CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: EX-CONVICT !

5x11
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IT WAS ANOTHER WIN FOR THE TEAM. They had tracked down an ex-convict who had killed someone and kidnapped his own daughter. The guy had been sloppy with his crime and ended up getting caught. Casey had offered to ride with the head officer in charge, Officer Bunting and with the convict by the name of Dale Shrader.

So, Casey was currently on the ride with the two. She sat in the front as they began to drive to the station.

     "Killed a random woman and kidnapped his kid. Used the same truck. Not the brightest bulb." Officer Bunting stated. "He's been locked up for eleven years. It's been a while." Casey told. "Don't they say these guys come out better criminals?" Bunting asks. "Smart ones do." Casey shrugs.

      "You saying I'm dumb?" Shrader questioned. "You're impatient, angry. You took your own kid just to get back at your ex. Yeah, I'd say you're dumb." Casey told.

       "You got it all figured out."
       "Well, your ex-wife said--"
       "She was a liar. And I should have killed her."
       "Like you killed Stacy Ryan?"

    Casey scoffs at the man. "Why did you do it? I'm genuinely curious." She asks. "You wouldn't understand." Shrader answers. "Try me." Casey tells.

    "I didn't know they had Girl Scouts in the FBI." Shrader tells. "Shove it." Casey tells as Bunting glares at the rear view mirror.

    "Here's what I don't get about this guy." Casey begins. "What's that?" Bunting asks. "His whole life he's a thief, he comes out of prison a murderer." She tells. "He killed an innocent woman." Bunting says. "How do you know she's innocent?" Shrader questions.

    "You stabbed her and threw her out of a truck. What the hell did she ever do to you? You know, what I don't get is why you couldn't just appreciate the freedom. You could have holed up in that cabin a long time, enjoyed the quiet. But some people just need the distractions. You probably got used to all that madness when you were locked up." Bunting explained.

     "It's madness for the sheep to talk peace with a wolf." Shrader says. "That sounds like something my daddy would say." says Bunting. "Thomas Fuller." Casey tells.

    "You impressed?"
    "I'm surprised. So, you're the wolf."
    "You have no idea."
    "There it is. That despicable ego. Most men have it. You know, for one second, you were unpredictable. But you can't help yourself. You gotta talk a big talk 'cause you have nothing left except for your masculinity. But just so you know, that's boring and not everyone likes it." Casey explains.

     Suddenly, Shrader doubled over in his seat in pain. "Oh, I'm gonna be sick." He tells. "What's going on?" Bunting asks. "I don't know." Casey shakes her head. "I'm gonna pull over." Bunting tells and stops the car. "Oh, I'm gonna be sick."

     Casey could tell Bunting thought them needing to stop was ridiculous. "Am I still boring?" Shrader asks. "What?" Casey asks in confusion. "Am I boring?!"

    Before Casey could process anything, everything took a turn for the worst as the car had been crashed into and the car flipped over down the road.

    All Casey could hear was the ringing in her ears and all she could see was a blurry vision and stars. She turned her head and saw Shrader choking Bunting to death. Shrader stopped choking him once Bunting was dead and began reaching over on Casey's side for the keys. Unfortunately, he had retrieved the keys to his handcuffs and got out of his handcuffs.

Casey looked over and saw someone coming towards them. "I'm a federal agent! I have a prisoner in here who's just killed this officer!" She yelled.

"I knew it. You are one committed son of a bitch." The man reached to the backseat and pulled Shrader out. "No, no, that's the prisoner! What are you doing?" Casey shouted.

"Give me the gun."
"What?"
The two men were having a conversation.
"What's wrong with you? You killed a cop?"
"Give me the gun. She's a fed. Look, she knows there's two of us now."

Casey began to try and reach for her seatbelt. "There's a lot of blood. Put pressure on it. You're gonna be all right." The man pulls Shrader away towards his truck and Casey successfully gets out of her seatbelt and reaches for her gun, which she successfully retrieves.

With her boot, she pushes the broken windshield and gets out of the car as Shrader and his buddy are getting away. She fires three times at them and as she limps up the hill, she fires more shots at them, not hitting them once.

Casey had stayed at the road and saw bright headlights and she squinted as she heard Morgan's voice and saw Emily rushing towards her. "Pull over. That's one of us. Pull over." Morgan shouted.

"Willows!" Morgan got out of the car and Emily had reached Casey. "Casey, are you okay?" Emily asked. "What the hell happened?" Morgan questioned once he reached them. 

Casey points towards the crashed car. "Bunting's down there. He's dead." She tells. "Where's Schrader?" Emily asks.

"He's gone. It was a--a big... t-truck, New York tags, I think... uh, Victor Alpha 737. License plate. They went northbound about ten minutes ago." Casey explains. "Son of a bitch got away." Morgan says.

"And another thing... he's got a partner." Casey informs and both Emily and Morgan exchange a look.

The team had been informed of Casey's accident and Casey was currently in the hospital and Morgan had decided to stay with her as Emily had gone back with the team at the station. Casey had a concussion and was currently arguing with Morgan about leaving... to which, Morgan suggested that she shouldn't leave and that she should rest.

"No, we gotta find Schrader." Casey told as she rolled on a stretcher and she held an ice pack to her head. "The team's got it covered." Morgan assured.

"Please, Morgan, don't make me stay here. I'm fine, really. Pull this thing over." Casey told the doctors. "Willows, you can't even focus. You have a concussion." Morgan tells.

"I saw the guy—"
"White, 40s, I know."
"Okay, so give me a cognitive interview."
"Your adrenaline's pumping."
"And?"

"Casey, you're in shock." Morgan told, he wanted her to stay at the hospital but Casey obviously wanted to leave. "It just happened. It'll never be clearer." Casey told.

"How many shots did you fire?" Morgan tested. Casey thought for a few seconds. "Three." She answered. "You emptied your clip." Morgan corrected. "No... I— I did?"

After arguing with the doctors and against Morgan's wishes, Casey had won over and they decided to release her from the hospital. A doctor had been rolling her in a wheelchair and they had come across Morgan walking towards them. "I can take her from here. Thanks." Morgan tells the doctor and the doctor nods.

"Thank you," Casey says to the doctor as he walks away. "I can walk, you know." Casey assures. "Sit, I like pushing you around." Casey chuckles as Morgan takes over.

"Does it hurt?" Morgan asks. "If by 'it', you mean my entire body, then yes." Casey says. "Did Jenny see anything?" She mentioned Shrader's daughter. "She never saw the partner. They found a truck ditched a few miles from the accident. Plates were missing, but the front end definitely hit your car."

"Okay, so the partner saw everything in the woods, he ran away and stole a truck? Who is this guy?" Casey wondered aloud. "He knew you were taking that road back to the station. He waited for you and he crashed into you. This whole thing feels meticulous." Morgan tells.

"Okay, so he needs the partner for something else. The question is what. I mean, he was locked up all this time. He planned the whole day. He should have had backup plans for his backup plans." Casey explains.
"His ex shouldn't have been home for a few hours, so he clearly had enough time to get across the border with Jenny until we showed up." Morgan adds.

"But he stayed local, holed up in that cabin. He had what he wanted. He could have just run." Casey says. "There's gotta be something else keeping him in Lockport."

Casey closes her eyes and thinks about the officer that was killed beside her.  "I couldn't stop him from choking Bunting." She blamed. "Casey, don't do that." Morgan scolds. "But, he was right there."

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      Morgan had taken Casey back to the station and Garcia had immediately called Casey. "Hello?" Casey asked. "Fair maiden, oh, it's so good to hear your voice. You're okay, right?" Garcia asks. "Yes, I'm okay, Pen." Casey assures.

       "Okay, good. I found out some more info on your guy's past." Penelope told as she they arrived back in the room where everyone else was at. Reid was the first person to notice Casey walk through the door. "Hey." Everyone immediately turned over to the door.

      "Hey." Casey greeted. "How are you?" JJ asks. "I feel like I got hit by a truck." Casey jokes. "Here, sit." Emily offers and pulls a seat over to Casey so she could sit for a moment. "Thanks." Casey says and holds her phone up as she puts it on speaker. "Uh, Garcia, tell everyone what you just told me."

     "I have unearthed more of Schrader's past. Now, what we do know is that he robbed fifteen banks In the state of New York in the nineties. However, what your resident glamour-puss smarty-pants just found out was that most of that money was never recovered." Garcia explained.

     "Where is it?" Reid asks.
     "My best guess-- only he knows." Garcia tells.  
     "Good reason to stick around Lockport." Rossi says. "The last robbery, the one that put him away, should have been routine, right? So, what happened?" JJ asks. "Maybe someone turned him in." Emily thinks.

      "He kept to himself, always worked alone. Who'd turn him in?" Garcia asks. "We're missing somebody." Rossi adds. "Garcia." Hotch spoke. "Yes, checking, sir."

      After discovering that Shrader had a partner that he wanted dead, Dan Otey, they arrived at the Otey home and discovered Dan was dead and that the partner had taken Dan's wife and son upstairs and locked them in a closet.

     The team had now been back at the station. "Schrader gets off on power. That and money are what motivate him." Hotch informs. "And revenge, eleven years away, he comes out a murderer." Morgan tells.

     "Who needs a partner, somebody as bold as him." Rossi tells. "And where'd they meet?" Reid asks. "Schrader was away and patient. The minute he got out, he hooked up with his partner first and then he killed Stacy Ryan on his way to kidnap his daughter." Hotch explains.

     "What's missing from his day?"
     "The money."
     "He took his daughter but left the money. That doesn't make any sense."
     "Did he have another plan on how to support himself in Canada?"
     "He's only known a life of crime. He's incapable of change. Time away proved that."

     "Well, Otey's wife said that the partner locked them away, like he didn't want them to get hurt." Emily tells. "He was protective." JJ added. "That's weird, right?"

      "They're both dominant personalities, But they sound like they played good cop/bad cop." Rossi tells and Casey looks in Morgan's direction.

     "Well, it's been 4 hours since the accident. Still think I'm in shock?" Casey asks and Morgan looks at the girl. "There's one way to find out." The two begin their cognitive interview.

      Casey sat in a chair and Morgan sat in front of her. Casey had her eyes closed. This was how they did it with the victims they helped. She knew how to do this. "All right, take a deep breath, Willows. Tell me what you saw. Was it dark?"

      "Well, yeah. You were there. You know it was."
      "Come on, now."
      Casey sighs, "Okay."

   "What did it smell like inside the car?" Morgan asks and Casey exhales, "Sweat."
   "So you were hot?"
   "Yeah. I--I opened the window a little bit. It's really quiet."

    "Are there any other cars on the road?" Morhan asked and Casey envisioned herself back on the road and back in that car. "There's one coming." Casey tells. "What color is it?" Morgan asks.

     "I... It's too bright." Casey shut her eyes tightly. "Okay, but you looked at it. You saw it." Casey thinks hard. "It's a 4-door hybrid, uh, black."

      "Where was Schrader?" Morgan asks. "He's looking out the window." Casey tells. "Was he waiting for something?" He questions. "Here comes another car."

    "A car or the truck?"
        "It's the truck. Schrader sees it. That's when it happens. He's... out of his seatbelt. He's hunched over and he gets his cuffs out in front of him."
       "Okay, then what?"
       "Uh, Bunting pulled over and--and Schrader put his seatbelt back on. He knew it was coming."

      "Where did the truck come from?"
      "Uh, behind us." Casey thought a second more. "Uh, no-- uh... It was in front of us. I-I know. It was in front us."

     "Who was driving, Willows?"
     "I don't know. I can't see."
     "Ok. It's all right, it's all right." Morgan assures, sensing that Casey was freaking out a bit. "You're sure it was the truck?"

       "Yeah. It's a big truck."
       "Think. Who was driving?"
       "A white male, 40s."
       "All right, now your car stops rolling."

       "Yeah. Um... I'm pinned. My seatbelt is jammed. I can't breathe. I can't see anything. I can hear-- oh, God, he's killing Bunting."

      "But the partner's not there yet?"
      "No."
      "Where is he?"
      "He's running towards us."

    Casey keeps up the interview and then realizes that when he was telling Shrader to put pressure on it, he was really telling Casey to. He was helping her.

     "He knew we were on that road. He was upset that Bunting was dead. He wouldn't let Schrader kill me. He kept telling me to put pressure on it. And he was calm, like he's done this before. He was helping me." Casey recited to the rest of the team.

     "He took Dan Otey's family upstairs, protected them from Schrader." JJ tells. "Do we really think a good guy hooked up with a criminal like Dale Schrader?" Morgan questions. "Not unless there was something in it for him." Casey tells.

      It had finally been sunrise and they had discovered Joey Short, also known as Joe Muller, who Casey fortunately recognized to be the guy that had gotten Shrader out of the car. They tracked him down at a safety deposit place and Emily, Morgan and Casey found Joe and Shrader before they could leave.

     "Stop the car!" Morgan yelled. "Put your hands where I can see them!" Shrader had Muller in a headlock and held a gun to his head. "Schrader, put it down!" Emily yelled, holding her gun up. "You really gonna let me blow his brains out?"

      "Drop it or we'll shoot!" Casey shouted, holding her weapon up to Shrader. "What's wrong, agent? You still upset that I killed your buddy? Did he have kids like this one? Huh? Look at her. She's pissed."

      "Don't kill him." Muller begs. "Look at that look in her eyes. She's gonna. She is gonna do it. Come on, what are you gonna do?!" Muller continues to beg for the three to not shoot him.  

     But, the three do. Muller tries to bring him back to consciousness. "Hey! No! No! Where are they? Where's my family? Tell me where they are!" Muller looks over and locks eyes with Casey. "She just killed my family." He gets out of the car and starts screaming in Casey's face. "You just killed my family!"

     "Calm down!" Casey backs away. "You just killed my family!" He puts hands on her to which Morgan immediately steps in and Emily stands by Casey's side.

     The three had taken him back to the station to question him. "The only person who knew where my family was and now he's dead. I had every chance to kill him. But I couldn't. Because he had my family. Two days. Somewhere." Muller explains.

    "And this photograph is the only proof of life?" Emily asks. "Where's my phone?" Reid hands him his phone and Joe shows them a message his wife had left to him and you could hear his children in the background.

Joe explains that the last time he saw his wife, it was two mornings before. He had talked about Stacy Ryan and that she was trying to say something to him but Shrader killed her before she could. Joe had witnessed the entire thing. Shrader had thrown her body down a hill. They had pieced together that the only reason Stacy didn't fit in the case was because they didn't know... but then, they figured it out. She knew about Joe's family being kept there. Fortunately, in the end, Joe's family was found.

Reid had offered to take Casey home and no matter how much she argued against it, Reid was still set on taking her. "You need anything?" Reid asked as soon as he opened the front door for her.

"Um, you have one stable leg, I should be asking you that. Plus, it's my apartment, you're my guest." Casey tells, putting her things down. "And sorry about my apartment by the way, it's not usually this messy." She told, mentioning the dirty laundry on her couch and corners. Papers were scattered all over the table and her dishes were piled up... yup, Casey Willows really did live here.

"Oh, it's fine." Reid says. But truth be told, his germ thing was acting up and he really wanted to tidy up her apartment... but it was her apartment... not his.

Casey sat herself down on the couch. "Are you sure you're okay?" Reid asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm home, I can get some rest. You, too, by the way. You have one more week on that cane." Reid chuckles a bit, looking down at the cane Casey had decided to chip in to get him since he didn't really need to be on crutches anymore.

"Really, I'm fine. You can go home." Casey says and Reid sighs, "Okay, well, I'll see you later." Casey stands up and walks him out. "See ya." Casey closes the door behind Reid and exhales and walks towards the couch again.

        There is another knock on her door before she can fully sit down and Casey scoffs, "Reid, did you forget something?" She walks towards the door again and opens it but is met with no one and she looks to the ground and sees a vase of flowers. She picks the flowers up and looks up and down the hall but no one is seen.

       Casey closes and locks her door as she walks towards the counter and places the flowers down on counter. They had been sunflowers, which happened to be her favorite. She looked at the card and saw what was written.

       "To you, C."

       C? Who was C?

      Casey shrugged it off, thinking she probably had an admirer in the building. She knew it wasn't Reid since he didn't have flowers and he was just in her apartment. Casey actually liked the flowers and she liked that she had someone that admired her from afar. The question was: who?

HEY, LOVELIES!!!
this plot is just the start of something✨
anywayssss i hope you guys enjoyed it
this was kinda rushed but idc lmao

ALSO
christmas break!!!
meansssss two weeks worth of updating lol
finals literally stressed me out last week lmaooo
and i'm still stressed out cuz idk my final grades for two classes i really need to pass lmaoooo

anywayssss
thank you for reading!!
uncanny valley is next!
-mya 🌻