Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and intend no copyright infringement.
Morgan raised hell. He called in the police, informed his teammates and told the hotel manager that he wanted access to the surveillance videos. He was granted everything, but it was all to no avail. The police found no evidence whatsoever that Jamie Talbot had left the hotel bar against her will. The surveillance tapes showed her driving away hastily in her battered Jeep, looking terrified but not forced by another person. When the rest of the team arrived early next morning, they found Morgan back in the lobby again, totally puzzled.
"Derek, what is this all about?", Hotchner demanded to know. Morgan quickly recounted the events of the evening.
Rossi shook his head, calm and self-assured as usual: "You obviously met some very disturbed woman. Probably bipolar. Most likely she placed the pillow on the driver's seat herself to gain attention. When you told her you're with the FBI she realized she got more than she asked for and buzzed off." At this moment, Morgan's cell phone rang.
"Hello, man of my dreams", Garcia purred, "I've hacked into your stalking victim's e-mail account. According to her correspondence, Jamie Talbot's next appointment with a customer is in Wilmington, Delaware – today. I checked the local hotels and found a reservation on her name. She collected her keys two hours ago."
"Thanks, Garcia…", Hotchner said, "…but this doesn't seem to be a BAU case after all."
"Excuse me, can you repeat the name?", Rossi interrupted him.
"Jamie Talbot", Garcia replied.
"That sounds familiar…", the senior agent murmured, lost in thought. "Do you have a picture of her?"
"Her driver's license photo." She transmitted the photo to Morgan's cell phone. Rossi's eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked at the small screen. Driver's license photos were never becoming, but this one would have qualified as an advertisement for Blair Witch Project part three.
"That can't be the same person. She looks awful. What in the world has happened to her?"
"You know her?", Hotchner asked, but Rossi ignored him.
"Garcia, do you have her date of birth? Which high school did she go to?" Seconds later, Garcia rattled off Jamie Talbot's biographical data.
"So you know her?", Hotchner repeated his question.
Slowly the senior agent nodded. "More than a decade ago Gideon, Ryan and me investigated a serial killing at a high school in Nebraska. She was one of our suspects."