Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season One

What Fresh Hell?: Part Two

Billie's father is seen parking in the driveway, and even from where you're at, you can feel how angry he is. He turns this whole blue energy of the house into a light purple. Both red and blue mix to create a whole mess of emotions. He's not right in the head either, but that's clearly not going to stop him from marching in here. As soon as he does, him and Billie's mother just go at it.

"I have been calling you all night!" she yells.

"I'm sorry, Marilyn. I turned my phone off."

"How could you turn your phone off? What if Billie got sick or—we needed you!"

"I said I was sorry!" he groans.

She slaps his arm and gives an angry scoff. She turns away and leaves the room. Thankfully, William stays put to give her time to cool off.

"What's being done to find my daughter?"

"We're assessing that right now," you answer.

"She's been missing since yesterday! What the hell have you people been doing since then?!"

"Where have you been, Mr. Copeland?" Gideon wonders.

"Me?"

"Where were you all day and all night?"

"I have a cabin in Brandywine Valley," he says, but that doesn't tell you where he's been this entire time.

"The police tried you there."

"Well, maybe I was out at the time."

"Billie tried your cell phone yesterday afternoon. You didn't answer then," you comment.

"Well, I shut it off sometimes. I like the solitude."

"You didn't fight your wife for custody of your daughter, but you like being in her life," Gideon rattles off the facts.

He wants to make him nervous. It's working.

"I want her to grow up in her home with her friends around. This is the only place she's ever lived."

"So, you love her very much."

"Yes."

"Why do you waste any precious time we have left?" Gideon sighs and cuts to the chase for this is taking too long. "You weren't at your cabin. You weren't at work or with friends. Police didn't call us until a little while ago because they thought your daughter might have been with you—that you might have taken your daughter. Until you can give us a satisfactory accounting of your whereabouts from the time your daughter went missing until—would you help me understand why a devoted father who talks to his daughter every night suddenly turns his phone off and disappears for almost twenty-four hours?"

"I was... busy," he hesitates.

"It was 1:30 in the afternoon. You called your wife at 11:30 that morning and found out Billie was missing."

"So?"

"Well, Brandywine Valley is fifteen minutes away. Where were you, Mr. Copeland?"

William knows he's been caught, so he chooses the right option to tell the truth. He sighs heavily and sits down with a long and tired look on his face.

"I—I was at Sloane Kettering hospital in New York City. Dr. Baylan Mahal is the head of Oncology. You can call him if you want."

"I will. Did you have a relapse?"

"It's in my lymph nodes now. There's nothing more they can—" he cuts himself off. "Please find my daughter. Find my daughter."

"Call Sloane Kettering," Gideon instructs of you.