Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 66]

Hotch's POV:

"All work and no play makes Agent Hotchner a dull boy," Reid slowly reads the note aloud, "she's always refused visitors until now. So why play a mind game?" Reid questions.

"To be honest, did she really have a choice with us showing up? Maybe her silence was a form of protest," JJ offers.

"It could be a gender bias and Hotch represents the establishment. Plus I'm sure she hasn't forgotten that the BAU put her away," Reid sprouts ideas.

"It could simply be about power and control," I suggest.

"Now, that's true. I mean, she chose victims she could easily dominate, and even after she was arrested, she withheld information to maintain control," Kate agrees.

"So she needs to feel important," JJ adds.

"What are you thinking Hotch?" Morgan wonders.

"She was writing in some notepad or notebook when I walked in, and after i introduced myself, she turned the page and wrote this," I motion towards the note.

"There's an imprint of what she was writing before on that note," Reid catch's on.

"Get that to the lab," I pass it onto Reid.

*time skip*

"When I think that proof alone will never beat faulty logic, I bleed twice, once for myself and once for the others who suffer beside me. So I rely on the sound of rain to relieve the monotony of my days," Dave reads some of the letter.

"Well, one thing is certain. She's writing to someone. Her letters are leaving the prison somehow," JJ claims.

"There's something strange about this, the language feels stilted and too formal," Reid steps forward.

"It could be a code," I suggest.

"I agree, although it's more likely a cipher with a symmetrical key," He explains.

"You think you could break it?" I question.

"Not yet. I'm gonna talk to her," Reid exits the room.

*time skip*

"She wrote CH in my hand but there's no one in the mail or visitor logs with those initials. We were talking about the letter at the time, so it could have something to do with the cipher," Reid spits out before we enter the briefing room.

"Hey, so we checked with the Roanoke post office. We showed them photos of Antonia's Virginia based fans. Still nothing," JJ reports.

"Let's think about the unsub. We know he's one of her followers. It's plausible he sent the clothes to impress her," Dave points out.

"He kidnapped the boys just to get her attention?" I repeat.

"We talked about someone trying to replicate one of her crimes," JJ nods.

"She never held two boys captive for a long period, though," Reid counters.

"No, but Antonia picked up two boys at the same time. One of them escaped. Hector Ramon. He and another runaway he befriended, Sam Meckler, called a hotline one night when the temperature dropped below freezing," Dave states the similarities.

"Yeah. It says Hector described her as a loving mother at first. She made soup and sandwiches... "I had a warm bed to sleep in for the first time in a year, but after a week or so, she changed. She would get mad about small things. If we left the cap off the toothpaste or spilled something, she would say You're old enough to understand the rules. You must atone when you break them. Pretty soon I knew she wasn't the nice lady she pretended to be, and she wouldn't let us leave," JJ speaks his exact words.

"When did he escape?" Reid questions.

"Three weeks after they arrived. His friend Same was too scared to leave with him and ended up being Antonia's last victim," JJ let's her voice falter at the last sentence.

"We need to talk yo Antonia again, but I think we've been approaching this wrong. It's time we use her rules against her," Dave advises.

"I just talked to the prison. They're looking at inmates and personnel who've had regular contact with Antonia Slade. One guard in particular, Orel Wilbur, has had more contact than anyone. He's picked up extra shifts in units where Antonia has been held, and this week he volunteered to fill in for a sick guard in solitary," Garcia rushes in with the news.

"That can't be a coincidence," Reid assures.

*time skip*

"It's important for Antonia to feel dominant. She establishes this by setting precise rules," Dave goes over her behavior once more.

"It means she wouldn't engage in a long-term relationship with the unsub if he wasn't submissive or detail oriented enough to follow these rules," JJ explains.

"Her former partner Phil Garmin fit that model perfectly. He was an accountant, who according to acquaintances, was robotic. After he met Antonia, he had no other social contacts," Reid adds.

"So the unsub we're looking for is very similar to Phil, a loner who is emotionally dependent on Antonia and waits for her direction," JJ states.

"Ok. I have managed to narrow down the John Smiths in Virginia from 2,780 people down to 1,900 by eliminating anyone over the age of 70 and anyone under the age of 18, but I still need more parameters," Garcia informs.

"John Smith has to be a psedonym. The guard said that Antonia wrote to different men, but what if it was the same man using different aliases?" Kate offers.

"That's possible but it doesn't hurt to keep looking. Garcia try single men who live alone and have a profession that requires attention to detail. Health care, science, math," Dave lists off.

"Forging ahead with surgical precision," Garcia exits the room.

*time skip*

"Thank you," I say to a forensic analyst.

"Mhm," she nods.

"Labs says the dried blood is canine and the stains are about five days old," I explain once I spot Dave.

"So the unsub staged it. Wa sit to impress Antonia or was it at her behest?" Dave wonders.

"Well, if the unsub did it, it would be a dramatic way to get her attention. If she did it, it would be a way to get ours," I gives my thoughts.

"Adam's mother wanted to stay, and I didn't have the heart to ask her to leave. I figured no ones using the old office yet," Dave reasons as we pass by.

"Good idea," my phone beeps with a message, "Reid just broke the cipher," I inform.

Luckily I was able to slip this chapter in last night and only had to write a few sentences today. I did forget to publish this earlier though, so sorry it's late <3.

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