No-one had seen Annabel Bradey in a decade, that was until she resurfaced in SSA Aaron Hotchner's office in Quantico. She was carrying scars both physical and mental, but wouldn't share her story. Or at least not until everyone she loved was in dang...
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Aaron Hotchner was sat beside Annie as she spoke to the family of Jenny Delilly, the woman having built a rapport from the moment she had sat before them. She had made a comment that discretely established a common ground between herself and the family, earning their trust beyond that which the other agents would have been capable of. From that moment onward, Aaron had been impressed at how quickly she was able to make the parents before her at ease.
She didn't begin by questioning them, instead she gave them the information surrounding support groups for the Delilly's son, as well as outreach groups that would help him grieve healthily. She passed leaflets to them, along with her FBI issued business card with her work number and email printed below her name. They thanked her as Jenny's mother held them in her hands.
"I understand that this may be difficult, but would you be able to listen to the recording once more?" Annie asked, causing the couple before her to become shocked. However, Annie had been expecting that reaction, so she explained, "We need you to think about what she is saying and how she is saying it, and whether you believe it to have been something your Jenny would have said."
Jenny's father looked up at Annie and Aaron, looking between the two of them as he asked, "Will it help you?"
"If this person made her read from a script, it speaks for his need for control. This information will help my colleagues to create a profile, which could ultimately lead to the identification of your daughter's killer." The communications officer explained, her voice offering the man before her a comfort that he hadn't expected. After glancing at his wife, he nodded his head signally Aaron to start the recording.
There was a heaviness in the room as the couple listened to their daughters last words to them once more, time failing to have lessened the pain for them. Watching them sob as they listened to their daughter, Annie couldn't help but feel educated empathy towards them. For months, she had relived her last words to both of her daughters, one being her last indefinitely and the other having the potential to be. She had an idea about the kind of thoughts that were filling their minds.
Of course, she only knew that because it was what ran through her head daily. Personal experience may have helped her to empathise and understand the family, but it didn't help her to separate herself from the case. Annie was aware that compartmentalising was a large part of this job, and that being too attached could mean an early departure from the career she had only just begun. So, she pushed her own experiences to the back of her mind.
Once the recording had come to an end, Aaron pressed the pause once again, stopping them from reliving the moment for the third time. After giving the couple time to compose themselves, Annie questioned, "Did anything seem out of the ordinary about the message? Even the smallest detail could help us."
"We never told her not to be afraid," Jenny's father stated, looking at Annie with a confused expression on his face. "Why would she say that?"
"She wouldn't," his wife stated, looking to Annie who nodded her head, glancing to Aaron who took her cue excusing himself from the office.
As he left, he watched Annie continue to talk with the parents, presumably explaining the additional methods of support throughout this period. While she was not a profiler in the official sense of the title, he knew that she knew enough of what they did to carry herself through each case. However, it was the look on her face as she supported the Delilly family that made Aaron realise that, unlike everyone else on the team, profiling was not what she wanted to do.
He turned away from the office Annie was in and focused his attention on the room where David and Spencer were talking to Kara's Fiancé. Though, from even the quick glance in the room, he could tell that the Agents lacked the same soft approach that Annie had taken with the Delilly couple. In fact, once the duo left, he simply raised his eyebrow at them in query of what had happened.
Looking over his shoulder, to where David had gone to pour himself a cup of coffee, Spencer stayed, "We asked about the signature. It didn't go well."
"Even though Jenny Delilly's message didn't have the whole signature, I want you to see if it matches any of the old butcher phone transcripts." Aaron stated, the young agent nodding his head in understanding.
"Do you think it was scripted?" Spencer questioned, following Aaron into the conference room.
He nodded, glancing at the board as he added, "Possibly, some of what Jenny said was out of place according to her parents."
"Kara's fiancé said her words were her own," Spencer clarified, joining the unit chief as he looked at the board. There was a slight silence as Spencer caught a familiar look on Aaron's face, until the last few days of November the genius had been unable to identify it confidently. However, now, after seeing it almost constantly for months, he knew it was pure, undiluted worry. "How's Annie coping?"
"Surprisingly well given the circumstances." Aaron replied, taking a moment to glance over to where Annie was leading the family towards the entrance. They seemed to be thanking the women, which wasn't unimaginable given the rapport she had built with them within minutes of speaking to them.
Having watched the couple leave, Annie met the other agents meeting their gaze as she stated, "They couldn't tell me anything overtly out of the ordinary about Jenny? Nothing that explains why he chose her."
"She was probably a victim of circumstance," Spencer explained, causing Annie to shake her head slightly.
She let out a sigh, stating, "That won't help her family, knowing that she had simply been in the wrong place and wrong time."
The other two agents turned silent, their thought very rarely taking the same route as Annie's at this point of the case. Of course, they all sympathised with the families, but not while they were working on the case, perspective being overly important to them.
After a moment too long of the silence, Spencer excuses himself from the room prompting Aaron to question, "Do you need a moment?"
"No," she declared, perching next to him as they both stared at the board before them. "It was just, sitting in there, I realised that I knew what was going through their mind."
Aaron looked over at her as he asked, "Which is?"
"They are wondering if they had told their daughter they loved her enough, whether she knew that no matter what they loved her." Annie explained, looking up at her friend with a look of melancholy. "They will obsess over that recording, not only because it was Jenny's last words but because they will be thinking about how, if they had answered the call, she could have heard their voices one more time. Those parents will be wondering if they could have made their daughter last few hours in this world any easier."
"Annie, maybe it's too soon for you to be starting with us," Aaron sighed, realising that his friend was still filled with the regret she felt from leaving her daughter behind as she ran.
Before Aaron could further explain his point, the ginger shook her head, "I need to do this. If I'm helping people, I know that there is still some good in this world."
Beside her, the Unit Chief nodded his head in agreement, whispering, only loud enough for Annie to hear, "Okay."
Their silent promise ringing true, despite the darkness that was pinned the board before them. Their simple show of affection would never be guessed by the officers going about their jobs. It was understood by them, and them alone.
