"I am an idiot!" were Garcia's first words when Rossi answered his phone the next morning.
"I am sure it's not as bad as that," Rossi told her reassuringly.
"Well, maybe not," Garcia conceded. "But I should have thought of this before. When you get a driver's license in the State of Texas, they take your right thumbprint. Bradley Mercer's should still be on record there and all we have to do is compare it to the print taken by the Anchorage police."
"I would assume you are already hard at work on that?" Rossi stated.
"Even as we speak," she assured him.
"How is Laurel doing?" Garcia immediately followed up. "I know you brought her home from the hospital this morning, but is she holding up okay?"
"As well as can be expected," Rossi replied. "The doctor says there aren't any physical problems, so it's just a matter of keeping her calm while we get this resolved."
"Well, Paige will be on her way home shortly," Garcia told him. "I took her to the rink this morning for her freestyle session and then brought her to work with me. Chief Cruz currently has her down in the cafeteria, making sure she eats a good breakfast as well as getting to know her. I think he is secretly trying to recruit her for the BAU. And, Anderson will be stopping by my office later to pick her and take her home. I honestly don't know how Laurel does it, day after day, sitting in that cold at ungodly hours of the morning. I am still shivering!"
"I think it has something to do with love," Rossi replied thoughtfully. "And about being a mother."
"Okay," Garcia's voice came over the phone. "I have the thumbprint from Texas, now all I need is the prints from Anchorage."
"Let me know when you have them, okay, Garcia?" Rossi told her. "And, please, call me first. Aaron already has enough on his plate. Let me make the call on whatever it is that you find."
"Roger – Over and out," Garcia terminated the call.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"The fingerprints don't match," Garcia stated flatly a short time later. "The body in that coffin definitely is not Bradley Mercer."
"Then, if he's not in the coffin, where is he?" Rossi asked. "You haven't been to find any trace of either brother with your on line searchs, so we are probably going to have to organize a search on the ground."
"From what I understand of that area, you are going to need a sizeable search party, complete with tracking dogs and bear hunters," Garcia told him. "I assume you are going to call Hotch?"
"As soon as I'm done here," Rossi assured her.