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From Chicago, With Love – Chapter 4
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"Momma," Derek and Emily had dropped Fran and his sisters off at their apartment. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
Fran nodded, "You too, Derek." She gave him a kiss on his cheek before she released his neck. "And you too, Emily, thank you for a wonderful dinner." She waved to her.
"A pleasure, Fran." Emily smiled. "And it's nice to meet you, Sarah, Desirée."
"You too, Emily!" Desiree smiled back as she waved. "See you later, Derek."
Sarah nodded at her as she stood beside Fran.
He nodded as he waved to his sisters and drove back to the hotel.
"That was a good night, Derek."
He nodded to Emily. "Yes, my family seemed to be taken with you, bunny."
"What did you just call me?"
He grinned as he gave her a quick glance, "Bunny…like those fuzzy little rabbits you're so fond of." He leaned over to peck her on her cheeks as they waited at an intersection.
She leaned away from him, "I'm not your fuzzy bunny, Derek. Just because I'd share a story about my childhood doesn't make give you the right to call me bunny."
He frowned at her and stared and realized she had him again. "You know, Emily, about the story of the boy who cry wolf? Well, you're the girl who's crying that wolf and one day, I'm not gonna fall for it and you're gonna get it…and quit laughing, you cold-hearted woman!" he shook his head.
She was really laughing hard, "That's for all the times you pick on Reid." She was wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. "You're so easy and you fall for it every time, Harvey."
He turned to stare at her for a moment, "What…Who's Harv…? Oh! So, now, I'm an invisible rabbit." He smiled at her. "At least I'm a big giant bunny rabbit." He said.
As they were driving near their hotel, Emily noticed a pack of dogs had gathered over something.
"Derek, pull over and honk the horn." She indicated near an alleyway by the hotel.
Derek narrowed his gaze and saw where she was indicating and pressed the horn which startled the dogs and scattering them.
Some of them ran away but three remained over the bundle.
Emily opened the door and removed her gun and fired nearby, this time the remaining dogs scampered off.
"Emily!" Derek came out of the vehicle and rushed by her, his gun was out of his holster as well, "What the heck are you doing? Those wild dogs could have come after you!"
She turned around and smiled at him as she turned on her flash light, "Are you scared of the three little dogs?"
He shook his head, "That's not the point, and…Wait a minute, it's not the three little dogs, it's the three little pigs, Em." He smiled but his grin began to falter as she lifted the bundle and revealed the top of a boy's head. "Oh…crap!" She nodded.
He pulled out his cell phone and called 911 and the BAU team.
Emily revealed further the covers and tried to discover the identity of the body; she also took out her notebook and read her notes.
"It's the third victim, Michael Allen; parents said he was wearing a yellow polo shirt, jeans and Nike High-tops sneakers." She nodded.
They soon heard the sirens' sounds and stood up and waited by the boy's side.
Emily sighed with relief; so far young James Buford had not been killed…yet. His parents were spared of this agony.
She was afraid it was a matter of time…time; something they needed and didn't have.
"Emily!" Derek was calling her.
She turned to him as he indicated the arrival of the BAU team.
She nodded and went to greet them.
"Hey Hotch…Dave." She greeted them.
"Who found him?" Hotch asked.
"A pack of dogs first and then we did after we chased them off."
"We?" JJ walked to stand before Emily.
"Derek and I were on our way back to the hotel after dinner with Derek's family, Jayje." She looked at her pointedly.
JJ nodded, accepting her explanation with an arched brow.
"Method of death?" Hotch nodded at the now covered area; the Medical examiner was bent over the tiny body.
"Looks like he was strangled, just like the first vic. There was ligature mark around his neck." Morgan answered sadly.
Dave was looking around the neighborhood, "Who was canvassing the neighborhood?"
"We did," Detective Gordinski came up before Dave, Dennison behind him. "But it was clear earlier."
Dave nodded. "UnSub must have done dumped the body soon after."
Hotch and the rest nodded in agreement.
The ME came to them and spoke, "I'll have to conduct a thorough autopsy to determine a much more specific answer but preliminary examination indicates he died of strangulation just like the firs vic. But here's the thing. Unlike the first vic, this one has four puncture wounds in the inside of his right elbow; I'll have a better answer when I take him back for a more thorough autopsy, agents. And I'll be sending his blood sample to toxicology results. When I have it, you'll be the first to know."
"Thanks, Doc. I appreciate it." Hotch nodded to him.
"Don't mention it. I have two grandsons the same age as them." He said. "I better get going…see you around." The ME turned back to the body and instructed his team to remove the small body to the awaiting dark van.
The BAU team watched the removal of the body in silence and noticed a car pulled up and saw a couple came rushing out.
Dave began to walk towards them as Hotch said, "It's the Allens. This is not going to be good." He then went up to join Dave and spoke to the couple who soon broke into tears as the mother hurried to the van and banged on it and began to screamed and cried uncontrollably. Her husband tried to hold her back as the van drove on.
Hotch and Dave were seen talking to them and soon they climbed into their car and drove away.
Hotch and Dave came back.
"They heading to the ME?" Morgan asked.
Hotch nodded.
"I hated this part of the job. It's never easy."
They nodded sadly.
For once, Reid was silent.
…
The BAU team was up early the next morning and was at the precinct; they did not sleep much the night before as their minds weighed heavily on the dead and the still missing children.
Reid was facing the local map as he was wearing his frown and holding multiple colored markers while trying to plot the missing children and marking the two deceased children found.
"How are you on the Buford letters, Reid?" Hotch wanted to know.
He turned around, "I'm almost half way through, nothing unusual so far. Most of them are from out of state and irrelevant." He shook his head. "They're all the 'I hate you and hope you burn and rot in jail.' Wishes." He nodded at the pile.
"Try to get through it today, Reid."
"Yeah…." He nodded as he turned back to his maps.
"The dumpsites are random at best, Reid." Emily pointed out as she was watching him while playing with her plastic stirrer in her coffee cup.
"That may be so, Emily. But I think there is a somewhat organization to this randomness." Reid muttered.
"Like?" Gordinski asked as he stepped in sipping his mug of hot black coffee. He then made a face as he glanced down at his mug, "What the heck is in here? Tar? Who made this crap?" He sniffed at it and muttered, "Smells like coffee…but taste like crap."
The BAU team smiled, "Reid made this morning's coffee, he uses half a can of ground coffee." Derek grinned as he explained.
Gordinski shook his head, "This shit is not fit for human consumption…hell, it's not even fit for the dead…I'll never be able to sleep for days drinking this crap!" He left the room, presumably to change his drink.
Reid was drinking his mug as if he was drinking water as he began, "The first site was discovered five miles from where the first vic was reported missing. The second body was also found five miles from where he lived."
"So, the UnSub lives nearby as well as the missing boys." Emily said.
Reid nodded as he drew a circle around James Buford's and Devon Johnson's house.
"That's our radius of where the UnSub is stalking her targets ." Reid turned around to face them.
Suddenly, there was a loud yelp;
"WHO THE HELL MADE THIS SHIT? AND WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"
It was the chief of police as he sputtering from his coffee mug.
The team grinned as they turned to Reid who reddened immediately.
Hotch leaned forward, "Reid, weren't you told not to make coffee in any police department ever again?" He arched his brow.
The young doctor nodded, "Yes… but in my defense…I did ask Detective Dennison if it was okay to make a fresh pot…no one was around early this morning."
"No, Reid. You've been banned." Hotch shook his head. "And that was the reason." He pointed outside the room. The police chief was still choking from his drink as his secretary came rushing out with a bottled water.
Morgan and Emily were bumping fists as they grinned.
"But…but…"
Hotch shook his head, "No buts Reid."
"I was just helping him and…he said four scoops."
Dave grinned, "Yeah but did you use four shoveling scoops like the ones for ice cubes or small scoops equivalent to about one tablespoon?"
Reid frowned, "There's a difference?"
Emily, Morgan and now JJ began to laugh as hard as they could. Even Hotch's dimples were deepened like a two bottomless pits and his eyes were showing crow's feet.
Dave was doing his best to restrained himself.
"Okay, CPD is going back out and canvas the neighborhood again in half." Hotch announced as he looked at his watch. "We'll use Reid's radius method to canvas."
Emily's cell phone rang as she took it out and looked at the Caller ID.
She frowned when she didn't recognize the number but it was a Chicago area code.
"Prentiss." She answered. Derek was watching her.
Emily straightened when she heard the voice on the other line identified herself.
"Mrs. Buford? Is something wrong?" Emily inquired, her voice was lined with worry.
Derek Morgan leaned forward as he frowned.
The rest of the team was now watching her too.
"Where is he right now?" she nodded as she began to write down something on her notepad.
Morgan leaned over to look and his eyes widened when he saw what she had written;
CJ missing, rcv txt frm #; mtg abdn bdg nw.
"Okay, we'll be there, just stay home with your mother-in-law, we'll send someone over."
Emily ended the call and look up, "That's Liz Buford, she says CJ Buford received a text message from this number and after talking to her, he ran out of the house after telling his wife that it's about James."
"It could be a trap." Hotch said as he began to call Garcia, "Need you to trace this cell phone number, Garcia, fast as you can." He began to rattle off the set of number Emily had written down."
"Let's go everyone. Reid, the letters now!" They all stood up and began to pack up their things.
Dr. Spencer Reid nodded as he watched them, "I'll begin right away, Hotch." He muttered as he picked up where he left off.
Morgan, Emily and Hotch were about to pull away in the same vehicle heading towards the Bufords' when Garcia called back.
"Hotch, the phone call is from behind the Bufords! There's an abandoned house there!"
Just then, Detective Gordinski suddenly came rushing and banged on the window of the SUV as Derek rolled the window down, "Yeah Gordy? We're on our way to the Bufords."
Panting as he held onto his chest and said to the three of them, Dave and JJ who were in the other SUV pulled up beside them as they listened in as Gordy said anxiously, "Got a phone call…from….dispatch…they found…Devon…Johnson…"
…
End of Chapter 4