Chapter 118: Ma'am, You Don't Want That Either, Do You?
"Mrs. Davenport, Miss Davenport, the most important thing right now is rescuing Trixie."
The blonde JJ couldn't take it anymore and had to intervene.
"You're right."
Mr. Davenport looked at JJ gratefully, then gazed helplessly at his wife and daughter.
Although Cheryl was upset with her young stepmother, she didn't want to continue arguing when she thought of her sister's whereabouts.
"I know you've always resented me and think I'm a terrible stepmother. If I keep staying here, you'll never appreciate anything I do. I won't stick around to annoy you anymore."
The attractive young woman sneered and dropped all pretense, shaking off her husband's hand, swaying her hips as she headed upstairs.
"You don't need to keep up the act!"
Cheryl shouted at her stepmother's retreating figure.
"Now let's focus on Trixie's kidnapping,"
BAU Unit Chief Hotchner finally spoke, signaling to the FBI New Haven agent who had been waiting to brief them. "Agent Scheier?"
"This button activates the response. It mutes everyone else in the room. When the red light flashes, you can hear the caller, but they can't hear us."
A friendly middle-aged agent showed Cheryl's father the monitoring equipment installed in the house. "We'll be tracking the call source from our command center. Agent Gideon and his team will guide you through this."
"Can you monitor other calls made from this house?"
Chuck asked.
"Yes,"
Agent Scheier glanced at Gideon and nodded to Chuck. "We'll know about any incoming or outgoing calls and will alert you."
With that, he nodded to the others and left with the rest of the FBI New Haven field office team.
"Are you suspecting an inside leak?"
Mr. Davenport, an experienced federal prosecutor with extensive law enforcement contacts and solid investigative instincts, immediately grasped Chuck's implication. "There are three housekeepers and three security personnel in the house, all of whom underwent thorough FBI background checks."
"Has Gina been vetted?"
Cheryl couldn't help but interject.
"Cheryl!"
Mr. Davenport finally lost his composure and snapped at his daughter.
"Am I wrong? Investigating a case means eliminating all possibilities..."
Cheryl started to respond, but seeing her father's anguished expression, she stopped herself with a pang of guilt. She walked over and took his hand.
Mr. Davenport smiled with relief, seeing his daughter still cared about him.
"What's the situation?"
Morgan and Elle rushed back in.
"Any discoveries?"
BAU Unit Chief Hotchner asked.
"...Nothing significant."
Morgan, meeting everyone's gaze, especially Chuck's, changed his response.
Because, despite what everyone expected, his profiling had indeed yielded nothing useful.
"There's an incoming call,"
Reid announced. "It's not to Mr. Davenport's cell phone."
Everyone exchanged glances.
"Let's monitor it,"
Chuck said.
"Agreed."
Reid decisively pressed the monitoring button. The attractive young woman, Gina, could be heard, her voice hushed with shock and anger: "Are you insane? Calling me at a time like this?"
"Why not now?"
A cocky laugh came from the other end.
"Trixie's been kidnapped, and the FBI has taken over my house!"
Gina exclaimed in panic. "If they're monitoring my phone, I'm finished."
"If you had listened to me and slipped him the drug, you wouldn't have to worry about this now."
The voice on the other end lost its amusement and turned cold.
"I..."
Gina was speechless and stammered, "I've been waiting for the right opportunity."
"Still waiting for an opportunity?"
The voice sneered, "I'll see how long you can keep stalling. Eventually I'll have to take action myself. Ma'am, you don't want your boyfriend to get hurt, do you? He's not bulletproof."
Gina fell silent.
"What a ruthless woman! I thought you were genuinely in love when I saw your little performance."
The person on the other end clapped mockingly, "Even if you're not worried about your boyfriend getting hurt, do you really want to keep living like this? You used to live in Manhattan, your husband was wealthy, powerful, and respected, and life was so comfortable. But now you're stuck in some remote safe house with your husband, bored and terrified every day. Since your husband won't listen to you, doesn't consider your feelings, and is determined to go after the big players, why would you want to die with him? You're still young and beautiful."
"I'll do it, but not now,"
the attractive young woman Gina finally said. "The FBI is here. Don't contact me again!"
Then she hung up.
Downstairs,
everyone monitoring the call was stunned.
Mr. Davenport, the host, suppressed his rage and tightly held his daughter Cheryl, who was about to storm upstairs and confront her treacherous stepmother.
Chuck remained unmoved by discovering this American Lady Macbeth, and asked calmly: "Did you get a location lock?"
"Got it."
Reid nodded.
"I'll go!"
Morgan volunteered eagerly.
"Alright."
Unit Chief Hotchner glanced at Gideon and nodded in agreement. "You and Elle go together."
"Did you know Gina was compromised?"
Mr. Davenport, remembering Chuck's pointed question about his wife, looked at him with a complex expression.
"Mrs. Davenport isn't a psychopath,"
Chuck nodded. "She's not much of an actress, either."
"She tried to poison her husband—isn't that psychopathic?!"
Cheryl exclaimed.
"No,"
Chuck stated matter-of-factly. "Your father is still alive. Psychopaths are far more dangerous than you realize. If someone like her qualified as one, then the number of psychopaths in America would be staggering."
JJ and Unit Chief Hotchner had already gone upstairs and arrested the attractive young woman, Gina.
"Why?"
Mr. Davenport stared at his wife with a pained expression.
"Why?"
The attractive young woman Gina had given up all pretense by now and sneered: "You really don't understand? How many times have I begged you not to go after those dangerous power brokers, but you just wouldn't listen! Now we're trapped in places like this, constantly having to relocate. We have no friends and no life. Since you don't consider me at all, why should I keep considering you? If you continue like this, you'll be killed eventually. I'm just trying to survive!"
"Bitch!"
Cheryl cursed: "Don't disguise your cruelty as Dad's fault. Dad isn't wrong at all! He's fighting for everyone! He'll get killed anyway. Dad's been in witness protection for ten years and nothing's happened."
"Ha!"
The attractive young woman Gina looked at her stepdaughter mockingly: "You're a top student at Princeton, but you're so naive. Go ask those FBI agents yourself—how many people in witness protection actually have happy endings? They all die eventually!"
"You're lying!"
Cheryl didn't believe it and turned to look at the FBI agents beside her.
"Not all of them."
Reid, the human criminal database, instinctively started reciting statistics, but was stopped by a gentle cough. "Now isn't the time for that, Mrs. Davenport. When did you first make contact with them? Did they ever mention kidnapping Trixie?"
The attractive young woman, Gina, was startled. She gave the timeline, then shook her head. "He never mentioned Trixie or anyone else."
Seeing Cheryl staring at her in disbelief, she sneered, "I actually suggested a long time ago that they kidnap you to force my husband to compromise. That way, no one would get hurt, and everyone would be satisfied. Too bad they weren't interested. Whether your father cooperates or not doesn't matter to them anymore. It's not about your father's compliance."
"Time's up,"
Reid reminded them.
The kidnappers had specified when they would call.
"Take her out first,"
Gideon ordered, then addressed the distraught Mr. Davenport. "Mr. Davenport, the most important thing right now is saving Trixie. We can deal with everything else later."
"I understand."
Mr. Davenport, showing remarkable resilience, took a deep breath, followed Reid's instructions, and walked to the monitoring station.
"Remember, keep your voice steady and calm, and agree to everything he says,"
Gideon instructed. "Repeat all the important information he gives you to make sure you understand. Try to keep him talking, get him to reveal information about Trixie and himself."
The phone rang.
Reid waited until he was ready and pressed the connect button.
"This is Evan Davenport,"
Cheryl's father said.
"Hello, Mr. Davenport."
A male voice came from the other end. "Your daughter is in my hands. You cannot ask questions. You can only follow my instructions, but I won't give them to you directly. I'll only speak to Cheryl."
After pressing the mute button to prevent the caller from hearing, everyone looked at each other in surprise.
"Let her talk!"
Chuck said.
"This isn't good."
Unit Chief Hotchner objected: "Cheryl isn't the decision-maker in the Davenport family. What's his angle in asking for her?"
"Do we have a choice?"
Chuck shot back and looked at the blonde JJ: "JJ!"
Everyone immediately understood. JJ nodded to show she got it, walked over and pressed the call button: "This is Cheryl, hello? This is Cheryl."
"Trixie is in my hands. I know her voice, so I also know Cheryl's voice."
There was silence for a moment on the other end, then he said coldly: "Don't try to fool me, get her off the line!"
"Twins look the same, but their voices aren't necessarily identical."
Chuck said: "Voices change due to external factors like age, personality, and environment..."
"...Don't try to deceive me!"
The voice on the other end listened to Chuck's scientific explanation and interrupted angrily: "I want Cheryl to answer the phone. You have 60 seconds! If you cause trouble, I'll hang up and you'll never hear from Trixie again."
"Get Cheryl ready!"
Gideon pressed the mute button and motioned for Cheryl to come over and prepare.
Cheryl walked over and sat down. When the phone was about to ring again, she instinctively looked at Chuck.
Chuck nodded slightly. Cheryl took a deep breath, indicating she was ready.
(End of Chapter)
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