Disclaimer: See chapter 1
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"That was a disaster," Bethany lamented after the morning's English test as they sat in the cafeteria during lunch. "I forgot everything I read last evening. I'm sure I flunked big time."
"You didn't flunk Beth. You never fail," Evan tried to reassure the girl.
"I keep thinking about Cara you know." Bethany looked down at the food in front of her but left it untouched. "She was my first friend when I came here from Minnesota. I was so scared coming here and Cara was so good to me. Then her family moved and she got transferred to a different school. I just keep thinking how she could end up being like, well you know, like the things your brother deals with."
"Bethany, don't think like that," Evan told her. "You don't know anything like that's happened to Cara."
"Well, what could have happened? You tell me huh." Bethany's voice was rising. "She's not the kind to run away and what about the other girl, Tammy?"
"Bethany, cool it," Evan warned. "You're going to get thrown out of the cafeteria or called to the office."
"Has your brother said anything?"
"He said the police were looking into it. He can't say anything else."
"Is he looking into it? Is Spencer on the case," the blonde teen asked?
"No, the BAU has to be called in and they haven't been…yet."
"Oh sure, that's right," she spat out sarcastically, "They have to wait until there's dead bodies all over the place. Aargh!" She grabbed her book bag and ran out of the cafeteria.
"Manny," Evan said to his friend, "Toss our trays will ya," as he headed out the door after Bethany.
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He sat in a nondescript tan Honda Civic sedan. He'd seen her father drop her off at school, so now he just had to wait for his chance. He was a patient man but time was running out and Neil Cramer had to be forced to make the right decision. The Front had fought too hard and waited too long for the right circumstance to present itself. Now it had and they had to seize the moment and that meant getting Bethany Cramer.
Taking the other two girls first had been a stroke of genius on Bickerton's part, he thought. Now if Bethany goes missing, it'll just be one in a series of missing girls. He wondered what Bickerton had planned for those girls. That wasn't his part of the operation. Someone else would worry about that. It was a war after all, and well, in every war, there were casualties.
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"I'd like to see the Hirshhorn Museum and the Sculpture Garden," Joan said. "And of course the Zoo, oh and maybe the Portrait Gallery. It's too bad the American History Museum is closed for renovations. I know your father would really enjoy that.
"Let me see that, please," Allie said holding her hand out for the brochure her mother held.
"There's another one on the table honey, they're both the same," her mother told her, reaching to hand Allie the brochure from the table.
"No, they're not," her daughter replied.
Joan picked up both and studied them. "They're exactly the same. Every word is exactly the same," she concluded.
"There's something different about them." Allie whipped the pamphlets out of her mother's hands. "Documents are my life," she said as she studied the two side by side. "I'm going to figure out why it's bothering me."
--
Reid looked at the call display, "Hi Evan," he said as he made some notes on a pad regarding a consult he was working on.
"Hi Spencer, how's Allie doing? Did her court thing go okay?"
"She's on the mend and her court appearance went fine," Reid answered suspiciously. "Somehow I don't think you called just to ask about Allie."
"Okay, have you heard anything about the two missing girls?"
"No, I haven't heard anything and before you ask, we haven't been called in."
"Spencer," Evan told his brother, "Bethany's freakin' out. She says her friend Cara wouldn't run away but they don't call you guys in till they find dead bodies. Is that true? I keep telling Bethany her friend's not dead but should I say that or should I, you know, like try and prepare her for the possibility that Cara is dead?"
Reid let out a big breath. "Okay Evan, we have no indication that Cara or Tammy are dead. So I think until we do, we should operate under the assumption that they're still alive. Look at Elizabeth Smart. She was gone for a long time and she wasn't dead so don't push any panic buttons just yet. I'll check with DC again and see if I can find anything out." He paused. "I guess just be there and let her vent at you if that's what she has to do."
"Thanks big brother," Evan responded. "I guess I just needed to talk it out."
"No problem bud, I'm always here. I'll talk to you later." He ended the call hoping he had given Evan the right advice.
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"They don't really look different," Allie said out loud to herself as she sat at Reid's desk with the two pamphlets in front of her. "They don't look different," she whispered. She felt one and then the other. "They feel different." She felt each one again. One was slightly embossed and the other wasn't. She nodded to herself, glad she had figured it out. Things like that seemed to drive her crazy. Why do the embossing at all though if it was so faint it was barely noticeable. She couldn't even make out the design, it was so faint. She reached into the top drawer and pulled out Spencer's magnifying glass, flicking on his desk lamp in the process. She looked closely at the embossing design but there didn't seem to be any set pattern of lines and swirls. It was the weirdest embossing she'd ever seen. She was just about to put the glass down when something caught her eye.
--
Detective Carol Bender assured SSA Dr. Reid that they were doing all they could to find the missing girls. There had been no useful tips from the amber alerts. The girls' families, friends, teachers and classmates were all being investigated. Men on the sex offender registry were being examined with a fine tooth comb. The girls' pictures and information had been circulated to the media. There wasn't much more they could do at present she told him but if he had any bright ideas, she'd be happy to hear them. Reid had thanked her for her time.
--
Garcia was still looking for dirt on Dwayne Nelson, when she had time away from the cases the agents kept her busy with. She studied her screen, then dialed Reid's number. "Hey sweet thing, Dwayne Nelson was arrested in Maryland as part of a protest group against the one percent increase in sales tax. He was subsequently released. He was part of a group called Freedom Front."
--
Bickerton had been right, he thought as he jabbed his cigarette into the ashtray. They should have grabbed the girl last night. They could easily have taken Weir. That mistake wouldn't happen today. They were getting the girl and if she wasn't alone, oh well, another casualty for the cause.
--
Letters, they were letters. Why, Allie asked herself, would they emboss letters of the alphabet on a pamphlet for the Smithsonian. That made no sense. She had tried reading them every which way but they made no sense. She opened the second drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and began to copy the letters.
TBACRDGAEFTEOGNHEITJAKMLMNY
MSOCPHQARFSFTEURVTWAXRYGZEA
TBTCWDOECFAGRHAIMJCKCLABLVLP
TNHQERNSWHAUIVTWFXOYRZOARBD
CEDRESFOGNHMIAJIKNLTMANROGPEI
TRBSEUTVHTAWNZYFCARBACMDEFR
She stared at the letters. They still made no sense. Was it some kind of code, some kind of game for kids coming to the museum to figure out, she wondered. Well, she told herself, she was intrigued now and was determined to solve the puzzle. "Mom," Allie called to her mother in the living room, "I'm sure Spencer's got some books on codes. Can you find some for me?"
"Find you some books on codes," Joan repeated. She stood and looked around her. There were four walls, three of which had floor to ceiling bookcases except for the part of the wall that housed the plasma screen. Each bookcase was full to overflowing with books. "How do you suggest I do that," she asked?
Allie smiled to herself. "Mom, Spencer's very organized. Grab the first book on the bottom of the first bookcase. His books are listed by author and category. Look under "C" for codes and it'll tell you where to find it."
"Of course he's organized," Joan whispered to herself. "Most of us would just toss our books willy nilly. It's a wonder he doesn't use the Dewey decimal system."
"He's thought of it," Allie told her. "Evan's mother's a librarian at the Library of Congress. They've discussed cataloguing his books."
"Uh huh," Joan responded. "What about the CDs and DVDs," she asked?
"Alphabetized," her daughter replied.
Joan brought her two books. "Do you need more?"
"This should do for now, thanks Mom." Allie set to work with the code book and the letters she'd taken off the pamphlet. Joan was pleased to see her daughter absorbed in something that took her mind off her troubles. A few minutes later she said, "Aha, I think I found how they made the code. Now I just…have…to…decipher…it. Oh my God!"