Come Downstairs and Say Hello; S.R.

Case 4 Part 2

Jo followed Reid into the classroom filled with kids that she guessed were in their pre-teens, John Wolf pacing near the chalkboard in the front.

"Does anyone know the final tribe to surrender to the American Government?" Jo scanned the room as John asked the class a question, multiple kids raising their hands.

"Chiricahua." Reid said under his breath from Jo's side, making her bite back a laugh.

"It was the Chiricahua Apache. And does anyone know the name of the last leader of the apaches?" Jo looked towards her genius friend with an amused smirk on her face, and he delivered.

"Geronimo." He said with a nod. She shook her head with a smile, nudging him gently in the side. He looked towards her with a confused look, and she mouthed "chill" to him, making his cheeks flush. Mr. Wolf called on one of the kids in the class that proved Reid's knowledge.

"He was caught 5 times by the U.S. army, but he had gotten so much strength from the ga'he that he had escaped each time." He pointed at the boy who had responded to the previous question, "Samuel."

"Yes?"

"Tell the men and woman from the FBI who the Ga'he are." He instructed.

"The Ga'he are mighty spirits who dwell in desert caves-" Spencer began.

"Reid." Hotch scolded, and he turned in his direction, "Is your name Samuel?" Jo smiled apologetically at the class, making them laugh as Reid apologized with an awkward smile of his own. Mr. Wolf looked dissatisfied to say the least.

"Are the Ga'he good spirits or bad spirits?" Gideon asked.

"They're both." Mr. Wolf replied, "like men." He told a woman who had let Jo and the others in to take over the class for him as he gave what was needed to the BAU.

Once outside, Gideon introduced the team members present, "Mr. Wolf, I'm agent Gideon, this is agent Hotchner and doctors Starling and Reid." Jo gave Mr.Wolf a respectful nod of greeting.

"You look like a college professor." Mr. Wolf said to Gideon, then turning to Reid, "you look like his student", then turning to Jo, "you look like his romantic partner." Her cheeks burned, and she averted eye contact, immediately weirded out and embarrassed by this man's company. He then turned to Hotch, "You...you look like FBI." Ouch, Jo thought to herself, rubbing her arm awkwardly.

"We're with the Behavioral Analysis Unit." Hotch specified.

"Profilers should know better."

"How's that?" Jo asked, making Mr. Wolf turn his attention towards her.

"We don't do massacres." He stated. "You do."

"Her personally?" Hotch asked.

"Her government. Your government." Jo kept a neutral face, keeping eye contact with Mr. Wolf as to keep him from making any more conclusions about her. Reid began to dig into his bag for the crime scene photos.

"Mr. Wolf, we'd like for you to take a look at these photos and help us figure out how these kids were killed." Hotch said, as Reid handed him the photos.

"You're not asking because I'm a cop."

"No." Gideon said, "We're asking because you're an expert on Native American culture." Mr. Wolf took a look at the photos, and Jo could see the wheels turning in his head.

"I don't base my opinion on pictures, Mr. Hotchner. I have to walk the ground." He stated.
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"All the outside has been contaminated from all the construction traffic, so we should start inside." Hotch suggested as they walked up the porch to the house where the crime had been committed.

"Of all the Native American tribes, the Apache are most renowned for their tracking ability." Reid said, "it was said they could track any man or animal by simply the slightest environmental disturbance."

"He's profiling the dirt." Gideon realized, and Jo turned her attention to Mr. Wolf, who indeed seemed to be inspecting the ground closely.

"I notice you don't carry a gun." Reid observed.

"21 feet." Mr. Wolf replied.

"Excuse me?" Jo asked.

"Mr. Hotchner there is the real gun-hand, ask him."

"Why do you say that?" Hotch asked.

"You carry two guns." Jo shared a slightly impressed look with Reid. Hotch did indeed have two guns, but one of which was hidden from plain sight.

"The maximum distance an attacker with a knife can close in the time it takes to react, draw your sidearm and gore is 21 feet." Hotch explained to Jo, who nodded along.

"Inside 21 feet, I win." Mr. Wolf said, "outside 21 feet, I have other options besides shooting a man."

"Like negotiating." Reid said.

"Like running..." Jo muttered. Hotch walked in front of Mr. Wolf.

"Why do you say I carry two guns?"

"Your right in step print's heavier than your left. And since you don't appear to have a clubbed right foot-"

"You can't tell that from my footprints, there's no perceptible difference between them."

"Your problem isn't with your prints. It's with your perception." Jo shared another look with Reid, this time one of slight anxiety. They followed Mr. Wolf  to the back of the house, where he kneeled down in front of the bloodstain on the ground.

"What do you see?" Gideon asked.

"There's a saying: once too much blood has been spilled on the same ground, that ground develops a thirst for it. This is all consistent with Native American warfare rituals, but it's not Apache." Mr. Wolf handed Hotch the photos, "whoever did this carried out the Apache's most brutal rituals: Navajo, Comanche, Pueblo, and Sioux." He walked over to the bloodied spike, "No one tribe ever did them all. Not like this. Real Indians would know that. This wasn't Indians ." He began to walk around the spike, "and if you want to figure out who did this, it might help to know there was a sixth person in the house." Jo had begun to space out yet again, her focus lingering on the spike. It was covered in blood from the top down, and her stomach churned at the idea of what whoever was placed on it went through.

"So you're saying there were eight suspects?" Hotch suddenly asked, snapping Jo out of her moment. Reid sent her a brief look of concern.

"At least eight." Mr. Wolf responded.

"And one hostage." Gideon said. Jo shook her head, rubbing her temples. This might have been the worst case for her at the moment.