Chapter 8

Elle's kidnapper sat dejectedly on one of the boxes, his head in his hands. Elle could hear sobs coming from his body. She was speechless and horrified. This was something she had never seen before, and she had seen a lot.

"It was acid," he whispered. He looked up at her, catching her eyes. "I was a kid. I had been playing in our garage, and acid fell on my face."

Elle remained silent, not knowing what to say.

"My mother couldn't even look at me. Every girl ran from me." He got up and grabbed Elle by the chin, forcing her to stare into his deformed face. "Not anymore," he seethed. "You will learn how to love me. I'm a lonely man, Elle Greenaway. I've been lonely for thirty years. But no longer."

Elle pulled her face away from him. "I will never love you!" she said coldly. She backed away and sat in her chair in the middle of the room, arms folded on front of her chest.

He watched her. She was so beautiful, and he hated to do this to her. "Fine," he replied, just as coldly. "If that is the case, then you will have to pay. Like the others."

Elle started at that. "Others? What others?" she said, beginning to panic.

He ignored her and went back up the stairs.

"What others?" she yelled. The sound of the door slamming was her only answer.

Elle began to cry. She had a sinking feeling that her life was about to come to an end. And there was nothing that she could do about it.

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"There has to be something we're missing," Reid mused, running his fingers through his brown hair.

"We've checked out every lead," Hotch said wearily. "We've come up with nothing."

Gideon sat on the other side of the room, staring at the brown packing paper. He had said nothing since he found out that the return address on Elle's present was a phony. He just stared at it.

"I hope he manages to figure it out," Morgan said, motioning to their unit chief. "Elle doesn't have enough time to wait."

A delivery man handed Hotch an envelope, then left. Hotch quickly ripped it open. "Great," he said, throwing it down.

"What is it?" Morgan inquired. "Is it about Elle?"

Hotch shook his head. "I wish," he said in an annoyed voice. "It's just a letter from Haley. She's off visiting her parents."

Gideon sat upright in his chair. "Let me see that," he said, grabbing the letter.

Hotch, Morgan and Reid glanced at each other, confused.

Gideon placed the letter back on the desk. "We've been looking at this all wrong," he said. He grabbed Morgan's phone and dialed a number.

"What's he doing?" Reid whispered to Hotch. The elder man shrugged.

"Yes, this is Agent Jason Gideon from the Behavioral Analysis Unit," Gideon said into the microphone. "Do you have a record of a package delivered to Agent Elle Greenaway in this unit?" Gideon listened for a moment. "Okay. Thank you." He replaced the phone and looked up at the others. "The mail room has no record of the package."

Morgan and Reid still looked confused.

"Who is the one person that has access to all the mail in and out of the headquarters, and access to our office at all hours of the day?"

Hotch sat up quickly. "The mailman!"

"Exactly!" Gideon said triumphantly.

Morgan grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. "He could have easily placed that package on Elle's desk before she got there."

"So the workplace was the connection," Reid said as they ran to the elevator.

"Right," Gideon replied. "He watched her every move. He had the chance to."

"And no one notices a delivery man, since they're always running around," Moran finished.

"We've got to find her," Hotch said. "This has to be it. Elle doesn't have much longer."

"Why?" Reid asked.

"The fantasy will soon be over," Gideon said. "Elle would never agree to his demands, no matter how much it would save her life. And he can't take rejection. Eventually, he will retaliate." Gideon locked eyes with Reid. "And then it will be over for Elle."