"Hey, JJ" Emily greeted as the blonde glided from Hotch's office to the bullpen. "What's the rush?"
"We've got a case, Hotch wants us on the jet in thirty" JJ sighed. "A girl's gone missing in Illinois. It's the third abduction in six weeks, local police haven't got any new leads and they're thinking this one is just a runaway"
"We're going to rule out a victim?" Morgan asked and raised an eyebrow.
"It's happened before" Emily offered as the group stood and walked toward the elevator.
"Yeah but how many times have their only been three victims to start with?" Morgan added.
"A case is a case, I guess. What the guy is doing isn't all too pleasant either" JJ said. They'll probably ask us to consult if another girl goes missing anyway. If this one isn't his third victim, it won't be long till we have one"
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"This is Charlotte Moore" JJ explained while passing round the case files. "She disappeared from her home in Lincoln, Illinois late last night. There've been two other cases like it in the last six weeks. Emma Jones and Sarah Wright were taken from their homes two weeks apart. Emma was found in a ditch partly covered by tarp. Sarah was found in a similar way a few miles down the road, also covered with tarp"
"Have they got the PD checking the road the other two were found yet?" Morgan asked while flipping through the file.
"They did an initial sweep which came back clean but, according to their report, they didn't believe they'd find anything anyway" JJ answered.
"Why?" Emily questioned without looking up.
"Partly because the other two victims weren't killed until the fifth day after their abduction" JJ began before Garcia finished her answer.
"And partly because they put Charlotte down as a bad kid and a runaway" Garcia added in an angry tone.
"Has Charlotte run away before?" Hotch asked.
"Nope. She's being seen by a psychologist so I guess the cops thought they could put it to her mental health and sweep it under the carpet" Garcia answered through gritted teeth.
Hotch paused for a moment then cleared his throat and closed the case file. "We'll be arriving in 10. Reid, JJ: I want you to go to the family home. If this girl is as socially introverted as the file shows, the mom might be our only lead. Morgan and Prentiss: have a look round the neighbourhood; see if anyone heard anything unusual last night. Rossi and I will talk to the psychologist. If this is a simple runaway it needs to be eliminated to keep the focus on the UnSubs victims"
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"There doesn't seem to be any clothes missing from the closet" JJ stated while flicking through the clothes then shutting the door.
"What does that mean?" Rachel, Charlotte's mom, spoke up with a worried look.
"We're just making observations at the moment" JJ comforted and smiled softly. "Did Charlotte ever talk about wanting space?" She asked after a small pause.
"No" Rachel answered in a tired voice.
"Did she mention a safe place she might have gone to calm down?" Reid asked while moving objects on Charlotte's desk.
"No. She used breathing and relaxation stuff her psychologist taught her to calm down" The woman explained then adjusted a candle Reid had moved. "I'm sorry about the mess, I was told not to clean up until you guys got here" She added, looking round the room with embarrassment in her eyes.
"You did the right thing. This can tell us a lot about Charlotte" JJ said warmly. "Has she been spending more or less time than usual with you or her siblings?"
"No, she's been fine up till now… Sammy, her brother, was arguing with her a couple days ago but it was petty stuff"
"Where's Sammy now?" Reid asked, noting what Rachel had done but choosing not to mention it.
"He's in his room playing… Sammy and Hannah have autism. Hannah's isn't so bad but Sammy's can be difficult to handle. He doesn't know Charlotte's missing, it would only stress him out"
"Do you have any suspicions that Charlotte might have run away?" JJ asked.
"What? No! I told those cops Charlotte wouldn't ever run away! Sammy and Hannah hate change. She would never just up and leave in the middle of the night without an explanation to them" Rachel explained, her anger simmering down as she talked.
"You've been really helpful" JJ said then paused. "Would it be possible for me and my colleague to have a look round here alone? It would help us build the profile with an open mind"
"Yeah, no problem" The woman mumbled then turned and left.
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"Excuse me, sir? Do you recognize this girl?" Morgan asked while holding out a photo of Charlotte to a passing man.
The man paused, took the photo and shielded his eyes from the sun while he looked at it. "Oh, sure. That's Harley" He stated then handed back the picture, Emily flicking her eyes to Morgan when she heard Charlotte's new name. "She in some sorta trouble?" He asked in a thick Texan accent.
"We don't think so but it would be a lot of help if you could tell us where you know Harley from" Morgan explained.
"I do the nightshifts at a gas station a couple o' blocks from here. Harley comes in every night… Well, she did. Last night she never turned up, first time I ain't seen her for months. You get creeps walkin' round these parts at night. I just clocked off so I thought I'd take a walk down here, see if she was ok"
"Did Harley tell you where she lived?" Emily asked while looking round the street.
"Nah, she was a smart girl. She weren't the type to tell people where she was livin' even if she knew 'em for a long time"
"So how did you know she lived round here?" Morgan questioned and raised an eyebrow.
"I saw her walkin' this direction every time she left the gas station. I guessed she lived round these parts. Not many young girls walk too far from home when it's dark"
"You've been a lot of help Mr…?" Emily asked.
"Charles. Bobby Charles… Tell Harley I said hi when you find her" He added with a grin before beginning a slow walk away from the agents in the direction he had just come.
"Well, that was interesting" Morgan murmured while walking toward the victim's house. "I've never heard of Harley as a nickname for Charlotte"
"Maybe she was making another identity for herself? Harley is a lot more masculine than Charlotte" Emily stated.
"Either way, Hotch is gonna wanna know about this. If she was going to see Bobby at the gas station last night, she might not have been in her home when she was abducted"
This is an idea I've been wanting to do for a while now and finally had time to get round to it. I've been trying to decide between this and two other stories I've written on which one to post but instead of picking one I choose to post all and whichever get's the most positive feedback will be the one that I'll update the fastest. Depending on if this is the most popular of the three stories; the next chapter could be up within the next week. Please review if you've got time!