Lacuna [Book 2]

thirty

thirty; we're in new orleans, chère.

I walked into the guest room with a towel wrapped around my body- my wet hair was knotty and I wanted to quickly put on my blazer. I looked down at my phone and I saw 15 missed calls from Will, 10 messages from Shaw, 7 messages from Will and 4 messages from Azalea. I sat down on the bed and called Will back.

"Hadley, where were you?" He asked picking up on the first ring and I looked at the clock that read; 7:43 am. 

"Um, in the shower- Will, what's going on?" I asked and he replied- sounding frantic. "You have to go to New Orleans, Hads. We got a lead. A big one." He said and my heart dropped.

"A lead- on what? Who's we?!" I asked and he sighed. "I contacted Azalea. She said she'd look into it and she did. Eleanor Pierce is involved. You have a warrant to go to her house." He said and I shook my head- standing up. "Will, that sounds crazy! I'm in Arkansas right now." I said and he breathed out- annoyed. "Hadley, if you don't go. This will never stop. Chalamet is there and so is the new detective- it's Alex Dixon." He said and I walked over to my bag on the floor. 

"Alex Dixon?! The quarterback?" I asked and he said yes. "Go. JJ doesn't know about this- so please don't say anything." He said and I nodded and then a thought came to me. "Will, what about Ellie? I can't leave her." I said and he sighed and spoke softly. "Hads, if you don't do this, she won't be safe. You know that." He said and I nodded and I felt tears burning their way through. I hung up and sighed and licked my lips. I threw on some sweatpants and then a black t-shirt. I walked over to my makeup bag and put black liner on my finger.

I smudged it under my eyes to make it seem like I was crying and I quickly and neatly packed some blazers in my to-go bag. I slipped on some sneakers and gathered my things and rushed down the stairs.

The team were gathering and they all looked at me as I wasn't dressed. "Hadley?" Hotch asked and I clenched my jaw and fake sniffled. 

"I have to go. There's been a family emergency." I said and Spencer stood up from his spot on the couch to come to me. " I need to leave. I don't know how long it will be, but it's bad." I said and Spencer held my hand and looked at me.

"Hadley, let me go pack my things." He said and I shook my head and took my hand out of his. "I can't let you do that. Finish the case, tell Anthony I'm sorry.  Please watch Ellie. Please." I said and Spencer looked down at me but I refused to meet his eyes. "Take whatever time you need." Hotch said and I walked out the house in a hurry.

New Orleans, Louisanna.

The plane ride lasted about 2 hours and before I knew it, I was back in my hometown- wearing a dark red blazer and matching pants, I wore a black top under the blazer and my brown hair was down naturally- in it's wavy form.

My small 2 inch heels made noise as I walked into the New Orleans Police Department. I saw Officer Chalamet and Alex Dixon- along with his partner, a man I didn't know. 

"Wow, I remember when you were just a little tiny toddler." Alex said and I gave him my best smile and a nod. "I'm SSA Agent Hadley LaMontagne." I said talking to his partner and he gave me a firm nod. "Jason Chalamet ma'am." He said and I turned to Chalamet. "He's my nephew. Welcome back, Hads." Officer Chalamet said and I smiled and him and nodded. "No problem." I said and then Dixon looked at me.

"You're two other agents are here." He said and I raised my eyebrow confused. He walked me to the back and there stood Azalea in a black suit- her gun in it's holster at her hip and Shaw. I scoffed and walked up to them- giving Azalea a hug. "It's good to see you, LaMontagne." She said and I nodded. "You too, Ivankov. Shaw." I said and he gave me a warm seductive smile. "Luv." He said and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Let's just get this over with, please? I'd like to go see my daughter." I said and Shaw scoffed. Dixon handed us the warrant. I grabbed it and we then turned to leave.

"Why does it smell like booze, cigarettes, and fried chicken?" Shaw asked and I snorted as we walked on the pavement. "We're in New Orleans, chère." I said mimicking my brothers distinct accent, and that's when a thought came to mind.

 "Wait- guys." I said as we walked down the street to Eleanor's house- I stopped and looked at them. "What?" Azalea asked and I bit my lip. "Before Matt shot Anthony in the head- he said something to me. He told me he loved Jocelyn." I said and Shaw raised an eyebrow- confused.

"Okay? And...?" He asked and I licked my lips and looked at him. "When I asked Jocelyn why she killed Alicia Montegomery- she told me it was because she loved Eleanor. And Alicia had to die and she got in the way of Eleanor's spotlight." I said and Azalea turned to me and raised a dark eyebrow.  "So she was biesexual?" She asked and I shook my head.

"I don't think so. She was loyal. So what Matt was talking about- he loved her but she used him. She didn't love him." I said and Shaw crossed his arms against his chest. "That makes no sense. Why use Matthew ask a cover up?" He asked and then I shrugged and then I thought about it.

"What if Jocelyn worked with Doyle? What if she was the one originally supposed to come after me? There were three of us. Matteo, Sammantha Pierce and Jocelyn." I said and then Shaw cocked his head back.

"So then your accident wasn't really an accident. Didn't Jocelyn help you out of the vehicle?" He asked and I nodded and then he moved his hands. "There's your answer right there. Doyle was already locked up. But he had people, so whoever did this knew you were going to get into the accident and they had someone already waiting for you to drive off the causeway." He said and Azalea looked over at him.

"So you're telling me, that this Jocelyn chick knew Ian Doyle and that the car accident you had wasn't really an accident but it was staged to look like one just to get to you?" She asked and Shaw nodded and then spoke again. "It makes sense. It was to torture you. Somewhere along the line something happened between you and Jocelyn and she hated you." He said and I shrugged. "Let's just go check out Pierce's house and then we can try and figure out what it happening." I said and Azalea nodded agreeing with me.

We got onto the front porch of the Pierce resident and I took out my gun from it's holster and held it at the low position. Azalea was already at the door and held her gun low. "Eleanor Pierce, New Orleans PD, open up." She said and then we didn't get an answer. She repeated her statement and then shook her head and kicked the door open. I quickly glanced at her- knowing that was something that Derek did and I knew I'd have to talk to her about it later.

Before I could register anything- the smell of rot filled out noses and Shaw gave a disgust face. "Split up." Azalea said and I nodded- I walked to the back where there was a room and I saw the name Eleanor in fake diamonds on the door. I opened the door with my gun out and the room was dimly lit and I turned on the light and saw no sign of Eleanor anywhere. "Clear!" I shouted and then I took a good look at the room. 

Pictures of me where hung up on her wall- some had a red pen circling around it, others had my head cut off.  I walked past the closet and the smell of death filled my nose and I took a deep breath and then opened the door- a body flying out from the closet. It landed with a thud and Shaw rushed into the room and looked down.

And there lied the boy of Eleanor Pierce.

a/n:

q: will hadley and spencer get another child?

a: yes!! she will find out she's preggo a couple chaps before the wedding!