Prologue

For the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit the atmosphere was often intense around the division, as one horrific case after another would cross their desks or cause them to be called away to investigate. Though they successfully closed case after case it was hard to find any true satisfaction due to the lingering effect of knowing that the suffering was not over for the victims and families of both victims and perpetrators they always left behind trying to pick up the pieces of their lives.

On this Friday afternoon the mood was especially grim as the tired agents worked to finish up the paperwork on the case they had just returned from late the night before involving an arsonist who had burned down several homes in Oregon. Several families had suffered devastating losses in terms of not only property but the lives of loved ones, ranging from infants to elderly who had not been able to escape the flames in time. Ordinarily the pace would be a rushed one with the goal to get through the necessary paperwork and leave for a rare weekend of downtime. But on this rare Friday silence reigned in the bullpen as they all stared listlessly at the papers in front of them.

"This is bullshit." Derek Morgan was the first to snap and express his feelings of anger to no one in particular, not even expecting a response aside from the others who were staring unseeing at the documents in front of their faces.

"We practically caught him red-handed, there was so much evidence, I just don't understand." Blake sounded confused as she followed the opening to finally discuss the news story that had just broken late the prior day when a surprise verdict had been handed down in a case they had handled.

It had been eight months ago when the FBI had been called to Richmond Virginia to a case that had certainly ranked as one of their worst over the years. Somewhere in the city there was a killer who had developed a pattern of kidnapping young boys, the oldest victim had only been eight, the youngest had been 4.

The MO was always the same, children would disappear from public places such as parks and playgrounds, even with attentive parents nearby no one had witnessed anything suspicious. With each disappearance the police would face the frustration of finding no witnesses or evidence to provide even the smallest lead. Until there was more physical evidence all they had to work with was the FBI's profile that pointed to a middle aged white male who would not stand out in places frequented by children. While authorities scoured the parks to look for anyone who fit their description it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. When a child had been reported missing by hysterical parents it would only be two days until their bodies would be found dumped into a body of water which served to remove any trace evidence that might have helped point to a killer. Even more heartbreaking than finding the battered young bodies was finding out from the medical examiner that the boys had also been repeatedly molested before their death.

The BAU had caught a fortunate break while during the course of their investigation en a four year old boy had run to his mother claiming that the man in the ice cream truck had tried to drive away with him. As the focus shifted to the possibility of an ice cream truck driver as a potential suspect the pieces began to fall together quickly. As Garcia quickly narrowed down the list of names of men with permits to operate the ice cream trucks in the area James Starkey quickly fit their profile not only as someone children would be likely to trust but also as having a troubled background that included numerous stints in treatment facilities as an adolescent before he had seemingly straightened out his life in his early twenties. His truck fit the profile also as a way to quickly hide his victims and be able to transport them through public places without raising awareness. When warrants were acquired and the truck had been searched they had found their final break when fingerprints from the last boy killed had been found under the lid of the freezer compartment.

The BAU team members had left Richmond, trying to shake off the horror of what they had seen, comforted only by the knowledge that another monster was off the streets. The case seemed so clear cut that they all left certain that James Starkey would be convicted of his crimes based on the account of the child he had tried to take next and the forensic evidence found in the truck.

Now the media was inundating the public with headlines proclaiming "Ice cream killer set free!", "FBI catches the wrong man?" "Time to lock up your children!" and the list went on. As they read the papers and made a few phone calls to their case contacts it soon became clear that even with the forensic evidence linking James Starkey to one of the victims that his lawyers had found enough loopholes to turn the tide. The defense team had managed to effectively discredit the child's experience and mother's testimony as being part of the hysteria that had been gripping the city at the time. Other children had testified that it was not uncommon for them to be allowed in to look into the ice cream truck. With much of the witness testimony and physical evidence beginning to unravel the case against the killer had started rapidly falling apart. The painstaking profile and analysis of the team that had outlined the motivation and troubled past of their killer had not been enough to hold together the case without the strength of the forensic and physical evidence and now James Starkey was on his way back to Richmond.

As the individual team members each continued to try and stomach the knowledge that a monster was back on the street it was particularly hard for the two parents on the team. JJ compulsively viewed the photos of the victims as she fought the urge to run home to hug henry as tears threatened while she viewed the photos of the smiling boys on her screen. She felt a sense of profound loss that their lives had been cut so short and an uncharacteristic sense of rage at the thought that the man responsible was free to harm other children.

"We had him," was all that Aaron Hotchner could think over and over as he sat in his darkened office, the shadows playing across his grim expression as he thought of how James Starkey had escaped their grasp, inwardly cursing the lack of overwhelming physical evidence that had caused just enough doubt to sway the jury. His heart ached for the four year old boy who had tried so hard to describe how he had almost been kidnapped only to see the man responsible walk away free. Hotch had viewed the footage of the trial closely and saw the slight sneer the man directed at the boy and the rest of the body language that convinced him the man they had arrested had been the right one. His body language when the verdict was announced was one of confidence and arrogance, hardly the typical relief felt by people who had been cleared of major crimes. Hotch stared almost unseeing at Jack's photo on his desk as his mind continued to try and cope with the miscarriage of justice.