3.12

    KATHARINE MISSED THE THRILL OF BEING ON A CASE. She chalked it up to the fact that she was an adrenaline junkie but she knew better. It was the thought of being able to change even one life for the better that made her fall in love with her work. So what if she wasn't the best profiler on a team of elite profilers, she knew where her strengths lied and was perfectly okay with that.


    The team had hit the ground running with this one, splitting up as usual. Katharine and Emily had been tasked with checking out the Sparks' music store while the rest of the team were spread out, either at the crime scene or the police station.


    Katharine walked through the doors of the music store, quickly stowing away her FBI badge that she had used to bypass the officers stationed out front. Emily was not too far behind her, having stopped to ask the officers anything they knew before entering the shop.


    She headed straight for the front counter, crouching down to peruse the shelves before pulling out the thick red book that read orders and payments across the front. She flipped to the bookmarked page, opening up to the most recent purchases. She ran her fingers down the gridded page, reading each transaction made in the store.


    "Well, it looks like they were open to alternative methods of payment," Katharine told Emily, squinting in an attempt to make out the messy handwriting. "There's some construction work for a child's drum set and cleaning services for sheet music."


    "Bartering must be popular in a cash-strapped area like this," Emily said, coming around the counter. She looked at the television which had been left on, transmitting video from the cameras the Sparks had installed. "They have video surveillance, which is good news. There's a good possibility the unsub was here."


    Katharine nodded, closing the book. She had read enough about the financial history of the family. "These guys do like to scout their targets prior to abduction. They get off on the fact the victims never see them coming. We should get those tapes to Garcia."


    Emily made a noise of agreement, taking the tapes off the shelf with a gloved hand. Katharine would have been concerned had the entire team made the switch to latex-free materials. It was a sweet gesture, initially proposed by Rossi after she had confessed her reasoning for bringing her own gloves to crime scenes.


    "Look at these drawings," Emily said after bagging the tapes. She had walked back into the general vicinity of the store at this point, looking over a desk that was exactly opposite the register. Katharine walked over to her and looked down at the pictures she was referring to. "This must be Sammy's desk. Alison and Charlie really went out of their way to accommodate Sammy's condition. He must have come here after school every day."


    Katharine pursed her lips. "So that means he was a fixture, not just in the store but in the community."


    Emily pushed some of the papers around, revealing even more artwork.


"It's no wonder the Sparks had to take out a loan," Emily said, stepping away from the desk. She pulled off her gloves and wrapped them in each other, shoving them into her pocket. "They put all of their money into helping their son."


Katharine sighed, taking one last look at Sammy's drawings.


"Such dedicated parents," she commented, crossing her arms. "What happens to Sammy if we can't find them?"


"Garcia's searching for relatives now," Emily informed her. The two women made moves to exit the building, Emily taking the lead this time. "If she can't find anyone, then he will be turned over to the state, and he'll be placed in a special needs foster facility. Let's make sure that doesn't happen."


Katharine agreed with the woman's sentiment. She followed the older woman back to the SUV, thanking the officers on their way out. She settled into the passenger seat, barely making small talk in the short ride back to the police station.


She checked her phone a few times, few meaning fifteen, for any news from Nina but was disappointed when there wasn't any. While she couldn't publicly search out Ian Doyle without any major repercussions as of yet, she could still make attempts at keeping tabs on the man.


They arrived back at the station and reentered the conference room, they were greeted with the rest of the team on the phone with Garcia.


" I'm not sure how we're going to get through to him," Spencer was saying as they entered. "Sammy's teacher says he's never even been able to return his own mother's hug."


Emily stayed standing near the front door while Katharine settled onto the table next to Spencer, who was sitting in an office chair.


"Garcia, what have you got?" Emily asked, her arms crossed over her chest.


"Oh, E, I wish I could be more help," Garcia said sympathetically. "If this is about money, it would be a hell of a lot easier for me to give you a list of people who wouldn't need it, and I'd probably save a forest in the process. Due to the spill, fisherman and fishing-related industries have been hit the worst."


Katharine frowned at the news. Even though it wasn't nothing, she still couldn't help but feel disappointed.


"Sheriff," Hotch spoke up, "was it common knowledge that the Sparks had gotten this loan?"


"I knew," the sheriff admitted. "A loan around here is like winning the lottery."


Emily untucked one arm and held it out in front of her as if to ask a question. "So why no ransom note?"


"Maybe the unsub thinks he can get the money directly from the source," Derek said. "Cut out the middleman."


Katharine twisted her body slightly to face her cousin. "You think he'll use one of the parents as leverage to get the other to clear out their accounts."


"He's already shot Charlie," Spencer reminded them. "It shouldn't be that hard to manipulate Alison into doing what he wants if he offers medical assistance in exchange."


"I think he just did."


"What have you got?" Katharine asked, twisting her body in the other direction so that she was facing the conference phone.


"I froze the Sparks' assets earlier today, but someone at the Bayside Branch one Parish over just managed to withdraw ten-thousand dollars from their joint savings account."


"Call the branch," Hotch ordered. "If they're still there, don't let them leave."


"Yeah."


Emily's shoulders slumped slightly. Katharine probably wouldn't have even seen it if she wasn't watching her coworker as intently as she was.


"We're probably too late," Emily said, pausing briefly to readjust her posture. Subconsciously, Katharine did too, rolling back her shoulders and straightening her spine.


Rossi looked between Emily and Hotch, briefly pausing at the conference phone before speaking up.


"If the unsub has what he's after," he said, "Sammy's parents just became expendable."


Katharine mentally swore. Now that was bad news.


After they had wrapped up their briefing session, Katharine and Emily were sent out to the bank that the ten-thousand-dollar withdrawal had been made.


Katharine had taken up residence in the right seat when they had entered, leaving the right seat open for Emily. Thankfully, the teller that had assisted Alison Sparks with her transaction was willing to provide them with any information that they needed without the use of threats or persuasion.


Not that Katharine would have resorted to threats or persuasion, as she tried to convince Emily in a hushed tone as they were brought over to the desk they were sitting at now.


    Emily had shot the younger woman a death glare before putting on her best talking-to-possible-witnesses smile. Katharine would have kicked Emily if not for the fact that the teller had returned her attention to the two FBI agents.


    "The account was frozen," Emily started off. They had already exchanged pleasantries at the initial counter. "How did she take the money out?"


    "We're on an old system," the woman explained to her. "It only updates every night at midnight."


    Katharine frowned. How convenient for their unsub.


    "And how much did she want?" Katharine asked next, looking at the woman. Her name tag read Janine Allen.


    Janine cleared her throat, interlocking her fingers together before resting her intertwined hands on the desk in front of her. "Well, she wanted to close out her account, but I told her I wouldn't be able to give her everything today. We can't afford it."


    "How much is everything?"


    "Um," Janine unclasped her hands and turned to the computer next to her. Katharine watched as she input her login information before looking up the Sparks' account. "Forty-two thousand, one hundred and seventy-six dollars and forty-one cents."


    "And the bank does not have that on-site?"


    Janine shook her head, pushing the computer monitor away. "Not anymore. Mrs. Sparks isn't the first customer to consider closing her accounts."


    "Could we take a look at the security footage you have?" Emily asked. Janine nodded, pulling the computer screen back to her before pulling up the security footage from earlier.


    Emily squinted at the screen.


"No sign of the unsub. She doesn't look over her shoulder," she muttered to Katharine. Emily looked away from the monitor and back at the teller. "She doesn't try to warn you or anyone else in the bank?"


Janine answered negatively.


"What did she say to you when you told her you couldn't give her all the money?" Katharine asked, watching as the clip played again.


"I told her I could get her ten-thousand now and the rest in two days, but she became hysterical and kept saying that that's not enough."


"Did she tell you what the money was for?" Emily asked. Katharine looked away from the screen as the footage stopped playing.


"She just asked for what she could get and she left."


They thanked Janine for her time before stepping away, heading back out the front doors of the bank.


"The unsub is probably holding Charlie at a secondary location," Katharine said, leading Emily back to where they had parked. Katharine got into the driver's seat this time, checking her mirrors while Emily climbed into the passenger seat.


"Which means he might still be alive," Emily replied, buckling the seat belt over her body.


Katharine gave her partner a firm nod. She got them back to the station in no time, reentering the conference room with the intent of sharing their new news.


"All right, so this unsub has the money he needs," she heard Derek say as they rounded the corner. "Why hasn't he let the Sparks go?"


"He has to be holding them for a reason," Rossi said.


Katharine entered their frames of vision, words practically falling out of her mouth as she walked into the room.


"We might have an answer to that," she said, Emily not too far behind.


"Alison tried to withdraw forty-thousand dollars from the branch in Bayside," Emily told them, "but she only got ten-thousand."


"So maybe he's holding them until he gets the money he needs," Hotch said, taking the new information they had gotten into account.


Emily shook her head. "I think it's more than that. I think he wants a specific amount."


"Alison kept telling the bank manager that ten grand wasn't enough," Katharine elaborated. "That says to me he's told them exactly what would be."









    KATHARINE DIDN'T STICK AROUND TO WATCH HER COWORKERS DELIVER THE PROFILE. Instead, she met with Sammy's aunt, who had just arrived at the station not long after she and Emily had returned. After exchanging pleasantries, Katharine led the woman to the room Sammy was being kept in.


    They heard them before they saw them. Mrs. Rogers, a woman that didn't seem to be known for her tact, had yet to realize they had entered the room when she said, "Well, who decides whether the harm to Sammy's well-being is worth whatever information you may or may not get by doing such a thing? He's a child, and I don't think you get to choose what's best for him."


    Katharine cleared her throat, gaining the room's attention. She tried to ignore the mortified look that had recently graced Mrs. Rogers' face when she realized that they now had company.


    "Everyone," she said, looking between the three adults in the room, "this is Lizzie Sparks, Sammy's aunt."


    Katharine shifted her weight, as she practically felt the tension between her coworkers and the social worker that had been brought in. After a moment of silence, she suggested they take this conversation out into the hallway.


    Rossi agreed, leading Sammy's aunt out first before Katharine escorted Mrs. Rogers out next. Spencer was the last to leave, making sure Sammy was comfortable before leaving the room and closing the door silently.


    "I still don't see why you have to take him back to that place," Mrs. Rogers said, shaking her head. Katharine had arranged herself so that she was standing in front of Lizzie and behind Spencer.


    "Sammy was playing the piano when his parents were abducted," Spencer explained, "so taking him back to the exact location might trigger an important response."


    The social worker shook her head, adamant about bringing Sammy back to his home. "No, but he's fragile. It could also wound him further."


    From behind her, Sammy's aunt turned to look at Rossi.


"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here," she confessed, looking between the older man and the social worker.


"You're Sammy's legal guardian right now," Rossi said. "The decision's yours."


"No," Mrs. Rogers insisted. "He barely knows her. Lizzie, is it? For all we know, she's the 'L' he's afraid of."


Katharine's fists clenched as her jaw tightened. Social workers always did manage to get on her nerves.


"Sammy saw his aunt and didn't even react," Spencer said, subtly reaching out and unclenching one of Katharine's fists for her. "If she was the abductor, we'd have seen a visceral response."


"You can't be sure of that," Mrs. Rogers tried to fight. "He's in shock."


Katharine relaxed her jaw. "We are running a background check right now. If she is the 'L' Sammy's afraid of, which I highly doubt, then we'll find out soon enough."


"Wait," the aunt spoke, turning back so that she was facing Katharine. "You're running a background check on me?"


"It's just procedure," Katharine assured her. "But you do have to decide what you want us to do."


    It didn't take long for Lizzie to make the decision, allowing them to take Sammy back to the scene of the crime. When Katharine said the social worker didn't look happy about it was an understatement. She was sure that if they had been a few years younger and, well, children, Mrs. Rogers would have surely thrown a fit.


    After that, Katharine separated from the group to head out with Emily yet again, following another lead as to where Alison Sparks had gotten money from. This time, Derek came with them and scoped out the scene while the two women went in and talked to the store owner.


    They came back out not too long after, meeting with Derek at the back of the building.


    "So the shop owner gave Alison Sparks twenty-five grand," Emily told Derek as they rounded the building.


    "She wanted thirty, but the owner balked," Katharine continued, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. She had forgotten her sunglasses yet again, her cousin seemingly taunting her with his own lenses perched on the bridge of his nose.


    "She's got twenty-five from here, ten from the bank," Emily said, doing the mental calculations. "He's up to thirty-five, but he wants forty."


    "Why is that a special number?" Derek questioned, causing Katharine to shrug. "We should call Garcia and have her run those numbers against the list. She compiled of local residents and foreclosures and see if anything matches up."


    "Ok," Emily said as her phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and glanced at the scream tilting it away from Katharine slightly. "I'll call her right now."


    Katharine frowned at how her friend was acting. She looked at Derek to see if he noticed as well, but he had already wandered away from her.


"Katharine," he called her over. She sighed, figuring that if Emily wanted to talk about it, she would. "What do you make of that?"


Katharine looked at the weapon discarded on the floor. It was a crowbar, rusted at the hook end but otherwise undamaged.


"It looks like it was used as a weapon," she voiced her observations, leaning down to examine the tool. She slid on a glove and ran her hand along the rusted end. "Hey, can't you use crowbars in fishing or something like that?"


While she hadn't been fishing in a while, she'd had enough experiences with Fishermen and their practices to scrounge up some old memories.


"Yeah, and I'm betting this belongs to our guy," Derek said. "Crowbars can be used to hook crab traps and shrimp catches out at sea."


Katharine nodded. She stood from the item and took off her glove, shoving it into a small plastic bag before shoving that into her pocket.


"It's probably pretty common around here," she said, looking around, "but seeing as we've found it right outside the same store Alison Sparks was last seen? Our unsub is definitely a fisherman."


Derek voiced his agreeance, the two departing from the scene in search of their third partner. After reuniting with Emily, they started to make their way back to the station. Katharine had settled into the back of the SUV, her phone in hand as Garcia relayed the information through the device.


"I have run 'L' for Lizzie and nothing suspicious. Her story checks out."


"What about local financial records?" Emily asked, turning her head slightly so that the device picked up her voice.


"Ah. I have cross-referenced every current and formerly licensed fisherman, crab men, shrimp men, friends of Poseidon, comes from the sea, you name it men with financial records showing default loans totaling over thirty-five-k."


Katharine asked her what she found, which Garcia was able to answer right away.


"One-hundred and twenty-seven names. I know, do not shoot the messenger. Just tell me how to narrow it down."


"Do all one-hundred and twenty-seven have children?" Emily asked. Katharine leaned forward slightly in her seat so that Emily didn't have to crane her neck as far.


"No, but seventy-six do."


"Ok," Katharine exhaled. "Um, how many of them have homes in foreclosure versus other debt that might not put them out onto the streets?"


"Mm... Oh, you are very good. We are officially down to twenty-four."


"Send us those files," Emily said as they arrived back at the station.


"At cybertastic speeds, my sweets."


Katharine thanked the woman before hanging up, leaving the vehicle, and entering the station. With Emily and Derek not far behind, she was the first to get her hands on the files, scrolling through each one on her FBI-issued tablet.


Out of the twenty-four, they were able to narrow it down to twelve when Spencer called in, telling them to meet him at the shipyard. They had figured it out.


Katharine told him that they'd be there soon, hanging up before calling up a SWAT team. Once again, they piled back into the SUV and took off to Spencer's location.


Kathrine hastily pulled on her Kevlar vest, making sure the straps were on tight before double-checking her weapons.


When they arrived, Katharine was handed a bullhorn.


"All right, listen up," Derek commanded. "We move in as soon as SWAT is in position."


He looked over at Katharine, who gave him a thumbs up.


"Bill Thomas," she called out to him. They received no answer. Katharine called out to him again, shaking her head when she realized her words were falling on deaf ears.


"What's going on in there?" Spencer asked anxiously. Katharine shrugged, discarding the bullhorn in an exchange for her gun.


"Derek," she said. "I'm going in."


Derek looked at her in apprehension, before sighing, giving her the go-ahead. This was her job, after all. She hadn't been brought in as just a profiler.


Katharine made her way toward the boat, entering and clearing the area. She turned to a set of stairs and started to descend.


"No!" she screamed as she saw Alison Sparks raise a gun at her kidnapper. Katharine's heart dropped when she realized that she had been a moment too late. The bullet had left the chamber even before she had a chance to speak.


She heard Derek shouting in her ear as Alison dropped the weapon and fell into her dead husband's chest. Katharine rushed around to check Bill Thomas's pulse, retracting her hand when she realized that he was dead.


Katharine heard footsteps coming down the stairs and she stood. Her eyes connected with Derek's as she shook her head. Bill Thomas was dead.


Derek went over to check on Alison Sparks while Katharine made her way back to the surface, only stopping to inform the paramedics on the situation down below.


Almost as if she were in a daze, she stumbled over to Spencer, who gathered her up in his arms. He was shushing her, gently stroking her head as she dry sobbed. She watched in silence as Alison and Sammy were reunited, her heart going out to the woman who had lost so much over the past few days.


She stared at the mother, who had collapsed on her knees in front of her son. Katharine turned her head, giving the family the privacy they deserved.









    "I KNEW YOU WERE WATCHING ME."


    Emily Prentiss sat in the park chair, unaware of the drone that had been circling above her and Ian Doyle. Katharine's jaw tightened as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. Two hours ago she had told Spencer that she was going to get some exercise before going to bed.


    He had kissed her on the forehead and told her that he was going to practice a bit on the keyboard they had bought upon their return. For an hour, the sounds of classical filled their home. Now, the same tune was being repeated. Katharine assumed Spencer had gotten lost in his thoughts and defaulted to the same recurring notes.


    "What's the expression?" she watched as Ian Doyle talked to her friend. "Keeps your friends close, your enemies under surveillance?"


    "I've been here for two hours. You should know better than to keep a lady waiting."


    "It seems hypocritical, seeing as I had to wait seven years."


    "Hello, Ian."


    Katharine's heart nearly gave out when the man sat in the chair across from her friend. She looked at her second monitor as new information from Nina came in. It was the individual identities of each of the original JTF-12 team members.


    "Hello, Lauren. Oh, wait. Lauren Reynolds died in a car accident, didn't she?"


    This time, she was sure her heart had given out. She could practically feel it give out as she read the information that had appeared on her screen.


    "What do you want?"


    "You," Katharine watched as Emily grew defensive immediately. "Oh, not today. Don't worry about that. But soon."


"I've got a Glock leveled at your crotch. What's to stop me from taking you and the little ones out right now?"


"You'd never make it back to your car and you know it. Tell me, does the lovely Penelope know the truth about you? Or is she too busy watching movies with Derek to care? Here you are, all alone, while Aaron sits at home with his son. And why didn't Dave invite you to have dinner tonight? Maybe he thought you'd be working out with Katharine in her basement while Dr. Reid sat upstairs playing the piano. Oh, that one does have some quirks."


All the blood drained from her features as Doyle mentioned her team. She made a mental note to up security on her home.


"Come near my team and I will end you," Emily defended them.


"I don't have a quarrel with most of them. How long that remains the case depends entirely on you. They're innocent. You and one other are not."


"One other?"


Katharine had her phone out in an instant, dialing Nina's familiar number before pressing the device to her ear. She waited a bit, being redirected to voicemail. She swore. Nina was most likely asleep.


"Oh, have I caught your interest?"


"No," Emily refuted. "And I was doing my job."


"I think you did a little more than that. You took the only thing that mattered to me. So I'm going to take the only thing that matters to you. Your life. Honore de Balzac once said, 'most people of action are inclined to fatalism, and most of thought believe in Providence.' Tell me, Emily Prentiss, which do you think you're going to be?"


Doyle looked up and through the camera of the drone, straight into Katharine's soul. She shuddered before ordering the drone off. She disabled the feed immediately, sending the drone back to its loading dock before deleting the footage.


Some things were best left undiscovered.

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