"LaMontagne? Where have I heard that name before?" Hotch asked, suddenly afraid of the answer to his question.
"Well, Sir, it's a long story but I'll give you the abbreviated version. He was the Detective on the "Jack the Ripper" case you guys had in New Orleans over a year ago. He and JJ became friends and started talking on the phone. A couple of months after you guys came back from New Orleans JJ started getting flowers delivered. I thought everything was going well, but then she started getting quiet about him, you know, not really talking about him the way that she had been. Then one day she asked me to block a number from her cell phone." Garcia took a breath, hating to betray her friend's confidence but desperate to make sure that she was ok. "Who was it Garcia?" Hotch asked nervously. "Well, sir, she didn't tell me. She just told me it was a wrong number that couldn't get the message. But you know me, always looking out for my gumdrop. I referenced the number with one of my databases and it was for Detective LaMontagne. I also cross-referenced the number with any texts on JJ's phone." Garcia stopped, suddenly ashamed to continue her line of thought.
"Garcia?" Hotch urged her to continue. "Sir, I don't want to betray JJ like this. But the texts were uber-creepy. In the beginning he was really sweet and friendly. Then they got more possessive." "What do you mean by more possessive, Garcia?" Hotch's patience was wearing thin, although he had a pretty good idea where this story was headed. Garcia continued, all the while typing on her keyboard trying to find her friends. "Well, the Detective started asking her where she'd been, wanting to know the details of her day and who'd she had been in contact with. One of his texts even alluded to some facts of a case that we were working on at the time, at a location far away from where the Detective should have been, but facts that only someone who had been there would have known."
"Are you suggesting that LaMontagne was stalking JJ? Did you ever bring this up to her?" Hotch figured he knew the answer to his own question but needed to verbalize it anyway. "I don't know what to think, but, looking back on it, how many of our cases have started out this way? And I've had to be careful. I could only bring up veiled references to the Detective or JJ would have known that I invaded her privacy. However, I've been monitoring her personal cell as well as her line at the bureau. There hasn't been any activity the past several weeks. Is it foolish of me to think he's stopped?" Garcia took a breath, waiting for Hotch to answer her question. "I'd like to think so Penelope, but in our experience, situations such as these usually get worse before they get better."
Trying not to feel too defeated, Penelope continued to search for the GPS for her friends' phones. All the while dreading what she had to confess next to her boss. "Uh, sir? There's something else that I need to tell you." Not liking the sound in her voice Hotch stopped his continual pacing. "What is it Penelope?" "Well, you know that I take my job very seriously and respect and protect the security clearances that I've been entrusted with.." "Garcia…" "And I always follow the rules, well, usually I follow the rules. But in a situation where…" "Garcia…" "..a situation where one of my babies, my family, is being threatened, well, then rules schmules, sir." "Garcia, stop! What did you do?" "Well, sir, you know that other source that I told you to trust me on? Well I put a tracker on Detective LaMontagne's phone, personal and business, as well as have been routinely keeping up with his time sheet, case load, and any vacation or PTO requests at his department in New Orleans." Hotch rubbed his hand through his hair, trying to release some of the tension taking up residence in his scalp. "Penelope, please tell me that you are not, in effect, stalking this detective by abusing your position here at the Bureau." Garcia didn't move, had even stopped her frantic typing. "Well, yes sir, that's exactly what I'm telling you."