"All right, the boy doesn't look like he could be any older than 7. Let's work youngest to oldest. Start with the worst behaviour. Get the names of the parents, send them over to Garcia. She can cross-check for criminal records. This guy's dumping bodies between 7:30 and 8:00. That gives us... a little over 12 hours to make something hit. Let's get it done" Morgan said to the team in the conference room before Reid looked up shocked.
"Look who's here" Reid said shocked seeing Lilith and Hotch walk into the local station.
"Hey. Where do we start?" Lilith said smiling, walking over and sitting next to Reid, surprising him. Hotch walked over and stood next to a startled Morgan and shook his hand.
"How fast can you get us up to speed?" Lilith asked JJ.
"How fast can you sit down?" JJJ joked, glad they were here but worried about Reid's feelings. She gave Lilith and Hotch a copy of the file just as Strauss walked in and the room froze.
"We're only here to help" Lilith said as Strauss looked at Lilith and Hotch.
"We'll deal with this later" Strauss said sitting down and joining the search. They went through the files for the next few hours.
"It's impossible. There's too many" Reid said annoyed.
"Keep looking, Reid. We still have an hour" Morgan said as Reid kept sneaking glances at Lilith, as if reminding himself she was actually here. Lilith caught him a few times before reaching under the table and grabbing his hand, rubbing her thumb over the top of his hand silently telling him she doesn't regret the kiss and they will talk later.
"Thank you, by the way, for giving Garcia that file to give to me" Hotch muttered to JJ at the other end of the table.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't see Garcia before I left" JJ explained making Hotch realized what Garcia's plan was. Vic walked into the room looking sad and annoyed.
"Another victim?" Lilith asked and Vic nodded making the team get in their cars and drive to the newest crime scene. Another alleyway. They walked down it and Strauss went to look at the body but slipping. Hotch caught her.
"Are you all right?" Hotch asked.
"I st-I stepped on her hair" Strauss stuttered disgusted.
"If you need a second, take a second. This is what it is. Just don't let the public see you break down" Hotch said softly before Vic led Strauss away from the body to get some fresh air.
"This is a different area from the other dump sites, isn't it?" Lilith asked looking around.
"He's getting smart. He knows where all of our manpower will be so he's changing locations" Reid added from beside Lilith.
"How long before he changes when and where he abducts them?" Morgan asked kneeling down next to the body.
"He does that, we're back at zero" Lilith scoffed annoyed.
"Claire?" The husband called out walking towards the crime scene.
"No, no, no, no. We gotta keep him out of here" Morgan said rushing towards the husband with JJ and Lilith.
"Morgan says you're worried about Gideon" Hotch stated.
"I keep on calling him… he doesn't call back" Reid confessed but not actually saying he wanted to talk about Lilith even though Hotch knew what he was talking about.
"He's probably at his cabin. That's where he goes when he... needs to get away. Reid, I need your head in this" Hotch said professionally, not just talking about Gideon but Lilith as well.
"I know" Reid said softly looking over at Lilith.
…
"So what's around the dump site?" Hotch asked Vic back at the police station as the team sat back in the conference room.
"Here's the old printing press of quad graphics, and the paving yard, and then the concrete factory where we found the body. None of them visible from the highway" Vic explained as he drew on the map to explain his information.
"You don't end up there by accident" Lilith stated sitting on the table, her feet on the chair next to Reid.
"So we go back to the schools, we eliminate the third ward, and we target problem kids whose fathers have held blue-collar jobs over the last 10 years" Hotch stated making Reid hesitate before speaking up.
"What if he's not a problem kid?" Reid asked making the team look at him confused.
"What?" Morgan asked.
"Forget it. It's off the textbook profile" Reid said rubbing her head sighing.
"What is it, Reid?" Hotch asked urging him to speak up.
"Sometimes when a parent is unstable, especially if the other one's out of the picture, you'll do anything to be the perfect child" Reid explained because that's what happened to him with his mother.
"I know that's what happened to you when your Dad left but… helping your father abduct women? I don't know, Reid… I never was… I've never heard of anything like that" Lilith said almost saying that she never was like that when she was with her parents but caught herself because Vic was in the room.
"I know…" Reid said softly just to Lilith before turning to the team.
"But think about it. They're never late for school. Even with the abductions, the disposal of the bodies, it's always timed perfectly so the kid will be on time to school. I don't think the killer would care. I think the kid would" Reid explained and Hotch looked at Lilith. She thought about the fact that even though she was the one that tipped off the FBI about her parent's whereabouts she still did everything they asked… buried everyone they wanted her too. It was plausible. Lilith nodded to Hotch and he pulled out his phone and called Garcia.
"FBI. Technical analyst Penelope Garcia speaking" Garcia said professionally as Hotch left the conference room.
"Garcia, I need a list of parents from the Wauwatosa school district, eliminating any two-parent households or any fathers holding white collar jobs that aren't labour management" Hotch explained.
"You'll see it flying over the transom momentarily" Garcia said simply.
"And one more thing- the glitches in the transfers and resignations stop now" Hotch said firmly.
"Uh- yes, sir" Garcia said sighing.
"And, Garcia... Thank you" Hotch said genuinely making Garcia smile before hanging up. JJ and Reid left to go back to the school.
….
"He's a kid that's a model student" JJ said to the principle.
"Not just straight As, though. It's someone who tries to please in a way that the other teachers have probably talked about. Inventing extra-credit projects, volunteering to skip recess to help clean the classroom, stuff like that" Reid added thinking about his own childhood.
"David smith" The Principle said.
"Do you know his father?" Reid asked.
"Oh, it's such a sad story. The teachers all talk about it. He was diagnosed with an inoperable tumour 6 months ago, and his wife left the two of them" The Principle explained.
"She just left?" JJ asked softly.
"Yeah. I don't know what's gonna happen to David. I can't imagine David's father being someone you're looking for. He's very involved. He drops David off and picks him up every day" The Principle explained as they left her office and walked through the hallways.
"Do you happen to know what kind of car he drives?" Reid asked.
"A van, maybe? I can't say. Something big. He makes hand-crafted furniture. I know he does deliveries" The Principle explained as they walked into the classroom.
"Miss Bennett" She called out.
"We're looking for David smith" Reid said to the teacher.
"You just missed him" Miss. Bennett explained.
"Do you know where he went?" JJ asked confused.
"He wasn't feeling well, so the nurse volunteered to drive him home to help out David's father" Miss. Bennett explained.
"Thank you" JJ said leaving quickly with Reid.
…..