𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨

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𝟱:𝟬𝟯 𝗽𝗺
𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻, 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘀

𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒 and bustling chatter filled the Houston Police Department. The strong smell of burnt coffee and printer ink cloaked the senses, clouding the mind and disrupting judgement. Even at the eager whisper of dusk about to fall, the building was busy and yet to wind down.

"Abigail Hotchner," Detective Greenhill spoke, his arms folded over his chest and his dark hair pushed back with almost too much mousse that morning. "You actually followed through." His head tilted coyly as his grey eyes followed the woman that entered his precinct, observing her usual dark pencil skirt and plain-coloured blouse.

She grinned as she met his gaze. "I'm a woman of my word, Noah. You should know that." She gestured to Hotch beside her, who extended his hand. "This is my brother, Aaron."

"Detective Greenhill," Hotch greeted.

"Agent Hotchner," Noah reciprocated, shaking his hand, "it's a pleasure. Abbie speaks very highly of you."

Hotch somehow maintained his stoic expression as he side-eyed his sister. "I find that hard to believe."

Abbie blushed, a smile stuck fast to her youthful features.

Hotch lifted his chin towards the man behind him. "This is Dr Spencer Reid." Dr Reid gave an awkward smile to the detective as Hotch continued. "The rest of the team is in the field, you'll meet them later."

"No problem," Noah shook his head with a nonchalant wave of his hand before leading them to one of the offices in the far corner. "I can take you through what we have so far." Tucked against one of the windowed walls was a clear noticeboard, facing into the room. In the middle of the room was a long table, littered with hand-written notes, evidence files, and emptied boxes.

As Spencer sat down, Hotch was already studying the papers before glancing over the map on the board, dotted with red pins indicating where the abductions took place, and blue for where bodies were found. "How much of this is based on the theory of Fletcher being guilty?" he asked.

Standing with Abbie by the open doorway, Noah looked over. "Most of it."

"Get rid of it."

Abbie frowned, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Aaron..."

"We need to look at these latest abductions like it's new information," he explained. "A biased view could inhibit the profile. If there's similarities that you recognise," he gestured to Detective Greenhill, but also looped Abbie in his sweep, "then we'll draw the connection."

Abbie sighed, rolling her head back. "I'm getting coffee," she declared. "Dr Reid?"

Spencer looked up, his eyes wide as a fawn, his hands hovering the files in eagerness to get stuck in.

"How do you take it?"

He cleared his throat. "Uh, white. With, with three sugars."

Abbie smiled with a wink. "You got it, Doc."

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"𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃," 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈 commented as he and JJ climbed out of their SUV. The two surveyed the street, dotted with old but well-maintained houses, with neatly trimmed gardens and mowed lawns. He frowned; something was missing. "It's 5 o'clock on a Thursday, but there's no kids playing outside."

"There's been an abduction," JJ reminded him. "Most of these people likely know Lisa personally." The two walked up the paved path to the house they were after, its worn-white door contrasting the navy-blue siding. "They probably think it's safer to keep everybody inside." She knocked on the doorframe, preparing her badge.

The wooden door creaked open, swinging inward partly, and a man's face appeared in the gap. He had blond hair, cut short on the sides, with a two-day stubble hugging his lower jaw. "Yes?"

"Mr Lucas?" JJ showed her credentials through the screen door still dividing them, Rossi doing the same. "My name is Jennifer Jareau, this is David Rossi. We're with the FBI. Could we ask you a few questions about your ex-girlfriend, Lisa Holden?"

Todd Lucas stared at the two agents on his front porch, still in disbelief that Lisa was even missing to begin with. "Uh, sure." He opened the door, stepping aside to let the two in. "I-I'm sorry about the mess," he referred to the brightly coloured toys strewn about his small living room.

"Your daughter?" JJ smiled, giving a reassuring face to the man who clearly needed it.

Todd nodded. "Josie. She's three." He looked towards another room. "She's, she's taking a nap." He turned back to the agents. "She keeps asking where mommy is."

"How often do you have her?" Rossi asked, thumbing at the notepad he had pulled from his inside jacket pocket.

"Uh," Todd started, glancing back to where his daughter's room was again. "Usually every other week."

"Usually?" Rossi raised an eyebrow, lifting his gaze momentarily.

"Lis was meant to have her last weekend, but um..." Todd was staring at his wringing hands before blinking, looking up. "She had something on."

"A support group?" JJ filled in the empty air, sitting on one of the brown recliners, the fabric worn slightly on the right arm of the chair and exposing the stuffing. She moved forward slightly, perched closer to the edge of the seat.

Todd nodded. "Yeah, um, Modern Mothers, I think it's called?" He glanced over his shoulder to then sit at a vacant wooden chair behind him. "She says it's her way to know she's not alone."

"Things can be tough," Rossi nodded, "especially for a single mom." He turned the page of his notepad. "Does she usually stick to a regular routine?"

"She tries to," he answered. "Wherever she can, she structures her life. Work, home, shopping. She likes things to be orderly. When she wasn't there to pick up Josie on Tuesday, I knew something was really wrong."

"Do you know of anyone new in her life?" JJ asked. "Maybe a new relationship?"

He quickly shook his head. "No, she often mentioned that she never had time for that." A stray chuckle left his chapped lips. "We barely had time for it when we were together."

"So you two remained amicable?" Rossi noted.

"We try our best," Todd replied, "for Josie's sake." He cleared his throat and JJ felt the need to fill the silence again.

"Mr Lucas, did Lisa have any enemies at all?"

"Enemies?" Todd was still jittery, twitching as he rubbed at his arms. "N-No, no, everyone loves Lis."

"Why did you break up?" Rossi raised a brow, jotting down quick notes.

Todd went quiet, as if his thoughts were trying to break out, but he was holding them back. "That was my fault," he admitted. "I was... unfaithful."

Silence fell over the room again, creeping beneath the covers to claw at the three unsuspecting figures. It was deterred only by the distant ticking of a clock somewhere in the kitchen behind where Todd sat, until Agent Rossi spoke again.

"How often does this support group meet?" he asked.

"Once a month?" Todd answered, not entirely sure himself. "Sometimes she sees a few of the members outside of it, maybe every two or three weeks? They just meet for coffee, I think."

"Do you know the names of these members?" JJ had perked again, glancing at Rossi to ensure he had his pen ready.

But Todd shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."

Rossi exchanged a look with JJ, one they both recognised, and got up. "Mr Lucas, thank you for your time." He extended his hand, and Todd hastily stood, shaking it. "We'll be in touch if we need anything else." He handed the man a crisp, white business card, which Todd took with fidgeting hands.

JJ flashed him her same caring smile from earlier as she and Rossi exited the house.

"Do you think he has anything to do with it?" Rossi asked once they were safely confined to the SUV, a brow cocked as he pulled the car from the curb.

JJ shook her head, scrolling on her phone to find their second location as she plugged the address into their GPS. "He seemed distraught, continually used present tense, and seemed genuinely worried about Lisa. I doubt someone as fragile as him has the mental capacity to plan and execute an abduction."

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𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐒 over the keyboard of her BlackBerry, Abbie was stood in line at the coffee shop two blocks down from the police station. She pressed send on her text before tucking her phone into the side pocket of her brown handbag, retrieving her purse to pay for the coffees that had just been ordered.

"Twenty-two, thirty-eight," the cashier spoke, her strawberry blonde hair tied into a bun, with dainty freckles dancing across her nose.

Abbie handed her two twenty-dollar notes before smiling. "Keep the change."

The cashier looked at Abbie as if she had just handed her a golden egg, before quickly exchanging the cash and pocketing the change. "Thank you."

Abbie smiled again in response before following the length of the bar to the sign that read 'pick-up here'. Her phone buzzed in her bag and she reached to retrieve it.

𝟏𝟕:𝟐𝟏
𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐞: 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕??

𝟏𝟕:𝟐𝟑
𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭: '𝙿𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚊'

She smiled to herself, using the keypad to open the contact and dial the number. She lifted the phone to her ear as another barista slid her order over, the four coffees contained in a cardboard divider. Abbie mouthed her gratitude as the call answered.

"How do you want it?" Penelope Garcia's voice was low and sultry.

Abbie frowned as she grabbed her order from the bar. "I'm sorry?"

Garcia was now equally confused. "Who is this?"

"Abigail..." Abbie answered, leaning her weight against the coffeeshop door to open it, both of her hands now occupied, "we cyber-met earlier. Garcia, right?"

Garcia's eyes widened and she stumbled over her words. "Oh my god, yes, I'm, I'm so sorry. I thought you were somebody else." There was a faint clatter as, in her embarrassment, Garcia knocked over a plastic cup filled with glitter pens.

"It's fine," Abbie chuckled. "Aaron told me you're the best at finding information on something."

"Of course," Garcia was still flustered, but now readied herself at her keys, "what do you need?"

Abbie inhaled. "I need all you can get on Marcus Fletcher. I know that Aaron wants us to look at this as all new information, but something is still super off about him."

Grinning, Garcia was already typing. "You want the real nitty-gritty?"

"As gritty as you can find for me."

"It will be with you in two shakes of a little lamb's tail," she promised, her hand lifted over her handset in preparation of ending the call.

"And Garcia?"

She halted. "Yes?"

"I like it hard and dirty," Abbie smirked, referencing Garcia's greeting, her own tone dropping to a purr.

Garcia pressed her lips together to avoid bursting into laughter, aiding also in containing her blushing cheeks, alone in her office. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."