back to the start

"Won't you buy us a drink?" Elle and his group got off the plane, followed the address provided by Gracia, and caught a glimpse of Rossi sitting on the bar. "I can't afford such a high-end place."

"I don't dare." JJ looked around at the surrounding decorations and joked.

"Go home..." Rossi coldly issued the eviction order without looking back.

"Rossi," Morgan advised with a sigh, "shall we stay and help?"

"It's not even BAU's case." Rossi couldn't help but smile wryly, "You don't want to meddle in it."

"It doesn't seem to be right now." JJ said leisurely, "But as long as I want, I can make any case a BAU case."

"Why?" Rossi turned around, why do you care about this case? "

"Because you care, we care." Elle looked at Rossi seriously.

"Nonsense..." Rossi said, but didn't say anything else to tell them to leave.

"Tell me about your profile." Jessie sat down aside, "Let's think about it together and see if we missed any important details."

And the atmosphere on Hotch's side is obviously not so warm. Emily can feel that Hotch's mood has been in an extremely low stage since getting off the plane last night, and after receiving the call from JJ in the morning, his mood is even worse. pole……

Both Emily and Reid were careful not to touch Hotch's reverse scale.

But there is one person who is not afraid.

The object of their prison interview-Chester Hardwick.

Hotch had been stirring the air ever since he stepped into the interrogation room.After realizing that the prisoner in front of him agreed to do the interview only because he wanted a breath of fresh air before he died rather than truly repenting, Emily sensed that Hotch's volcano was about to be overwhelmed.

"Come here." Hotch stood up coldly, walked to the door and pressed the alarm bell, "You should go where you should go..."

Seeing this, Emily and Reid packed up their things and were about to leave, but saw Hotch standing at the door frowning, and pressed the alarm again.

The door remained motionless.

"It's 5:17 now." Behind him, Hardwick sneered, "The evening breeze will start at 5 o'clock."

Hotch turned around and looked at the bloodthirsty murderer in front of him.

"The guards have gone outside, no one will answer the door."

"At least, within 13 minutes."

Reid and Emily looked at each other, feeling bad.

"Do you want to know how I killed those women?" Hardwick picked up the photos on the table and glanced at the three of them. "I can teach you."

Hotch untied his tie and took off his jacket, "Coward, I'm not one of those frail women."

When the fire was on the verge, Reid straightened his satchel and said to Hardwick loudly, "Don't you want to know why you killed those women?"

Hardwick froze for a moment, stopped preparing to attack, and looked at Reid.

"Your mother has bipolar disorder, almost undifferentiated schizophrenia. Your father suffered severe shell shock in the war, and now we usually call it PTSD, which is post-traumatic stress disorder." Reid He sped up his speech and confused the murderer with a lot of biological words, "You want to be different, but you can't communicate well with your mother..."

Emily held her breath, and could only hear Reid's chattering voice. She knew the general idea of ​​what Reid said, but there was still a lot of knowledge she didn't know.Hesitant eyes touched the clock on the wall, and she suddenly understood Reid's intentions.

He is stalling for time.

Emily felt extremely miserable.Fortunately, Reid managed to get through these 13 minutes, and the prison guards came.

"Am I really having a communication problem?" Hardwick was still pondering Reid's words before being pushed away.

"I don't know. Maybe." Reid patted his yellow satchel and walked out.

"In 1988, I dealt with a -rape-case here. On the day the case ended, I was accompanied by a local police detective to the airport. I heard the alarm on his walkie-talkie, a child calling for help." Rossi fell into In my memory, "I heard their voices before I got out of the car. I have dealt with many vicious cases in my life, but their voices have always lingered in my ears."

"It's been 20 years..."

"Do you still know where they live?" Morgan asked. "We can go and visit."

"Of course I remember..." Rossi sighed, "However, they probably won't welcome us."

A group of people followed Rossi to the rented house of the three children, and Jessie watched Rossi get off the car.Then they were reprimanded.

"Okay." Several people heard Rossi's slightly sad voice, "I won't bother you anymore." After speaking, he was about to turn around.

"That's the end?" Elle asked Jessie, tilting her head. "Although Rossi did this to remind them of their painful past, he wanted to give them a promise of safety, and it was true."

Jessie shook her head, "It won't end in such a way of hurting each other." She looked at Rossi in front of the car, and heard his tone suddenly become serious.

"I never gave you any presents."

A group of people finally followed Rossi into the house, looking at the toys piled up in the house, JJ took out his mobile phone to take pictures.

"We thought it was from you." The eldest sister among the three siblings explained, "We were very happy at first, but later, it gradually became a burden..."

"We threw a lot."

"He's following you," Rossi said worriedly, "but it's not hurting you."

"These toys are very cheap." Elle observed carefully, "It looks like a gift from a child."

"He has the ability to kill, but at the same time he gave these children's toys to show his remorse," Morgan speculated. "He is mentally incompetent, but he is tall and has enough strength to kill two adults."

"He murdered unconsciously." Jessie frowned. "Judging from the cleaned up crime scene, he also has a calm and composed accomplice."

"His guardian?" Elle looked at the plush toys, "This possibility cannot be ruled out."

"Carnival." Rossi responded immediately, "Carnival before Christmas."

"The last thing my family did was go to a carnival around here before this happened."

"Is there anything unusual?" Rossi asked. "You didn't mention it."

"I just remembered... There was a clown who made a balloon animal for me, and then he followed me all the time. My mother was afraid, so she took us away..."

"Lady Luck," JJ called Gracia, "apply for permission to see if the carnival is still going on around here."

"receive."

"I pissed off the atmosphere at the time." Hotch drove away from the police station, and said to Reid after a long time, "Thanks to having you here today, I didn't help at all, and I caused trouble."

"Is something bothering you?" Emily sat in the back row and asked aloud.

"Haley made me sign the divorce papers to save the cost of a lawyer."

"Is this what you want?" Reid tilted his head to look at Hotch who was driving.

"I can't get what I want anymore." Hotch turned the steering wheel, "Elle asked me before how to handle the relationship between family and work. In other words, divorce is not uncommon in BAU."

"Prentiss." Hotch laughed self-deprecatingly, "Don't imitate me..."

Emily opened her mouth, not knowing how to answer, but just remembered the scene where Hotch and Haley danced together in the bar a long time ago.There is a desolate feeling that things are right and people are wrong.

In the BAU, several people helped Rossi clean up the mess on the ground.

"Dark gray wall color." Morgan was writing a profile while sorting out the files, "It shows that this person is cold and alienated..."

"This is the background color of the wall..." Jessie picked up the documents on the floor and put them on the table. "This office is not finished yet."

……

Elle laughed out loud, "Derek, you're so funny..."

Morgan looked up and looked around, "Well, it was my fault."

"Where's Agent Rossi?" Kevin rushed in from the door, "I've been looking for him all day."

"We just came back from out of town, are you okay?"

"Of course." Kevin nodded at Morgan. "I need to talk to him about something."

"He's chatting with Reid, I'll call him." Jessie held back a smile and pulled Elle out the door. "Let's go, Morgan."

"and then?"

"We found the place where the carnival was held." Rossi sat in front of Reid and Emily, "and found the insane clown, the son of the man in charge. His father confessed to his actions, but was blinded by spoiling eyes. He always thought his son was kind in nature."

"As for the three children." Rossi took the gold bracelet from his arms. "They moved into their original home and got on track. It was their mother's possession. I wanted to return it. They left it to Me." He stroked the bracelet, showing a gratified smile.

"A technician is looking for you, in your office." Morgan was pulled out by Jessie and Elle in a daze, a little confused.

"Sir." Kevin straightened his back. "We need to talk about Penelope."

"A conversation between men."

Rossi smiled and walked upstairs slowly. "A conversation between men."

"What do you mean?" Morgan looked at Elle and Jessie with clear faces, "What's the matter with Gracia? Did I miss something?"

"Gracia and Kevin, sitting in the tree..." JJ hummed a little song in a low voice, drifted past behind them, and slipped into the office.

"What?" Morgan looked upstairs in disbelief, got up and walked towards JJ, "Please explain clearly, I still don't understand..."

"If you don't know, ask the person concerned." Emily stepped forward and blocked Morgan at the door, "Don't bother us."

After speaking, he smiled slyly and closed the door.

"Does this song have any other special meaning?" Reid was a little confused, why everyone seems to have discovered something extraordinary.

Elle and Jessie glanced at each other, and rubbed Reid's curly hair, "It's nothing, handsome boy..."

Hotch sat on the office chair, staring blankly at the divorce papers on the table.

There were laughter from his team members outside the door, which was a warmth he hadn't seen for a long time.

He closed his eyes for a long time, opened them, and signed his name.

The author has something to say: the next chapter preview

"Uncle, are you broken in love? This look is not suitable for watching comedies..."

……

"See you next time...Hotch." She looked back and smiled sweetly, "I heard your colleagues call you that."

"You're the first man I won't be disappointed in."

Megan is here~ I will not abuse her this time~

☆、The Phantom of the Opera