Jemily(Unexpected Love)

Behind Closed Doors

Emily POV

We arrived in Charlotte at around 2pm. Hotch gave us all our assignments and he had me go talk to Melissa. When I first opened the file and saw her picture, I felt this weird pull gravitating me towards her. She was beautiful, the kind of kid that they used in commercials or tv shows. She had the blondest hair and the bluest eyes. But, there was a hint of sadness radiating from these pictures. She was just a kid, having to watch her parents killed in front of her and having to live the rest of her life carrying that ordeal. As I walked towards the interview room I noticed her sitting on the couch clutching a stuffed giraffe. 

I walked in and noticed she got startled. "Hi, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Emily."

"I'm Melissa." She quietly answered back.

"And who's this?" I asked referring to the stuffed animal.

"Hayley."

"Well, hello Hayley." I took a seat directly across Melissa and could immediately feel her timidness and fear. "Sweetheart, I know that it must be really hard, but I need to ask you a few questions about what happened last night with your parents."

"I don't want to talk about that."

"And I understand how scary this all is, but we want to find the person who did this to your parents. He is a very bad man and he needs to be out away." She still didn't seem willing to help. "You told the officer at the scene that he made a gesture that was made to try to keep you quiet. Whatever you are afraid of, whatever he said, he cannot hurt you. I'm here, my team is here. I will not let anything happen to you."

Something I said must have struck a chord with her because she turned to look at me, I saw tears welling up in her eyes. "I wish I could, but I didn't see anything. His face was covered."

She was lying, she told the responding officer that she saw his face. If he threatened her, she could be trying to protect herself. "Melissa, I don't want to force you to continue this conversation especially because of how difficult this must be for you, but the officer who arrived at the scene told me what you said. I know you saw him."

"I lied." She played with the tail of the giraffe when she said that and avoided eye contact with me. She was lying again.

"Melissa, do you know the difference between the truth and a lie?"

"Yes..."

"Is what you are telling me now a lie?" She wouldn't even look at me. Whatever this guy did to her really affected her. "Okay, how about we take a break. Are you hungry? Thirsty?" She nodded. "Okay, well how about I go get us some food for you, me, and Hayley? Does that sound okay?"

She nodded and just as I was about to leave the room she spoke up, "You'll come back right?"

That sadness I noticed in her picture earlier reappeared in her eyes as she asked me that question. "Of course, I won't be long." I smiled at her and walked out of the room. I quickly phoned for some pizza and sodas and went to meet the team. 

"How'd it go? Did you get anything out of the girl?" Asked Hotch.

I shook my head, "She is completely shut down. Whatever our unsub said to her affected her. She won't talk, and she's recanting her statement that she ever saw him. She's alone and afraid. I'm going back to her in a minute."

"Alright."

JJ, Morgan, and Reid walked in right after. "Did you guys find anything from the house?" I asked.

"Nope, he knew what he was doing." Replied Morgan.

"And the neighbors are shocked that this happened. They said they were the picture perfect family." JJ said.