Unshed Blood | Criminal Minds

chapter twelve - questioning

CHAPTER TWELVE

[THIRD PERSON POV]

THE FBI team, now being SSA Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, Alex Blake, David Rossi, Spencer Reid and Technical Analysist Penelope Garcia had gathered again at the round table. Emily Prentiss had left the team to run the Interpol office in London, especially after dealing with Ian Doyle. They had been called in for an emergency meeting which Hotch had called for them in the early hours of the morning.

None of them knew what was going on so they were all just as confused as the other until Penelope placed the photograph of Soren Hale onto the screen, she was in a hospital bed with cuts and bruises on her face, along with more photographs of more injuries she had. "All of you - apart from Blake - are aware of who this is-"

"Soren Hale. Her father and her escaped the US by taking a private jet to Italy." Derek announced, he stared down at the pictures feeling the slightest ounce of sympathy for the girl.

"-Exactly. Well, last night, she turned up at the Hospital. Her sister - Sybil - and her husband - Tobias - had brought her in. The cops were called, and they started questioning her, but she refused to give anything up." Garcia went through the information she had been told.

"Is she stable enough to leave the hospital?" Blake asked, she was trying to get her head around everything that was happening, but she was unaware of the details of the case. Of course, the two Hale's had been all over the FBI database and they had been continuously looking for them since 2007 now it was 2013 and six years had passed since then.

"She is. I asked them to bring her here so you guys could do your thing, you know." Penelope shrugged, brushing her blonde curled hair out of her face.

"Good. Derek, Blake, you two can interview her first. Find out whatever you can while the rest of us find some more information out, I'll be watching the interview as well." Hotch ordered them, Blake and Derek nodded, understanding the instruction.

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Derek and Blake had taken a moment to themselves to go over the questions they were going to ask, but they also wanted to make Soren sweat. The longer she stayed cooped up in the small, humid interrogation room the more agitated she would get which meant she was more likely to reveal something just out of anger.

"I say we go in, good cop and bad cop style." Blake suggested, her thought process was running even quicker and now they had a viable lead that they couldn't allow to get away this time.

Derek nodded; his gaze set firmly on the door in front of him as his jaw clenched. "Good idea. You want to be good cop or bad cop?"

"Bad. She was closer to her father, so she'll handle you being nicer to her, and also accepting whatever it is she has done." Blake commented.

"Let's go, then." Derek confirmed, he opened the door and stepped inside first. The first they took notice off was the dozens of bruises and cuts on her face and along her arms, underneath her eyes held dark eyebags and her skin was paler than it ever had been. Her hair - a once dyed blonde - was back to its original shade of deep brown but that showed off her exhaustion even more.

Derek sat down first, leaning closer to her as Blake stood up, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and a serious expression. Derek started of the conversation with a simple introduction. "Soren. I'm SSA Derek Morgan and this is Doctor Alex Blake. We were hoping you could answer some questions for us."

Soren remained silent, her determined stare set firmly on the blank wall opposite her. She refused to slouch, despite the aches in her back screaming at her to stop, still, she ignored the pain and focused on the wall in front of her.

Blake noticed that Soren wasn't about to speak and made eye contact with Derek, telling him she was going to try. "Those are some nasty cuts you have on yourself, could you tell us how you got them?"

Derek stared at the girl, mentally scolding himself for feeling an ounce of sympathy for her. "I guess you don't like talking, huh?" Still, Soren remained silent. "I understand that you might be scared, Soren, but we want to help you."

Blake observed the girl. She had studied behavior for the majority of her life, interviewed criminals and killers and for each one they all seemed to have some sort of reason as to why they did what they did but looking at Soren, the young woman looked empty. As though she had no hope left in the world and that frightened her more.

She slammed the file down onto the cold metal table, but Soren didn't even flinch. "You don't want to talk to us, that's fine. But I want you to take a look at all these people, the people that you and your father have been killing for the past five years. Every single one of them. I want you to look in their eyes and see the person's life you took away. They should all look familiar to you, and I know that you remember them all."

"Why did you kill them all, Soren? Or why help your father kill them?" Derek asked in a soft tone, he was refraining from allowing his anger to get in the way of the interview. "Were you afraid of what would happen to you if you didn't do what he said? What is it, Soren? Tell me so I can help you."

Soren still refused to say anything, the more the Agents in front of her spoke to her she felt all the confidence she had diminish and soon she was going to be left an insecure puddle on the ground. Her father was a talented man, he had a team with him who would find her and soon enough - with the medias help - he would connect the dots as to where she is and then he would come for not just her but Sybil too.

"We are trying to help you, dammit!" Derek suddenly exploded, slamming his fist down onto the table. "Fine. I'll sit here as long as you want until you say something."