"Based on what I've heard, it's a dead-end street. Everything we did is totally above table." - Doug Berry
"But we just kept hitting deadends. It's one of the cases that really gets to you… - Stephen Foster
"We just came to a deadend." - Larry Lewis
"You'd get tips that were so hopeful. You'd be so hopeful. You'd run with the lead, then it would dead end. The crash was really hard. It was exhausting." - Capt. Debra Davidoski
With the early evening traffic the dive to Herald's Garage took almost an hour and both Hotch and JJ were slightly worried it might be closed when they arrived. They hadn't called and had no appointments. Half way through the drive Hotch's phone had rung; Prentiss's name was on the ID.
"Hotch" he had answered putting the phone on speaker.
"Hotch I have new information for your interviews. It seems all the victims had a formal complaint filed against them two to three weeks tops before they were killed. It was on all of their records." Prentiss got right down to business.
Hotch nodded even though Prentiss couldn't see him.
"Thanks Prentiss, that will be really good help" JJ smiled, taking out a pen and writing notes with the ones they already had.
"That's good work, we'll see you when we get back. Keep looking into that," and Hotch hung up putting the phone back in his pocket.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. They entered a small town of Somers and had to do a few tricky maneuvers to finally get to their destination. Herald's Garage was on the north western part of town next to a grocery store. There was a lot out front to pick up and drop off vehicles for customers and a narrow drive that went to the back of the building marked Employees Only. The building itself had a two bay working garage attached to an office building. There was a roof in the back, most likely belonging to a shed of some kind. One of the bay doors was open and the lights in the office were on. Hotch parked the SUV in front of the office and he and JJ climbed out. The office hours were on the door window proclaiming that if they were ten minutes later they would have been out of luck. JJ opened the door and went in first, Hotch close at her heels. The inside of the office was neat with a counter in front of them, chairs and a table full of magazines to the right facing a window to the parking lot and a door to the garage on the lift. There was no one behind the counter but there was a bell with a sign telling them to ring for service after four PM. JJ pushed on the bell and they could hear it faintly through the door to the garage. A minute later a very tall young man came into the office wiping his hands on a dirty rag.
"Can I help you?" his voice was a little high, like a teens at the peak of puberty before it would deepen.
"Yes, I'm agent Hotchner, this is agent Jareau." He and JJ flashed their badges at the man. "Is the manager here, we need to speak to him."
The man just nodded vigorously. "Uh, yeah. Just…just a minute" and with that he was out the door to the garage again. It was very slightly tempting to follow but Hotch and JJ waited in the office.
A few minutes later an attractive middle aged woman walked in. She looked like the young man back in the garage. And much like the man before she was wiping her hands on a dirty rag, but she also had dirt on her face which she apparently didn't notice or care to wipe off.
"What can I do for you agents?" Her voice was warm and her W's were softened for a slight accent.
"You are the manager?" JJ asked. Usually the managers of small businesses like this were the owners or the businesses name sake. Here it appeared to be the opposite.
"I am. But I know what you are thinking. Herald was my father and my brother Herald Junior is away with the army at the moment. I'm Harmony, now I assume you aren't here about a car."
"No we would like to ask you a few questions about a possible former employee. Christopher Jamisen." Hotch wasn't fazed with Harmony being manager.
"I was wondering when someone would be out here for that man. I heard he was killed not long ago. I may be sorry for his family but I'm not for him."
"You didn't get along well then?"
"At first he was fine, don't usually hire his type but he seemed okay to start. Showed up on time, did his work and left. After a while though we started getting complaints and his behavior changed. Something was wrong with him and I confronted him about it. Didn't seem to do any good. We had a few arguments a few days leading up to me catching him red handed trying to steal some parts. They weren't very important or expensive, but I had to fire him."
"Did you complain or call the police?" JJ asked while taking notes.
"Yes I did, well the complaints from the customers were there and I just added mine and gave them to the police. Didn't tell them about the parts he was trying to take that day though. He needed help, and I hoped he'd get it without too much fuss."
"So he took other things, were they reported?" Hotch could understand Harmony's reasoning even if he didn't totally agree.
"Yes, and it was all reported. But he didn't take the last parts so I didn't count them as stolen."
"Do you know where he was staying or where he would go after you fired him?" Hotch hoped for better answers then they got from Ms. Jamisen.
"No I don't, and I doubt any of my employee's know, he kept to himself and he wasn't the most sociable. Most of them are gone but if you really need to ask come back tomorrow, you can ask them."
"That's alright, but thank you. If we have more questions we'll call ahead first." JJ closed her notes.
"Good night them agents" and Harmony turned to go back to the garage.
JJ lifted an eyebrow and turned to Hotch and shrugged. It had been one of her more interesting interviews in the past couple of cases.
"Let's head back to the station, we can have Garcia look into where he might have gone from here" Hotch lead the way back to the SUV. They had hit dead ends all day and they hoped for better tomorrow. The ride back to the station to meet with the others was much quicker than their other trips. They had just gotten out of the SUV when Morgan and Deputy Kipel pulled into the space next to them.
CMCMCMCMCMCM
Morgan and Kipel were just driving past the airport when Gideon called.
"Morgan," he picked up the phone without looking at the ID, he was busy trying to navigate around the other cars getting on and off various ramps for the airport.
"We got a break for you," Gideon's calm voice came over the line.
"Just a moment," Morgan hit the speaker button and handed the phone to Kipel, putting both hands back on the wheel. "Alright what have you got?"
"It seems that all out victims had complaints filed against them shortly before they were killed. If you can, ask someone who may have seem them if they knew or were in trouble." Gideon knew that Morgan and Kipel were looking at the crime scenes but that didn't mean that the victims hadn't talked or interacted with those around them.
"Got it, thanks." And then the line went dead as Gideon hung up. Kipel closed Morgan's phone and gave it back to him. Morgan put it on the dash in case he had to answer it again before they reached La Salle.
Once in La Salle Morgan had to drive up and down the main strip of hotels and motels a few times before Kipel spotted the Super 8 that Jorden Cross had been staying at. The parking lot was full and they had to park a distance away. Walking to the entrance Morgan scanned the parking lot. It was very open, not very well lighted on the outer edges and he didn't see any security cameras except one facing the entrance. The hotel didn't pride itself on security apparently.
The doors were automatic and opened to a small space before another set of automatic doors let them into the brightly lit lobby. The artificial lights here looked like they were trying to make up for the outside with their brightness. The lobby was much like many of the cheap hotel chains that were common around all airports. A few floor rugs, come chair here and there, a couch, some tables. The reception desk was busy and a few people milled about the lobby. There were too halls just beyond the reception desk, one to the left the other the right. As they walked to the desk some of the people in the lobby looked at them. Morgan assessed the people without appearing to look at them. They were just curious and not harmful. Kipel looked a bit but did so as if he were not looking at anything in particular, just taking in the sights.
One of the spaces at the desk opened up and Morgan stepped forward flashing his badge at the clerk. The guy was short, middle aged and looked very board.
"Manager here?" Morgan put away his badge and leaned against the counter.
"Just a moment, I'll page him" the clerk picked up the phone and hit a few buttons. "Sir the cops are here, they want to talk to you. Yes sir, alright" he spoke into the phone then hung up. "He'll be out in a minute if you'll wait there" he addressed Morgan again and pointed to the left of the desk counter.
Morgan moved away and Kipel who had come up beside him followed. They didn't have long to wait before an older man in a gray suit came around the corner of the left hall.
"You are the police? Would you follow me, we can talk in private. I assume this isn't an emergency or there would be more of you." He talked as he waved them on hardly stopping any movement as he had turned and led them down the hall he had come from. "Right here if you will" he opened a door marked manager next to a soda vending machine. He walked in and Morgan and Kipel followed. Kipel shut the door being last in.
The office was small, held a desk, three chairs, two large filing cabinets and a tiny side table with a wilting plant. The manager sat behind the desk, motioned for them to sit in the other two chairs and finally stopped moving.
"What can I do for you officers?"
"Actually I'm with the F.B.I. and I need to ask you some questions and see if it's possible to look at one of your rooms." Morgan had his badge out and showed it to the manager who barely looked at it.
"Oh, well… I could answer some questions I suppose but the rooms are another matter. If it's in use you will need a warrant and I would like an explanation." It seemed this was not the first time the authorities had been here for some reason or another.
"Do you have any other security for the outside parking lot besides the one by the entrance?" Morgan started.
"No I'm afraid not. We used to but it got to be too expensive and it never really helped before anyway."
"Have any of the guests reported anything suspicious or any disturbances lately?" Kipel asked.
"Nothing more than the usual flat tire or dead battery that I am aware of" the manager replied.
"Alright, well the room we want to see is a previous crime scene. Jorden Cross, a guest was abducted from his room here not long ago." Morgan stared at the manager.
"Yes, that was very unfortunate. We called the police and co-operated fully during the investigation. The room was a mess and they did most of the cleaning when they collected his things as evidence or some such sort. However the room was released to us last week and has been since cleaned and opened for guests. I will have to check to see if it's rented." The manager turned to a tiny computer at the right edge of his desk. He began typing and scrolling through information pages.
Morgan and Kipel could not see the screen but that was expected. Morgan however groaned internally at the news. If it had been cleaned to be reopened there whatever crime scene missed was undoubtedly gone. But still he waited for the manager's check. Moments later the man turned back to them.
"No one has been in it since but it is booked for tonight. However the guests have not checked in yet. So if you are quick and won't mess anything up I'll take you up to have a look." The manager got up from his seat.
"We appreciate that, thank you." Morgan said being polite.
He and Kipel got up and followed the manager once again as he took them down the hall, back through the lobby and down the opposite hall. Almost in the middle he stopped at a room with the number 123 on the door. He took out a key card and had the door open for them in seconds.
The manager waited at the door while Morgan and Kipel broke apart, each taking a side of the room and doing a sweep. Morgan checked the bathroom while Kipel checked the closet. They found nothing.
"Thanks again, we'll be on our way" Morgan nodded to the manager once they were done. He and Kipel retraced their steps back out the lobby and to the SUV.
"Well that wasn't any help" Kipel sighed as they started the trip back to the station. After the new discovery at the first scene he had hoped for more here. But there had been nothing.
"Very case has a few dead ends, but we did have some success. And the rest of the team found some things too. Not too bad for a first day" Morgan tried to see the lighter part of it.
"Yeah I guess, but after so long I just thought there would be more." Kipel looked at Morgan.
"Patients, we'll figure it out. We've done good so far."
Kipel nodded and looked out the window. The ride back was long and quite, both men thinking about what they had learned and wondering about what the others had found. When they finally pulled into the station Hotch and JJ were just getting out of their SUV.
Facts: Somers is a real place, but Herald's Garage is not, and I know Somers is about 8 miles outside Kalispell but for my story it's a longer drive. Highway 93 does run through both.
(Thanks for waiting so long for an update, RL had me for a while but I got it sorted now. More updates regularly! Thanks again for reading, feel free to review. And yes I was quote happy, I just couldn't decide which one I liked more!)