"There's a call for you, Agent Rossi. Line 2," one of the local police told him.

Rossi picked up the line, listened for a few moments and turned to the others. He dialed Hotch's number and told everyone all at once,

"That was the medical examiner. There was blood that doesn't belong to Ivy Lester in her mouth and teeth. He ran the tests on it. The blood belongs to a male. I figure she probably bit the hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming just before he killed her."

Hotch weighed this information with Reid's deductions and gave Rossi Tanya Franklin's address. "Get the Shreveport PD to come out and take Tanya and Amy Franklin into Protective Custody. Reid thinks, and I believe he's right, that the ex husband may be our unsub."

They arrived at the Franklin house and introduced themselves. Hotch explained about the murders and asked if she'd mind answering a few questions. She invited them to come in and sit down in the living room. As gently as he could, Hotch told her about the four murders. Tanya Franklin didn't recognise Sharon Thompson's name, but began to cry softly when she was told that Ivy Lester was dead.

"She's a friend of mine. We went to school together. He killed her?"

"We're very sorry." Reid let Hotch do the talking. "Also killed were your social worker Margaret Marshall and Judge Evelyn James."

She sobbed for several moments, taking a tissue from the box on the table beside the sofa. Hotch gave her a few moments to compose herself, then asked,

"Where's your daughter, Ms. Franklin? Where's Amy?"

"She's at school, Agent Hotchner. She's got peewee basketball practice after class." Hotch and Reid made eye contact, Reid nodded and slipped out of the living room, going to the kitchen to make a phone call.

Back in the living room, Hotch explained that the police were going to take Tanya and Amy into Protective Custody for their own safety until her estranged husband could be located. He told her Reid was calling them right now to pick Amy up from school, and that they'd be arriving for her shortly as well. Hotch asked Tanya if she knew where her ex husband was. She grew wide-eyed with fear.

"This is Special Agent Spencer Reid with the FBI. We're working the multiple murders case with your Major Crimes unit. The rest of my team is on the way here, but I need one of your units to go by the elementary school at 229 Stoner Ave, and pick up grade three student Amy Franklin. And another unit needs to get over here to the Franklin house; Agent Rossi has the address. They need to be in Protective Custody because we believe the estranged father may be the the killer in this case." He spoke into his phone and waited for acknowledgement. His attention was momentarily diverted by a sudden thump from the living room. Reid clicked his phone shut and started back in that direction, stopping short when he saw a man holding a gun to a terrified little girl's head. Hotchner lay unconscious on the floor and Tanya Franklin was petrified, frozen in place on the sofa.

"The homeless one was easy," Paul Franklin gloated. "Your little coffee shop friend too. She bit me, the bitch."

Tanya hadn't seen Reid standing behind the folding door that separated the kitchen from the living room. Paul Franklin had his back to Reid, who assessed the situation. He could see Hotchner's chest rise and fall; he knew his boss was alive. Franklin continued to terrorise his own daughter, while bragging about his deeds.

"That stupid social worker. Stabbed me in the heart, she did, encouraging you to leave me and break up our family." Her ex-husband was angry, and growing angrier by the minute. Reid had to restrain himself from taking ill-advised action when Franklin pulled Amy by the hair to bring her closer. As he continued to rant, Franklin waved his gun in an arc above his head before bringing it back down and aiming once again at his daughter's head. Amy was shaking with fear and her father roughly pulled her again.