[Criminal Minds] The Waiting Behind

Hotch had spotted Michelle and the others when he came in, and naturally captured the girl's look at him from surprise to complexity.Thinking of the incident he discovered just now, Hotch felt a little hesitant for the first time. This incident told Michelle, wondering if there would be any changes between him and her.

A series of recent events has made him experience what is called the impermanence of the world.

Michelle looked at Hotch standing in front of her, she had never seen this kind of hesitation in this decisive and shrewd detective, it seemed that calmness was synonymous with him.What he wants to say to himself needs to be so vacillating.

Michelle didn't speak, just looked at her man quietly, watching the embarrassed expression on his face finally turn into firmness as always.

Hotch finally met Michelle's eyes, and said complicatedly, "Come with me to the conference room, there is something I want to show you."

There are only two people in the huge conference room.

Hotch looked complicatedly at Michelle who had sat down obediently. This was the first time since the two dated each other that they got along so strangely alone.

Lowering his eyes, Hotch tried not to look at Michelle's face, and took out a voice recorder that he had found on the desk before and put it in front of the girl.

A calm voice sounded in Michelle's ear, seemingly stating a fact without a ripple of emotion: "This is what Jessica, Haley's sister, got from Quantico before."

Noticing that the girl's expression became a little embarrassed, knowing that she might be thinking about something, Hotch continued calmly:

"At that time, she said that a young man gave it to her in a panic while she was walking on the road, asked her to give it to me by name, and promised to come to Quantico in person and give it to me immediately."

Hotch reached out to pick up the recording pen, and sat down opposite Michelle. From this angle, he could see the girl covering her mouth suddenly, tears rolling in her eyes instantly.He knew that this always smart girl had guessed it, but he still explained it.

"Before I had time to get the recorder, Rossi came out and asked me to come out to meet you, and you will know what happened afterwards." Hotch looked at the girl in a complicated way and listened to every word he said, with difficulty Say the following—

"Until just now, I didn't realize that the recording pen she left behind was placed on my desk. Then I turned on the recording and found out..."

This time, Hotch did not choose to continue, but silently turned on the recording, so that she could listen better to herself.

After a rustling noise.

A man's urgent voice came on the recording, and Michelle recognized Steve's voice almost instantly.She immediately had a sore nose and bit her lips hard, trying to forcefully suppress the grief overflowing in her heart.

"Uh...should be okay...hey, this is Steve Jinks. You may not have heard of me, but I know you, you're Michelle's boyfriend, I met you on 47th Street before. Michelle was there, but It's a shame she didn't seem to recognize me. But I was on an undercover mission, which should be a good thing, and I did look a lot different than I usually do."

Hearing the warm voice as always, still playing with his own sense of humor, Michelle looked at Hotch in surprise, so the punk guy she met in front of her store before was really Steve?

Hotch received Michelle's questioning look, nodded, and signaled Michelle to continue listening.

"I have always heard Michelle mentioning you. You should not have been with her at that time. But when I saw the way you looked at her that day, I knew that you finally accepted her. That's right, who would refuse Such a beautiful girl..."

Hotch was silent at this point, even the second time he heard it, he still felt mixed feelings.Not a rival in love, so the inquiring eyes he noticed that day really belonged to this man...

The voice inside the recorder continues:

"Although I am sad, it is not me who is with Michelle. But I want to beg you as a suitor, cherish her, she is a good girl. Don't forget, if you don't want her, there will be countless good men Waiting for him, like me, haha!"

Steve's hearty and somewhat disappointed laughter sounded, and Michelle could no longer restrain her feelings, the tears that had been rolling in her eyes finally slipped down, and she even felt a bitter taste welling up in her mouth: such a gentle and good man... Why did you leave this world like this...

When Michelle finally stabilized her emotions, she found that Steve's topic had already brought up his undercover case.

"...I'm currently an undercover agent in this gang. I have a clue about the smuggling case. It seems that I haven't caught it all because of the internal response of the police. It seems to be at a relatively high-level position. I'm still inquiring carefully about the specifics. But It’s not peaceful recently. According to my guess, several undercover police officers have been killed, or they were disguised as accidental deaths. They are indeed very cunning. I feel that they vaguely suspect me, but not many know my true identity, and they also It's not easy to inquire. So I wonder if there is a mole in the police responsible for my undercover matter..."

The voice over there was a bit interrupted, it seemed that Steve was hiding on a street corner to avoid being pursued by others, and Michelle could vaguely hear the loud shouts over there.

After a long time, Steve's deliberately lowered voice came over, which seemed particularly slurred.

"That's why I called Michelle to warn the police...but I didn't expect that the call was tapped, so they are arresting me everywhere. I saw on TV that your BAU is handling this case, and then I found out that Michelle The person I like is actually an FBI agent."

Here Steve stopped talking again, and Michelle wiped the tears from her face, staring at the recorder without blinking, as if nothing was more important than this.I didn't expect Steve to be in danger because of her, but she didn't take such an important phone call to heart at all... Michelle's mouth was drawn into a line, this is not the time to think about these things, calm down, Focus on the content of the recording.

"This may be the fate of God, I still need to ask the boyfriend of the girl I like..."

There was a hint of reluctance in Steve's voice, but also a bit of relief, "So I investigated you and found out that you once had a family. I don't know if you are trustworthy, but I am willing to trust Michelle's vision... "

"I decided to take a gamble and entrust my life to you."

Hearing this, Michelle almost couldn't help crying, but it can't! Hotch is still there, she is crying in front of the man she likes because of another man...

A warm palm rested on Michelle's shoulder, she looked up, she couldn't see Hotch's expression in her blurred vision, she just felt herself being slowly embraced into a familiar embrace.

The familiar temperature made her cry uncontrollably, and the tears seemed to flow to her heart, turning into sour and bitter ones: "I'm sorry, Aaron. I can't help it, please let me cry willfully this time ..."

There was no sound coming from the top of the head, Michelle only felt the arms around her gradually tightened, the force almost made her suffocate, but it seemed that she had found a straw to save her life. Tears that had lasted for a long time welled up in my eyes and flowed down.

It wasn't until the girl vented her broken emotions and sobbed softly in Hotch's arms that Hotch looked at the only top of the girl's head with a complicated expression, and said softly, the volume was more like talking to himself:

"It's me who should say I'm sorry, if I had seen this recorder sooner..."

Hotch wasn't sure if there was such a grudge in the girl's mind, and if so, there was nothing he could do about it.Who could have foreseen that Jessica would bring such a decisive bombshell, he thought it was something Haley asked her to bring...

What responded to him was Michelle's tighter arms, and Yoyo's voice slowly floated into Hotch's ears, hoarse from crying, "If you even have to say sorry for this, then what am I going to do...Steve is He called me to warn me because he wanted to protect me, but he didn't know that the phone call exposed himself. Those people didn't do anything to me, but to him..."

Hotch didn't say anything more, he understood that the reason why Michelle chose to gouge out the pain herself was just to comfort him and let him not blame himself.

At this time, he still prioritizes his own emotions... How can such a girl be unloved. Hotch suddenly thought of a certain culprit, his eyes darkened, but unfortunately there is no evidence now, otherwise he would definitely be caught.

Suddenly thought of something, Hotch let go of Michelle's hand, met Michelle's puzzled eyes, and said softly, "There is still a passage you need to listen to."

Hotch pressed the recording that was paused just now, and sure enough, after a long blank, Steve's voice came again:

"If I'm gone when you find me, please play the next paragraph to Michelle."

Michelle heard Steve's voice clearly, and this time she took Hotch's hand tightly, not letting go.

"Michelle, no matter what you think, my death has nothing to do with you. Those who need to bear this heavy responsibility are those who smuggle drugs, and it is the traitor who violates the police's literacy. You don't need to bear this darkness, All you need to do is keep smiling in the sun and live happily ever after...

—By the way, if you come to see me later, I like chamomile. "

Emily walked to the rest area next to the coffee machine in the hall, and sure enough, she saw the girl sitting in the corner.The girl's head hung low, and the surroundings were filled with depression and melancholy.

Just when Emily walked to Michelle's side and was about to speak, a hand grabbed her pant leg.

It was a white hand. Emily had seen this hand countless times, but it never trembled as weakly as this one. It seemed to be suppressing unspeakable sadness just like his master.

"The last thing I said to him was that you called the wrong number...Is this the funniest thing in the world?"

Michelle said self-deprecatingly, with a distorted smile on her face covered by her hair, no one could see the madness and heaviness in it, "And this ridiculous phone call killed him!"

When she was with Hotch just now, Michelle didn't dare to show these negative emotions, no matter when, she didn't want to let herself be his drag.What he needed was to focus on solving the case and give Steve a real answer.

However, the self-blame and resentment that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time suddenly burst out.Grief and anger, like a raging tide, violently hit her heart.

She killed Steve.

This idea has been lingering in her mind for a long time.This kind of strong self-blame and resentment was like a burning rope constantly beating her heart.Every nerve in her seemed to be cramping, and every cell seemed to be splitting.

Even knowing that this kind of thinking will sink herself into pain and unable to extricate herself, Michelle still can't help imagining again and again, if she had categorically refused at the beginning without leaving a trace, or if they had never met at all, would it be so? Nothing will happen.

Then, the pain is even worse.

Michelle felt that she liked this masochistic pleasure, and it seemed that only in this way would she feel a little better.

"Michelle!" Just as Michelle was sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness, a hand grabbed her violently and pulled her up from the seat.

The sudden force made Michelle, who was unprepared, a little unsteady.

Emily put her hands on her shoulders, lowered her head, and looked at the girl who blamed herself so much that she could clearly see her eyes.

"Look at me!" Emily yelled sternly, finally bringing Michelle's distracted eyes into focus:

"How long are you going to blame yourself here! Steve's death was not the fault of any of you, you can only blame those murderers. How unworthy of Steve's death you think."

After seeing the light in Michelle's eyes finally, Emily eased her tone——

"You clearly know that the person he wants to protect the most is you."

"Is it better?" Emily looked at Michelle who had returned to her normal state in front of her, and asked worriedly. She looked crazy just now, and she wanted to immerse herself in self-blame to die... No wonder Hotch wanted her to take a look , Michelle's state, if not corrected in time, will collapse sooner or later.

"Yeah." Michelle held the coffee cup in her hand, the scalding water was separated by a layer of paper cup, the temperature was not so hot, just right.Warmly, it warmed her hands and pressed her mood.

"I made you worry just now, I know I'm just digging into a dead end, but..."

"Well, I understand." Emily looked at Michelle reassuringly, shrugged, and winked mischievously at her, "Everyone has a time like this."

Michelle looked at Emily embarrassedly, she also knew that she was in a bad state just now, "I'm fine now, don't stay here with me, go get busy."

"No need." Emily waved her hand nonchalantly, and took a sip of the coffee in her hand, "Not to mention that Hotch called me over..." She looked at the girl in front of her blushing and bowed her head jokingly, sipping her coffee, "About that Man, we already have a clue, we just lack the necessary evidence."

After a pause, Emily mumbled quickly and vaguely, "They're analyzing the remains left by the Jinks right now to see if there are any clues."

But Michelle still heard clearly, resisting the sourness in her heart, she wanted to know the progress of the investigation now, "So how? Did you find anything?"

"No," Emily sighed helplessly, "his house is obviously just a temporary place to live, and there is no useful information at all. As for him, only a few convenience store receipts and a lighter were left on him. It is estimated that the murderer had a Searched..."

"What?" Michelle, who was just listening silently, suddenly turned her head and looked at Emily in surprise. The expression made Emily feel as if she had revealed some shocking secret just now, but what Michelle said next made her completely excited.

——"The murderer who killed her sister and father back then was a heavy smoker. He witnessed this man mercilessly shooting them while smoking. Steve hated smokers to death in his life, and he would never smoke..."

"So that lighter..." Emily's eyes lit up instantly, thinking about the joints, excitedly holding Michelle's hand, but then she explained seriously:

"Leave the rest to us, and then you stay here, Quanti Kobe is safe outside."

Michelle watched Emily walking quickly towards the meeting room, turning her head and telling herself anxiously, "Don't run around, don't go anywhere!"

After seeing her nod of assurance, Emily left without looking back.

Michelle sat down silently, praying in her heart, it must be what she thought, and there must be evidence in it to bring down all the murderers behind the scenes!

Steve...

After an unknown amount of time, Michelle felt a commotion, as if something happened in the distance. Michelle stood up unconsciously, wanting to see what happened.

The noise mixed with screams, gunshots, and roars gradually approached. In the chaotic crowd, Michelle saw a man running towards her, and the people behind seemed to be Hotch and the others.

This man, on!

Michelle just felt that everything that happened before flashed before her eyes like a flying horse.At the moment when she seemed to understand something, she only saw...

A big hand grabbed in his direction.

- From the corner of her eye, she could even see Hotch staring at her suddenly tightening his eyes, as if shouting something towards her, while running quickly.

...Aaron, what are you trying to say...

The author has something to say: continue the title party [No, it’s the summary party haha-3-

The writing is so smooth, the content of this piece can be counted as the word count of the double update!

Are you satisfied~~~

But, I myself was tortured to death

Poor Steve...a moment of silence

In the next chapter, this lengthy original case ends thus--

Will return to the main drama TAT