Unshed Blood | Criminal Minds

chapter twenty-five - end game

- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE -

END GAME

TWO MORE WEEKS passed by, and yet they still hadn't found anything relating to Arlo Hale which was causing the team to become more frustrated than before. All they had wanted to do was catch him and lock him away, but with them not even finding a clue regarding Arlo they were beginning to loose hope but, they were still determined to find him.

Spencer Reid paced around the room, his head wracking with thoughts as he tapped his finger against his knee, he read over the case files in front of him, trying to figure out what Arlo would do and his thought process but he still couldn't figure it out.

"You alright, Spence?" Jennifer Jareau asked as she walked into the room, her brows furrowed with worry as she stared at her best friend. She knew that the Arlo case file was destroying not only him but the rest of the team.

He hummed, standing up as he faced the crime scene images, tapping his finger against his chin as his mind ran through dozens of thoughts. It stared at the images hard, attempting to put the pieces into place until something clicked inside. "Lorenzo Russo."

"What?" JJ asked, looking up from the case file as Reid turned around quickly, he began looking through the files and information that Garcia had gotten for them as JJ nodded, knowing he was onto something. "I'll go and get the others."

Five minutes later, JJ returned with the rest of the team including Soren who was speaking with Rossi beforehand. "What's going on, kid?" Derek asked Spencer, occasionally looking over at Soren who was refusing too look back at him.

He stood up, facing everyone else as he began to explain. "Lorenzo Russo. Something about him didn't add up, and the fact that he helped get you and your father out of the country without questioning it always confused me, until I realized something."

"Realized what?" Soren asked, raising an eyebrow. She simply just believed that Lorenzo was a family friend.

"Victoria Bianchi. Related to Summer Hale, was married for a short period of time in 2005 till 2009, there is no written documentation about who the partner was or if they had any children. Which made me wonder, why would you hide who your partner is?"

"Unless you were trying to hide something." Emily finished, the surprise leaving her face.

Spencer nodded, "Now look, I had Garcia check the records of Lorenzo but there's no record of him until 2010, a year after the divorce. What if Lorenzo married Victoria?"

Hotch nodded, agreeing with what he was saying. "And if the marriage ended badly, with Lorenzo and Arlo being close friends, he may have hired Arlo to kill Victoria as revenge."

Soren's eyes widened, though she wasn't entirely shocked. "I just thought they were close friends, I didn't think Lorenzo would do that, he seemed so...sweet? I'm not sure how to describe him."

"So he killed his ex-wife for revenge? There's no reason for Lorenzo to even want Victoria dead." Derek commented, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rossi agreed, humming along as he walked around the room, standing beside Reid who was also thinking back to Derek's question. Reid spoke under his breath, his eyes squinted and his eyebrows furrowed as he continued to stare at the images of Victoria Bianchi and Lorenzo Russo, Arlo Hale's picture underneath.

Soren tilted her head to the side, stepping forward until she grabbed onto the case file of her mother, she opened it before anyone could stop her and read it carefully until something caught her eye. "That doesn't make sense."

Derek - who was already watching her - said. "What doesn't?"

"It says my mother died because of a car crash, but that's not what happened." Soren announced as she stared back up at the images of Victoria, Lorenzo and Arlo.

"How did she die?" Reid asked her, as the others took a seat down at the conference table.

Soren scoffed, putting the file back onto the table. "Arlo said she died from a stress induced heart attack, I knew he was lying about it so I checked but I couldn't find anything until I got her death certificate, went to the morgue and checked and they told me it was a car crash, so I don't know what's the truth and what's false."

Hotch took out his phone, dialing Penelope's number as she answered quickly. "How can I help you, kind sir?"

"Garcia, I need you too check Summer Hale's medical records, including her death certificate, bring it to the room as soon as possible."

"On it like a rocket, I'll have it with you ASAP." Penelope went to work as she hung up the phone gathering the information before she printed it out, making her way over to the room as her heels clicked against the floor. "I have Summer's medical records and her death certificate."

"What is it, Garcia?" Derek questioned, watching his closest friend.

"That's the thing, the death certificate is...well strange?" Penelope remarked as she continued. "Summer died from the loss of blood due to the impact of the car crash, so I looked into that. Turns out, she drove her car into a wall, making an impact on her body and she died immediately."

Soren listened to what was going on, her heart racing as she rubbed her sweating palms onto her legs. "She did it on purpose?" Soren whispered, finding it hard to believe.

Penelope's eyes softened as she walked closer to Soren. "I'm sorry, cupcake."

"It's fine." Soren scoffed, wiping the tear that had fallen from her eyes. "So how does my mom's death link with the others?"

"Summer knew what was going to happen, she knew who her husband was and she needed an out. The only out that she knew was ending her own life before Arlo killed her himself, Victoria must of knew, if she was still close with Lorenzo she would of told him about her worries, mourning the loss of her relative." Reid blurted out, the pieces finally being put together. "Lorenzo tells Arlo, and then Arlo killed Victoria so she wouldn't go to the police or anyone else in her family about it."

"So what you're saying is that if we find out where Lorenzo is we find Arlo?" JJ asked, finally sense of hope coming back to the team.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Reid confirmed, a small smile gracing his face.

"Then we best get to work." Aaron Hotchner declared.

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authors note -
there is a total of 41 chapters but they should all be updated by mid february!