Plausible Deniability **EDITED**

Part One

     I sighed and flipped though the file in my hands, wondering how the hell we were going to solve this case. We were an agent down, still not being able to find a replacement for Emily. She had been gone for nearly five months and I just couldn't find anyone qualified enough to fill her shoes. Maybe I was being overly fastidious, already deciding that no one was good enough to take her place on my team. There had been many hopefuls, the academy sending me numerous applicants and even Strauss herself recommending a few to apply for the job. None of them impressed me. I could have used the help, however, especially on cases like this one. We all knew it was going to be hard, we would have to get lucky to catch this killer and not having a full team just added to the stress of the case.

I was headed back to my office when I heard Dave come up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I think I've got something."

"For the case?" I asked over my shoulder as we walked up the stairs. "What have you got?"

"Now, I haven't gotten Strauss' approval but I may have someone to come in right away." He followed me into my office and watched me shuffle around the mess on my desk.

"And what's their story?"

"An old student of mine, was in one of the classes that I lectured. Reputation is...rocky at best." He raised that eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. "Might cause you to do more paperwork than you'll want to do."

"I can deal with paper work," I gestured to the piles and piles on my desk, "Are they any good?"

"The best I've seen in a long time."

"Good. Are they here and ready?"

"Yeah, they work on another floor but –"

"Can they be ready in the next half hour?"

"I'll have to check in with them but. I'm sure we can make it work."

"Okay," I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, wondering what the hell I had to lose. "Give Strauss a heads up and have them meet us in the round room as soon as possible. I don't have to remind you of the rush that we're in."

"You got it." Dave turned with raised brows towards the door then stopped, "I do have to warn you, Evan is the most unconventional agent that you'll ever meet but will get the job done, every time."

"That doesn't matter right now. We've got a rampant serial killer who shows no sign of slowing down. Unconventional might be just what we need to catch this guy." I grabbed the other files that had been sent in with this case and my shoulders dropped, knowing how much work was ahead of us.

"Okay," he mumbled and headed back out.

"Wait, Dave!" I called to him before he turned the corner for this own office, "Are you talking about Evan James? I know I've heard that name..." I tried to recall where and when I had heard that name before and if I knew anything about him.

"I'd honestly be more surprised if you hadn't."

"Well, tell him to hurry and get here so we can go over this case and get going. Have Garcia get him an iPad with the case on it."

He laughed out as he left the room. "Whatever you say, Boss."

I only wondered what he was laughing about for a moment before I shook it off and headed to the round room. I passed by the bull pen and called for everyone to meet at the table as soon as they could, everyone nodding and finishing up what they were working on.

Garcia was already in the room, setting everyone's iPads and files around the table.

"Garcia, did you talk to Dave?" I asked when I got into the room and sat at my usual spot.