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From Chicago, With Love – Ch 2
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Reluctantly, Derek was standing near the SUV in front of the Buford's resident.
"You okay, big guy?" Emily glanced at him peripherally. She was standing beside him and noticed the front yard of the Bufords'; there was a child tricycle and football and some toys laying haphazardly, as if a child had been playing and had abandoned them at the moment; it looked forlorn.
He nodded.
She sighed as she turned to her side and faced him, "Look Derek, I know you're pissed at Hotch for making you do this but don't let this be about your anger towards Hotch or even Carl Buford."
Derek looked down and looked at Emily, "I'm not pissed."
"Bull, I can see your expression clearly. Get it straight, Derek. This is about a missing child. That's what's important. Not your personal vendetta. And you've exorcised your ghost, you've put him away, he's not here to hurt you anymore."
Derek paused and finally nodded. "You're right, Emily, you're right. It shouldn't be about me right now."
"I know I'm right!" she said confidently. "Now, are you ready to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Buford? Without prejudice?" They stepped around the vehicle and looked down the street and saw the quietness of the neighborhood and found it daunting and unusual; there should be sounds of children playing, laughing and adults talking to their neighbors. But it was so quiet and eerie.
Derek was about to comment on the quietness when the front door and the screen door banged opened, "What's going on, who are you people?" A man came out staring at Derek and Emily, and soon a woman followed behind him with suspicion.
They removed their badges and showed them, "We're from the FBI, I'm Agent Emily Prentiss and this is Agent Derek Morgan. We would…."
"Derek Morgan? The Derek Morgan?" The man said angrily. "You're the one that put my father away! Get out of here! Right now!" He indicated out of his driveway.
Derek stared at the man in shock, "Look, I'm not here about your father. I'm here about your son."
"I don't care!" The man said fiercely. "Just get out of my house now!"
Emily held her hand up, "Look, look, you have to understand, we're not here about your father, Mr. Buford…"
"Get out of my property…."
"Problem, CJ?"
Emily and Derek turned around as Mr. and Mrs. Buford looked up and saw Detective Gordinski standing behind the FBI agents.
"I just want these feds out of here, that's all." Carl Buford Jr. said angrily.
"CJ, they're here doing their job. Let them." Gordinski said. He turned to look at Derek, he extended his hand. "Long time no see, Morgan, how are ya?'
Derek nodded as he frowned at him shaking his hand in return, "I'm fine, Gordy, under the circumstances."
The portly detective nodded, "Yeah, I hear ya and we're glad to see you people." He looked up at the Bufords, expectantly.
Mr. Buford nodded as he opened the screen door and went inside without a word.
His wife held the door opened for the two federal agents.
"You want me to hang around? Just in case?" Gordinski arched his brow.
Emily shook her head, "I think we've got it, detective, thank you."
He looked from Derek then to Emily and nodded and gave them a salute before he turned away, "I'll see you folks back at the precinct." He left without waiting for their replies.
Walking into the neat and tidy family room, Derek and Emily saw that the young boy was the center of their lives; there were pictures of James Buford, from birth to present.
"James is your everything, Mrs. Buford." Emily said simply.
The young mother nodded, a handkerchief in her hand, as she sat next to her husband. "Yes. Agent. We had been trying for a child for the longest time and after five long years, James came." She gave a brief attempt of a smile before she leaned towards her husband and cried. "I want my baby back!" She covered her face.
Emily swallowed hard. "We are trying our best, ma'am." She turned to Derek who had remained mum as he continued to stare at the pictures around the house.
Emily looked at Buford, "I believe your mother discovered James missing?"
Carl Jr. Buford nodded, "My mother, she's lying in bed at the moment, she's not taking this very well." He looked down as he held his wife's hands. "She's blaming herself over James' being taken."
"Has he always gone outside to play around the same time?" Emily asked softly.
He nodded, "My mother suffered a stroke soon after my father was jailed. She couldn't move quite fast so we take care of her now. She watches James in the afternoon while Liz was fixin' dinner inside. Mamma...she fell asleep while she was watchin' James and when Liz came out to get them, James was gone, the gate was opened. And his tricycle was gone as well. Liz found it a block away, James was not there. She called me on my cell."
"Where were you?" Emily asked.
"I was at work, I work for a telemarketing firm. Detective Gordinski can verify my employment."
Emily held her hand up, "I'm not doubting you, Mr. Buford, please continue,"
He nodded stiffly. "When I came home, our neighbors were helping us but James was nowhere to be found, so we call the police."
Emily nodded. "Do you have any enemies? Anyone holding a grudge against you?"
"What the hell do you mean by that, Agent?" He leaned forward.
"I'm sorry, I have to ask but do you have any…body holding a grudge against you or..or your father?"
He glared at her and then at Derek, "No thanks to him, we received hate mails, and phone calls threatening us. Liz has to change James' schools a few times because the parents found out. We lived in hell the first year but it trickled down and after the third year the phone calls and hate mails stopped."
"Do you still have those mails?" Emily nodded to them.
Buford nodded as he stood up and went to the dining room and retrieving a big packing box, he set it by them. "That's it. We talked to Detective Gordinski about it and he suggested we save them, just in case. I wanted to burn them."
Emily nodded, "He's right, I'm glad you did. There might be something in there that might give us a clue to this kidnapper."
Buford nodded, "I hope so; these mails caused Mamma's stroke." He shook his head.
"I'm sorry about it, Mr. Buford." Emily said softly and sympathetically. She nodded at the box, "May I take it with us? I'll make sure they're returne…"
He shook his head, "No…just keep it, I don't want to see it. You can burn it for all I care!" He returned to his seat and gathered his wife. "Just find my boy please, agent."
Emily stood as she nodded. "We'll try our best, Mr. Buford. Please, if you can remember anything, call us." She placed her business card on the coffee table and looking at Derek who had picked up the box as Emily opened the screen door for him, walked out.
"Agent Prentiss!" Liz Buford ran after her as Emily turned to her, "Please…he's my only baby…"
Emily touched her shoulder and nodded, "We'll get James back for you, Mrs. Buford." She assured her as she left.
As they drove back to the precinct, Emily began. "You were a lot of help, Derek!"
"What? I thought you'd done great."
"You could have helped me with the questionings. What's wrong with you?"
He shook his head, "Nothing."
"Derek, don't give me this bullshit, come on, partner, tell me what's bothering you?"
"Emily, I told you nothing."
She pulled over the car along a curb and turned to him, "Look, we're not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is your problem and it better not be some mono word."
He frowned, "Mono word?"
She grinned, "Yeah, one word reply."
"There's no such thing as mono word, you just made that up, Prentiss."
"So what if I did, at least you just use more than one word to reply to me. It's a good start, now tell me what the hell is wrong with you? And there's only one person here who's having her period at the moment."
He held his hand right away and shook his head, "Oh, TMI…TMI, Prentiss!" He closed his eyes as he winced at the same moment. "Please spare my manhood."
She began to laugh and then he laughed with her.
Soon they sobered and banged knuckles, "Feel better?" She asked him.
He nodded, "Yeah, Princess, thanks."
She shook her head, "Not a problem, tallish man." She teased him.
He grinned as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him and kissed her knuckles gently. "Thanks, I needed it."
She smiled at him.
His cell phone rang, "Morgan. Oh, hey Hotch…"
Emily arched her brows as she drove off and headed off towards the precinct.
"Yeah, not much but we have a boxful of hatemail for Carl Buford to bring back and analyze. On our way."
He ended the call and put it in his pocket.
"Dad calling to check on us?" Emily asked as she drove.
"Yep, so what do you think?"
"Someone has been watching James Buford for a while."
He nodded, "Yeah, that's my take too. But what's the purpose?"
Emily shook her head, "No idea. Let's hope it's in that box." She pulled up at the precinct soon after.
…
Derek tilted the box and the contents spilled out.
"Wow, there's a lot of hate in there," JJ commented as she picked up a stack and dropped them. "Most of these are not even opened."
"I guess they knew what it contained after a while and didn't want to know." Emily commented. "Did you know Carl's wife suffer a stroke after while he's incarcerated?"
JJ shook her head.
"Guess not, they stopped opening them when it happened." Emily said.
Reid picked up one and opened it and began to read it. "I hope you rot in jail…"He muttered under his breath and looked up. "Er…they're not so nice words after the first sentence but nothing to indicate anything malicious towards the younger Buford family."
"Reid, can you go through them, sort them out?" Hotch nodded at the pile.
Reid arched his brow, "Er…that'll take me…"
"I'll help you, kid." Derek offered. He glanced at Hotch who nodded.
Emily turned to Hotch, "Someone's been watching James for a while before he took him."
Hotch nodded, "We came to the same conclusion on the third kidnapped victim, Michael Allen. UnSub has been planning and stalking for a while before he had struck on these boys."
"What about the first vic?" Emily turned to him.
"Strangulation."
She nodded sadly. "No sign of sexual assault?"
Hotch shook his head again, "No. Motive was unclear. His wrists and ankles were tied; there were signs of ligatures marks pre-mortem."
Garcia came on onto the laptop, "Here guys…I hate to be the bearer of sad news…a fourth child has just been reported missing. Parents called in."
Gordinski came jogging into the room, his cell phone in hand and paused as he saw Garcia on the screen. "I see you've just been informed of the latest." He pointed at Garcia.
Hotch and the BAU team nodded. "Who is it?"
"Seven year old, Devon Johnson, abducted at a downtown rec. center." Garcia reported from her screen.
"Let's go, people!" Hotch said as he began to step out, the others following him except Reid and Morgan who looked at Hotch with a questioning look. "You're coming too." Hotch nodded before he disappeared.
Morgan looked at him "Sorry, kid, you're on your own." He grinned.
Reid was not paying attention to him at all as he was engrossed in a letter and muttering under his breath.
Morgan shook his head and left the room, "If ever there's a fire...or a hot chick in the room, he won't know it until someone waves it under his genius nose."
"Morgan!"
"Okay, okay… princess, hold on to your crown for goodness' sake! I'm on my way!" He began to jog after her and towards the SUV.
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The neighborhood they arrived at was near his mother's, Derek saw.
"You've got to be kiddin' me?" He stepped out of the vehicle and removed his sunglasses as he looked about the familiar location.
They were outside the recreation center that once was headed by Carl Buford.
Detectives Gordinski and Dennison were talking to a group of children and adults.
"Derek?"
Derek turned around and stared at three familiar women, "Momma? Sarah? Desirée?"
…..
End of Chapter 2
