For the Love of a Daughter (A Criminal Minds Fanfic)

Chapter 13: You Could Lose Everything

It had become one of those cases where there wasn't much evidence and whatever leads they had gotten had been dead ends. The team had been working tirelessly, functioning on little sleep, half eaten food and too much caffeine, as they tried to find Stephany Dawson before she was killed and another girl was taken.

The autopsy report of Halle Roberts confirmed that they were dealing with the same Unsub as the DNA found on Halle matched the DNA found on the first victim, Alyson. The cause of death was the same as well as their injuries, and from that they could tell that the Unsub had a set routine which he never deviated from. They still needed a bit more information before they could release a profile.

The next few days had passed in a blur and before they knew it was Friday morning. Hotch watched as his team tiredly gathered around the bullpen to look over everything they had so far, as they built a preliminary profile of the Unsub.

Hotch's cell rang a few minutes later. "Hotchner." He answered then listened to what the other person was saying. He sighed causing the team to look up at him. "Where?" He asked then nodded. "Alright. My team and I will meet you there. Thanks." He said then ended the call.

"What's going on, Hotch?" Morgan asked. By the look on his face, it wasn't exactly good news.

"That was Detective Fisher. Another girl's been kidnapped in Richmond." He told them.

"Damn." Morgan sighed. "Are they sure it's our guy?" He asked.

"She doesn't know for sure." He answered. "But we have a witness who claims a man tried to kidnap her."

"Tried to? I thought you said another girl was taken." JJ said, confused.

"There was. Just a different girl." He told her.

"Do they know who the girl is that was taken?" Prentiss asked.

Hotch shook his head. "That's what we need to find out." He told the team.

They nodded, gathered their things then made their way to the latest crime scene.

Fifteen minutes later, the BAU pulled up on 10th street and met up with Detective Fisher. The police officers had already blocked off the area and CSRU techs were already gathering any evidence they could find.

"Agents." She nodded.

"What do we have, Detective?" Hotch asked as he and the team stepped under the yellow crime scene tape.

"Not much that makes sense." She answered. "The witness is getting checked out by a medic. I only spoke to her briefly. She took a nasty hit to the face."

"Did you get a name?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah. Tahlia O'Reiley, eighteen." She answered.

"Let me guess, dark hair, green eyes, right?" JJ assumed.

"Yeah. She's also a college freshman." Fisher filled in. "I didn't get much out of her. She's still pretty shaken up but she did mention another girl. The two officers over there are the ones that found her. They were responding to a 911 call, which I assume was placed by our mystery girl, regarding a kidnapping in progress." She told them. "But by the time they checked the alley, our guy was gone, as well as whoever placed the call."

"This doesn't make any sense." Reid added. "Our Unsub has a type and routine. Why would he stray from that? And why leave a witness? He hasn't done that before."

"He was interrupted. He didn't plan on someone calling the police. So, he took off before he could get caught." Morgan guessed.

"Yeah, but why attempt to kidnap one girl, but take another instead?" He asked.