Birthday Gift

chapter 5

Bella walked into the office and saw everyone there sitting around talking over what information they had and discussing their next move.

the dress she had received was lying innocently on her desk. "what is this doing here" she asked scathingly setting her drink and food down.

"we didn't know what you wanted to do with it" JJ explained.

"I want it gone that's what I want," Bella said picking it up off of the desk and threw it down into the trashcan only for it to land on the floor. "I want nothing to do with it!" she sat down in her seat pulling her drink closer to her.

"Bella" Hotch spoke up.

"yes," she asked typing away on her computer.

"have you ever seen this?" he asked holding a picture of a painting in front of her. Bella looked up at the picture and tensed seeing what it was.

"I've never seen it before" she lied. "where did you get that anyway?" she asked.

"it was at one of the houses" Hotch replied. "are you sure you haven't seen this before? the girl in the painting. that isn't you" he asked.

Bella rolled her eyes in a scowl. "of course not. that picture is from the 1800's" she said.

"how do you know it's from the 1800's" Reid asked.

"the time stamp on the painting at the bottom" Bella replied.

"it sure does look a lot like you," Derek said looking at the picture after taking it from Hotch.

"checking me out now Morgan," Bella said straightening up her desk. "it could have been my several greats grandmother for all I know. or it could have been some completely random stranger that just looks like me" Bella said looking up at them.

"now can we please move on I'd like to get home before morning," she said.

"someone catch her up on what we have so far. we need to give the police a profile" Hotch said.

"we are not ready to give a profile yet," Bella said alarmed however she didn't get a response as he walked away.

Bella sighed picking up a file from her desk in annoyance with a shake of her head. "I'm going to go and do some investigating," she said standing up.

"Investigating? Where? We've combed out the houses" Reid asked.

"You never know we might have missed something or overlooked something. I'd feel better if we searched again" Bella replied walking away from them.

"I'll go with her" Rossi spoke up and followed Bella out of the building.

"I still say that looks like her" Derek said tossing down the photo of the painting onto the desk.

JJ rolled her eyes exasperatedly and walked away from them following the route that Hotch had taken.

Bella and Rossi made it to her car with no words spoken. The trip to the house of the last family killed was just as quiet.

The two FBI agents walked into the house on alert and tensed up.

"What are you hoping to find?" Ross asked.

"Not sure...anything I guess. There are just too many variables missing. I hate being in the dark. I have to do something" she said as she looked around the room.

"There's this thing called teamwork ever heard of it?" Ross asked.

"Yup it goes in the same category as playing well with others" Bella replied in a sarcastic way. "Neither if which I got an A in that class" she added. "Damn everything is too clean," she said annoyed walking on into the kitchen.

"Maybe we are just looking at this wrong" Rossi suggested as he looked at the table thinking back to when the bodies were there. They had long been moved.

"Right..but what is the right way of looking at it," Bella replied automatically going over to the chair that the female with the cut up arms had sat. She reached down placing her hand on the table and became disoriented.

~two males and two females were sitting down for dinner. All four were dressed in Spanish made clothing. They seemed uncomfortable. Neither of them spoke as they ate.

A man walked up behind the girl sitting at the chair. The female tensed up trembling as the man bent down and whispered into her ear, however, the words were unintelligible, however, the accent was recognizable. The fear was radiating off the female as she stifled a cry~

Bella looked around quickly blinking a little as she realized Rossi had been speaking.

"What?" She asked sounding confused.

"I asked you if you were alright. You spaced out on me" Rossi replied.

"I...yes I'm fine. I'm just trying to think" she replied. "The man he orchestrated their every move." She said.

"I gathered that. But why? What is the purpose?" Rossi asked.

"I...dont know" Bella replied reluctantly.

"That is what we need to know. Who is it and why are they doing this" Rossi said

"I..i know," Bella replied shaking her head. *why is this case so difficult* she thought to herself frustrated.

"Your mind isn't on the case at hand" Rossi spoke up.

Bella turned and looked at him alarmed. "What-of course it is," she said quickly.

"You are distracted by something. Clearly, it's bothering you. It's bothering you so badly that you are not seeing what is in front of you" Rossi explained.

"I'm not blinded by anything! Nothing is bothering me. I just..this one is more difficult than the others" Bella explained.

Rossi shook his head. "Bella..these gifts you've been getting. The picture we found. " he started to say.

Bella scoffed a bit. "So I got a few gifts...what the hell does that matter?!" She asked. "And I told you I don't know anything about that picture," she said turning her back to him hoping he'd leave it at that.

"Bella this can't be coincidental," Rossi said his tone slightly raising.

"Rossi you are...thinking too much into it. Those gifts...have nothing to do with this case" bella said calmly.

"You know that..honest to God know that those gifts dont have anything to do with this case. Ok maybe the fox didn't but what about the dress. It's Spanish oriented" Rossi pointed out.

Bella sighed a bit. "I don't...i don't know it's just..." She looked away.

"What are you not telling us," Rossi asked determined to get whatever information he could out of her.

"Look..every year...on this...specific day...something bad always happens..to me..to my family. I dont know maybe its a curse." Bella said with a shaky sigh.

"Every year? On the same exact day? What is so significant about that day" Rossi asked.

Bella nods. "It's the just...a personal day" she replied as she reached up touching the wall where it had an outline where a photo should have been.