THREE ; DIVERGE.
The silver walls of the interrogation room had become increasingly familiar to the brunette in the chair. Quinn had gotten used to the silence of the area, embracing it, for the most part. The silence was better than the repetitive screams of the Horsemen's latest victim.
That was the one thing Lawrence didn't force her to do. He didn't force her to torture them. But she was forced to be in the room; torture was used to get answered out of people. She had to tell them if they were lying or not.
Quinn placed her head on top of her hands, allowing herself to close her eyes for a moment. She was alone with her thoughts again, something potentially dangerous.
No. She couldn't think like that. She had to keep a more positive mindset. Things would get better from here. If everything ran according to plan, she'd be safer.
But Quinn knew that wasn't the case. That wasn't going to happen. The FBI weren't going to find the Horsemen. They weren't going to be put away. She was going to go to jail and shortly after, she would die. The Horsemen had resources everywhere; that was how they got away with the murders, the abductions, and the heists. Someone would come after her.
The door suddenly opened, Quinn's head snapping to the person entering the room. He wore a stern look on his face and his suit was neatly pressed. His hair had been splayed out of place slightly, most likely due to the stress of the search for the team. He did not show any emotion as he stood in front of the girl, his eyes narrowed only a bit. He did not speak until he had made sure he had Quinn's full attention. "Only one of the two locations you gave us checks out. One of Joseph Lawrence's aliases was used when purchasing a nine millimeter four years ago." The agent saw Quinn's eyebrows pull together slightly. Lawrence wouldn't be idiotic enough to use a credit card, not when purchasing something as serious as a gun. "The owner recognized his picture from the broadcast," he explained, noticing Quinn's confusion. The crease between her eyebrows disappeared, seeming to understand more. "We didn't find any sign of them in Springfield."
Quinn did not respond, her eyes not leaving the man in front of her. Aaron Hotchner sighed at the silence and glanced to the mirror in the room. The door soon opened, two policemen coming to her side and unlocking her cuffs from the chain of the table. Her expression faltered, a small amount of fear sparking in her eyes. She glanced at Hotchner, the agent nodding towards the men. They put new handcuffs around her wrists, motioning for her to stand up and follow them. She inhaled quietly, doing as told and walking out of the room. Her eyes darted around her new surroundings, seeing no one in the room behind the mirror, no one in the hallways. She soon looked to the ceiling, searching for cameras that hung down. She found one in the corner of the room and two on either end of the hallway as she followed the officer in front of her.
The room she was escorted to was similar to the area she had been kept in previously. Only two things deferred from the other space. One, the walls were a dark grey compared to the metallic shade she had become accustomed to. And two, no cameras held a place on the ceiling.
Quinn almost smiled. The BAU knew what they were doing.
Her eyes scanned the room, making sure there was not a single camera in sight. She knew Kyle Masters had found a way to grant himself access to every piece of footage the building had to offer. That was the plan after all.
Joseph Lawrence had been meticulous in his planning. He always was, but there was something special about this case. Lawrence had gotten more arrogant in his ways over the years, his ambition growing through his murders. It had started with low-rate victims, the team only looking for a couple of practice rounds before starting the real thing.
This was when Quinn Carson was pulled in.
Quinn clenched her eyes shut as the memory of her abduction seven years ago flashed through her mind. She was three weeks away from finishing her senior year of college. She had already enrolled into law school, her parents undeniably proud of their only daughter, their only child. Quinn had decided to come home for a weekend before taking her finals. She remembered her heart falling to her stomach as she walked into her living room to see Lawrence and Nelson with guns to her parents heads-
The memory disappeared as she heard the door open, Quinn's gaze meeting the tall figure of a man. He closed the door and turned around, his glance meeting Quinn's. Quinn was taken back by the open kindness in his eyes. His lips twitched upwards as he saw the girl looking at him, nodding once before taking a seat in front of her. "There aren't any cameras in here." Quinn observed him, searching for any tells of the man lying. There weren't any. "I promise," he said. "Quinn, my name is Spencer Reid and I want to help you." Quinn eyed him suspiciously, unsure of why the FBI would want to help her. The doctor gave her a tight-lipped smile. "But you have to help us first, o-okay?"
He was nervous. The stutter wasn't a habitual trait, it was a nervous reflex. What he was nervous about however, Quinn was unable to tell. "What do you need me to do?" Her voice was emotionless, never moving her eyes away from his.
"I, uh, I need you to-"
Reid was cut off by the opening of a door, both of the people in the room's heads turning to the entry way. In walked a woman with light brown hair and a file. She walked in with an air of confidence and eyes that held years of wisdom. She looked at Reid and nodded, the man returning the nod. His posture became rigid, the mood in the room now extremely serious. Quinn watched as she sat down in front of her, placing the closed file on the table. "Quinn, I'm Agent Blake and I have some news for you." Quinn's stare didn't falter, Blake taking this as a cue to continue. "We've found your team."
Quinn's eyes widened at the news, showing true, visible shock. Blake wasn't lying; she hadn't given any tells. They had found them, or at least a trace of them. This wasn't Lawrence's plan. There was no way they could have found them. Were they truly idiotic enough to go to the secondary base? Sure, Lawrence hadn't given Quinn the entirety of the plan (he trusted the girl no farther than he could throw her), but were they able to get caught so easy?
She spoke one word, watching Blake with an observant gaze. "Where?"
Blake's eyes shifted to her right. "In Springfield. The police looked a bit harder and found their base."
"What part of Springfield?" Quinn knew exactly what she was doing. Blake had opened the door with her right hand and had held the file in her right hand. People who were right handed commonly looked directly to their right when lying about something they were told. Quinn watched as the agent shook her head slowly.
"I think you know where it is," she replied. Quinn narrowed her eyes. Blake was trying to throw her off track.
"What did you find?" Quinn asked. If Blake wanted to diverge her, Quinn would do the same.
Blake glanced at Reid then back at Quinn. "We found the body of Leslie Saywer. Lawrence confessed to killing her on the spot."
"How'd she die?" Blake's lips thinned into a stoic, straight line, the insides becoming slightly white.
"Shot once in the leg, twice in the head." Blake had blinked five times as she was speaking. "Four squares carved into her back."
She was lying. Quinn knew she was. Although that was the regular MO of the Horsemen, Lawrence wasn't planning to kill Leslie until forty eight hours after Quinn had been taken into FBI custody. He'd only abducted Leslie to get information out of her. The finale of this case was yet to come.
"Agent Blake," Quinn began, her confidence rising as she pulled her hands as close to her body as the chains allowed. "I would expect you of all people to know it's unwise to lie to me."
Blake's eyebrows rose. "I'm sorry?"
"You've looked to your right, diverted your eyes quickly, thinned your lips, and blinked too many times all in the span of three minutes." Blake looked surprised and almost... pleased? Quinn's brow furrowed, piecing everything together in her head. The excessive tells, the sudden entrance, the happy look; this had been planned. They were testing her. "Why are you testing my abilities?" she asked.
A ghost of a smile formed on the agent's face. "Those who can spot lies are really good at telling them," she said. "We had to see if you were telling the truth about your abilities."
"But you did find the team," Quinn stated, remembering her first observation.
"Their car ran a red light in Oklahoma," Blake confirmed, nodding. Oklahoma. That was where Peterson lived.
Quinn widened her eyes, snapping her gaze to Reid's. "You said there were no cameras in here?" He nodded twice. "Where in Oklahoma?" Peterson lived in Tulsa.
"Pryor," Blake answered, eyebrows furrowing. "Why is that-"
Pryor was east of Tulsa. If they had taken off from Virginia, they would be entering Tulsa from the east. "Get someone to Timothy Peterson's apartment in Tusla now. Have your tech person find his address and get the police unit there or something, but do it now."
"Who is Timothy-"
Quinn interrupted Blake quickly. "There is a very good chance he's dead right now, so I would get someone to his house immediately!"
The outburst silence the room, the agent and the doctor taken back by the panic and volume contained in Quinn's voice. Spencer felt his phone vibrate. He looked at the screen to see a text from Morgan.
Garcia's already on it.
"We have people going already," Spencer told Quinn, the girl nodding at him and relaxing slightly. There was a pause in the conversation, Blake and Reid exchanging a glance. "Quinn, who is Timothy Peterson?"
A sigh escaped the girl's lips, her eyes shutting as she leaned her forehead on her hands. "It's-He's-um-" Quinn couldn't form a sentence, stumbling over her words as she thought of a way to describe who Peterson was to the team. "He plays a complicated role."
"We've got time for you to tell us," Blake countered, leaning forward in her chair. Quinn inhaled deeply and nodded.
"Peterson is, uh, Lawrence's sworn enemy. They have a Sherlock-Moriarty type of relationship. They're obsessed with each other," she explained. "Lawrence has always planned to kill him, I just didn't think he'd do it today. They've always tried to one up each other. Peterson would tell Lawrence about one of his kills, Lawrence would fire back with two of them."
"How did they meet?" Spencer asked. "Why did they hate each other?"
Quinn pursed her lips. "Peterson used to be apart of the Horsemen."
Reid widened his eyes, mind spinning. "And when he left-"
"They replaced him with me," Quinn finished. "They were close to best friends and then he left the team. Lawrence had sworn to Peterson he'd kill him."
The three went quiet, Blake and Reid processing the information they were just given. "Quinn, how did you end up joining the Horsemen?" Blake questioned.
Reid noticed the darkening of the girl's eyes, watching as they narrowed ever so slightly. "Right now, that doesn't matter. What matters is that the rest of the Horsemen are keeping Leslie Saywer hostage in the back of their car. Why they have her, I unfortunately am unable to tell you. But, if they're planning on doing what I think they will, you could have a big problem on your hands."
"What do you believe they're going to do?" Spencer inquired, leaning towards her in interest.
Quinn sighed, not able to make eye contact with him. "From what I can infer, they're planning to go after a man named Jonah Grey. He's been an enemy of the Horsemen forever."
Blake cleared her throat. "What does Leslie have to do with this?"
"Sawyer is in a relationship with Grey. They've been separated because of her work."
Blake nodded in thanks at Quinn, glancing at Reid. She pushed out her chair and gave Quinn a small smile. "Thank you for your cooperation."
Quinn didn't reply, simply glancing up at the woman. She made eye contact with Reid who gave her the same tight-lipped smile as when he had entered the room. "Quinn, you're going to be okay." She watched his face as he got up. "I promise," he stated before following Blake and walking out of the room.
Quinn placed her forehead on her hands once more, closing her eyes as she did so. She knew Spencer Reid was unsure of her fate.
She knew this, because he had looked to his right before he was finished speaking.
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woo three chapters down, a bunch more to go
quinn's an extremely complex character who will mature and change throughout the story so i hope your asses are ready for my favorite thing ever; some halfway decent character development !!!
there's been a lot of recent feedback and i'm loving it! hope you guys are enjoying reading this as much as i am writing it!
love you all tons:)
-mags