The next morning bright and early Hotch and Emily were on a plane headed to Gary, Indiana. They were supposed to be going over background information on William Colton, Anna Smith, Emily Belle and the town but were instead discussing the strange events of the previous night. Morgan had driven around for two hours certain he was being followed but was eventually forced to go to his apartment when the babies wet their diapers. Garcia hadn't seen anyone but it didn't mean there wasn't someone following them. They arrived in Gary and drove to the local police station and were met by the police chief; a heavyset bearded man in his forties with the complacent content look of a man with an easy post
"Chief Sloane I'm Aaron Hotchner, this is Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau briefed you on why we're here."
"Yes she did, listen you came out here for nothing. Anna disappears all the time, she always shows up eventually like a bad penny."
"That may be but she was heavily pregnant when she left town and she left her children behind when she vanished." Hotch said forcefully
"Word in town was that Anna wasn't big on motherhood, she probably ditched her kids and ran off with some biker." Chief Sloane said dismissively
"Since we came all the way out here we would like to talk to William Colton and her roommate Karen Lane." Emily said barely keeping her temper in check at Sloane's attitude
"Course, you can find Colton at Hade's Paradise and Karen works at the Swan's Table."
"Thank you Chief Sloane." Hotch said and the agents left
Once outside Hotch devised a plan "We don't have a lot of time here so Emily I want you to go to Anna's apartment and talk to her roommate. I'm going to go to the Swan's Table, and Hades Paradise we'll meet at one to go over what we learn." Emily nodded and they split up
Anna lived in a small single story house near the northwest end of town. The house was fairly isolated; it was at the end of the block by the river. Emily knocked at the door and a petite blonde woman in her early twenties answered. She was reluctant to all Emily to come in until Emily showed her badge. The house was divided into a living area, kitchen/ dining area, a small sun room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Anna's room was cluttered with furniture a bed, desk, bookcase, dresser, and a small chair well padded with pillows. Despite the excess of furniture Anna's possessions were Spartan; she had clothes, a few pictures of her brother and Reid on the dresser, some CD's and a small CD Player, a guitar hung on the wall, and a few landscapes on the walls and a statue of a basket ball on the dresser. The books were the main focus; Anna had classic literature from her mother, sales books from her father, three pregnancy books, and a few books on motorcycle and car repair. All of them showed signs of heavy reading and some of the classic books were falling apart. Emily found a small metal box with a lock on the top shelf of the closet. She took it with her and went to the kitchen where Karen was making coffee.
"I'm going to take off, thanks for letting me letting me look around."
"No problem, I wasn't exactly surprised to see you Anna was bound to find trouble sooner or later."
"What do you mean?"
"She took off on that motorcycle all the time, kept getting calls from all manner of people, and refused almost all offers to socialize with decent folk."
"What do you mean decent folk?"
"Churchgoers, the respectable people who run this town; she was always spending her time at her brother's bar or planning a trip. As a matter of fact you can tell Will to come and pack up his sister's things I don't want her here anymore."
"I will tell him to call you when I see him; did Anna leave behind any photographs, medications, knitting supplies?"
"Yeah she taped this to the inside of the cabinet where we store our medicines." Karen said walking over to a drawer and pulling out an ultrasound picture and a piece of notebook paper with Reid's handwriting "She looked at these every morning when she got out her medications."
"Thank you, very much for your time." Emily said taking the papers and left the house
Emily drove to Dr. Felix's office the only doctor in Gary who offered prenatal care. At one Emily met Hotch for lunch at a local diner
"So I stopped by Dr. Felix's office he didn't tell me much but the receptionist Mrs. Shell did. Anna talked with her about medications, scheduled regular appointments, asked lots of questions about babies. Even if Anna planned to give the twins to Reid she was doing everything she could to make sure they were healthy."
"Was Dr. Felix able to tell you when the twins were supposed to have been born?"
"Yes the twins were born two and half to three weeks premature."
Their food came and Emily changed the subject "So I talked to Karen Lane Anna's roommate she didn't seem to care about Anna or her children, in fact she told me to tell William Colton to pick up Anna's things as soon as possible. She also said that Anna didn't associate with the right people, did the people you talked to tell you similar things?"
"The manager at the Swan's Table was happy with Anna said she could handle any job he gave her including cook and she never refused to do any job he asked of her, the manager at the Hades Bar said the same thing. The impression I got was that the managers liked Anna but the wait staff were more mixed in their feelings. A beautiful, talented, hard working woman is competition for promotions, tips, any perks, but they also said Anna was generous, caring, always willing to cover an extra shift or help out someone if they were in trouble. Apart from her extended absences Anna was a model employee."
"Did you talk to William Colton?"
"No, he left town three weeks ago, no one knows where he went."
"Well the police aren't going to be any help, we should talk to the priest small town like this the church is a central part of the community." Emily said
They finished eating and went over to the church. After the church they tried to talk to the police again but the chief told them in no uncertain terms to leave not only the station but to get out of town as well. They talked to a few neighbors, old teachers, and William's current girlfriend but uncovered no fresh leads. They left town that night and met up with JJ and Garcia the next morning in the conference room.
"How are the twins doing?" Hotch asked as they settled in at the table
"Good no signs of the stalker but I wish Reid was with them or Anna they need their parents."
"Reid will recover and we will find Anna. Were you able to track down William Colton?" Hotch said
"No he took his car but turned off the GPS and he's not using any of his credit cards. I also looked into Emma Belle's car but he sold it two weeks after she died along with her house and most of her possessions."
"Did Emma leave everything to him?" JJ asked
"She left him the bar and without another heir or close relationship he claimed the rest of the estate."
"Did anyone in town have any ideas where Anna or William might go?" JJ asked
"No the whole town was very supportive of them after their parents deaths but when William got a job at Hades Paradise two years later people started turning on him. Anna defended her brother and they shunned her too. William has friends among the local business owners and is currently seeing Lily Freed a waitress who works at a local diner. Anna was socially isolated in town; she kept to herself and spent most of her time before Emma's death with Emma and her brother. After Emma died Anna spent time by herself and then got pregnant she didn't have time to establish relationships outside of her brother and his circle. She also didn't trust or like her roommate considering that she kept most of her things with her brother or in a locked box in her closet."
"Did Lily know why Anna left the family home?" Garcia asked
"She moved out a week after Emma's funeral, William and Anna had a huge fight at the Hades two days before she left but nobody knows what it was about. Lily said that the last major fight William and Anna had was over money. After Marion and Harold, William and Anna inherited all their money including the money from their life insurance. William refused to touch Anna's money to help with her upkeep and put it all in a trust. On her eighteenth birthday Anna received her inheritance and bought a Harley Davidson Motorcycle and leather jacket. William was furious there was still plenty of money in the account but he wanted her to use the money to go to college. Anna stuck around long enough to graduate and then took off. "Emily said
Suddenly JJ's phone rang she answered it and left the room she came back a few minutes later her face grim
A/N finally a new chapter, lots of back story, please let me know your thoughts, all criticism and praise welcome or just Follow, Favorite.