Hotch, JJ and Carl started with Gary Sapperstein, he was working as a bartender in a little bar on the outskirts of Liberty Avenue, not exactly as glamorous as being the manager of a popular gay club.
The bar was empty when they came in and went to the counter. A man came over and asked what he could get them. They all showed their credentials and asked for Gary Sapperstein.
"That's me, what can I do for you?"
"You know about the killings of gay men on and around Liberty Avenue in the last two months?"
Carl was doing the talking, something they had agreed on in the car, at least with the Sap.
"Sure I've heard of them, but what has that got to do with me?"
"We're pretty sure the killer is either ultimately after Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor, or is at the very least trying to frame them for the murders. We know you have a beef with Mr. Taylor for the loss of a tooth and we just want to know where you were on the nights in question."
"I was here; I work nights every weekend, Thursday through Saturday, have for the last 6 months. You can ask the owner; he's here with me."
"Is he here now?"
The Sap turned around and called into the back. A little while later, a man came out looking at the three at the bar.
"There a problem here?"
"No, no problem, we'd just like to know if Mr. Sapperstein was here on these three dates between 10PM and 3AM."
They had all showed their credentials again and Carl gave the man a piece of paper with the three dates on them.
"What days are those?"
"Saturdays, all of them."
"Then yeah, he was here, he works every Saturday from about 9PM till 5:30AM. We close at 5 and then we tally the register and divide the tips."
"Thank you so much, sir, sorry for the inconvenience."
"No inconvenience; we are always happy to help the law."
He smiled smarmily and after the three had left the bar, JJ visibly shuddered.
"What a creep."
"Yeah, but he did give Sapperstein an alibi for the murders."
Both Carl and JJ nodded at Hotch and went back to the car. Carl turned the car towards downtown and stopped in front of a high rise. They got out of the car and went into the building and up the elevator. When they arrived at the right floor, they got out and walked to the reception area.
"Hello, how my I help you?"
The well-coiffed blond sitting behind the desk gave them a pleasant smile and they showed her their credentials.
"We'd like to talk to Gardner Vance, please."
"Certainly."
She picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"I have the FBI here; they wish to speak to Mr. Vance. Ok, I'll let them know."
She turned back to them and smiled.
"Mr. Vance's secretary will be here in a second to escort you to his office."
They thanked her and moved back from her desk a little. A few minutes later, an equally well-coiffed woman came out of the elevator. She led them to an office two floors up and knocked on the door.
"Mr. Vance, there are some people from the FBI here to see you."
She motioned them into the office and the man got up from behind his desk.
"Hello, I'm Gardner Vance, how may I help you?"
"I'm SSA Hotchner, this is SSA Jennifer Jareau from the FBI and this is detective Carl Horvath from Pittsburgh PD. We are investigating the murders of three men on and around Liberty Avenue."
"I've heard of those; what do they have to do with me?"
"We believe that the one killing these men is ultimately after Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor, or at least is trying to frame them for the killings. We understand that you have lost quite a few of your clients to Brian Kinney since he left your agency and we'd like to know where you were on the nights in question."
Vance looked absolutely stunned for a second before he sank into his chair.
"You really think I'm capable of murder? Just to get back at Kinney for stealing my clients? Did he tell you that?"
"No, he actually told us that he didn't think you could do this, but we have to talk to everybody who might have a grudge against either of them."
Vance nodded and then asked when the killings had taken place.
"On the first night, I was at a benefit for the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. On the second, I was at home with my wife, and on the third, we were at some friends' house for dinner."
"We need the names of those friends."
"Of course."
He called his secretary to get him the number for his friends and a few people who had seen him at the benefit. They thanked him, apologized for the inconvenience and then left. Before they were out the door, he told them that he hoped they caught the guy.
Once back in the car, JJ called the people to verify Vance's alibi and they all corroborated his story, just as they had expected them to.
"It's almost time for lunch, how would you like to meet my wife? She's head waitress at the Liberty Diner; it might be a good idea for you to actually see the community. Just please don't tell her you are staying with Brian and Justin. She might just kill me for not telling her, and then she's going to tell the entire family and we'll never get any work done."
Both Hotch and JJ agreed and Carl turned the car towards Liberty again. He parked outside the diner and they walked in. When Debbie saw who had come in, she hurried over to give Carl a big hug.
"What are you doing here, honey? I thought you were working today."
"I am. This is special agents Aaron Hotchner and Jennifer Jareau from the FBI. We are just here for some lunch and I wanted them to see the area where all the murders had taken place."
Debbie sobered up, shook hands with the agents and showed them to a booth before giving them menus.
"I hope you catch that fucking asshole, he's scaring the shit out of all the boys, and frankly he's scaring me a little, too, and I've never before been scared of walking around here after dark."
Both Hotch and JJ were a little taken aback at Debbie's colorful language; they would never have guessed that Carl would be married to someone quite so…unique.
"Is it just the two of you?"
"No, we split up for the day, covering more ground that way; we are actually 6 agents on this case."
Debbie nodded and then left them to look through the menus when the cook hit the bell with an order up. They decided what they wanted and then Carl called Debbie back just as Kiki came out of the back. JJ and Hotch had a hard time schooling their expressions at the tall transvestite.
Carl and Debbie both chuckled at their reaction and then just ignored it. They ordered their food and then started talking about the case.
"We are really no further along than we were when we started this morning; I hope the others have better luck than us,"
JJ said, a little discouraged.
"We really didn't expect any of these names to pan out, but we had to talk to them; plus, we still need to talk to Mr. Taylor; that should be interesting."
Hotch said this very dryly and both JJ and Carl chuckled a little.
"I really hope there are a lot of customers in the store when we get there. It was a good idea to talk to him last; the bastard deserves it for the way he treated Justin."
Carl sounded a little pissed and the agents could understand that; treating your son like that was not something either could relate to, both having sons themselves.
When lunch was over, they said goodbye to Debbie and then drove on to Taylor Electronics. The store was somewhat crowded, just like Carl had hoped it would be, and he didn't lower his voice when he introduced himself while showing his credentials.
"We'd like to talk to Craig Taylor, please."
The sales clerk looked a little ruffled but hurried out back to pass along the message. Craig Taylor showed up, but apparently, his employee hadn't told him who wanted to talk to him because he just asked what the problem was.
"Mr. Taylor, I'm special agent Hotchner, this is special agent Jareau from the FBI, and this is detective Carl Horvath from the Pittsburgh PD. We'd like to talk to you about some murders down on Liberty Avenue."
Hotch hadn't lowered his voice either, taking very unprofessional pleasure in seeing Mr. Taylor's eyes grow wide at the mention of Liberty Avenue. He hurried to usher them back to his office while looking around at all his customers, who had been following the conversation with badly hidden curiosity.
"What do you think I can tell you about some murders from that part of town?"
Craig's mouth was twisted in distaste and they all lowered their opinion of him even more, not that it had been very high to begin with.
"We have a strong suspicion that the killer is ultimately after Justin Taylor and Brian Kinney; we are talking to everybody who might harbor ill will towards either or both of them. You can see why we would deem it necessary to talk to you about this."
The disdain Carl felt for the man was obvious in his voice; he had tried to curve it, but he couldn't manage it completely. The face Craig made when he heard the name Brian Kinney didn't make it any easier to keep a professional demeanor.
"I'm a respected business man. How dare you accuse me of something like that?"
"We are not accusing you of anything, Mr. Taylor; we just want to know where you were on these three dates."
JJ, ever the diplomat, handed the paper to Craig and he took it after a while.
"I was out of town on business on the first two dates; I have plane tickets and hotel receipts I can show you as proof."
"Please."
Hotch nodded and Craig took the phone and called his secretary to bring in the mentioned documents. She arrived a little later with the papers, which she handed to her boss with a look to the three people standing in front of his desk; none had felt the need to take the offered chairs.
Craig handed the papers over to Hotch, who looked through them and then nodded at the other two.
"Thank you so much for your cooperation, Mr. Taylor."
They left the office relieved to get away without resorting to violence. They all felt like shaking off the oppressive feeling of his homophobia.
"God, what a…"
JJ didn't finish the sentence, but both Hotch and Carl agreed wholeheartedly.
"Let's get back to Britin; I need to shake off this unpleasant day. Plus, I want to know how the others did."
Again, the two men agreed and they got in the car to go back to the house.