The Prey

8. Memories and Feeling

"We lost her." Reid arrived in the office. They've been searching around the cemetery area but she's disappeared. Luke decided to stay behind and continue his search while Reid went back to the office.

"She's tracking Paige," Matt answered. Then they all went silent. Busy with their thoughts.

"I don't get it," Reid's voice breaks the silence. "We have 2 dead bodies, 3 and 4. One runaway survivor, number 5. And 1 unknown target on the run, could be she's number 1 or 2?" He scratches his head, he wants to help this team, he wants to help Ava but his brain isn't back to the usual glory, he keeps on stumbling on his mother's case. He barely can think straight at this moment. But everyone is just happy he is still here with them, instead of locking himself alone in his room, doing only God knows what.

"We need to go back to the beginning," Emily said, "we missed something and that something does not quite add up here", she distributes the files between her team. And everybody focused on it again. Adding more evidence, newly found facts, whatever seems to be facts or clues.

"Look at this one," Rossi point his file, "it said the day and time Howard Albert execution is 10th of July, 3.45 pm"

"Yeah? And? What's your point, Dave?" Tara asks, nibbling on her pen, she wants to put an end to this case right away. Her head is spinning right now.

Rossi tapped his pen onto the paper, "Today is the 9th of July. And our victim's number is 3, 4, and 5 on the run," Rossi answered "I think he wants to kill her on 10th of July at 3.45 PM. Remember what she said to us? 'They will make you pay for my death'. And Paige could be the time marker. Her name starts with P. And looks at her last name Mitchell. Perfect. A PM." he looked at his teammates one by one, then down to his file again. "It's never been about chronological order. It's about the time panels"

"And where's he gonna lure her?" Emily asks, she knows the answer, she just wants to make sure all of her teammates have the same answer.

"Her family old house, probably," JJ said, "where it all begins,"

"But she's not gonna be there today. She didn't know. Yet. And we're not even found what's the connection between all the victims." Matt pointed out his thoughts. "Even if she knew, that would be some kind of clue the UnSub left behind for her to find. Which we don't know. We missed it for sure, but not by her."

"Why did you say that?" JJ asked. All eyes are on Matt now. He shifted a bit on his chair and cleared his throat.

"Last night, Melinda Lanes was killed in an area not too far from Ava's parent cemetery. Few good hours before she went there. Coincidence? I don't think so. The Hunter already calculated all of these variables. She was coaxed there, without her knowing it. And the fact that we filled her in with information, she took the bait." Matt watched the other nodded in understanding, Ava is in danger right now. Once everyone seemed to be on the same page with him, he called Luke to explain the newly found situation. 

"We let her see the crime scene pictures, she must have seen something. And I think she went there," Luke said through the speaker's phone. "I'm gonna check on the scene one more time, thanks, Matt." He hung up the call.

Reckless, Luke. He is upset with himself, he loses his focus every time she's near him. They should not let her see the pictures. 

"Matt and Tara, you guys catch up with Luke and go to the crime scene. Double-check it over and over again. Rossi and JJ go to her old house, find anything that looks abnormal. Reid and I will be here with Garcia, we will dig more of this Howard Albert life." Emily breaks down her team and pulls out her laptop, Garcia then sets up her own next to her boss.