memento vivere - supernatural & criminal minds

chapter 31

Chapter 31
Be Not Afraid

Spencer had been abducted. 

When they arrived at Hankel's house, they found JJ bloody and shaken in the barn. She sat with glazed eyes in the back of the ambulance while Jude picked hay from her hair. They had split up, she explained, and the dogs had tried to attack her when she entered the barn. Their bullet-ridden corpses were being loaded out along with what little remained of Mrs. Douglas. Jude made sure to block JJ's view.

A few minutes after this discovery, they received a call from a sheriff a few towns over. He had given directions to a man fitting Hankel's description. They chased the lead to a motel in Ford Bend and found nothing. It was a misdirection. Penelope was instructed to fly over and while Hotch left to collect her, the BAU took over Hankel's house. It was in utter disarray. Hankel had clearly been holed up there for years and his belongings stacked up in a labyrinthine mess that made their task all the more daunting.

Jude entered the dining room with a box of Hankel's journals - one of many - balanced on her hip. "I've been in churches with less religious iconography in this house. It had to have been a big part of his upbringing." Morgan took the box off her hands to add to their growing pile. Jude paused to lean against a chair and spotted JJ lingering in the kitchen doorway. "You holding up okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm..." Jude raised a brow. "No. Not at all."

Jude pulled out her chair. "Sit." This was an order. JJ obliged and Jude took a seat across from her. "Talk."

"It was just guts on that mattress. Guts and blood," JJ whispered, looking down at her hands. "There's nothing for her husband to bury. And for him to learn how and why she died, I just...I can't imagine what that must feel like." She closed her eyes. When they reopened, that glassy stare from the back of the ambulance had returned. Jude urged her to continue. "It was Reid's idea to split up. I should've tried harder to stop him. I should've-"

"No, not that. Don't do that," Jude stood and pulled JJ up by the arm. "Hypotheticals change nothing. All we can do now is find them." This blunt advice was more characteristic of Hotch, but as he was not there to deliver it, Judee had to try. "Go splash some cold water on your face and start working. Keep yourself busy."

These were strong words coming from the woman who had spent the entire night into early morning wanting to throw up. A mix of nausea and hunger gnawed at her stomach, but she refused to eat. She was walking blearily out of the kitchen holding another box of journals when Hotch returned with Penelope. Their techie gave Jude a quick hug before Morgan guided her to Hankel's computer room with its alarming amount of monitors.

Scanning the chaos, Hotch asked, "Anything new since I left?"

Jude scoffed. "Too much. I don't think Hankel's left this place in years. The good thing is that he documented everything."

"But the bad news is also that he documented everything," Prentiss added. "We're still compiling all the journals. Hopefully, there's something in here about where he took Reid, but he was smart enough to pretend to be looking for a motel to throw us off his trail."

Gideon shook his head. "It's more than that. Every time he engages the police and gets away with it, he reassures himself that God's on his side. Not ours."

Jude's stomach turned. She stepped out, winding through the cluttered halls to the computer room. When she reached it, she heard Penelope remark "Okay, that's weird."

"What's weird?"

Penelope beckoned her over. "Hankel set up a site once he commandeered peoples' webcams. He keeps a running clock, and at a certain point, each one is bookmarked with a different heading."