❝In this short life/That only lasts an hour/How much--how little--is/Within our power.❞

EMILY DICKINSON

✩

2.8 : porter drive

OR

season 7, episode 9 : self-fulfilling prophecy (ctd.)

THE NEXT MORNING, WHEN THE TEAM ARRIVES BACK AT SOMERVILLE, THEY ARE GREETED WITH NO NEWS AT ALL. Josh is still missing, there are no leads, and worst of all, his parents have decided to move all of his belongings out of his room. They have decided that regardless of the outcome, Somerville is not the place for Josh anymore. Fin would tend to agree with them, although she wishes they had realized this three years ago.

 Hotch and JJ escort the Reddings to Josh's room, hoping to learn more about him, while Fin joins Rossi and Emily in talking to some of the cadets. Massey's been utterly no help, and for some reason, whenever anyone challenges his secrecy, Strauss backs him up. She's getting on Fin's nerves, and Fin's attempting to avoid her as much as possible.

They get nothing from a cadet named Carter Campbell, who seems intent on avoiding all of their questions. Suspicion nags at Fin's stomach; once again, she feels as though nothing is as it appears, and it makes her highly uncomfortable.

Another younger cadet, however, a black boy named Randy Parker is much more helpful. He's folding towels, staring at them with wide eyes. "Is it true Josh killed them all?"

"Do you think he did?" Rossi asks shrewdly, hands in his pockets.

Randy shrugs. "I wouldn't fool with Josh."

"You're a smart kid," Rossi says. "He's a big guy. You ever see him fight?"

"All the time." Randy nods. Fin has a sudden urge to whisk him away from this school forever. He has an innocence in his eyes, one that this school will surely steal from him, and that makes Fin angry.

"What about Josh and Tucker Calhoun?" Emily asks. The one thing they sort of got from Carter is that Josh and Tucker might not have gotten along very well. "Did they ever get into it?"

"Tucker was an ass," Randy answers quietly. "He used to come in here and pee on the sheets after we washed them."

"Did he do that on the night that Bailey Shelton committed suicide?" Emily raises her eyebrows.

"The bastard did it every night." Randy's eyes darken a little.

"Did Tucker pick on Bailey specifically?" Fin asks, lowering her voice and taking a few steps toward Randy. One thing is for certain: The walls have ears, and everything gets back to Massey, one way or another.

Randy nods. "Him and some other guys. Bailey was little, tried to be nice. Made him an easy target."

"Do you think Josh wanted to punish those kids for picking on Bailey?" Emily asks.

"Sure." Randy shrugs. "But he wasn't supposed to be on that trip anyway."

"What do you mean?" Rossi frowns.

"It's a leadership reward," Randy replies. "You gotta have at least twenty points to go. But Josh only had sixteen."

"Points?" Rossi asks, glancing at Emily and Fin, who shake their heads. No one's said shit about points to them.

"They're posted," Randy explains. "More points, more rewards."

"How many do you have?"

Randy grimaces. "Negative five."

"Does Massey approve the points?" Fin asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Randy nods.

"Then it's rigged." Fin winks at Randy, then lowers her voice conspiratorially. "Screw him."

Randy's mouth tilts upward into a grin. He nods excitedly.

"Thanks for your help." Rossi places a hand on Fin's shoulder, guiding her toward the door. "Let's not start a revolution here, hm? That wouldn't look great for anybody."

"Yeah, but it'd make me feel good," Fin says, running a hand through her hair with a sigh.

It takes Penelope all of ten minutes to find the point system and print out a leaderboard for everyone to see. "So Tucker Calhoun has the most points," she says, pointing to Tucker's photo on the evidence board.

"And Massey approves the points?" Spencer asks, glancing at Fin, Rossi, and Emily, who all nod.

"Maybe Tucker was his little pet," Emily says, resting her chin on her hand and staring at the board.

Penelope nods slowly. "Leader of everything."

"That comes with an attitude," Emily continues. "Steamroller types like that, they don't let anybody get in their way."

"Nothing was nice about that kid." Rossi frowns thoughtfully. "It sounds like he strong-armed everybody."

"Well, then the points are for bad behavior," Penelope says, tapping her pen on the table absentmindedly. "Only they're not calling it that."

"We should look at the points of everyone who died in those woods," Emily says, pointing to the board. "My guess is they were all bullies."

"Except for Josh," Spencer mutters softly.

"So how did he get sent on that trip?" Fin asks, frowning. "Was he a target for Tucker and the others, or was he coerced into something else?"

"That's what we have to find out." Rossi nods.

✩

The next morning brings lots of news–but not the good kind. Bailey Shelton's father is dead, having fallen into a pit of spikes, set up by Josh, and it turns out that he was the one who killed the boys in the woods. Massey's hiding things, too, and it's not just Fin who thinks so anymore. Morgan and Strauss have been trying to get him to crack all morning.

"I need to find students who are having trouble with authority," JJ says, sitting down next to Penelope. She and Hotch have just returned from examining Chris Shelton's body with the M.E., and from the look in her eyes, Fin can tell she's got an idea.

"Okay, I can do that." Penelope nods, typing quickly. "But I gotta tell you, they post rewards faster than they do demerits."

"Alright, well, look for kids with disciplinary issues before they came here." JJ adjusts the sleeves of her shirt, an anxious tic of hers. She does it less lately, but Fin notices it all the same.

"Okay, I got a few."

"Did any of them have class with Bailey Shelton?" JJ asks.

"No," Penelope replies slowly. "But each of the plebes have laundry duty. Does that help?"

"Their dorm is the farthest point from the laundry room," Spencer says, pointing to the map on the board. "Why are they so isolated?"

"The M.E. said Bailey had blisters and burns, his fingertips were raw, his trachea had internal scarring," JJ says, flipping through her notes.

"That's awful," Penelope whispers, shaking her head.

Spencer's eyes widen, and Fin frowns at him.

"What is it, Spencer?"

"That could be damage done inside an industrial-size dryer." He says this all quickly, mouth slightly open, surprised at his own thoughts.

"Oh, my god." Penelope stares at him, horrified.

"That's how Massey's breaking these boys," JJ says, nodding slowly.

"No, in all the materials, it says they don't believe in corporal punishment." Penelope shakes her head, and Fin can tell she doesn't want to believe that Massey would willingly torture twelve-year-old boys.

"Bailey writes about each of those boys and how they bullied him." Rossi speaks for the first time, gesturing to a small journal in his hand.

"His father must have read it and wants revenge." Spencer nods, almost excited by the prospect.

"Does it mention Josh?" JJ asks.

Rossi shakes his head. "Not at all."

"Well, that doesn't make sense." Fin frowns. "If Josh was the only kid not bullying Bailey, why would Bailey's father go after him, too?"

"What if Massey lied to Chris Shelton?" Emily asks, after a brief moment of silence.

Rossi glances at her, his brow furrowed. "And set Josh up."

Emily nods. "And he convinced Shelton that Josh was responsible for Bailey's suicide."

"That still doesn't explain how he found the secluded woods." JJ shakes her head, running a hand through her hair tiredly.

"Where's Mr. Shelton's phone?" Spencer asks, looking over at Emily and Rossi.

"It's right here." Emily pulls a cell phone out of the backpack on the table and taps it with a gloved finger. "It's got a couple of contacts on it, Somerville Academy being one of them."

"Any unknowns?" Spencer asks. "Tawes has a cell."

"Really?" Fin frowns. "I thought cell phones were against Somerville policy."

Spencer shrugs. "I think the real policy is 'Do as I say, not as I do.'"

"Uh, there's one unknown," Emily replies. "It's a text. It looks like, uh, phone numbers."

"What are they?" Spencer asks, pursing his lips in anticipation.

"252-5727 and 802-8448."

Spencer's bent over the legal pad in front of him, scribbling intently on it, and then leaps out of his chair. "Those aren't phone numbers," he says, walking over to the evidence board and pointing to a spot on the map. "That's latitude and longitude."

"Right where those boys were camping." Rossi sighs heavily.

It is a tense next few hours, knowing that Tawes is out in the woods, waiting to take out Josh on Massey's orders, and knowing also that if they don't get to him first, all the evidence against Somerville is gone. Chris Shelton's truck is parked somewhere out there, and that's Josh's best mode of escape.

Hotch splits them up, hoping that if they divide and conquer, they'll be able to find Josh and the truck before Tawes does. Fin heads out with JJ, Emily with Rossi, and Morgan with Hotch, while Spencer stays behind with Strauss and Penelope. They each take one of three likely areas, and Fin holds tightly to the door handle as JJ speeds over bumpy dirt roads and around tight curves, her heart pounding in her throat.

But she can finally breathe a sigh of relief when her phone rings and Hotch says, "It's over. We have Josh."

When they return to the academy campus, Morgan arrests Massey, marching him out the door of his office in front of all of his students. It's a slap in the face to Massey's ego, and Fin very much enjoys it.

"Now we get to go home," Penelope sighs. "And those CIA jerks can get out of my lair."

Fin laughs. "What is with the CIA and FBI hating each other?"

"A long history of lying to each other," Rossi replies, grinning. "Like an old married couple who stayed together for the kids. Believe me, I know."

The flight back is quiet, uneventful. Morgan and Hotch talk in low tones at one end of the plane; JJ sleeps in a chair next to Emily, who's rereading Fahrenheit 451 for the umpteenth time; Rossi's playing a game on his phone; and Spencer is writing a letter to his mother. He used to write every day, but then life got crazy–you know, like when one of your friends dies and then comes back to life–and he stopped writing to her. Now he's trying to get back into the habit.

Fin rests her head on his shoulder, yawning as the sweet sounds of Norah Jones play in her headphones. She drifts off a few times, but never falls into a truly deep sleep, which is disappointing when the plane lands, jerking her out of a doze.

Penelope practically sprints out of the elevator toward her lair, bag flying behind her like a strange superhero's cape. Fin laughs, shaking her head and entwining her fingers with Spencer's. It's nearly nine p.m.; the Bureau can't say anything to them after hours.

"Do you want dinner?" Spencer asks, as they head through the BAU doors to grab the rest of their stuff from their desks.

Fin shrugs. "I'm not really that hungry. Honestly, all I want is to sleep. Thank God tomorrow's Saturday."

"Amen to that." Spencer sets his go bag down on his desk. "I think there's some leftover pizza in the fridge, anyway."

"Anyone for drinks?" Morgan asks, leaning against his own desk and looking at the others. "I know I could use a beer."

"Ooh, I'm in." Emily nods fervently. "Jaj?"

"Nope." JJ shakes her head. "Sorry. I promised Will I'd come home and give him a break with Henry."

"Tell them I said hi," Fin says, smiling. She misses her godson more than she realized before; it's been way too long since she's seen him.

"Wait!"

Everyone's eyes flit to the door, where Penelope is running toward them, her face pale, her eyes wide. "Stop, stop, stop!" She skids to a halt next to Morgan, gasping for breath. "Stop, don't go anywhere!"

"What's wrong?" Emily asks, frowning.

"I...I found..." Penelope attempts to catch her breath, and Morgan rubs her back gently.

"Breathe, baby girl. Breathe."

Penelope swallows hard, then looks at Fin. "I found Esther's car."

Fin's heartbeat immediately quickens. She can hear it pounding in her ears. "Where?"

"I don't know where it is now," Penelope replies, her hands shaking. "I lost it on the cameras, but the last place I saw it was–was turning onto Porter Drive."

"That's...that's the street where Lars's safe house is," Fin whispers, and her knees buckle. Spencer grabs her waist and holds her steady.

All of a sudden, her world seems to fold in on itself and everything goes fuzzy. Her ears are ringing and all she can think is please God keep my sister safe.

~

.......uh oh.