Please see disclaimers in Ch 1.


"Where's Reid?"

It was becoming a question everyone asked lately. Not that his colleagues didn't trust the young man—they did—but with the kids of issues he'd been dealing with of late, it was a sort of an unspoken rule that someone always knew where he was, even if it was as simple as the next room or getting one of his endless refills of coffee.

"What, he's not here?" Hotch asked, looking at the remaining team members who'd stayed behind to recomb the evidence in the security office.

"Said something about going to talk to the Carrier girl," Rossi informed him, looking equally worried. "Kyle's sending a message now to her phone-thingie, asking her to come in."

Five pairs of eyes met as Emily and Chase walked in the door. "Where's Reid?" Emily asked, scanning the room for her colleague.

"Went to talk to the Carrier girl," Hotch informed her. "She's being called in for more questions."

"Oh." Emily's eyes flicked up towards Morgan, who shrugged. It had become a private pact between the two agents to never leave Reid alone when going out in the field—they knew all too well had, and could, happen when Reid was left to his own devices at times.

"Don't look at me," Morgan murmured into Emily's ear. "He left before anyone knew he was gone. Mentioned going to talk to the girl as he raced out the door, and the rest of us had evidence and paperwork to go through…"

"What'd you find in there?" Hotch said, pointing towards the mountain of evidence and printouts.

--If this guy Brennan is our girl Lavinia, he's got some serious issues,-- Kyle signed. –Apparently he tried petitioning the college to get out of the required public speaking courses, on the grounds that as a deaf person, he'd have no reason to…'use my voice in public' was how he described it.—

"How'd that work out for him?" asked Rossi dryly.

The sarcastic tone was lost on the technical investigator. –It didn't. He took the courses…in fact, he's taking the second of two this semester…--

"How many others are taking that course?" Emily asked, waving a hand up at the photographs of the victims. Chase's deft hands began translating for Kyle's benefit, adding a question of her own: --Who's teaching it this term?—

"—All of them,--" Kyle said, his thick voice just barely being able to be understood. His fingers then spelled out a name.

"Janowicz," Chase said. "–That's who's teaching this term?--"

"Who's he?" Emily asked.

"One of our better professors in public speaking," Chase clarified. "I've seen the man give lecture, and even if you're not deaf you can still understand him. If these kids had him, they were lucky."

"We need to talk to this guy," Hotch said, still troubled over his missing agent. "Maybe there's something he can tell us about these kids that we're missing…"

Suddenly the face of the BAU's technical analyst cropped up on the screen. "Did you tell them yet?" she asked, her eyes clearly focused on Kyle.

Kyle shook his head. Busy with something else, he typed into the scroll at the bottom of the screen.

"Our victims had more in common than their choice of higher learning institution and a really creepy tie to Shakespearian literature," Garcia began, pulling several documents onto the screen. "Seems our friend Thomas Daniel, victim number seven? He might have been a champion for the rights of the hearing-impaired, but his love life told a completely different story."

"Baby girl, what's his love life got to do with anything?" Morgan asked, now clearly confused.

"Um, besides the fact that every cute coed he dated was fully capable of hearing?"

"Really?" The ironic tone was thicker than a barrel of fresh butter.

"Yep. Also, victims two, three and four were looking to 'expand their horizons' in other ways—each of them was planning to speak at a major competition next month."

"Speak as in 'speak,', or speak as in 'sign'?" Morgan asked.

"The first one, stud muffin." A few smiles danced on faces at that remark. "All three were working on training their vocal abilities—they were all extremely hard-of-hearing—and they wanted to be able to compete in a national competition that had some serious prize money involved.

"How serious?" This time Hotch asked the question.

"As in enough to start a business. That's what the competition was about—business and marketing."

"How would these kids have learned about the competition?" JJ wondered aloud.

"Janowicz is good about informing his students about all forms of speaking competitions—for the hearing and the deaf," Chase replied.

"So, we've got two cochlear implant recipients, one who was thinking about getting one, a budding actress, a deaf-rights activist who liked hearing ladies, a hearing man interested in working with the deaf and three potential competitors at a vocal speaking competition," Rossi summed up. "What's the connection, other than the speaking class?"

Eight pairs of eyes studied the countertops.

"We're nowhere," Chase said finally. The frustration that 'Lavinia' was stumping a seasoned intelligence woman such as herself was getting to the chief security officer. How good can I be at the job if I can't even stop one crazed person from terrorizing these kids? she wondered.

A sharp tap at the door broke the team out of their thoughts. A petite woman with dark hair waved at them.

JJ waved her hello, and the young woman smiled. Looking at Chase, she began to sign. –You wanted to see me?—

--You're Beth?—

--Yes. I just spoke with Dr. Reid…--

Chase's sudden shift in her facial features was obvious.

"—You talked to Dr. Reid? When?--"

--Earlier this afternoon, around…four? It was when I got out of class,-- the woman replied.

Chase's right index finger waggled. –Where?—

--Keylon Building. We left together, and I parted company near the goose fountain…--

"He was in the courtyard this afternoon, near the fountain," Chase called over her shoulder as she grabbed her jacket and raced out the door. Not one to wait, Morgan followed close behind her.

Kyle picked up the interrogation. –What did you say to Dr. Reid?—

--He asked about Paul, and the surgery, and then asked me if I knew someone who might be against hearing people and culture. I said I did."

"—Who?--"

--J-E-R-E-M-Y B-R-E-N-N-A-N,--Beth signed. –Neighbor of Paul's, two or three doors down.—

"We were just there," Emily said. "He wasn't there…"

Suddenly the rest of the room realized what was going on. "Oh my God," Emily said, racing out of the room towards the courtyard.


Chase and Morgan reached the fountain only to find remnants of the missing agent. Reid's messenger bag and cardigan were lying in a heap near the fountain, and there was a discarded section of metal pipe that lay nearby in the grass. On top of the bag was a large manila envelope. Chase wrapped her fingers inside her sleeves and gingerly picked it up. As she opened it, several photographs fell out.

Morgan picked up one of the photos and cursed, his face contorted in a furious scowl.

Chase's own face bore absolutely no expression. It was as if she had lost all emotional feeling whatsoever.

"I'm not waiting for CSU," she said finally, the tone in her voice betraying nothing. "Take it all to my office. I want some time alone with these."

"Me too."

"In time, Agent Morgan," Chase said flatly. "Because what I'm about to do to get your friend back is something you and yours want no part of, believe me."

"We'll get him back. We have before."

"I know."

Morgan then looked at the young woman standing next to him, incredulous. "You know?"

"You're going to find that I know more about a lot of things than most people think. This Lavinia? First time I've been caught off my game. Not anymore."