A/N

a huge Thank You goes out to DebbieOz, glad you like it so far. Let´s see, what Hotch is going to find out. Cass is putting her hopes into him...here we go, next chapter

oOo

Hotch just put his things in the closet when someone knocked. "Yes, please?"
"It's me, Cass. Can I come in?"
"Of course," Hotch opened the door.
"Don´t you worry, I won´t put you on the case immediately, Hotch. I just wanted to say, there is fresh coffee and blueberry pie, I have just removed from the oven. I guess, you´re hungry."
Hotch nodded. "I'm afraid, there won´t be much pie left, when I get finished with it. I love blueberries." He put his phone in his pocket and went down into the living room, with Cass.

oOo

It smelled delicious and Hotch sat down beside the blond-striped cat in the Chesterfield leather sofa. "But that's not Bo, right?"
Cass laughed, "No, that would be expecting too much. That's Jim-Bob, one of his many grandchildren. You still remember Bo?"

"Well, I'm older now, but not senile, yet", a brief smile flickered across Hotch's face and Cass smiled back. She put a plate with the pie on the table, along with two cups of coffee.
"You skip the pie?" Hotch asked surprised and a appreciative sound escaped his mouth, the pie tasted delicious.
"My jeans and my scale say no." Cass joked. Hotch frowned, "I don´t see why", he stated firmly.
Cass blushed. "Thank you. I'm always so uncertain, when it comes to this," she admitted quietly.
"You don´t have to," Hotch said honestly and sipped his coffee. "How have you been, Cass?"
Cass took off her shoes and folded in the wing chair.

"After Nora, suddenly everything was different," she said softly. "All this carefreeness, all the light was gone. My grandmother locked me up in the house, literally. We girls have been driven by Deputys to school and back for almost a year.

Sheriff Drake was really worried about us. It almost broke his heart that the man was never caught. "

"Sheriff Drake is still alive, yes?" Hotch asked in between.

"Yes, he is. He had a stroke, 2 years ago. But he has recovered quite well, he turned 81, last month."
"And your grandmother?"
"Granny is doing well, fortunately. She visits a friend in Portland, so I take care of the boarding house. For me, it was quite clear that I'm going to study criminology. Agent Gideon has supported and encouraged me a lot. He even offered to intercede for me at the Academy."
"He did? And you didn´t want to? Why? We´re always looking for committed people." Hotch asked.

Cass shook her head. "Not without knowing who is responsible for the murders 17 years ago. I just cannot rest, Hotch. Whenever I´m visiting Nora at the hospice, I ask myself the same questions to which I have no answers. I see her lying in this bed, see how life passes by, without her. She is betrayed, Hotch. Love, family, things she will never have, just because of this dirtbag! And he is still out there, living his life, like nothing ever happened...it makes me so incredibly angry!" Cass got loud and clenched her fists. Jim-Bob raised his hackles and hissed.

Hotch stroked the striped one behind his ears and Jim-Bob purred contentedly again.
"Don´t be surprised, if you find him in your bed now", Cass warned Hotch. "I'm sorry, I'm just emotional when it comes to this. I would probably not be a very professional profiler, I'm afraid."
"It is not good if you're too close to the cases," Hotch confirmed. "But sometimes that's just the kick that you need. But don´t you tell that to my team." A smile crossed Hotch's face.
"You now have your own team?" Cass repeated. "But I should not be surprised by this, I remember you as very ambitious."
Hotch took another piece of pie. "An ambition that has cost me a lot, Cass."
"Your marriage," Cass noted, overlooking his ringless hand.

oOo

"What do you expect from me now?" Hotch changed the subject.
"I have a Nora-room, downstairs in the basement. It sounds crazy, I know. But how else should I call it. I collected everything I could find about the case. Reports, photos, newspapers ... ... I want to go through it all over again with you, point by point until I bring it into the correct shape, for my dissertation."
Hotch nodded. "Sounds reasonable. I would love to visit Nora, she's here in Bangor?"
"Not quite. She´s at Holy Spirit's hospice, which is 10 miles from here, in Glendale. I wanted to see her anyway, I visit her twice a week."
"You also take care of the property?"
"Yes, although I fear that the weeds will win, eventually. I'm changing, then we can go, if you want. Joe Drake, the grandson of the Sheriff steps in for me."

Right on cue Joe walked into the living room. "I'm settled, you´re free to go, Cass."
"Thanks, Joe. I´m about to change clothes. Oh, this is Agent Hotchner, he´s with the FBI."
"So you really have the FBI come again?" Joe asked, sounding annoyed. "Don´t you think it´s time to finally drop it? It´s all water under the bridge! You're obsessed, Cass. You need to move on with your life. Oh I forgot. You don´t have one!"

"You don´t have to tell me, what I am supposed to do. It´s my decision, all alone." Cass' eyes flashed, she left the room in a hurry.

Joe grunted, "Good Lord, it´s not only you.", he turned to Hotch. "My grandfather talks about nothing else, Agent Hotchner. What are you thinking? You haven´t got him 20 years ago, you´ll get him now?"

"That´s not why I´m here, Mr. Drake. Cass is working on her PhD and her subject is the deaths of 17 years ago. If no significant new evidence is presented, then I am afraid, we won´t find the unsub even today." Hotch replied quietly. "But it seems not important to you, to solve this case."
Joe ran his fingers through his hair. "But of course. It's just that this thing has always been present in our family and eventually ... I'm sorry, I´m just sick and tired of all this. It's like a dark curtain that never stands out."

Hotch nodded. "You don´t have to apologize, I understand what you mean. I know, Cass want´s me to find something, we overlooked in the past. I don´t know, if that´s gonna happen. But if there is a possibility to get him... Hell I will."

Joe poured himself some coffee from the kitchen. "I used to hang around with Cass and Nora, you know? Childhood was pretty good here, until...until this animal stole it from us. It´s nearly impossible to leave this past behind us. I tried and I guess, I made it...Somehow. But Cass? She´s kinda obsessed, she won´t let go. She´s visiting Nora twice a week. She...gosh, the poor girl doesn´t recognize anything. I couldn´t bear to see her like this. Nora was such a cutie and a good person. Always friendly to everyone. How could anyone do that to her and those other girls? And why? I don´t see any reason!"

"And that´s eating Cass up, Joe. She can´t put this aside, neither can I."

Joe nodded. "Again, I´m sorry. If there´s something I can do, just tell me."

"Thanks. You and Cass...?", Hotch wanted to know.

"A couple? Well, I wish. But she´s a whole different level, Agent Hotchner. She´s got a bright future, I´m working at a gas station."

"This doesn´t mean anything, you know", Hotch said and Joe smiled shortly. "No, it´s okay. I know, we´re not ment to be together. But I always will be her friend."

Cass came back, wearing a colorful dress. "Nora loves colors", she said.

oOo

The man took the same path as always. He entered the Holy Spirit hospice through a hidden basement entrance. He knew his stuff, the cellars and the sewers of Bangor.
He attended his last one every week, secretly and unrecognized. He looked at her, while she was sleeping and how she became an adult. Like Sleeping Beauty, the press was right. He was fascinated by how quiet she lay there ... the world did change, but her sleep didn´t.

He couldn´t bring himself to kill another girl. Not as long as this one was alive. A sign of his failure.
He entered her hospital room and sat down beside her.

Watching her sleep.

Sometimes he brushed a strand of hair from her face ...
He looked at his watch, it was time to leave.

Just as secretly as he had come, the man disappeared again.