After a long drive, Emily and Reid made it to Lyndon University. It was midday, turning into a windy and chilly autumn afternoon. The campus was alive with activity. Full of students chatting, tossing footballs, and hurrying to class. But none of them were the one the two agents were looking for.
Allan Payne was not at his off-campus apartment, but his roommate gave him the name of his sophomore girlfriend. A helpful young girl, but was unable to lead them to his current location. The only place she could think to find him was at the library, diligently working on his essays for graduate school.
"Every college library has the same smell," Emily admitted as they climbed the large spiral staircase up to the third floor computer lab. "Musty paper, like the books haven't been read in decades."
"I know," Reid said with a smile. "I love that smell."
"I'm not surprised." Emily admitted.
Upstairs was almost silent. There was the soft hum of music in someone's earphones playing much too loudly. The occasional rustle of paper and the quick typing of several computer keyboards.
There was no determining which one was Allan. Considering how important graduate entrance essays were, Reid assumed he would be the red haired twenty year old working alone in the last row of computers.
"Allan Payne?" Emily asked softly as they approached.
"Yes?" He asked, confused.
"I'm Agent Emily Prentiss, this is Dr. Spencer Reid." They both exposed their badges to the young man. It only increased his confusion, now mixed with fear. "Could we speak in private? We just want to ask you some questions."
No one turned around, but much of the typing had ceased. Several of the students were listening in. Allan squirmed in his seat, but agreed. Abandoning his things at the computer, he followed the two agents out of the lab and back to the stairwell.
The words echoed in the hall, but for the most part, they appeared alone. "What's this about?" Allan asked.
"We want to discuss your roommate, Nathan Harris." Emily explained.
"Nathan?" He hadn't been expecting that, but it eased his worry slightly. "Nathan hasn't been my roommate in years."
"We know that," Reid explained. "We're trying to find him, it's a very sensitive matter. What happened on your last day together?"
"The last day I saw him or the last day he was my roommate?" Allan needed clarified.
Emily and Reid glanced at each other. "There's a difference?" She asked.
"Yeah, a big one. I didn't even see him the day he dropped out. At first he seemed like a really great kid. I mean… he had some problems, but you know… we've all got baggage. When we met, there didn't seem one thing about him to worry about. We were becoming pretty good friends, and I introduced him to Sandy."
"Sandy?" Reid asked.
This seemed a sensitive subject for him. "His girlfriend. She and I had known each other since the seventh grade. They dated our entire freshman year. Then, at the beginning of the next fall semester… she disappeared."
"What's her full name?" Emily asked.
"Sandy Lowell." Allan replied.
Reid knew the name immediately. "Sandy Lowell was killed a few years ago. She disappeared without a trace. Three weeks after, they found her body buried at a construction site not far from here."
Allan looked at him with disgust. "Wow, you find interest in sick things, man. Anyway, they questioned Nathan, but he claimed he didn't know anything. There was no evidence he did it. I honestly didn't think he did, even with his history. But that's when things started to change."
"How?" Reid asked.
"He became distant. He rarely went to class. He didn't have a computer so I let him use my laptop. I wanted to give him his privacy, but I decided to look at his internet history."
They both could only imagine what it would reveal. "What did you find?" Emily finally voiced.
"That's the strangest part. He would spend hours on the computer and he didn't go to one website. My computer's rigged so only the administrator can delete the history. I had no idea what he was doing all that time… not until after he left.
"The day he dropped out, he left everything behind. His clothes, his books, he left about two hundred dollars in cash. At first, I thought he had been abducted, too. He just vanished. There wasn't even a goodbye note. All I did find… was a flash drive."
Reid didn't need Allan to continue to know what was on. "It was… text. About killing women?"
"Yeah," He replied, never expecting either of them to guess that. "It was sick. I turned it over to the police, but… freedom of speech and all that. It didn't mean anything."
"How long before you saw him again?" asked Emily.
"Well… actually… it was about two months ago." He explained. "He came to my apartment. He was scared and frightened… he was looking for a place to stay. He had no money and no where to go. All he could offer was a soda and a pack of cigarettes. At first… I felt sorry for him. And then I saw the blood."
"Blood?" Emily repeated.
"There was some on his hands… but it was splattered all over his t-shirt." He shook his head. "I didn't ask. I sent him away immediately, threatened to call the police. After he left, I called them anyway."
"Two months ago," Reid whispered to Emily. Though with the echo, Allan heard it anyway. "That coincides with Larissa's murder."
"You don't think he's going to come after me, do you?" Allan was frightened.
"We don't believe so," Emily said, glancing at Reid. It was obvious who he was really after. "We think we know who Nathan's real target is."
"Really?" Unconvinced, "Well, if it's alright with you, my girlfriend and I may go to stay at my mom's for a week or two, just to be safe."
"Yeah, I think we've found just about all we needed to know," Reid handed him a business card. "If you think of anything else, give us a call."
Allan nodded, about to head back to the lab. "Hey… you know his stuff is still here if you want to look through it."
It could at least help profile what Nathan was planning to do or where he'd go to feel safe. "Yes, we'd definitely liked to take a look."
"The college has it in storage. It's supposed to be mine if I want it. Campus policy. One roommate leaves and abandons his stuff, within thirty days, it's the other's property."
"If we find any evidence, we'll need to take some things." Emily explained.
"Please," Allan opened the door. "Take it all."
The door closed and the two were alone. They hurried down the steps, heading to find the college storage. "He doesn't really mean that, does he?" Reid asked.
"Well, I wouldn't want to keep the belongings of a serial killer." Emily replied. As they spoke, the sound of a door closed floors below them, going unnoticed.
…
Riley and Hotch followed the orderly through the halls of Havensall. She hadn't been here in years, since she had resigned, but it was like it had only been yesterday. A shiver went through her from the unnatural cold of the place. Even Hotch, usually so collected and impassive, had an uneasy feeling. Both wanted this meeting to be over as soon as possible.
The orderly brought them up to the doctor's lounge. It was freezing inside from an open window. One doctor, a middle-aged man, faced the cold and sat next to, puffing the smoke from his cigarette out into the autumn afternoon. The presence went unnoticed as they approached.
"Sir, it's illegal to smoke inside government buildings," Hotch stated.
"Thanks," was his reply, taking another drag. "You obviously don't work in this place if you actually care."
"I did work in this place," Riley said, "I at least took my smoke breaks outside."
The doctor finally turned to them, face to face with Hotch's badge. "Are you Dr. Winslow?"
Not expecting that, he nodded, and tossed the cigarette out the window.
"I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, this is Dr. Riley Parker; we're here about a former patient of yours. Nathan Harris."
Closing the window, Dr. Winslow got to his feet. "Technically, he's still supposed to be my patient, but I haven't seen him in years. He disappeared." He looked Riley over with curiosity. "Wait… aren't you that psychiatrist that got kidnapped by her colleague?"
"Is that relevant, Dr. Winslow?" Riley asked, folding her arms.
"It is you, I remember. You know, I was an intern under Dr. Andrews when he was a resident." He was pleased, like he were meeting some movie star.
"Nathan Harris," Hotch urged, trying to get back on topic. "It's desperate that we find him immediately."
Hotch was an expert intimidator. It was mostly his eyes; he had judgmental eyes that could make even the most secure person uneasy. "Well… I haven't seen Nathan since the last session he showed up for. He seemed fine; a little sad. Said his girlfriend Sandy from school broke up with him. He wasn't planning anything, but he was fairly certain he was going to marry her someday." He shrugged, "A week passed and he stood me up for his next session."
"You're not the only doctor he worked with, are you?" Riley asked.
Dr. Winslow explained. "After he was discharged, it was just me. I didn't work with him until then. While here, he worked with… Dr. Phelps, Dr. Jennings - or Dr. Jenkins, I can't remember which – and Dr. Yang."
"And their specialties are?" Riley inquired.
"Well, Dr. Phelps had private therapy with him every day. Dr. Jennings – Jenkins, one of them, they work in group therapy. Nathan would have been assigned one group and had discussions almost every day. And Dr. Yang was a criminal psychologist, she came in once a month to evaluate."
"Evaluate what?" Hotch wondered.
Riley knew the answer. "Dr. Yang works for the FBI. I'm right in assuming she was in charge to make sure he was making progress with treatment and when adjustments needed to be made on therapy or meds?"
"Exactly," Dr. Winslow agreed. "Nathan had a hard time when he first came here. He was reluctant to cooperate, but he came around. Once he did, he made a lot of progress. He agreed to extra interviews with interns and trainees. He wanted to get better. I had faith in him."
"You're not the only one," Hotch said, sharing a look with Riley. "But you had no idea what caused him to change?"
"He hasn't hurt anyone, has he?" Dr. Winslow asked.
Hotch took a deep breath, pulling out a card. "We really can't share that information with you. If you think of anything more or do you hear from Nathan, please give us a call."
"I will," he agreed. "I'll do my best to track him down."
"This is a dangerous situation, Dr. Winslow," Hotch explained. "Unless he contacts you, I suggest you don't pursue him."
Hotch and Riley left the lounge, making their way back to the entrance. Once Dr. Winslow was out of earshot, Riley whispered to Hotch. "If Nathan's misogynistic, his girlfriend breaking up with him could have been the trigger."
"I think you're right." Hotch agreed. "He hates one woman, suddenly he's hating all women again."
They made it back outside. The cold air was like Jamaica compared to Havensall. Hotch pulled out his cell phone as they walked to the car.
"Prentiss, it's Hotch." He said, climbing into the driver's seat. "Have you talked to Nathan's roommate yet?... Find him again, ask if he knows who 'Sandy' is, she was Harris's… really?"
"What is it?" Riley asked.
Hotch held up his hand, indicated he needed to listen. Several minutes passed. "That's what we were thinking. Okay, what are guys doing now?... alright, we're just about to leave Havensall. You and Reid get started; Riley and I will meet you there."
He closed his phone and immediately started the car. "Sandy's dead."
"How did she die?" Riley asked.
They pulled out of the parking lot. "She was missing for three weeks and they found her at a construction site. Reid called Garcia to get an autopsy report. She had both multiple rape and signs of torture, but cause of death was from a stab wound in the stomach."
"So… Sandy broke up with Nathan… he must have snapped." Riley realized. "The first woman he's ever really cared about breaks his heart, and suddenly all that pain and anger he's tried to be free of comes back."
"Prentiss said that Nathan's belongings are in storage on campus. They're going to search through it for evidence; I told them we'd meet them there."