"It makes it a closed chapter, and it lets the past be the past. It allows us to continue movingforward to do the work that we are meant to be doing." - Jane Farmer
Hotch and JJ were on their way to interview Ms. Jamisen When Hotch's phone rang. Quickly looking at the ID before opening it he answered.
"Hotchner," it was a standard even for his team.
"Hotch, We have a break, Reid found a signature for the unsub. He called Garcia to cross reference and I notified the medical examiner's to double check and confirm his findings. Looks like we can use it in court when we catch the guy." Gideon didn't even bother to say hello, getting right to the point.
"Good, have you told Morgan?"
"No we want to wait till everyone back so we can connect it to anything new you and Morgan find."
"Alright, we'll be back in about two to three hours or so, Morgan will be longer with traffic. Keep looking, we're getting closer."
"Already working on it see you then," with that Gideon hung up.
Hotch shut his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. "Looks like we have more evidence and a signature" he glanced over at JJ briefly.
She nodded back and read off the next direction. They didn't speak again, except for JJ's directions till the pulled onto a narrow street with old fashion street lamps. The houses in this neighborhood were old but well cared for Victorian's. Well kept lawns and large trees separated the houses and lined the road. They found the house they were looking for at the other end of the lane. It was an off white with green vines crawling up one side. Flower beds under all the windows and lining a walk from the road to the front door. The driveway was small but they fit in next to an older model Lexis. There was no doorbell so Hotch had to open the screen door to use a large brass knocker. He then closed the screen door and waited for someone to answer. As they waited he looked around the porch. Two wicker chairs with padded seats and a small glass top table were on his left, an old fashion mail drop box was to his right with empty space and a hanging plant at the end. He was about to open the screen and knock again when he heard movement inside. Within moments the door open halfway to revel an older woman, dressed nicely with gray hair pulled into a tight bun. She looked ready to go some place nice not just sitting around the house.
"Ms. Jamisen, I'm Supervisory agent Hotchner and this is Special agent Jareau from the F.B.I., we have a few questions we'd like to ask you. May we come in?" Hotch had taken seconds to build a basic profile on her as they stood there on the porch. She would be of an older set of expectations and mannerisms. Old blood, old money…an aristocrat of sorts. He knew how to behave around women like her thanks to his upbringing. He and JJ would have to watch their step with this interview.
"Of course agent Hotchner. Please wipe your feet," she opened the door all the way but didn't open the screen door.
Hotch nodded "thank you," and opened the screen door. He held it and ushered JJ in first, following behind her. He let the screen closed on its own, wiped his feet and closed the main door as Mr. Jamisen stepped away.
"If you'll follow me please, we can talk in the parlor" She led them down the entry hall into a large room with a window facing the front yard. The room was immaculate, no dust anywhere and it looked like a museum with antique furniture. "Please sit" she gestured towards a small couch that was a love seat by today's standards. They sat down gently both perching on the edge rather than leaning back. "Would you like some tea?" Mr. Jamisen asked still standing.
"No thank you ma'am" Hotch answered for them.
She nodded and finally sat down in a chair opposite them, her posture perfect. "What can I do for you then agent Hotchner?"
"We would like to ask you a few questions about your son, Christopher."
"If you haven't heard agent Christopher has passed on I'm afraid."
"Yes that is why we are here Ms. Jamisen," JJ spoke for the first time. Hotch gave a small nod for her to continue. "We are looking into his death, trying to find his killer. Could we ask you some questions? It would be very helpful and won't take long."
Mr. Jamisen sighed "alright but I don't know how much help I can give you. Unfortunately Christopher turned out to be quite troublesome in life."
"Yes we understand ma'am. Did you know where your son was staying, where he worked?"
"I'm afraid I don't know where he lived Miss. Jareau. However a friend told me he had a job at Herald's Garage just a town over."
"You don't know for sure?"
"It may seem shall we say odd to you, but Christopher and I had a falling out years ago as we no longer saw things the same way. I heard things about him from time to time, but we didn't speak. I tried once to reconcile, to get him to see the error of his ways but he wouldn't have it."
"I see, I'm sorry then."
"Not at all, I did love my son but I couldn't help him so I had to step back. Is there anything else you would like to know?"
"Yes, just a few more things ma'am" Hotch jumped back into the conversation. "You knew of your son's lifestyle, did you know if he had any enemies?"
"I'm sorry to say he had a few, but I don't know who they are. I know he was also in trouble at his job, again I don't know the details."
"Was there anything in his recent behavior that was changing, like had he reached out to you, or a relative? Maybe he was trying to get some help or information from or to someone?"
"Not that I am aware of no. He was the same as usual as far as I know."
"Thank you for your time Ms. Jamisen, you have been helpful," Hotch stood followed by JJ.
"Certainly agent Hotchner, let me show you out." She got up from her seat and walked them back down the hall to the door. "I understand you can't talk about it, but the person you are looking for has killed other people if I'm not mistaken."
"Yes ma'am, but your right we can't discuss this with you" Hotch opened the door and screen door for JJ.
"Yes, I hope you catch him soon. I may not have been involved with my son recently but he was still my son. I wish you and Miss. Jareau luck in your investigation."
"Thank you Ms. Jamisen, goodbye." Hotch and JJ walked back to the car and opened the doors, Ms. Jamisen watching from the porch until they were seated inside then leaving to go back inside.
"I think we should go talk to the garage owner before we head back to the station." Hotch started the SUV and pulled out onto the road.
"Ms. Jamisen said it was in the next town, I'll call Garcia" JJ pulled out her phone and hit speed dial. "Garcia I need the directions to a Herald's Garage in the next town, but I'm not sure which one" she paused waiting for Garcia to work her magic. "Yes, can you text me the directions. Thank you." She hung up and waited a few seconds before her phone beeped. Opening it she looked at the message before turning slightly to Hotch. "Once we hit the main road go south towards Somers, it's on the edge of Flathead Lake off highway 93."
Hotch nodded and turned the SUV onto a southbound road before looking for an entrance to highway 93.
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"The closest abduction site is on the north eastern side of town towards Evergreen." Deputy Kipel said once Morgan had the SUV started. "Victim number five, Sarah Hexton, was taken from outside a store called Suit Your Fancy on 2nd avenue."
"So someone saw it happen?" Morgan began steering the SUV in the right direction.
"No but her purse and shopping bag were found about seven yards from the front of the store. Oh take highway two it's the fastest way there" Kipel pointed to a turn off for the highway.
"Did you go to this crime scene?" Morgan followed the directions.
"Yes I was part of this original investigation. Just under two weeks already and we still don't have anything. But that's why you are all here" Kipel gave Morgan a quick smile. They rode in silence for the rest of the trip which didn't take long. Morgan parked in front of the store and they got out. The store was open but didn't look very busy, the parking lot only half full.
"She was taken from over here" Kipel started walking to the left corner of the storefront, Morgan followed him. "Her bag was found here" Kipel pointed to the ground but there was nothing of interest there. "And her purse was found here" he walked two steps over towards the street and again pointed at nothing.
Morgan centered himself in between the two spots pointed out. Then he did a complete 360 taking in the area, transforming it in his mind to the conditions of the abduction. He knew it had been a cloudy early morning. Besides the workers in the store there had been only two other customers at the time, both inside. So two cars were in the parking lot, the victim Sarah had walked from somewhere else. Looking down there was no fire lane here so a car could have been parked at the curb. Looking up he saw no cameras and an external light on the roof of the store was broken. "Do you know if the light was broken prior to the victim being taken?" Morgan pointed up at it. Kipel followed his gaze and shook his head.
"I was just here to take interviews and make sure the scene was secure. I didn't notice the light, sorry. But one of the technicians who were processing might have," Kipel looked a little guilty that he hadn't caught it.
"I'll ask when we get back, in the mean time what else did you notice?" Morgan was writing notes about the light on a small note pad. He then took out his phone and snapped a few picture of the broken light.
"There weren't any skid marks around or broken glass around the curb so if the victim was pulled into a car it was quick and the attacker knew no one was watching, they wasn't any hurry. The purse was left but everything was still in it as far as I know her shopping bag too. There was no interest in either of them from the attacker.
"The unsub stalked the victims for a while, knew them enough there would be no need to check ID and no reason to take anything else with them to kill them." Morgan started walking to the corner of the building. Here was a ally way leading to more parking in the back of the store but nothing that stood out. "Alright, lets head over to the next scene" Morgan turned and walked back to Kipel.
They went back to the SUV and Kipel scanned the list of crime scenes. "Next is victim number four Jorden Cross. Take highway two North East towards Glacier Park International Airport. He was taken from a hotel in La Salle a few miles outside the airport. It's a bit of a drive and we'll probably run into traffic."
"Then that will be our last scene for the day. We'll need to pool our information together for a basic profile. Maybe tomorrow we'll be able to have something for your department." Morgan managed to get back on the highway and headed in the right direction.
"You'll be ready that fast?"
"For a very basic profile yes, we already know several things about the unsub."
"We've been on it for weeks, well not that long collectively, but still. We don't have much from the individual murders and when we put it all together we were still nowhere."
"You've done pretty good so far but we look at it another way that's all. We look into why the unsub kills, why he picked these victims, why they kill the way they do. By narrowing it down he know how they think, what they are looking for. We can sometimes predict where or who they will go after next. And we can't do that without the information you have gathered."
"Thanks but we don't have much."
"You have enough for now, and sooner or later the unsub will slip up, or if he did we'll find it."
"Good, the victims may have been criminals but that doesn't mean they deserved to die like the way they did."
"No they didn't but unfortunately there might be more bodies before we catch the unsub. As much as we say we want to stop them we might need another body to put the profile together."
"I think I understand but it's still disturbing."
The rest of the drive to La Salle was done in a comfortable silence.
(Yeah more of Morgan and Deputy Kipel! Internets being a pain again but will update again soon. Thanks for reading!)