TO BE LOVED
:: xxvii, to be loved

Hotch began, "Will called me not too long ago. He said that Jennifer went to see Chrissy to work out something because they weren't getting along and that's the last he seen or heard from her."

Everyone's attention gathered towards Thomas.

"Yeah, she was there." Thomas recalled, "But she left right after the talk. Chrissy said Jennifer was gone within the next hour or two."

"Ok." Morgan intervened, "But what was going on between them? Why weren't they getting along?"

Thomas cleared his throat, "Chrissy didn't like that me and Jennifer are close. Because of that, drew a wedge between them and Jennifer was there to reconcile."

"What if it's the Sherwood killer?" Spencer blurted out.

That definitely got Thomas' attention, "How exactly?"

"The killer follows you. Kills people around you."

"But why veer from men to women?" A reasonable question was asked.

Spencer's eyes stayed on Thomas, "Jealousy. The killer didn't like that Jennifer was close to Thomas, like Chrissy."

Thomas scoffed, "What's with you tossing around their names this entire case? You got some weird vendetta against the Vanderbilts?" His tone got angry, "Keep my wife and her brother's name out of your mouth."

The energy completely changed in that room and for the first time ever, Hotch wasn't completely sure on what to do but to keep a clear head and be objective.

Hotch's tone was stern, "Our only priority is finding Jennifer. We will go wherever the case leads us. However . . " He looked to Thomas, "Your home was the last place she was at and Chrissy was the last to see her. We need to ask Chrissy questions."

"For the sake of Jennifer."

Thomas walked out of the conference room and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts till he found the name he was looking for, my heart with a red heart emoji.

He pressed the call button and just waited.

• • •

Chrissy sat in a chair across from Jennifer's sleeping body when her phone was vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the caller id, tommy with a white heart emoji.

She stood up, "I'll be back." She told her brother before stepping out the room to answer the call.

"Hey, it's me. It's getting heated over here but they want to talk to you."

"Why?"

He sighed on the other end, "You were the last to see Jennifer. That's why. How fast can you be here?"

"Twenty minutes tops." She didn't hesitate in her answer. It wasn't necessarily part of the plan but she had a few tricks up her sleeve.

After hanging up the call, Chrissy walked back into the room and filled jones in before telling him to watch her while she went out. So, she took the keys and borrowed jones' car, heading to headquarters.

The ride was a bit longer than anticipated. But nonetheless, she was gonna do what she came to do and that was lying her ass off so unexpectedly. She had to play the card which was Thomas' distressed wife.

She parked on the curb before heading into the tall building. She was greeted by security as agent Anderson showed her to the elevator. He pressed the sixth floor, then the two just stood there waiting.

Eventually, the elevator dinged as well as stopped, opening the doors to the sixth floor. The two walked out and headed to the glass doors, where Anderson opened one for Chrissy. The two walked in and immediately grasped the attention of the agents who were around, Thomas and Morgan.

Thomas walked up to his wife with an indescribable expression.

"Ready?" He asked her and she just nodded in response.

Chrissy followed Thomas to an interview room and he told her to wait till an agent came to speak with her.

Five minutes later, the door opened to the room and Emily walked in. She pulled out the chair from under the table sat across from Chrissy as the door was heard slammed shut.

"Thomas says you were the last to see agent jareau. What can you tell me about that?"

Chrissy lightly sighed, "She was there roughly an hour. We drank wine and talked. Nothing more, nothing less."

Emily nodded understandingly, "And what time would you say she came and left?"

Chrissy made an expression, acting like she was genuinely thinking, "I'd say she arrived around nine, just when Thomas was heading out the door and left around ten. In the morning."

"Do you remember anything else?"

Chrissy shook her head, "No. What I said was everything that happened. She came and left. Is there anything else you need, agent?"

Emily wasn't hesitant, "Was jones with you?"

"Yes. He was home all day. With me."

Emily nodded, "Can anyone else backup this story?"

"No, agent."

Emily then stood up as well as Chrissy, she let Chrissy leave out the door before herself. Before she could turn to her teammates, Thomas gripped her shoulder and turned her in his direction.

"What the hell, Emily."

"We have to find Jennifer." She began, "Besides, we needed to know."

Thomas just shook his head, "They have nothing to do with this." He walked past her to catch up with his wife before she headed back out to where she came from.

• • •

Thomas and Chrissy shared their see you laters before she headed off and he went back to the team to see what Emily gathered, which Chrissy hopes will be very little to nothing.

After the twenty minute drive back to the warehouse, Chrissy felt some type of relief or adrenaline rush. When she approached the open door to the room Jennifer's been staying in, she just stared at the agent —————— into her blue eyes. She was now awake.

Chrissy slowly walked in, "I see the appeal. Blonde and blue eyes. You must be everyone's type. Thomas, he's very versatile. He would have never gone for you in high school." She ripped off the duck tape from Jennifer's mouth.

Jennifer took a big gasp of air, "Maybe but there's one thing you two will never have."

Chrissy went to the table behind her and motioned jones to pass her a knife, which he did.

"And what's that, Jennifer?" Chrissy turned around with the knife in hand.

"An understanding that runs so deep, that when i look into his eyes —————— he knows. I don't have to say anything. At end of the day, out of the both of us, we know who he'd take a bullet for."

Chrissy nodded, "Right." She walked around Jennifer and crouched down behind her to whisper in her ear, "Which thigh first? Left or right? I wanna see how many stab wounds it can take before giving up."

However, back with the team, they were still trying to fit the pieces to the puzzle because the ones that were already played weren't fitting for some reason that they couldn't not put their finger on.

"Why don't we ask ourselves this . . " Morgan began, "Why would jones kill men?"

Emily chimed in, "It's not a sexual release and there are no signs on any of the victims."

"The killings, they're gruesome but cleaning is so neat." Rossi nodded, "I don't think we're dealing with one unsub, I think it's a team. One does the killing and the other cleans."

"Since this all surrounds Tom, then who else recently came back into his life other than jones?" Spencer looked amongst his team, concluding if they were all reaching the same conclusion and Thomas definitely did.

He shook his head, "I can't believe you people."

Rossi immediately took Thomas' arm, "We're gonna step out."

He yanked it out of Rossi's grip, "No, I want to hear it. Go on, Spencer."

Spencer hesitantly resumed, "The gruesomeness of the kills, means the unsub is angry, she is angry at men. Chrissy's been hurt in the past and she takes it out on everyone else except the one person who she really wants to. But in you . . " He looked to Thomas, "She found something that she never had and that's love. Your kind of love. With that, she doesn't want anyone to get in the way of. So, taking Jennifer . . . " He urged Thomas to continue.

He aggressively sighed, "Jealousy. Me and Jennifer had something and she knew. I guess she didn't believe me when I told her there was nothing going on anymore." He immediately rose his voice, "It's not her! None of this makes sense!"

Thomas turned on his feet and rushed out the room. He wanted to be by himself, to be alone with his thoughts. Once he was alone in Jennifer's old office, he immediately pulled out his phone and called Chrissy.

to be continued . . .

a/n:
Thomas is in a BIG denial