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protege-not-protagonist · 9 months

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Criminal Minds: The Protégé Chapter 6

Ch 6: My Brother's Keeper Pt. 3

Blurb: The team is closing in on the Unsub, but he has taken hostages. As half the team move to intercept, Grace and Luke are tasked with piecing together the Unsub's past.

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Previous Chapter

Audience: Recomended mature audience for depictions of violence and sexual references

Author's Note: if you see a trigger warning that concerns you, you can scroll to end and I'll have a brief description what happens.

TW: Ableism, kidnapping, child death, murders, crime scene description, conscientious objection to bear firearms. Threats and unwanted erotic attention (IDK how to tag it). Hinted Dog death.

Gold Stallion Inn, Groton, SD Friday July 8:00AM

After going through her files with Rossi and Prentiss, she actually had a good night’s sleep. Dr Boland didn’t have any complaints. Prentiss said that she would contact Dr Harris and see if she wanted an inquest into Nathan’s death. If she answered yes, Prentiss said she would allow Grace to investigate and see if there was a case. Which was good news because she had already kinda started. Garcia sent her some files over last night along with an emoji heavy text to say Dr Reid had asked her to compile them. But that was a task for later. Right now, the Giles family needed them to find their killer.

She hated this part of the investigation, when all they could do was wait for the unsub to “surface.” That was just a nice way of saying they were waiting for someone else to die. Simmons and JJ would report from Rapid City and minute now. But there wasn’t much else to do other than review evidence. The team was milling about interviewing the local PD to see if they could think of anyone who fitted the profile.

Dr Boland had gone to check on the bodies. She had commandeered a room at the local doctor’s practice to clean the bones. Dr Boland would be gone all day, cleaning and reconstructing. The bones wouldn’t be fully clean, but with the time and resources, it was the best they could do without destroying evidence. God, she was glad they had allowed the doctor to tag along. The local doctor and police were going to just straight boil them if she hadn’t shown up. She understood the logic, but good lord, the destruction of evidence boiling without taking tissue samples would have caused was almost more criminal than the murders. But given that they now had identities, the focus was on reconstruction was more so the remaining family could bury them.

Grace’s eyes roved over the case board as she had breakfast. Which was a loose term, cause it was just a cup of earl grey tea from her small collection of tea bags that she took in her go bag. She’d learnt real fast; if a place had tea, don’t drink it. Only God knows how old police precinct tea bags are.

Alvez came up beside her and stared at the board as well.

‘You sleep well?’ He asked.

She raised an eyebrow. Everyone had been asking about her sleep the last couple of cases. Grace wanted to tell them they shouldn’t be worried; it had always been like this. But then Profilers would do what they do best; pry.

‘Mm yeah,’ she answered and turned to him, not passing up a chance that rarely presented itself. ‘So is it true?’

‘Is what true?’

‘That Rossi doesn’t snore?’ she smirked.

‘You know what, Five-O, he actually doesn’t,’ Alvez chuckled.

‘Hmm, guess I can’t really pick it. Do you snore?’ She asked, trying to continue the conversation. It wasn’t too hard for her to talk with Luke, strangely enough. They had little in common, but when he wasn’t ribbing her about her personal life, or conspiring with Tara to set her up with random twenty-something-year-olds they knew, he was good company. Or maybe he just accommodated her awkwardness more than other people. She could never tell.

‘No, I don’t,’ he told her, but smugly added, ‘But I share a bed with someone who does, but I love them too much to care.’

She laughed. You’re not slick, Alvez.

‘Roxy snores? That’s so cute, you have to send me a video, my dog used to snore too, he would sleep bark while he dreamt as well. They’re so funny when they chase stuff while they sleep.’

‘You had a dog?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, my family had one, Spud. He was a… we don’t know what he was, but he was awesome, my best friend.’

He looked surprised. Had she not talked about Spud before? She could have sworn she had. Maybe she avoided the conversation because of what those memories eventually led to. Alvez, raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

‘What?’

‘Sorry, you didn’t strike me as a dog person,’ he shrugged.

‘Woah.’ She shook her head.

‘What?’

‘That is without a doubt the most offensive thing you have ever said to me.’

‘Usually I can pick it. I got more of a cat vibe from you.’ He held his hands up in mock surrender.

‘A cat vibe?’ She scoffed. ‘I take it back. That’s the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard from you.’

‘You hate cats?’

‘I dislike them. I have a like a whole PowerPoint for explaining why, but in general, they’re unpredictable and aloof, not what I’d look for in a companion. Dogs, on the other hand, are a reliable source of affection…’ she trailed off as she saw his expression. ‘Stop profiling me. Look, I know I am an insecure loner, and I don’t care.’

‘Hey, I’m a dog owner too!’ he chuckled, but he looked at her with that familiar face of poorly hidden pity. ‘If you feel lonely Five-O, why don’t you have one?’ he asked.

‘It wouldn’t be fair on them. I’m not home enough now and I… can’t replace Spud. When he died, it really broke my heart. I don’t know if I could do that again.’ That was the understatement of the century. Her hand flew to her right wrist, instinctively massaging it as it ached from an injury that was no longer there. She was back before she could stop herself.

‘And those other girls…’ he snickered. ‘Well, none of them did it right. But, I waited for you. I tipped the police off. I told them where to find the last one to get you back. And I brought you here one last time before we leave cause I want to see what happens when I kill someone… special. I wonder if there’ll be tears this time, I wonder how they’ll taste.’ He walked over the work bench and pick up a meat cleaver. She struggled against the duct tape that held her to the chair. Spud whimpered from the floor of the cage. 'Touch him and I'll kill you, I swear to God!' she spat. He smirked at her, pointedly looking at her restraints as she struggled, 'Really?' She yanked herself forward and thrashed in the chair. She couldn't break the tape. Her brave façade cracked and she realised nothing was going to stop what was going to happen. He grinned widely as she began to plead. 'No, no. Don't, don't, don't do it please, don't!'

‘I get that. I didn’t until I got Roxy. She’s getting old now. It’s going to be a sad day when she goes. They really do have a spot in your heart, you know?’ Luke spoke, bringing her back to the present.

She doubted that he “got it.” What happened to Spud was devastating.

‘I couldn't handle it, besides, Foley would get upset if he had to share my apartment and affection,’ she added, redirecting his attention to a new mystery.

‘Foley?’ He frowned.

She just raised her eyebrows and grinned.

‘Who’s Foley?’

‘He’s taken another family.’ Prentiss announced. The room fell silent. ‘But this time, a victim escaped, the eldest child. JJ just finished interviewing her.’

Alvez and Grace shared a look and rushed over to the laptop, where Prentiss set up the conference. The screen flickered and Garcia appeared.

‘Hello everyone, a good morning it is not. I have the 411 on our newest victims, the Tilsbry family. ‘Right, we have Joshua and Mary Tilsbry with 14-year-old Bella and 11-year-old Alice, who has Spina Bifida. They are from Omaha, Nebraska. Joshua is an accountant, Mary is an editor for a publishing firm, both dirt free, clean financials, loving parents. The girls’ grades are good, um… according to Mary’s Facebook page, they are on a road trip holiday to Montana. They were going to Yellowstone. Seems Alice is a big fan of nature. The trip was to celebrate her birthday. Oh, these pictures are so cute, she got little binoculars. Please find them. I do not want to see more pictures of the crime-scene-y nature.’

‘Bella Tilsbry’s the one who escaped and alerted police, her aunt is on her way to Rapid City to act as her Guardian, but gave permission for the interview to go ahead,’ Prentiss continued, relaying JJ’s information, ‘The family fueled up this morning close to their hotel. Bella went to the restroom, when she came back, went to open the van door and said a man came from behind, grabbed her and jumped in the back seat with Alice and held a gun to her. Bella managed to get out of his grip and ran into the store to raise the alarm, but her family’s car sped off. She says her younger sister is wheelchair bound and the family car is quite distinctive. Garcia, do we update on the model?’

‘Yes, Simmons told me the make and model. It’s the same car Simmons’ family has. It can do about 400 miles before it needs more gas and a fuel station receipt confirms the car had a full tank when it was hijacked,’ Garcia added.

Grace grabbed a compass and scaled it using the map’s legend. Placing the centre in Rapid City, she drew a wide circle on the map. ‘Okay, so his is our range as the crow flies, but highways tend to go around large natural landmarks like the Missouri river here, and this mountain range over here. So, we can retract it a bit by, uh, give or take, 50 miles.’ She drew another circle. ‘So this outer ring here is the maximum distance before he has to refuel. It’s risky to do that with three hostages. There’s too much opportunity for one to escape. Plus Bella got away, that will shake his confidence. It’s more likely he’ll stop somewhere before this zone. Garcia, do we have a last known heading? This guy can easily get interstate. Rapid City is close enough to the Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana state borders.’

‘Yes, thankfully Rapid City has more CCTV than Groton. Last time the car was seen was 7:30, and they were eastbound on route 90.’

Grace frowned. ‘That’s heading back the way he came. If he is coming back here, he’ll take the 14, the 212 and the 37.’ She looked back at the map. ‘He can get here on a single tank easily. It’s around the 350 mile mark.’

‘How long until he gets here?’ Prentiss asked.

Grace opened and shut her mouth in panic. She didn’t know.

‘Uh…’ she pulled out her phone, ‘According to google maps, and if he drives the speed limit-’ That’s dumb, as if an unsub would drive the speed limit. ‘-Um, if he was in the outer reaches of Rapid City at seven-ish, he’ll be here in like four hours.’

‘Do we have a description of the unsub from Bella?’ Rossi asked. ‘JJ had Bella sit with a Police sketch artist, they just finished. State Troopers have issued it state wide, the press will show it in the next bulletin.’

‘Garcia, send us that sketch. Send it and a description to the surrounding state’s law enforcement, too. We need to hedge our bets. But if he is returning here, there’s a reason, he has to be local.’ Prentiss observed.

A sketch appeared on the screen. A stock built, young white man, with a prominent brow ridge, dark eyes and short light hair.

‘Look like anyone you know?’ Dr. Lewis asked the police present.

‘No,’ Deputy Mitchell shrugged.

‘Hold on, can you print that?’ the sheriff asked. The team pricked up at that.

The printer whirled, and Alvez passed the paper to him. ‘You see something, sheriff?’

‘I’m not sure, you got a pen?’ He asked the team. Rossi passed him a one from his jacket pocket. The sheriff scribbled a beard on the face and held it up to the deputy. ‘That look like Andy Phillips to you?’

‘Well damn, it does. But he’d be, what, 55 now?’ The deputy frowned.

‘Yeah, he and Trish moved away about 12 years ago. But they had a son, Brodey. He’d be around 25 now. I don’t know all the details but, Trish had an unexpected pregnancy with complications. They to moved outta town to get better care.’ The Sheriff said.

‘Garcia-’ Prentiss began. ‘Already on it and… I have a giant red flag. If Brodey isn’t our guy, I’ll eat my mouse pad.’

‘Hang on, I’ll try to patch JJ, Simmons and Avery in.’ Prentiss dialled the conference button. Avery picked up his phone first.

‘They’re with me. You got a suspect?’ he said, reading Prentiss’ mind.

‘Alright Garcia, what do you have?’

‘Brodey Phillips, 26, born to Patricia and Andrew Phillips in Groton. Early school records are relatively okay. Brodey was a bit rough with his classmates, but nothing too out of the ordinary. But then moved with his family to Minneapolis in 2010 when he was 14. Trish gave birth to his baby brother, Jeremy. He was born with cerebral palsy. Around the same time in school, for Brodey, we have many behavioural complaints, his grades plummeting. Then in 2013 there’s a suspension for, uh… pushing a girl in a wheelchair into the school’s pool. He claimed it was a prank gone wrong. I personally would call it attempted murder. But fast forward he graduates, has multiple jobs as a repairman. Short stints all of them. I’ve got drug charges, DUI’s, theft, and then 2 years prison time for assault. But the real red flags are raised in 2018.

‘So on the 20th June, his parents went on a road trip holiday that was supposed to be for two weeks. They leave 9-year-old Jeremy with Andy’s mother in Aberdeen 20 minutes from Groton. And then poor little Jeremy, goes missing from his Grandma’s house at 4pm on the 23 of June 2018. Jeremy was never found. The case is cold. Now, after being released from prison on the 22nd of June, Brodey shows up out of the blue, appearing in Aberdeen PD’s reports, trying to help his parents through the ordeal. Seems like he is a changed man. He was enrolled in rehab, and had a steady job, until Andy committed suicide in 2019. And pretty much instantly, Brodey lands himself back in prison for armed robbery. He got out two months ago.’

‘Do we have a current address?’ Prentiss asked.

‘No.’

‘What about his mother’s address?’

‘Trish lives with her oh… no, sorry, lived with her mother-in-law, in Aberdeen. Trish died last week in a car accident.’ Garcia reported with a wince, ‘Yeah, I just sent the address to your devices.’

‘That’s our stressor. Brodey gets rid of his brother and his parents still don’t give him the attention he wants, and they both die before they can fulfil his desire. His mother dying was his last chance of getting that attention from his biological family,’ Dr Lewis observed.

‘Avery, can you put together a detailed brief and have it issued to all the police counties along Route 14, 121 and 37, along with instructions to create road blocks? Emphasise that this is an amber alert, he has a child hostage.’ Prentiss ordered.

‘I’ll have it done before you can name all those counties,’ He replied.

‘Right, Alvez, Matthews, go to the grandma’s house to see if you can get anything from her. We need to find where Brodey has been living since he got out. JJ, Avery, Simmons, as soon as Bella’s aunt arrives, get back here and bring them with you. The rest of you get organised with locals. We need to stake out every road into this town.’

-----

Rita Phillip’s residence, Aberdeen, SD 8:56 AM

The house was relatively small, old, with blue flaky paint surrounded by a rusted chain-link fence. Grace peered around at the neighbourhood spotting a few nosey neighbours darting behind closed curtains.

‘Mrs Phillips? Are you home?’ Alvez called out, knocking on the door.

‘Mrs Phillips, Rita? We’re with the FBI. We just want to ask some questions!’

There was no answer or movement.

Grace sighed, ‘I’ll go round back-’

‘How about the one of us with the gun goes round the back huh?’ He patted her shoulder. Unintentionally, she cringed away, turning her back to the front door as she watched him jog down the steps of the porch.

‘Oh please, like an 83-year-old is a threat. What is she, a Shaolin monk?’ she rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not defenceless, you know!’ she called after him.

‘Yeah, pass your damn certification and then maybe we’ll believe you!’ He called back smugly and disappeared around the side of the house.

‘You don’t know what I’m capable of, Alvez.’ She muttered to herself and kicked her shoes across the weathered decking.

Grace knew very well what she was capable of. That was why she didn’t carry a gun. She didn’t own one. She didn’t want one. Her standard issue hand gun was unloaded, in a lockbox in her desk draw back at the office, and there it would remain until she needed to fail another certification.

Not carrying a gun hadn’t been a problem with CSI. Back then, she had said she was a Conscientious Objector, and she gave her reason, and it went on her file. That was the end of the matter. It wasn’t a problem until the BAU.

To the Brass, the Advanced Forensic Unit in CASMIRC was the benthic level of the FBI. She didn’t mind that higher ups saw it that way. It meant they often went unsupervised, which was how they did their best work. But the BAU was under a lot more scrutiny. It was higher on the Brass’ radar. And unfortunately, the higher you got in the FBI, the more political it was. Some of the Big Brass didn’t take kindly to ‘Conchies’ in their ranks. She doubted Prentiss cared, but people above her certainly did. Only last November, a counter terrorism squad agent was ‘Indefinitely Suspended’ for not participating in a raid that ordered lethal force without negotiation. Most Conchies had gone quiet about their objections after that.

In the field she found ways around it, carrying a high power probe taser when she knew she was going into a hostile situation. Most times, unsubs couldn’t tell the difference when she pointed it at them. She was more than capable in hand-to-hand, which surprised any unsubs that tried it. But if there was a shootout, she did her best to find cover and count the unsub’s rounds, know when they reloaded, and think of a way out. And she would admit, she was bad at counting and pretty much useless in that situation.

At this stage, she’d never make SSA, but she could live with that. An agent incompetent with firearms was easier to create loopholes and excuses for than a conscientious objector who’s on file reason for objecting was; guns make it too easy to kill people.

The BAU screening process required a recommendation, specialisation, aptitude test, and one of the most thorough psych-evals there was. If that little tid bit had still been in her personnel file and paired with her past when they did her profile; forget not making top candidate. She would have been kicked out of the FBI into a rubber room.

So, before applying, Grace rescinded her Objection to remove it from her file. Then, once she had been accepted onto the team, she threw her first certification. Now all she had to do was keep failing. A bit embarrassing, but it worked. It seemed on brand for poor, clumsy, silly, Grace who can’t tell left from right without looking at her hands making an L shape with her fingers.

‘Five-O! I’ve got a suspicious-looking garden bed here!’ Luke called out.

‘Yesss!’ she fist pumped quietly. Now they had probable cause. And this was her favourite part. She took a step back and turned to the side. ‘FBI! STEP BACK FROM THE DOOR!’ She shouted the instructions to the empty house. She pivoted her hip and let her leg fly, slamming the ball of her foot with precision right above the knob. The doorframe splintered. The door flew open, smacking into the wall. She entered the room with a satisfied grin and then told herself she probably should tone down her excitement as the metallic foul stench hit her.

She followed it to the lounge room. Brown claggy blood was pooled on the rug. She sighed despondently as her eyes tracked blood spatter up the wall and onto the ceiling.

Grace pulled out some gloves from her bag and walked through to the kitchen and the back door, noting the size 11 men’s sneakers by the door. Definitely not Rita’s. ‘I’ve got blood on the rug in here. I think it’s safe to bet it’s Rita’s,’ she opened the door to the backyard and glanced over the garden bed Luke was pacing around. Too right it looked suspicious; there was a literal bloody slipper poking out of it. He didn’t even bury his own grandma properly. Obviously, the familial tie meant nothing to him. How arrogant was this unsub that he didn’t even bury his victims well enough to conceal them?

‘I’ll call in local forensics, but I think Jeremy’s been here since he got out, there’s men’s shoes by the door, and it’s pretty safe to say Rita was killed in the house. There’s pooling on the rug, straight line spatter up the wall and on the ceiling.‘ Grace said.

Alvez gave her a nod as he approached the back door. ‘So she was beaten by a blunt object swinging repeatedly in wide overhead arcs?’

She nodded back, impressed. ‘You’ll put me out of a job yet.’

‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’ He joked and clapped her shoulder as he passed her. She unintentionally jumped at the contact. ‘Right, I’ll go to the basement, you take the attic?’

Grace stiffened. ‘What?’

He turned back to her, ‘Well, if we’re trying to get info from this guy’s childhood, that kind of stuff moms keep packed away. So, if you want to look at the past… you go to the attic or basement.’

‘I meant, why do I get the attic?’ she bristled, suspecting the answer.

He winced. ‘Look, lately you’ve- I didn’t mean- I thought… you know with the dreams you’ve been having after the Robinson case you might prefer searching the-’

She stopped him right there. ‘Oh, that’s right! Sorry, I forgot, I flip out every time I go down a flight of stairs,’ she bit back sarcastically.

It wasn’t basements or stairs that did that. The smell of Irish Spring soap put her back there.

But he didn’t need to know that. She wasn’t weak. She could do this job.

‘Grace…’

‘I am okay, Alvez. Actually, I am more than okay. Nothing happened. We weren’t tortured or made to do awful things to each other. It was basically a holiday. So, I’m fine. It was ages ago. I got over it.’

Alvez gave her a concerned look, and that just made her more agitated.

‘Six months isn’t that long ago. Last week when you had that nightmare, I just want you to know that we-’

‘You take the attic.’ She said sharply as she marched into the kitchen.

The Robinson case shouldn’t have shaken her as much as it did. Everyone in this team had gotten over way worse. So would she, and she had. She’d had it far worse before. The Robinsons case was a cakewalk.

Scared? Afraid? Absolutely not. Ashamed was more accurate. It was an embarrassment that a profiler would fall for a ruse like that, even if they had only been on the job for two months. One thing she knew for certain: It would never happen again. It was embarrassing to have her colleagues think that case was what she had nightmares about. To think that she couldn’t handle the aftermath. She’d show him, she’d show them all; she wasn’t weak.

She ripped open the door that led to the basement stairs and yanked the pull cord. The dim light bulb sputtered on.

Behind her, Alvez called after her, ‘I’m not saying-’

‘Can’t hear you.’ Grace called back childishly and descended the stairs.

Well done, Grace. Beautifully handled. A person who was ‘Fine’ would totally behave like that. She ripped her phone out and called local law enforcement to alert them to the scene. Above her, she heard stairs creak as Alvez made his way up to the attic.

She froze. The wooden groaning of stairs. The same sound she heard three times a day back in that basement. Then she would watch the metal locked door waiting. Would it be a meal, another test, or death?

But it meant nothing now. She was okay now. She’d had it worse. Way worse. Fine. She was fine. She counted her breaths as the operator connected her to the right department.

---------

10:40AM

After over an hour of shining a flashlight through cardboard boxes and scrounging through shelves of old tools and unused appliances, she had nothing noteworthy to add to the case. Rita’s late husband seemed really into model planes. There was also a disused wheelchair and two pairs of crutches that must have belonged to Jeremy. That was all she got.

Local CSI had arrived by now. She watched the hazmat suited bodies swarm around the lounge room from the hallway. She hesitated at the bottom of stairs, not quite ready to face Alvez after her meltdown. It was bound to happen one day.

Guess this was the case for it. It was the perfect storm. Brodey having it out for his siblings, Alvez talking about Spud, Rita buried in her backyard so carelessly, the Robinson case, Nathan Hariss, Honolulu for thanksgiving… Everything was raw. She was trying her best, but today, everything just seemed to put her back there. She massaged her wrist for the second time today as she watched the CSI team roll up the bloody rug.

Blood. Blood was a funny thing, it spread a lot more than the movies depicted. It got everywhere.

‘Maybe for once you'll feel what they felt you bastard,' she snarled in his ear. He thrashed under her uselessly. He sucked in shallow laboured breaths. They didn’t have much time. She could hear the sirens now. Blood gushed over her hands as she dug the razor into his throat. His cold eyes went wide with fear and pain. Good she thought. As her hand reached for a roll of duct tape on the floor next to his head she leaned close to his face. 'Do try to keep still,’ she parroted his words at him.

She shuddered. Better to be in the Robinson’s basement than to be back there.

Searching for anything to pull her out of the memory her eyes drifted along the framed photos that lined the hallway. One caught her eye. She lifted it off the wall and climbed the stairs. ‘Alvez!’

‘Yeah, up here!’ he called from a ladder above her. She climbed up and saw him hunched over a stack of photo albums.

‘Is there a photo album for 2010?’

‘Yeah? I think these are Tricia’s.’ He passed her a scrapbook. She flipped through the pages. ‘It’s weird. I’ve seen heaps of photos of Jeremy, but there’s not as many of Brodey, like less than ten baby pictures. Simmons could fill an entire book for each kid with just one month’s worth of baby photos. Without their side of the story, I can’t tell if they really did favour Jeremy.’

Grace shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, Brodey was born pre-affordable-digital camera. Jeremy was born when digital photos were dirt cheap to print. Brodey probably has just as many photos that never got developed. They’re probably in a box somewhere. It’s the same with me. I don’t have a lot of baby photos, but by the time my brother and sister came along, my parents had a digital camera. Trish has scrap-booked merit certificates and school work pre and post 2010. And in the hall, the grandparents have a framed graduation photo of Brodey. Both parents are in the photo, all dressed up for it. I doubt Brodey’s warped perception is actually a reality.’ She stopped on a promising photo and passed the framed one she had to Alvez as she slid the photo from the album out of its plastic sleeve.

‘You have siblings?’ He asked as he studied the photo in his hands.

‘Fraternal twins.’ She answered and read the description on the back of the photo. 'Do you?'

'What?'

'Have siblings?' she asked.

'I have a younger half-sister,' he answered, confirming what she had already deduced. ‘Is this of Andy?’ Alvez asked her, gesturing to the yellowed photo she had handed him of a little boy and his father holding a golf caddy almost as tall as him. He then sighted the same golf caddy in the corner of the attic.

Grace held up a similar photo of an older Andy with an arm around a disinterested teenager and a familiar background.

‘Groton Golf course, Brodey becomes a big brother, July 3rd, 2010,’ Grace read the description out loud. ‘I think the golf course is more significant than we originally thought. It’s not just a secluded place. It’s where he got told his mum was pregnant.’

‘So he kills them there because it’s like he undoes that moment. He can’t go on the road trip with his parents till he kills the surrogates where they first came into existence to him.’ Luke concluded.

She flipped through a few more pages in a later scrapbook. Something else stuck her. Jeremy was in a wheelchair until in the later photographs of him. Then he was on crutches for his 7th birthday.

She stood up suddenly, ‘Basement.’ She said. Alvez got up after her. ‘I saw—I think-I can’t believe I missed it.’ She sped down the stairs and Alvez tried to catchup. ‘I’m an idiot. I knew something was missing. It’s been bugging me since-’

‘Woah Grace, slow down. What?’

‘The crutches!’

‘What crutches?’ ‘Exactly, the hotel manager said the Tyler had crutches, but where are they? Now the police report for Jeremy’s disappearance mentions he went missing and his wheelchair was still at home. But he was walking around on crutches, so he must have had them with him when he went missing.’

‘Okay?’ Luke followed her.

‘If Jeremy went missing with his crutches-’ she rounded the shelving unit and pointed to the two pairs of child sized crutches leaning against the wall, ‘-where did these come from?’

‘Oh God,’ Alvez remarked as he walked up and inspected them, one pair of crutches old and dusty, the others were newer and engraved with the initials T.G. Tyler Giles. ‘These are the sickest trophies I’ve ever seen.’

‘He’s more sadistic than we thought. We got to tell the others. Brodey needs to kill at the golf course before he comes here to dump the trophy and start the road trip he feels he should have been on.’ Luke pulled out his phone and called Prentiss as they thundered up the stairs and rushed out the front door.

‘He’s going to the golf course. It’s part of the ritual.’ Prentiss sucked in a breath, ‘Okay, I’ll try to divert our forces back there…’ Luke and Grace shared a concerned glance at each other.

‘Divert? What happened?’ Alvez asked.

‘I’ve been trying to call but, service has been spotty, and I was just on a call with JJ. Rossi, Tara and I are half way to investigate a hit and run at a checkpoint an hour away. The assailant was in a car with a similar description, had hostages. He tried to run the check point. He ran over an officer, but Local PD apprehended them. He matches Brodey’s description.’ There was a dial tone sound over the speaker. ‘Hang on, Garcia is calling,’ Prentiss told them.

As soon as Garcia joined the call, she blurted a sentence they really didn’t want to hear. ‘Guys, it’s not him. I’m sorry, I was working as fast as I can but the police were taking forever to upload their evidence. It’s not him. But the good news, our check point caught some random sicko who happened to be trafficking a mother and daughter today. So there’s that.’

A dread filled moment of silence passed. Alvez and Grace ripped open their car’s door and jumped in. Alvez fired up the sirens and sped out of the driveway.

‘If it wasn’t him, the checkpoints may have spooked him. He may try a back road.’ Alvez said. She did the maths. Brodey would be in Groton within half an hour or could even be there now. They were closer, they would get there first. Grace reached into the back seat for their kevlar vests.

‘We’ll turn around. I’ll get everyone I can over there.’ Prentiss ordered over the phone.

‘We’re on our way. You’ll meet us there. Hopefully, we’ll get there before him.’ Alvez said.

‘Prentiss, you may also want to get Dr Boland and her team on standby.’ Grace added as she remembered the thought that had occurred to her in the attic.

‘What for?’ Luke and Prentiss asked at the same time.

‘An excavation.’ she said grimly. ‘Alvez, you know that groundsman you talked to who was really into his lawn?’

‘Yeah?’ He frowned at her.

‘Did he mention a patch that was particularly troublesome?’ she asked.

‘He did. He said the Rough around the 7th hole had a mind of its own…’ His face fell as he realised what she was saying.

‘I think I might have an idea where Jeremy disappeared to.’

--------

Next Chapter

Thank you for reading. Also, Sorry to introduce so much stuff about Grace's past but not explaining a lot. I promise it'll makes sense. It may see convoluted but we will see more of these two events (the Robinson case that happened earlier in the year and a big event that happened when she was young) in later chapters. But let me know any theories you have? Also try and Guess what kind of pet Foley is, I'd love to hear what kind of pet you think Grace has. If you love it, or even just like it, please leave a comment and/or like it, it is much appreciated and it really motivates me.

TWs:

Ablesim: this is the big one. Unsub is targeting physically disabled people and uses awful language to describe disabled people. It's never justifiable at all to hate like that. unsub is horrible and delusional. Be warned for ick factor.

kidnapping: The unsub has abducted a whole family in this, but holds a child hostage and the team sas to negotiate out of it. but also Grace has flash back to her own experiences which leads to...

Threats and unwanted erotic attention: in Grace's past the Unsub is really creepy and it is hinted that he has an erotic fixation with Grace. Scene is just icky and uncomfortable but no actual actions of that nature are depicted.

Hinted Dog death: It is implied that the Unsub from Grace's past killed her dog in front of her.

Child death: sadly the victims are kids. also hinted that the unsub has done this before to his own sibling

murder: non graphic, but there is another body found, it's an elderly lady.

Violence and gore: Grace remembers fighting back against the unsub, it is uncertain whether she killed him in the process. but there is blood.

conscientious objection to bear firearms: Grace does not carry a gun, she is a conscientious objector for personal reasons that relates to her past. Conscientious objectors, are people who are in militant or law enforcement roles that refuse to kill or carry weapons for religious, or personal beliefs. This most often means they don't carry guns or are in non-combatant roles. But although she has the right to object, doesn't mean everyone respects that. The case I mention about the agent who was suspended from the FBI, is based on real events. I encourage people to research the history around Conscientious objectors, is very interesting, because it use to be a offence you could be court martialled over.

#oc #OC Grace Matthews #BAU #criminal minds #luke alvez #mentor spencer #big brother spencer #spencer gets a happy ending #the protege #the protege chapter 6 #fanfic #my fic #criminal minds case #spencer reid

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agnesmwang · 4 years

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Hiii kamu,

How are you?? Udah bersyukur belooom? Kalo belom, cus sebutin 3 hal sebelum lanjutt baca ini :p (dalam hati juga gpp kokk)

Surat cinta hari ini akan sedikit berbeda, karena pertama aku nulisnya ga by whatsapp tapi lewat tumblr pribadi aku. Dan kedua adalah suratnya berisikan ttg kisah hidupku bersama Penciptaku. Happy reading!

Minggu demi minggu ku lalui, hari demi hari ku lewati. Tak pernah sedetikpun Tuhan membiarkanku sendirian. Dia yang slalu ada. Setia. Dan adil.

Dari aku kecil, aku sudah melihat penyertaan dan pertolongan yg luar biasa. Dari waktu aku masih duduk di bangku TK, papa ku adalah seorang supir taksi blue bird. Setiap pagi papa mengantarku ke skolah dengan taksinya. Kami juga tinggal disebuh kost-kostan kecil yang hanya cukup tinggal untuk kami bertiga (papa-mama-aku). Bahkan kami juga pernah tinggal dipinggir ruko dengan alas kardus. Tentunya juga ditemani dengan obat nyamuk waktu itu. Betapa indah kenangan-kenangan jaman dulu ya☺️. Dan juga ditemani dgn sepeda engkol butut yg setia menemani kaki kami ke gereja dan kemanapun kani pergi. Lucunya, aku dari kecil adalah seorang yang rajin bgt nulis curhatan di binder. Bahkan ga cuma itu, setiap kami pergi ke carefour waktu itu, aku suka bgt ambil katolog brosur nya. Aku gunting kecil2 barang yang ingin aku punya. Lalu aku tempel di binderku. Dengan polosnya, aku juga menitipkan doaku di binder itu, katanya "Tuhan, nonik pengen barang ini (sepatu roda warna pink).. Tuhan tolong kabulin ya. Terimakasih Tuhan. Amin". Lucunya lagi, setiap aku lihat mobil, aku slalu pegang mobil itu dan aku doa sama Tuhan "Tuhan nonik pengen punya mobil biar ga kepanasan sm keujanan. Terimakasih Tuhan. Amin".

Oke kita lanjut lagi ceritanya... Dulu mama sempat khawatir dengan kondisiku, karena setiap hari kami hanya bisa makan kerupuk dengan nasi, atau sayur asem setiap hari. Mama bilang, "gizinya darimana ya kalo nonik setiap hari makan krupuk sm sayur asem trs". Masih terekam jelas memori-memori itu di kepalaku. Sampai papaku kun akhirnya memutuskan untuk membuat sebuah kartu nama yang diberi judul "TUKANG PIJET" hahaha (karena memang keahliannya adalah mijet). Dengan kaki dan tanganku yang masih kecil, akupun ikut datang kerumah-rumah. Bukan untuk mijet, tapi untuk cabutin ketek ibu2 hahaha. Mungkin kedengerannya agak menggelikan yah.. tapi darisitulah aku dapat uang jajan sebesar 1.000 atau 2.000 rupiah.

Ketika usiaku beranjak besar, pertolongan Tuhan dan berkat-Nya pun semakin besar. Papaku yang dari supir taksi sekarang sudah menjadi agen kain. Dan mamaku juga sudah mulai bekerja menjadi tukang jahit masker. Keuangan kami pun mulai membaik pada saat itu. Akhirnya kami bisa mengontrak rumah yang bisa dibilang cukup besar pada waktu itu. Dan sepeda butut yang menemaniku juga Tuhan gantikan dengan sebuah vespa yg bunyinya khas sekali. Sampai-sampai semua guru dan teman sekolahku tau kalo suara vespa itu adalah papaku yg datang menjemputku di sekolah.

Puji Tuhan sewaktu kecil aku juga tergolong dalam murid berprestasi, sehingga uang sekolah aku tidak perlu membayar untuk beberapa tahun kedepan. Memang ini bukan suatu kebetulan. Semua Tuhan sudah atur. Kemudian taun demi taun kami jalani.. tak henti-hentinya pertolongan Tuhan datang. Bukan hanya secara materi saja. Tapi dalam hal kesehatanku pun Tuhan juga peduli. Dulu aku adalah anak pengidap asma yang cukup berat. Sampai-sampai kemana-mana aku harus membawa alat perangku, yaitu alat bantu nafas. Setiap hari aku jiga harus mengkonsumsi susu kambing, yang katanya bisa membantu menyembuhkan asma. Suatu malam nafasku begitu berat dan aku hampir ga bisa bernafas karena asma nya datang secara tiba-tiba. Orang tuaku panik dan kebingungan. Saat itu kami tidak bisa berbuat apa-apa. Hanya Tuhan yg kami andalkan. Aku teringat papa ku langsung mendoakanku untuk meminta kesembuhan kpd Tuhan. Entah apa yg terjadi waktu itu, aku merasakan nafasku tiba-tiba plong dan aku tidak merasakan sesak lagi. Bahkan sampai detik ini aku menceritakan kisahku, asmaku sudah disembuhkan sama Tuhan. Wow! How great our God!

Oke, kita lanjut lagi ceritanya lg ya wkwk.. jangan bosen ya haha 😂. Ketika aku duduk di bangku SMP, aku masuk di salah satu sekolah yang terbilang bagus di Surabaya. Sekolah Kristen Kalam Kudus Surabaya namanya. Di usia itulah aku juga mulai memahami mengikut Kristus itu seperti apa (ya walaupun dari kelas 2 SD aku sudah melayani tamborin di gereja, tapi aku belum paham seperti apa mengikut Kristus). Aku mulai mengenal sebuah komunitas. Komunitas ini dibentuk oleh Gereja Mawar Sharon atau GMS di Surabaya. Aku dibentuk disana. Mengenal kebenaran firman Tuhan yang membuatku semakin bertumbuh secara iman dan pengetahuan. Singkat cerita, aku memutuskan dibaptis. Tapi aku dibaptis bukan di GMS, tapi di gereja orang tuaku yaitu GBI Siloam. Dimana engkongku sendiri gembalanya. Jadi waktu itu aku dibaptis oleh beliau. Dan ketika aku memutuskan mengiring Tuhan, berkat tak begitu henti-hentinya datang. Aku yang dulu masih berusia belasan tahun mendapatkan beasiswa ke Jerman untuk meneruskan sekolahku disana. Namun, saat itu aku blm berani untuk pergi jauh dari orang tua. Lalu aku memutuskan untuk tetap bersekolah di Surabaya saja.

Dan Puji Tuhan, Tuhan buat semuanya indah pada waktunya. Papaku akhirnya pindah ke Jakarta karena ditugaskan oleh bosnya waktu itu. Jadi 2 minggu sekali papaku bolak balik Jakarta-Surabaya selama bertahun-tahun. Dan pada saat aku kenaikan kelas dari SMP ke SMA, kamipun memutuskan untuk pindah 1 keluarga ke Jakarta di tahun 2010-2011. Kondisi keungan kamipun sudah jauh lebih baik. Walaupun beberapa taun sejak pindah Jakarta kami harus ngekost dulu di daerah Roxy Mas, Jakarta Barat. Tapi disitulah aku mulai sadar kalo Tuhan itu buaaaeekkk puuoolll. Dari aku kecil sampe aku gede kami semakin naik, bukan turun. Menjadi kepala, bukan ekor. Siapa sangka, yg awalnya papaku adalah seorang supir taksi blue bird sekarang menjadi manager, bahkan orang kepercayaan bos nya di sebuah perusahaan perikanan. Siapa sangka juga, doa yang aku tulis di binderku ketika aku kecil, Tuhan jawab skrg. Mobil Alphard pun menjadi kendaraan kami. (Ini ada bonus foto aku foto di belakang Alphrad orang 😂).

Tahun 2011, aku masuk sekolah dengan kejuruan Pariwisata. Pertama kali juga aku menginjakan kakiku ke luar negri, Beijing, China dan Philipine. Wow! 1 hal yang ga pernah aku bayangin, Tuhan sediakan. 1 hal yang gapernah mungkin, Tuhan buat mungkin.

Inti dari cerita ini adalah.. apapun keadaanmu sekarang, Tuhan itu adil. Tuhan tau kapan waktunya kamu menangis, kapan waktunya km tertawa. Semuanya indah. Tuhan buat semuanya tepat waktunya. Kalo sekarang kamu lagi ada disituasi terberatmu, percayalah ada masa depan yang indah yg udah Tuhan siapin buat kamu dan aku. Km udh baca kan perjalanan masa kecilku sampe skrg? Keren kan Tuhan? Aku aja kagum. Walaupun memang harus bertahun-tahun kami mengalami kesusahan, tapi aku masih bs makan. Itu aja udah buktiin Tuhan ga ninggalin kita sampe kelaparan sedikitpun. Walopun cuma kost sepetak, kami ga keujanan. Itu udh buktiin Tuhan ada! Tuhan hidup! Dia ada bersama kami!

Untuk kamu yg saat ini merasa sendiri. Kamu itu ga sendiri. Tuhan itu ada didlm hatimu. Coba skrg km ambil waktu berdoa deh sama Tuhan. Mengucap syukurlah senantiasa. Ungkapin ke Tuhan apa yang jadi kegundahanmu skrg. Tuhan itu lg nunggu km lho.. km aja yg gatau. Tuhan udh kangen sm km. Ketemu gih skrg.

(Cerita akan lanjut di postingan berikutnya)

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