[CM] THE CASE

People are almost as wicked as their own needs. — Leopardi

"Sally?"

Griffith answered the phone, but didn't hear the voice over there for a long time.He couldn't help but speak first to make sure that the other party was fine.But he didn't dare to provoke her, fearing that she would act aggressively again.Facing the white wall, Griffith could only secretly worry.

Sally hadn't been mentally stable since her sister's death, and Griffith just hoped the call wasn't an announcement before Sally decided to hurt another part of herself.

Sally still didn't speak, only the sound of irregular breathing mixed with the noise of electric current came from the receiver.

Griffith's own breath came in short breaths, "Sally? Are you okay?"

After a while, the female voice called out hesitantly, "F...Foster?"

"I'm here." Griffith responded immediately, "What's the matter, Sally?"

"Oh, thank Jesus...Foster, you're alright..." Sally whispered, her voice trembling as if she were sobbing, "I...I dreamed that you...something bad happened... ...Just during lunch break..."

"It was just a dream," Griffith reassured, and at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm fine, just working on a case outside."

"On a case...yes, you're on a case. Oh, did I bother you? I'm sorry, Foster." Sally became flustered, she was really worried that her abruptness would disturb Griffith, "I'm fine, it was just a nightmare, I... I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Of course I'm fine, thank you for your concern." Griffith said with a smile, "You should go drink a glass of warm water, be quiet, and read again, or you can have some afternoon tea. I'm going back to work."

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Gideon standing behind Greenaway, the two of them discussing something, and then Hotch came out of the office and joined the discussion - before glancing in his direction.

"Your proposal is very good, I will." Sally seemed to smile this time.Her voice is still very soft, and her tone of mood does not fluctuate too much. She is always polite and educated.

"I'm leaving." Griffith saw Reid walking in behind Morgan, who had a nonchalant expression on his face, ignoring the chatter of the people behind him as usual.

"Wait, Foster. Uh... I, I haven't had a chance to say it, but... I'm sorry, Foster." Sally said softly, "If, my words ever hurt you, I apologize for that, I'm sorry. "

Of course Griffith knew what the apology was for.In the blink of an eye, many images flashed before Griffith's eyes.He saw tears rolling out of those emerald eyes, dissolving pain and sorrow; he saw the same face on his dissecting table, lifeless; he saw emerald eyes covered with thick gauze; Sees those painful hallucinations of death; he sees the blond middle-aged man looking at him with serious but kind green eyes, saying to him "You should use it"...

"Foster?"

Griffith looked down.He saw his feet in sneakers, the cuffs of light-colored jeans, and realized that this was real.

"It's okay, I accept your apology," Griffith said gently, "You didn't do anything wrong - my boss is already glaring at me, I have to get back to work."

Sally didn't say anything more, she just ended the conversation briefly: "Well, I wish you an early breakthrough. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Griffith hung up the phone and walked quickly back to the group. Gideon handed him the file, while he asked "what did we find?"

The discoverer Greenaway answered him: "AnnCollier, a grave robbery case, one year ago. See what was lost?"

Griffith flipped. "Corpse?"

"Like something a necrophile would do. And I'm still guessing that unknown people have something to do with her," Greenaway said, "but it's not very clear in the file."

"Okay." Hotch nodded, "Elle, you and Gideon go to visit Ann's house and see if you can find any clues. Reid, continue to read these files and find possible related cases. Others sort out the information at hand, Tomorrow morning we will publish the profile."

Jareau had just come out from the Johnsons, and seeing everyone was there, he walked over. "Mr Johnson allowed us to go to his daughter's bedroom and look for clues," she said.

"Morgan and I will look at it," Hotch said. "We're releasing the profile tomorrow morning, and the detectives have agreed to release it to the public."

Jareau nodded knowingly: "I'll prepare the speech."

In this way, Griffith was left again.

He put the documents of the tomb robbery case aside, sat down and picked up another document from the top of the pile of documents to read slowly.Opposite him, Reid's fingers slid across lines of words, and after a while, a second pile of words was piled up next to them, this time they were read.

Griffith marveled at Reid's speed before starting to read the file.

Greenaway knocked on the door, and it took about 3 minutes for someone to open it. A woman in her fifties peers through the crack of the door.She saw Greenaway first, then Gideon behind her.

The two didn't seem to be threatening, and the woman opened the door: "Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, is this Mrs. JoCollier? This is the FBI." Greenaway showed his ID.

Collier looked a little surprised, but also a little confused: "Oh, I... Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Well, we're investigating a murder in the town. We know from the files that Ann's body was stolen a year ago?"

"Yes, but what does it matter?"

"Well, we're just guessing, but there are some connections," Greenaway said.She put away her documents and gestured to Mrs. Collier: "Can we go in and talk?"

"Of course, please come in." Collier turned sideways to let the agents enter the house.

They sat on the couch, Collier twisting the corner of his apron between his fingers. Greenaway asked her questions while Gideon watched.He was silent most of the time, always silently looking aside, looking for truths that people wanted to hide.

"Ann, Ann's a good boy," Collier said.Her daughter, Ann, died in a car accident.She nearly passed out from crying when she and her husband got the call.After finally burying their daughter, the couple went to visit the grave not long after and found that Ann's body had been stolen.

Collier didn't know what they had done wrong, so that their daughter couldn't even die.

"So, can you remember what clothes Ann wore when she was buried?"

"It's... her favorite white dress." Collier said, "Even though we don't like it, it's Ann's favorite after all..."

Greenaway looked at Gideon and exchanged glances - the pretty brunette girl in the white dress, Ann's photo on the fireplace.

This is probably the beginning.They can follow this to find clues of unknown characters.

"I would like to ask you to recall Ann's former friends, can you?" Greenaway said softly.

"Okay..." Collier's eyes were a little red.She subconsciously took out a tissue and pinched it in her palm.

Not much to gain this afternoon.Even if Reid read all the files and Greenaway got a list from Collier and gave it to Garcia, they didn't find anything.When it got dark, Hotch finally had to ask the team members to rest.