Chapter 3
Gideon heard a knock at his door. "Come in," he said, looking up from his work.
Morgan opened the door, followed by Hotch and Reid. "Have you heard from Elle?" he asked, his eyes betraying his concern.
"No, why?" Gideon asked, locking eyes with him.
"She's an hour late," Hotch replied, trying to mask the worry he felt.
"Have you tried her cell phone?" Gideon asked.
Reid nodded. "She's not answering."
Gideon's face paled slightly. This wasn't the normal Elle, coming in late and not calling. "Let's go," he said, grabbing his jacket and pushing past the younger agents.
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Hotch pulled up to Elle's house, and the four agents ran up the sidewalk. Gideon stopped short of the house. "Oh, my God," he breathed.
"What?" Morgan asked.
Gideon could only point silently at the house. The others caught their breaths as they saw what he was staring at. Elle's front door was wide open.
Hotch pushed past him and went in. "Elle?" he called, desperately hoping she had just overslept. "Elle?"
Morgan followed right behind him. "Hey, Elle?" he yelled. He bent down and picked up her purse off the couch. He showed it to Hotch and Gideon, who had finally managed to get his feet moving. "She would have never left without this," he said, handing it to Gideon.
Gideon took it as Hotch moved toward the kitchen. The others followed him. Hotch gestured toward the counter where an empty coffee mug sat. "She didn't even drink her coffee."
Reid paled as he spotted something on the kitchen table. "Uh… guys…" he said, pointing with a shaking finger.
Hotch followed Reid's finger and saw a slip of paper. Reid reached out to pick it up, but Gideon grabbed his arm. "Fingerprints," Gideon reminded him.
Hotch bent down to read the handwritten note. " 'Don't bother coming after her. I'm going to make her mine… permanently. Signed, SWD."
"SWD?" Reid asked.
Gideon stared off into the distance. "Shall we dance."
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Morgan sat at his desk at the BAU, his head in his hands. He heard someone come up behind him. "Are you okay?" he heard Reid's voice ask.
Morgan lifted his head and locked eyes with the younger man.
Reid smiled worriedly. "Yeah, I'm worried about her too."
"Hey," Hotch said as he approached the two men. "How are you?"
Morgan smiled ruefully. "Any leads?"
Hotch shook his head. "CSU went up and down Elle's house and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. No prints, no DNA, no sweat."
"And the letter?"
Hotch pulled out a copy of it. "They compared it to the letter that Elle got with the package, and it was definitely written by the same person."
"So, he's stalking her?" Reid asked.
"It sure looks like it." Hotch rubbed his head. "Did Elle mention anything strange going on?"
Morgan shook his head. The phone on his desk rang.
"Morgan," he said into the microphone. He listened for a minute and stood. "Where?" He listened again. "Okay. Okay. We'll be right there." Morgan hung up and grabbed his jacket. "That was CSU. They found something outside Elle's house."
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The BAU pulled up to Elle's house once again. One of the crime scene officers met them. "We found something in the bushes over here." He led them to a bush next to Elle's front door.
He pointed to the ground under the bush. Morgan could make out a small indentation in the dirt. "A footprint!" he said excitedly.
The crime scene officer nodded. "We'll get you a copy of the cast when we get it done. Right now, I can say that it is definitely a man's size ten."
"Thanks, man," Morgan said as he clapped the man on the shoulder. He joined the other agents. Gideon was bending over something on the ground.
"What is it?" Morgan asked.
Gideon picked it up. It was a woman's earring. "You recognize this?" he asked.
Hotch took it in his hand. "It's Elle's," he said in a choked voice. "Haley and I gave her the pair for her birthday last year." He looked up at Gideon, tears welling up in his eyes. "We've got to find her, Gideon. Soon."