Hotch sighed in frustration. They'd been working for two days and they had nothing. "What do we know so far?" he asked.
"The bodies have been well preserved," Prentiss said.
"Possible refrigeration," Reid added. "And there are burn marks on the victims' wrists. Like they were bound with rope," he continued. "The UnSub isn't confident enough that he can strangle them without first subduing them."
Hotch looked at the detective standing next to him. "Where are we on the rope?" he asked.
The detective shook his head. "Nowhere to be found," he said.
"Possible trophy," Reid said.
"Or it could be as simple as...he can't afford new rope," JJ said, shaking her head.
"Morgan?" Hotch asked, looking for his two cents.
"This is what I don't get," Morgan said. "There weren't any footprints at all around the body, except for ours. It was like a drop and drive."
"The UnSub would have had a heck of a time concealing two bodies in transport," Prentiss said.
"Or six," Reid chimed in. "It's almost as if he threw them out of the vehicle and down over the embankment. He may not have even gotten out of the vehicle."
"He was in a hurry," Hotch said.
"Why?" Prentiss asked herself.
"Morgan," Hotch said. "Get Garcia on the phone and tell her to keep digging. There has to be a common link somewhere."
Morgan nodded and walked away from the group and hit one his speed dial.
"Ask and you shall receive," he heard Garcia say.
"Talk to me, Baby Girl," he commanded.
"I got zip," she said. "I checked FedEx, USPS, floral companies, television repair companies…I've checked it all, Morgan. And nothing."
"Keep digging," he said, "there has to be something that ties these girls together."
"You got it," she said, and he heard a click in his ear as she hung up.
___
Two hours later, while he and Reid were double checking one of the crime scenes, Morgan's cell phone rang. "Talk to me, Garcia."
"I think I have something," she told him.
"That is why I love those sweet lips of yours. They are so…plump with information," he told her.
"All four of those girls were abducted from Georgia," she told him, ignoring his comment about her lips.
He smirked at the thought of flustering her. "OK," he said.
"So I did a search within a five mile radius," she went on. "And the one thing all six of the abduction sites have in common is that there's a Gilman's Grocery nearby."
"Could be coincidence," he said.
"Maybe. Except that there's also a Gilman's Grocery within five miles of each of the drop sites so far."
"Truck driver," Morgan said.
"Bingo," Penelope agreed. "But there's more."
"Hold on. I'm gonna get Reid and put you on speaker."
Morgan found Reid and filled him in, then put his phone on speaker.
"Garcia?"
"I checked Florida when Prentiss suggested that the UnSub was heading north, but I didn't find anything. So I went west to Alabama, and that's where the trucks fill up for their deliveries."
"Garcia, you're a genius!"
"Yeah, I know," she said dismissively. "But here's another twist. There were two more abductions in Alabama, each within five miles of a Gilman's Grocery. Which means, either we have a dump site coming up…"
"Or one we haven't found yet," Morgan finished for her. "Good work, Garcia. This is why I love you, Baby Girl," he said, closing his phone.
___
After a little bit of research on her computer, Penelope was able to get a list of employees who drove truck for Gilman's Grocery. She narrowed the list from there, and she'd gotten a call a while ago when they'd apprehended the suspect and brought him in for questioning. She yawned as she shut her computer down and then stood, grabbing her bag so she could be on her way. She was already in the parking lot when she saw them. She smiled. "We got him," she said. Her smile faded and her eyes narrowed. "Where are Hotch and…Morgan? Where's my Morgan?"
JJ cleared her throat. "Garcia, Morgan was stabbed."
"What?" she asked in disbelief.
"He's going to be OK," Prentiss said quickly. "Hotch went straight to the hospital. He was stabbed in his upper thigh, but it didn't hit an artery. He's going to need surgery, but the EMT's assured us that he's going to be fine."
"Well…" She started breathing heavily, not even sure what to ask. "Where…where is he?" she finally got out.
She felt hands on her shoulder as if to comfort her, and Reid was standing there. "They took him to Potomac," he told her softly. "C'mon, I'll take you."
"I can drive," she insisted.
JJ shook her head. "We're not gonna let you drive, Garcia."
Penelope nodded as she swallowed past the lump in her throat. "OK. Let's go," she told Reid. He nodded and led the way to his vehicle.
___
Penelope and Reid walked into the ER and Reid, disregarding the hospitals rule about cell phones, immediately dialed Hotch, who told them where he and Morgan were. They made their way into the exam room and Hotch looked Garcia up and down."You OK?" he asked softly.
She nodded. "What's going on?" she asked quickly.
"They're getting him ready to go in for surgery," Hotch told them.
Penelope nodded. "Is he knocked out?" she asked.
"No," Morgan said with a groan.
Hotch and Reid, knowing that Morgan was going to be fine, went to the cafeteria to get something to eat, leaving her alone with him. She immediately moved to his bedside and took one of his hands. "Are you OK?" she asked softly.
"You should see the other guy," he said teasingly.
She gave him a stern look, and he nodded grinning lopsidedly at her. "I'm fine," he told her. "A little buzzed from whatever is in that bag," he said, looking up at the bag attached to his IV. "But I'm fine."
"What happened?" she asked.
Morgan shrugged. "I told the man who I was, and that I was with the FBI. He appeared to be cooperating, so I put my gun in its holster so I could cuff him. He leaned down and took a knife out of his sock and stabbed me while he was coming up."
"This is so like you, Morgan," she said with nervous laughter.
"What?" he asked.
"I turn you down and you have to go and get all dramatic on me to make me feel sorry for you."
"You feel sorry for me?" he asked in a teasing tone. She was using humor to try and make herself feel better, so Morgan went along with it.
She nodded. "Does it hurt?"
"They gave me some good stuff," he told her again.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "You told me you were going to be careful," she reminded him in a whisper.
"It could have been a lot worse."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said.
"Do you…can you feel anything?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not really."
"Good," she said. She turned around and grabbed the pillow off the chair beside his bed and hit him twice in the face with it—not hard, just enough to make her point.
"Garcia!" he said firmly.
"I am so mad at you right now!" she told him, tossing the pillow back in the chair.
He grabbed her hand and lifted it to his lips, giving her a tender kiss on the knuckles. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely.
She stood there for a moment, her hand at his lips before nodding. She could feel her eyes filling with tears. "I have to go now, because...I'm pretty sure I'm gonna cry, and I really don't' want you to see me like this," she said, turning to go just as transport came in to take him to surgery.