Chapter Two – Four by Four

I was smiling as I walked into the bullpen, my mind on Leigh.

"Hey pretty boy, who's got you grinning?" Morgan laughed as I walked in. My cheeks burned as I tried unsuccessfully to remain nonchalant. He was getting ready to question me, but JJ saved me from the embarrassment by calling us all into the conference room. When we were all seated, she began the briefing.

"This is a local case. Yesterday, the bodies of four girls, Maggie Wheaton, Emma Rosen, Hailey Blackmon, and Angela Brenner were recovered, all completely drained of blood from cuts on their wrists," she said as pictures of the bodies flashed up on the screen, "All are in their twenties; brunette, same eye color, petite. They were found together in the woods off I-95 near Barta Road, but it looks like he spent some time with them. They were all laid out, arms crossed over their chest, covered with leaves and other debris. Autopsy reports said that they were all killed within hours of each other. However none of the bodies revealed any injury aside from the wrists."

"Any sexual assault?" Prentiss asked.

"None. All of the girls were reported missing two days before their bodies were discovered, so he's spending time with them before he kills them. Three more girls, Jessica Riche, Leslie Novak, and Hannah Green were reported missing today, one yesterday; Sara Merle. Her roommate called in saying that she never came home from work. The latest report came in two hours ago."

"So we have two days at best to find them," Hotch said from the corner.

"Maybe not, Merle went missing yesterday.

"So we may only have a day," Prentiss said softly. We were all quiet for a moment.

"They all share similar physical characteristics," Rossi noted, breaking the silence, "Could it be transference?"

"Maybe. There probably was, or is, a woman in his life he's close to; a mother, sister, girlfriend," Hotch answered.

"Are there any connections between the victims aside from their appearance?" I asked.

"None that were reported." JJ answered.

"I'll get Garcia on it," Hotch said, pulling out his cell phone. As soon as he hung up, he turned back towards us. "Morgan, Rossi, go and visit the crime scene. See if you can find anything the police missed. Prentiss and I will visit the missing girls' families. Reid, stay here and start working on a profile. Hurry, we may not have much time," he walked out the door, Prentiss right behind him. JJ walked out soon after; followed by Morgan and Rossi. I stood up slowly before walking to get the case files. Flipping through the photographs, I kept seeing Leigh in the girls' features; the shape of her mouth, the set of her cheekbones, the angle of her jaw. I shook my head before I continued reading. 'You talked to the girl for five minutes and you're already seeing her! I've finally lost it,' I said to myself, but I was unable to completely shake the feeling that maybe it wasn't just me.

BDBDBDBDBD

That night we were all seated at the conference table, Garcia on speaker.

"Ok, I looked at the missing girls' credit card records, and they all had one thing in common. They each bought books at the Barnes and Noble on Springfield Center Drive, so I pulled up a list of employees. The owner is Howard Tate; he's thirty-five, married with two children. We have ten cashiers, none of whom had a criminal record, and two people working the café in the back; Michael Stephens and Samantha Moore. Both of their records are spotless. The only person that had a criminal record was the owner; domestic violence. It was five years ago and the case was expunged.

"Can you get us a picture of his wife?" Hotch asked.

"I'm sending it to your handhelds as we speak," she responded happily.

"Brown hair, blue eyes, slight figure; it fits the victimology; think this is our guy?" Prentiss asked.

"He fits the profile," I said, "Garcia, did you find his address?"

"Of course! He lives at 6931 Ruskin Street in Springfield."

"Let's go," Morgan announced as he stood up.

I stood on the front stoop with Morgan, waiting for Howard Tate to open the door. The door cracked open and he looked out at us with cold, calculating brown eyes. I had a bad feeling about this man already. Morgan flashed his badge.

"FBI, we're going to need to take you in for questioning."

BDBDBDBDBD

I watched through the two-way mirror as Morgan questioned Tate. He was hiding something. He wouldn't make eye contact, and when he did it was because he was being overly defensive. He rubbed is forearm when he was asked a hard question. I guessed it was his nervous tic. I heard Morgan talking to him through the video feed.

"Does the name Maggie Wheaton mean anything to you?" he questioned, leaning on the table, sliding the picture of her body across the table. I saw a flash of recognition in his eyes.

"No," he lied, "why should it?"

"She's a regular at your store,"

"I don't pay attention to customers," he responded, talking faster than normal, "I just stay in my office, I don't have time to go into the store and talk with customers. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my employees; you can't expect me to remember all my customers too!" His voice rose with nervousness as he talked. Prentiss walked up beside me.

"Is this our guy?" she asked me.

"Probably. He's obviously hiding something, and he lied when Morgan asked if he knew Maggie Wheaton. We don't have any proof yet, but I have a feeling some will surface." I answered. I focused my attention back to Morgan and Tate.

"…Hailey Blackmon or Angela Brenner? Do they sound familiar? No? Well how about Sara Merle? She went missing two days ago; do you know anything about that?"

"No, I don't." he stated coldly, looking Morgan in the eyes. 'Either he's telling the truth, or suddenly he became a very good liar,' I thought. Prentiss and I turned around when we hear the click of JJ's heels as she walked up behind us, on the phone.

"…ok Hotch, I'll get right on it," she snapped the phone shut and looked up. "Another girl, Macy Winters, was just reported missing. Her shift at the Silver Diner ended two hours ago but she never made it home. Her sister called the manager, who said that she left on time. Hotch and Rossi went to talk with the manager. She corresponds with all the previous victims. We've got the police searching the woods where the previous bodies were found." I looked back at Tate and dialed Morgan's cell.

"Yeah," he answered shortly.

"We've got the wrong guy," I answered.