Disclaimer: see my profile

Warning: see the first chapter and my profile

A/n hey all, thank you all again for your kind reviews and your pms expressing concern for the crippled girl. Only two more days with the brace. Yes, I'm counting the hours!

Reid hurried back to the police station. Deputy Stanton was hunched over his desk. Reid let out a small sigh of relief to see that the man was ignoring him. He joined the rest of his team. Morgan looked up and opened his mouth, but Hotch beat him to it.

"Is there something wrong, Reid?"

"Yeah… But, I can't talk about it here."

"Reid!"

"We need to find Terry," Reid said firmly. "I'll tell you about it later Hotch."

"Reid!"

"Please Hotch, just trust me on this."

The others looked at Hotch. Emily was staring at Reid, but he pretended not to notice her attempting to get his attention.

"Alright…" Hotch conceded, but his eyes told Reid that he was going to have to come clean, sooner rather than later.

"But Hotch -" Morgan began.

"I'll talk to him later."

The rest of the team was staring at Reid. He was pink in the cheeks and focused on the whiteboard and Terry Clark.

"We've got some interesting news from Mr. Gibson and David Gibson." Rossi began into the deafening silence among the agents at Hotch and Reid's confrontation.

"We need to have a chat with Constable Blevins."

"You don't think he had anything to do with this." JJ said with some disbelief.

"No… Four days ago, he and two of his deputies went to Terry's school for a Safety Fair. It's a yearly event and all of the students look forward to it."

"So what does that have to do with Terry?" Morgan asked.

"We talked to Mrs. Bishop, David's mother. Apparently the boy said that a police officer talked to him earlier today. He was playing with Terry when the deputy approached them. He took David off to one side of the playground and asked him if he'd been paying attention in the Safety Fair. He quizzed the boy for several minutes. When David went back to play with Terry he was gone."

"We need to talk to Constable Blevins," Hotch said.

---

"I don't see what the Safety Fair has to do with this." Constable Blevins said.

Hotch had set up a makeshift interrogation room in the break room. He took a metal chair across the floor to the scratched wooden table in the middle of the room. A coffee maker was spitting in the corner, pushing fragrant odor into the air.

"You took two of your deputies with you. Is that usual procedure?"

"Yes, it allows the kids to have more personal contact with the police and trust them. That's the whole point."

Blevins pulled down his tie and glanced out the window to the sky which was beginning to go gray with the coming morning. It was nearly six am. Terry had been missing for fifteen hours.

"I'm not accusing you of anything Constable. I'm just trying to understand your program."

The Constable just stared at Hotch with eyes that said he'd been in this position and wouldn't be manipulated by the FBI.

"Then you'll understand that I'm the head of a police force of ten cops. I have limited funds and I'm constantly short on help. I'm fighting with the town council every year for more help and money. The Mayor is constantly looking over my shoulder, and now I've got a missing boy and you want to talk to me instead of looking for the boy." He stood up and started to leave the room. "I think we're done here!"

---

Morgan picked up his phone when it buzzed. "Hey mama… What have you got for us?"

"Nothing gorgeous, absolutely nothing," came a disappointed and chagrined voice.

"I'm surprised baby girl… I've never heard you actually say you've got nothing."

"Don't rub it in. I'm losing my confidence here."

"Why don't you tell me what you didn't find?"

"Okay… I looked into disappearances of boys with Terry's description in the area Hotch gave me. I didn't find anything but the three boys we already knew about."

"But you did find other victims?" He said confidently.

"No! That's the problem."

"Okay, it helps to know that we're not dealing with a total psycho!"

"It would've helped to find like crimes. You guys don't have any evidence."

Morgan smiled at the pout in his baby girl's voice. "You make me warm when you pout like that."

"Down my chocolate Adonis."

Morgan laughed and felt some of the extreme stress of the case drop away from his shoulders.

"That's why I love talking to you. You make me feel like the world isn't going to implode if I don't fix it."

"Aw… That's so sweet gorgeous."

"Listen I have another name I need you to check into."

---

"Please sit down Constable. I'm not trying to ignore venues of this investigation. I have a case with absolutely no physical evidence to go on. The possibility that a law enforcement officer is just one of the avenues we're exploring right now. We didn't mention this to your officers or the state police because right now, we're just talking."

Constable Blevins deflated in his chair. "Alright I'll tell you everything I know about my deputies."

"What can you tell us about Deputy Hanks?"

"He's been with the force for ten years. He grew up here. His father was the Constable here for twenty years until he was killed in a domestic dispute seven years ago. He's a good man and a better officer."

"Why would he single out one of the kids?"

"I don't know!" The Constable was tapping his fingers hard on the wooden table.

"You can smoke if you want," Hotch said.

Blevins shook his head. "I'm trying to quit. The wife is on my ass if she smells even a hint of smoke on my clothes."

"My mother tried four times to quit smoking before she succeeded."

"Really," Blevins said disinterestedly. "Look, can we get on with this. Time's wastin' and we need to find this kid."

"What about Deputy McMartin. He's the other officer you took with you to the school, right?"

"Yeah, but you're barkin' up the wrong tree on that one too. He's as straight an arrow as they come. He's married, has three kids. He goes to church every Sunday and he coaches little league."

"It's been my experience that the most innocent looking people can hide some of the darkest secrets."

"That may be Agent Hotchner, but I'd stake my reputation on McMartin."

"What about Hanks?"

Blevins chewed on one of his finger nails. "I trust him."

"I want my team to talk to Hanks and McMartin. For now it's better if we don't tell the rest of the squad our suspicions about police involvement." Hotch said.

"My guys will cooperate no matter what." Blevins said. "They're standup guys that keep their egos out of the job."

"What about Deputy Stanton?"

"He's not from around here."

"Really," Hotch raised an eyebrow."

"No! I'm getting tired of your tone Agent Hotchner. Stanton is a good cop."

Hotch stayed at the table after letting Constable Blevins get back to the investigation. Rossi came in ten minutes later. "We've got a problem. Deputy Hanks has gone rabbit. He was here two hours ago, but now he's gone."

---

"Office of supreme omniscience, what do you want?" Garcia asked way too happily for it being five am on the west coast.

"Garcia, I need an address on Deputy Walter Hanks."

"No problem sir. Clock me!" He smiled at the sound of her fingers clacking on the keys. Garcia always knew how to bring sunlight to a situation that was bleak and dark.

----

"We should be looking for the kidnapper." Blevins shouted.

"Shut up and sit down." Rossi snapped. "You don't think it's strange that your man, who talked to the friend of the victim at the time he disappeared, is strange?"

"Yeah…. It's strange but, I know he couldn't have been involved in all of this."

"You can't be sure of that."

"Yes I can… His father and I were friends for most of our lives. We married sisters for Christ sake. I watched that kid grow up. I would have known if he…"

"If he what?"

"Nothing, I'm tired and I'm not thinking clearly. I won't disrespect his father's memory by accusing his son of a crime."

"Does Hanks have any family in the area? Is there any place he might go if he felt threatened?" Morgan asked.

"No… The only place is his father's home five miles down the road from here."

Hotch entered the break room just at that minute with a scowl that would peel the flesh off the bones of anyone that got in his way.

"Garcia came through with an address for Deputy Hanks."

---

"I need you to stay here and keep working on the victimology and timeline. It we don't find Hanks at home, we're going to need as much information as we can to find who's working with him."

"Reid can do that," Emily argued.

"You're not going on this raid Emily!"

"You're just saying that because I'm pregnant. I can handle it Hotch. I'll stay in the back."

Reid opened his mouth, but Hotch stopped him with a cold hard look. "No! I need you here. Call Garcia and find out if she's tracked down any hiding place or other properties for Hanks. If he's working with a partner, we need to find where they're hiding and fast."

She watched the others don their vests. Hotch was right. Hers wouldn't fit and the baby would be in danger if she didn't stay away from the action. Still, if it were her baby in danger…

Reid was the last one to leave the building. He turned around and looked back at her. A weird feeling of sorrow, like this was going to be the last time she'd see him rushed through her setting a chill that went deep into her bones. Then he gave her a small smile and a tiny wave before they were gone into the early morning light.

---

"So how are you and Reid getting along?" Garcia asked when Emily answered the phone at the desk.

"We're working Garcia. Can't we talk about this later?"

"When are you going to tell the rest of the class so I can make you presents?"

"I don't know!"

"Not a good answer my friend. Not a good answer at all."

"Did you find anything?" Emily attempted to change the subject

"You guys are always so impatient."

"No need to sound so critical. We've got a little boy to find."

"I know. I'm so frustrated by all of the evidence that we're not finding. These guys are smart and you know how I hate it when they're smart."

Emily smiled despite the seriousness of the situation. Garcia hated to be thwarted in her searches.

"I'm sure you'll find something."

"There's no need to patronize me to try and make me feel better." The tech goddess said bitterly.

"Are we done? I need to get back to work."

"Yeah… go back to your profiling. Tell the baby I said hello."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"You'll find someway." With a click Garcia had hung up on her.

Emily laughed and put a hand on her belly. "That was your Aunt Penelope. You'll get used to her. She's a bit strange, but she loves you and your daddy very much."

Like I love him!

Stop it!

She bent her head over the file and began to sort out the profiles on each of the boys. There was nothing that they had in common except for a very specific physical type.

"Hello Agent Prentiss." Emily looked up and groaned at the sight of Deputy Stanton in front of her.

"Can I help you?" She tried very hard to be polite.

"Yeah… I just got a call from Deputy Hanks. He wants to talk. He said he knows where the kidnapper has Terry Clark."

The blood began to push through her heart making it pound with excitement. If the deputy was serious and not playing around…

Why would he play around?

"Have you told the Constable?'

"No… Hanks wants to talk to you. He doesn't want the feds or the state cops there He wants me to bring you to a place in the woods where he used to play as a child. There's an old shack leftover from the days of the fur trade."

She shouldn't go or trust this deputy. There was something niggling at the back of her head that warned against it, but the desire to find this child and get him back to his mother was so strong.

The echo of her mother telling her as a teenager that she wasn't ready to be a mother. That the baby dying had been a sign that things weren't meant to be had pulled something deep in her heart that hurt so badly she wanted to die.

"You're too young. It was better that this happened."

"No mother… You're just happy because I won't be embarrassing you with a baby in Paris next spring."

"You should've listened to me and your father and stayed away from that boy."

Emily buried her face into the bed spread. All of the fancy clothes and the new car her mother had bought her two days after her baby had died didn't make up for the loss. It was her fault the baby was gone.

"Go away mother. I hate you!"

"You're overwrought. I'm going to send you to see Dr. Shelly. She'll help you see that. -"

"I'm not going back to her mother. She'll just tell me how all of this was my fault!"

"You will do as I say Emily Elizabeth Prentiss."

"Hey Prentiss… Are you with me?"

He stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a big smile on his face. He winked, when she looked up at him. Even with the shadows under her eyes, she was beautiful.

Emily made a decision and stood. "Yeah I'm with you."