"911. What's your emergency? Hello? What's your emergency? Is anyone there? Hello? Sir?"
"They're gone. My girls are gone. I need your help."
"When you say girls, do you mean your daughters?"
"Yes."
"All right, I need you to stay on the line, sir. Please confirm where you're calling from."
"1721 Hillcrest Drive. This can't be happening."
"What's your name, sir?"
"Bruce. Bruce Morrison."
"How old are your daughters, Mr. Morrison?"
"13 and 17."
"When was the last time you saw them?"
"They went to bed around 9:30. No, wait. It was Monday. Sera has a study group, so it was more like 10:00."
"Sir, today is Wednesday. You haven't seen them since Monday?"
"No. No, that can't be right."
"I'm sorry, sir, but it is. Today is Wednesday."
"No."
"The police have been alerted, sir, and they're on their way."
Hotch stops the recording.
"That call came in an hour ago." He says.
"How does a single father lose his teenage daughters for 36 hours?" JJ asks.
"He doesn't." Rossi says.
"His girls are gone. He doesn't blame anyone." Blake says.
"And he doesn't use any buzzwords first responders are trained to hear." Derek says. "He never says missing, abducted, runaway."
"Maybe that's what they did, though. Maybe they ran away." Penelope says.
"There's no history of that." Rossi says.
"The likelihood of a stranger abduction in a neighborhood like this is rare. I've counted 7 turns from the entrance to their driveway. No one just stumbled onto the house." Spencer says.
"And where's the mother?" Blake asks.
"Could this be a parental child abduction?" Bedelia asks.
"Uh, doubtful. Exactly one year ago today he made this call." Hotch plays a recording.
"911. Please state your emergency."
"My wife is gone."
"Confirm where you are calling from."
"1721 Hillcrest Drive."
Hotch stops it.
"She'd also been missing for two days before he contacted authorities, and she's never been found." Hotch says.
"This man is either the victim of a serial offender or he is one." Rossi says.
"Please tell me this guy's in custody." Derek says.
"The Salisbury police are at his home and they've been there since the call came in." Hotch says.
"There are hard copies and tablet copies of both case files on the plane. It's a short flight to the eastern shore. There'll be more when you land." Penelope says.
+++
"Bruce and Judy Morrison were well liked and active in the community. All signs point to them living a quiet life." JJ says.
"He's a writer and a professor, and it looks like she got into real estate a few years ago." Derek says.
"'02, before the market crashed." Rossi says.
"Well, 10 years later Judy had an affair with a co-worker, a Jeff Godwin?" JJ says.
"That was discovered in the investigation but never made it in the papers." Blake says.
"Bruce Morrison was a prime suspect, but they never found any evidence and the affair wasn't deemed enough of a motive." Hotch says. "The university's put him on sabbatical since then."
"He's been writing forever, and he's been teaching since 1985." Bedelia says. "Transcript says he was grief stricken and couldn't handle the pressure."
"Not many people could." Rossi says. "The odds of this event striking the same family on the same day must be a billion to one."
"Close enough." Spencer comments.
"Judy inherited money from her family and it's in a trust for the girls." Blake says.
"Ah, jeez, please tell me he did not get rid of his wife for money." JJ says.
"Bank records indicate he hasn't touched the funds, despite the depleting supplemental income from the university." Spencer says.
"Yeah, but it could be a combo platter. Revenge and profit." Rossi says.
"His wife cheated and he retaliated in anger. That might not be a surprise, but that doesn't explain why he would harm his own children." Derek says.
+++
"The oldest daughter, Sera, had a 4.0 GPA, but she didn't apply to a single college back east. She got accepted to Stanford early admission." Spencer says. "Maybe her father saw her going that far away as a form of betrayal."
"The second one in a year." Rossi says. "First his wife of 27 years fools around and then probably threatens to end the marriage. A year later, the daughter can't wait to leave."
"Abandonment could be the common denominator." Blake says.
"There is another possibility." Derek says. "Maybe Bruce Morrison didn't do it. The family have any enemies?"
"The only person that might fit that would be Jeff Godwin." Rossi says.
"Mm, looks like he had a pretty solid alibi the night Judy went missing. He was wining and dining his own wife at a local restaurant." JJ says.
"So the only viable suspect back then was the same one we have now." Blake says.
"All the answers are in that house." Hotch says.
~ ~ ~
They get to the house and all get out.
"Marty Friedman. Thanks for making the trip." The detective says. "We got search and rescue combing the woods and the chop tank and Wicomico Rivers. We're dredging all the way from here to the Chesapeake. I'm not letting this guy get away with it again."
"Has he said why he took a day to call?" Rossi asks.
"Claims he doesn't remember." Marty says. "He's been glued to his computer. Maybe he needs new material for a novel."
"We'll work alongside your team if that's all right." Hotch says.
"Whatever you need." Marty says before leading them inside.
"Everybody take a room." Hotch says and they split up.
~ ~ ~
"It looks like Katie stayed in a lot." Spencer says. "She has a schedule of when she was gonna try new recipes."
"She seems like a really sweet girl." JJ says. "Her charger's here but her phone is not."
"Maybe it's with her?" Spencer suggests.
"Yeah, I'll have Garcia track it." JJ says.
"It'll only work if it's on, though."
"It's worth a try."
"If the girls had access to a phone and they were okay, they would have called for help by now."
~ ~ ~
"Wow. She had a lot of hobbies before she started selling real estate." Spencer says as the three look through the basement.
"Yeah, family projects. Devoted mom." JJ says, looking at the boxes full of quilts.
"You ready, Reid?" Derek calls out.
"Yeah." He calls back. He gives Bedelia a questioning and she nods. He gently squeezes her hand before leaving.
+++
"Excuse me." Blake says as they walk up to a neighbor. "Do you mind if we ask you a question?"
"He killed them, too, did he?" The neighbor asks.
"Sorry?" JJ asks.
"Did that son of a bitch hurt his daughters?" He asks.
"Sir, how well do you know the family?" Blake asks.
"They moved in when we did. My wife always liked his wife."
"And you and Mr. Morrison?" Bedelia asks.
"Got nothing in common with that drunk. Told me he was gonna shoot my dog. I used to let my girls, you know, roam around the yard here. They'd bark occasionally, but never too long. And then one night that idiot comes out, hammered, and he tells me he can't work because my dog's yapping. And then he says he wouldn't be surprised if one of them was found dead. The man is nuts."
"The Morrison girls were last seen Monday night. Did you see them at all?" Blake asks.
"No. But Morrison sounded drunk and belligerent again. It was about 10:00. He didn't tell you that, did he?"
"Were both cars home?" Bedelia asks.
"Well, I'm not spying on the guy or anything, but we were out here a little later. I noticed his car was gone. Then when I turned Letterman off, it was back."
+++
"All of her latest writing assignments are very dark." JJ comments.
"Yeah, I saw those, too. I'm sure it's part of her mom's absence." Blake says.
"Well, she's had her fair share of suffering." JJ says.
"All right, so you think she's alive." Blake says.
"Yeah, I have to." JJ nods. "If losing her mother didn't change everything... I know losing her sister certainly will." JJ says. Bedelia gently squeezes the blonde's arm.
"I didn't know." Blake says. "Hold old were you when your sister died?"
"11." JJ answers. "She was 17." Her phone rings and she answers it, putting it on speaker. "Go ahead, Garcia."
"I think I may have found something creepy." She says. "There's a bunch of text messages between Sera and a number that I have traced back to Jeff Godwin."
"Why would your missing mother's ex-lover stay in touch?" Blake questions, getting Sera's phone.
"More than a little inappropriate." JJ says.
"And here's a text from J.G." Blake says.
"Please tell me there was nothing strange going on between him and the daughter." Penelope says.
"It seems more fatherly." Blake says. "Listen to this. "It's gonna be okay. You just have to stay strong." Is he encouraging her to leave?"
"Or for her to face her father in some way?" JJ asks.
"Well, what about the texts on Monday?" Penelope asks.
"There aren't any. The latest were from Sunday night." Blake says.
"No, no, no. Yes, there are. I'm looking at the phone records. There's texts between them on Monday between 5:23 and 5:56 P.M." Penelope says.
"Weird." JJ says.
Blake takes her phone out.
"Hey, Blake." Derek answers.
"Morgan, we need you to find Jeff Godwin." Blake says.
"Uh, he just walked in." Derek says.
"He did?" Blake asks.
"Says he heard we found Katie and he's worried about Sera." Derek says.
"He also texted Sera the night she went missing, and then deleted the texts." Blake says. "It looks like they texted a lot."
"Really?" He questions.
+++
"Is everyone there?" Penelope asks on video call. She continues when she spots all 7 of them. "Um, this call came in on Monday. It was made on Katie's cell, which is still MIA. The only 800 number she called was to a local abuse hotline. She called there a few times in the last couple of months."
"My name is Kate Morrison. I called last week."
"Yes, Katie, I remember you."
"He's at it again. He's just going crazy. He's really drunk."
"Katie, are you safe?"
"Yes, hold on."
"Hi, it's Sera. We're okay. I can handle this."
+++
Hotch and Rossi are in the interrogation room with Bruce while they play him the message and the others are watching.
"Who are they talking to?" Bruce asks.
"Girls, open the door!" He yells in the recording.
"I don't understand." Bruce says.
"Katie, open the door." He bangs on the door.
"Stop now!" Bruce stands up. He gets angrier, starting to yell with the recording.
"I said open the door!" He roars, slamming his hand on the table.
Bruce walks over to the mirror.
"Oh, my God. What a pathetic little crybaby." He says, wiping his face. "Ugh. I was always right about you, huh?" He turns away from the mirror. "So you got old Brucie in a cage, huh? You think that's gonna help? It's only gonna make him hide longer. What do you want to know? I'm gonna have to tell you cause the baby's got his pacifier."
"Where's Sera?" Hotch asks.
"She's learning a lesson."
"What did you do to them?"
"What did you do to them?" He mocks. "I scared them, that's all. They needed it."
"Why?" Hotch asks.
"Because they're spoiled, ungrateful little bitches who walk all over him any chance they get."
"What happened to Bruce?"
"He's hiding, of course. See... when he can't handle it, I save his ass. Bruce's problem is he can't handle anything."
+++
"So Bruce said Katie baked cookies Monday night." JJ says. "We found them in the kitchen, so that's true."
"And two of Sera's friends confirmed she never made it to her study group." Blake says.
"That's because Jeff Godwin was in the parking lot with her from 8:15 to 9:30." Derek says.
"And the girls called the hotline at 9:58." Spencer says.
"Detective, have your officers found either gun?" Hotch asks.
"No, but we've increased the search given where Katie's body was found." Marty says.
"We've got residue, but we don't know which gun or where it is now." Derek says.
"Look, whoever that was in there said he wanted to scare them, not hurt them." JJ says.
"Katie was beaten over the head in the middle of nowhere." Blake says.
"You're right. The alter could have lost his temper, or it could have just been a horrible accident." JJ says.
"But getting the girls out of the house was planned." Rossi says. "He said he wanted to scare them and he had a gun to do it."
"And then he drove them somewhere." Derek says. "Bruce's car had the same mud on the driver's side floor that he had on his boots, but there wasn't any in the backseat. So three people drove somewhere, but only he came back."
"And the DNA coming back from Katie's nails will tell us what we already know -- that Bruce Morrison did this. So can I arrest him now?" Marty asks.
"Detective, you have sufficient evidence to make the arrest, but we still don't have Sera. Give us an hour and maybe he'll tell us where she is." Hotch says. "It's your call, but he could still help us."
"Okay. One hour." Marty says.
+++
"There's no way for us to confirm a D.I.D. diagnosis yet, but we do know that he has chronic alcoholism, which can and has gone hand in hand with it." Spencer says. "The interesting thing is, his liver and pancreas wouldn't have survived 30 years of that kind of abuse, so there must have been years where he's gotten help."
"He was in a program." Blake says.
"It would have to be more than that." Spencer argues. "Garcia, has he ever been on medication to help curb his drinking?"
"All I've got is a yearly physical and that is it." She says.
"D.I.D. usually stems from a history of sexual abuse." Blake says.
"Okay, well, I've got nothing like that. All I have on Bruce Morrison is that his mother died when he was 10..." Penelope says.
"There's your abandonment issue." Rossi says.
"And he was raised by a single alcoholic father, and there's no evidence of any prescriptions." Penelope says.
"They look like the perfect family, but she would have had to know about his drinking when they got married." Spencer says.
"So you're saying she helped manage him and kept his problem a secret." JJ says.
"Maybe she was the one that got the prescription." Spencer says. "Garcia, can you run her medical history?"
"Yeah. Hold on... okay. Disulfiram. Am I saying that right? It's for chronic alcoholism. She had a 90 day supply delivered four times a year for as long as I can tell. And it stopped coming a few months ago."
"It makes you just feel nauseous if you drink alcohol." Spencer says.
"But she isn't the one who had a drinking problem. He is." Derek says. "Garcia, who canceled it?"
"Please hold while I dig." She says, stopping the call.
"Could that be the trigger? He goes after his daughters now that he's off his meds?" Blake asks.
"That instability could work for us." JJ says.
+++
They group watch from the other room as JJ brings Sera into the interrogation room where Bruce is.
"I'm so sorry." He tells his daughter.
"Dad, you need help." She tells him.
"Did I do that?" He asks, seeing the cuts on her face and her black eye. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. What can I do?"
"They say that if you just tell them where mom is that this will all just be--"
"But I don't know. You know I don't know."
"She didn't just disappear, dad. Oh, God, you killed her, didn't you?" Sera cries.
"No. No, I didn't." Bruce denies.
"How am I supposed to believe you?" Sera asks, pointing to her injuries. "This. This is what you've done." She pulls her sleeves up to reveal the bruises on her arms. "You have hurt us all for a long time."
She gets up.
"No, don't, Sera. Don't go." Bruce cries. "Sera..."
+++
Spencer walks over to where Bedelia, Derek, and Blake are standing, putting his phone on speaker.
"She has not mentioned Katie to me, even once, since we got here." JJ says. "I couldn't walk into my house after my sister died, let alone walk past her room."
"Well, what do you think, JJ, Sera pulled it off?" Blake asks.
"I certainly think it may be a possibility." JJ says.
"It's a very detailed plan." Blake says.
"What, she knew about her father's condition and took advantage of it?" Spencer asks.
"She set up character witnesses like Jeff Godwin to back up her fear." Derek says. "She even got her little sister to make calls to a hotline. She manipulated us from the minute we found her."
"Her writing suggested no empathy and no real emotional connection to family." Blake says.
"Psychopathic tendencies." Spencer says.
"Her wounds are more than superficial, but they could be self inflicted, right, JJ?" Derek asks.
"Honey, I know." JJ says. "Mommy is sorry that she's not home tonight, okay? But Amy's with you and I promise I will be home as soon as I can." The four share concerned looks. "You okay? I didn't hear the shower." They hear JJ ask.
"Yeah. I just wanted my tea." Sera says.
"Oh, um, I was gonna bring it to you, but it should be ready." JJ says. "Uh, yeah, I'm still here." She tells them.
"We'll be right there. Stay on the phone." Spencer tells her as he, Derek, and Bedelia rush out.
"Mommy's gotta go." JJ hangs up.
+++
"Garcia, did you ever find out who canceled his prescription?" Bedelia asks.
"Uh, it turns out to cancel one of those lifelong prescriptions, you actually have to put it in writing, and according to the company records, it was canceled by an S. Morrison." Penelope states.
+++
They get to the basement where Sera is holding JJ at gunpoint.
"Sera, put the gun down." Derek tells her, aiming his gun at her.
"No, no, you don't understand. She has a gun. She was going to hurt me." Sera freaks out.
"No. No, Sera, it's okay." Derek says as Bedelia and Spencer get to the bottom of the steps. As Derek holsters his gun, Bedelia and Spencer hold their guns up.
"Listen to me. I understand. It's okay, Sera." Derek tells her. "She wasn't gonna hurt you. I know. You've been through enough. All right? I get it. Sera, you're safe now. Okay?" He slowly reaches out.
"Okay. Thank you. Thank you." Sera says, calming down, while Derek slowly takes the gun.
Spencer holsters his gun and immediately grabs Sera by her arms.
"What are you doing?" She asks.
"You're a smart girl, Sera. Figure it out." Derek says, handcuffing her.
"No, stop it! I swear, please!" She yells out as Derek forces her upstairs. "No, I swear to you, she was trying to hurt me! Please stop. Please, let me go."
Spencer and Bedelia walk over to where JJ has a box of quilts open and is looking at a book. There's a pearl necklace and a ring taped to one of the pages.
"February 4th. The day Judy went missing." JJ says.
"Trophies. If Detective Friedman had ever found it, she would have pinned it all on Bruce." Spencer says.