an impact this visit was going to have on her. Penelope wasn't sure how he knew, but she was eternally grateful to Luke for being such a stubborn asshole. There was no way she would be able to drive herself anywhere in her current state.

"Thanks for driving me," she whimpered, her voice coming out rough and scratchy. Penelope glanced up when she felt Luke's chest shaking with silent laughter. He pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he released her.

"You owe me blondie," he teased. "I want another drawer in the bathroom."

"I can't joke right now," she lamented. The wound was too fresh. She could still smell the prison on her. It stunk of sweat and disinfectant. Penelope could wash that off. But the broken look in Spencer's eyes was going to stay with her long after her shower was over.

"Well, when you're done crying we'll get to work," Luke declared.

Penelope sat up, leaning back as she regarded Luke with a look of confusion. Work wasn't going to make her forget about what was happening inside those cement walls. The only thing awaiting her at the office was another heart to break. She wasn't looking forward to telling Toni that Spencer was still refusing to add her to his visitor list. Thinking about the pain in his voice when he said he didn't want her to see him like that was almost enough to start Penelope crying all over again.

"Work?," Penelope repeated. "Get to work on what?" She gestured towards the prison she just walked out of. "There's nothing I can do to get Spencer out of there, or believe me I would have already done it."

"There's nothing you can do to get him out, but that doesn't mean we can't help him while he's in there," Luke suggested. For the first time since she hurried through the parking lot with tears in her eyes, he saw a glimmer of hope written across her face. "Did Spencer say who was fucking with him?," Luke asked. He would have asked Spencer himself, but like Toni he was not listed on the approved visitor log.

"How did you know someone was…," Penelope started to ask. Her words tapered off. JJ visited Spencer last week. She seemed upset afterwards but she wouldn't say why. Penelope guessed it was because Spencer was looking as beat up as he did now. JJ must have mentioned it to Luke. It wasn't like JJ to keep secrets from her, but in this instance Penelope understood why JJ didn't tell her. She almost wished she still didn't know about what was happening to their friend.

"He said it was a bunch of skinheads," Penelope said. Spencer didn't tell her much. He either didn't want to talk about what was happening to him or was afraid to. But she'd started with less information than that and still gotten the job done.

A half hour later, Penelope and Luke pulled into the bureau's parking garage. She began a preliminary search on her laptop, but she needed her full system before she could really start cross checking. Luke wasn't much help with the techy part. But she still appreciated having him close by while she chugged her nitro brew coffee and hammered away on her keyboard.

"See if any of them have a friend or family member that's been involved in a case Spencer worked," Luke suggested.

Penelope turned away from her computer long enough to roll her eyes at him. That was the first thing she checked. Everyone in federal prison had been arrested by some branch of the federal government. But none of them were put away by the BAU. And none of them appeared to have any connections to anyone that was. Penelope checked their names against the task force next, since whatever was going on seemed to be directed at Toni as well as Spencer. Penelope got a few hits, but none of the captures were cases that Toni was directly involved in. Coming up empty was frustrating her. But it was still infinitely better than sitting in a car crying and feeling helpless.

"Those are the guys?," Luke confirmed, leaning closer to the screen where Penelope had a series of mugshots posted.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. "That's everyone on Spencer's block that has any connection to white supremist groups. So I assume they must be the ones."

Luke pointed in one picture in particular, asking Penelope to enlarge the image. "I've seen that guy before," he said. "I just can't remember where." The little wrinkle appeared between Luke's eyes, the one that only appeared when he was concentrating extra hard on something. Even with his scars, he was still a handsome man. But Penelope thought he was even cuter when he scrunched his face up. She reached over, brushing her fingertip down over the wrinkle between his eyes. He caught her by the wrist, pulling her fingers down to his lips instead. He was kissing her fingers one by one when he suddenly jolted.

"Check who his lawyer was!," Luke exclaimed, pointing at the screen. Penelope squeaked in surprise at his unexpected change in volume. She spun back towards the screen, tapping at her keyboard until the information Luke requested showed up.

"Hells bells," she grumbled, her eyes widening as they spotted an all too familiar name. A few more taps on her keyboard and her suspicions were confirmed. She felt that familiar rush that came when she finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. There were quite a few men in federal prison that had ties to white supremist groups. But only a few of them used the same exact lawyer. And all of them were conveniently being housed in the same section of the prison as Spencer.

"Fletcher Flynn? That's Toni's ex, isn't it?," Penelope declared. She didn't need Luke to confirm her suspicions before she added, "...what a sleazy mcsleazerson."

Luke's reaction was more feral than hers. "I'm gonna kill that motherfucker," he grumbled.

"Wait," Penelope gasped. "Do you think he's responsible for blowing up that motel room?"

Luke considered this possibility for a moment before he admitted that he wasn't sure. Fletcher was an opportunistic asshole. He was pissed off at Toni for divorcing him, and probably jealous that she was moving on from their relationship even though he'd gone through dozens of women while they were still married. He was the worst kind of covert narcissist. But Luke wasn't sure if he was capable of something like this. Murdering several innocent women, framing Spencer for one of the murders and blowing up a motel room seemed like it was above Fletcher's pay grade. He was smart, but not sophisticated enough to pull something like this off. Plus, everything they knew about the crimes so far pointed to Scratch.

"I think that was Peter Lewis," Luke concluded. "Fletcher probably just found out that Spencer was arrested and decided to take advantage."

"Do you think we should tell Toni?," Penelope asked. The fluffy end of her pen was tapping nervously against her desktop. She was shit at keeping secrets. But telling her pregnant coworker that her boyfriend, who was already in prison for something he didn't do, was getting the crap kicked out of him because of her didn't sound like a good time.

"Tell me what?," Toni asked.

Penelope gasped, startled by Toni's sudden appearance in her office doorway. Luke cast an irritated glance at Roxy, who was currently sleeping at Penelope's feet with her front legs in the air. Some guard dog she was, he thought with a chuckle and a soft shake of his head. He exchanged a glance with Penelope, clearing his throat before he spoke.

"Fletcher had a few of his former clients work Spencer over."

"When I went to see him, he was all beat up," Penelope added. She was sure that was at least part of the reason Spencer was refusing to put Toni on his visitor list. He didn't want her to see him like that. The whole situation was achingly sad. Spencer didn't even know she was pregnant.

Toni's face dropped. For a fraction of a second, Penelope thought she might start crying. But she ought to have known better. It only took a moment before Toni's rage replaced her heartbreak. She slammed the flat of her palm against the doorframe, letting out a string of foul words before she turned and stomped off through the bullpen. When Luke heard her slam her chair against her desk after she grabbed her keys, he got up and raced after her. But he was already too late. Luke only caught a glimpse of her in the elevator before the doors dinged shut.