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'Weird, Alaska'

Chapter Nine

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"What have you found, Garcia?" Hotch asked. "You're on speaker, by the way."

"So far I have found three high schools by the name of Eagle Mountain in the United States, one of which closed as of 1983. I have also located one Eagle Mountain College Preparatory Academy; however so far no colleges by that name."

"What states are we talking about?" Rossi asked.

"The school that closed was in California. The two other schools I've found so far are in Colorado outside of Boulder, and Wyoming in the Cheyenne area. Eagle Mountain College Prep is in Utah."

"Have you found anything further on Sheriff Reischl?" Hotch asked.

"I can tell you Deputy Talbot is squeaky clean. Two days a week he drives a tow truck out of a garage located in Healy; and his wife is a teacher at the local school in Weird."

"We met Mrs. Talbot this morning at the school," Rossi commented.

"Sheriff Reischl himself is pretty close to squeaky clean also. Within the United States the worse thing he's ever done is acquire a couple of speeding tickets years ago. He has a friend who owns a ranch in Northern Arizona where he occasionally visits; the friend is also clean. His son David also has a clean record, and joined the military three years ago. As we know David is currently stationed in Iraq. I'm trying to access the Sheriff's military records now…"

"Trying?" Prentiss asked.

"Be patient. I am simultaneously all up in Sheriff Reischl's life as far as his phone records and credit cards. Even the Oracle can't do everything at once."

Rossi chuckled. "What do his credit card records tell us?"

"Other than he must be very popular with the folks at Amazon. com, BarnesandNoble. com and BestBuy. com, they tell us he has no unusual or oddball spending habits. He has a higher credit score than I do, and considering his military pension added to his salary, I would say he lives within his means. Phone records indicate he accepts collect calls from his son a couple times a month, and apparently he knows someone in Ester, which is about twelve miles outside of Fairbanks, because he calls the same number there at least twice a week." Garcia stopped and took a breath before continuing. "As far as the Army, he holds marksmanship medals for both distance and accuracy, he had arctic, desert, jungle and airborne training; and he was stationed overseas in Germany for three years, in Japan for two, Australia for two, South Korea for five years, and the rest of the time at Fort Drum, New York or Southern California close to home. There are no reports of him having any legal problems or complaints at any of his posts. He appears to have been an exemplary soldier from what I can tell."

"Do you have any information on his ex-wife?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, let's see here… Yes, Dina Covington Reischl Warring is her name. Apparently they met while he was in Japan on leave from his tour in Korea and she was involved with some kind of college exchange program. Divorced after David was born, divorce was not contested; he was given full custody of David. She is now remarried with three other children. Based on what I can find about husband number two she traded military wife for high society wife. Obviously her eyes don't work very well…"

"Garcia…"

"Seriously Emily! You should see this guy Warring…"

"Garcia!" Hotch said sternly.

"Right, sir. Sorry! His parents are both still living in Reseda, California. He left the army in 2000 as we already know and took the job as Sheriff of Weird. Looks like his parents do have a little bit of money, and own a couple pieces of property in Los Angeles County. However, in general the Reischl family looks to be a normal, middle-class American family."

"Nothing screams out a reason why someone would be targeting him with these victims. Thank you, Garcia. Let us know if you find anything else on Sheriff Reischl, and let us know when you're finished with searching for the schools. Tomorrow we can start trying to match the victim's description to former students," Hotch said.

Rossi looked over to where Talbot and Reid were combing through bushes looking for evidence. "Deputy Talbot," he called. Talbot turned and headed in his direction. Rossi walked toward him followed by Hotch and Prentiss. "I know the Sheriff said before he and Agent Morgan left he didn't get any publicity out here. But can you think of anything; a case, an incident, even a seemingly insignificant argument that sticks in your mind that might give us an idea of who or what we might be dealing with here?"

Talbot looked thoughtful and then shook his head. "I don't know, Agent Rossi. Maybe once I've had a little more time to think about it I might come up with something. But I just…nothing stands out for me. I'm sorry."

Rossi patted his shoulder. "It's okay. If you think of something, please let us know."

Talbot nodded. "Uh, I was just telling Agent Reid tomorrow is one of my days driving the tow truck. If Jacob isn't back I won't be around to take you to the other locations."

"That's okay. If you can provide us with directions we should be fine," Hotch told him.

"Uh Deputy, someone in town was saying something about Ester. What do you know about it?" Prentiss asked.

Talbot shrugged. "Well, Ester is one of those towns in Alaska that's managed to attract a lot of local artist types. There's even a small local publishing company in town, and a decent newspaper. It used to be a mining town." He laughed. "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but it's not like everyone in town doesn't already know; Jacob has a girlfriend in Ester he sees whenever he can. I know he talks to her at least twice a week on the phone." Hotch and Rossi looked at each other realizing there was no longer any mystery about the twice weekly phone calls.

"Do you know Sheriff Reischl's son?" Reid asked Talbot, as he pulled off his gloves.

"David? Sure, I know him. He's about five years younger than I am. When he and Jacob first moved here David was around twelve and not thrilled to have moved to the middle of nowhere. He spent most of the first six weeks or so he was here sulking. But that gradually started to change and he ended up liking it." Talbot looked at the surroundings. "A little resentment was understandable, I guess. The isolation and small town life isn't for everyone."

"I think we're just about done here Hotch," Reid said.

"We might as well head back into town then unless you'd like to look at the other two locations. They aren't that far."

Hotch looked at his watch. "We still have about three hours of daylight left. If you don't mind showing us, Deputy, we would appreciate it."

"Of course not. Let me just call my wife quick." Talbot opened his cell phone and walked toward the road with the others following.

"He's quite competent," Reid commented.

"I noticed that," Hotch replied. "They both are. It's entirely possible if this is connected to something in Sheriff Reischl's past it isn't part of any official record. We all know it doesn't take much to trigger some UnSubs."

"Did you and Talbot come across anything while we were talking to Garcia?" Rossi asked Reid.

Reid shook his head. "There wasn't really anything to find. If the victim was shot at this location the UnSub either cleaned up really well or planned ahead."

"Planned ahead? In what way?" Prentiss asked.

"If you don't wish to leave a mess and you know you're going to make one, you can bring a tarp, a blanket… Of course you then run an additional risk of leaving fibers as evidence."

"Okay, my wife is holding dinner. I can show you the other locations now," Talbot said as he walked back to them.

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"This is where the second victim was found?" Reid asked a few minutes later. Talbot nodded.

"If you stand where I am right now you can see the Parks Highway," Rossi said. He walked a few yards to his left and stopped. "But if I stand here, you can't."

"Reid, can you walk down to the highway and look back to see if you are able to spot Rossi where he's standing?"

"Give me a couple minutes." As Reid started to walk away Hotch noticed he was limping slightly. He opened his mouth with the intention of suggesting someone else could walk down instead but then he caught Rossi shaking his head slightly and changed his mind.

"I think he needs to feel a little more useful," Rossi said quietly. Hotch nodded "Deputy Talbot, if you wouldn't mind standing where I am right now?" Talbot moved over and stood in Rossi's spot while Rossi went back to the spot he'd been able to see the highway from.

Hotch flipped open his cell phone and pressed the speed dial for Reid. "Reid, are you ready? Can you see Deputy Talbot...? How about Rossi... Okay, thanks." He turned to the others. "He can't see you Talbot, but he can see you Dave."

"He sure was taking a risk so close to the highway," Talbot commented.

"Which, as far as I'm concerned, makes it even more obvious the UnSub wanted the bodies to be found in Sheriff Reischl's jurisdiction," Prentiss said.

"But still…why take such a risk of being discovered?" Talbot asked.

"If it was dark the UnSub might have thought the risk was worth it," Prentiss answered.

Reid rejoined the group and they combed the area around where the second victim had been found for about an hour before walking back down to the highway. "Based on the reports the first victim was found that way?" Reid asked Talbot, pointing to the northeast.

Talbot nodded. "Right. Off the northeast corner of the junction of the highway with the road."

"Let's walk over there and take a look," Hotch said.

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An hour later the SUV stopped in front of a modest house with a fenced in front yard. After they had left the last location Morgan had called and told them the preliminary autopsy was finished and that he and Jacob would not be returning until the next morning. They would be spending the night at the same hotel where JJ and Garcia were staying, and would meet with the medical examiner again in the morning before they returned.

Deputy Talbot opened the door of the SUV and climbed out. "Thank you for all your help today Deputy Talbot," Hotch said.

"I just hope I can think of something else that will help, Agent Hotchner."

"Please, call me Hotch."

"Of course Hotch," Talbot smiled.

"If you don't mind me giving you something else to think about," Reid began. "It occurred to me the UnSub might be trying to ensure Sheriff Reischl receives credit for solving this case if it is solved because he feels he was denied it for something that happened in the past."

"And he's trying to give him a chance to catch him and receive credit for solving a serial killer case?" Talbot asked.

"Something like that," Reid replied.

"I'll see if I can think of anything."

A few minutes later the group pulled up in front of the hotel. "I for one am starving," Rossi said as soon as they got out of the SUV. "I'm going right over to Carla's for something to eat."

"Right behind you," Reid said.

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A/N: I know, a lot of talk and not much action… Sorry!

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