Author's Note:

Another quick update. I have a fairly good idea of what I want to happen in the next chapter, so it should also be up soon. At least I hope so. Hope you all enjoy!


Hotch left the two detectives, to visit the morgue. He wasn't sure what he'd be able to learn that wasn't already in the report he had just read. Sometimes looking at the bodies first hand and not just photos and reports helped the investigation. It was a long shot but not much time had gone by since his team had split up. While his team was efficient and worked quickly, he didn't want them to feel rushed with him checking up on them every two seconds. Hotch had thought about it, but trying to rush results could slow the investigation rather than help it. That didn't mean he didn't want answers twenty minutes ago. His mind drifted to his son like it had at the office. How close he had come to losing him. How he'd lost Haley. He'd failed her. Failed to protect her and keep her safe. It was his fault. Guilt gripped him. For fucks sake, Aaron, get it together! You're no good to the team like this, he chastised himself mentally. Wasn't he over this shit? Clearly not. Hotch sighed and stopped walking down the hall and rubbed his head. He was beginning to get a head ache with all this thinking. He took a deep breath. Focus, he told himself. At least no one was around to see his moment of weakness. Another deep breath and he began walking again, shoving his thoughts aside. He prided himself on not letting his emotions rule his actions. Well, usually anyway. Sometimes his anger got the better of him but for the most part he was able to keep his emotions in check. He finally arrived at the swinging doors that lead into the autopsy room. When he had checked in at the front, he'd been told the coroner was still there. Reflexively he took out his badge and introduced himself to the doctor, "I'm Agent Aaron Hotchner with the FBI. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time, doctor…" He trailed off, uncertain of the man's name and offered his hand to shake once he put his badge away.

The older man shook Hotch's hand. "Dr. Alvin Thatcher. I'm assuming you are here about the family that was killed two days ago."

Hotch nodded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at their bodies."

"Sure, if you think it will help." Dr. Thatcher opened three drawers.

Hotch inspected the parents first. Both shot between the eyes. The shots were clean and if memory served him right the bullets had been through and throughs. Killed instantly, they didn't even know what hit them. He supposed that was a mild blessing, to go in your sleep like that. The parent's death suggested a calculated killer, someone who knew their way around a gun. He then looked the body of the nine year old boy. Stab wounds were everywhere. The boy had been stabbed forty times. This would suggest a rage killing but the stabbing had been post mortem. Drowning had been COD, which suggested patience. The unsub was sending mixed messages. Nothing he hadn't already figured out from the reports. Oh well, it'd been worth a shot. "Thank you for your time Dr. Thatcher."

"Anything else I can you help with?"

"No, thanks again." Hotch turned to leave and then stopped and looked back to the coroner. Something Reid had said on the plane came to mind. "Have there been other children who died from drowning recently?"

Dr. Thatcher thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No, but I didn't do the autopsy of the first family since it was in a different county. Maybe the coroner over there has."

"Okay, thanks again." Hotch left the room. Time to see if Garcia and Reid had come up with anything. He made his way back to the police station, willing himself not to think about anything. He entered the room his subordinates had secluded themselves in. "Anything?"

"Maybe." Reid answered cryptically, he was reading over Garcia's shoulder. He was oblivious to the fact she was not comfortable with his hovering. He was more engrossed on what was on the screen.

"Maybe?" Hotch echoed back.

"Well, we still came up empty on any connections with the families so I had Garcia look up who has access to chloroform in the state. It's a restricted substance and anyone without a permit can't obtain it."

"Naturally, I narrowed the search down to the two counties the murders took place." Garcia supplied.

"I came up with a possible geographic profile of where the unsub lives, based off the murders and dump sites of the children." Reid indicated the map behind him with his thumb. It had circles and pins in it.

Hotch went over to inspect Reid's work. Finally the case felt like it was going somewhere. Being stuck on square one had begun to wear thin on his nerves. They needed to get ahead of this unsub before more lives were lost. The inside circle was the comfort zone, where the killer struck, and the bigger one around that was where the unsub most likely lived and/or worked. It was still quite a large area to cover, but something was better than nothing. "Garcia, narrow your search down even further based on the geographic profile."

"I already did that Sir."

"And?"

"Well, no one specifically came up. However, there are two companies that still use chloroform. Both of them are pharmaceutical companies."

"Lily Pad and Phister, two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies around. Both companies have hundreds of employees. Lily Pad's main headquarters is actually in down town Indianapolis. Phister has a large office downtown as well, I believe." Reid jumped back into the conversation.

Great. So anyone of those hundreds of employees could be the unsub. Still, they were making head way. Something was better than nothing Hotch reminded himself again. The thought offered little to no comfort. These companies wouldn't give them information they were looking for without a warrant. And right now, there wasn't any evidence suggesting the unsub actually worked for them, so there wasn't any point in bothering a judge to get one. There could be another way though… "Garcia, can you find out what employees have access to the chloroform?"

"Sir, are you asking me to hack into their systems?"

"How you get the information, isn't something I need to know. I was merely asking if you could it."

"You do know who you are talking to, right?"

Hotch gave her a stern look. He wasn't in the mood for games right now.

"Yes Sir." Garcia replied with a smile and began typing away.

"Good. I'm going to check in with Morgan and Rossi. Reid, keep working on the geographic profile. See if you can make the radius smaller based on the information Garcia gets. Oh and Garcia, see if any of the employees who have access to chloroform also have a gun registered to them. Specifically a HK USP .45 caliber, it's the gun used on the parents. And then see if any of them have lost a child recently." Hotch left the room and took out his cell phone.

Meanwhile…

Rossi and Morgan had gone to the first crime scene, while the rest of the team had stayed behind at the police station. They had inspected the houses and then the secondary crime scenes. They were almost done. They were finishing up inspecting the latest secondary scene.

"So, what's going on with Hotch?" Morgan asked Rossi.

"What do you mean?" Maybe he could get away with playing dumb.

"Oh come on, if I noticed then I know you noticed."

Nope, no such luck. "Fine. Yes, I noticed but I don't know what's troubling him."

Morgan gave a noncommittal response, deciding not to pursue the matter further. He switched the conversation to the case. "This unsub is organized and careful. Probably has a kill kit and yet leaves no evidence behind. No fibers, no prints, nothing. They took the time to pick up the shell casings and yet left the bullet behind…which doesn't make sense..."

"Unless the unsub knows the gun can't be traced back to them. The gun probably isn't registered or maybe they stole it."

"Then why take the time to pick up the casings?"

"I don't know. Maybe they didn't think about taking the bullets. Could be the mistake we need to get this case rolling."

"I guess. Nothing here either. The unsub drained the tub, stabbed the kid outside of it and leaves the body where it is. Only here, there is a message for us. What do you think the unsub is trying to tell us?"

"Well, 'they' is vague. It could mean the kids or possibly the parents. However, it's most likely referring to children since it was written in the boy's blood and found on the wall directly over the body."

"What if the message is talking about everyone the unsub has killed? Like the message is a justification for it."

"Also a possibility." Rossi admitted. Just then his phone rang, "Rossi." He answered the phone and the listened to the other end. "All right. We'll be there soon. We are just finishing up the last crime scene." He flipped the phone closed and put it away.

"What's up?"

"Hotch wants us back at the police station. Reid came up with a geographical profile and Garcia is working on finding people who have access to chloroform. He thinks we should be able to give a profile to the local police soon."

"All right, let's go then."