White Rabbit - A Criminal Minds Fic

Four

The drive to Alices home took Agent Hotchner and Dr Reid around fifteen minutes. They took a Bureau SUV, Agent Hotchner taking the wheel whilst Reid read back through the the information Garcia had printed off regarding Alices disappearance.

"It's so bizarre that they wouldn't tell the police she'd come home." Reid commented, scanning the documents.

"Well, we don't know what happened to her. If she's changed her name she obviously doesn't want people to know who she is, although if that's the case, then it's odd that she's gone back to living with her sister. What does it say about the search for her and the other girl."

"Not a lot. Rebecca Olson was eighteen months older than her. Alice had skipped a year in high school due to good grades so she associated with an older crowd. They both took clothing and some of their belongings so it was assumed that they ran away. There was a small search but the Rylon country PD didn't spend much time or resource on them. According to the reports, the two girls had been seen speaking with some boys from out of town on the run up to their disappearance."

"So they took belongings, were seen talking to boys, and were both teenagers. What was Rebecca's family like? We know Alice was raised by her sister from the age of ten."

Garcia piped up through the tinny speaker on Hotches cell.

"Her parents separated when she was seven. Her father and stepmother lived in Rylon County for a few years due to his job, that was why the two girls were in that area for the summer."

"Rylon County is one the areas that borders the Bluedove Mountains right?" Reid spoke.

"You know it." the voice on the end of the cell chirped.

"Hotch, all of these bodies were found in towns or counties that border those mountains and it's surrounding national park."

"So Alice has given us eight crime scenes in this file. Garcia, can you do a search for any.... "

"Already on it boss. I'll hit you back with the results." The call disconnected just as Hotch pulled up to a large house, set back from the road.

They approached the main door and knocked, Spencer slightly to one side of Aaron. When the door opened a few moments later it was to reveal a blonde woman, who looked to be in her late thirties. When Spencer looked closer he could see that the hair was dyed and that the woman looked tired.

Hotch took the lead. "Excuse me, but does an Alice Manchester live here?"

"No, I'm sorry but she doesn't."

Spencer could tell she was lying, she twitched slightly at the mention of Alices name and her eyes glanced upwards for the briefest of seconds.

"How about an Alice Bradley then?" Spencer asked.

The woman now looked panicked and both men pulled out their FBI ID'S.

"You're Ellen Manchester right?" Spencer began. "I'm Dr Spencer Reid and this Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner. Your sister attended a lecture I gave today and left me an interesting file. We need to talk to her about it."

"You're from the FBI?" Ellen asked.

Reid and Hotch nodded and she moved aside to let them into the hallway. A male voice called out from another room.

"Honey, who is it."

"It's two Agents from the Bureau, Robert. They're here to see Alice."

Spencer looked around the hallway quickly. From what he could see the house was impeccably decorated and whilst the walls were adorned with photographs and portraits, there was only was of Alice and Ellen Bradley together. It was right in front of him on the wall and he peered at it, hearing quick footsteps coming from another room as Robert Manchester approached them. The photo looked to be around fifteen years old if he had to take a guess, the two girls standing with two adults, a male and a female whom he'd bet were their decreased parents.

"From the Bureau? Are you sure, did you check their ID." He asked his wife in hushed tones.

"Yes Robert, I checked. Where is Alice today, is she in her apartment or our guest room."

"She's in the guest room....Wait, is one of you Dr Reid, the Agent who was lecturing at Allys campus today?"

Reid held his hand up.

"So she gave you that folder then." Robert stated and Reid nodded.

"Do you think she's actually onto something?"

"We're not sure what we think. But we're concerned by some of the information in the folder which is why we're here. To talk to her. What's also concerning us is that Alice was reported missing ten years ago but was never reported as found, yet she appears to be living here."

Robert and Ellen looked at each other cautiously before Ellen spoke quietly.

"She begged us not to. She was too concerned that 'they' would find her, but she'd never tell us who 'they' were."

"How long was she gone for exactly?" Aaron asked the couple.

"Four and a half years. All that time and we hear nothing from her, and then one day out of the blue, she calls us, begging us to come and pick her up from a diner three hours away from our old home."

"Did you look for her when she was missing. We know that you reported it."

Ellen sighed. "I looked, Rebecca's family looked, and the police department looked. But it was like they'd disappeared off the face of the earth. The police tried to convince me that she'd ran away, and in the end, I believed them."

"All the signs did point to that Ellen." Robert told her, touching his wives arm lightly.

"So what happened when you found her, what did she tell you?" Spencer asked.

"Very little. When she called she was in a diner in a town called Pendleton. She wouldn't say where she'd been and she wouldn't let us call the cops or take her to hospital. She was frightened, and hysterical by the time I got there. Her clothes were messy and it looked like she'd been dragged through a bush backwards. I remember seeing track marks on her arms and panicking."

"They weren't track marks." A voice came from the top of the stairs and Spencer and Hotch looked up to see a young woman stood there, the same woman Spencer had encountered earlier today. She was dressed in jeans and a button down shirt that had the sleeves rolled up slightly. Her voice had shook slightly when she spoke, but she seemed less skittish than when she'd approached Reid earlier.

Ellen turned to her sister, her voice exasperated when she spoke, obviously weary from an age old conversation. "You keep telling me that Ally, but you won't tell me what they were. You won't tell us anything at all. What are we meant to think?"

Alice made her way down the stairs, stopping a few steps from the bottom.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Then make us."

Alice just shook her head and turned to Dr Reid, her eyes suddenly hopeful.

"You're here. Does that mean you believe me?"

Spencer felt Aaron's eyes on him as he took a deep breath and answered.

"I think I do."