Spencer's POV:
Emily stuck with me most of the time. We found a decent hotel in Cleveland until we could get close to our target, Cara Rosalia Bailey. She seemed to have a strict schedule. Work to home, eventually stopping for groceries once a week. Even going out to clubs on Fridays and Saturdays. She didn't look like someone who had just lost her roommate.
After two weeks of just observing her, Emily decided it was best to make a move. Right now, we were sitting ducks. Pawns on a chessboard hoping they would make a stupid move and we'd have the upperhand.
We met her at a club. Vendetta, it was called and I almost laughed out loud at the irony. In an uncanny way, she reminded me of Peyton. So carefree, shutting out the world as she danced.
But she wasn't Peyton.
It made me furious, knowing her friend lost her life and here she was, partying in a skimpy club.
Of course, there was a high possibility that Cara knew nothing about Peyton's wrong side of the law lifestyle, but I didn't want to go there. However, pretending it doesn't exist doesn't make it go away.
And that was the despairing reality.
Cara sat beside me in the bar, Emily three seats away. I couldn't tear my eyes away. She just resembled Peyton so much. Sure, her hair was brown, and her nose was pointier than Peyton's. She had long nails, whereas Peyton liked hers short and manicured. But their actions were so similar.
Cara flipped her hair off the shoulder just like Peyton would. She twirled her earring around to keep her hands busy. Another thing I'd noticed Peyton do countless times. Or she'd stick her hands between her thighs when she got nervous. Cara, unconventionally, doing the same thing right now.
"Um, can I help you?" She spoke slowly. That's when I realized I had been staring too long.
"I-I'm sorry." I mumbled, unsure of what to do now that I really was here.
Cara laughed, turning her body slightly towards me, psychologically saying she was interested in me. A person's body language says a lot about them. What was I supposed to say to the brunette? Oh, sorry. I'm actually into your friend. Remember her? Yeah, she's dead now and I'm still not over it.
Peyton always told me I had a habit of staring. I can't help it, it's my job to observe people. So much so that I could predict their next move. But Cara, she was a blank canvas. Her eyes not revealing a single thing about her past. No dark moments, no regretful experiences.
She had no idea her roommate was dead.
"Well if you wanna stare a little longer, you might as well buy me a drink." The brunette giggled.
Subtly, I glanced over to Emily. She nodded her head. We needed a way to get Cara alone and this was our chance. "Uh, yeah sure. W-what would you like?" I asked stupidly, I never had much experience with things like this.
"Gin and Tonic please." She answered warmly.
I turned over to the bartender. "A gin and tonic and straight vodka, please."
Cara's jaw dropped a little in surprise. "Straight vodka? Someone's had a bad day."
Try a bad few months. "Yeah, it's been a little rough." Out of the corner of my eye, I could feel Emily shooting me a glare, obviously not impressed by my choice of drink. Honestly though, I couldn't care less.
Cara kept making up small talk, asking me about my friends and family, and my job.
"Yeah, I'm an FBI Agent. Specifically the Behavioral Analysis Unit." I retorted smugly. Emily knew where this was going too.
Cara's face evidently dropped at the mention of the BAU. Clearly, she knew about Peyton's illegal lifestyle. Maybe, she was part of it. Now, she was looking for any way to get out of this situation, but Cara had walked right into the trap.
She was standing up, grabbing her coat and making up some bad excuse to get away from me. I couldn't let her go though. She was the only lead I had.
"Why don't I, um drop you off? It's late." Although I didn't want her to walk away, part of me was concerned too. Vendetta was in such an unsafe area, girls needed to be careful around here. We'd had so many past cases in areas such as these, where women slightly intoxicated had ended up getting kidnapped. We weren't able to save them all.
"I'm ok, I'm good really." She forced a polite smile, audibly uncomfortable by our interaction.
I needed her to stay so I did the next worst thing that popped into my mind. I started rambling. "You know, actually women are six times more likely to get kidnapped from a bar than any other public place. Even the most low-risk victims could be targeted at clubs." I bit my lip to stop myself from scaring her more.
She shifted her weight from one foot to another as she thought about my offer. "Okay, sure."
I released a sigh of relief at her answer, quickly grabbing my coat and gesturing for her to follow me. I looked over at Emily to make sure she understood what I was trying to do.
Opening the passenger door for Cara, I let her get inside and hurried my way over to the driver's seat. In my rearview mirror, I could see Emily getting in her car a couple feet away from us.
We drove in silence and Cara no longer tried to make small talk. She was nervous, I could tell but no words of comfort came to me. I don't think me telling her she wasn't in trouble would make her feel any less jittery though.
I only spoke after the car came to a complete stop in front of her apartment. "We're here." I cleared my throat.
"Thank you for the ride." She opened the door, ready to leave.
I grabbed her arm, not thinking about what I was doing.
"Please, let go of me." She refused to look at me.
Tears welled in my eyes. "I know you know who I am. Peyton was your friend, right? I need your help please."
"I don't know any Peyton." But her voice staggered just a little when she said her name. And that was all the proof I needed.
"She's gone." That caught her attention.
"Wh-what do you mean she's gone." Her voice was higher now. I looked around, and I guess she knew what I was thinking because she muttered, "We should probably talk about this inside. Come on."
Following Cara's departure, Emily got out too. I quickly shut her down, not wanting to scare Cara off. "It's ok, Emily."
Emily nodded, and tucked her gun on her holster. Cara's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Emily.
"Oh my god, you're Emily."
Emily looked over to me, then back at Cara, confused.
"Uh, yep that's me. SSA Emily Prentiss."
Cara smiled, before making her way up to the door, "She considers you her best friend, you know? Sometimes, whenever we talk on the phone, she always brags about you and how she calls you her little emo girl." She giggles, Emily and I lagged behind her as we waited for the elevator. "I'm secretly scared you're gonna replace me." She jokes.
Emily and I look over at each other, realizing the same thing. Cara talked about Peyton in present tense. She truly didn't know what happened to her best friend two months ago.
Emily started, cautiously, "And when was the last time she called you?"
"Over three months ago."
"You don't find it weird that she hasn't called you in over three months?" I questioned.
"How could she? You guys put her behind bars. I mean, please enlighten me, what hard evidence do you really have on her?"
We entered Cara's apartment. It was filled with pictures of her with her boyfriend, I'm assuming, and Peyton. It was almost like Peyton still lived here. There was also a photo of another girl. It felt nice knowing before me, Peyton was happy with friends.
"I know she isn't coming back, I just kept her stuff the way it is in case she decided to pay a visit."
Unable to hear about Peyton anymore, I blurted out, "She's dead"
Cara whirled around, and I winced at the whiplash she must've gotten. She didn't say anything. I don't think she was processing it properly. The way Cara talked about Peyton, it was clear she loved her just as much as the rest of us.
"Peyton is dead." I said quieter. Then her body language changed, her eyes grew darker as she finally processed the information I just told her. Now, she was lunging forward at full speed. Emily caught her, as she thrashed around.
"You killed her! You're all killers, you killed her!" She cried.
My voice shook as I spoke, "No, Cara. That organization you're part of killed her. We didn't even know until it was too late."
Cara shook her head at me, denying everything I said.
"I loved her, Cara. I still love her. I want to fix this just as much as you do." I moved closer to her.
She dropped on the floor. "She can't be gone. Not like that."
Emily cradled her, "I'm sorry. I'm really, fucking sorry." She looked at me, sensing the tension around us. Like the walls were closing in.
"Listen, we need your help. We want to get her justice." Emily stroked her hair to comfort her as Cara clinged to her.
Cara looked confused. That was expected, no one can properly take in so much information at once. Especially because her emotions were probably going haywire right now.
"But how am I of any help to you? I wasn't even part of it." She said.
"We know, but anything could help. Anything about the organization she was part of." I crouched down in front of her and Emily.
"Um, I don't know much. Just that she was told by her boss to go on this mission. He made her a whole badge and stuff."
Emily glanced over at me before turning back to Cara. "Who?"
"I don't remember his name, I'm sorry. But she talked about him a lot at the beginning, said he was cute. She even made a move on him but I think she said that he told her he was gay. We even laughed about it that day."
"Okay, okay. You're doing great." Emily comforted her.
"Cara, do you think we could do a cognitive interview. It might help you remember things you've buried deep inside your subconscious." I suggested.
She didn't seem that convinced at first but she agreed eventually. "Promise me you won't hurt them."
I looked over at Emily. "Do you mean the organization?" I asked, softly.
She nodded, "She loved them so much. She considered them her family." Hearing her say that made me realize that she needed to know the full truth. It might be hard to hear, but she needed to know.
"Cara, there was another person on that helicopter, and we suspect-"
"Reid!" Emily shot me a warning glance but I ignored her. I understand she was trying to protect Cara, but we just met her an hour ago.
"We suspect that someone from that organization pushed her."
Cara inhaled deeply, the tears returning to her eyes. "Anything, I'll do anything that ensures she'll get justice. It was taken away from her once, I won't let the system fail her again."
Emily filled up a glass of water for her before we started the interview.
"Let's start with the day she left. What was the weather outside like?" Emily asked.
Cara opened her eyes, "What does the weather have to do with anything?"
"It'll help. Please?" Emily pushed, and Cara closed her eyes again. I sighed, hoping we got something. I couldn't go back home with nothing again.
•••
At first, she was nervous, thinking she wouldn't be able to help us but we got a name. Rio. Just hearing the name made me furious. Now I paced around in our hotel room, while Emily checked interpol for a Rio.
"Reid, I think I found something." It was a mugshot for a mexican, curly brown haired boy. Around 5'10. He looked like me too. Peyton seemed to have a type.
We were looking for a Rio Giovanni. He was from Cleveland, Ohio, just like Peyton. And we matched the organization Peyton was talking about to the organization we suspected he ran. Rio Giovanni also happened to have a criminal record for using a blunt object, a plate, to smash his father's head in. The court wasn't so kind to him, which could have been a motive to start his criminal operation. He was impulsive, aggressive, very disorganized. Nothing proved that he had done something like this before.
Meaning he was inexperienced. He had to have messed up in some way, and I was going to find his mistake and use it to put him where he belonged. Behind bars. If it were up to me, I would kill him. Ruin him, put him through all the misery he put me through. Emily said I've gone mad, but if there was something I learned by catching all these criminals, it was that the world is a mad place.
And in a mad world, only the mad are sane.