Reid's neighbors proved to be little help. Few knew Reid, and those who did knew very little about him. Only two people were able to provide any more substantial information was the old woman, who introduced herself as Mabel Pinkleman that lives in the apartment next door. She only confirmed what the team assumed; that Reid never left that morning. The woman saw him every day at the same time. She would just be leaving for her morning walk to a nearby café for a breakfast as Reid left for work. They walked down the stairs together, but the conversation was often kept to a minimum with Mabel leading the conversation. When JJ asked if she had seen or heard from Reid this day Mabel said no, she had not. She assumed he was asleep or sick, and although she was concerned for her young neighbor, she did not want to disturb him.

"Let me know when you find him," Mabel said after JJ thanked her for her time. "He's such a nice boy. I hate to think anything bad would happen to him."

The only other person who was able to provide JJ with more than a few vague answers was a man who lived two doors down away from Ms. Pinkleman. He plainly wears an expression of annoyance once he opens the door. It is not until JJ explains the reasons behind her disturbance does he remember his manners. The man did not know Reid off the top of his head, but once JJ describes him he was able to remember. "Oh him," the neighbor says. He smiles then. "I've run into him once or twice in the hall. Nice guy. I didn't know he was in the FBI. Well, to be honest I don't know much about him. I only moved in a few months ago. I run into him in the hall every once in awhile, but that's about it."

"Do you remember the last time you saw him?"

"Some time after 11:30. I think. It was before midnight, though. I do know that."

"Was there anyone with him?"

"No," the man says with a frown. "I don't think so. I just saw him go to his door. Didn't say anything. He looked tired, though. So was I. I always get stuck with the late shifts. I work at a diner a few blocks down. Well, that's one of my jobs. Does the FBI keep you guys out late?"

"Depends." JJ tries to get him back on track. "What did you talk about those other times?"

"Oh, you know, the boring stuff. Traffic and weather. Nothing interesting."

"Has he ever brought up anyone?"

"Nope."

"Did you see him with anyone that night?" JJ asks, hopefully.

"No. But there might have been someone in the hall later. I thought I heard someone, but that's nothing unusual. There are people coming and going nearly much all hours of the night. It's annoying, really. Some get pretty loud, especially on the weekends. It's like they forgot that they aren't the only ones who live in this building."

"Was there anyone loud last night? Like fighting?"

The man thinks. "No. Not that I recall. But I passed out pretty quickly. It was a long day with, you know, work and all."

"Where did you say you work again? JJ asks as her cell phone begins to vibrate.

"Cream and Sugar. It's a diner down a few blocks. I take the late shifts now that Jen's getting old. She owns the place."

JJ reads the text message, vaguely listening to what the man was saying. It was from Emily; they were almost back with Lastine. "Oh, I've never been there, but it sounds nice," she says politely as she places the phone back into her jacket pocket and exchanges it with a business card. "I have to go, but if you think of anything later could you call me? Even if it doesn't seem like it, it could be significant."

"Sure."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What did you say your name is?"

"Alec Clark."

"Right. I'm Jennifer Jereau," JJ says with a smile. She extends her card. The man takes it and smiles back. "Thank you for your time, Alec. Really, I appreciate it."

"It's not a problem! I'll give you a call if I can think of anything."

"Thanks."

Rossi wants to make sure he was the one who got to interrogate professor Lastine. He deserves the opportunity, and no one could convince him otherwise. At first Hotch was hesitant at first out of fear of how Dave would react, especially if it turned out that Lastine did have something to do with it, but now he relents. It is obvious that the senior profiler was on edge. He needs to do something to feel like he is doing something to have some sense of control. Strauss, although not in favor of the idea as she so vocally made known, also gives in under the condition that she sits in and monitors the interrogation so no legal boundaries are overstepped. Rossi does not even bother with arguing. The clock is ticking, and by the second he is become more desperate to find Spencer before he is hurt worse.

Hotch, Emily, and Morgan watch the professor from the other side of the mirror. Lastine looks around the room as he drums his fingers against the table top. His face is filled with anxiety, not the expression of vengeful, calculating kidnapper. "Do you think it's him?" Hotch asks.

"No, not really," Derek answers truthfully. "He definitely has interest in Reid, but I don't think it's enough to do anything extreme. He barely even mentioned Rossi."

"Did he mention anything about the abduction?"

"No. If anything it sounded like he had no idea about it. He could be good at lying, but honestly I think he's capable of this. Look at him in there. He seems too pathetic to be able to pull it off."

"The man in the video was hiding behind a mask," Emily says. "He could not be secure enough to show is face, but may still be able to pull it off with the right sense of security. We would have certainly taken it away."

"I don't think so. He was out right with his thoughts towards Reid, but I don't think they were anything more than creepy. Besides, Lastine doesn't even look physically capable of it."

"Unless he is working with someone," Hotch says. "He wouldn't leave Reid on his own for so long."

"God it'd be nice if he would," Emily says. "I don't know to think about what could be going on now."

Rossi enters the room with Strauss right behind him. In his hands is a folder contain a file of what little evidence they have been able to gather so far as well some background information on Lastine that Garcia managed so scrape up.

Lastine watches the two carefully. "I don't understand why I'm even here," he says. "I haven't talked to Doctor Reid since last week. You can't possibly think I have anything to do with this."

"And what would this be?" Rossi asks as he takes a seat.

"The kidnapping or whatever is going on."

"Kidnapping?"

"That is what the other agents said," Lastine says, flustered. "They already asked me about this, and I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them. I had nothing to do with this. You're just wasting my time and your time."

"Maybe I wanted to talk to you."

Lastine scowls. "About what? You're in the middle of a case and you want to small talk? Agent Rossi, I don't know if you're joking or not, but-."

"Tell me," Rossi interrupts. He opens the file and flicks through the pages until he finds what he is looking for. "Tell me, Lastine. How often do you give out extra credit to your students."

"On occasion. If they need it and deserve it."

"What qualifies them of deserving it?"

"They're determination to work. Some kids want to do well, but have a harder time keeping up in the class room, so I give them another chance."

"And what does this extra credit usually consist of."

Lastine hesitates a moment. "Papers. I assign them extra chapters in their text book to read and have them write a three to four page paper over it."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"Well," Rossi says as he places the open folder down on the table top, facing Lastine. Strauss frowns slightly. Her focus goes from the folder to Rossi. "It looks like you have a pretty well documented history of taking advantage of your students' educational needs. Did you have them write papers over the sexual assignments you gave them?"

Both Lastine and Strauss turn shades of red. "I- I," Lastine falters. "That had nothing to do with class work. Everything was consensual."

"Your students seem to say otherwise."

"Everything was consensual."

"But you don't deny taking interest in your students." When Lastine doesn't answer, Rossi goes on to the next question. "Did you take interest in Reid?"

"Spencer is an adult."

"You're at least twice his age," Rossi says. His tone darkens. It sends Strauss on alert, but she cannot deny a sense of anger seeping into her.

"So what?" Lastine says. "Are you telling me that you've never slept with someone younger than you? Can you truthfully deny that you have not looked at some hot young thing and not wanted them? No. It's human nature. There might have been things I would have liked to do to Spencer, but all forms of contact ended as soon as you two walked out the door. I'll tell you again; you're wasting your time."

This game is taking much too long. Soon it will be over, and I have yet to hear from David personally. The doctor has brought up the idea of calling his friends to help progress. I pretended to be thrilled by the thought, but I was not. Amused would be a better word. Amuse that he would think that I'm stupid enough to even consider going through with that. I know what the FBI is capable. They would find some sort of way to trace me, and I am not giving myself up that easily. As long as there is still time left in the game, there is still time for suffering.

I return the doctor's room with my mask back on. He watches me, so carefully and so fearful as if he is just waiting for the moment for me to pounce again. I smile. "Good to see you're still awake," I say. "How is your head doing?"

His eyes search over me, no doubt looking for the phone.

"I don't have it," I tell him. "The phone, if that's what you're looking for."

"I- I thought you wanted to call David."

I sit down next to him. "No. Not now. There will be a time for that. I was just trying to see if you would get your hopes up." There is heartbreak in his eyes to which I grin. "There it is! I don't know why you even thought I would. Do you honestly think I'm that careless?"

" No, but-."

"You really aren't that smart, at least not genius level. If you were, then you probably would have figured a way to get out already. Hell, you don't even remember who I am! After all of the times we sat together in the same room." I shake my head. "I can name at least five. One just last week. You aren't very observant, are you?"

The doctor frowns. He is trying to remember, but fails. "I even gave you my real name twice," I say. "Maybe I hit your head too many times. Oh, off topic, but I have been wondering this for the past hour. How would you feel about me ripping out each and every one of your teeth? We can use them to make a trail to here. I'm sure the FBI or at least David would spring for some nice, new replacements. Well, that is if you aren't dead by then. By the looks of the current time that may be the likely outcome. I can't decide how to do it, though. I'm torn between cutting you open and let you bleed out and bashing your head into the wall until they're covered with your brains. Maybe I'll make you the tie breaker."

The doctor lies perfectly still. He is no longer looking at me.

"Don't worry," I say as I run a hand over his chest. "There's still time left. Plenty to sneak a little more fun in. How are you feeling about another round?"

"No," he replies bluntly.

"Even if we had an audience?"

"No."

"Well, it doesn't matter really. Trust me, kiddo. You'll have fun. Just try to relax."

The doctor tries to move away, but I grab on to him and push my weight onto him. "I'm going to fuck you, and the least you can do is try to fucking relax. For your sake."

"No!"

I grab the doctor by the hair, dragging him off the mattress on to the floor. I pull him up towards my chest and send him down so that his skull cracks against the hard floor. The action is repeated twice more before I stop to take a break. Surely the neighbors have heard by now, and surely I do not care. Panting, I glare at the doctor. His hair is still tangled up in my fist. He won't look at me now; his eyes have been tightly shut in anticipation for the next blow. "I could kill you now," I growl. "But I want you alive for this. But first, I'm going to get us an audience. If you want to talk to your fucking friends, then I'm going to let you talk to your fucking friends. They can listen while I fuck your brains out."

The interrogation had been going on for hours now and there had been little to no progress. Deep down Rossi knows that Lastine is not the man they are looking for. His feelings towards Spencer were nothing more than a perverted crush. Still, David is reluctant to give up. There has to be something useful there; he just needs to keep digging. Just as he is about to set off another round of questions, his phone goes off. Rossi looks at the screen and is unable to recognize the number. His heart beat picks up. It must be the unsub.

"Hello?"

"David? Is that you? I didn't expect you to pick up so quickly! Slow day at the office?"

Rossi looks towards the mirror. Already Morgan has gone off to get Garcia. Despite their cool personas, Hotch and Prentiss look clearly on edge. This may be their only chance. "We've been busy."

"Looking for me, right? Have you gotten anywhere?"

"There's been progress."

"Really now? Well, I do hope it's enough to save your poor little friend. The clock is ticking, you know. He's getting rather antsy here, and he misses you terribly. In fact, that's the reason I called. The doctor wants to talk to you."

"Really," Rossi says, unsure. He gets up from the table and heads towards the door, once again leaving Lastine. Without saying a word, Strauss shoots up and follows him out of the room and into the bullpen. "Would you allow me to talk to Spencer?"

"Yes, you can talk to the doctor if you want in a minute. We can have our talk later. I think you owe it to me. I've gone to a lot of trouble here."

"We can do it now," Dave offers. "Let Spencer go and you will have my undivided attention."

"Do you know how insufferable your stupid little doctor is?" Agitation and malice is laced throughout the UnSub's tone. Rossi cringes. This cannot be good for Reid. "I cannot talk to him without having him say something incredibly stupid or boring," the man continues to say. "But I'm sure you know all about that from your personal experience. It's taken me every ounce of my self control to not completely smash his head into the floor. You've probably have wanted to do that many times, haven't you? I just about did, but he's not dead yet."

"He hasn't done anything to you," Rossi says as strongly as he can manage. "You can let him go, and we can talk-."

"No! No, it does not work that way, David! I have set up this game and we're going to follow the rules! If you even try to break any of them I will kill the doctor right now! I will make sure you're the one who finds the corpse, and I can assure you now that it is not going to be pretty! It's not going to be something any of you are going to forget any time soon!"

Throughout this time the UnSub has maintained a calm and controlled attitude, but now he's losing it. Rossi can feel it. Reid does not have much time left.

Through the phone Rossi can hear a loud ripping noise. He recognizes it as the sound of tape being pulled from a roll. Reid will be silenced again; they won't be able to get any information out of him.

"I was going to let you two talk," the man says through harsh breaths. "But I don't think that's a very good idea. I'm just going to let you listen while I destroy his body. Hopefully by the time it's over he's still alive and you've thought of something new, you stupid fuckers. I'm not making any promises."

Rossi looks around at his teammates. Prentiss and Hotch are beginning to lose their practiced composure. Strauss' looks have already given away to show horror. Rossi knows Garcia is hard at work in her office, frantically clicking away at her keys as Morgan stands beside her, trying to push her along. They'll make it work. There's no other choice.

Hello! So, I realize that it took me quite awhile to update. I apologize. It's been busy with school lately, and to be honest I was debating where to go with this story from here. I had an ending concrete in my mind from the start, but I am debating about starting to conquer some demons. It is still undecided, though! Thank you to those who continue to read and stick with this story. I promise to have the next chapter up much sooner than the last. I'll start this weekend!