Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and intend no copyright infringement.
Still staring at the cell phone's screen in disbelief, Rossi shook his head. "She was a teenager back then", he said "Extremely clever. Pretty girl. Perfectly mentally stable."
"Except that she fit the profile of a serial killer", Hotchner stated dryly.
The senior agent shrugged his shoulders. "We were looking for a highly intelligent, very ambitious female student in her last year, killing out of vengeance. Jamie was our chief suspect, granted, but in the end it turned out the unsub was a classmate who had planted evidence against her. What has happened to her? She was planning to go to Berkeley after high school."
"She never went to college", Morgan informed him. "She said she started travelling right after finishing school. Couldn't stay in one place long enough to attend lectures."
"She vanished after you had told her that you're with the BAU, didn't she?", Reid observed. "Maybe the old case and her current behavior are somehow connected."
"I'd really like to talk to her, Hotch", Rossi said. "Can I get a day off to go to Delaware?"
"If this is connected with an old BAU case, the matter is of interest to all of us", Hotchner decided. "We go together."
Rossi used the time on the jet for a telephone conversation with Jamie's parents. They remembered him and they affirmed an unsettling thought of his. "She was never the same after the investigation", Jeremy Talbot explained. "Turned into a truant. Walked around town for hours, just for the sake of moving, never actually going anywhere. It's not that we want to blame you, you were only doing your job, but she has suffered from nightmares ever since."
"You were only doing your job" – the father's words reverberated in Rossi's mind. He remembered his first encounter with Jamie: A bubbly girl, president of her school's debating society, enjoying nothing more than a fierce battle of words. She had actually looked forward to the first interview, absolutely confident that she would be able to talk herself out of everything. Didn't even want a lawyer. In order to establish whether she was the unsub or not, Gideon and him had had to break this belief into pieces. It's no picnic, being caught between two interrogation specialists – especially not when a victim is missing and time is pressing. No, they hadn't been gentle and yes, in the end she had been devastated. But Rossi had been sure she would get over it – in fact he had even felt that it had been a valuable lesson for her, curbing her overflowing ego a bit. Now he wondered whose ego really had been overflowing at that time.
They arrived in Wilmington in the middle of the night. The men and Prentiss headed straight to the hotel where Jamie was staying. JJ hadn't accompanied them since for now this wasn't an official BAU case and they wouldn't need a media liaison officer. The hotel was at the outskirts of Wilmington – a cheap place right next to one of the city's main artery roads. According to the receptionist, Jamie Talbot was in her room.
Morgan cautiously knocked on her door. "Jamie?" He didn't want to scare her. "My name is Derek Morgan. Do you remember me? We met in Vegas yesterday. I would still like to help you – could you please open the door?"
"This is probably not the best of all moments", a thin voice from inside called.
"Ms. Talbot? My name is Aaron Hotchner, unit chief of the BAU. SSA Morgan informed us about your problems and we'd like to help. At the moment we've got the impression the you're faced with great emotional stress. If you don't let us in now we might find it necessary to force the door open for the sake of your own safety", Hotchner told her.
For a long moment silence reigned. Then someone unlocked the door quietly. "Before you call in a crime scene unit", Jamie said, standing on the doorstep in ragged pajamas "the blood is all mine."