Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and intend no copyright infringement.
It took some maneuvering but after a couple of minutes Morgan had managed to steer her into the hotel bar where he bought her a drink. She took in half the liquid with one swallow, but at least it calmed her down a little. "I'm sorry", she said. "I must seem like a total crackpot to you." Morgan decided not to comment on that. She was obviously a woman with severe mental problems and he was not sure what to do with her. "Some people don't like heights, others are scared of enclosed spaces, I don't like blue color", she explained.
"Then what was a blue pillow doing on your driver's seat?", Morgan asked the obvious.
She shrugged her shoulders and emptied the glass. "I guess it's called stalking. Someone places blue things wherever I go. I know it sounds ridiculous…" She seemed surprisingly stable now, compared to the state of mind she had been in only a few minutes ago. "…but it scares the daylights out of me. Anyway, thanks for your help. My name is Jamie Talbot." She held a hand out to him. The change she had undergone in the past few moments was remarkable. She talked like a normal person. Only she didn't look like one.
Maybe it were her eyes that kept Morgan from retreating now that she was feeling better. They were like two crystal clear dark lakes. Not the eyes of a person who had lost her mind over too many drinks or other toxic substances. She was obviously used to heavy drinking, but seeing her from up close she didn't come across as an addict. Her outer shield was badly damaged, but from underneath a keen mind was looking at him. "Tell me about the stalker", he requested.
Jamie shook her head and a few more strands of dark hair loosened from her disheveled ponytail. "Why do you care? You were loading your car when I interrupted you. Surely you should be on your way home by now."
"Stalking is a serious crime. It influences the victims deeply. You seem to me like someone who has suffered a lot."
She smiled sadly. "No, I looked like that even before the stalking stuff began. Ever since I finished high school I'm on the move, never staying anywhere for long. I'm a travelling art expert, you know." Seeing Morgan's surprised expression, she broke into a wider smile. "I know I don't look like that. And I don't write pompous certificates of genuineness. I don't even have a college degree – couldn't stay in one place long enough. But I'm very good at looking at things and my customers value that."
"When did the stalking start?", Morgan wanted to know. She told him that two years after she had began travelling an unwanted blue item had appeared in her life for the first time: A blue toy elephant. It had been left for her at the counter of the youth hostel where she had been staying.
"Perfect timing", she said. "I was just about to come back on track. Thought about enrolling for college after all. Was even considering a therapy to curb my unrest. And then…"
Morgan pitied her. He felt that under all this wreckage a clever, intelligent person was hiding, too afraid to come out. It was definitely a crime, scaring people so much that they degenerated into mere shadows of what they could have been. "I might be able to help you", he told her. "I work for a special FBI unit, the BAU – Behavioral Analysis Unit, formerly the BSU – Behavioral Science Unit. We profile criminal offenders and have a lot of experience with stalkers. I can talk to my team…"
"That sounds… good…", Jamie replied reluctantly, her voice suddenly small. "Will you excuse me for a moment? I need to go to the bathroom."
15 minutes later she still wasn't back. Deeply concerned, Morgan went looking for her. He found nothing. She was gone. He rushed to the parking lot. Her car was gone, too.