Gifted | | A Criminal Minds Fanfic

15.) Fear

*~ Omniscient ~*

Rossi frantically shuffled through the paperwork, trying to find something that would help him and his team out, but he was coming up short.

"Dammit!" He spat, slamming the piles of papers down on his desk. His mind was racing and all he wanted was to make sure Marci was brought back home safe and sound, but that wouldn't happen unless he calmed himself down.

"Dave? Are you alright?" Hotch asked, stepping into the office. He noticed how stressed Rossi looked and wanted to make sure he had a clear head.

"I just...I don't understand how he found them. How did he know where they were? I was careful when I brought them here, assuring them both that they'd be safe and can finally live a normal life, and I failed."

"You didn't fail. There's no way you could have known that this was going to happen and for all we know...he could've been closing in on them, but you saved them. You got them away just in time and we are going to do everything we can to get Marci back." Rossi nodded his head, just as JJ entered the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but have either of you seen Melanie?" She asked.

"Wasn't she downstairs with you?" Hotch questioned.

"She was, but she came up here and I haven't seen her since." Hotch glanced at Rossi, before they both rushed out of the office.

Meanwhile, Spencer was standing in Melanie's bedroom, looking at the paintings she had along the walls. He remembered her telling him that she took up painting as a hobby, but he had never seen anything she's painted until now. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he'd know it when he saw it.

"Find anything?" Morgan asked, stepping into her room.

"Nothing yet. You?" He asked.

"Same. I don't think he left any clues, to be honest. Nothing that we can see, anyways." He picked up the picture that was sitting on her bedside table, staring at a young Melanie; along with her mother and grandmother. "Poor Melanie. I can't imagine how she must be feeling right now. To lose her mother at a young age and go on the run, just to finally have a moment of peace and happiness, just for it to be taken away from her once again." Reid walked up to him, looking at the picture, hearing a faint rattling sound as Morgan handed him the picture.

"Wait, did you hear that?" He opened the back of the frame, revealing a locket, that had dried up blood smeared all over it. "Is that blood?"

"I think the real question is...whose blood is it?" Morgan questioned, while Reid slid some gloves on. He opened the locket, finding a small device inside of it. "What the hell is that?"

"This is how he found them. He's been tracking them this whole time." Reid placed the device back inside the locket, reading the inscription that was on the inside of the locket.

To my beautiful daughter, who will forever hold a special place in my heart. I love you. -Mom.

"This doesn't make sense..." Reid murmured. "This locket was a gift to Melanie from her mother, so how did she not know that there was a tracking device inside?"

"Unless she didn't know that she even had the necklace." Morgan said, coming out of her bathroom. "Did you know she was taking antidepressants and anxiety meds?"

"No...I didn't know." He glanced at the pill bottles, one by one. "But it makes a lot of sense. Melanie found her mother's body after the fact she had been murdered, and that type of visual would be hard on any young child." He was about to go and check on Melanie and ask her about the locket, but Hotch, Rossi, and JJ walked into the room and stopped them from doing so.