The Usual Rules

Chapter 3

"Okay my lovelies, your guy is a one Frankie Gallagher. He was a very well known tapper as a kid, danced in a bunch of theaters and concert halls. He kind of fell out if the dance scene in his late teens, and got into a little bit of trouble with the law. A couple of breaking and entering charges – mostly in houses that had yet to be sold – his mother was a realtor. He also got caught setting a couple of fires when he was around thirteen, but he seems to have lost his urge to set things aflame as there are no hints of anything since than. He was also charged with assault of a sixteen year old girl, Tammy Walters when he was seventeen. He's bounced around a lot of odd jobs over the years, fired a couple of times, quit suddenly etc."

"What about the girl? Does he have a daughter?" Emily asked. She and the team were sitting around a table in the police station. Emily shared a look with JJ, who was sitting on top of the table next to her.

"See there's the thing...I don't have any record of him being a father, I checked within six years and his name was never listed on any birth certificates."

"So he doesn't have a daughter?" JJ asked.

"Now I didn't say that my lovely blue eyed girl, I said there isn't much of a record of it. However, since I am awesome, I dug around a bit."

"And?" JJ asked with a smile.

"And, Frankie is definitely a papa. A young girl, Rachel Gallagher has been living with him for three years. Now, this poor beautiful little girl has had an awful life crammed into her short seven years. Her mother, Clara, was severely depressed; and by that I mean was on so many depression meds she was practically popping one every minute. I've got a couple of accounts of social services popping in on them. It seems she had some issues taking care of Rachel with her depression. The girl was left alone a lot, social services was going to remove her from the home when she was a little over one, but apparently, Clara got some new meds and was doing a lot better."

"So why isn't she with the mom now?" Reid asked.

"Well, this is where it gets sad, the meds didn't work I guess, Clara killed herself when Rachel was four. The neighbor next door said that she would feed Rachel more than Clara did, and Rachel came over to her house and said her mom was, and I quote, 'covered in red and wouldn't get up off the bathroom floor."

"She found her?" Emily asked, horrified.

"Yeah, from the state of the body when the police arrived, she killed herself early in the morning and they found her around nine that night. Rachel sat with her on the floor waiting for her to wake up for hours."

"Oh god." Morgan said, dropping his head in his hands in frustration.

"I'm not done." Garcia said solemnly. "According to the mother's suicide note, Frankie Gallagher is Rachel's father. The neighbor volunteered to take her to Frankie and she's been with him since. They've moved around a lot, Rachel doesn't seem to be enrolled in school and she dances with him a lot. There are a couple of videos on youtube, I sent one or two to your phones, there aren't any other pictures of her I could find that were recent."

"Thanks Garcia."

"Also, I'm sending a picture of Clara to you right now, she bears a striking resemblance to our twelve victims."

"We need to talk to Frankie. Garcia do you have a current address?" Hotch asked.

"See that's the thing, no, he's not listed anywhere for the last couple of years, but he crops up everywhere mostly in motels and such. He doesn't seem to pay with credit card very often, the man likes cash, but his last charge was at a hotel down in Harlem. The address is being sent to your phones as we speak."