FF: Slow Surprise (Criminal Minds) JJ/Emily NC-17 12/14
Rossi hadn’t been joking - Reid had indeed been stitching himself up, and where he couldn’t reach, Hotch had taken over. He’d learned a lot of useful skills in the war - sewing being chief among them. It wasn’t difficult to apply the same principles to stitching up flesh, especially once Reid swallowed enough whiskey to stop shaking in pain. Emily had to give him credit, he’d willingly put himself in harm’s way based on little more than trusting her instinct.
JJ had only needed a couple of fine stitches, something Reid attended to himself once he was properly bandaged up. He was reasonably confident it wouldn’t even scar.
The door to the clinic opened to allow some men to carry in Harry’s lifeless body - and stayed open long enough for Mrs. Strauss to waltz in right after.
“Mr. Hotchner.”
Aaron’s face remained calm even as the rest of those assembled - which now included Miss Penelope who hadn’t stopped fussing over Reid - rolled their eyes at the imperious way she called for his attention.
“Mrs. Strauss.”
“Is it true? There was a gunfight in the middle of town?”
“It wasn’t a gunfight,” Hotch clarified. “But there were shots fired. One of the miners, Harry Milsap, was linked to Beth’s murder. When he was approached, he attempted to flee. Miss Prentiss chased him down.”
She sent a scathing look Emily’s way. “And killed him.”
Hotch’s answer was cut short as JJ literally stepped between them, glaring openly at Strauss. “After he stabbed Dr. Reid and tried to use me as a hostage to escape.” Unbidden, her hand snaked up to touch the fresh bandage at her neck. “Would you have preferred Emily let him escape with me?”
The vehemence of JJ’s rebuke caught Strauss off-guard. “Well, of course not. I simply meant…”
“I know what you meant,” JJ said coldly.
Emily stepped beside her, her hand resting lightly on JJ’s back. “It’s okay.”
Strauss gave her a curious look, torn between being affronted and grateful for the rescue. “I’m very pleased this nightmare has come to an end. This murderer has finally been brought to justice.”
“One murderer has,” Prentiss corrected.
“There is another man on the loose? You let one escape?”
“Harry killed Beth all on his own. Someone else killed the other women.”
Hotch’s eyebrows shot up. Morgan stared at her in disbelief. The others just nodded along. “I don’t understand,” Hotch interjected. “How do you know that?”
Reid explained what they’d deduced from comparing the victims. Hotch continued to stare. “And that led you to Harry how?”
“I saw him last night,” Emily explained. “He’d been hanging around all day on and off, and I saw him go into the saloon, but no one remembered seeing him later that night after we’d left. He wasn’t on our list.” She paused, feeling a pang of guilt clutch inside her chest. “And I knew he wanted Beth.”
“That’s true,” Penelope added. “He’s been hanging around more and more since you moved out to the ranch, but Beth wouldn’t… well, she found other customers.”
“He admitted it easily enough.” Morgan shook his head. “You could hear him hollering it halfway across town. Hotch and I came running when we heard the ruckus.”
“Well doesn’t that settle it,” Strauss prompted. “The man admitted killing the one girl, he likely killed the others as well.”
“We’re you not listening,” Prentiss glared. “He killed Beth because he was angry and he was jealous. He had no reason to kill those other women and he didn’t admit to it.” She took a breath. “We’ve still got another murderer out there.”
Rossi, JJ, and Reid nodded in agreement. Conflicted, Hotch looked at Morgan who didn’t seem convinced either. Strauss pounced on Hotch’s indecision. “As mayor, I think it’s important you reassure the town that the murderer has been identified and that everyone is safe again. Unless, of course, you agree with Miss Prentiss?”
Eyes narrowed, Hotch met her insistent glare. “I’m not convinced either way. An announcement at this point would be premature.”
“Fine. If you want to be responsible for continued public panic, go ahead and indulge this ludicrous theory. Rest assured, when my husband returns from his business trip to New York we’ll be discussing this matter in depth,” she sneered, the threat as subtle as a stick of dynamite. With a huff, she turned and left.
Rossi shot Hotch a half-amused look. “So she’s using the ‘New York business trip’ routine again I see.”
“Apparently.”
Prentiss stared between the two. “If her husband’s not in New York, where is he?”
“Denver, most likely,” Hotch answered off-hand. “He has a mistress there. Well, I’m not sure you can call her a mistress really, considering Mr. Strauss spends half the year with her.”
“If not more,” Rossi added. “Believe me, I’ve sat through dinner with those two. It’s best he lives in Denver. The town couldn’t stand the cold-freeze that would settle in if those two were near each other for more than a few months out of the year.”
Inexplicably, Emily started to laugh. A quiet snicker, a giggle, and then a riotous laugh. It was infectious, and before they knew it, the rest of them were laughing as well.
“And I thought Wyoming was going to be quiet.”
*
Business at the saloon was suspended for the day. Where Harry had been buried alone, and friendless, the crowd around Beth’s grave was numerous and motley. Saloon girls, former customers, and of course, Prentiss and the others.
The minister hadn’t felt particularly comfortable giving the eulogy but a quiet word from Hotch had smoothed things over. Hailey, JJ, and some of the other women in the town made food and took it to the saloon where a small wake was held after the service. By dusk, Penelope had kicked nearly everyone out and taken out a bottle of good whiskey which she poured in liberal amounts and handed out amongst Rossi and the others. Even Hailey and JJ took a glass, both of them steadfastly ignoring for the moment that their sons were being tended to by saloon girls who couldn’t get enough of the adorable boys.
“To Beth,” Penelope pronounced simply, and they drank. That task accomplished, she leveled a look at Emily. “So what are you going to do about the other one out there?”
“Who? Me?”
“You’re the one I’m looking at.”
“Penelope, we have no idea who else could be doing this,” Prentiss answered. “How am I supposed to figure out who killed those women?” Penelope just looked at her. “This isn’t my responsibility.”
“Happened on your land,” the redhead said flippantly, immediately regretting the words as both Emily and JJ flinched. “I’m sorry, I just… there’s gotta be something we can do.”
“We’ve tried,” Emily ground out. “I don’t know what we’re missing.”
“It happened on your land,” Reid repeated to himself.
The others just stared at him. “We know that,” Morgan chided when Reid didn’t elaborate. “We found the bodies on Miss JJ and Emily’s ranch.”
“Do you have a map of your land?”
Prentiss shot Reid a look. “Uh, yeah, I keep one on me in case someone randomly asks for it.”
JJ elbowed her. “Get me some paper, I can sketch one for you.”
Kevin fetched pen and paper; a table was cleared and then surrounded by the group as they hovered over JJ while she did a fair sketch of the town, her ranch, and the areas around it. The others chimed in suggestions for landmarks and roads as she went until there was a fairly complete and accurate accounting of the lands.
Reid took the map and tacked it up to the wall, staring at it long and hard before marking the approximate places the bodies had been found. “The bodies are nowhere near each other,” he commented finally.
“Uh, yeah, we figured that part out.”
“But they are near these roads, look.”
He pointed to the northern side of the property where a road had been hewn out up into the foothills where the mining camp had been established, and over to the southern side of the property which dipped near the main highway the stagecoaches used.
En mass the group took a step closer to examine the map.
“I’ll be damned,” Rossi hissed, following it a moment later with an apology to the ladies. “He knows the roads. Knows them well enough to know which sections are completely isolated and unused.”
“And he knows that up until a couple of months ago JJ wasn’t keeping up with the property. You rarely let the cattle down into the south pasture.”
“No, I didn’t. Even with only the few head I had, I couldn’t round them all up. That’s why I kept most of them toward the north.”
“But not far enough up to cross near the mining road,” Prentiss added. “You told me that when we first went around the property.”
“He’s familiar with the town,” Morgan said slowly. “Familiar enough that he knows our roads, knows our people. Knows just where to dump a body nobody’s likely to find.”
“Except I did find them.”
“The first one was an accident. But the second,” Rossi said, pointing to the map. “You’d been here for a few weeks by then. Maybe he didn’t know you were letting the cattle down into the south pasture, but if he’s been around the town he certainly knows it’s your land now.”
“He left the body there on purpose,” Hotch filled in. “To test and see if anyone would notice and how long.”
“If I hadn’t gone down that day, I probably never would have found her. You all saw how far back in the woods she was and the vultures had been at her a while.” Prentiss stopped, a chilling thought occurring to her. “He’s done this before.”
“Of course he’s done this before-”
“No, not just twice. He’s done it a lot of times. He’s good at it.”
“She’s right. People kill for money, they kill for revenge, they kill in anger. And when they do, it’s usually sloppy and unorganized.” Hotch took a breath. “This man plans these murders. He’s picked women who won’t be noticed if they disappear. He isn’t sloppy. He’s planned this all out and he’s been doing it right under our noses.”
The weight of his words hung over those assembled, a stark contrast to the lives they thought they’d been living in the town they thought they’d known. A monster was living among them, walking and talking and smiling. Pretending to be normal. Pretending to be human.
The question now was how to find him.
*
There was no returning to normal but they managed to fall back into a regular routine. It was a comfort, JJ found, to get up in the morning, to cook breakfast and do chores and tend the ranch with Emily, side by side. It was a comfort to lose herself in work, in sweaty exhaustion, and to forget for even a moment that a man had held a knife to her throat; that Emily had killed him; that another was still on the loose, searching for more women to kill.
They stayed out of town for a week, letting the rumors and gossip cool, tending to the ranch and the animals. Life, for that week, was surprisingly simple. They worked, they ate, they played with Henry and read books, and curled up by the fire at night. And later, when Henry was tucked in, Emily took JJ to bed and showed her again and again all the things she didn’t have the words to say.
Emily wasn’t particularly happy about going back into town, but when her hand saw busted and her bailing wire ran out she had little choice in the matter. She insisted she could handle the errands on her own, but JJ was just as insistent on going.
“Are you sure,” Emily asked one last time as they came around the curve in the road that opened up into the main part of town. Hasiba’s ears pricked up as the sounds of the bustling Saturday crowd wafted from town. Beside her Calla continued trotting on, not the least distracted.
“Relax,” JJ chided, keeping Henry tight on her lap as they boy pointed out passing birds and rabbits.
“You don’t know how people can be… small town gossip. Hell, why do you think I left Manhattan, and that wasn’t exactly a small town.”
“Hell!”
Emily cringed as Henry enthusiastically repeated the profanity, earning a glare from JJ. “Right, I’m just going to sit here and be quiet.”
“Good idea.”
They hitched Hasiba and Calla at the livery, taking the time to visit with Morgan as he shoed a horse before heading toward the General Store. JJ smiled and waved to a few of the women as she crossed the street. No one waved back. Inside the store several women, some Emily recognized and some she didn’t, tittered at the sight of them even going so far as to grab their children’s hands before walking out in a huff.
Hailey gave them an amused look. “You’re bad for business.”
“Is there some place else they can shop for dry goods,” Emily asked dryly.
“Nope.”
“Then they’ll be back.”
Hailey grinned. “That they will. For now, how can I help you fine ladies?”
“Well, Emily needs some bailing wire and a new handsaw,” JJ answered, “and I need some flour, some sugar, and…” she turned eyeing the bolts of fabric stacked to the side, “and I’m just going to take a look over there.”
Hailey laughed and started collecting the items. “There’s nothing too exciting yet. Aaron is next door cleaning up the storage area. Stage coach came in this morning but he hasn’t sorted out the new goods yet. Should have it on the shelves by tomorrow or next day at the latest.”
“Oh, it’s all right. I’m not really looking for anything special, just the usual to do some mending.”
Emily perused the glass counter, eyeing the trinkets as she surreptitiously watched JJ’s fingers linger over yards of fine lace and satin before selecting a sturdy muslin. When was her birthday? Lace - imported if she had the time - would make a nice gift.
“Should I put this on the ranch account?”
“Yes-”
“No-”
Across the store JJ and Emily stared at one another. “It’s for the ranch.”
“It’s for a dress.”
“For you to wear on the ranch.” Hailey watched, amused, as the battle of wills surged between them. It surprised her, although it shouldn’t have, to see Emily sigh and back down. “Fine. Split the bill between the ranch account and JJ’s please.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I’m, uh going to go over to the saloon.”
“Say hello to Miss Penelope for me,” JJ smiled, plenty sweet now that she’d won their battle. Emily merely rolled her eyes before strolling out of the store. Hailey tallied the amounts separately, deducting the appropriate expenses off of the ranch’s account draft before accepting JJ’s money for the few yards of fabric. When Hailey just smiled and handed JJ back her change, she sighed in exasperation. “What?”
“Nothing, I just… she’s a good influence on you.”
“A good influence,” JJ snorted. “Don’t let anyone else hear you say that or they’ll start gossiping about you as well.”
“You were content with Will,” Hailey said softly, “but you’re happy with her.”
JJ fought a sudden prickling of tears. “I am happy.”
“Then I don’t give a damn what anyone else has to say.”
“You’ll be about the only one in town.”
“Then I say we take a lesson from Miss Penelope - it’s none of their damn business what two consenting adults do so long as they don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses.”
JJ’s laughter could be heard echoing out of the store and down the street.
*
Penelope smiled to herself as she looked out over the saloon. A Saturday afternoon and business was at a good clip. So good, in fact, she’d sent Kevin to the bank to request more change from Mr. Rossi. It was a pay weekend and the miners had come down from the foothills to spend their hard-earned money in earnest, which suited Penelope just fine.
Her keen eyes surveyed the scene, watching the table games for signs of cheats, eyeing the customers to see who’d already had too many, who might be looking for company. She poured a fresh drink for Max, a regular, and rolled her shoulders back to ease some of the tension. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a potential customer chatting up one of her girls. She wouldn’t have noticed anything special, the man was clean shaven and average enough, but he was showing off a pretty gold necklace. Penelope had a straight “cash only” policy with her girls and their customers. Smiling genially she wandered down to that end of the bar, eavesdropping enough to hear Myra reaffirming the said “cash only” policy herself.
“That’s a real pretty bauble honey, but I need cash up front.”
“I have the cash,” the man smiled arrogantly. “This is just a little extra incentive.”
“Only incentive I need is what’s in your wallet,” Myra answered with a quick smile. Penelope kept her smile to herself, glancing over at Myra just long enough to give her a nod of approval…
… and stopped cold as she recognized the necklace still dangling from the man’s hand.
A gold cross with a tiny pearl in the center.
She’d seen that necklace before.
She couldn’t help but stare at the necklace; the man couldn’t help but notice her stare. Penelope looked away too late. He tucked the necklace into his pocket quickly. “That’s real pretty. Family heirloom,” Penelope ventured.
“Won it at poker,” the man answered, smiling. Penelope could see that the smile and the lie were forced.
But she was a saloon mistress and knew how to fake it with the best of them. She smiled right back, sweet as sugar. “Well, aren’t you the lucky devil. I’d say go try your luck at my tables, but I’m a little worried you’d clean me out!” She laughed heartily; the stranger laughed as well.
“Maybe I’ll try my luck another day.”
“What’s your name, honey?”
“Michael. Michael Freeman.”
It might have been a lie, it might not have. Penelope couldn’t tell. “Well I’ll let you enjoy Myra’s company then, Michael. She’s a special girl,” Penelope smiled again. She poured him a shot of whiskey and slid it across the bar. “That’s on the house.” She winked once and put an extra flounce into her step as she moved back to the other side of the bar, but she kept her eye on the man, watching as Myra finally took him down the hallway to her room.
Penelope motioned Betty over, grabbing up her purse and double-checking the small Derringer pistol she had inside. “Take over for me, I gotta go find Hotch.” Betty nodded, taking over easily enough as Penelope rushed for the door. The sun was bright as she stepped out of the dark saloon, making her eyes water in the afternoon heat. She took a glance down the street and started toward the mercantile.
She never made it to the next store.
Part Thirteen