Chapter Six:

Garcia punched away at her computer, coming through all of the users and IP addresses that had contact with the victims. There was a lot of information to sort through.

Who responded to the victim's posts? What post's did the victims reply to? Who sent them private messages? Who did they send private messages too? Those were all of the the things Garcia had to look for. Something had to show up.

Garcia complied all of the responses to the victims. They're many suggestions, reassurances, and other information, but nothing stood out as suspicious. The killer would probably avoid blatantly asking from private info, at least not in public.

Garcia noted the various usernames of the people who had spoken to the victims. After looking at their profiles, none of them seemed to live in the area the killing occurred.

An anonymous lurker, she concluded, that was it. She searched the various IPs that had entered the forum, and searched. Again, none of them lived nearby. But she did notice something strange. One of them was a mobile user. It was a family plan, but only of the user was active.

Jaraeu received a call. "After searching I finally found something." Garcia said. "It is a family mobile plan, the Woods family, only Jeff's phone is active. But I searched the town, not any records of them."

Jaraeu asked the cops, and they agreed, the name was not familiar. "Try expanding your parameters."

"I'll give that a go." after a minute Garcia spoke up. "Found them, lived in a town, a few hours away. They Mysteriously vanished. Father quit his job, cleaned out the bank account, and dropped his children out of school."

"I'll go to their hometown, might give me some information."

After telling Hotch about the plan, he let her go to the town along with Rossi and Reid. After a trip down the highway, they arrived. The first stop was the local police station. "So you want to know about the Woods family?" the chief said.

"We think one of them is connected to the White Ripper case." Rossi replied.

"I heard about that case. Sounds pretty scary. Anyway, no one in town really liked the Woods family. The older son Jeff was always getting into fights. One fight it got real bad, the family considered pressing charges, but they vanished, boom gone."

"Did they say anything about moving?" asked Reid.

"Maybe a couple of whispers, but nothing solid."

"We need to know more about this family." said Jareau.

"I can call the local school." the chief replied. "And I can point you towards their house, it's still unoccupied."

The three of them went over to the local high school. The school staff greeted them, and directed them towards students who knew the Woods family.

"When I first heard Randy got beat up." a student said. "I was kinda glad. Randy and his goons always made everyone's lives misery. I didn't care much for Jeff, but someone had to do it. Then my mom made me visit him in the hospital. It was worse than I thought. Seeing Randy with his nose smashed in, and drugged to the gills made me feel bad for him."

"Clearly not just any fight." Rossi remarked.

"I saw the fight." said another student. "The way Jeff hit Randy it shocked me. For a second there I thought he might be dead. Later on the police asked me about it. They told me Liu confessed, but I told them the truth. Liu didn't start fights like that."

The FBI moved on to the Woods residence. It seemed mostly cleared out. They rummaged the occasional odds and ends that were left behind. Mostly just old furniture and books.

After a bit of digging, Reid found something. It was blueprints. "Check this out." he said.

Jareau and Morgan came over and looked. The blueprints were for a house. On the corner was an address in the town they were investigating in.

"So the Woods were always planning on moving, the fight made them move early." Rossi remarked.

"So where did they move too?" asked Jareau.

"And what is at the house?" added Reid."

Jeffery Woods was awoken with a start. His dad was pounding on the door. It swung open. "Get up!" he shouted.

Jeff pulled himself out of bed. "We need to move." his dad said.

After a quick breakfast, Jeff got back to piling boxes in the garage. The movers hauled them out to their van. Jeff hardly got any sleep, and was worn out as is. All this work would be a pain at the best of times.

"Short notice for you too?" one of the movers asked.

"Yeah, worked late into the night." Jeff replied.

After the van was filled up the the brim the Woods family got into the car and drove off. Jeff got some sleep and woke up to passing cornfields.

Jeff watched the scenery go by with little interest. Better than looking at his family who seemed just as bored.

After the trip, the car drove into town. They soon came across a motel. Jeff's father handed the clerk a stack of bill, and received a key. They went into their room and sat down.

Again the family starred with boredom, just staring at their bleak miserable surroundings. Cutting into the silence, Jeff's mom announced that she was going to the store. She and Liu walked off. That left behind Jeff and his dad.

The two of them got grumpier by the minute. "I hate this place!" Jeff declared.

"Your the reason we are here in the first place!" Jeff's father shouted.

"What!?" Jeff stated in surprise.

"Thank to you I had to quit my job and drag us out here! You ruined my life Jeff! You ruined it!"

Really." Jeff replied. "All of this was your idea, and you are blaming me!"

Jeff's father grabbed him and shoved him across the room. He slammed into the counter. He heard something fall from the countertop. When Jeff leaned back he felt it dig into his skin. It was a knife.

Jeff's father walked towards him with his fist clenched. He punched Jeff in the face and gut. All of the pain made Jeff furious. He gripped the knife as hard as he could. Jeff's father raised his hand for another puch. Before he could do that Jeff lifted the knife and stabbed his gut.

All of the anger on his father's face was replaced by shock and fear. He collapsed to the ground clutching the wound. Jeff stood over and and stabbed him some more. That was it, he was finished.

Jeff's heart was racing. He looked at his hands in shock. He had committed murder. He wasn't going to get away with it.

"No." Jeff thought. He was.

Jeff realized the rest of the family would be home. He waited somewhere that would not be seen from the door, somewhere he could cut off their escape. He waited and waited and waited.