Running

Chapter 14

We get all the kids back to the station, and call their families immediately.

The parents are there in minutes.

There were a lot of tears.

A lot of screaming.

And a shit ton of cursing.

But it was the best thing I could ever watch happen. Families getting reunited again.

"Great work out there," Hotch tells me. And I get the same variation from everyone else. But that's not what this feels like. It feels like we're missing something. Like I'm missing something...

After endless attempts, we finally get one of the kids into a room. Specifically, Kayden Jones.

"Hey Kayden," I say.

"My friends call me Denny," he replies, looking down.

"Do you want me to call you that?"

He nods his head slowly.

"Okay Denny. You told me Ray said I'd find you. What did you mean by that?"

"Ray was the one that kidnapped me. He didn't do anything though, he was just... helping the guy who did do something."

"What was his name?"

"I don't know, and I don't really give a shit."

For a second I'm appalled by his words, until I realize he's thirteen.

"What did the man do to you Denny?"

"He... he touched me. I believe the technical term would be that he molested me. He couldn't figure out how to rape a boy..."

And yet he still tried.

"Ray said that he had to do it. I asked why but he told me he couldn't tell me. He only said he was sorry. Which I think was bullshit. If he was sorry he would've let us go. Instead he left us there to be treated like some sort of rag doll. But, he said that you would remember. You'd remember, and you'd find us. He was right," he looks up and smiles softly at me.

Raymond was questioned after every single abduction, and yet they got nothing positive to arrest him with.

"So you have no idea who your molester is?"

He shakes his head.

"Was it the same person that was raping and molesting Farrah and Payton?"

He nods.

"Okay..."

"Can-can I go now?"

"Yes, yes of course Denny. Thank you. You were really helpful."

He gets up from the couch and leaves the office.

I stay sitting. Rossi and JJ have my dad, and they're only ten minutes away. And needless to say, I'm terrified. How- A thought hits me. He knew I didn't remember. So what he did yesterday... he was purposefully resetting my memory so that I'd get the flashbacks. So that I'd have the nightmares...

I sigh. Feeling empty. And tired.

Morgan knocks on the door.

"Hey sugar, Prentiss went to that corner store and got us some hygiene stuff."

I smile and stand, following him to the glass room to grab a toothbrush and paste.

By the time I'm done, I stand in the bullpen talking to Miller.

"So a cognitive interview huh? That sounds kind of cool. Maybe we should start doing that with some of our own criminals."

I laugh. "If you even get criminals. There's only thirteen officers on the force. Including Cosner. Consider yourselves lucky."