The covers scratched up against her like they were made of the cheapest wool money could buy. Stuffy and damp, the space was circulated by only a fan, alit with the light piercing barred windows that were scattered around the top concrete walls.
Jodie had seen a basement like this before, at her friend's house. From what she could see, from safety under the covers, it was all pretty much the same. Her mom had used the term, "Cookie Cutter House" before, but she'd never seen one so eerily familiar.
With every strange noise that emerged from the scary darkness, she'd flinch and made sure not to make a sound herself. Her breathing was shallow, shuttered with anxiety of what type of monster was waiting for her in the dark. Her body contracting, so much that her wrist was throbbing from the strain. As the minutes ran past, she thought of how her mother would use to sing to her whenever she was scared of the darkness in her own room, afraid the monster would come and get her, it has.
"Mama? Is that you?" she cried, "Mommy? Can you come hold me? I'm scared…" Her eyes dashed around, looking for any movement at all. Her mom wasn't there, her sweet voice always bounced off the walls whenever she was there. Jodie swallowed, hard, bracing herself to face the horror that was in the basement with her. "Sit up on three Jodie," she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes and tear rolled down her cheek. "One," she positioned her hand on the blanket, "two," she tucked her hurt wrist against her chest to keep it from hurting, "three." Jodie pushed herself up, folding the cover over and came face to face with a dark, grimy kitchen. In the next room, behind the kitchen, she saw blood splattered on the wall. Jodie's heart thumped in her chest as she turned to stand up.
The table was set for one, with a plate of hot pancakes steaming. Fork and knife placed perfectly beside one another with a glass of orange juice. Her stomach growled and, without thinking, she pulled out the chair and sat down. Jodie grabbed the fork before she realized her inability to cut a pancake.
"Take the side of the fork and press down on the pancake to cut a corner out, you might have to wiggle it down a little bit to cut it the right way," said a voice. Jodie froze, it was coming from the room in front of her. It didn't sound anything like the man's voice.
"I don't like the dark," she whimpered, "stop making it so dark. Turn on the light, please?"
"There are no light switches," a blonde-haired girl with a black eye stepped out from behind the wall. She wore a pink poke-a-dot shirt and blue pants. Her pants had a strange stain on them. "I made that for you, you need to eat it."
"But, but, I don't know how to cut."
"You're gonna have to learn!" she yelled.
"Ahh!" Jodie cried, "I don't know how… I want my mommy…"
"Sorry, I know, I want my Mama too. But, you're never gonna see her again. All you can do now is try to remember her the best you can. It's the only way…the only way you are gonna get through this."
Jodie sniffed, "what do you mean, 'I'm never gonna see her'?"
"Sir is what you're supposed to call him. Call him sir, nothing else but sir. Do you understand me?"
"Ok," Jodie pinched her eyebrows together, "what's your name?"
"Sug–," she swallowed, "Mary, my name is Mary Lyn. What's your name?"
"Jodie Mils."
"Nice to meet you, now, I'm not gonna be around forever and Sir, he's not nice. Not nice at all. If you wanna live your gonna have to listen to me and learn quick," she took a hasty breath, "Or you will die. Do you understand me?" Jodie wet her face with fresh tears.
"I don't wanna be here, I don't wanna die."
"It'll be fine, just listen to me and learn and that won't happen. Now, I'm gonna teach you how to cut a pancake."
It was obvious that the Colorado State Police Department was getting tired of dealing with missing children's cases. They were all agitated. Some of them didn't go home the night before and had stayed up all night searching the woods for Jodie. Refusing to quit until that little girl was found.
Their current exhaustion was obvious to Hotch, you didn't need to be a Behavioral Analysis Agent from the FBI to see that the Police were completely run down and out of energy. Hotch didn't like what he was witnessing in the Police Station. Mary's chances of being found alive were completely shot. More cops, than usual, were holding cups of coffee. The coffee pot had been refilled at least 20 times within the last 2 hours.
Hotch had called everyone to the station, he had spread the team thin to cover more ground. J. J and Rossi were close to arriving from the Mils' house, coming in with very interesting news. An hour behind them was Morgan and Reid were talking with the Lyns and looking at the abduction site. Emily had insisted on checking Tammy Trever's dump site, to see if she could make anything of it.
Hotch had secured the conference room as a space for his team to work. He didn't usually drink coffee, but, times like these called for a little kick in his step. He was setting up some of the evidence board, placing each of the victims most recent pictures of the girls. Tammy was first, with an artist age progression photo next to her original missing person photo. Just below the set was her dead bodies crime scene photo. Next, Mary Lyn, her original picture with an age progression photo of what she could look like today. As Hotch put hers up, his gut twisted. Today was the last day they could have to find her alive. Finally, there was little Jodie's adorable face. Blushing cheeks and all. Hotch hated these cases. Who could do this to innocent children?
"Life's a son of a bitch, ain't it?" The Sheriff said, standing at the entrance to the conference room.
"Yeah, we have about 24 hours to find a Mary Lyn alive and all because of our Unsub. Who knows what he's doing to these girls for the amount of time he holds them," Hotch said.
"Agent Hotchner, I've come to say that my team is going to do ever they can to help your team find this Son of a Bitch. I can guarantee that."
"Thank you for calling us in," Hotch smiled, shaking the Sheriff's hand.
"My pleasure. You know, I was just a rookie cop when little Tammy went missing. Poor dear was only 10 and I was the first responder on the scene when that poor hiking couple found her body in the woods. That's when I got down on my knees and begged for them to call in the FBI. Mary was reported missing and our headstrong Sheriff didn't want to involve you guys. Made me so angry. That man cared more about his own pride than those two girls up on that wall. So, when I finally took over as the Sheriff, I called you guys immediately when Jodie disappeared. Thank god you took the case."
"Any time Sheriff, happy to be working with you," Hotch said. Rossi and J. J walked into view through the conference room windows. The Sheriff saw them and stepped out of the way to let them in.
"I'll give you guys some space and let your other team members know where you are."
"Thank you, Sheriff."
"Just got off the phone with Morgan, he's gonna be here any minute," J. J informed. She was keeping her head down and turning away from Rossi and Hotch. She had her hands on her hips and exhaled loudly. J. J always had this problem, this problem that wasn't really a problem, it just showed that she wasn't an FBI robot. With every case, she compared herself and her life to those of others. When kids came into the picture, she wasn't able to stop the flashes of her own children. Comparing herself to others.
Rossi turned to Hotch and gave him a telepathic hint. A telepathic hint to step out of the room for a little bit. They had time before Morgan, Reid, and Emily got here to start moving forward with the profile.
Hotch pursed his lips together and nodded, completely in understanding. He turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him. There were a few moments of silence as Rossi waited for J. J to open her mouth and ease her mind.
"I can't stop seeing Henry in place of that girl. It comes in flashes and I can't control it. I just, I want these girls to come back safe and sound; I'm worried, worried that we aren't going to be able to get them back safe and sound and I can't see past it and I'm just…" J. J quavered.
"It's ok to feel that way J. J, we all do. The cops around here, they've been up all night searching for this kid. They want to find her so badly because they can't imagine if it was their own little child or niece; nephew, whatever. It's a common emotion. I keep seeing a little Joy instead of that girl as well, wondering if I'd ever known if she was missing if she were little. Or, god forbid, my grandson. That's what makes us human, don't beat yourself up about it."
"Yeah, you're right. I just, I want to find them both. My hopes want to be up, but my gut is down."
"That's not gonna stop us from trying our best to find these girls," Rossi added. J. J nodded her head and smiled before Morgan, Reid, and Emily came inside.
"What's going on in here?" Emily asked
"Nothing, just discussing the case," J. J said, while pulling up a chair and sat down.
"We have less than 24 hours to find Mary alive, let's start spilling what we know about the Unsub," Hotch addressed while taking a seat at the head of the table.
"Well, the Unsub was charismatic enough to come up with a rouse to trick a little girl into following him in the dead of night. Jodie had several books on stranger danger, her mom thought it best to teach her about it since she was the only parent," J. J started.
"The Unsub also played with her before they left, I think it was also a part of the rouse, but the Unsub brought his own doll," Rossi said.
"What kind of doll is it?" Emily asked. J. J pulled out an evidence bag from her bag, it was a Barbie doll, with a dress that had a white top and a peach colored, fluffy bottom.
"I have no idea," J. J admitted, placing it on the table.
"Well, this model is older and it looks familiar," Reid said. Reid remembered Garcia talking about a doll like that, even showing him a picture. But, that was during a time that he was addicted to Hydromorph Contin, everything from then was a little hazy. Reached over the table and called Garcia, who picked up immediately.
"You have reached the layer of Truths and Wisdom. Enter at your own risk."
"Garcia, a while ago, you were talking about a certain Barbie ¬doll, I was wondering if you remember anything about it."
"You have entered absolute doom, send me a photo of the doll and I can tell with my bear eyeballs," Garcia ordered. J. J snapped a quick photo and forwarded it to Garcia. It dinged up on her computer screen, Garcia's eyes opened wide and she started to smile.
"I know which doll that is! It's the Barbie Peaches n' Cream doll and it's super pricey, it can go for $300 dollars and it's adorable."
"Alright Mama, calm your role, when did this doll come out?"
"The doll came out in 1985 and I what I wouldn't give to own one for myself, goodness me."
"That is not a coincidence," Morgan informed. Reid nodded in agreement.
"That definitely changes things, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to leave a piece of evidence like that behind," Rossi said.
"He wanted us to know something," Emily said. Reid was staring at the evidence board, his eyes flashing back and forth. Different theories entered his genius of a brain and he ran calculations, the computer never stops.
"You guys here that sound?" Rossi asked, "It's almost ear piercing."
"Yeah, ow, ooo, ah," Morgan joked, he touched his ear with his finger, "and that, my friends, is blood."
"Out with-it kid," Rossi smiled.
"The victim he took furthest away was Tammy, which was down in Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming. Now, Cheyenne is right by a major road coming in from north of Colorado. Then, Mary and Jodie were both taken closer together, each one not near a major road."
"Maybe, the first victim was to avoid detection?" Emily suggested.
"No, no, I think we are missing a big piece of the puzzle. He left that evidence for us. I know he did. Garcia?"
"Ready in wait."
"I need you to search through the Nation Center for Missing and Exploited Children's database. Search for missing girls that have blonde hair and are in between the ages of 5-12. 1985 up to 2003, the year Tammy Trever went missing."
"Oh, poor babies, I got about 500 names here."
"Single out the children that disappeared in one area or along a road."
"Oh wow, that list depleted, 115 names."
"Any of those names from the surrounding states of Colorado?"
"Five names, four of them were found dead. Cause of death for each of them was blunt force trauma to the head, according to the reports back then, same MMO for out guy. However, it looks like one, Patty Ingraham, was found alive, her lips were sewn shut and tongue was removed. She disappeared when she was ten and was found shortly before Tammy went missing. She had a pretty nasty wound to her forehead. I can't find any trail from her though. Maybe she changed her name."
"There were more victims," Rossi said, shaking his head.
"Garcia, we need to find Patty, she's the only one who can tell us what happened."
Jodie wrapped her head in her arms, lying face down on the table. An uneaten banana sat inches away from her, covered in her saliva. She was crying, roughly, painful as her lungs spasmed as she wailed.
Mary sat next to her, holding her hand as tightly as she could with a dead look in her eye. She was all too aware of her fate, he was going to kill her soon. But, no tears would form in her eyes. She was afraid of him still and still got upset, trying to cry. Her body wanted her to cry. Her tears weren't there. Mary figured that she'd finally ran out, that she couldn't make them anymore and she was ok with that.
Jodie was still raw, fresh. Despite Mary teaching her what 'Sir' needs from her, she still was unaware. Unaware of everything. Unaware of what he was going to do to Mary, then what he will do to Jodie. Mary's bottom lip trembled as she closed her eyes and accepted the bad memory that was about to speed through her mind. Constricted in that godforsaken chair as he grabbed ahold of the girl before her, Sweetie's, tongue with a clamp wrench. He pulled it as far as it would go. She struggled and screamed while he said, "Cat got your tongue, cat got your tongue." Until he pulled it as far as he could and cut it with a kitchen knife. The worst part was watching her choke to death.
"Mary?" Jodie called, "Mary, you're hurting my hand."
"What did I tell you to call me!" she snapped. Jodie jumped back in fear.
"Sugar! Sugar! Sorry," Mary cried.
"You call me by my actual name again and we will both die! Ok?! Your name is Honey, my name is Sugar. You idiot," Mary screamed. She stood up and walked into the bedroom and started pacing around.
"I said I was sorry," Jodie whimpered. Mary started biting her lip, a terrible habit that she developed over the years. She started to draw blood.
"It's ok, it's ok. One more lesson and we can eat lunch, I'll teach you how to make the stuff in the fridge too. We'll have a big feast! Yeah! Just you and me and we will pretend we're Princess'! Free to do whatever we want to. Free and," she turned away from Jodie, "happy, like this never happened." She closed her eyes as the images of him on top of her. His glasses steamed and hair matted to his face as he moaned. On top of her, in the bed she stood in front of. Then, she wondered if these images would ever go away.
"Can I be a Fairy Princess?" Jodie asked, calling Mary back from the darkest corners of her mind.
"Yeah, you can be in whatever world you want to be in. Just get away from this one," she folded her arms and squeezed as hard as she could until she could regain focus. "Honey, lay down on the bed."
A refreshing amount of vegetables spread out across the counter, misty and fresh. Meat sizzled in the pan, perfectly seasoned chicken. He grabbed the knife and chopped at the vegetables as Bing Crosby's "Happy Little Blue Bird" played throughout the kitchen.
The kitchen was full of light from the large windows around in front of the cooking island. It complemented the kitchen, the large windows bounced off the granite countertops and forced the black cupboards to shine.
He put the vegetables into a steaming pan and grabbed the sizzling chicken and flipped it over. Life was back into place, everything was back to normal. Everything was falling apart, but now, he could smile and fell like himself again. He had a brand-new toy to play with.
His house was in the mountains, on top of a small hill, overlooking a valley; the prettiest possible view. A massive mansion, a mansion he bought with the lottery numbers: 413. Amazing what he could do with 40 Million Dollars. Buy a beautiful house, live off the grid, enjoy meals without having to worry about paying for them, and he could build a bunker. A bunker that would 'protect him in case of nuclear disaster.' People would believe him if he just threw money in their face. One thing is for certain, it was a big enough town down below to the point where he could walk through it with no problems.
He pulled the hot piece of chicken off the pan and put it on a red plate. Then, scooped the vegetables onto the plate. He filled a glass of wine and took his meal out onto the porch. Overlooking the hollow that hid the hatch that housed the girls. He ate his chicken and smiled. Ten years goes by in a flash.