Chapter 5

Morgan held the plaster casts from the crime scene up. "All right," he said. Reid, Hotch, and Gideon listened intently. "We've obviously got a male, size ten shoes, and, according to CSU, he has a problem with his instep." Morgan marked it out on the cast. "It's irregular."

Hotch rubbed his eyes. "And how does that help us?"

Morgan stared at him in silence. "Hotch, I want to find her just as bad as you do."

"All right, all right," Gideon held his hands up. "This isn't going to save Elle."

Morgan and Hotch said nothing.

"What do we have?" Reid asked.

Hotch held up his copies of both letters. "An obsessive man. He's probably extremely lonely, can't communicate with women very well."

"So he kidnaps them?" Reid asked.

"It doesn't have to make sense."

"Yeah," Morgan chimed in. "It's the fanatic mentality. They see something they want and they're willing to get it at all costs." Morgan grabbed the first letter. "He stalked her. He watched her every move, everything she did. He had some connection with her, either in his workplace or hers."

"Well, it couldn't be hers," Gideon said, his arms folded across his chest.

"Did she mention anything to anyone about a relationship she was in, weird phone calls, anything like that?" Hotch asked, looking at Gideon and Morgan.

Gideon shook his head.

Hotch stood. "All right. We start looking at everything, all of her habits, everywhere she went, everything she did."

Gideon grabbed his jacket. "We check out her grocery stores, where she shopped, video rentals, coffee shops. That's where we're most likely to find her."

Reid and Morgan grabbed their bags. Hang on, Elle, Gideon thought.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

The BAU team got to Elle's grocery store shortly before closing time. They were met by a tired woman at the front door. "May I help you?" she asked in a bored voice.

"FBI," Hotch said as he flipped out his badge. The others did the same.

The woman suddenly looked very interested. "What does the FBI want with us?"

Morgan pulled out a picture of Elle. "Have you seen this woman before?"

The lady studied the picture. "Pretty girl," she murmured. Her face lit up with recognition. "Oh, yeah. She comes in here about once every two weeks. Always buys a lot of coffee. Very nice woman, very polite."

"Are you her regular cashier?" Gideon asked.

She laughed. "Heavens, no! I haven't worked the register in ten years." She pointed to a man behind one of the registers. "That's her normal person."

Hotch thanked the woman and they slowly walked over to the register. "Hey," Morgan called out.

The man looked up.

"FBI, we'd like to…" The man bolted before Morgan could finish.

Morgan and Hotch took off after him. "Hey!" they called. "Halt! Federal agents!"

The man ran down one of the aisles, pulling things off of the shelves. Morgan and Hotch dodged cans rolling toward them on the floor. "Stop!" they yelled.

He kept running, glancing back toward them. He never saw it coming. He connected with a strong fist on his jaw, and he crumpled to the floor.

Gideon stood over the unconscious cashier, holding his bruised hand.

Hotch bent over the man and looked up at Gideon. "Nice shot," he said.

Gideon shrugged. "He should learn to look where he's going."

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

"Man, I didn't do nothin'," James Rodgers fidgeted in the chair in one of the FBI's interrogation rooms.

"Oh, yeah?" Morgan said as he leaned over the young man. "Then why did you run?"

Rodgers shrugged. "Didn't wanna talk to you," he mumbled.

Morgan turned away, laughing. Suddenly, he slapped the table in front of him. Rodgers jumped. "You'd better start talking," he seethed, moving his head within six inches of Rodger's nose. "You're looking at aggravated kidnapping."

"That's twenty-five years in a federal prison," Gideon said, leaning forward. Rodgers suddenly began to look very nervous.

"If I find out that you hurt her," Morgan said, his face now within three inches of Rodger's nose. "I'm not responsible for what I do to you."

"Wait," Rodgers said, putting his hands up. Morgan backed off slightly. "Who's her?"

Gideon shoved a picture of Elle at him. "You recognize her?"

"Yeah, of course I do. She comes in every coupla weeks. She usually gives me a nice tip."

"Well, she's missing," Morgan said, hands on his hips.

Rodgers looked back and forth between the two agents. "And you think I had something to do with this? Why would I do that?"

"Where were you between nine o'clock yesterday night and six o'clock this morning?" Gideon asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Working," he said, throwing the picture at Gideon. "And you can check with my boss."

"You can bet we will," Morgan said, turning around to go.

"Wait," Gideon said, stopping him. "Let me see your shoes."

Rodgers looked confused.

"Just do it!" Morgan said, slapping him in the head.

Rodgers took off one of his sneakers and handed it to Gideon.

Gideon studied it for a minute and handed it to Morgan. "Size seven," Gideon said.

"Now can I go?" Rodgers asked, grabbing his shoe.

"Not yet," Morgan replied, shoving him back into his seat.

Morgan followed Gideon out of the room, where they met Hotch and Reid. "So where does that take us?" Reid asked Gideon.

"Back to square one."