the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

069. hamelin

"Something wrong?" Spencer asks, noticing JJ's expression.

"Oh, it's my mom." She says. "A pipe burst last night, and now her living room is flooded."

"Ugh." Spencer grimaces.

"Yeah. Repairs are gonna take 3 weeks minimum, and she has asked to stay with me." JJ says, a forced smile on her face.

"That's good, right?" Spencer asks. "I mean, out of all the people in her life, you're the one that she chose to--"

"Yeah, I was her only option, Spence." JJ says.

"Ah." He nods.

"Trust me, she would much rather rent something on her own closer to home, but apparently money's a little tight." JJ says, getting her purse and getting up. "I know our relationship hasn't always been smooth sailing, but I don't know, maybe this time it'll be different."

"Maybe it will." Spencer agrees. "Didn't you tell us your house is having a top to bottom paint job this week?"

"Mm-hmm. As of this morning." JJ confirms.

"What are you gonna do?" Spencer asks.

"Well, Will took the boys to Florida for a couple days." JJ says. "I just rented a hotel room in the city. Ooh, I guess I better upgrade to that junior suite now, huh?"

"Let me know if you need anything -- books, food, a shoulder to cry on." Spencer offers. Bedelia quietly laughs.

"Mmm. What was that last one?" JJ asks. Spencer makes a face and taps on his shoulder. Bedelia gets an amused smirk at his expression. "All right, just please keep your phone handy." JJ tells him and he nods as she walks off.

+++

"What do we have?" Matt asks.

"Last night, three 10 year old kids went missing from their homes in Wesser, Iowa." Penelope informs.

"The parents didn't notice they were gone until they woke up this morning." Emily says.

"Well, all of the families slept through the abductions." Luke says. "There must not have been much of a struggle."

"No signs of forced entry, either." Rossi says. "Neighbors didn't hear a sound."

"Look, I'm not minimizing this, but is it possible this wasn't an abduction at all?" Tara asks. "I mean, group of 10 year old kids, tip toe exit in the middle of the night."

"She's got a good point. I mean, what if the kids just made a bad decision to sneak out on a big adventure together?" Spencer asks.

"I was wondering that myself, but it was nearly freezing last night, and it appears all the kids left wearing their pajamas." Emily says. "None of them took any clothing or food."

"Maybe it's a straight up kidnapping. The ransom demands could be on their way." Bedelia says.

"JJ has some personal business to attend to here, but she will consulting by phone." Emily says. "For the rest of us, wheels up."

Everybody aside from Penelope leave the room and start to head out of the bullpen.

"Guys, guys, guys." Penelope runs out of the door, getting their attention. "There's something that just came in. You need to see it. It's from Wesser PD. It's a surveillance footage from a neighborhood park." She puts the footage on the TV that's outside the door.

They watch as the three missing kids sit on the swings.

"Those are the kids." Luke says.

A white van slowly pulls up and the kids get off the swings, walking over to it.