Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 96]

Emily's POV

"Right. Come one. Yeah, look, it's the cops," A woman states.

"Ladies, relax. We're not trying to jam you up," I inform.

"Lori Johnson?" Reid questions.

"Yeah?"

"Hi. We're from the FBI. You reported Cherry Rollins missing?" I look for confirmation.

"The FBI's here about Cherry? She's really in trouble, isn't she? You wouldn't be here is she wasn't," she begins to worry.

"Well, that's what we're trying to find out. You two were friends?" Reid assumes.

"This is our spot. We hang out together. You get to know a girl that way," Lori answers.

"What type of person is she?" I look for further information.

"Thank you," she states taken aback, "most people, they don't see us as people. They think what we do it who we are. Like I planned to do this for a living," she scoffs, "No way. Me and Cherry, we got plans," she smiles.

"Plans?" Reid echos.

"Yea. We're gonna open up a nail salon. It was her idea. She's always coming up with them, like, uh... like once she said we don't need pimps no more, that we could look out for each other," her face turn sad at the thoughts.

"How'd that go over?" I ask.

"I got beat good when I told my man. But, uh, Cherry said we gotta be strong. She got some of the other girls to do it, too," she replies.

"Did she ever talk about a customer who made her afraid?" Reid moves to another question.

"We're talking about a really bad guy, someone who might be threatening girls with scissors or a knife," I explain further.

"No. I mean, you get your weirdos now and then, but word gets around real quick about a creep like that, but, uh, sometimes you don't know they got a bad attitude until you're alone with them," she confesses.

"You told the police that you didn't get a good look at the last customer who picked up Cherry that night," Reid reminds her.

"I never seen that car before. I—I should have paid more attention. It's my fault. Um, she's got a... she's got a little boy, Christopher. He lives with Cherry's grandma. Not many people know about him, but, uh... he's what keeps her going," she lets a few tears slide down her cheeks as she shows us a picture on her phone, "Whatever money she makes, she sends to her grandmother to raise that boy. She loves him more than anything. You gotta find her," Lori pleads.

*time skip*

"Ground-Penetrating Radar equipment just arrived," I announce.

I hear my phone ringing, I answer it quickly.

"Alex?" I question.

I listen for a moment.

"Where?" I ask as she tells me about two more bodies.

She beings explaining where to go as I grab Rossi and motion him to follow.

"We're on our way," I answer.

"Let me guess," He gives me a look.

"Alex and Morgan just found two more bodies," I nod.

"With the number of remains we've unearthed here, we're getting into double digits. This unsub didn't wait three years between kills," Rossi frowns.

"No. He's been at it the whole time," I shake my head.

*time skip*

After much walking, Rossi and I finally arrive at the new site.