Over the next couple weeks Evelyn became more paranoid. She couldn't shake the feeling of someone watching her, she was getting scared for her and Cassie's safety. She wanted to board up her windows and doors and just stay inside forever, but she couldn't. Soon, it was parent teacher night at the high school and she had to ask Camilla to watch Cassie since Cassie couldn't come to the school with her.
Camilla was watching Cassie waiting for her to get sleepy enough. Once she noticed she was dozing off she smiled. "Hey Cassie. Wanna go for a ride?" She asked and Cassie nodded sleepily. Camilla picked her up and walked outside placing her in the already running car. Two seconds later she was out like a light.
"Everything is ready. All you have to do is play your part and don't mess up." He told her sitting in the drivers seat.
"Right. I'm going to set everything up now, I'll meet you at home once the whole investigation is over." Camilla rolled her eyes. This plan was carefully crafted so that she wouldn't become a suspect. If she just got in the car and left then she'd be first on the list and found pretty soon. She left the car and he pulled away. She walked back into the home and into the backyard to find a big enough rock. Once she found one she broke the window leading to Cassie's room. After making the room look like a mess for effect she walked into the kitchen and made it look like she was scrambling to run to Cassie's aid. Then she called Evelyn. 'Thank you god for letting me be able to fake cry.'
"Hey. Everything alright?" Evelyn asked once she heard sniffling.
"I was- I was in the kitchen and- I was doing some work. I-I-I heard a, uh, a crash from Cassie's room and, uhm, when I went in there- I heard her scream. Someone t-took her. Evelyn I'm-I'm so sorry." Evelyn wanted to freeze right there on the spot. She wanted to scream so loud every window in the building would shatter. She wanted to punch the walls so hard the building would collapse. But she didn't. She ran back into her room, apologized to the parents she was talking to, grabbed her stuff and ran out of the building.
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"Cassandra Hicks. Six years old, from Lawrence, Kansas. Went missing last night from her own home. Evelyn Brock, her mother was at work while Camilla Adams was babysitting. Claims she was working when she heard a crash from Cassandra's bedroom ran in heard a scream and she was gone." Penelope Garcia gave the BAU team a rundown of the new case.
"Why doesn't she and the mother have the same last name?" Derek Morgan asked.
"Evelyn was pregnant with Cassandra at twenty gave birth at twenty one. Casandra's father is Justin Hicks. Evelyn and Justin never married." Garcia informed.
"Right, we'll go over everything on the plane. The first twenty four hours are the most crucial in a missing child case. Wheels up in ten." Hotch said to the team not wanting to waste any time.
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"Cassidy wake up." He said lightly shaking the child awake. When Cassie opened her eyes she realized she wasn't at home anymore. She was in a random room, on a random mattress, in a random home. She had no idea where she was and she didn't like it. She didn't even recognize the man who had woken her. She immediately started crying and backing away from the man. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. C'mon, you know me." She didn't, not really.
"Where's mommy?" Cassie asked still not daring to go near the man.
"Your old mommy is home she left you with me. Your new mommy is on the way. She'll be here soon. Don't you want to meet her?"
"No! I want my mommy!" He was growing frustrated.
"Your old mommy left you!"
"She would never do that. I want my mommy!"
"Jesus Christ! Stay in here until you learn that she left you!" He shouted slamming the door shut. All Cassie could do was cry. She wanted to go home where her mom would be. Where her mom would hold her until she stopped crying or fell asleep. Where Schlatt would make her laugh with a joke in a matter of minutes. Where Charlie would throw away his big man act and play dolls with her. Where her family was.
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Schlatt called Evelyn. It wasn't out of the ordinary, he'd usually call at this time. "Hello love." How he usually answered.
"Jay- she's gone." It was the first thing that flew out of her mouth.
"Who's gone?" His heart stopped. He knew who it was but he was praying it was someone else.
"Cassie. She's gone. Someone- someone took her." Evelyn sobbed.
"I'm flying over. I just got the next plane out I'll be there soon." He said throwing some clothes into a backpack and grabbing all his stuff. The next flight was in an hour, good thing he lived close to the airport.
"You don't have to."
"Evie, I want to. You need someone there to lean on right now. I want to be that person. I'll be there as soon as possible."
"Okay." A knock on the door interrupted her call. "I, uh, I gotta go. I'm at the police station and someone just knocked on the break room door."
"Okay, stay safe I'll be there soon. I love you." He said heading out his door.
"I love you too." She said before hanging up and a blonde woman walked in. "Hi."
"Hi, I'm agent Jenifer Jareau. I work with the FBI, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. Sorry to interrupt your phone call by the way." Jennifer said sitting across from Evelyn.
"It's alright, we were about to hang up anyway. I'm Evelyn." She reached across the table to shake her hand.
"Who was that if you don't mind me asking."
"My boyfriend, long distance. He usually calls around this time. I hadn't told him about Cassie until just then. He's insisting he flies over."
"What's his full name and where's he from?"
"Austin, Texas. So it'll still be while before he gets here. His name is Johnathan Grant, god I know I'm going to break when I see him. I've been trying to hold it in because me sobbing like a maniac isn't going to help."
"Yeah, I get that. Like I said a minute ago, I'm just going to ask you some questions to help with the case." Evelyn nodded. "Is there anyone that came into your life and took a sudden interest in Casandra? Like they'd visit you but only want to hang around her."
"Cassie. Please, call her Cassie. Her father insisted on the name Cassandra and anytime someone called her something different he'd get pissed. When I hear it it just reminds me of him. But to answer your question, not anyone no."
"Has anything different changed in your schedule that you usually go through?"
"No. Everything was normal until last night."
"Nothing out of the ordinary?" Evelyn thought for a moment.
"This might be nothing, but after we got back from visiting John, I started to feel like I was being watched. Like every night I started to feel eyes on me but no one was there. I never told anybody though. I thought I was just going crazy."
"That helps us. Anything can help." The agent nodded at the woman before standing up and leaving. Evelyn was left alone again with her thoughts. She felt like she couldn't stand there and do nothing, but what could she do. What could've she done to stop this?
'I should've told someone. At least Camilla. I should've told her to lock the window, but the window was broken so it wouldn't have mattered.' She thought to herself as she started pacing the floor.
"So, it wasn't random. Definitely planned. Evelyn said she felt like they were being watched. Started about a month ago after they came back from visiting her boyfriend." Jennifer recited after walking back into the conference room.
"What's his name?" Agent David Rossi asked as she dialed Garcia back in Quantico.
"Johnathan Grant and he's from Austin, Texas." She read off her paper and Garcia was on it. Didn't take long to find him, she didn't even need the location.
"Johnathan Gerard Grant, publicly known as Jschlatt. He is a YouTuber, streamer and businessman from Austin, Texas. He was born in Manchester, New York. He owns multiple businesses, has two adorable cats and has a decent amount of money. But he's clean as far as I can see." She gave them the basics.
"He's been in Texas the whole time, he probably has nothing to do with this." Agent Emily Prentiss spoke up.
"I think our main suspect is the babysitter or the dad." Dr. Spencer Reid spoke.
"Why the babysitter she's got no reason for taking Cassandra." Morgan said.
"Something about her story just doesn't add up. She could see her being taken and heard her scream but couldn't see who took her. Not even their build. Doesn't make sense." Agent Hotchner said.
"The gate was on the other side of the backyard, it wasn't even opened. How would he have climbed a six foot fence while holding a child? Who would be thrashing around."
"Something isn't adding up."