Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the regular characters. Evan Wallace, however is all mine. Wonder if they'll make me a trade, Evan for Derek??? Nahhhh.

Chapter 3

Within 30 minutes the rest of the team had joined JJ and Derek at Penelope's apartment. They were scouring the rooms for any clues that might give a hint as to where to she could be but as of so far, no luck. Derek, who had been talking to Penelope's neighbors walked back into the living room with a short, round, grey-haired woman shuffling behind him.

"Hotch, this is Mrs. Kazinski, she and her husband own and manage this building. They live in the first floor apartment suite. Mrs. Kazinski, why don't you tell Agent Hotchner what you just told me downstairs," Derek urged the older woman with a scowl on his face.

"Look young man, it's like I told you downstairs, I was just doing her a favor. I can't be held responsible for everybody's comings and goings around here, much less that of their company," the landlady said in a huff.

Seeing that the landlady was nervous and agitated, Hotch gently steered her towards the couch to have a seat. "Mrs. Kazinski, I'm sure Agent Morgan is not accusing you of anything, we just need to know where Ms. Garcia is and anything you tell us might help."

Sighing as if this was all a waste of her time, Mrs. Kazinski agreed and began to explain, "It was late on Saturday night. Harry, my husband, was already in bed so it must have been around 10:00 pm and someone knocked on my door. Now, tell me, young man, what type of decent person comes knocking on someone's door at 10:00 at night? I looked out the peephole and there was a disheveled looking boy of about 18-20 years old at my door. Young people these days, they just all dress so dreadfully and always look a mess with all that long hair and tattoos," she complained as she shot a disgusted look at Morgan's arms.

"Yes, Ma'am," Hotch answered a little impatiently. "Mrs. Kazinski, can you please tell us what happened next?"

"Oh, well, I opened the door of course but with leaving the chain on…you can never be too safe these days, you know. The young man said his name was David Garcia and that he was out here from California to visit his Aunt Penelope but that she must have forgotten his plane was coming in tonight and he wondered if I minded to let him in to her apartment until she got home."

"And you just let him in?" Derek asked incredulously.

"Well, he seemed to know all about her and who am I to tell him no. It was late and he needed a place to stay and sure enough if I had not allowed him in than Ms. Garcia would have had my head for not doing so. Like I said, I can't responsible for every one of my tenant's lives." she stated with a shrug.

"Well thank you Mrs. Kazinski. We may want to talk to you some more later, so please don't go very far," Hotch said as he stood from the couch.

"Excuse me Hotch, but do you mind if I ask a couple of quick questions?" Reid broke in.

"Sure, Mrs. Kazinski, this is Dr. Reid and he does have a couple of more questions for you if that's ok?

"Hell, why not, morning's shot already anyways," the haggard landlady grumped.

"Thank you, Mrs. Kazinski," Reid started. "Just curious, you said the boy told you he was here from California, did he have any bags or suitcases with him?"

"Well, no, I guess he didn't," she replied hesitantly.

"Didn't that strike you as odd? That he had come all the way across country and had no luggage?" Reid inquired.

"Look young man, I don't pry into others people's business. Maybe he left the bags at the airport or something, I don't know!" Mrs. Kazinski replied indignantly.

"Yeah, I guess he could have," Reid agreed trying to placate the lady. "Just one more question, Mrs. Kazinski, you mentioned tattoos. Do you remember what any of them looked like?

"Hell boy I don't know."

"Please, ma'am, it may be important. Anything you remember about him….," Reid gently urged.

"Oh, all right, let's see. If I remember correctly, I thought they were kind of strange because he had these letters tattoed on his knuckles. Why in the world would someone tattoo their knuckles?" she wondered out loud.

"I don't know Ma'am but do you remember what the letters were?" Reid asked starting to lose his patience.

"Hang on, give me a second to remember!:" After a moment's thinking, Mrs. Kazinski nodded her head. "Yep, I do remember, one hand said MOM and the other one said DAD. Strange if you ask me."

"OK, great Mrs. Kazinski, you've been a great help. You can go now but one of the policeman may be coming by later with a sketch artist to get a drawing of the boy at your door," Reid explained.

"Well just peachy, like I don't have better things to do with my time but send him down, I'll be there. Now if you excuse me, I've got to get that no-good, lazy husband of mine out of bed," she stated as she turned and left the apartment.

"A real charmer, that one," Rossi snickered as he watched her leave.

'I can't believe she just let this kid into Penelope's apartment!" Derek exclaimed in anger. When she gets back, I'm going to strongly suggest she moves the Hell out of this place!

"Probably a good idea, Derek, but for now we've got to figure out where she's at," Hotch observed. "I think we've got all the information we're going to get from here. Let's head back to the BAU and get to work on what we got and where we need to go from here. I'll leave a uniform here in case she shows back up. JJ make sure you grab Penelope's cell phone and bring it with you in case someone tries to call in on it."

As the group turned to leave, Derek reached out and touched Hotch on the arm. "Hey, man, you think she's ok?"

"I hope so Derek but until we know more, I can't say. There's no sign of a struggle and that's a good thing. Who knows, maybe she left willingly for some reason."

"God I hope so, Aaron." Derek worried as he ran a palm over the top of his bald head, "I hope so."

TBC

I know it's a fairly short chapter but I don't have too much time today. Heading down to Nashville Tennessee tonight to see Eric Clapton and Roger Daltrey in concert!!! Woo hoo. Not sure if I'll get another chapter up before I leave. If not, it will be tomorrow night. Sorry for the wait but don't worry, more will be coming.