Family

A/N: A short but informative chapter—I hope. And, as I warned before, I have procured employment, so my schedule will become quite different. I'll try and update as often as I can. It'll get done, I promise :0)

Gideon was sitting at a table in his hotel room when the other agents arrived. He let them in and waited patiently for them to find places to sit.

"Gideon," Hotch said as they all shifted around the room, "the team should get some rest, we can discuss the case in the morning." Gideon shook his head.

"No Hotch, two murders in less than twenty-four hours and we don't have a solid profile—We need to get discuss it now." The younger man conceded sliding into a chair beside the room's window. Gideon went to a table strewn with notes and pictures of the victims and their messages. He handed out copies of the latest findings to the team, starting to speak.

"According to Nelly Cantrell's husband, Richard, his wife didn't have any enemies—at least none that he was aware of." The agents looked at their papers as Hotch continued.

"However, Mr. Cantrell did make us aware that his wife had a serious gambling problem. A problem that had become quite the local," he looked at them pointedly as he finished, "scandal." The team members looked up from their notes, Morgan speaking.

"Was she getting any help?" Gideon gave a shrug from his position at the table, arms crossed in the usual Gideon fashion.

"Apparently not soon enough, she was scheduled to speak with a counselor next week." Gideon shifted his feet ahead of him as he continued.

"In the meantime, Nelly had effectively gambled away she and her husband's savings. Including their son's college fund." He finished, his gaze showing no emotion about the woman's personal issues. Reid, who had been silent until this point, ran a hand through his hair.

"So-so we're going on the assumption that Grace's flower messages are correct—that they really are implying whatever wrong the victim committed?" he asked, the other agents looking at one another. It appeared they were inclined to agree Grace's translations had been spot on, at least for Nelly.

"What about the latest victim, what about her?" Reid spoke up again, relaying the information he and Morgan had found out from the husband.

"Justine Cantrell wasn't known to have any enemies, and her husband wasn't aware of anything out of the ordinary. The sheriff though, let us know it was a well known fact that Justine had a—wh-what did he call it Morgan?" Morgan gave a grim look.

"He said she had a roving eye, that some of the folks around here thought she was a flirt-- some suspected her of having an affair." He said, while Prentiss shifted and looked at Reid.

"What about the flowers?" Reid nodded and answered.

"It confirms the theory—according to her research, Grace says it means 'beware the coquette'.

"I think it would be wise to say whoever is doing this has pretty intimate information about the family." Prentiss said. Gideon's raised an eyebrow.

"In a town this small, it would be hard to separate out those who don't have intimate knowledge of the Cantrell's." He said with a tired voice. It seemed Reid wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten any sleep on the plane.

"I'd say the wives of the other two men should have protection, it's pretty obvious the women of the family are in danger." J.J. said quietly from her spot on the floor. The others nodded, Hotch giving his seal of approval nod. As the blonde moved away to make a call to the police, Hotch spoke.

In the meantime, we should start looking into immediate family. What do we know about them?" this question was answered by Prentiss who was reading off of J.J's notes.

"Well, the family consists of four brothers, Richard, Marty, Steven, and Joseph. Their parents died when they were younger, leaving them to their mother's sister. Eva Bridger, she raised them on her own as though they were her children." Morgan shook his head.

"Pretty dedicated, raising four children." He said. J.J. nodded in agreement.

"She and her husband were like their parents and were a family until her husband passed away two years ago. Since then Eva's been on her own."

"All right, what about the wives?" Gideon asked. Prentiss flipped through the notebook, stopping at a certain point.

"Nelly was Richard's wife, Justine to Marty, Marilyn to Steven and Constance to Joseph. All of them appear to have stable marriages, no reason to think otherwise." The team was quiet for a moment, absorbing this until Hotch looked at his watch.

"Look, I believe we've gone over what we can tonight. Let's go to our rooms and get some sleep. Our profile will be ready in the morning." The agents and even Gideon heartily agreed. Sleep was scarce for them and the chance to get any at all was tempting enough as it was. Which why it wasn't a difficult decision for them to file out of the room and head to their own beds for the evening.

Just as Hotch had predicted, life and work was waiting for them. J.J.'s phone rang bright and early the next morning.

It appeared more flowers had been delivered to the Cantrell family.