After tireless days of running leads and background checks the team had narrowed down their suspect pool down to three possibles. A professor of journalism, Howard Yates, who had interned at the Denver Post during the Ramsey case. The leading detective on the Ramsey case, Steve Thomas, who had also written a book implicating that Patsy Ramsey had murdered her own daughter. After the book had been released in 2000, John Bennett and Patsy had gotten a restraining order to prevent further defamation of the family name by Thomas. The final suspect, Christopher Franklin, was a current resident of Boulder who worked for John Bennett at the time of the murder in 1996.

"I like Steve Thomas for this," Derek said as he pointed to Thomas' picture on the evidence board. "He literally, wrote the book about Jonbenet. He may be reliving the case by killing new victims to draw attention back to the original murder. We should bring him in for an interview."

"We'll talk to all three," Hotch reminded. "Derek and I will interview Thomas. He lives about an hour outside of the city. Rossi will go talk to Franklin. And JJ, you and Reid head to the campus to interview Howard Yates."

"What about me?" Emily asked.

"I want someone to stay here and stay on top of the tip line. The medical examiner should have the final report on Jessica Tunnel today, I want you here to go over it when it arrives."

Emily nodded in confirmation. The team split up and headed out to the parking lot while Emily dove head first into the bountiful case files spread across the table.

As they had nearly reached the SUV Reid turned to JJ, "Hey do you mind if I stay here? I could go over that M.E. report a lot faster than Emily can. I think I'd be more help at the station. I can send Emily with you, if you want."

"What?" JJ pursed her lips as she thought about Reid's idea, "I guess you're right, you'll be able to read it a lot quicker. I'm fine on my own. The two of you should review what we have and talk to Garcia for any other information she's dug up. Keep me updated."

Reid frowned, he meant for him to stay behind, alone. Last thing he wanted was to have to confront Emily after the debacle a few days prior. He was trying to be nice and let JJ spend some time with Emily, but his plan backfired. He sighed, "Are you sure? I really think Emily should go with you."

"I don't need babysitting," JJ laughed as she hopped into the driver seat. "Call all of us when the M.E. report comes in."

"Will do," Reid confirmed as JJ closed the door and backed out of the parking lot. Reid turned and stared at the door to the police station, his shoulders dropped as he headed back in to see Emily.

"Hey, I thought you were with JJ?" Emily asked looking up from a pile of papers.

"I figured I could read the M.E. report faster," Reid shrugged.

"Oh, okay. I'll go with her then," Emily said standing up to go.

Reid shook his head, "She already left. Said she didn't need babysitting."

Emily chuckled, "Of course she did. Well, I guess it's just you and me."

"Looks like it," Reid said awkwardly. There was a long pause as they both stared at the other searching for words. Reid finally broke the silence, "Emily, I just wanted to say..."

"Reid," Emily whispered. This was not the time nor place to have this discussion.

"No, I have to say this now," Reid interrupted. "Emily, the reason I felt so betrayed by you is because... I really like you." The last three words were barely audible as he plunged his hands in his pockets and let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"I know," Emily addmitted gently. "But Reid, I don't..." she watched all hope drain from Reid's eyes. "I mean you're like family to me. I just don't feel romantically attracted to you."

"That's fine," Reid whispered in defeat, "I just wanted to get that out of the way so we can move on and stop tip toeing around it. Can we do that? Can we just pretend this never happened and focus on the case?"

"Yeah, we can do that," Emily smiled. "I appreciate you being honest with me."

Reid forced a smile and sat down at the table to start going through the evidence again. About thirty minutes later an officer brought in the medical examiner's report handing it over to Reid, who opened the folder and began reading page by page.

"Emily, the M.E. found a partial finger print on Jessica Tunnel. I'll call and have Garcia run it now," Reid said while he was already dialing their technical analyst, he put the call on speaker so Emily could hear.

"Office of the all knowing and absolutely gorgeous, how can I help?" Garcia answered.

"Garcia, do you have a copy of the M.E. report yet?"

"Yes, I just got the file. Let me guess, you want me to run the fingerprint?"

"Absolutely," Emily stated. "Your software is far more efficient than what they have here. Let us know if you get a hit."

"I'll call you when I know. Garcia out!" Garcia replied as the call disconnected.

Emily called Hotch and Rossi to update them and to have them try and bring Thomas and Franklin in for voluntary finger printing. She tried JJ next, but her phone went to voice mail, "Jayje, we have a partial. Give me a call back, we're waiting on an ID"

A while later Rossi arrived with Christopher Franklin. He and Reid did a quick interrogation and verified Franklin's alibi that he had been out of the state for the past two months, taking care of his dying mother. He even volunteered his finger prints. Just as they were releasing him, Hotch and Derek showed up.

"Thomas was a dead end," Derek explained. "His alibi is solid for the time of two of the disappearances. What about you guys?"

"Same with Franklin," Rossi replied.

Hotch looked around the room noticing Reid, "Where's JJ?"

"She's still out," Reid stated.

"Why aren't you with her?" Hotch asked worriedly.

Just then the phone rang. "Baby girl, you're on speaker, behave," Derek reminded.

"Oh, I like it when you act all dominating," Garcia said without thinking. Hotch rolled his eyes.

"Garcia, did you get a hit?" he asked.

"Yes, prints weren't in VICAP so I ran a wider net and they came back to a Howard Yates. He was printed when he got the job at UCB."

The team all went silent.

"Hello?" Garcia asked.

"Garcia, we need you to check the GPS on JJ's phone," Rossi replied.

There was the faint sound of typing then a small gasp, "It's been off for over an hour. Guys, what does that mean? Where's JJ?"

"I don't know," Hotch replied. "But we're going to find out."