Ch 6
"Guys," JJ said hanging up her phone. "There's been another body found, they said it couldn't have been there for more than a few hours at most."
"Where was it found?" Rossi asked.
"In the park again…not as far out as the first victim." JJ replied. The team went to the park, the local police were there waiting for them.
"The body is over here," one of the cops said and with that she led the team to the dump site.
The victim was lying in a shallow grave, her body was horribly mutilated and her blond and blue hair was matted with blood. Hotch stiffened at the sight of her. "This was found sticking out of the ground on top of the grave" the officer said, holding up a stick that had a Queen of Clubs with "Alice" written across it. Hotch turned on her.
"Do you know who this is?" he asked her, forcing his voice to remain calm. The officer just shook her head. Hotch took out his phone and pulled up the picture of 'Mantha that Alice had sent him earlier. He turned it so the cop could see. "This is Samantha Hayes, one of the kids that were reported missing earlier, one of the ones that you refused to look for."
"But…" the officer said "the Alice Killer was only killing adults…." Hotch sighed.
"You didn't find it the least bit alarming when three people were reported missing," Rossi said angrily. "Especially when there's a serial killer on the loose and a body was found earlier today?" he was beyond furious. How could they have possibly been this stupid?
"We need to let her family and Alice know that she was found," Hotch said.
"Was there any sign of the other two kids?" Morgan asked.
"No…no sign of any other bodies….we checked" the cop said.
Reid called Garcia to have her find 'Mantha's home phone number. Meanwhile, Hotch tried to call Alice. "That's weird," Hotch said.
"What?" Blake asked.
"Her phone went to voicemail," Hotch said. The others went pale.
"You don't think she was taken too….do you?" JJ asked.
"At this rate…she might have been. The UnSub has already taken three kids; all of them close friends of hers. And we know he has some sort of weird obsession with her," Blake said.
"He could've gotten her number from any one of them…he might've called her…offered her a trade." Rossi said. "Her for the twins…"
"And she would've taken it…she'd do anything for her friends." Hotch said. "We'll check her house first. She might have left a note or something." So they went to her house only to find it empty. They went in the open garage door and checked the entire house. There was no sign of Alice or Jasper and there was no note. They went back outside to find a neighbor standing in the driveway.
"I saw Mr. Payne leave a few hours ago," she said. "Alice followed him on her bike. I'll tell ya…Jasper's been real odd all day."
"How so?" Hotch asked.
"He keeps comin' an' goin'. Didn't even stop to chat… it's not like him. Not at all." Mrs. Caraway said. "And I heard him yellin' at Alice earlier tonight, about an hour or so before he left. That's not like him at all. He never raises his voice, especially not to her. So I went to my window, I could see into their front room from their cuz the window and blinds were open. I about fainted when I saw him slap her"
"He hit her?" Rossi asked, his fists clenched. He liked Alice a lot. She was a good smart girl, never did anything wrong, never acted out. He knew because he'd checked in on her frequently ever since her mother died. He still felt guilty about not being able to catch the killer. They all did.
"Hard enough to knock her to the floor. And she's a strong girl." She said, shaking her head sadly. "I know she didn't deserve it. They went that way." She pointed down the street. "I don't know any more than that. You bring that sweet girl home ya hear?"
"Don't worry, we'll find them." Rossi said. They got in their cars and started in the direction the old woman had indicated. Morgan called Garcia.
"Hey baby girl," he said. "I need you to do something."
"Ask and you shall receive," she said getting ready to do whatever he asked her.
"I need you to track Alice's cell."
"Oh god, is she missing?" Garcia asked.
"We don't know yet, but we can't get a hold of her and her neighbor said some weird stuff was going on." A few minutes passed, Morgan could hear Garcia typing away on her computer.
"Got her," she said. "She's in an old abandoned apartment building that's scheduled for demolition. I just sent the directions to your GPSs."
"Thanks Mama," Morgan said.
"Oh no…" Garcia said.
"What?"
"I just lost her, her phone shut off."
"Maybe the battery died?" Morgan suggested.
"Maybe…." Garcia didn't sound any more sure than Morgan did.
