Verecund (Criminal Minds)

Chapter 5

When Derek and Spencer arrived back to the hospital room Ash has been in, the teenage girl was sitting on the white bed. She had white bandages around her wrist and parts of her upper arms, now able to be seen now that she wore a white t-shirt and white sweatpants- courtesy of the hospital, of course. She sat away from the back of the bed, slouching over her crossed legs as she stared at the mattress.

"Hey, kid," Derek greeted softly as they walked in. Ash snapped her head up to look at the profilers. "How're you feeling?"

Ash looked back down, not even giving a dismissive wave or a shrug for a reply.

"So, one of my team members have a list of guys who might be the man who took you," Derek explained gently, sitting on the chair by the hospital bed slowly. "We might not be able to narrow it down to him exactly, so we might ask you to look at the pictures of the men on the list, okay?"

Ash nodded carefully, still not looking at Derek.

"Do you know why this man took you?"

Ash didn't respond, she continued staring down at her lap.

"We know it has to do with Greek mythological stuff, but we don't know why he would take you or the others," Derek explained calmly. "Do you know why he took you?"

The girl didn't move at first, then brought her hands up to brush them together, then tapped her forefingers together.

Derek turned his head to Spencer, who watched from across the small room with his arms crossed. "She said because she's an easy target."

Derek nodded and turned his head slowly back to Ash. "Can you tell me why that is, Ash?"

Ash didn't reply once again, and her small body sank slightly with a sigh. Derek continued watching the girl, removing a piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it, revealing the drawing she had made in blue ink of a man.

"Is this the man who took you?" Derek held up the creased drawing.

Ash gazed up only slightly to look at the paper, then nodded.

"Can you tell us anything else about him? Where you met him? Do you know where he works?"

Ash moved her gaze up and past Derek, up to look at Spencer. She still didn't look either of them in the eye, but looked at Spencer as if asking for confirmation. The doctor nodded for her to continue, that he would understand and watch.

Ash moved her shaky hands slowly, making gestures and movements that looked like a whole lot of bullcrap to Derek, but the profiler knew that Spencer understood what she was saying. The doctor nodded along, then began explaining it to Derek.

"She went to a junkyard in a new part of town," Reid commented to Derek, "She was trying to hotwire an old car, but once she got it started, the unsub got in the passenger seat. He muffled her and pulled her out of the car, and tied her up and put her in the bed of a red truck."

Derek nodded, watching Ash as Spencer continued.

"He brought her to the house she drew for us. He kept her in some type of basement with her ankle chained to the wall. He fed her and talked to her and... Ash, I'm sorry, I didn't get that."

The girl tightened her fists in her lap, then slowly brought her shaking hands up to brush her forefinger across the back of her other hand.

"He assaulted her," Spencer translated.

Derek got the memo and nodded. "Don't worry, kid, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna make sure this guy who took you and other kids gets locked up. We just need your help with that. The other three kids don't remember much, they haven't really been able to tell us much. They told us the unsub had a large dog and that he called them by a name they didn't recognize. We also found your journals."

Ash kept her gaze down at her lap in silence.

"Doctor Reid here was able to read them, and he told us what was in there. We know this man has a connection to Greek mythology, but we don't know where he got it from. Do you know?"

Spencer watched for her reaction. Had lots of books, she signed, Always read stories about Greeks to me from them.

Spencer translated for Derek. "So you know where he got the books?" Derek asked her softly.

Ash brushed her hand across her forearm.

"Stolen," Spencer said.

Derek nodded. "Is there anything else you can tell us about the man who took you?"

Ash shook her head, keeping her gaze down at her lap. Derek nodded at her. "All right. Well, thank you for your help, Ash," he replied gently, "I think I'm going to go call my team and tell them what you told us, and Doctor Reid will stay here in the room with you."