And If I Fall, Let Me Part I: At Your Service - A. Hotchner x OC & Jemily

Like...good cop, bad cop?

Well, that was unexpected, Alex thought to herself. She briefly wondered what Dave, standing outside the one-way mirror was thinking right now.

"You poisoned your boss? When?"

Julie, exhaling shakily, wrapped her arms around herself. "Two weeks ago, I put something in his food. Not enough to kill him, but enough to hurt him. It put him in the hospital."

Nodding slowly, Alex crossed her arms in front of her. That was not what she had wanted to hear. "But he's alive?"

Another body would not be ideal right now, that was for sure.

"Yes! And he knows I did this, and...well we spoke about it, and he promised not to press charges! And I thought that's why I must be here."

The blonde rested her chin on her hand, looked at Julie, and took a deep breath. The other woman tensed up under her gaze. This was definitely not how Alex had pictured her Wednesday to go.

"He didn't press any charges, Julie. You're here because you've been at all these events, went home at a certain time, and some actions in your past made us look into you."

Her eyes became even rounder. "I went home to my mother directly after every event, I swear I don't even remember meeting these people! And I feel terrible about my boss, still."

That didn't fit at all, Alex thought to herself. But that wasn't only up to her. To find the killer on day two of the FBI here would've probably been too good to be true.

"Alright, Julie, listen. Can I reach your mother somewhere to confirm that?"

Nodding, she scribbled down the number for Alex. "There is also a camera on her front porch, I'm sure you can check that."

Garcia will certainly be able to.

"Please wait, I will see what I can do."

Alex walked out of the door, trying her best to ignore the sob she heard from the other women.

"That was unexpected," Dave greeted her. Humming, Alex dialed the number on their way to Garcia. She had her answer quickly, according to her mother, Julie was home at nine every night.

"You were convincing enough that I know hate you a little bit, Agent Rossi," Alex said when she hung up, looking at him.

"Ah. Sorry about that," he said, making her chuckle, "I hope a coffee can make up for it."

Alex rolled her eyes good-heartedly.

"Sure thing."

****

Alex dismissed Julie quickly, after having checked with Garcia, seen the tape, and called her mother. If her boss didn't want to press charges, she sure wouldn't make him press them. Standing beside Dave, the promised Starbucks in her hand that he had conjured up magically (she suspected he had bribed one of her interns with a signed copy of his latest book, she knew he was a fan), Alex was listening to the rest of the team.

"None of the earlier suspects did it," Hotch summarized quickly, "What else?"

Reid cleared his throat, hanging up some new overviews. "Garcia and I did some more background checks on the victims. Unfortunately, the list of possible enemies is long, and most of these can't be broken down into individuals, more groups. These are politicians, after all."

He turned to Alex. "Can I see the bodies again? I know we have the reports, but I need to get another impression."

"Uh, sure, let me call the morgue. I need to go with you though, confidentiality and everything," Alex answered. If the last visit to that morgue was any indication, they wouldn't be too happy about her phone call. She looked at Hotch.