Chapter 4
"After you interview the families, try to get a feel of the towns. We need to know if an influx of harvest workers really makes that big of a difference, or if there are any other specific things going on in the fall that would allow our unsub to enter the town without being noticed," Hotch explained to the group.
"Wait, you're going to be walking around Reliance asking a bunch of questions?" Kahlan asked from the back of the plane.
Hotch gave her one of his stares and squinted his eyes a little. "Is there some reason you don't want us poking around your town?" he asked in a very accusing tone.
She laughed. "Nooo," she bit her lip. "I'm just picturing you walking around Reliance's dirt roads." She laughed again. "You may want to lose the suit. People in small towns don't like outsiders, and the more outsider you look, the more they'll distrust you." She looked him up and down. "Maybe if you changed your clothes they would feel more comfortable around you and open up more."
"Should I get a cowboy hat?" He asked her his voice dripping with sarcasm.
She laughed even harder as she pictured that in her head. "Nah, they're more farmers than ranchers, but even if you put a ball cap on your head and put a can of chew in your back pocket, you still wouldn't fit in. You're hands are too pale."
"My hands?" Hotch asked looking at his own hands. "What the hell do my hands have to do with it?"
"Your hands clearly belong to I man was spends most of his time inside. Hands are the one thing most farmers and ranchers never cover up except in winter. Sure the younger ones go around without sleeves or even go without shirts, but once they're older they start to cover up. The hands, though, the older you are the darker they are."
Hotch took a deep breath, he had the horrible feeling that he was being profiled by the woman. She was right, of course, but he didn't like it. He checked his watch. They only had about thirty minutes before they landed. "Well, I guess, I'll go change." He grabbed his bag and headed to the restroom.
Reid and JJ exchanged small smiles. Hotch was the only one on the plane that looked overly official.
Blake turned to Kahlan. "Any other advice you can give us for the other towns and families?"
"Just try not to be so forceful. And if they offer you any sort of hospitality, take it. They'll be offended if you refuse."
"What do you mean by hospitality?" Reid asked clearly worried.
"You know, if they offer you a cup of coffee or something." Kahlan explained as she gave Reid a weird look.
Reid straightened, apparently thinking something completely different. "Oh," is all he said. Rossi shook his head, not wanting to know.
Hotch finally emerged wearing a pair of dark jeans, a long sleeve dark blue polo shirt, and his tennis shoes. "Better?" he asked the team, obviously not wanting Kahlan's opinion.
Rossi let out a small chuckle. "Sure," he lied.
"Well, you definitely look less official," Blake told him seriously.
"Fifteen minutes to Mitchell, agents," a voice said over the loudspeaker.
"Mitchell?" Kahlan asked
"It's the closest air strip big enough for us to land on," Rossi told her. "We'll have a vehicle waiting."
"God, I hope it's not a foreign car," she said as she got her bag ready.
"You got something against foreign cars?" Morgan asked her.
"Not me personally, but the people in these towns look at foreign cars as a smack to the American way of life. You'll be accepted better if you're driving American made."
"How long will it take to get to Reliance," Rossi asked her.
"About an hour," she told him as she buckled her seat belt.
The rest of the way was spent in silence as they waited for the plane to land. Hotch, Rossi, and Kahlan got off and the plane taxied to take off to North Dakota to drop off Morgan and Blake. Before Rossi could even open the door on the Chevy Suburban, Rossi's phone vibrated. As he got in he looked at the text from Morgan telling him to keep an eye on Hotch. Apparently I'm not the only one worried, Rossi thought as he put his phone away. Kahlan directed Hotch to the interstate, as she took out the bottle of Tylenol. Hotch noticed her shake a couple pills out into her hand, shake the bottle some more, put a couple pills back into the bottle, and finally swallowed some. He was sure some of the pills were not the color of any Tylenol that he had ever seen. He made a mental note to inspect the bottle as soon as he had a chance.
Kahlan checked her watch and looked out the window at the approaching clouds. It was already 6:47. "With as late as it is, are you going to check out Reliance tonight? It'll be getting dark by the time we get there."
"We'll find somewhere to stay and start in the morning," Rossi told her as he turned around to face her.
"There no place to stay in Reliance, but the next town over has a small hotel. With the weather coming in, though, you may just want to stay at my house," she suggested.
"Weather?" Hotch asked looking at her through the rearview mirror.
"Wow, you guys headed north and you didn't even check the weather?"
"It's March. How bad can it get?" Rossi asked with furrowed brows.
"We've had blizzards in April. There's supposed to be a storm coming in tonight. Possible six to eight inches with strong winds, a blizzard in the making," she told them. "I hope you packed your boots and gloves," she added with a chuckle.
Rossi took out his phone to alert the rest of the team to keep an eye on the weather.
"If you want an actual meal, you're going to have to stop before or in Chamberlain. No place to eat in Reliance either," she told them as she leaned the seat back like she was going to take a nap.
"Is there anything in Reliance beside houses?" Rossi asked her jokingly.
"We've got a bar, a co-op, and a convenience store that's only open for twelve hours a day," she told them dryly.
XXXXX
"I told you boys to shut up!" A man yelled from across the barn. He spit a mouthful of saliva and tobacco onto the ground as he put a saddle on its post next to the barn wall. "Wyatt! Go get those two boys to shut up!" the man yelled to a boy who was putting another saddle away.
"Yes, sir," Wyatt said as he headed down the hallway in between horse stalls to the stall in the very back of the barn. "Mike, Damien, the old man said to shut up. If you don't stop crying you know what he'll do," Wyatt pleaded with them.
Mike was the younger of the boys. He looked at Wyatt and stopped crying. "Why Wyatt? What did I do to deserve being put in the barn?"
"I don't know Mike. I was out with the old man working cattle all day. You had to have made Ma'am mad. What did you do in the house?" Wyatt asked.
Suddenly Mike knew what he had done wrong. "I didn't make my bed," he confessed.
"Ahh, Mike. You know better than that by now."
"What's going on? Who's Ma'am?" Damien asked frantically as he rubbed his bruised cheek.
"You haven't met her yet. You won't get to meet her until the old man lets you out of the barn," Wyatt explained to the frightened boy. "You'll stay in the barn until spring. If you survive that long, they'll move you into the house with the rest of us."
Damian looked like he was going to start crying again. "Why do I have to stay in the barn until spring?"
"Cause that's how long it takes to make sure you'll be good once he lets you out," Mike told him.
"I don't want to go into the house. I want to go home!" Damien screamed as he started crying again.
"Damien, if don't stop you know he'll come back here, and you'll know what he'll do," Wyatt told him. Wyatt was only one year older than Damien, put he had lived at the farm for over three years, so he knew exactly what would happen.
"Did Tommy come back with you guys?" Mike asked. He liked Tommy. Tommy was the oldest, but he looked out for the younger boys.
"Yeah, he got back. The old man had him and Chris run the calves up to the northern pasture," Wyatt told him. None of the boys liked Chris, the second oldest, cause he liked to beat on them just like the old man. All of the boys knew it was Chris who killed Devin. Chris said Devin fell off the roof, but they all knew Chris pushed him. The old man and Ma'am wouldn't listen to it, though, cause Chris was the old man's favorite.
"Wyatt, I'm scared. I don't wanna stay here. I wanna go home," Damien told him.
"I know Damien, but you know you can't," Wyatt told him sadly.
"But you could let me out. You could get the keys and let me out," Damien tried to convince the older boy.
Wyatt gave him a horrified look. "Not me! Kyle tried that with Mike last winter, and the old man killed him. Besides, there ain't no where for you to go. It's too cold and too far for anyone to help you. You're better off just staying and listening."
"Wyatt! Get your sorry ass up out here and put the horses away!" They heard the old man yell. All three of the boys flinched at the sound of his voice.
"Yes, sir!" Wyatt yelled and ran out to the horses.
XXXXX
As Hotch finally pulled off the interstate, he shared a look with Rossi.
Kahlan laughed. "You just don't get the whole 'small town' thing until you actually see it." She gave Hotch turn by turn directions to her house which lasted all of two turns. She climbed out of the SUV and headed to her front door. Hotch and Rossi got out and looked around like they really couldn't believe what they were seeing.
As Kahlan crunched through the snow she slipped at little as she got close to the porch. "Watch it, there's some ice under the snow."
"I can't believe you still have snow up here," Rossi exclaimed as he followed her to the porch.
Kahlan stomped her feet to clean the snow off and went inside the house. She reached for the porch light as Rossi followed her inside.
"You don't lock your door? Even when you go out of town?" Hotch asked with concern.
"I would bet there's not a locked door in this whole town," she told him as she put her bag on the island in the kitchen and went around to turn on the lights. "Wyatt's abduction had been the only real crime in this town in a long time."
"And yet you still don't lock your door?" Rossi asked as he put his own bag on the floor. He looked around and found the house very clean, almost as if no one even lived in it.
"Wyatt was taken outside." She took off her coat and hung it on a hook beside the door. "I wouldn't want Wyatt to come home one day and not be able to get in," she told them as she grabbed the coffee pot and started filling it with water. "Coffee?"
Rossi nodded and took off his own coat. Hotch just stood there watching her.
She started the coffee and went to the fridge. "No milk, hope you like it black."
Rossi noticed the fridge was empty except for a few condiments in the door. He glanced at Hotch and realized Hotch had seen it, too.
"So are you staying here or not? I don't care either way, I just need to know."
"We wouldn't want to inconvenience you," Rossi told her nicely.
"Kennebec is two exits down, but I honestly think you are going to get stuck where ever you stay. If the snow comes in tonight, you won't be traveling anywhere tomorrow." She grabbed her bag and headed down the hall, apparently giving them a moment to speak alone.
"What to do you want to do?" Rossi asked Hotch who still hadn't taken off his coat or set his bag down.
"Have you ever driven in a blizzard?"
"Nope. You?"
"No. I don't want her to have a day alone. Maybe we should just stay here."
"I think that would be the wisest thing to do. Maybe the weather won't be that bad and we can get an early start here in town."
"I don't think it will take us very long even if we interviewed every person in this town," Hotch told him, clearly not impressed with the little town.
"So which is it?" Kahlan asked as she came back down the hall. "I only have one guest room, but the couch is pretty comfortable."
"We'll stay, if you're sure it won't be a problem," Rossi told her as Hotch finally took off his coat.
"If you're hungry, the bar serves a decent burger."
"Would you be joining us?" Hotch asked her.
"Sure, it will be easier for you guys to be seen with me than to be alone. I can introduce you and let you guys talk to whoever is up there."
"Do you all have your own police?" Rossi asked as he and Hotch put their coats back on.
Kahlan laughed at that. "No. Just Lyman County Police. Their station is in Kennebec. One of the Deputies might be up at the bar, though. They stop in and eat and drink from time to time."
"Then let's go," Rossi said heading to the door.
Hotch waited for Kahlan to follow Rossi out. He shut the door and went to the SUV. "It's two blocks that way. That and the co-op are the only things left open on main street."
They let Kahlan walk into the bar first. Hotch had to hide a laugh as they looked around the old bar. It was one long room with a bar running along the right and five booths on the left wall. There was only three other people in it. The bar represented the town perfectly. They followed Kahlan up to the bar.
"Hey Kay!" an older woman who was obviously the bartender yelled with a big smile.
"Hey Chris, how's it going?"
"Oh you know, same old same old. Who's your friends?" Chris asked giving Hotch and Rossi a once over.
"This is Agent Hotchner and Agent Rossi with the FBI. They're here about Wyatt," Kahlan told her as she indicated the agents. "This is Christina, she manages the bar." Hotch noticed that the other two people in the bar had stopped talking and were watching them.
Hotch and Rossi both shook her hand across the old wood bar. "Chris, please, and thank God! I'm glad you finally found someone to believe you Kay," Chris told her sincerely.
Kahlan sat down on one of the stools, so Rossi and Hotch sat down beside her.
"You here to find Wyatt?" a mountain of a man asked them from at the end of the bar. Hotch noticed his hands where about as big as a plate.
"Yes. We are here investigating the abduction of Wyatt and several other boys," Rossi told him with a smile.
"Bout time," is all the man said and then took a drink of his beer.
"There's no reason to be rude, Kevin. They are here and that's what matters," the bartender told him. "What can I get you all?"
"I'll take an Ultra, but I think these gentlemen want to try a burger," Kahlan told the woman.
Chris smiled. "Bacon and cheese?" she asked them.
Rossi couldn't help himself, he smiled back at the pleasant woman. "Please." Hotch nodded.
She walked down to the end of the bar where a little flat top grill was waiting and placed two burgers on it from out a cooler. "You want the works on them?" she called from where she was standing.
"Mayo, lettuce, tomato, and ketchup," Kahlan explained.
"Sure," Rossi told her.
While the burgers cooked she came back and looked at the two men. "Let me guess, scotch?"
Rossi's brows raised in surprise. "How did you know?"
Kahlan laughed. "Chris has a gift of knowing what people drink."
"I believe it," Rossi told her honestly.
Chris smiled at him and turned around to pour the drinks. "It sure is good to hear you laugh again, Kay" she handed the tumblers to Rossi and Hotch. "Woman's been miserable ever since Wyatt went missing. Thank you for coming to help."
Rossi just smiled at the woman and took a sip of his scotch. Hotch swirled his around in his glass.
"That was the worst day this town has seen in my lifetime," Chris explained.
"I can imagine," Rossi told her.
"When we first heard that Wyatt was missing the whole town came out to help look for him," Chris told them.
Kahlan nodded and took a long drink of her beer. "It took all morning to realize he was actually missing," Kahlan confessed.
"What do you mean?" Hotch asked her.
"Well, he was supposed to be out playing with his friends. By the time I searched all of the places I could think he might be and called every one of his friends, it was after two in the afternoon."
"That's when we all decided it was time to actually search the town and surrounding areas," Chris continued the story. "We didn't leave a stone unturned. He just disappeared."
"That's when I finally called the Sheriff."
"Not one person saw anything?" Rossi asked the bartender as she walked back to flip their burgers.
"The combiners were in town. We searched all of their places, and a few people thought they had seen a couple of strange trucks, but nobody knew for sure," she told them as she prepared the buns.
"Kahlan told us how she thought it might have been one of the harvest workers," Rossi told her.
"Yeah, her and Collin's brothers tracked every one of them down. They're not normally that bad. They work all day then come in here and drink for a few hours. Then they sleep for a couple hours and do the whole thing again the next day for a couple months. Every now and then we get a bad one, but they usually get ran out of town before they get a chance to do anything really bad," Chris told then as she put the burgers down for the men.
Hotch didn't want to know what 'ran out of town' meant. "Where do they stay while they are here?"
"They bring travel trailers or they rent the couple of places that are available here in town. And we searched every one of them," Kevin put in from the end of the bar.
Small town mentality. Well, I guess, that exceeds the need for search warrants, Hotch thought as he took a bite of his burger. "This is very good. Thank you, Chris."
She beamed at the complement. Kahlan smiled at the older woman. "Told them they were decent."
"Decent? More like the best in town!" Chris exclaimed. They all laughed at that.
The man who was sitting next to Kevin got up and approached Kahlan and the agents. "Brad," Kahlan nodded to him. Hotch and Rossi turned around to look at the man.
"You're really with the FBI?" Brad asked them. Both agents instantly disliked the man.
"Yes, can I help you?" Hotch asked him as he stood up. He stood over the man by about eight inches. Rossi noticed Hotch was using a glare that he normally reserved for unsubs. Brad took a step back completely intimidated. Rossi had to hide his smile, but Brad was focused on Hotch.
"I just never thought anyone would come here to help find some boy."
"It's not just 'some boy'. He is this woman's son. His name is Wyatt, in case you have forgotten," Hotch told him with a smile that was anything but friendly. Kahlan sat there wide-eyed, shocked at the way Hotch was acting.
"Yeah, well, I hope you help her find him," he told them and left the bar.
As soon as the door shut, Kahlan, Chris, and Kevin busted out laughing.
"Friend of yours?" Rossi asked as Hotch went back to his burger.
"No," she said quickly as Chris and Kevin kept laughing.
"Who was he?" Rossi asked Chris once she stopped laughing.
"Brad is one of the wealthiest farmers around here. He's a real ass, too. Thinks he's better than everyone else," Chris explained. "That was great, though," she told Hotch.
Hotch just shook his head.
They got done eating and shared a little small talk with Chris and Kevin. They had another drink then headed back to Kahlan's house. She quickly got the guest room and couch ready for them. "I'm going to bed. You're welcome to do whatever you want. Remote's by the TV," Rossi was getting ready to say something, when she added, "I have a dish." Then she went to her room and left the agents alone.
"I'll take the couch," Hotch offered.
Rossi went to the kitchen and looked for a mug in her cabinets. "Does she ever eat?" Rossi asked as he realized her cupboards were as empty as her refrigerator. He finally found a mug and poured himself some coffee.
"Maybe she's been out of town for a while. I'll have to see if Garcia knows," Hotch told him as he walked down the hall and opened the first door he came to. He had seen her go into the last door. "Dave," Hotch called for him quietly as he stood in the doorway.
Rossi came up behind him and looked into the room. Wyatt's room apparently. Everything was just as the boy had left it. The bed wasn't made, but they could tell the sheets had been cleaned. Toys laid scattered on the floor, but vacuum marks under them told Rossi that they had been picked up as the floor was cleaned and put back down in the same position. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere in the room. The boy's night light was even still on. "She still expects him to come home," Rossi said aloud.
Hotch shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She's probably cleaned this room at least once a week the whole time he's been gone." He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose as he considered the room in front of him. He could tell the boy had been spoiled by the amount of things in the room, but everything looked well taken care of, so he didn't think that Wyatt was spoiled to the point of being a brat. He walked over and picked up the only stuff animal on the bed. It was an elephant that looked to be as old as the boy.
"That's Daddy Lump," Kahlan said from the doorway. Hotch and Rossi turned as one, they hadn't heard her leave her room. She walked up to Hotch and held her hand out for the elephant.
"Daddy Lump?" Hotch asked as he handed the stuffed animal to her.
"That's what Wyatt started calling it after Collin died." She put it down on the bed tenderly. "I bought it for him before he was ever born. He slept with it every night." She quickly wiped her face and turned back to face them. Rossi noticed her face showed no emotion, but it was obvious that she had shed a tear. "Did you want to check out the rest of the house now, too?"
"I was looking for the restroom," Hotch told her. Rossi noticed that a little of the anger that had been in Hotch's voice every time he talked to her was gone.
"It's the next door down. Guest room is the one on the right. I was wondering if you needed me to set an alarm."
"No, I will set one on my phone," Hotch told her as he left the boy's room.
Rossi followed him back into the family room. Kahlan shut the door and went back to her room. Hotch grabbed his bag and went to the restroom to get ready for bed.
Rossi sat on the couch and drank his coffee. Hotch emerged in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He sat down next to Rossi. "It's started snowing," Hotch told him.
Rossi looked at the window, but it was too dark to see anything. "I don't think we would get anything else form this town anyway," Rossi told him and took a drink of his coffee.
Hotch nodded his agreement. He had a feeling that none of the towns where going to be of much help in trying to build a profile.
"That bartender was nice," Rossi mused.
"Somehow I don't think she would have been as nice had we went up there without Kahlan."
"Probably not," Rossi quipped as he got up and put the mug on the table. He grabbed his bag and turned off the kitchen light. "I'll see you in the morning," he patted Hotch's shoulder as he walked past him to the guest room.
"Yep," Hotch told him as he laid down on the couch. He smiled as he realized it was actually long enough for him. He reached up and turned off the light on the end table.