Edge of Mercy (A Kate Reid Novel Book 11), Robin Mahle [freenovel24 .txt] 📗

20

It was 7am and the BAU team sat around the conference table. Some sipped on their mugs of coffee. Some picked at the bagels that had been brought in. All wore exhaustion and frustration. Fisher surveyed his people. “It doesn’t look like any of you slept much last night,” he said and pushed his hand through his thick hair. “It’s no wonder considering how we left things in Raleigh.”

“It wasn’t the desired outcome,” Nick began. “Our job was to root out the suspect, create a profile and assist the agent in Houston with predicting when and where we might find Theodore Bishop. We accomplished all of that.”

“Except capturing him,” Kate added. “Where do we go from here?”

“I believe we’ve reached the end of the road on this one, Reid,” Fisher replied. “This isn’t the same as what happened in Rio. There, we had a man, a wealthy man, who traveled back and forth and got sloppy.”

“Why can’t we contact the FBI’s international office in Mexico City and ask them to hunt down Bishop?” Duncan asked. “Assuming he did cross over the border or is about to.”

“That is likely where we’ll take this, and considering we know who the suspect is, there would be no need for our involvement. In Rio, we worked on profiling an unsub until we got a match. We know who we’re after here,” Fisher replied.

“Then we have to at least go through the process,” Walsh said. “Duncan’s right. If Bishop is headed there, and I have no reason to believe he isn’t, let those guys in Mexico City know who they’re dealing with. Leave it in their capable hands.”

“There was something that I couldn’t shake last night,” Kate began. “When I spoke to the ex-girlfriend, Holly, she said she had talked to Bishop earlier the day before and we traced the call back to the bus depot in Charlotte.”

“Which was how we discovered he was going to Raleigh,” Walsh added.

“Right. But then we discover he’d been there a full two days earlier? I don’t see how that was possible. Where was the disconnect and how can we figure out how this happened?”

Fisher nodded. “I’m not sure it’s relevant at this point…”

“It’s completely relevant,” Kate interrupted. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to contradict you, but someone went through a lot of trouble to help Bishop evade us. Frankly, I’m surprised all the evidence showing Bishop had purchased a ticket to Mexico wasn’t erased. Why leave that detail? Why tell us where he was going, but erase the when?”

“All I can say to that is, erasing the entire record of his purchase, deleting the scan; that might’ve been too difficult for whoever could’ve pulled off something like that,” Walsh replied. “Maybe the best they could do was to throw us off his scent. Give Bishop enough time to make his move.”

“For the sake of argument, say Reid is right. Someone intervened and helped Bishop get into Mexico. Reid and Walsh did the legwork. You both talked to his former classmates, co-workers. Was there anyone you came across who you believe helped him escape?” Nick asked.

Kate looked at Walsh. “Not that I could tell. You?”

“It was odd that most of the people in a position of authority over Bishop swept his wrongdoings under the rug,” Walsh added. “But from what we discovered, no one wanted to face lawsuits. Pretty typical behavior, I’d say.”

“Where does that leave us, then?” Duncan added. “Who helped him and where do we start to figure that out?”

“We have stacks of consult requests, we need to replace a team member, and I just don’t think spending any more of our resources on something that can be handled by another office is what we should be doing.” Fisher sighed. “I get it. I was a detective for a lot of years. I hated to walk away from an unsolved case. God knows I still do. But this isn’t going cold. It’s being transferred. You did your job. We all did our jobs. It’s time to move on.” Fisher stood. “With that, I’ll get the ball rolling with the office in Mexico City. I’ll ask that you all submit your relevant case files and any reports so that I can send them over, including the Oakview and Riverside ME reports on their victims. They’ll need everything we have to build their own case file.”

“Will we be able to assist them, should they ask?” Kate said.

“Of course.” Fisher started to leave.

Nick stood up and turned to Kate. “I’m going to go talk to him.” He followed Fisher into the hall. “Hey, can we sit down in your office for a minute?”

Fisher studied him before answering. “Sure.”

They walked into Fisher’s office and Nick closed the door.

“What is it you want to talk about? I’ve made the decision, Scarborough.”

“I know you have.” Nick pulled out a chair. “But I have to agree with Reid.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Fisher looked away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. Go on.”

“No, you’re right. I do tend to back her up because I believe she’s right. Look, I’ve worked with Reid for enough years to know when she gets a wild hair, it’s for a damn good reason.”

“What do you want me to do? We can’t just take over an investigation. You know that. If the Mexico City office needs our help, then great. I’m all for that. But let them do their jobs. It’s what we would expect, isn’t it?”

“What if we can run on some aspects here on our end? The case did start with us,” Nick said.

“It started with Palmero in Houston,” Fisher replied.

“And Palmero still has a suspect out there. There was a disconnect somewhere. Reid was right about that. I think you can see it too.”

“You always come to her defense,” Fisher said.

“I’ll jump to the defense of anyone on this team if I think they’re in the right, including you, despite what you might think.”

Fisher shook his head. “I’m just not sure what direction to