My Life Had Stood(11/11/16)
Chapter 52: Finding Jemma 3
Garcia grimaced at her computer screens, having decided to throw herself into her work once she got to Quantico. Since abruptly leaving the hospital, she'd thought about Alsie and how the petite brunette had lied to Spencer. Or at least hadn't bothered to warn him of her suspicions that they were related.
The tech analyst had thought about going back and demanding Alsie explain why she had thought it okay to keep such a secret. But then decided against it. Garcia was too angry at the brunette and there was work to be done finding the latest unsub.
"Let's see...." Garcia typed on her keyboard, combing through the list she compiled of men matching the basic profile of their unsub. On her way into Quantico from the hospital, she'd received a call from Morgan. He requested her to search for similar crimes in neighboring states as well as widen her search parameters for the suspect to include residents in those neighboring states.
She glowered at the large number of potential suspects. Even after filtering out men who made frequent trips to Los Angeles, she was still left with too many names.
Her eyes widened the next second when her search for similar cases produced results. Her lips parted in surprise, then horror when she counted the total number of similiar cases. It was at this moment that her phone rang.
-"Hello, Garcia, there's another search parameter...."-
"Seventeen." Garcia mumbled, her eyes wide and stomach twisting. The agent who'd called her gave a confused sound, wondering at the nonsequiter. Something the tech analyst's next words rectified. "There're at least seventeen other victims killed by this unsub over the past twenty years."
-"What?" JJ gaped, her own gut roiling at the revelation. Could the unsub have killed that much without them knowing? "Garcia, are you sure...?"-
"They're scattered all over the country, but seventeen other deaths match this unsub's M.O." Garcia replied, feeling miserable and sickened by the amount of victims. Adding these newly connected deaths with the original ten, made it twenty-seven women the unsub tortured, violated and killed. Before JJ could ask more than a single word 'how', Garcia cleared her throat and continued. "There were only one or two victims per state that the unsub traveled through. Not like the ten dumped in California."
-"...." JJ glowered, not at all liking the level of organization and forensic knowledge the unsub's actions suggested. Moving from state to state and never killing more than two per, had allowed the unsub to stay under the radar. She grimaced but then switched back to what she'd called for. "Garcia, Reid and Fitzgerald spoke with the latest victim, and got her name Alicia Summers. Could you check to see if there's a missing persons' report for her? Search neighboring states...."-
"Already on it." Garcia replied, having started the search the moment JJ said the victim's name. It took only a few moments to find the information. "Alicia Summers, resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. Her husband reported her missing a night ago when she didn't return home from grocery shopping."
-"The unsub only kept her a day?" JJ muttered. She hadn't seen the victim's injuries, but going by how Spencer had described the woman's physical condition, Alicia Summer's injuries had been extensive. "Garcia, can you send her husband's number and address to Hotch? He, Morgan, and agent Aderhold are closest to the state lines."-
"All right...and sent." Garcia replied, she paused the next moment when JJ told her what else Spencer and Fitzgerald had told her.
-"Alicia wasn't very clear, but the unsub has at least one other woman, maybe two, captive." JJ chewed her lip, scowling as she thought. "She also told Reid something about the unsub having a little girl...."-
"...Jemma?" Garcia asked, her throat tightening as she thought about the missing child. Though finding the girl would be wonderful, the tech analyst couldn't help but be terrified of what horrors the unsub may have put the three year old through.
-"It's likely, considering the DNA recovered from the previous dumpsite." JJ replied, her own stomach clenching at the same thought as Garcia. She next asked if Garcia had a list of potential suspects, before continuing. "Check to see if any of those on the list have children living with them."-
"Doing so now...." The sound of Garcia's fingers clacking on the keys echoed over the phone. Her lips twisted and she stared intently on her computer screen while the new parameter narrowed down the list. "And there're eleven with young children living with them."
-"Cross off any with more than one child and those with boys."-
"That leaves five....No, wait, one of them is in prison since last year and another one died two months ago. So that leaves three." Garcia replied, still reading over the information.
-"Okay, now were any of them in D.C at any point three years ago? Around the time of Alsie's accident?"-
"Let's see...." Garcia heart thumped, anticipating narrowing down the remainder to one. Her stomach clenched when the last three were all ruled out. "None of them were. One was in prison, and the other two in rehab."
-JJ grumbled and cursed, not at all liking the result. She frowned thinking about what could be wrong in their search.-
"The unsub stole Jemma, so maybe he's keeping her a secret from his neighbors?" Garcia postulated.
-"It's possible she's undocumented." JJ replied slowly, her thoughts immediately on the implications. If the unsub was keeping the child secret, then it was possible that Jemma wasn't receiving any medical care or whatnot. It would also make it difficult to track the girl. "....there's bound to have been something - a cold or injury - that would've made the unsub bring the child to the hospital. Even if only as a baby, after kidnapping her."-
"....that could take a while, going through the medical records."
0
+flashback+
"Shhh, love. Shh." The man crooned above her, her wrists tied to the bedpost. Her throat sore from the chain wrapped around it, and her eyes wide.
"...." She didn't make a sound, her heart thumping and her stomach twisting. The tone of voice was one she recognized, though the man using it was different. Her eyes teared up around the edges. 'He's just like daddy....'
x
"....Alsie?" Lewis repeated, her voice finally breaking through to the petite woman who clenched herself into a ball. "Are you all right?"
"...." Alsie shivered unconsciously, her eyes widening gradually as the flashback faded. Her gaze became more focused on the hospital room. Though her thoughts were entangled in the memory, one she'd kept locked deeply away. It had been the last clear one as a child before her blackouts began. "I...."
"Alsie? Do you want me to get Dr. Freeman?"
Alsie simply stared, her cheeks incredibly pale, at the agent. Her flashback of the man and what he called her, mingled with another. One much more recent though still a few years old. Three to be exact.
Alsie started to hyperventilate, her fingers digging into her palms.
"Calm down. Alsie. It's all right. It's all right." Lewis started to say, keeping her voice level in effort to calm the woman.
"He...he did...did it. He....the one...." Alsie shook and sputtered, her eyes widened in absolute terror. It was bad enough that she'd recognized that intern in the hall, enough that she'd almost had a panic attack. Once she was back in her room, she'd realized who the intern was.
Vincent Crawford, the man she'd thought was her father as a child. The first one who had....She shuddered, feeling sick. A feeling that intensified once her memory of the man knocked loose another. One of a man much worse than Crawford.
The one who Leah Crawford had abandoned her with all those years ago.
"Alsie?"
'He has Jemma.' All color drained from Alsie's face as the truth hit her. Her stomach clenched and her head started pounding. She bit desperately hard on her lip and inner cheek, trying to fight off the blackout that threatened to consume her. It was rare, but sometimes she could tell when a blackout was coming.
"Please...find Jemma. Before he...." Alsie gasped for breath, her breath quickening despite her struggling to control it. "Before Lin....before he....hurts...." She swallowed and struggled to tell Lewis the man's name, only for the blackout to completely envelop her.
0
Linnet smirked at Leah, his fist clenching the chain wrapped around her throat. He pulled it, cutting off her airway just long enough to make the woman dizzy. The tears running down the woman's cheeks were enticing, though her silence wasn't quite as appealing.
It was just too easy, torturing Leah while demanding she be silent. Just as it always was when he cut out his victims tongues. It was only a few he got that far with, and each woman had quickly given up afterwards.
"Leigh was so much better." Linnet mumbled and kicked Leah in the abdomen, his grip on the chain loosening. He smiled creepily, recalling a memory from twenty or so years ago. "She was so young, but....compliant."
His cold eyes were enflamed with desire as he forced Leah to look at him. Her own eyes were terrified but also angry, her body bruised worse than earlier.
"....She never screamed nor cried, not once. Just accepted it." He grabbed Leah's chin, his eyes delighting in the fear and guilt entrenched in the woman's face. "It was obvious, I wasn't the first man who....had had her."
Leah's eyes widened and her cheeks lost all color as she processed Linnet's taunt. What he implied...she shook her head or tried to, only for the man to hold her face still. 'No....'
"Oh? You didn't know?" Linnet laughed cruelly, reading the woman's expression easily. "Or did you just overlook what was happening, between the girl and your husband, because she was just your personal punching bag, right, love?"
'No, no. She wasn't....and I....Vincent...he...." Leah trembled, wanting nothing more than to shout at Linnet, but it came out only as a garbled cry. Her stomach clenched as she thought back to almost thirty years ago. When Adrienne Leigh was young....
'Was that why Vincent was always buying Leigh stuff? Being nice to her....to hide that he...?' Leah felt sick, though she wondered if she had the right to be appalled considering her own transgressions. She had, as Linnet said, used Adrienne Leigh as a punching bag. She remembered the first time she did so - just two days after convincing CPS to not take either child.
She'd been so terrified of losing her son, Adrian, that she blamed the poor girl for getting sick, and had beat Adrienne Leigh with a belt. Only five strikes and only one which left a mark lasting longer than a day. Seeing that mark the next day and seeing how terrified the girl was of her made Leah feel horrible.
Horrible enough that she had sought out the family her and Vincent took the girl from. Her first impulse was to drop Adrienne Leigh off, as though she could erase the past. Just give the child back and not face any consequence. She didn't have to hear Vincent's objections to realize how foolish that was. There would've been no way to give the girl back without explaining how they'd gotten her.
x
-"We'll lose Vinny." Vincent hissed at her, referring to their son. His eyes narrowed to slits as he shot down what Leah suggested. "You give the girl back and everything will be ruined. We'll end up in jail and Vinny in foster care."
"But...." Leah fell silent, unable to think of a counterargument. The sound of small, unsure feet pattering towards them drew her attention. Her eyes widened as she saw Adrienne Leigh was already standing quietly behind her, while Adrian Vincent hurried towards them. It was the boy's steps she'd heard. Her face whitened. "Leigh? How long have you been listening...?"
Adrienne Leigh simply stared up at Leah, her brow furrowing and her eyes moist. "...give...back?" The girl mumbled, or at least that's what Leah thought she heard before the five year old ran down the hall. She couldn't rush after as her son, Adrian Vincent grabbed her legs and cried to be picked up.
"I'll get Adrienne, you take care of Vinny." Vincent kissed her cheek before heading off toward where the young girl had ran.-
x
The sharp pain of something being stabbed into her foot pulled Leah back to the present. Only then did she realize she'd lost consciousness briefly.
"Hey, love. Scream for me." Linnet crooned, his voice sulky even as he stabbed Leah's other foot with the sharpened iron poker. This time harder.