Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season Three

Seven Seconds: Part Two

While you're trying to work with Jeremy, JJ received Katie's sweater that she wore that day but took off because it didn't match with the sneakers she was wearing. The sweater is going to help the search dogs try and find her, and you hope they can find something useful in this entire mall. Beth isn't going to calm down until her daughter is found, but there is something JJ needs her to do in order to show everyone that her daughter is more than just an object... that she's a person who needs her parents back.

The best way to do that is through the loudspeaker in the mall.

"My name is Beth Jacobs. Forty-five minutes ago, our daughter Katie went missing. She's only six years old. Last month, she started first grade. Katie is our only child, and we love her very much. We just want her back safe. The other day... Katie told me that she was ready to ride... a big girl's bike... without training wheels... and I promised her that she could do that on her birthday. Please, whoever you are... I hope you're listening. We just want our daughter back to us safely. Katie is just a little girl. She's just a little girl who deserves another birthday."

Beth is very emotional, which is a good thing. You want Susan and Richard to hear just how much pain they are causing. You're going to take the idea that they're the unsubs to your grave because you know that they are the unsubs.

Penelope, on the other hand, was able to decipher seven more seconds of the video footage. It's not much, but it's seven more seconds than you had before. Surveillance footage she retrieved of a second camera on the first floor shows Katie leaving the arcade. She went north until she disappeared. She still can't make out who she was with. If Katie was alone, then the only stores in the vicinity she would be walking toward would be furniture, stationary, or bedding.

It's nothing a six year old would leave an arcade for... unless it wasn't a store that caught her eye. It helps your case with it being Susan or Richard that took her. If she saw someone she knew, then she would leave the arcade for them.

You need Jeremy in order to figure out what happened, and luckily, he recovered from his panic attack much faster than you thought he would. You, Derek, and Spencer get up and lead him into the empty arcade.

"So, what are you youngsters playing these days?" Spencer asks Jeremy.

"I like DOA."

"DOA? As in 'dead on arrival'?" Derek asks, confused.

"It's 'dead or alive'," Spencer corrects.

"What do you like so much about it, Jeremy?"

"The close combat. It's all about timing, how well you know your enemies. Plus I'm really good at it."

"Yeah, I bet you are, kid. So, uh, what was the first game that you walked to when you came in here earlier?" Jeremy opens and closes his mouth nervously, so Derek tries a different tactic. "I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes for a minute, alright? I want you to go back to when you first walked in the arcade a little earlier. Can you remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, in your mind, I want you to try and picture what it sounded like here. Picture what it smelled like. Was it crowded?"

"It was loud."

"Were the people loud or were the games loud?"

"Both. Some kid was yelling at his game."

This is helping you as well because the more information you get, the better the picture you can paint. You look at Jeremy and see his face contort in uncomfortableness.

"What's making you so uncomfortable, Jeremy?" you ask.

"Katie was crying."

"What was she crying about?"