Lead the Way - Chapter 014 - Let's talk about Rose
It was so much fun to read all of your theories :) Thanks for indulging me! Alright, let's see what Cooper has to say when Emily confronts him about Rose. Maybe he'll tell her where she is.
Lead the Way - 014 - Let's talk about Rose
“Good afternoon, Mr. Cooper.”
“Good afternoon, Agent Prentiss.” The smug smile on his face grew.
“Now, I have noticed that we talked about your jobs, your schoolyard memories, your girlfriends, your prior convictions - we even discussed your parents briefly. However, you neglected to mention your sister.”
His now beaming smile froze and Gerald suddenly looked cold and not the least bit charming.
“What about her?” he hissed.
“She was younger than you, right?”
“Yes,” was the reluctant answer.
“Seven years. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“What was your relationship with your sister like?”
“My ‘relationship’?”
“Yes. Did you like her?”
“Everybody loved her.” He crossed his arms before his chest.
“Everybody but you?”
“Says who?”
“Just a hunch.”
“So what?” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“She disappeared in 1985.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” he yelled.
“Calm down Mr. Cooper, my hearing is quite good.” Emily allowed him to recollect himself. When she continued, his breath was still ragged and his arms were still crossed but the look in his eyes had vanished.
“According to this, your parents filed a missing person’s report on June 15th, 1985.”
“If you say so.”
“You were 23 then. Just out on parole on your second rape charge, what do you remember?”
“About the rape?”
“Your sister’s disappearance.”
“I don’t remember anything.”
“You don’t remember the day your sister went missing?”
“No.” Emily knew she was on to something but she didn’t want to push him too far.
“Surely it must have affected your parents that their favorite child simply vanished?” The sarcasm in her voice was evident. Cooper mistook it for praise and relaxed somewhat.
“Wouldn’t know.”
“Why, then, did you kill your parents a year later, almost to the day?”
Brian and Sophie Cooper had distanced themselves from the town after their daughter’s disappearance. Nobody had noticed that Gerald was the only one living at the farm. When he was arrested, his parents’ bodies were found in shallow graves in the backyard. Given that they had been dead for over a decade, it was impossible to determine an exact time of death but Prentiss followed a hunch.
“What do you care?” Cooper barked.
“I care because you try so hard not to. And if I understand why… Well, that’s the reason we’re here, isn’t it?”
“Are you sure we’re not here to talk about what I feel when I kill?” He leaned forward as far as his shackles would allow, his eyes glistening.
“How it gets me off to hear them beg and scream? What I fantasize about when I jerk off?”
“If you feel comfortable enough sharing this with me, I’d be very interested on a later date. Right now I’d prefer to talk about Rose.”
“My fourth victim, Leslie Kirkwood, kept a journal where she wrote down her worst fears. It’s nice when a therapist does your work for you.”
Emily wasn’t sure yet where this was going, but she allowed the digression for now.
“She didn’t hold out long and I was forced to kill her husband after only half an hour.” Clearly he was going for shock value with this. Agent Prentiss would allow him to tell her his most disgusting fantasy and then show him how little it affected her.
“Monica Stowers, however, proved to be the best fuck I ever had. She was really tight; maybe you would have liked that.”
“Are you done?” She asked which as much ennui in her voice as possible. He smiled at her.
“There is nothing you could say that would shock me, no matter how vulgar or gruesome.”
“No? Would you rather I show you what I mean?”
“I’d rather we talk about Rose.”
“Rose.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Why?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“One could argue that neither are your sexual fantasies about two year olds.”
“What do I get out of it?”
“You aren’t in your cell. The window is open. What more do you want?”
“You have seen my file, right?”
“Yes.”
“You brought it with you.”
“Yes.”
“Show me Monica Stowers.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What’s the harm?”
“I refuse to let you abuse that poor child any more than you already have.”
“You’re the protective kind, aren’t you?”
Emily said nothing.
“Care to take her place?”
“Excuse me?”
“For every question I have to answer, I want you to unbutton one of the buttons on your shirt. I don’t like how buttoned up you look today, Emily.”
Distracted by the thought that Reid was still following this interview behind the two-way mirror, Agent Prentiss forgot to mention Cooper’s calling her by her first name.
Instead she tried a different approach.
“Do you know why you pick brunettes?”
“They’re pretty.”
“It’s not just that though, is it? Or they wouldn’t all have to be born in 1969.”
Cooper started strangling his hands around his cuffs.
“It’s so your victims keep getting older, as she must have, isn’t it?” His face was getting red with anger.
“You killed these proxies over and over again because you couldn’t find the real deal, did you not?”
Gerald grinded his teeth and drooled on his orange jumpsuit. He spoke so quietly that Emily missed what he said next.
“What?” But it was too late. Cooper wouldn’t slip up again. The alarm sounded and the guard walked in.
“It’s time.” He said.
“No. Wait!” Emily shouted at him. “He was just about to say something.”
“I think we’re done for today Emily.”
The profiler cursed the guard under her breath before storming out.
“Did you get that last part?” She asked Reid.
“She’s gone. You’ll never find her.”
“He killed her.” Emily concluded.
“She probably was his first; Karen McPherson and then his parents. We’re very close to finding out what his fantasy really is.”
“We need to find Rose.”
“Where do we start looking?”
“I don’t know.”
“Warden Lory is not going to like this at all.”
Lead the Way - 014 - Let's talk about Rose
“Good afternoon, Mr. Cooper.”
“Good afternoon, Agent Prentiss.” The smug smile on his face grew.
“Now, I have noticed that we talked about your jobs, your schoolyard memories, your girlfriends, your prior convictions - we even discussed your parents briefly. However, you neglected to mention your sister.”
His now beaming smile froze and Gerald suddenly looked cold and not the least bit charming.
“What about her?” he hissed.
“She was younger than you, right?”
“Yes,” was the reluctant answer.
“Seven years. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“What was your relationship with your sister like?”
“My ‘relationship’?”
“Yes. Did you like her?”
“Everybody loved her.” He crossed his arms before his chest.
“Everybody but you?”
“Says who?”
“Just a hunch.”
“So what?” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“She disappeared in 1985.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” he yelled.
“Calm down Mr. Cooper, my hearing is quite good.” Emily allowed him to recollect himself. When she continued, his breath was still ragged and his arms were still crossed but the look in his eyes had vanished.
“According to this, your parents filed a missing person’s report on June 15th, 1985.”
“If you say so.”
“You were 23 then. Just out on parole on your second rape charge, what do you remember?”
“About the rape?”
“Your sister’s disappearance.”
“I don’t remember anything.”
“You don’t remember the day your sister went missing?”
“No.” Emily knew she was on to something but she didn’t want to push him too far.
“Surely it must have affected your parents that their favorite child simply vanished?” The sarcasm in her voice was evident. Cooper mistook it for praise and relaxed somewhat.
“Wouldn’t know.”
“Why, then, did you kill your parents a year later, almost to the day?”
Brian and Sophie Cooper had distanced themselves from the town after their daughter’s disappearance. Nobody had noticed that Gerald was the only one living at the farm. When he was arrested, his parents’ bodies were found in shallow graves in the backyard. Given that they had been dead for over a decade, it was impossible to determine an exact time of death but Prentiss followed a hunch.
“What do you care?” Cooper barked.
“I care because you try so hard not to. And if I understand why… Well, that’s the reason we’re here, isn’t it?”
“Are you sure we’re not here to talk about what I feel when I kill?” He leaned forward as far as his shackles would allow, his eyes glistening.
“How it gets me off to hear them beg and scream? What I fantasize about when I jerk off?”
“If you feel comfortable enough sharing this with me, I’d be very interested on a later date. Right now I’d prefer to talk about Rose.”
“My fourth victim, Leslie Kirkwood, kept a journal where she wrote down her worst fears. It’s nice when a therapist does your work for you.”
Emily wasn’t sure yet where this was going, but she allowed the digression for now.
“She didn’t hold out long and I was forced to kill her husband after only half an hour.” Clearly he was going for shock value with this. Agent Prentiss would allow him to tell her his most disgusting fantasy and then show him how little it affected her.
“Monica Stowers, however, proved to be the best fuck I ever had. She was really tight; maybe you would have liked that.”
“Are you done?” She asked which as much ennui in her voice as possible. He smiled at her.
“There is nothing you could say that would shock me, no matter how vulgar or gruesome.”
“No? Would you rather I show you what I mean?”
“I’d rather we talk about Rose.”
“Rose.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Why?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“One could argue that neither are your sexual fantasies about two year olds.”
“What do I get out of it?”
“You aren’t in your cell. The window is open. What more do you want?”
“You have seen my file, right?”
“Yes.”
“You brought it with you.”
“Yes.”
“Show me Monica Stowers.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What’s the harm?”
“I refuse to let you abuse that poor child any more than you already have.”
“You’re the protective kind, aren’t you?”
Emily said nothing.
“Care to take her place?”
“Excuse me?”
“For every question I have to answer, I want you to unbutton one of the buttons on your shirt. I don’t like how buttoned up you look today, Emily.”
Distracted by the thought that Reid was still following this interview behind the two-way mirror, Agent Prentiss forgot to mention Cooper’s calling her by her first name.
Instead she tried a different approach.
“Do you know why you pick brunettes?”
“They’re pretty.”
“It’s not just that though, is it? Or they wouldn’t all have to be born in 1969.”
Cooper started strangling his hands around his cuffs.
“It’s so your victims keep getting older, as she must have, isn’t it?” His face was getting red with anger.
“You killed these proxies over and over again because you couldn’t find the real deal, did you not?”
Gerald grinded his teeth and drooled on his orange jumpsuit. He spoke so quietly that Emily missed what he said next.
“What?” But it was too late. Cooper wouldn’t slip up again. The alarm sounded and the guard walked in.
“It’s time.” He said.
“No. Wait!” Emily shouted at him. “He was just about to say something.”
“I think we’re done for today Emily.”
The profiler cursed the guard under her breath before storming out.
“Did you get that last part?” She asked Reid.
“She’s gone. You’ll never find her.”
“He killed her.” Emily concluded.
“She probably was his first; Karen McPherson and then his parents. We’re very close to finding out what his fantasy really is.”
“We need to find Rose.”
“Where do we start looking?”
“I don’t know.”
“Warden Lory is not going to like this at all.”