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A/n hey all, thanks again for your kind support. I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
"How do you want to play this?" Rossi asked Hotch as they watched Diane hurry into Maeve's apartment building.
"Morgan and JJ are on their way with Agent Sinclair. She's close enough to Dr. Donovan in build and coloring. She'll go inside, and then we'll wait."
"Is Reid ready?"
"Yes."
"I hope this works."
"It will," Hotch said.
"Did Reid tell Dr. Donovan that Diane has an apartment next door," Rossi asked as they waited.
"I don't know. Hopefully, we'll end this before Dr. Donovan has to know."
Rossi nodded and turned to look out the passenger side window.
They waited half an hour. Rossi was ready to cut Diane off if she left the apartment building early. Fortunately, Morgan, JJ, and Sinclair pulled into the parking lot. They transferred to the SUV with Hotch and Rossi.
"Are you ready, Sinclair?" Hotch asked as soon as they climbed into the back.
"Yes, sir."
"We found clothing close enough to Maeve's style, and Garcia gave her hair a few waves. The color and length aren't exact, but people can get haircuts and dyes. Diane may think it's a new attempt at a disguise."
"There's Diane," Morgan said as Diane left with a bright red umbrella and a raincoat over her dark clothing.
"Stay in contact," Hotch said, and Sinclair nodded.
They watched her as she slid out of the door closest to the curb, then hurried around the front of the SUV. She ran with her head down low enough to appear to be avoiding the pounding rain.
Diane almost ran into Sinclair as she splashed down the sidewalk, and the expression on her face told Hotch all he needed to know. Instead of resuming her walk to her vehicle, she turned and followed Sinclair into the apartment.
"Subject's about five feet behind me." Said Sinclair in a low tone. "I'll update you when I get inside the apartment."
"Copy. You know the signal if the subject engages you."
"Affirmative."
"I don't like that she's alone, and we can't see her," Hotch said.
"This isn't Sinclair's first rodeo," Rossi reminded the unit chief.
Hotch nodded, and after three minutes, Sinclair's voice said clearly. "Whew, I'm soaked. Guess I'll get out of these wet clothes."
"You know what to do, Sinclair. Maintain silence from this point until we meet at the restaurant."
JJ and Morgan moved back to their SUV, parked half a block away from the building, and Hotch's phone buzzed fifteen minutes later. "Hey, boss man," Garica said.
"What've you got, Garcia?"
"I picked up Sinclair's call with Reid. Robert Putnam just received a text from Diane telling him she'll be late and not to wait up for her."
"Thanks, Garcia."
"Of course, my liege. I'll hit you back if we get the results of fingerprint matches on the photos."
Hotch put down his phone, and they waited for another hour until the rain began to slow down. It was nearly sundown when Sinclair left her apartment and hailed a cab. Diane hurried into her car and pulled away from the curb so quickly she almost cut off a Porshe. Hotch winced when the driver of the red sports car honked and then drove away at a higher speed.
"That was close," Dave said as they began to trail Diane's car and the cab.
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Reid tugged nervously at his tie. The irony wasn't lost on him that Rossi had suggested this restaurant for his fake meeting with Sinclair. Reid had been thinking about offering that he and Maeve finally meet and have dinner. Now, he was waiting for an undercover agent as his "date." He wanted to scream in frustration.
Five minutes later, the server returned with Sinclair. As it was a Monday night, the restaurant was only a quarter-full, so Reid had requested a corner table. Reid sat facing the dining room with his back to the entrance leading to the kitchen. Sinclair sat across from him with her back to the room. It would be impossible to see her face unless someone left the kitchen area.
"She's still in the parking lot," Sinclair said.
"Thank you for helping us," Reid said.
"You're welcome. I appreciate the assignment. White collar crime can be boring."
Hotch and Rossi stayed in their SUV while Morgan and JJ went inside the restaurant as backups. Alex and Anderson were in another car parked on the street.
"So," Hotch heard Sinclair say. "How was work, baby?"
"Um," Reid squeaked, and Rossi shook his head. "You'd think he'd never been undercover."
"Fine, my client asked me if we could move her walk-in closet to the other side of the bedroom because the morning light was better. I honestly don't know how much more of her change requests I can deal with," Reid said.
Rossi's eyebrows went up. "I stand corrected. That was – amazingly realistic."
Hotch smiled, which made Rossi chuckle.
Reid picked up his menu and began to peruse it while keeping an eye on Diane, who'd come in and had managed to take a booth far enough away from them to watch but also to be partly in the shadows. He wouldn't have noticed her studying him if he hadn't known who she was.
"She's inside, behind, and to your left, guys," Reid said.
"Got it," Morgan responded and reached over to take JJ's hand. "You want champagne, mama."
"Why not," JJ giggled. "It's our anniversary."
Reid resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "How was your day?" He asked Sinclair.
"Boring. I'm thrilled you pushed me into going out tonight. I've wanted to come here for so long and to see you in person."
"Me too, Maeve."
Morgan said. "She's taking out her phone. It looks like she's trying not to be obvious with the camera."
"Good," Hotch said. "Let's keep It up long enough for you to order dessert, and then Reid, you know what to do."
"Yes, sir."
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Reid thanked the server when she arrived to ask if they wanted dessert. "Um, yes – I'll have the chocolate layer cake, and the lady would like a slice of cheesecake with strawberries."
"I'll be right back."
"Will you excuse me, Maeve," Reid asked.
"Of course."
Agent Sinclair waited thirty seconds, then stood up and turned around. Diane was not at her table. Good. Sinclair picked up her raincoat, slid it on, and hurried out the door and around the corner to Hotch and Rossi. She climbed into the SUV and sighed. "I think we got it. Diane had plenty of opportunity to get a photo of us."
"Good."
"Reid's back from the men's room with Diane on his tail," Morgan said.
"Looks like she noticed that Sinclair's gone. She's wondering what to do now." JJ said.
"Your turn," Hotch said, and JJ said to Morgan. "Honey. I'm not feeling well. Can we get out of here?"
"Sure. You okay, angel."
"Yeah, I have a horrible stomachache. I'm sorry. I'm ruining our anniversary."
"Don't apologize, Jenny. Let's get out of here."
They passed Diane's table a minute later as she was getting to her feet. JJ swayed a little and bumped into Diane. "Oh, sorry," She giggled.
"What the hell," Diane cursed as she stared daggers into JJ.
"Hey, be cool," Morgan said. "Jenny's had a little too much to drink. She didn't mean to bump into you."
"Jerk," Diane hissed as they left. A server came over and apologized to Diane, who tried to watch Reid go, but the server was very tall and blocked her view.
Five minutes later, Morgan and JJ watched Diane come out of the restaurant, and she looked mad enough to kill puppies.
"Ms. Turner's on the move," JJ said. "We'll follow her."
"We'll take Sinclair and Reid back to Quantico. I hope Garcia has good news about the fingerprints."
"Me too," Morgan said and put his SUV into gear to follow Diane."
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The team met in the conference room at ten am the following day. Anderson and Sharp were coming off watching Diane for the night, and they had plenty to report. "We followed her to Mr. Putnam's apartment. She was there for about fifteen minutes when she left again with a couple of bags. She was steaming mad."
"Perfect," Alex said. "People who lose their tempers easily tend to make mistakes."
"We followed her back to Maeve's apartment. She hasn't left."
Garcia's computer beeped. "Looks like the results of the fingerprint analysis of the photos we submitted show Maeve's, Mr. Putnam, and the match to Diane in her employment files."
"Good, I'm going to contact Judge Templeton," Hotch said.
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"Looks like we're on the way to a warrant," Garcia said to Matthew, hanging out in her office. "Thanks for your help."
A close friendship had sprung up between the two of them over the last two days. Garcia had progressed from thinking of Matthew as a weird doppelganger of her precious Reid to someone unique and quite funny.
"I haven't done much but ask you questions about hacking and computers."
"You've made me laugh and pulled me back when I freak out. Also, you know tons about profiling."
"I know that television isn't real, but I have read up about it for research, and I find it interesting, sad, and a bit disgusting," Matthew said as he crunched a potato chip from a bag purchased at the vending machine.
"Why do you think I keep the yucky photos away as much as possible."
Matthew nodded, and then he sat up and said. "Hey, what's that," he asked when Garcia's computer beeped.
Garcia read over the results and frowned. "I was hoping they'd find DNA on the eyebrow pencil, but there's nothing."
"So, Diane purchased a new pencil just for the photos," Matthew said and sat back disappointedly. "Tell me, Garcia. Do you think the team will find enough evidence to put Diane away? When we filmed "Zugawang," we dressed Diane's apartment with lots of pictures and everything you'd need to make it obvious she's a stalker. "Of course, it was all for nothing because – well, you know."
"Wait, what is Zugzwang," Garcia asked.
"It's a chess move. The writers gave the episode that name because it's German for 'the compulsion to move.' It means any legal move will worsen their position in the game."
Garcia stared at Matthew and said. "Woah, that was strange. You sounded a little like Reid for a minute."
Matthew shrugged. "Well, he is my character. I once told an interviewer that Dr. Spencer Reid makes a great Matthew Gray Gubler impression."
"I see."
"Hey, do you act in plays in your spare time?"
"How did you know that?" Garcia gasped.
"The show," they said in unison. They laughed, and then Garcia blew out a breath. "I wish Morgan would call me. I hate waiting."
"Me too," Matthew said. "I'm always fooling around to pass the time while waiting for my scenes. I love directing because I stay busy daily instead of hanging out in my trailer."
"You direct," Garcia said. "What is that like?"
Matthew opened his mouth, but Garcia's phone beeped. "Hey, sugar," she greeted. "Really? Yes, I'll tell him. Be careful."
"Hotch got the warrant. They're on their way to Diane's place now."
"More waiting," Matthew said.
Garcia nodded. "Want to play poker while we wait?"
Matthew grinned at her. "I imagine playing me will be more satisfying than an actual genius."
"Yep."
Matthew laughed and said. "Ante up."