"Many times the right train took me to the wrong place"
-Paulo Coelho-
The team has gathered in the conference room for a very confusing case about a 911 call. According to the call, a fathers two daughters have disappeared, and the father called the police. What gets weirder is the call is very similar to one from two years ago.
Two years ago, the same father called the police because his wife was missing for 2 days before he said something, but she hasn't been found since.
The same thing has happened to his daughters, but they have yet to find a body, dead or alive.
"The call came in an hour ago" Hotch informs and Maya knits her eyebrows in confusion, "How does a single father lose his teenage daughters for 36 hours?" JJ asks while Maya shifts uncomfortably in her seat as she thinks about how much her father drank and would forget she was even born.
"He doesn't" Rossi states and Maya clears her throat softly before putting her attention back on the case.
"His girls are gone, and he doesn't blame anyone" Alex realizes. "And he doesn't use any buzzwords like first responders are trained to hear" Derek adds, referring to the words missing, abducted, and runaway.
"Maybe they ran away" Maya says and Rossi shrugs his shoulders, "No history of that" Rossi states.
"You plan something like that, doesn't just happen. No history because they didn't have the guts to do it sooner" Maya says, looking down at the case file, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Either way this guy is a victim of a serial offender, or he is one" Rossi states before Derek wonders if the father is in custody. The police are at the fathers' home, and they've been there since the call came in.
_____
On the plane, the team goes over the sordid family history of the victims. The father is an author while the mother was into real estate. There was marital trouble as well. The wife cheated on the husband right before her disappearance. He might have killed her to inherit her money but there wasn't enough evidence and the affair the wife was having wasn't deemed enough as a motive.
"You cheating on me? HUH! Answer me, bitch!" Maya heard as she was looking out her bedroom door that was slightly cracked. "I- I-" Her mother stuttered before her father swung his plan across the cheek of her mother. It wasn't the first time he hit her, and it wouldn't be the last.
"Why does dad hit mom?" Thomas asks as Maya gently closes her bedroom door, making sure it was quiet so her father wouldn't barge into her room next. "I don't know..." Maya mumbles before she takes a seat next to Thomas on her bed and looks down at his drawing. His very brutal, dark drawing but never said anything about it except, it was lovely.
"Maya" Hotch calls out, startling Maya before she removed herself out of her trance. "You with us?" Derek asks and Maya clears her throat before adjusting herself in her seat.
"Yeah, yeah" Maya says, looking down at the open case file in her hand as the team continues to talk about the possibilities.
"His wife cheated, and he retaliated in anger. The might not be a surprise, but that doesn't explain why he would harm his own children" Derek states and Maya scoffs jokingly at his theory.
_____
On the drive over to the father's house, the team continues their guesswork. The wife's lover had an alibi, so he's not a valid suspect. The team then wonders whether the father could have lashed out at the daughter who was leaving for college soon, basically just marking time until they start finding evidence.
"Maybe he thought her leaving was a form of betrayal" Reid says as he sits in the back seat of the SUV while Derek drives and Maya is in the passenger.
"There is another possibility. Maybe Bruce Morrison didn't do it" Derek suggests, "That will be shocking" Maya mumbles as she continues to stare out the window of the car, knowing all the answers are in the house.
_____
The team splits up, Hotch and Rossi speak to the father while the rest of the team goes through the two daughter's bedroom. Maya flips through one of the girls' diaries and doesn't find anything written down after the mother died which she found oddly suspicious.
When Maya's mom died, she would always write things down in her notebook weather it was one word or a thousand of them.
"There's nothing in the diary since her mom disappeared" Maya declares, "Look" Derek calls out as he walks over to Maya with a laptop in his hand showing some of the daughters writing assignments that she wrote on her computer.
"She only wrote when she was assigned too. Never on her own" Maya states. "Her dad is a writer and English professor; she could've been trying to get his attention" Derek declares while Maya looks around the room.
"What?" Derek asks and Maya stammers over her words as she walks around the room not seeing anything out of place or dirty. "When you were in high-school, how clean was your room?" Maya asks and Derek scoffs, "Like never" Derek answers and Maya nods her head in agreement.
"Mine either and I was in foster care for most of it" Maya states as she motions around the oddly clean bedroom.
"Hm, trash is empty, and the bed is perfectly made" Derek realizes and Maya nods her head. "Almost like someone cleaned up the room to hide evidence" Maya says, crossing her arms over her chest.
Later, Maya and Derek check the other rooms in the house and call around for some information. Bruce owns both a shotgun and a used pistol but doesn't know where either of them are. After the wife went missing, forensic investigators supposedly checked the shotgun to see if it had been used recently and came away with the determination that it hadn't been fired in years.
"If he used the pistol and he doesn't know where it is now, that could explain why he threw his clothes in the wash this morning" Maya states as she adjusts the surgical gloves on her hands.
"So, the clothes would be compromised. He did sleep in here, though" Derek says, referring to the room both him and Maya are standing in now. "We should have the sheets tested for gunshot residue" Maya says dryly before turning her attention around the rest of the room.
"Hey, what's wrong? You've been grumpy all day" Derek notices as Maya looks at the family pictures on top of one of the dressers. "Just certain cases bring back terrible memories. This is one of them" Maya says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You got something else on your mind" Derek notices, taking a step beside Maya.
"It's just- I feel like I'm wrong and maybe, just maybe, he didn't do anything" Maya admits, looking to Derek. "I think he really is in mourning" Maya confesses as she looks at the other side of the bed that hasn't been touched and sees that the wife's things are still on her side of the room and have been untouched for a very long time.
"You can't really feel bad about that" Derek shrugs.
"Maybe not" Maya trails off before she leaves the room while forensic come and remove the sheets off the bed to go and rest them and Derek shortly following behind.
The two make it downstairs and listen in on the conversation going on in the living room. Turns out, there are two hard liquor bottles out in the recycling bin and since recycling gets picked up on Monday morning, they think Ken has gone through two entire bottles of booze in just two days- which would go a long way towards explaining that blackout.
"I was sad, and I drank too much because I miss my wife. Honestly, Bourbon doesn't help much" Bruce shrugs and Maya scoffs, "But it helps you not remember an entire day" Maya voices, looking to Bruce who shakes his head in disappointment while Hotch suggests him, Rossi and Bruce head upstairs instead.
"I need some fresh air" Maya mumbles as she leaves the house, not wanting Derek to follow her. She walked up to the fence and leaned up against it, catching her breath while the wind slightly flowed through the air.
There Maya was, cleaning up her dad's multiple beer cans and even a few bottles of vodka off the coffee table. He was knocked out and probably would be for a while. She walked to the kitchen where her mother was cooking dinner and proceeded to throw away all the cans and bottles. "Here, wash your hands" Maya's mother urges as she walks Maya to the sink and helps.
squirt soap onto her hands so she can wash her hands, so they don't smell of booze.
"Maya whatever happens today or tomorrow I want you to know that you're special" Maya's mother says as she bends down to her level, Maya seeing the bruises on her mother's face more clearly. "You are going to get out of this place and make something of yourself. One day, you'll be happy and have a family. You'll get married and it'll be the best day of your life" Maya's mother declares making Maya cringe at the word marriage.
A tear rolled down Maya's cheek as she remembered the moment her and her mother shared. That moment was just a couple hours before her father beat her mother to death. A couple of hours.
It was as if Maya's mother knew what was going to happen. Maybe she did but at least she was able to say goodbye the way she wanted to...
"Hey, Hotch wants us to head to the river. Bruce's daughter, Katie, has been found dead" Derek informs, walking up on Maya at a weak moment. Maya quickly wipes her tears and turns to face Derek before sniffling in her tears.
Meanwhile, Hotch goes to give Bruce the news about his dead daughter. But one of his daughters was still missing. It was just a matter if they'd find her alive.
______
Later, the team gathers back at the house and Maya just got off the phone with forensics. "Forensics called and there's residue on the sheets and muddy boots" Maya informs, placing her phone back into her back pocket.
"So, he definitely fired that gun" JJ declares which Maya nods her head in agreement. "We need to get him to the station" Hotch decides as Bruce appears at the top of the steps.
Then at the morgue, the team learns that the girl, Katie, was killed with a blunt force blow to the back of the head. Could she have been clubbed to death with a gun? She also could have fallen on something.
Also, she was placed in the water after death, presumably as a way of concealing the crime. So, despite Derek's suggestion that she was pistol-whipped to death, there's no actual connection between this crime and the gunshot residue yet. However, skin was found under her fingernails which makes the team wonder if the father has any wounds.
"Maya, I'd liked you to go in and interview the father. Showing him a new face could make him nervous and get him to open up about a lot of things" Hotch states and Maya nods her head before she enters the interrogation room, taking a seat in front of Bruce, instantly smelling the bourbon coming from him.
"Hmm" Maya groans softly as she clears her throat before looking to Mr. Morrison.
"I'm Agent Regan, you've seen me before. Uh, could you roll up your sleeves?" Maya asks on the spot, confusing Bruce. "What?" He asks and Maya sighs, "Roll up your sleeves. Please" Maya asks, slightly nicer this time.
Bruce ends up rolling up his sleeves revealing that they're covered in scratches. "I saw these in the shower this morning when I woke up" Bruce admits while Maya tilts her head in suspicion.
"I have no idea how I got them" Bruce admits but Maya couldn't tell is he was lying or really just telling the truth. "Did they happen during the fight?" Maya asks, making Bruce lift his head up immediately.
"There was no fight. I was yelling, parenting. Parents yell" Bruce states and Maya nods her head in agreement.
"They do yell, and it could turn physical. Did it turn physical?" Maya questions and notices Bruce balling up his fist while Maya continues to suggest he hit on his daughters. Bruce then tries to draw the attention off of him and put it on Jeff Godwin, apparently the person the FBI should really be talking too.
"He coaches Sarah's soccer team, even though it's ridiculous" Bruce scoffs.
"Why do you do that? Put the attention onto someone else? I'm asking about you and only you" Maya states and Bruce swallows a large lump down his throat nervously before looking away from Maya.
Garcia finally comes through with evidence. The mother's lover "Godwin" had been texting the older sister, offering support and advice. Suspiciously, he sent her five texts on the night of the disappearance, but Sarah deleted them from her phone.
What could the conversation have been about?
______
Godwin comes to the station and has an innocent explanation. Bruce gets scary violent when he drinks, so Sarah was looking for advice and a place to hide out on occasion. Godwin was her soccer coach as well as her mother's lover, so he thought it made sense that she would go to him for help.
Garcia then turns up more evidence- a recorded phone call to a domestic abuse hotline on the night of the disappearances. The recorder captured the sound of the two girls hiding in a room while Bruce, in a drunken rage, banged on the door, demanding to be let in.
"Okay, I've heard enough" Maya says and JJ starts to turn the volume down on the recording. Meanwhile, Bruce remembers some more of his missing time and was reliving it right in the interrogation room.
"I said open the door!" Bruce screams as he bangs on the metal table multiple times before looking at himself in the mirror that's really a window on the other side. Mayas breathing picks up as she sees Bruce walking towards the mirror. She watches him cover his eyes and wipe the tears when suddenly, his whole demeanor changes.
"Oh, you pathetic little crybaby" Bruce whines as he sniffles in his tears.
"You are a pathetic, useless, crybaby!" Mayas father shouts as he pushes her onto the ground. "Stop!" Maya screams before the dad grabs onto her foot but her mother appeared, roughly hitting and smacking him, "Get away from her!" Her mother begged, tears sliding down her cheeks as Maya's father turned his head, looking to her mother as if she was crazy to hit him.
Meanwhile, Thomas sat in the corner of the room, but he didn't look scared. He wasn't frightened at the sound of them fighting or the screaming Maya and his mom let out while being hurt by the man that was supposed to protect them. He looked as if they deserved it.
Bruce had just freaked, revealing to everyone that he has a second personality, one who's happy to murder all of the people that Bruce doesn't like, and then dispose of their bodies which would explain why Bruce normally didn't remember anything from those two days.
______
The team then goes back over what they know. There was mud in the car and on his boots, so he drove the girls out to somewhere off the beaten path. Keith, the detective on the case, wants to arrest Bruce and be done with the case, but the team thinks there's a chance Sarah could still be alive, and thinks they can interview the second personality to get the information.
The team finally has a psychology-related goal in mind. Convince Bruce's second personality to reveal what happened to Sarah.
Can they get the job done, whether that job is bargaining with the second version of Bruce or proving he's not real?
Hotch goes to talk to Ken, who reveals that he's been blacking out since grad school, and always blamed it on his drinking. In the conference room, Reid is leading a discussion of the DID diagnosis, and posits that there's no way Ken's liver would have survived twenty-five years of blackout drinking.
Maya points out that he's been in AA a few times, but Reid thinks that there's no way that could account for his lack of severe physical symptoms of alcoholism and ask Penelope if Bruce has ever been on medication for alcoholism and all she found was a yearly physical.
A little more digging revealed that the wife had a prescription for the drug that makes you feel sick if you drink alcohol. Why didn't Ken just get the prescription himself. Did he want to keep his drinking a secret?
JJ then has a great idea to bring Godwin, Bruce's wife ex-lover, into the interrogation room and accuse him of molesting Sarah in order to make Ken mad enough to turn into his second personality.
They bring in Godwin, Maya and Derek standing beside him. "Godwin, do you want to tell us about your relationship with Sarah?" JJ asks, Maya noticing anger fuming from Bruce. Godwin claims he doesn't have one, but JJ continues to push Bruce over the edge with the questions she's asking until Bruce had enough, "I'm going to kill you!" Bruce shouts as he rushes towards Godwin.
Maya grabs Godwin and takes him out of the room, shutting the door behind him as Derek pushes Bruce away before calming him down. Maya and Derek exit the room, allowing JJ to interview Bruce, well Johnny, alone. Johnny is what Bruce's second personality is called.
JJ then asks if he dealt with parental stress by shooting at things at night. He admits that yes, that's his normal move and explains that he took the girls out into the woods to scare them, specifically by taking them to a creepy cabin in the woods.
_____
Maya, JJ and Derek arrive at the so-called cabin and it's not as creepy as they were told. Doors and shutters are solid and in perfect repair, the shingled roof is completely even, there's even glass in all of the windows.
They find a shotgun hole in a window, and the younger daughter's, Katie, phone and realize this is where the attack happened and know they have to find Sarah because she's out in the pouring rain somewhere.
The three of them drive aimlessly around the woods when JJ spots Sarah hiding in some trees. She's cowering away from the convoy of vehicles. When she comes out from behind the trees, she's still clutching the shotgun, super freaked-out.
"Can you put the gun down?" Maya asks and Sarah nods slowly before she drops the gun onto street.
JJ and Maya take Sarah to the hospital but find out nothing is physically wrong with her besides a harsh bruise on her eye. "Did he kill my mother too?" Sarah asks and Maya stammers over her words before shrugging her shoulders.
"It's hard to say" JJ answers for Maya before Sarah wonders if she's able to speak to her father. "Can you two come with me?" Sarah asks and Maya and JJ both nod their heads JJ looking happy to do so while Maya looks slightly skeptical but agrees to go.
Sarah speaks to her father back at the station and begs him to tell what happened to her mother, which is important, of course, but Maya feels like that could wait a little while. Especially since she's still processing the death of her sister.
Maya shakes her head while listening to the conversation, "What?" Derek asks and Maya can't help but scoff while Bruce claims not to know a thing about what happened to the mother.
"JJ, you think I could take Sarah home, alone?" Maya asks and JJ tilts her head.
"Why?" JJ asks while Maya looks over at Sarah sitting in a chair by herself and cautiously watching her surroundings.
"Just- please?" Maya asks and JJ shrugs her shoulders, despite being hesitant about the idea. "I mean, that's fine with me" JJ says and Maya swiftly grabs her jacket and SUV keys off the desk and walks towards Sarah, ready to take her home.
_____
They arrive at the house and Maya walks Sarah into the home and notices her demeanor isn't the same. She isn't as sad as she was back at the station. "Everything okay?" Maya asks, shutting the front door.
"Yeah, what happened to the other lady?" Sarah asks and Maya waves her off, "Oh, she decided to stay at the station" Maya answers and Sarah nods her head slowly as she slowly walks towards the steps.
"Are you heading to bed?" Maya asks and Sarah sighs, "I want to shower first" Sarah states and Maya narrows her eyes at Sarah before nodding her head slowly, analyzing her behavior and realizing a dramatic change in facial expression and body language.
"Hm, you really want to be alone right now?" Maya asks and Sarah knits her eyebrows in confusion before quickly relaxing her face.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm home now, I'll be fine" Sarah says, her voice sounding really bland as she says so. She proceeds to head up the stairs and Maya watches her every move, not taking her eyes off of her until she was completely out of her sight.
She swiftly pulls out her phone and heads towards the kitchen, calling Derek on the phone. He brought in Reid and Alex to talk on the phone as well.
They talk to the team about Sarah's bizarre behavior, and the fact that she hasn't spoken of her sister Katie since Maya arrived at the house and the rest of the team agree - this whole thing was a plan to frame her father for murdering her sister.
The team knew all along. That's right, the second they read her diaries and school articles earlier that day they realized that she was obviously a crazed psychopath.
"I mean look at the wounds on her face. They look self-inflicted, don't you think?" Derek asks over the phone when Maya hears the sound of a footstep behind her.
"You won't get away with this, Sarah," Maya declares, her voice tinged with determination as she places the phone on the table, mimicking a hang-up. Sarah smirks defiantly, her eyes glinting with malice. "I think I already did," she retorts, gripping a pot in her hand.
With a sudden grunt, Sarah swings the pan at Maya's head, the metallic clang echoing through the room as Maya staggers, her hand instinctively reaching for the throbbing pain on her scalp. Sarah advances, a cruel smile dancing on her lips as she closes in on Maya, who struggles to focus after the brutal blow.
"We need to move, now!" Derek's urgent voice cuts through the tension, prompting Reid and him to dash out of the station, gearing up for the impending confrontation at the Morrison house.
"You can't just kill your sister and expect to get away with it," Maya asserts, using the dining table for support as she rises to her feet. Sarah winces, clutching her abdomen where Maya's kick landed. "My sister deserved what she got. She was always favored, always loved more," Sarah seethes, her words a mix of justification and bitterness.
"The youngest always gets more love, huh? Seems pretty clear who the favorite was," Maya quips, a sardonic chuckle escaping her lips, further fueling Sarah's rage. "If only I had shed a few more tears for Katie, none of this would have come to light," Sarah mutters, her voice dripping with resentment.
"I knew the moment I saw those fake scars of yours in the woods that something wasn't right," Maya declares, her eyes narrowing as Sarah lunges with the pan again. Maya sidesteps, deftly grabbing Sarah's arm and pinning her against the wall, causing the pan to clatter to the floor.
Sarah admires the gun hidden under Maya's shirt, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Nice gun," she taunts, trying to regain control of the situation. Maya remains firm, her grip unyielding. "Don't make me use it," she warns, the tension crackling in the air.
"You wouldn't dare," Sarah challenges, a mix of fear and defiance in her eyes. But Maya sees through her facade, her resolve unshaken. As Sarah attempts to free herself, Maya's knee meets Sarah's stomach, momentarily staggering her. In the ensuing struggle, Maya manages to disarm Sarah, redirecting the gun's aim toward the ceiling, the shots ringing out in a deafening crescendo.
The sudden commotion draws Derek and Reid into the room, swiftly apprehending Sarah as Maya catches her breath, a trickle of blood marking where Sarah had struck her earlier. "She tried to kill me!" Sarah pleads, desperation lacing her voice as she's led away by the police.
"Give it up" Derek declares as he retrieves his handcuffs and begins to wrap them around each of Sarah's wrist, escorting her out despite her shouting and deviance.
Reid checks Maya's injury, his concern evident. "It doesn't look like a concussion," he notes, offering a napkin to stem the bleeding. Maya waves him off, a determined glint in her eyes. "I'm fine," she insists, her voice firm as they exit the house together, the tense standoff leaving its mark on everyone involved.
_____
"I- I can't breathe... Stop- Stop" The young girl choked out. "I always hated you, Maya! I knew you'd never live up to my expectations!" The man shouted at his daughter. His daughter Maya Regan.
"P-Please" Young Maya begs but she was too young and too weak to take on her father. Her crazy father.
Suddenly, police sirens ring in the distance catching the father off guard and he quickly let go of his daughters neck. His daughter collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. "Shit! Shit!" The father yells as he looks around the room frantically but the police have already broke down the door. Maya was weak but she managed to crawl to her brother and hold his hand. His small hand.
"Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it's enough"
-Robert Heller-