One Day

3

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The unsub called my personal phone, Aaron. Tell your tech to take the recording and send it to your team," Strauss explained before hanging up on the confused unit chief.

As soon as Strauss hung up Hotch called Garcia.

"You've reached the maestro of all things technology, what can I do for you?"

"Garcia, I need you to trace a call that Strauss got,"

"Of course my leige, give me the number,"

"xxx-xxx-xxxx" Hotch put the phone on speaker for Prentiss and the detective to listen in.

"Okay, looks like it was a disposable cell, and it bounced off a couple cell towers...not that far from where you are. They might still be in the area,"

"I want a 20 mile perimeter, no one gets in or out without my permission," Hotch said to the detective. The detective nodded and walked away, talking into his walkie talkie.

"Thank you Garcia," Prentiss said.

"Anytime, my love,"

"One more thing Garcia, I need you to send a recording of the call to the team and the sheriff. Tell them to listen to it as soon as possible,"

"Consider it sent,"

.

Morgan and Reid listened to the call on the way to the coroner's. After listening to the call, Reid had been completely silent, only muttering something inaudible every once in awhile. Morgan decided to speak up.

"You alright pretty boy? Figure somethin' out?"

"It bothers me.."

"What does?"

"The way the kid talked, no child would know the full names of every kid who was taken from a single town..."

"What, like the guy had the kid memorise the names?"

"I don't know.. It also bothers me how he said 'There are other kids here too...they say that person brought them here too.' "

He turned to face Morgan. "These aren't the unsubs first kills,"

.

"Hey Rossi, you should listen to this," JJ said as she walked into their makeshift briefing room.

"The recording? I already listened to it,"

"Have any idea what the unsub wants with you and Strauss?"

"Maybe," He said.

.

"How rude, they set up road blocks. Light, honey you need to put on your disguise."

"Okay!" Light smiled. He put on a wig and square-rimmed glasses. Abiel pulled over and put some makeup on him, hiding his freckles and contouring his face to hide his features.

"There, all done. Do you want to stop for food?"

"No, I like how Alex cooks. It's really yummy," he explained.

"You sure? You do deserve a treat for doing so well with that call," she smiled, trying to persuade him.

He was quiet for a short while before his eyes lit up and he spoke up again.

"Can we get some ice cream for everyone?" He asked, practically vibrating in his seat.

"Of course we can. I'll stop at the grocery store once we're past the roadblocks,"

"Okay!! Thank you miss abby!"

"You're welcome Light,"

.

"Prentiss, what do we have so far?"

"Not much, no physical evidence, no sign of forced entry, the unsub brought and took everything he needed, the only mess he made was with the blood," she sighed, guesturing at the incredibly messy living room.

"So he's criminally sophisticated?" Hotch asked, rhetorically, of course.

"More than that, he's meticulous, everything was planned. I don't think he even took the kid from the house,"

Hotch raised an eyebrow, "What makes you say that?"

"Come with me," Prentiss said, maneuvering around the mess to get to the child's room. Once they were both inside, Prentiss spoke again, walking around to point things out as she did.

"Look, there no sign the kid has been here recently; no marks on the carpet, nothing is out on the ground, it's completely different from the rest of the house,"

She stopped in front of Hotch, "I don't think the kid even slept in here. It's too perfect for a 6 year olds room,"

Hotch pulled out his phone and dialed Garcia once again.

"Your wish is my command," she greeted.

"Garcia, how's the preliminary search of people the victims contacted going?"

"Not very well, I'm afraid. All of the families were total loner types. The only people who were consistently in and out of the homes were the kids and CPS."

"CPS?" Prentiss asked.

"Yeah, poor babies were reported to have lots of injuries, but since there was no proof of abuse they couldn't do anything," she sighed.

"Who reported the families?" Hotch asked.

"A priest, a few teachers and some concerned neighbors,"

"Do any of the names match?"

"It looks like none, but I'll keep digging,"

"Thank you Garcia, please send those names to me,"

"Done and done my lovelies,"