Counter Torque

CHAPTER FOUR

The man that used to be SSA Aaron Hotchner has all but disappeared. He was a shell of a man, broken and empty inside. He drones through the days barely able to focus, shoulders slouched, heavy bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. He'd been working Jack's case all this time on his own, looking for anything the CARD team may have missed. The rest of his team have been helping, but unlike Hotch, they weren't burning the candle at both ends. He'd stepped down as Unit Chief and Emily had taken his place, and moreover, been doing a great job. Strauss had made an agreement with the two of them that as long as his performance in the field didn't falter, Hotch could remain with the BAU as a field Agent.
One evening, after everyone had gone home, Aaron was sitting in the conference room looking over Jacks' case. A quiet knock game and when he looked up, Spencer was standing there with two cups of coffee, "Anything I can do to help, Hotch?" Aaron shrugs his shoulders, "I don't want to keep you, Reid. I know how important the time is we get to ourselves."
"O-oh, it's no problem, I usually stay up and read anyway. At least this way I know I'll be doing something good. You haven't been yourself since all this happened, obviously, and I want to help. I'm not really good at expressing my feelings, but," he pauses to think, eyes shifting, "I love all of you, Jack included. You guys are my family too." Aaron looks at him, and nods, "By all means, Spencer, I would appreciate your help." He takes the hot cup of liquid presented to him and smiles meekly as Reid pulls out a chair.
As the hours pass, Spencer and Aaron flip through page after page and file after file, looking for anything the CARD team may have missed. Aaron stretches his arms over his head and yawns, when he opens his eyes, he notices Spencer standing in front of the case board with a file in his hand. Aaron asks, "What is it?"
"Did anything ever come of Maggie Wilson?""No, no one could locate her or her vehicle. Her parents are both dead and she had no siblings. Her belongings were cleared out of her apartment after she left. Why? What are you thinking?"
"I just find it strange that if she had something to do with this we wouldn't see any activity on her bank account. She'd need to buy food, shelter, gas, something, right?"
"We could never prove she was involved though. She was under some scrutiny after what happened at the school. Everyone just thought she ran, myself included." Reid wasn't convinced, "There's something going on at that school." He pulls out his phone and looks at the clock before pushing send. Aaron looks at him confused, "Who are you calling, Reid?" Before he can answer, the call connects, "Hey Penelope, it's Spencer. Can you do something for me?" Hotch assumes she answers him positively because he continues, "I need transcripts and records of everyone that works at Jacks' school. Thanks." Reid looks at his friend, "It may just be a hunch, or nothing, but I want to be sure." Aaron nods, "I thought the CARD team cleared everyone at the school, but if you see something, we need to work every angle."
Hardly an hour goes by before Penelope strides in wearing her usual rainbows of color. She has a stack of paper in her hand that she sets down on the desk before following suit with a drink tray of three coffees, "I come bearing gifts of caffeine and clues. What are we doing and how else can I help?"
Aaron looks at her dumbfounded, "Garcia, you didn't have to hand deliver this."
"Nonsense, sir, if this can help us find Jack, I'm all in, all the time."
Spencer picks up a large stack, splitting the smaller one in two for each of them, "Look for any anomalies. I'm not one hundred percent what we're even looking for yet, but something about Jack's teacher just disappearing the same day he does isn't sitting well with me." Penelope doles out the coffee and the three of them get to work, combing through records. As the rest of the team trickles in that morning, they are each filled in and soon, they're all head's down sifting through the new information. Around lunch time, Dave returns with food and beverages for all of them. They've been lucky today, no new cases. Their own paperwork can wait and soon, they find it. Morgan is the first to point it out, "Does anyone else have any complaints filed or statuses of new staff two weeks before the abduction?" JJ speaks up, "Yeah, I've got a new physical education teacher and a new board member." Reid chimes in, "I see it, two weeks before Jack and Maggie Wilson disappeared the school obtained three new staff members." Emily looks at him, "Who was the third?"
"Alex Bell," Hotch answers, "she's Jacks new councilor after John Turner retired." Garcia's fingers move swiftly over the keyboard, "Everyone has a solid alibi. All of the old teachers moved out of the area once they retired. The gym teacher has been at school every day for the last year and has a heavy online presence. The new treasurer is in a wheel-chair he lives at home with his wife and son. Finally, the new councilor—"
"It's not her." Hotch interjects. The room falls silent as Aaron feels six pairs of eyes staring holes into him. He looks up, "She's been helping me through this the entire time." Finally, Emily breaks the silence, "Okay, well then, what else do we have?" She stands and walks over to the board, hands on her hips. They all look at each other and start sifting again, slightly deflated. Shortly before six in the evening they catch a break. Garcia's eyes light up and she makes a sound. JJ looks at her, "Pen, what is it?"
"It's good, well, it's not good, but it's better than we had, but it's awful...," she rambles.
"Baby-girl just say it," Morgan says.
"They found Maggie."
"But?"
"But, they found her in her car, at the bottom of the Potomac. She just resurfaced. They're pulling her car out now. Divers recovered her body after it became dislodged from the vehicle and someone called 9-1-1."
Aaron is already has his jacket on and is walking when Dave stops him, "Aaron, you can't go down there. It's not our case anymore." Aaron rounds on his friend, "No one is keeping me from going to that crime scene. I don't care if they take my badge, my gun, my pension, I'm going down there." Before anyone can say anything more, he's gone. Emily looks at Derek, "Go with him and for gods sake, don't let him shoot anybody." Morgan nods and runs after Hotch. Emily looks around the room, "I'm going to go talk to Strauss. You guys know what to do. Garcia, keep us in the loop if we get a case. We can't let this keep us from doing our jobs." Everyone nods as she leaves the room. Penelope looks around, "Now what do we do?"JJ answers, "Now...we wait, but keep digging into the school. I agree with Spence, there's more going on there than we know."
Hotch and Morgan arrive at the crime scene just as ERT is towing away the car. They show their credentials and are pointed to the lead Detective, Mike Hale. He looks confused, "Agents can I help you?"
Hotch extends his hand to him and they shake, "Detective, we're investigating another case that this victim may be tied to. Where is the body?"
"Coroner already came and collected it. Took it to St. Vincent's but I have to tell you, it was severely damaged by the water, but we got a match to a Maggie Wilson on the vehicle's VIN."
Morgan is the next to speak, "Is there anything else you can tell us about the scene? Have they found any other evidence?" "Sorry Agents, it's too early to tell. We're just getting into this as you can see." Morgan nods, "We understand, please if you do find out anything, give us a call?" Detective Hale nods and takes the business card extended to him, "You got it." As Morgan turns to leave, he notices Hotch standing near the car, shining his flashlight into it. He walks up to him and asks, "Anything?"
"Not a damn thing that I can see. I want to go look at the body." As Aaron starts to walk away, Derek puts a hand on his arm, "Hotch, are you sure? Look man, I understand you want to find Jack, but you were in a relationship with this woman. Let one of us go, will ya?" Hotch looks up at him and his face changes, like he's just realized what this situation is and his face drops, "You're right." He rubs his hand over his face and his breath gets quick and shallow his mind finally catching up to the horror he's just witnessed.
Morgan walks with him back to the SUV and he calls Dave as they drive away. He fills him in and Dave nods, "Alright, we're on it. Thanks, Derek." Emily walks back into the room just as Dave closes his phone, "Strauss isn't happy, but as long as we don't have a case, we're free to investigate on our own. Dave, what's up?" As Dave relays his conversation, he and Emily volunteer to follow up with the ME, while JJ and Reid keep working the school angle.
Night turns to day and as the team regroups they all share what they've learned. Surprisingly, the Medical Examiner said Maggie died due to blunt force trauma to the back of her head and was staged behind the wheel of her car, but because it had been in the water, no further evidence existed. It all seemed like a dead end until Reid whispered softly, "That's it." You could hear a pin drop. JJ walked to him, "Spence, what is it?" He turns and looks at her, "Half days. She only works half days." He goes to the table and digs through the piles of paper, pulling out a picture of a planner. He holds it up, "Alex Bell only works half days. Once she got there, two other staff members were replaced, but not just replaced. They were forced into early retirement. Maggie Wilson was no different. She was about to be fired so everyone thought she left, but what if she didn't?" Emily looks at Hotch, "I know you told us she's been helping you but—" Before she can finish, Garcia interrupts, "Sorry crime fighters, we have a case. Strauss wants to see us all in the bullpen." As they file out, Strauss is standing before them, her arms crossed, "Agents, you will be taking the case Ms. Garcia has been sent. Agent Hotchner, you will not be going. I want to see you in my office." They all stand still, dumb-struck. Strauss corrects them, "Well? Get going Agents." She leaves and Aaron follows, looking over his shoulder with a frown. The others watch him walk away with surprised faces and mouths agape. Emily throws her hands in the air and lets them hit her sides, exasperated, "Dammit... well, you heard her, we fly."

Aaron has a seat in Strauss' office and as he watches her demeanor, he already knows what she's going to say. "Aaron, I'm side-lining you until further notice. You're running yourself thin and you don't look good. I want you to take some time off." His brow furrows deeper, "I'll take time off when I find my son Erin." "That's not what I mean and you know it. I want to you take some time away from here. This place is no good for you right now. Focus on yourself and your son. I'll allow the team to fill you in, but I don't want you putting yourself or the team at risk out in the field. When you're tired and distracted, mistakes can happen. Now, go home, get some rest. I'll be in touch." She doesn't even realize what she's done as she watches him go. Hotch doesn't argue, he just stands and leaves. He goes to his desk and collects his briefcase but before he heads to the elevator, he grabs the files and papers Reid was working on. As the elevator dings closed, Aaron looks at the ceiling thinking, "She better hope for her sake, Reid is wrong." The dire strait in this situation being that Reid is never wrong.