Past Imperfect

Chapter 1

The Cliff Path

Fox Mulder said, "Sometimes the only sane answer for a insane word is insanity."

"Three disappearances, all in the same place, the same time of day. " said Rossi. "Between 2.30 and 3pm. We can't be more accurate, since there were no witnesses."

Spencer flicked through the files. "Victimology is vague." He said. "There's no obvious connection." He ran through the list.

"First one, female aged 27, disappeared while walking her dog, two weeks ago." He looked up from the file. "Did her dog turn up?"

"No." said Rossi. "No sign of the dog.

"Second and third ones, male aged 53, and his wife, aged 50, walking on the headland." read Aaron from his copy. "That was one week ago. The police could find no connection. They appear to be random."

"And there was no blood or any disturbance at the scenes. The coast guards checked the scene. No bodies were recovered." Prentiss added.

"So how can we be sure that these really are disappearances?" asked Spencer. "Could they have simply gone away?"

"That was the original thought of the police, but a couple of things make this suspicious." said JJ, checking her notes. "The couple who disappeared, Mr and Mrs Havers, were in the area to attend their daughter's wedding on Saturday. They were in favour of the marriage, and were looking forward to it, according to the daughter. They liked to walk along the Cape Cod headland when they visited."

"And the other thing?" asked Prentiss.

"There have been disappearances of livestock." said Aaron. "A farmer uses the headland for grazing. He has lost thirteen sheep over the last month. He thought it was poachers at first." He started to give out assignments. "We'll be landing in fifteen minutes. Rossi and Prentiss, I'd like you to make contact with the families. JJ, the police HQ, and find out how much has been released to the media. Morgan and Reid, we will go and visit the farmer, and check out the headland, get a feel for the area."

They were met from the plane by the detective in charge of the investigation. Aaron introduced his team, and turned down the offer of a rest at the hotel.

"It would be better to get started straight away" said Aaron. "Agent Jareau will accompany you back to your HQ, and set up. We will need two cars at our disposal."

"That's fine, if you all come back with me, I will organise cars for you."

They all climbed into the SUV for the short trip back to Salem PD.

JJ got straight onto organising an office for the team.

"We'll meet back here in two hours, and see if we can get a profile together." Said Aaron

Rossi and Prentiss took a car to go and see Melanie Havers. Hotch, Reid and Morgan set off for the headland.

Melanie Havers showed Rossi and Prentiss through to a small comfortable sitting room. She sat on a chair facing a couch where Emily sat. Rossi remained standing, watching and listening.

Melanie was red eyed from crying. "They wouldn't just leave," she sobbed."They were looking forward to the wedding. I know something has happened to them."

Emily reached across and put her hand over Melanie's. "We will find out what has happened, Melanie."

"Should we go ahead with the wedding?" she asked. "I never imagined my wedding without Mum and Dad." She took a tissue from the box and wiped her eyes again. She looked at Emily. "What should I do?"

"Melanie, I can't tell you what to do." said Emily. "I can't begin to imagine what you are going through. All we can say is, we will do everything we can to find them."

They stood up, ready to go. Rossi gave her his card. "Just in case you need to contact us for anything, just call."

She took the card. "Thank you." And saw them to the door.

On the way back, Emily said, "She doesn't know anything."

"I think you're right." Rossi agreed. "And I'm pretty sure they didn't just leave. There's more to this. There's been no ransom demand in either case."

"So the UnSub has a different agenda." agreed Emily. "Let's hope the others find out more than we have."

"We'll walk the cliff before we visit Mr. Stewart." said Hotch. "Get a feel for the 'crime scene'."

The wind was strong and the sun bright as the three Agents set off to walk the path along the cliff edge. The wind was blowing inland from the sea, and although the sun was high, it was cold walk. There was no shelter.

"We don't actually know where the three disappeared." Reid said. "It could be anywhere along here."

"Just keep looking for anything out of the ordinary." said Hotch. "Signs of a struggle, trampled vegetation off the path, anything."

Reid and Morgan were checking the edges of the path. So far they had seen nothing sinister.

"Have you noticed how clean this area is?" Reid said.

"No litter?" Morgan stopped and looked around.

"No litter, no leaves, no broken twigs..."

"Hmm...Almost as if it's been vacuumed!" Morgan bent down to inspect the ground. He brushed his hand across the stony pathway."Nothing loose at all. How odd!"

"Morgan! Reid! What do you make of that?"

Aaron was pointing out to sea. A patch of water about a hundred meters out looked different to the rest of the surface of the sea. The water seemed to be 'jumping' in little peaks. Reid and Morgan stood beside Hotch, and watched.

"What is it?" Morgan said.

"It's moving." said Reid. "It's moving towards land."

"Is there something in the water?" Morgan screwed up his eyes to block out the glare of the sun on the water.

"We'll find out very soon." said Hotch. "Whatever it is, it's coming ashore."

The three men watched as the strange disturbance moved closer to the beach. When it did, they expected to see something come out onto the sand. But nothing did.

"So what was it?" Reid frowned.

As they watched, the air over the sand where the thing had beached started wavering, as if it was heating up. They watched as the patch of air moved across the sand and up the dunes, mesmerised by the strange phenomenon.

As Aaron watched, realisation hit him.

"Run!"

Suddenly Hotch pushed Reid and Morgan ahead of him back up the path. "Quickly!"

Morgan ran along the path, with Reid behind him, Hotch a few paces behind Reid. The wind grew suddenly stronger, and leaves and twigs rushed past them. A sound like a howling gale came from behind them. Reid heard Aaron cry out. He stopped and looked back for him.

Hotch was on his knees, clinging onto a tree, his arms wrapped around it.

"Morgan!" Reid yelled. "Morgan, we need to help Aaron!"

The two men turned back, Reid reached Aaron first.

Aaron was being pulled towards whatever it was, slowly his grip on the tree was being loosened. Reid curled his arm around the tree, and gripped Aaron's wrist. He felt Morgan behind him, putting an arm around Reid's waist.

Spencer held tight onto Aaron's wrist, and he was finally pulled away from the tree. Reid looked into Aaron's eyes, and saw fear there.

The sound of rushing wind tore the words away from Aaron's lips, but Spencer knew what he was saying...

"...I love you..."

...as Aaron's wrist was wrenched from Spencer's grasp, and he was pulled into the swirling eddy.