A/N And back again...So Nora woke up, blessing or curse? We´ll see...

Hotch looked at the mountain of files, Cass had collected over the years. Thoroughly, he thought and pulled out his cell phone. It rang very briefly, then Garcia was at the other end. "Knock and it shall be opened?"
Hotch smiled, "Hello Garcia. You're still in the office? Do we have a case?"
"No, but I´m done with Kevin, again. So I thought, I'm a bit productive, instead of sitting on my couch, all alone and getting drunk. Did you see moose, yet? Oh, Hotch, I love them. They are soooo sweet."
"Unfortunately not, I'm afraid. And if I do, I can´t bring them along, when I come home", Hotch stated and Penny laughed. "All right, I don´t even have a back yard. What can I do for you, Boss?"
"Take a look at the warden of the Holy Spirit Hospice. His name is Dr. Nate Baxter, I suppose he´s called Nathaniel. According to Cass Munroe he´s born in Portland, that´s all I´ve got, at the moment."
"Is he suspicious?"
"I'm not sure, Garcia. He is simply uncooperative and I´ve got a feeling he's hiding something. That's all."
"All right, that's enough for me. I´ll turn him inside out, I'll get back to you, asap. Bye, Hotch."

"Bye, Garcia."

"Was that your technology expert?" Cass asked. She came back into the basement with two cups of steaming coffee.
"Penelope Garcia. She´s a true genius and she´s putting Baxter under the microscope"
"Good idea," Cass handed Hotch the mug. "But I actually don´t think he has anything to do with the Butcher, he wasn´t even here then. But he´s not quite kosher, anyway. What you want to see, Hotch?"
"Your documents, Cass. Our records I almost know by heart."

Cass nodded and grabbed one of the file boxes. "This is newspaper articles about the Butcher. Not only from Bangor, it´s from a 50 miles radius. And I´ve got an own file for Noel Patrick. I know he had alibis, but he's the only one of the suspects, that has a connection to the sewage system. And it has to be someone who is familiar with it. It´s a maze, down there. "
Hotch nodded, "Gideon and me were believing that too. So you kept an eye on Patrick?"
"As far as I could, Hotch. He died of cancer, last year."
"Not good" Hotch said. "I would have liked to ask him a few more questions."
"Not very useful, I guess, Hotch. He became a bitter, old man. Bangor public utility have thrown him out, after he was a suspect. Even when he was cleared, public utility didn´t give him his job back. The Director was Kristen Gaunt´s uncle. Patrick has most recently lived with his buddy Earl Montfort, who vouched for him, when Kristen Gaunt was murdered. He barely left the house again and became a very strange person."

"I remember," Hotch said. "They had been at a casino, there was even surveillance recordings."
Cass nodded, "Yes, there were. But call me stupid, I never got rid of the feeling that Patrick had something to do with the murders."

oOo

Nurse Calvin Day was the first person who was with Nora Brewster in her room. She was screaming like a maniac and was ripping all cables off.
"Nora, hey, hey, hey. Take it slow. You're safe here, no one will harm you." Calvin spoke softly to her and squeezed her gently but firmly back into her pillow. "Sh, sh sh ... all is well, Nora. All is well."
Nora calmed down just for a minute, then she began to cry again. The horror from 17 years ago was troubling her. She screamed and raged until Baxter appeared and put her to sleep again.
"That was not fair, Dr. Baxter," Calvin scoffed. "It's a miracle, she's ever woke up and you put her back right away? She had already calmed down, I'm sure."

"Who do you think is the doctor here?" Baxter growled. "You´re a nurse, Day! Nothing else. If you don´t agree with my treatments, then you are free to go!"
"Never mind, I just meant," Calvin rowed back a little. Of course, he was only a nurse, but Nora Brewster would have certainly calmed down, without sending her into nirvana with oxazepam.
"Then why don´t you stop gaping, put Miss Brewster back on wire. And I want a comprehensive monitoring of the patient, did I make myself clear ?!"
"Yes, sir. Of course." Calvin didn´t want to get in any trouble, but Baxter responded kinda weird. He decided to call Cassie, as soon as possible.

oOo

Hotch was looking at file after file, when his cell phone rang. "Yes, Garcia?"
"Hi Boss. I didn´t drag you out of bed, did I?"
"Not yet, Garcia. Any news? I put you on speaker, Cass Munroe is here with me."
"Juhu, unknown Cass. Now listen up, my fine furry friends. Nate Baxter's real name is Raymond Nathaniel Baxter and he is, good work Cass, born in Portland, Maine. In 1948. He studied at Stanford and had a small private practice in Merritown, Vermont. In addition, he has worked for a hospice, the 'Heaven Shelter', until April 97. Strangely, from April 97 to January 99 Baxter vanished into thin air. "
"He took over the Holy Spirit in January 99", Cass confirmed. "Why did he leave the Heaven Shelter?"
"Yes, why did he, Garcia," Hotch hooked up.

"This, my friends, is a very good question, to which I have no answer at the moment. But, two of very trustworthy Agents are on their way to Vermont to a snoop a bit."
"You have sent Reid and Morgan?" Hotch muttered crossly.
"Not me in person, Boss. They were digging in the old files and then my chocolate thunder caught me investigating."

Cass giggled, "chocolate thunder? Is is allowed to call ones colleagues like that?"
Garcia laughed, " Pah, I always do. Don´t you worry, Cruz knows and has no objections. The two of them just wanna help." Garcia was blinking conspiratorially, forgetting that Hotch couldn´t see her.
"Well," Hotch slipped back, even he couldn´t be in two places, at once. Something was bothering him about Baxter and if Morgan and Reid dug deep enough, maybe something came to light.

"Okay, thanks for your help, Garcia."
"No sweat, Boss. And don´t you forget about my moose. Good night, sleep tight, you two. And always keep your hands on the coverlet. Garcia over and out."

Cass grinned, she had to meet Garcia in person, when this was over. "Um ... moose?"
Hotch ran his fingers through his hair, " moose, yes, I'm afraid. Garcia loves them and expects me to bring her something...um...moose-ish along. Any ideas?"
"But of course. A cousin of Joe has a little shop, a few miles away. She makes beautiful silver jewelry, even moose." Cass lifted a silver necklace from her neckline and to light came a small moose made of silver.
"Very pretty," Hotch said quietly, but left open whether he meant the moose or Cass very pretty neckline. She was leaning close to him.

Cass blushed and slipped away again a bit.
She sighed with relief when her cell phone saved her an answer. "Yes, Cass Munroe?"
Hotch watched Cass pale and she dropped her cell phone. Then she suddenly toppled from the chair.

oOo

"Was a good idea to spend the night at the motel," Morgan put his bag on the floor and dropped himself on the bed of the airport motel. They caught the last plane of the day to Montpelier, the federal capital.
Reid nodded, "it is almost 11 p.m. and to Merritown we need more than 3 hours. I do not like to sleep in the car and listen to your snoring." Reid grinned cheekily.

Morgan pouted, "I had no complaints so far, however."
Reid's grin widened, "just because Garcia gives her complaints to me."
"She wouldn´t do this," Morgan sounded indignant, confirming unintentionally Reid's suspicion. He noticed since a few weeks, that the relationship between Morgan and the tech goddess had changed. There were only little things, but Reid noticed.
"You've poked around", Derek said, when the penny dropped. "You little truffle pig. But that remains among us."
Reid nodded. "My lips are sealed. Nobody needs to know what you do in your free time. Door or window?"
"Door", Morgan decided spontaneously. "And I´m the first to go the bathroom."
"Don´t hibernate in there." Spencer took the most important things from his bag, grabbed his tablet and therefore the information that Garcia had dug about Baxter. It was strange that he was gone for 2 years...like Grcia said, he vanished into thin air. In Reid raised the question, why.
The contract at 'Heaven Shelter' had been dissolved by mutual agreement, according to the official version. Spencer was pretty familiar with Hotch's instinct for rotten eggs and this Baxter seemed to be one of those skanky 1,000 years old Chinese eggs.

Well, they would see what tomorrow would bring. Maybe there was a lead in Merritown.

oOo

Hotch patted Cass cheek and put a cushion under her head.
"Hello, this is Agent Hotchner?" He grabbed her cell phone.
"Yeah, it´s Calvin, from the hospice. What's up with Cassie, she fainted?"
"She´s blinking again Calvin, she´s all right. What happened, something with Nora?"
"Damn it, yes Agent Hotchner. Nora woke up. Just like that", he snapped his fingers.

Cass cell hit the floor for the second time, withtin a couple of minutes...