Hotch and Reid boxed up the files from the Arizona cases and stacked them on the edge of the table. "These are the last of them," Hotch said to the patrol officer who was helping to bring them to the car.
"Do you think the keys will lead us anywhere?" Reid asked.
"I'm not sure. We may be simply missing the piece that connects them," Hotch replied.
The two agents exchanged parting pleasantries with the captain then started for the door.
"Excuse me," a man said as he approached them from the lobby. "You wouldn't happen to be the visiting FBI agents, would you?"
"And you are?" Hotch asked.
"Diego Perez. I'm a reporter—"
"No comment." Hotch pushed past him.
Diego rushed back in front of them. "Wait, I just want to ask one question."
Hotch stared at him.
"Does your presence here have anything to do with the murders in the National and State parks?" He asked as he looked at Reid, then back to Hotch, then back to Reid.
"You asked your question. And my response is 'no comment.'"
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Diego asked as he looked at Reid.
Reid scrunched his face as he looked at the reporter. "Um, no, I don't think so."
"Were you ever in Mexico?" the reporter asked.
"A few times," Reid replied.
"I know I know you from somewhere."
"I'm sorry, but we don't have time for you to remember." Hotch started back toward the exit with Reid a foot behind.
Diego pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number. "I just saw a ghost… and he's a federal agent."
Alex stood in the middle of the apartment and spun in a slow circle to look at all the paper and pictures pinned onto the wall. "What is all of this?"
Hugh stood at the wall to the right of the door. "It appears to be a timeline of events. It starts here and moves around the room clockwise."
"Timeline of what?" Alex asked.
"Crimes," Roman said from the opposite side of the room. "They're newspaper articles, police reports, crime scene photos, just a collection of nasty things.
They started to scour the information in search of an answer.
"I found something interesting," Hugh said. The others gathered with him. He pointed to the newspaper clipping. "This is the night that Spencer and Charles were almost killed by one of Cortez's men when they were driving it from Mexico, then they burned the car."
"Anything else about it?" Alex asked.
"No, that incident in particular, but I am getting a general theme here. Most of these events have ties to Mexican gangs."
"I was coming to the same conclusion," Alex added.
"Could they all be tied to Cortez?" Roman asked.
"Okay, wait. Let's think about this for a moment." Alex moved away from them. "Let's just say this was all done by Charles. Why here? Why all this? What does it all mean?"
"Well, here's your connection," Roman pointed back to the newspaper. "Here is Charles, right here. We just need to link it with the rest of this information."
"Alex, look at this," Hugh said. "Isn't this the crime scene photo that was sent to Spencer?"
"Yes, you're right." She glanced at the other photos in that area then pointed to each one that she recognized. "All of these are from that envelope."
"One thing we know for sure, this person definitely wants us to see something," Roman said.
"Yeah, but what?" Alex pulled out her phone and dialed.
Hotch looked at his phone and answered. "Alex?"
"Alex?" Reid questioned from the passenger seat of the SUV.
Hotch pressed the speaker button. "You have Reid and me."
"Hey, Aaron, so, I found something that is connected to your case."
"What is it?" He asked.
"Well, it will have to be seen to be believed. I'm sending pictures of it to your phones. But I think you should send someone here. You know, officially."
Reid flipped through the pictures showing the coverage of the room, and then he saw the specific photos of the article of the car fire and the recent crime scenes he was sent. "I'll be on the next flight."
"No," Hotch interrupted. "I am sending Prentiss and Rossi. Expect them in a couple of hours."
"Great, thanks," Alex said as she hung up.
"Why am I not going?" Reid questioned. "I was the one who was sent the information, not to mention that she is my wife."
"Two excellent reasons not to send you."
Alex slipped her phone into her back pocket and turned to the men. "Well, the feds are coming."
Roman looked back and forth between Alex and Hugh. "Does that mean we can eat now?"
Alex, Hugh, and Roman were back in the Chinese restaurant and had just finished their meal. The waiter was removing their plates and left them a pile of fortune cookies.
Roman reached out and grabbed one. "Oi, I love these!" In a moment, he had the wrapper removed, and the cookie was snapped open to reveal the small paper inside. "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
Hugh opened it next. "Relax and enjoy yourself."
Roman laughed. "They got you pegged. Come on, Alex, your turn."
Alex pulled out her fortune. "A dubious friend may be an enemy in camouflage." She stared back and forth between them.
Roman's cheeks reddened. "Well, it's not me."
Hugh let out a chuckle.
Alex looked up to see Rossi and Prentiss enter the restaurant. "The cavalry's here."
Hugh pulled a chair over from the empty table and held it for Prentiss.
"Are you guys hungry?" Alex asked as he motioned toward the plate of dumplings that remained on their table.
"No, thanks, we're good," Rossi said.
"Speak for yourself." Prentiss reached across the table and slid the plate toward her.
"You guys remember Hugh," Alex said.
"Yes, we danced at the wedding," Prentiss said before popping a dumpling in her mouth.
"And this is our friend, Paul Roman."
The group said their hellos as Rossi remained standing. "Alex, can we speak for a moment?"
"Uh, sure." Alex stood up and followed him outside.
"Going to the headmaster's office for a dressing-down?" Roman questioned.
Prentiss watched as they left the restaurant. "From Rossi? I doubt it. Hotch would be a different story."
Rossi stood on the sidewalk with his hands in his front pockets. He looked at Alex. "Okay, fill me in."
"Well, I'm sure you know why you're here."
"I got the abridged version. I want the whole story. From you."
Alex told Rossi what happened since Reid first came home with the envelope, how she followed the clues and all the steps that led them to that point.
Rossi took a beat before speaking. "Let's take a moment to assume that it's all true. Charles is alive and giving you clues about some mysterious case. What reason would he have to be in hiding? He left his wife and two small children and faked his death. What would make him do that?"
"I have been doing a lot of thinking about that. He was supposedly killed when Harris Knight escaped from prison. We were told that he did it. Later, Parker told us he killed him. But I think that was just a taunt from a crazy man."
"So, what do you think happened?"
"For months before Knight's escape, Charles was secretly working with me to prove my innocence. He also had suspicions of Parker being involved but couldn't prove it. We still aren't sure how he was brought to that conclusion. In the beginning, Charles told me that he was going to Parker for help and something made him not trust him anymore. I think that's when Parker knew that everything was going to unravel."
"You think Parker set him up?"
"Yes. Parker had all the information on who would want any one of us dead. He could have easily let any of them know where we lived and how to get to us. I think someone did come to kill Charles, but Charles killed him first. The police reported a man dead in Charles' apartment. That's all the information Parker would need to believe that it worked."
"Sounds plausible."
Alex let out a sigh. "Look, I could be way off base. But I know that if there were a threat to Charles and his family, he would do anything to protect them, including faking his own death. And I would do anything to help him."
"Would you be this passionate for anyone or just him?" Rossi asked.
"For a while, he was the only one who believed in my innocence, and I thought he was killed because of it. I owe him."
"Please remember you don't have to do this all by yourself. You look like you haven't slept in days."
Alex waved her hand in dismissal. "I caught some bug when I was in England. Just my luck, right?"
"I know you. You have a tendency to take on too much and wear yourself thin. We are all here for you, we will get this sorted soon, kiddo."