Disclaimer: I own nada
….
"There is a fine line between serendipity and stalking." ~David Coleman
"Ms. Santiago?" called Morgan, knocking on the door to the apartment. The building was run down, to say the least. Garbage was strewn across the ground and parking lot, making it look like a junkyard. Multicolored graffiti zigzagged along the dirty white cement walls, writing out crude comments and disgusting pictures. Morgan was afraid to knock to hard on the door; it looked like it was ready to fall off the hinges already.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" came the frazzled voice from behind the door. The knob turned as a pretty young Latino woman appeared in the doorway. Her hair was hastily pulled back into a ponytail and she was dressed like she had just come back from work. "Can I help you?" She looked expectantly between the two agents.
"I'm Agent Morgan and this is Agent Dr. Reid. We're FBI." The woman paled, but Morgan continued. "It's about your boyfriend."
"Ex," she said hastily. She opened the door up wider. "Please come in."
She poured two cups of coffee and handed a mug to each agent. "Whatever Jacob did, I swear I didn't know about it. I haven't talked to him in months."
Reid exchanged glances with Morgan. If she only knew the half of it…
"We're here about the restraining order you filed against him," said Reid, saying it more like a question than a statement. "Can you tell us what caused you to do this?"
Gabrielle barked out a laugh, running her hands through her hair, which was falling out of her rubber band. "So many reasons, agents."
They motioned for her to continue.
"I had been dating Jacob since November of the previous year," she began, taking a seat and gesturing for the agents to do the same. "Everything was fantastic until about March.
"Jacob had lost his job. He worked for a small company, and they began laying people off, and Jacob was one of those people. I was barely making ends- meet with my job; I'm a secretary at a very tiny local law firm. Anyway, with all the spare time on his hands, he took to drinking, which led to the drugs, which led to the temper tantrums-"
"Did he ever hurt you, ma'am?" asked Morgan, eyebrow raised.
"All the time. Until I had enough. I kicked him out on his ass in early May. Threw the clothes out the window and everything," she said with a small, proud smile. "Then the flowers came."
"Flowers?" questioned Morgan.
"Yes. Roses, lilies, sunflowers…my favourite."
"How often did this happen?" asked Reid.
"At least once a week. Usually more, though. It depended on how much cash he could obtain that week. Each time it came with a letter, apologizing, saying how much he missed me and that all he wanted was for us to be together forever…he said we were fate," she said, laughing a small, unconvincing laugh as her eyes began to get a little wet. "Then he got angrier, once he realized I wasn't answering him back. The letters went from endearing to hateful, and I would wake up in the middle of the night and see him down on the pavement below my window.
"I changed the locks," she said, sniffing. "I contacted the police, but they didn't seem him as 'threatening' just yet."
"What changed their minds?" said Reid gently.
"I come home from work on night to find him at the sink, holding my kitchen knife with that stupid smirk on his face that he used to get after he got himself high. He beat me up, but I managed to get to the phone and call the police and they tracked my location and scared him off. Son of a bitch was the reason I was in the hospital for two weeks," she spat out. "After that, the restraining order was filed, he got off with a warning, and now he's in trouble again.
"What is it now, huh? Drugs? Bar fight? Stalking?" she listed off.
"Murder," said Morgan bluntly.
Gabrielle was silent for a moment. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," she said slowly. "Who did he hurt?"
"5 couples went missing. 4 of the men were found dead. The women and the other male haven't been located yet."
A hand went up to her chin as she looked between the agents. "How do you know it's him?"
"Based just on evidence, we don't," said Reid. "But he fits the profile to a T and he and his car were found too many photos of one of the women to be a coincidence."
"So what do you want me to do?" she asked, not quite knowing her place in all of this.
"First, we want to know if there is anywhere Jacob could keep these people," said Reid quickly. "A warehouse or barn, perhaps?"
"A cottage," she said quickly. "He and his friends used to go up to the lake and get drunk on weekends. His friends haven't been down there this season at all and Jacob always was saying how he wanted to go up there. It's a big cottage right on the lake."
"Reid, call Hotch. Get Garcia to find the address," ordered Morgan.
"It should be listed under Jeffrey Hinders, he owns the house," said Gabrielle to Reid, who nodded and whipped out his phone quickly.
"Second of all, Ms. Santiago," continued Morgan while Reid spoke quickly on the phone, "we want you to come with us back to the police station. Jacob is incredibly unstable right now, and he could be a threat to you, okay?
Gabrielle just nodded in response and followed the agents.
"I should tell you now," she said. "If he is high, or drunk, or whatever, he won't go down without a fight. He will fight you tooth and nail until one of you wins," she warned, eyes displaying her fear.
"We'll win, ma'am," said Morgan, hopping into the driver's seat and driving the three of them back to the station.
….
Author's Note:
Couple of things. Actually, 3.
#1. Thank you zannabanana, who is helping me with some awesome details to this fic that shall be revealed later on:)
#2. In case you haven't read my profile, I am an art nerd and proud of it. I drew a picture of Reid over vacation, and the only way that I am able to display it is via my avatar photo. Check it out pretty please and tell me what you think! The photo isn't the best and doesn't show all the detail, but you get the gist! It'll only be up for a couple weeks, so look now or you'll never know what you missed, muwahahaha
#3. I am leaving for two weeks. Yes, I know, again. I won't post again until the very end of August: date not totally sure of. So stay with me and know that I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth.
With love, MissdaVinci77
