Serendipity

Chapter 3

To say that talking to Andrew Thompson’s wife was difficult was the understatement of the year. She had only learned of her husband’s death hours ago, and it hadn’t completely registered with her yet. Rossi took the lead, Isabella thought he must be trying to go easy on her after Hotch put her on the spot back at the station. She was thankful that he cared enough; she had always tried her best to avoid talking to grieving family. Her time at MI5 was spent chasing terrorists. The victims' families were dealt with by agents who specialised in grief situations, and while she had done these interviews on occasion, she was glad she didn’t have to now. 

Rossi didn’t seem at all like she had pictured while reading his books. The author, she had imagined, was a hardass. He was all about work and he had no time for niceties; she was glad to be wrong this time. He was kind and gentle, and watching him speak to this widow was almost soothing. “We’re sorry to have to do this now, Mrs Thompson, but we need to stop this guy as soon as possible. We could really use your help.” 

“Please, call me Lori. I don’t know how much help I can be, but sure.” She said as she let them into the house. A large black dog came from somewhere inside, and sniffed at Isabella, then Rossi. He seemed happy that they were not a danger to his mistress, so he wandered back down the hall. Lori led them to the lounge, “Could I make you some tea, agents?” she threw over her shoulder as she moved to the open kitchen where a stove-top kettle had just started whistling. “That would be lovely, thank you.” Isabella answered for both of them. There was a few minutes of silence while Lori made tea, and Rossi only started asking questions when she had placed the tray on the coffee table in front of them, and had taken a seat on the couch. “Did your husband have any reason to be in the area of North Albany Middle School last night?”

Lori shook her head, “No, he wasn’t working last night. He said he was going out with some friends, so he took a taxi from here at about 7pm. They usually go to some bar on Western Avenue on the other side of town. They told me he never got there.” her voice cracked at the end of that sentence. Isabella could feel her own heart breaking for this woman. “I’m sorry.” Lori said, fishing a tissue out of her pocket and drying the tears that had started running down her cheeks. “I still think he’s going to come marching through the door at some point. Tell me this was just a misunderstanding. I can’t believe he’s gone.” Her tears flowed freely now and Isabella wasn’t sure she could trust herself to speak, she had to say something though. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I can’t make you feel better, but I can promise you that we’ll catch the guy who did this.” She knew she shouldn’t make promises like that, but it was either that, or cry with the woman, and crying in front of people was not something she ever did. They let themselves out of the house and got back in the SUV. The ride back to the precinct was done in silence. Isabella just looked out of the window and concentrated as hard as she possibly could to keep her tears from escaping. She hopped out of the SUV before Rossi had shut the ignition off, and made a bee-line for the bathroom. She had to compose herself before rejoining the team, tears on her first day were not a good look. Hopefully there wasn’t anyone else in the bathroom. 

She swung into the bathroom with the door, and collided with an unsuspecting victim. She heard a yelp as her head hid the door and she started apologising before she knew who she had run into. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking! Are you okay?” she closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead where a red mark was now sitting. This was definitely going to form a bruise later. Great. When she opened her eyes, she was staring straight at Emily, who was cradling her right shoulder. “Yeah. Where’s the fire?” Emily jested, her face falling as she looked into Isabella’s eyes. “Hey, what happened?” her shoulder now forgotten, Emily reached out to touch the younger woman’s arm. Isabella cursed every deity in existence that there had to be someone else in the room, but at the same time she was glad it was Emily. She felt instantly calmer the moment Emily touched her. She tried to play it off, tried to tell the concerned woman in front of her that everything was fine, but she couldn’t form the words. Her mouth opened and closed twice before she gave up and just stood there. Emily pulled her into a hug, and she couldn’t stop her tears anymore.