To Solve

Chapter 8: What Fresh Hell?

With a fresh coffee in hand, Parker sat down with the others in the meeting room before JJ began presenting the case.

"Missing child in Wilmington, Delaware. 11-year-old Billie Copeland was last seen on the playground at 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

"That's 20 hours ago," Hotch pointed out. "Child Abduction Response Plan says we get notified immediately. What happened?"

"Well, there was reason to believe that she was with her father. Her cell phone shows a call to him at around the time of the disappearance."

"So, they've since ruled him out?"

"He called the mother about an hour ago."

"That doesn't mean he isn't involved."

"He's on his way to the family home so you can talk to him there. But, the local police are now considering this a stranger abduction."

"20 hours late?"

"Long-term stranger abductions of childhood Billie's age are rare," said Spencer. "They represent only half of one percent of all missing cases per year, but they are usually more likely to be fatal. Of the children that are abducted and murdered, 44% die within the first hour. From that point forth their odds of survival greatly decrease. 75% are gone after three hours. Virtually all of them are dead after 24."

"Which means we have just under four hours to find her," Hotch summarized.

"Shall we go?"

~~~~

The poet W. H. Auden wrote,

"Evil is always unspectacular and always human. And shares our bed and eats at our table."

Hotch, Derek and Parker dropped their colleagues off at the Copeland house and drove on to the park where the girl had disappeared to meet with Detective Russet.

"Put out a citywide alert," the detective reported. "We've got multi-agency law enforcement running canvasses. Body and evidence grid search is up and running on foot with canine units. Talked to the press twice, gave them a description of the SUV and the suspect and formed a round-the-clock -clock volunteer-manned hotline service."

Detective Russet led the agents to the exact spot where Billie disappeared.

"Did you run a background check on these volunteers?" Derek asked.

"Ongoing, but no red flags yet. I had to make a call on this one, you know? It looked like a family thing."

"Any witnesses?"

"Witnesses have her talking to a white male, mid-30s, carrying a leash, right about there."

"Just a leash? No dog?" Hotch asked.

"No dogs."

"Lost dog is a common ruse," said Parker. "Especially with children. "Hey, my little Luna ran away. Did you see her?" "No, Sir, but don't worry, I'll help you." And gone is the child. Anything else?"

"A short time later, a green SUV sped out of the parking lot over there. We have an Amber Alert on it."

"According to preliminary reports, mother and daughter had an argument during soccer practice?"

"Billie wants to spend more time with her father. It's a pretty fresh divorce. I get the impression that our victim is in the middle of it."

The group arrived at the spot where soccer practice had taken place.