The date on the recording was from the previous day.

Cal sat stunned, mouth slightly ajar as Gillian popped out the DVD and placed it back in its case. He could see her hands shaking.

His mind went over the previous night, sifting through his memories for any clue but everything came back empty. He remembered the night but as far as he could recall he didn't actually leave with anyone. Flirted and played, yes, anything else, no.

"Cal, you went out with Mason last night, right?" Gillian watched him intently. She did not believe what she saw on the recording. There were way too many shadows. It wasn't Cal. Someone who resembled him, yes, but not him. There was no way.

"Yeah, he was celebrating the whole professor thing at Georgetown…" He waved his hand.

"For the third time?" Gillian wasn't sure how she felt about Cal's old Oxford buddy. Cal didn't need any extra guidance when it came to getting in trouble.

"Uh, maybe?" Cal looked sheepish for just a moment before worry and anxiety pushed it away. He took out his phone, dialed and waited.

"'ello?"

"Mace, it's me."

"Cal? How're ya feelin' lad? You were a bit green 'round the gills last night." There was a short huff of laughter.

"I need you to answer me a question."

"You're soundin' all serious and that."

"Listen mate, was I with you the whole night? I mean to the point when you dumped me off on my couch?"

"What're you talkin' about?"

"Just do me the favor of answerin' my question. I didn't, um, leave with anyone else, did I?" Cal could sense Gillian staring as him and felt a slight flush come up from under his collar.

"Nah, nah, unless you caught a quickie in the washroom 'course."

Cal allowed a long breath to whoosh out from between his lips.

"What's this all about anyway?" Mason sat up a bit straighter on his end, concern leaking into his voice.

"Can't exactly say at the moment, but thanks for that."

"Sure lad, no issues."

Cal looked up at Gillian after he disconnected and gave a shrug. "Claims I was with him the whole time which is pretty much what I thought." The worry hadn't left his face though.

"Why would someone send you this?"

"It seems to complement a note that I got this morning, at least I think it does. Too much of a coincidence not to." He got up and crossed to the coat rack and pulled the crumbled note from the pocket, handing it to her.

Her eyes quickly scanned it, before looking up, perplexed. "This doesn't make any sense. What kind of pattern?"

Cal shook his head. "Guess it remains to be seen. I would venture to say the first step would be to find out who the woman is…or was."

(BREAK)

"Only thing I could find that might constitute some kind of pattern in the DC area are two missing women who are physically similar." Loker handed the reports to Cal, as Gillian perused over his shoulder. "They've both disappeared within the last week but missing person reports have just now been filed. If there are any more, we probably won't know for a couple of days. Police protocol of course."

"Thanks Eli." Gillian gave him strained smile.

"Sure." The younger man glanced at Lightman, noting the fatigue but seeing something else. Deciding to keep his honesty to himself, he nodded and slipped out.

Cal paged through, pausing at photos and stats. First one: Christine Akins, 38 years old, brunette, slim, pretty. Second one: Molly Thomas, 40 years old, brunette, slim, pretty. They both had blue eyes. He felt a clenching inside him, almost as if someone had grabbed his innards and twisted. Nausea set in but he thought he managed to hide it.

Gillian's face stayed neutral as her eyes took it the information. The only sign that she noticed anything was the slight pulse of her jaw.

Neither woman was the one from the DVD.

"I think we need to contact Ben."

Glancing up at her over his shoulder, Cal didn't initially say anything. The DVD had shaken him more than he cared to admit. What if, somehow, it was him? Mason had been pretty free with his drinking as well – what if he didn't even remember? But what would that mean? There had been fear on the woman's face. Had he been the one to put it there? And don't forget the knife…

How could that be though? He was fighter, always had been but he wasn't a killer or whatever this guy was. Something completely different was going on. There had been a hint of sadism in the set of the man's jaw. Cal couldn't be sure, but he thought that he'd been smiling.

He ran his hand through his already disheveled hair, wishing everything were just a bad dream, knowing it wasn't, knowing that it would only get worse.

There was no evidence the woman was dead. Didn't look very good though. Was there a connection with the other two? His instincts said yes.

"Cal?" Gillian leaned against the desk, one hand on his arm.

Dropping his eyes, he watched her fingers lightly caress him through his shirtsleeves. It was meant to be reassuring, he knew.

Clearing his throat, he pulled away slightly and her hand dropped. She appeared bemused by the action.

"Yeah luv?"

"I said I think we need to call Ben."

Twisting his mouth, he debated. "Gillian," He looked up, meeting her eyes. "What if it is me?"

"It's not."

"How do you know?"

She moved closer and was validated when he didn't move away again. "Because I know you. I admit that there is a resemblance but that doesn't mean anything. Everyone has doppelgangers."

"That would be bloody convenient." He slumped a little further. "Gonna wait on notifying the bureau though."

"Is that a good idea? Why would you want to wait on that?"

"Guess I'd prefer to do a little digging ourselves first."

Doubt crossed her face as her lips thinned.

"Please Gil."

After a moment, she nodded. "For now."

"Thank you. I think at this moment it would be wise to contact the families of the missing women."

"Agreed." Gillian started to move away, intent on bringing Torres and heading out this afternoon.

A hand snaked out and caught her arm.

She turned as he caught her eye. The contact held, his eyes so intense that she felt her heart rate accelerate, face warming. His fingers almost burned where they touched her.

"Be careful darlin'."

(BREAK)

"Appearances aside, there's no connection between the two women that we could ascertain. Akins was divorced, no kids, medical assistant, quite the party goes since her divorce according to her sister. Went out to a club and never came back. Sister delayed reporting it because she had a tendency of disappearing with her dates, but 5 days seemed too long apparently. Thomas was the stereotypical soccer mom – 3 kids, married 17 years, dog, cat, fish and a very worried family."

"Is the husband suspected?"

"No. Took the kids out to a movie while the mom hit the spa with a gift certificate given her for her birthday. She never came home."

"Huh." Cal frowned, thinking.

She turned to leave, not surprised by his lack of gratitude.

"Torres?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you map out where they were last seen?"

"Sure."

"Thanks luv."

The slight raise of eyebrows in surprise did not escape his notice.

(BREAK)

"Looks like not only do we have a body but we have another missing persons report."

Cal was in the lab watching the DVD with what he hoped was more of a clinical eye. Loker stopped short, his eyes widening as he caught the figures in the recording.

"What do you see Loker?" He didn't bother to turn but caught the younger man's expression from his periphery.

"Um." He'd known about the DVD but hadn't seen it. "I see arousal on the woman. Man's body language is, um, well, he seems relaxed. They both might be drunk." Pausing, his mouth dropped open as the action shifted. "Fear. Looks like, uh, the man is enjoying her, uh, fear." Swallowing, he felt a little sick. Knowing what he knew made it even worse.

"Very articulate."

The comment was dry but tension ran off Lightman in almost palpable waves. "So, what do you have?"

"Another missing woman and Christine Akins turned up." He stopped there, his lunch rising up.

Lightman swiveled his chair. "Go on."

"It's not pretty."

"Death never is."

Loker placed both files in his hands and watched as Cal hesitated ever so briefly before opening the top one. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he absorbed what he saw. "Your contact have anything to add?"

"Just that they're sitting on it. Trying to keep the media from catching a whiff."

Cal shuffled the dead woman's file to the bottom before opening the other one. He felt a strangling sensation in the back of his throat.

It was the woman from the video.