Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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Morgan and Rossi were talking to Dr. Glen Fung, head pathologist, at the Ashland Medical Centre morgue. He was going over Laura Matthews' autopsy. "There was evidence of a beating. Her nose and cheek bone were broken. She was in partial decomp. The insects had done their job, of course. Blow fly larvae and maggots were present. She had the cheesy odor that comes from the release of butyric acid after the third week. The hair follicles were basically undamaged and nothing came up on the tox screen. COD was a stab to the heart. The young woman bled out. The vaginal cavity was still intact and we took DNA samples but semen does start to dissipate after about a week so you might not be able to tie that to a suspect if you get one."

"Was there anything to give you a clue as to where she'd been held?" Rossi asked.

"When we fine combed her hair we found small flecks of what looked like beige paint. We gave it to the CSI tech for trace examination. You could check with them."

"Thanks doc," Morgan said as they shook Dr. Fung's hand and headed for Dale City.

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Lloyd Graham hung up the phone after speaking to the warden at Leavenworth. He had arranged a meeting for tomorrow with Chico Mendez. He looked again at the transcript in front of him and at the information he'd received from Spencer on Julie Crest. He picked up the phone and punched a button, "Elaine, please get me a flight to Kansas City for tomorrow morning. I'll need a rental car when I get there, thanks." He hung up the phone and said to the empty room. "It's a good thing you're doing William."

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The mid sized campus of the University of Mary Washington was fairly quiet. The semester was just about over and most students were getting ready for final exams. Hotch, Reid and Prentiss had gotten a few names from the student advisor, students that were friendly with the missing girls. Nancy Phillips had known Laura Matthews well. They had been roommates in the dorm. Reid and Hotch surveyed the room while Prentiss questioned the anxious young woman. "Was Laura involved with anyone in particular?" Emily asked.

"You mean like a boyfriend," she replied, "no, Laura was too committed to her studies. I mean, she sometimes went to Quaff, that's a little bar just off campus where a lot of students go to unwind and let off steam. Right now mostly everybody's cramming for finals. You'd remember what that's like," she looked pointedly at Reid as if Prentiss and Hotch were too old to remember cramming for finals while Reid looked confused, having never crammed for a final in his life. He'd never looked at an exam paper and expected anything less than the highest grade in the class, but he nodded his head in agreement because it was something he'd seen in many of his classmates.

They spoke to a few more friends of Laura's but they all said she was a fairly studious person. Everyone admitted seeing her at Quaff a few times but she wasn't a regular they said.

The threesome moved on to talk to some classmates and friends of Leslie Hughes. Her roommate, Sarah Selinger, said Leslie, a literature major, was popular with her classmates. She was outgoing and she didn't have a boyfriend. "Did she go to Quaff?" Reid asked.

"Well yeah, it's the off campus hangout. Everybody goes to Quaff." Reid nodded, sadly remembering his own college days when he'd been old enough to go to the college hangout only at the very end of his third doctorate.

"Did she ever meet anybody there that seemed particularly interested in her?" Prentiss asked.

"No," Sarah reiterated, "I mean, everybody from here goes there. I don't recall any outsiders that were interested in Les."

"Is it only students that go there or do staff go as well?" Hotch wanted to know.

"Some of the younger profs and TA's go there, and you know, other people that work here."

"Like who?" Emily pressed.

"Lots of people from food services to the book store to security; they all go there, why do you think somebody from here had something to do with Les?"

"We don't know, we're just asking as many questions as we can," Hotch informed her.

After leaving the dorm, the threesome spoke to some professors who said neither woman stood out among their classmates. They stood on the curving drive in front of the main administration building, deciding where to go next. "I'm going to call Garcia and get her to run the students and staff through a database to see if anything comes up that could be a stressor," Hotch said.

"Why don't Reid and I go to Quaff?" Emily suggested. "It seems to be where everybody hangs out. Maybe someone's seen something they don't even realize they've seen." After asking a couple of students directions, Reid and Prentiss made their way to the bar.

Quaff wasn't a big establishment. A horseshoe shaped bar was the main attraction. It had stools around it topped with brown vinyl as did the chairs that surrounded the numerous tables throughout the room. Lit beer signs were the main decoration behind the bar. The music was loud and one had to shout to be heard above it. A tall man with dirty blond hair stood behind the bar filling drink orders which mostly consisted of opening beer bottles or filling mugs with whatever was on tap. A young woman with spiked black hair, likely a student earning extra money, dressed in jeans and a college tee shirt circulated the room taking drink orders. The place wasn't full but there were a fair number of patrons for a mid afternoon.

"Boy, this brings back memories," Emily said as they surveyed the room. "Every college has one." They approached the bar and Emily asked the bartender if they could have a few words with him as they both flashed their FBI credentials.

"This is about Laura and Leslie, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes," Emily replied, "did you know them?"

"Well, I knew them from here. Leslie came in more often than Laura. They were nice girls."

"Did you see anyone hit on them?" Emily enquired.

"Well sure, guys hit on them all the time, they were good looking girls."

"Anyone in particular hit on them?" Emily continued to prod.

"Listen, Agent, I'm here working and when it's busy, I don't have a lot of time to notice who's coming on to who."

A girl with long dark hair pulled back with a butterfly clip rushed into the bar. She wore a grey and white striped shirt and blue jeans. She looked distressed. She scanned the bar until her eyes became accustomed to the dimness of the room and she saw the people she was looking for and hurried over to them. Reid could see her talking to a group of girls at a table and she appeared distraught about something. Emily thanked the bartender as Reid touched her arm and motioned towards the young woman who'd just entered.

Prentiss and Reid approached the girls. "Is something wrong?" Emily asked.

The girls looked taken aback by the stranger's question. "Who are you?" said a girl with red hair that seemed to go in all directions.

Reid and Prentiss produced their ID. "We're here investigating the deaths of Laura Matthews and Leslie Hughes," Reid told them. The girls looked at one another, unsure of whether to say anything, until finally the young woman who'd just entered spoke.

"I'm worried about my friend Sharon. She didn't come back to the dorm last night after going to the library. She's not the kind to stay out all night. I've tried her cell and it just goes to voice mail. With what's happened around here I'm kind of scared something may have happened to her."

"What's your name?" Reid asked.

"April, April Wiley," the girl replied.

"Does Sharon have long blond hair?" Emily inquired.

The group of young women all nodded silently.

"Could you tell us all you know about Sharon and the other girls?" Reid asked, removing his notebook and pen from his messenger bag.

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Hotch met up with Prentiss and Reid in front of the administration building. "I've got news," Hotch said, "they've found another body."

"So do we," Prentiss said, "another girl is missing."