March 9th, 2006
1:45 PM
Hartke Park, Las Vegas, Nevada
In Nevada, Morgan and Williamson, joined by Hotch and Elle were surveying the playground from which Philip Carson had disappeared and was found at. Elle and Hotch had been at the Las Vegas Zoo, where in the Botanical Gardens, ten year Josie Marshal had been found.
It was an average playground, nothing spectacular, but to a seven year old like Philip, it was like Disney Land. Williamson was explaining in detail what Mrs. Carson had tearfully had told him when she discovered Philip missing. Following Williamson, Morgan retraced each step that Philip had taken from the minute he entered the playground to his disappearance twenty minutes later.
"So Mrs. Carson was where?" Morgan asked Williamson, the older officer walked to a grassy patch, shaded by a large tree, but with a full view of the playground.
"Everything was here; Philip had ridden his scooter here while Mrs. Carson carried the bag with their picnic lunch. She knelt down here to spread out their lunch." Williamson paused and glanced around the playground "she said she looked up once just to double check that Philip was climbing the slide, she looked down to pull their lunch out and when she glanced up he was gone."
"That's only a few seconds, if that," Morgan pointed out
"Right, but she just figured he was lingering in the top part of the slide, some reason Philip liked being in tight spaces, he loved that slide because it offers just that. She gave him a minute or so to slide down and when he didn't she called him for lunch, when he didn't answer her that's when she looked up a third time and went over to the slide."
"So Philip slides down, and some how is lured away?" Elle said skeptical,
"See that's just it," Williamson noted "Philip was shy, especially around strangers, from what the Carsons' have told us, he would have screamed his lungs out if someone he didn't know even looked at him for to long, he would not have gone with just anyone…no matter what they offered." Morgan paused and glanced around again
"And the playground was full of people, so someone would have seen our UnSub snatching Philip from the slide so that rules that out." Elle said
"Again, he would have screamed, no one got near that kid unless he knew them."
"That means Philip knew our UnSub, he trusted him." Finished Hotch, he walked over to the slide, the last place that Philip Carson had been seen alive and where his body had been found.
"So Philip slides down, hits the bottom, sees someone he knows," Morgan started to say
"And he runs to the person." Elle looked around carefully, the parking lot for the playground wasn't very far from the slide, depending on how agile the UnSub was, he or even she could have easily gotten Philip to a car quickly before Mrs. Carson went to retrieve him. "he says something to get Philip to the car and of course Philip has no problem going with the UnSub, he's already in the boy's trust." Hotch was just about to reply to Elle when his phone rang, he nodded his apologies and answered the phone away from the group so not to distract his team.
"Hotch,"
"Sir, it's Garcia," for a second Hotch was surprise, it was a rare occurrence for Garcia to be very professional when calling, more so with Morgan than anyone else on the team, but even Hotch wasn't off the hook when it came to Garcia's light hearted tendencies, something he rarely if ever complained about, partly because it added some humor and enjoyment to the team, especially during stressful cases, and partly because it did the same for Garcia herself.
But for some reason, the computer tech thousands of miles away in Virginia was more than a little serious, much more than Hotch was used to.
"Garcia, is everything all right?"
"Well sir, I wasn't sure how to proceed with some information I found, I was hoping you would have a better idea." She paused for a second before continuing "Morgan asked me to see if there was any connection between the kids, and a little while ago, Reid called saying that Gideon wanted Paris added to my search."
"That sounds right, Paris is as much a potential target as anyone."
"Paris's original birth certificate was sealed after he was born, it took some doing, but I was able to unseal it, it made me curious, I was wondering why it was sealed and well…I'm not sure what to do with the information."
"What do you mean?"
"Sir, I really think you should see the documents before anyone else, I don't think this would qualify as a problem, but it is definitely something you need to see." Hotch sighed, realizing that Garcia wasn't going to give anymore information than that, at least not over the phone now.
"I'll head back to the Northeast Unit, I'll call you when I get there and then you can fax me anything you have all right?"
"Yes sir, and sir? When you see what I'm talking about you'll realize why I was hesitant with all of this."
"Thanks Garcia," shaking his head, Hotch hung up the phone. He turned to Morgan and Elle who were standing with Williamson, while Elle was filling Morgan and Williamson in on what she and Hotch had learned about Josie Marshal. All three looked up when Hotch approached them,
"Hey, everything all right?" Morgan asked
"That was Garcia, she thinks she found something, but she isn't sure if it's significant or not," Elle and Morgan exchanged a look, Hotch was being vague, they knew it and he obviously knew they knew it. "I'm going to head back to the station, read over what she's sending me."
"Can you find your way back all right?" Williamson asked,
"Not a problem," Hotch gave a nod
"Whatever you do, don't listen to that damn GPS, it'll take you all around the city 'fore it'll finally tell you to turn around and go back the way you came. A twenty minute drive will easily turn into a four hour grand tour of Las Vegas." Williamson cautioned,
"Thanks," Hotch replied and headed off to the waiting SUV he and Elle had taken.
Though Morgan and Elle were confused as to his behavior, the two shifted their focus back on the case itself. Elle turned to Williamson, thinking aloud,
"Detective, would it be possible to go to the bookstore where they found the King boy?" She asked; Williamson nodded
"Yeah, it's about fifteen minutes from here," he paused "I will caution you though, the owner hasn't been taking this well. He had grown to be close with Mike 'cause the boy was in his bookstore nearly everyday. He was plannin' on hiring Mike on a part time basis. He was the one that found him."
A/N: I am really sorry these chapters tend to be really short. For one thing the fic doesnt really flow into perfect chapters, so I had to make do with really short ones, and for another thing, when I wrote this, I based how it flowed not only on a typical Criminal minds episode where the scene changes constantly, but also on the three Max Allen Collins books that were written for Criminal Minds, they are great little paperbacks with stories that I really wish were made into an episode because they are really well written and easy to picture happening. If you guys get a chance to check them out, its worth it, especially if you are as big a fan of the show as I am. Anyways, that's the reasoning behind the short chapters, I am sorry.