Criminal Minds 2!

Chapter 4: Old Foe!

       Aaron walked down the stairs and saw Emily was asleep on the couch. He looked at her and smiled. H hated to wake her, but he gad to. He shook her gently and she sat up quickly and looked around. "Em, it's just me. Are you okay?" Aaron asked and Emily sighed. "I'm fine, Aaron. Just tired." Emily replied. "Well, we have to get to work. I already texted everyone." Aaron replied and Emily nodded. "Okay." Emily agreed as she moved her hair out of her face. "I woke up and you weren't there. Is everything alright?" Aaron asked. "Yeah. I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you. So I came here, and I ended up falling asleep here." Emily replied. "As long as you're alright. I'm going to go get ready." Aaron told her and Emily nodded. "Okay." Emily agreed as he walked upstairs.
      They all were in the round table room as Penelope began. "Three men have died. They were all found on the side of the street with their hearts missing." Penelope explained. "Hearts?" JJ asked. "That's right." Penelope replied. "That could be a metaphor. Maybe she had gotten her heart broken." Spencer suggested. "Maybe they all did something that reminded the Unsub of what happened to them." Derek suggested. "The three victims all work for the same company. A social working company. The men all were married and had kids." Penelope explained. "I'm guessing the Unsub works there. That's the only way they can keep any on them." Dave suggested. "Okay. Wheels up in 30." Aaron told them and they all walked out.
      Emily saw her phone ringing and saw it was Clyde Easter. She sighed answered it. "I was wondering when I will be hearing from you." Emily commented. "It was much easier tracking down the newley engaged Tsia and Jeremy, then it was to track you down." Clyde told her. "Well, maybe I didn't want to be found." Emily commented. "Doyle wants all of us dead. You more then anyone. That means you will be the last person he goes after. But, Sean, Tsia, Jeremy, and I are on his list as well. We all worked together to take him down." Clyde explained and Emily sighed. "Yeah, I know." Emily agreed. "Maybe your boyfriend can help." Clyde suggested. "How did you know about him?" Emily asked. "It's my job to know." Clyde replied. "That line again." Emily commented. "That's what Tsia said as well." Clyde commented. "And the answer is no." Emily added. "What answer?" Clyde asked. "To wanting me to ask Aaron for help. I am not getting my team involved. This is my fight." Emily replied. "Our fight. We all worked together." Clyde told her. "But I'm the one that got close to him. I'm the one that pretended to love him. I'm the one he really wants." Emily commented. Aaron walked into the room. "Is everything okay?" Aaron asked. "Fine. I'll be right there." Emily replied and Aaron nodded as he walked out. "Was that him?" Clyde asked. "Yes, I have to go. Keep me posted." Emily replied. "Will do." Clyde agreed.
    They were on the jet when Penelope was video calling them, and Aaron answered. "What do you have for us?" Aaron asked. "I was doing a little background check on all of the victims, and they have more in common then just being social workers. All of their wives and kids have been in and out of the hospital with mysterious injurues." Penelope replied. "Social workers who beat their wives and kids. That's a new one." Dave commented. "Perfect cover, though." Derek commented. "When we get there JJ and Reid will go talk to the wives. Morgan and Rossi will go to the Social Working Company. Emily and I will go to the sheriff's station and see what else they know." Aaron explained and everyone nodded.
     Emily and Aaron walked into the station. An officer walked over to them. "May I help you?" The cop asked. "I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is SSA Emily Prentiss, from the Behavior Analysis Unit." Aaron replied. "FBI?" The cop asked. "Yes." Aaron replied. Then another officer came up to them, and she had brown hair that was in a ponytail. "You may go now, Officer Leanix." The cop told him. He nodded and walked away. "Are you the head officer here?" Emily asked. "That's right. I'm Sheriff Nina Stone." Nina replied. "I'm Aaron Hotchner and that's Emily Prentiss." Aaron introduced. "Nice to meet you both. You can set up at my office." Nina told them and showed them the way. "Thank you." Emily commented. "You're welcome. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." Nina told them. "Okay." Aaron agreed and Nina walked out. Emily phone went off and she saw Clyde added her in a group chat with Tsia and Jeremy. Bad news: Sean is dead. Emily couldn't believe it. "Em, everything alright?" Aaron asked and Emily nodded as she put her phone away. "Yeah." Emily replied.
     JJ and Spencer knocked on the last victims house. A women answered it. "Yes?" The girl asked. "Are you Bella Thomson?" JJ asked. "I am." Bella replied. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid and this is SSA Jennifer Jearu. We're here to talk about your husband." Spencer replied. "My husband and I are seperated. We have been for over a year and we will be for the rest of our lives." Bella told them. "You don't know?" JJ asked. "Know what?" Bella asked. "Bill is dead." JJ replied. "What? Are you serious?" Bella asked. "I'm afraid so." JJ replied. "Come in." Bella told them.
      Derek and Dave walked into the company. "I'm sorry, but no press here." A guy told them. "We're not press. I'm SSA David Rossi and this is SSA Derek Morgan." Dave introduce. "Oh, I'm sorry. There's been a lot of press lately, because of all the social workers deaths." The guy told them. "No problem." Dave commented. "I'm Alexander Matthews." Alexander greeted. "We want to talk about what happened with the recent deaths. Derek told him. "Okay." Alexander agreed. "First, could we get a list of all your employees? Social workers and assistants?" Dave asked and Alexander nodded. "Sure thing." Alexander replied. "Is there a worker that has been acting suspicious?" Derek asked. "Not that I know of." Alexander replied. "My guess is that it's an assistant. They're killing off social workers." Dave suggested. "Abusive social workers." Derek added. "What?" Alexander asked. "We found out that the victims all had wives and kids who have been in and out of the hospital for unexplained injuries." Derek replied. "I don't know about the first two, but I know the last one was sent on trial for being abusive. But the judge overlooked it because of the fact that he's a social worker." Alexander explained. "We should get that list." Derek commented. "Right. Paige!" Alexander called. A girl with blonde hair that goes down to the middle of her back, walked over to them. "Yes, sir?" Paige asked. "I need you to get a list of everyone that works here." Alexander replied. "Of course, sir. What is this regarding?" Paige asked. "The murders." Alexander replied and Paige nodded. "Okay. I'll make the list right away." Paige told him. "Good." Alexander agreed.
      "I just can't believe Bill is dead." Bella commented. "Why did you guys seperate?" JJ asked. "Because he abused me for years, and I let him. Until he abused our six year old daughter, that was the last straw for me." Bella replied. "Why did you let him abuse you?" Spencer asked and she sighed. "Because my father abused me for years. We seemed like a happy family, until my mom died when I was four. They said it was an accident, but it wasn't. He told me that I was useless and worthless, and I believed him. Then this guy told me the same thing, and I thought I didn't have a choice." Bella explained. "But you wouldn't take him hitting your daughter?" JJ asked and she nodded. "Monica is my entire life. I love her more then anyone and I would die for her." Bella replied. "I understand that. I have two sons, and I will protect them with my life." JJ told her. "Were you planning on getting a divorce?" Spencer asked. "I was actually working on that, but he wouldn't sign the papers. He was way too stubborn." Bella replied. "Do you know anyone that would want to kill him? Anyone from work, maybe?" JJ asked. "He didn't talk to many people at work. The work did have parties that I intended, only to make him look good." Bella replied. "Do you know or remember anything that could help us?" JJ asked and Bella thought about it. "Wait. Everytime I went to the hospital because he abused me, a girl from his work would come visit me to make sure I was alright." Bella replied. "What was her name?" Spencer asked. "Paige. I never knew a last name." Bella replied and they nodded.
     Emily was in the restroom at the station. She called Clyde. "Hey, I'm putting Tsia and Jeremy on the line." Clyde told her. "Okay." Emily agreed. "Hey, is Sean really dead?" Jeremy asked. "I'm afraid so." Clyde replied. "How did Doyle find him so fast?" Emily asked. "I don't know." Tsia replied. "I can't believe this! He's picking us off one by one!" Emily exclaimed. "Tsia and I will be next. Then Clyde and then you, Em." Jeremy told them. "I have never been a person to sit back and get picked off. We must take the fight to him, before it's too late and we lose it all." Emily explained. "I know, that's why I'm putting my foot down. You'll only get yourself killed." Clyde told her as Emily held back tears. "I know, but it's better me then Aaron or the rest of my team." Emily replied. "Just wait for us to come up with a reasonable plan." Tsia told her and Emily sighed. "Fine, I have to go." Emily agreed and hung up.
     Emily walked back into the office. "Garcia is analyzing the list as we speak." Derek told her and she nodded. Then JJ and Spencer walked in. "Hey. Garcia is analyzing the list of employees." Dave told them. "Apparently an employee visited all of the wives and kids when they were in the hospital." JJ told them. "The same employee." Spencer added. "Who?" Emily asked. "Paige. That's all any of them knew." Spencer replied. Aaron picked up the list. "There's not a Paige on here." Aaron told them. "That's odd. When we were there, the boss had an assistant named Paige make this list." Dave told them. "That is odd." Aaron agreed. "Maybe she just forgot to put her name on." JJ suggested. "Or maybe she purposely didn't." Emily suggested. "The optimist and anti optimist here everyone." Derek commented and they both glared at him.
      Derek called Penelope and put her on speaker phone. "Hey, Chocolate Thunder." Penelope greeted with a smirk. "Baby girl, we think a name is missing on the list." Derek told her. "I already figured that out." Penelope told him. "You did? How?" Derek asked. "I am a genious, you know. I looked through the name on the company's database and saw that the list was missing a Paige Connor." Penelope replied. "Is there anything weird about Paige?" Emily asked. "Yeah, she's been in and out of the hospital since she was born. Her father was put on trial for abusing her, but was found not guilty and was set free. He was also a social worker, that is why he was found not guilty." Penelope replied. "She's our unsub." Aaron realized.
     The team walked into the company. Alexander walked up to them. "Is everything okay?" Alexander asked. "We're looking for Paige Connor." Aaron replied. "Why?" Alexander asked. "She's our unsub." Spencer replied. "The what?" Alexander asked. "The killer." Derek replied. "Seriously?" Alexander asked. "Yes." Dave replied. "Paige!" Alexander called. Paige looked up and gasped. She slowly stood up and then started running. Aaron, Emily, and Derek started running after her. JJ, Spencer, and Dave decided to go around back. Paige ran down the stairs and out the back door. But Dave caught her as she struggled. The others caught up as Dave handcuffed her.
      They were all at the BAU Unit, packing up. Emily and JJ walked up to Derek. "What did you mean earlier?" JJ asked. "About what?" Derek asked. "The optimist and anti optimist thing." Emily replied. "Yeah, I'm not an optimist, with everything we see." JJ told him. "You're still more optimistic then some people, especially Emily." Derek told her. "What does that mean?" Emily asked. "You go ahead and see the bad in people before you look for the good, unlike JJ." Derek replied. "You think I don't see any good in the world?" Emily asked. "Of course not. You're Emily." Derek replied and walked away. "I'm heading out now." JJ told her and gave her a hug before walking away. Emily sighed as she looked around.
      Emily and Aaron finally arrived at their house. "I'm going to check on Jack." Aaron told her. "Okay." Emily agreed. They kissed and then he walked upstairs. She waited for him to go up there and then Emily locked all the doors and windows. She sighed as she took her phone out. She called Clyde. "Put Tsia and Jeremy on." Emily told him as soon as he answered. "Okay." Clyde agreed. "What's going on?" Jeremy asked. "We need to do something. I can't sit here and do nothing, waiting for Doyle to kill me and everyone I love." Emily replied. "We can't attack him." Clyde told her. "Well, it's not like we can go undercover with him again." Emily commented. "What can we do?" Tsia asked. "I don't know yet, but we have to come up with something." Emily replied. "Em!" Emily called. "Be right there!" Emily called back. "We will be coming up with something, we have to be patient." Clyde told her and she sighed. "I have to go." Emily told them and hung up.