Cry Me A River

Chapter 5 - So, Daddy Issues Huh?

"He lured the kid out with the promise of a video game," Rossi thought out loud. "Shoes gone and everything that's incredibly planned out."

"That's what River deduced as well," Hotch spoke.

Her ears had to be lying to her. Hotch never used first names..Emily had told her that before she met him. River had told everyone else to call her by her first name but she never expected it from Hotch. She had nothing against going by her last name but it reminded her a little too much of her military brat upbringing. Her Father, Sgt. Mark Leland, was the model of a modern major hero as they as. An all-american military man who was often cold, distant, and detatched.

"Okay so the trafficking theory isn't making sense to me...but what if our unsubs are working like one. One guy who works the abductions and he gets paid for that when he delivers the child to whoever is killing them," River wondered. "So they're either a team or it's some kind of black market delivery deal maybe?" 

"That's a good point because it doesn't make sense to travel that distance with a living child and not take them out of the state," JJ added.

"So were looking for a partnership of some kind. One who abducts for money and one who's the buyer and the killer," Morgan said with realization on his face.

"Okay so if that's true how did they meet?"
Hotch had a point, how does this kind of partnership even happen? The black market? Chat rooms? 

"Craigslist for serial killers?" Reid questioned.

"I'm pretty sure regular craigslist is already for serial killers," Emily quipped.

"Okay but Reid has a point literally everything is done online these days," River added. She hit speed dial 3 on her phone to call Garcia. "Hey Pen, we think the unsubs might have met online."

"Oh unsub's as in plural okay uhhh well I can help with that just tell me what I'm looking for."

Reid leaned towards the phone, "Start with looking for online chat rooms going back at least a year and look for anyone mentioning red haired boys or large sums of money in trade of services."

"Oh and it might be weird but look for anything mentioning spiderman or spiderman games as well," River added. 

"Okay chat rooms, creeps, money, spiderman, I will hit you back when I've got something." She hung up and the team all looked at each other.

"So, what now?" River asked.

"It's getting late and there's not much else we can do here tonight. We should head to the hotel and try to get a couple hours of sleep," Hotch suggested.

They all hated not being able to do anything while this boy was out there but they were also no good for him sleep deprived. Begrudgingly, they all started getting up and grabbing their things. River headed to the bathroom. Pushing the door open and locking it behind her. She took a look in the dirty mirror. She had her shoulder length brown hair pulled back into a pony tail that was starting to give her a headache. She took her hair down and took a deep breath. Her first official case, a boy with a deadline, it's a lot to compartmentalize. She couldn't afford to have a panic attack either so remaining focused and calm was the only option right now. River was about to rummage through her bag for her anxiety pills when a knock on the door caused her to jump.

"Agent Leland, your team is looking for you if you're in there," the voice of one of the female police officers came from the other side.

"Okay, thank you!" River took another deep breath and turned away from the mirror. She left the bathroom and returned to only find Hotch left packing his computer.

"Leland, are you alright?" He questioned with a concerned look.

"Yes sir, I'm fine um where are the others?"

"They left, Dave drove them to pick up some food for everyone but Emily said she knew what you would want so I offered to wait for you. Shall we," he gestured to the door. 

Dammit Emily....

"Oh okay thank you," She said as he held the door for her to go through. "You can keep calling me River by the way." 

"River is an interesting name," he said.

"Ha, well my parents loved water they said it made them feel...connected to themselves and one another in some way. I have an older brother named Rayne," she smiled. She missed her brother, but he had followed in their fathers footsteps a long time ago and joined the military at eighteen. River hadn't actually seen him in what was now over a year because of his constant deployment. 

"You know when me and my ex wife were naming our son, I had trouble because I didn't want his name to be associated with what we do. I didn't want to name him something like Jeffrey and think about Dahmer. Eventually, we decided not to let bad people ruin a good thing and we decided on Jack," he looked genuinely happy when talking about them but sorrow still hid behind his eyes.

Once they reached the car Hotch opened the door for her before going around to the drivers side. He pulled out his phone and brought up a picture of a young boy. He looked like a baby Hotch with lighter hair and a big smile. "That's him, he's just turned seven."

"He's adorable Hotch. I bet you're a great dad."
He smiled a little and put his phone away. He started pulling out of the parking lot and River noticed a hint of a grin forming on his lips. He looked at her and chuckled at little bit.

"What is it," she laughed hesitantly. 

"So..daddy issues huh?"

Shit.