SOMETHING WAS GOING ON WITH JJ. She's been in Hotch's office with Strauss for a while, talking. Spencer, Emily and I were staring into the windows when Garcia came up to us.
"JJ's still in there?"
"And Strauss." I muttered.
All of the sudden, Spencer reached for his rollaids. We knew what this meant.
"Again? With the dairy?" Emily exclaimed.
"I can't help it. I love dairy." He defended. He does this to himself knowing the consequences.
"It's been like what, 20 minutes?" Garcia asked.
"In 10 more minutes, we'll be in the air." Derek said as he rejoined us.
"I don't think it's about the case." Emily sighed.
We just stared into the room. I don't like this. I don't like not knowing.
After a little while, Strauss walked out. Shortly after, JJ did. We all turned away like we weren't blatantly staring.
Hotch came down and joined us.
19 year old Katie Joyce was vacationing at the beach with friends when she disappeared nearly 3 days ago. They've had suspects the whole time, but they haven't said a word. They need us to break them.
"How long have they been in custody?" Derek asked.
"60 hours. We have 12 hours to get a confession or find the body." Hotch replied. But no pressure or anything.
"Syd Pearson has a lot of money and connections. If we let him go, we may never see him again." Spencer let out. Syd was one of the suspects.
"And Barrett?" Emily asked. He was the other.
"He doesn't have the same resources." Spencer replied.
"Do you think these guys did it?" Garcia asked.
"The locals do." Hotch replied as he went out the BAU doors.
"They tried to get them to turn against one another, but that didn't work." Rossi let out.
"It seems they have a bond that dates back to childhood." Spencer said.
"We only have a 30 minute flight. That's not enough time to delve into their histories." Derek said. The case was in Maryland.
"Bullet points on the missing woman, second and third pages are all about the suspects." Garcia said as she handed us a few papers.
We all piled into the elevator and went to the jet.
Emily, Derek and I sat together on the jet and JJ sooner joined us.
"Hey." I said.
"Hey."
We just stared her down. She knew what we were thinking.
"I got this offer from the Pentagon. I turned it down twice. I never told Hotch or Strauss." She revealed. Holy shit. I see why they were in there for a while now.
"And now Strauss wants you to take it." Derek came to the conclusion. JJ nodded. "Well of course she does. It'll make her look good if you're promoted."
"I don't trust her for a second." JJ let out. Good.
"You shouldn't. What does Hotch think?" Emily asked.
"He knows I don't want to go."
"Well, then you won't." Emily replied. I cant see this team functioning without JJ.
"Penelope's pretty freaked out, huh?" JJ asked.
"You have to ask?" I asked.
Our conversation was cut short when Hotch came over. "Okay, let's review."
"Okay, Kate Joyce, 19 years old, was last seen leaving a bar with these two men, Sydney Pearson and James Barrett, both 20 years old. She was reported missing the next morning when she didn't meet her friends. That was almost 3 days ago." JJ told us and showed us pictures.
"The story is they dropped Kate off at the hotel, but there were no cameras to confirm that." Rossi added.
"And search and rescue's been all over the island." Hotch said.
I was reading further. They haven't found her anywhere. "Dragged the inlet and they found absolutely nothing."
"Both said they had sex with Kate. They're claiming it was consensual." JJ said. Bullshit.
"There's no way to confirm. There's no body." Emily added.
"I doubt it was consensual." I sighed.
"We've got to prove they're guilty of more than just being seen with her." Rossi said.
"Well, police weren't able to find any holes in their stories. We're gonna have to break them down psychologically." Emily let out.
"Parks, I want you, Morgan and Prentiss to lead the interrogation. Dave, you and Reid start at the bar. JJ, Kate Joyce's family is still at the station." Hotch instructed. These are the interrogations I have fun with.
"Still? For 3 days?" JJ asked.
"They never went to the hotel. I want you to stay with them."
Their daughter is missing. I'd do the same.
—
We arrived at the station where the detective brought Hotch, Emily, Derek and I to a room.
"Hit the national news yesterday. Brings us a lot of pressure." He started and pressed play on the video of Syd and James with Kate. "The mayor would rather have a great white attacking than a homicide."
"Sure, well a shark attack makes the mayor a victim. A killer makes him responsible." Hotch replied.
"Once she got into that car, we have no idea what happened." He said. We watched a video of Kate getting into a car with the boys.
"Well the story the suspects said holds up. They've told them dozens of times without variation. There's got to be some truth in them." Hotch replied.
"Syd Pearson is a handful. Jimmy Barrett is dumber than a box full of rocks." He revealed. I can't wait.
"But they've been friends all their lives." I let out.
"Yeah, go figure."
"There's gotta be a reason."
"Well they've only been out of their holding cells to be interrogated or to use the John."
"You've got video?" Hotch asked.
"Yeah, we've got cameras in both rooms."
"Good. We'll have to rely on nonverbal cues. That'll expose their weakness." Hotch said.
Then, we watched them transfer the boys. Kate's dad approached them and yelled. Syd approached him back but James avoided conflict.
"The blond one's getting off on this." Derek muttered.
"Well, if he knows where Kate is, that's his power." Emily said.
Now, it was time to start. Emily and I pulled our shirts down enough to show a little cleavage. Her and I went into Syd's room.
"Hey, can I get you anything?" She asked.
It was clear he wasn't looking at her eyes.
"What?" He asked.
"Water. Soda. Are you hungry?" I asked and his eyes shifted to my coin slot.
"Hmm. Starving." He replied with a grin.
"Anything." I replied.
"Hmm. Tuggie's roast beef with fries. The curly ones." He said.
"You got it." Emily nodded and went to walk out.
"And a beer." He added.
"Nice try." I said before leaving the room.
When we joined the others back in the room, the detective looked at us like we were nuts. "What the hell was that?"
"Just trying to establish some trust." Hotch replied.
"Mhm. You gonna ask the other one, too?"
"Nope." I replied and put my jacket back on.
"In other words, you're not going in there."
"Not yet." Hotch said.
"Hmm, really? You know, we don't have a whole lot of time here." The detective said. I hate when they question us. We know what we're doing. We're here to do what you couldn't in two days.
"They've been slammed with the same questions for the last 2 and a half days. We go in there with that strategy, we'll get nowhere." Hotch said back.
"I don't get it." The detective said.
"If we go in there now, they have all the power." Derek spoke.
"So what, we just wait?"
"For a while." Hotch nodded.
—
Garcia got us some information on these boys. Let's just say, they've always been trouble.
"Naughty boys." I let out as I read the paper.
"Shoplifting. Vandalism. Burned a house down." Derek started.
"Abandoned building. Fireworks." Emily added.
"Assault charges were dropped last summer." I said and looked over to the screen of James.
"Well, it looks like they bring out the worst in each other." Emily spoke.
"Ready?" He asked.
Oh, I'm ready.
Derek went in to see Syd. Emily and I went in to see James.
We sat in the room with him and had the camera beep on purpose.
"That is so annoying. Do you know anything about video cameras?" I asked.
"The battery's probably dead." He replied.
"Ohhh." I let out as Emily got up to open the door and ask for a new camera. Outside were officers with Syds food. We wanted him to see this.
"Wow. What is that, roast beef? Did anyone ask you?" Emily asked.
"I'm not hungry."
"Neither was I until I smelled that. Sorry." She chuckled.
I looked down to the paper with the information on the boys. "So Syd has a Lexus. That's nice. Did he ever let you drive it?"
"No."
"Yeah, he's kind of a control freak, huh?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, I met him. He seems like a jerk, doesn't he?" Emily asked me.
"Yeah, for sure. And it says a lot that he can eat at a time like this." I let out.
"And he didn't just get a car. He got a Lexus. At 16. But, well, I guess that's what LRBs get. Little rich boys." Emily went on. James face was making this worth while.
"His dad's got a dealership." He defended. Bingo.
"Do you always defend Syd?" I asked.
"Defend him?" He asked.
"Nevermind." I shook my head and shrugged.
"So, I see you have a boat. Single outboard motor, two stroke engine. Is it fast?" Emily asked.
"Yeah. 25...30." He replied.
"So, when did your family move here?" I asked.
"I don't remember." He shrugged.
"Grade school? Middle school?" I suggested.
"5th grade." He said instantly. So he did know.
"So you were 10. That's the year you met Syd." I nodded.
"What does any of this have to do with that girl?" He asked. He didn't use her name. He's trying to separate himself.
"You want to talk about Kate?" Emily asked.
"I didn't know her."
"You brought her up."
He then cracked his neck. The mention of Kate makes him nervous.
We went over his statement and then, the funniest thing happened. He asked for a polygraph.
Turns out Syd asked Derek to send "the pretty little ones" back in and for a polygraph too.
They took the polygraph and we waited for the results. One thing we know for sure is one of them knows where she is. They're going out of their way to appear calm. They're hiding something. They only took the polygraph to stall.
Rossi went in to speak to Syd and Spencer went in to talk to James.
Syd passed his polygraph. So did James. I was pissed.
Spencer was talking to James when he slammed his hands on the table and shouted to fix the camera. I went in alone this time.
"Sit down." I snapped and showed Spencer the polygraph. "How'd you pass it?"
He just smirked at me.
Thats when I knew. He's the one who knows. Syd picked up the girl but she rejected James.
The pictures on Syds phone confirmed she wasn't interested in Barrett at all.
I had to push him.
I went back in with Spencer.
"The storm came through and separated the land. That's what made the inlet."
"Huh. One thing you can trust is the ground beneath you, until one day it all just shifts." I muttered.
"Is that some kind of a metaphor?" He asked. Oh, he's tired of this.
"You tell me."
"It sounds like you're just trying to make some fancy point. That's all." He let out.
Spencer and I left the room and talked to everybody. They had news.
"Kate's cell phone was left in the car and then later turned up in her room." Derek told us. I see exactly what this is now.
"How?" The detective asked.
"We figure most of the story's true. That's why they never changed it." Hotch said.
"They did drop Kate off at the hotel. Pearson dropped Barrett home, just like they said. But then because Barrett was rejected, he circled back to punish Kate." Emily explained.
"Why would she let him in?"
"Because he had this." JJ replied and help up Kate's phone.
"No sign of a struggle in her room."
"Barrett lured her outside, maybe drugged her, took her to his boat." I replied.
"He was obsessed with the inlet. He knew the traffic patterns there, when the fisherman were coming in and the tourist charters were going out." Spencer explained.
"The blood from the catch attracts hundreds of sharks. It's a feeding frenzy out there that time of night." The defective told us. Jesus.
"We asked him if he killed her. He didn't. Asked where he body it. He doesn't know." Emily muttered.
"Technically, those aren't lies." I added. I was sick.
"How can you prove this?"
"We'll get them to admit it." Hotch replied.
Derek went back into Syds room. Spencer, Emily and I went to James'.
"Why is the GPS on your boat missing?" Emily asked.
"It isn't." He replied.
"He tossed it after he dumped Kate." I paused and held up Kate's phone. "This. This was your ticket into her room."
"You said the inlet's quiet between 4 and 5 AM. That's when you took Kate out, right?" Spencer asked. James was silent.
"You didn't want the search part to find her, so you kept going. And going. You had 6 hours before work. How far did you get? About 75 miles out?" Emily asked.
"A full thank on a single outboard motor will get you 150 miles. At 25 miles per hour, your round trip is just over 6 hours. Which is why you were late to work." Spencer went on.
"You didn't kill her. You just left her to die. That's why you asked for a polygraph. You knew you'd pass it." I exclaimed.
James tapped on the table and stood up. "I think your times' up."
"Oh yeah? You took away their daughter, their dignity. You don't get to win. We're going to find her." I snapped in his face.
"You still think she has a chance, huh?" He asked.
There it is.
Spencer stormed out of the room. Emily and I blocked him from leaving.
After a while, we found Kate alive. She was floating in the water on a boat. She was going to be fine.
—
Back at the BAU, Hotch was talking with JJ. When he left, she sat down at the table.
She's leaving.
After a while, she joined us in the bullpen. Her face said it all.
"No." I let out.
"Wait a minute. I thought Hotch was supposed to-" Derek started but she cut him off.
"It's above his pay grade. Strauss' too." She said, there were tears in her eyes.
"So, we can do nothing?" Emily asked.
"It's done." JJ let out. God, this was heartbreaking.
"It can't be that simple." Derek tried.
"It is."
"This job is hard enough. What are they trying to do, bury us?"
I had tears in my eyes too. "You're too good. That's the problem." She is. She's amazing at what she does. Our loss is their gain. I just hated to see her go.
"It's true. You're on everybody's wish list. Our loss is somebody else's gain." Rossi spoke.
"They can't just take you away." Spencer let out.
Watching JJ walk through those doors for the last time broke my heart.
a/n: season 6 is ~finally~ here and i have some big big plans for it. when i tell u i had this planned before i even started the book it is not an exaggeration. there's gonna be a large gap between this episode and the next one. the lauren episode will sting but i promise you, i have an idea i'm really proud of that will lessen the burn. enough spoilers for now.