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

Chapter 18: Told me not to cry When you are Gone

"Agent Hotchner, there's a call for you from security at the front desk." Anderson announced.

Hotch nodded. "Put it through."

"Yes, sir." He said then transferred the call.

"This is Hotchner." He answered then listened to what the other person was saying. "Okay. You can send her up. Thank you." He said then put the phone down.

"Who's being sent up?" Rossi asked.

The director of Monroe Dance Academy." He informed the team.

"I thought she was out of the country." Morgan said.

"Apparently not." Hotch told them.

They busied themselves while they waited for the director.

"What do we know about her?" Morgan asked.

Garcia did a quick search. "Not much. Her name is Maia Louise Sheppard. Originally from Pennsylvania. She's twenty-eight. Wow, that's impressive. She owns her own dance academy and she's not even thirty yet." She remarked. "According to the Weekly Times, she recently got engaged to businessman, Hayden Lancaster."

"As in Lancaster Industries?" Emily asked.

"One and the same. Quite the power couple. They do a lot of volunteering and charity work together."

"When was that article published?"

"About two weeks ago." Garcia replied.

"That's around the same time Alyson Stevens was abducted." Reid mentioned.

"Anything before that" Hotch asked.

"Let's see. Er, before she moved to DC, she lived in California. Attended UCLA on a dance scholarship after she graduated high school though there's no record of her completing her degree."

"Does it say why?" Morgan asked.

"Let me check." She tapped a few keys. "Okay, it doesn't say why but I'm gonna take a wild guess and say this is the reason." She said. "It says here that Ms Sheppard was involved in a car accident when she was 22. Pretty much ended her dance career before it began."

"Do you have the police report?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah. Just a sec." She said as she pulled up the report. "Okay. It looks like it was a two-vehicle collision. The driver that hit her car was speeding and flew past a red light. Wow, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time." She scanned the report further. "Whoa." She said, suddenly.

"What is it, Garcia?" Hotch asked.

She pointed to the screen that showed the photos of the accident. The team gathered around Garcia to take a look. Maia Sheppard's car was a wreck. A total write-off. It was a miracle that she walked away from that accident alive.

"According to witnesses, the car rolled a few times after it was hit." She shook her head. "How on earth did she survive that?" Garcia asked, incredulously. The team wore similar looks of surprise and shock.

Anything else Garcia had to say was put on hold when a voice called out behind them.

"Excuse me, Agent Hotchner?"

He turned around as he heard his name being called. "Yes, that's...me." He paused as took in her appearance. Tall, athletic built, brunette, green eyes. Just like the victims. He looked over to where Dave was standing. Their eyes made contact briefly but it was enough for him to realise that the older agent was thinking the same thing. He stood with his back to Garcia so the screen was hidden.