Chapter 05
First contact

"Is anyone else with them?" Hotch asked. "Who else is there? And is anyone hurt at all?"

"Nope," Lizzy replied. "It's just me and Uncle John and Laura and Spencer. Mr. Kipling comes to visit; he went out with Uncle John tonight. Spencer said I should call you every chance I could, he told me to watch Uncle John make a call and do what he did if he was going to be away from the house for a while and to stay on as long as I could. Laura and Spencer aren't hurt; I can see them on the cameras. They're playing cards."

"What do Uncle John and Mr. Kipling look like?"

"Uncle John is really tall and skinny, but not as tall or skinny as Spencer. He has really dark hair and a beard and a moustache. Mr. Kipling has a beard and a moustache too but his are grey. So is his hair but he doesn't have a lot of it, and he has a big belly."

"Lizzy." Blake spoke up. "My name is Alex, sweetie. What's the weather like?"

"It's been cold still, but there isn't as much snow as there was when I first came here."

"When you first came there? When did you get there?"

"Two months ago. Mr. Kipling bought me from Petey."

"Who was Petey?"

"He's the man Momma sold me to. That wasn't…good. It's better here, Uncle John doesn't want to do anything like that."

She sounded reluctant. Blake picked up on that and changed the subject. "So Uncle John isn't really your uncle? Do you know where you lived before you moved to Uncle John's?"

"In Austen, with Petey. Uncle John told me to call him that."

"Do you know the name of the town closest to you, and how far away it is?" Morgan asked.

"Nope. We don't go to town; Mr. Kipling brings everything here for us."

"What about the mail? Any letters around, maybe a newspaper?"

"Not…that…I…can see. Mr. Kipling brings mail things in a big envelope when he comes out. He brings magazines too; let's see…Backwoods Home, Field and Stream, Guns and Ammo….

"Okay, okay." Morgan interrupted her. "Any addresses on the fronts of those?"

"No, they all have a part torn off."

"Hey sweetie," JJ stepped in. "My name is JJ. You said you were on a farm, what kind of buildings are out there, can you describe the place? Do you have a silo there, like a big, round tower?"

"Yeah, there's the house, which is yellow and white and has a big porch and then there's the barn, which is white with a red roof with black glass on it. There's black glass on the top of the house too. No big towers, but we do have a windmill."

"What kind of animals do you have there?"

"Um, there's Uncle John's dog, Jax, and the horses, Sam and Witch, and he has a pretty brown cow named Nut, and a two pigs and a lot of chickens."

"Do any of them have any tags in their ears?"

"Nope."

"Does Uncle John have a car or a truck?"

"Spencer asked me that too. I haven't seen one but I'll keep looking."

"Do you watch TV at all sweetie?" Blake asked. "Does Uncle John watch the news at night?"

"Nope. Uncle John listens to music at night"

"Hey Lizzy?" Garcia spoke up. "What kind of clothes are you wearing?"

"Um, a pink t-shirt and jeans. Mr. Kipling bought them for me."

"Honey," Dave took a turn. "Where do you go to school?"

"I don't. I've never been to school. Petey's ho Lucy taught me to read."

"I'm guessing church is out too. What about any friends, any other kids in the area?"

"No, there's only the one house across the road, but I can't go there. If I go too far away from the house the box-thing on my collar bites me." All of a sudden she gasped. "It's them!"

And the line went dead.