"A woman?" JJ asks.
"Yeah. He was very clear about it." Tara says. "He remembered her hair, her painted fingernails."
"So she killed Nadie Ramos?" Luke asks.
"Yes. He says he saw her do it." Tara says.
"Okay, but what about Scratch?" Penelope asks.
"He says he remembers her spraying some kind of fine mist in his face." Tara says.
"Which is consistent with Scratch's M.O." Emily says.
"Right. But he does not recall seeing Scratch at all." Tara says.
"You're sure this memory is accurate? You said he manufactured a false memory earlier in the cognitive." Rossi says.
"And he is sleep deprived. Which can interfere with memory." JJ says.
"Right, that's true, but that false memory was directly related to the stress he's currently experiencing." Tara says. "This was different. He was not projecting. Look, in my opinion, this is a credible recollection."
"Okay, so that could mean that Scratch is manipulating another victim suffering from dissociative identity disorder." JJ says.
"Or he's working with a full fledged accomplice for the first time." Stephen says.
"What woman would willingly associate herself with Scratch?" Penelope asks.
"And why would Scratch risk taking on a partner?" Luke asks.
"That's what we need to find out." Emily says. "We'll start by checking all of the women in the database we compiled of D.I.D. patients."
"Wait, how was he?" Penelope asks.
"He's, um, he's having a hard time." Tara says.
"We gotta get him out of there, you guys." Penelope says.
"We will, but right now it's late, and we're no good to him running on fumes." Emily says. "Clear your heads, get some rest if you can, we'll start fresh in the morning."
+++
Rossi walks out of his office, going to see if Emily actually left, but he stops when he sees Madelyn at her desk. She has the lamp on her desk on and her head is resting in one of her hands.
"Hey." Rossi walks over. "What are you still doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Madelyn says.
"We both knew I wasn't going home." Rossi says.
"Well, he's my husband. Neither am I." Madelyn says. "Not gonna sleep anyway, so..."
"What about your kids?" Rossi asks.
"They're already asleep by now. And if it gets their dad out of prison, I'm sure they'll understand me staying overnight." Madelyn says.
"This healthy for the baby?" Rossi asks.
"Baby's fine. She's probably sleeping right now." Madelyn says.
"Don't exert yourself, Maddie." Rossi tells her.
"I won't." She says.
+++
"This one hits close to home." Emily says. "Stephen's friend from the BAP, Sam Bower, was hospitalized yesterday after being poisoned."
"What kind of poison?" Luke asks.
"That's still unknown, but there's a whole team of doctors trying to figure it out." Penelope says.
"Stephen was with him at the hospital." Emily says. "Initial symptoms mimicked a heart attack. But whatever it is, it was irradiated."

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start a riot, criminal minds [ 3 ]
Fanfiction[ criminal minds -- seasons 11-15 ] Madelyn Banks Series: How to Save a Life Surrender Start a Riot I DO NOT own Criminal Minds, any of the show's characters or storylines. I ONLY own my OCs and their storylines.