Sorry for the length of time between updates! I'll try to do better with the next chapter!

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'Weird, Alaska'

Chapter Nine

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Jacob pulled the Expedition into town and stopped in front of the lodge. Morgan opened the passenger side door and hopped out. "So I'll see you at the Café in about an hour then?"

Jacob nodded. "I'll be there. I can use the sustenance."

Morgan nodded and started to turn away. He turned back and said, "Sheriff, you really need to stop blaming yourself. One of our theories is the UnSub may be targeting you with the locations of the dump sites. That doesn't mean it's true, and it certainly doesn't mean you have anything to feel guilty about."

Jacob sighed. "Agent Morgan, I'm sure Agent Reid could tell you a theory is actually the highest form of scientific truth. I'll see you in an hour at Carla's for breakfast." He backed the Expedition up, turned around and drove off. Morgan watched him drive off and then he walked into the lodge.

Nearly an hour later Jacob walked into his office and was surprised to see Reid already there. He was sitting in a chair looking at large map of the area mounted on a wall. "Good morning Sheriff," Reid said as he watched Jacob press a button on his office phone to check for messages. "I hope you don't mind Deputy Talbot giving me a key to the office."

"Good morning Agent Reid. Of course I don't mind." Jacob walked over to the map. "Is this your geographic profile?"

"Humph! Normally it would be; however I don't have a whole lot to work with here. All four victims were found within a relatively small area; and all the locations have the same distinguishing features. The only difference is what side of the road they were found on."

"Tiny little area on this huge map," Jacob commented.

"Sheriff, I did come up with a new idea yesterday. I asked Talbot if he knew of any incidents that might have caused the UnSub to think you were denied credit for something he felt you deserved it for."

"And you're wondering if he's trying to help me receive credit for catching him?"

"Well…yes." At Jacob's sigh Reid continued. "That still doesn't make you responsible Sheriff. UnSubs do a lot of strange things. He still would be committing the crimes even if you were not involved. Your only connection is where he is leaving the bodies."

Jacob shook his head. "Logically I know that." He mentally shook himself. "Are you hungry Agent Reid? I'm meeting Agent Morgan at Carla's in a couple minutes."

"I could eat something," Reid said, standing up. The two men left the office and walked over to Carla's Café. As they walked through the door they saw Morgan, Prentiss, and Rossi and Hotch all sitting at a table waiting for them.

"There you are kid. I was about to call you," Morgan told Reid. "I have a copy of the preliminary autopsy report for you."

"I was trying to come up with something for a geographic profile."

"Not much there to work with," Rossi stated.

"Hardly anything actually," Reid answered.

"Garcia called a few minutes ago," Hotch said. "She's finished her search for Eagle Mountain High School. She and JJ are contacting all six of the schools they found with a physical description of our victim and a sketch the State Police made. Hopefully we'll generate identification from that."

"I hope so," Morgan added. "Right now we have a whole lot of nothing." He handed a folder to Reid containing the preliminary autopsy report. Reid flipped it open and started to read.

"Good morning," Carla said cheerfully. She sat a glass of orange juice down in front of each of the six people at the table. She then set five coffee cups down and filled each one from a carafe and then set a coffee cup in front of everyone except Jacob, who she knew from experience did not drink coffee. "Are you folks ready to order or do you need some time?"

"Can you give us a few Carla?"

"Sure Jacob. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Once Carla had walked away Jacob said, "Agent Reid, why don't you put away the file until after breakfast? Take a break from the case for a little while?"

Reid closed the file. "I've already read it."

"Of course," Prentiss commented. "Why am I not surprised?" Reid looked at her but didn't say anything.

"I've also read it," Jacob commented. "So has Agent Morgan. So now three of us have read the file, and three of us haven't." He looked around the table. "The rest of you will just have to catch up with us after breakfast, since we're now one step ahead of you."

Rossi tried hard to suppress a smile. "You have a point there," he said.

Carla came back to the table and the group ordered their breakfasts. Hotch carefully steered the conversation around to topics not related directly to the case. "Sheriff, when do you expect to see your son again?"

"I didn't mention it before, but David has some leave coming in September. We are going to meet in Paris and explore the city.

Morgan laughed. "Two bachelors in Paris; sounds like a great time to me!"

"Are you planning on heading to Rome after Paris?" Rossi asked.

"We're thinking about it; maybe London also. It depends. We'll see."

"Sounds like fun," Reid commented.

"Right. I'm sure every twenty-two year old on leave from the military wants to spend time with their father in Paris, Rome and London."

"Is he bringing any of his army buddies with him?" Reid asked.

"No, it's just him and me."

"Then he must want to spend time with you," Reid responded. "Otherwise he'd bring friends."

"He's got a point there Sheriff," Rossi added.

Jacob looked thoughtful. "Maybe he does." He looked up as he saw Carla approaching with their food.

"Oh my!" Prentiss exclaimed as her sausage and eggs was set down in front of her. "This is huge! Look at all those potatoes!"

"All my portions are like that honey," Carla told her. "This is Alaska after all." After refilling their coffee cups and bringing Jacob another glass of orange juice Carla left them to eat their meals.

"Sheriff, who eats chili for breakfast?" Morgan asked.

"It's a chili cheese omelet. Carla makes her own chili," Jacob told him.

"It's still chili," Morgan responded.

"I'm curious about something… We've been in here several times in the couple days we've been here and Carla has waited on us every time. Doesn't she ever take a break?" Hotch asked as he spread jelly on a biscuit.

"Carla feels it's her personal duty to take care of me, so any time I come in she waits on me personally."

"Why is that?" Reid asked.

Jacob shrugged. "She feels I'm by myself with no family nearby, so she tried to make up for that." He sighed. "And she knows I worry about David being in Iraq."

"She sounds like your personal version of Penelope Garcia," Rossi quipped.

"Miss Garcia is like that?"

"You have no idea," Rossi answered.

"She'd probably find it amusing to hear you refer to her as 'Miss Garcia'," Reid said.

"Most people call her Garcia or Penelope," Hotch added.

"I don't call a lady by her first name until she tells me its okay for me to do so," Jacob responded.

"You're a gentleman," Morgan laughed.

"That's something that is in short supply these days," Prentiss said.

"Ladies are sometimes in short supply as well," Jacob responded.

The banter continued as the group ate their breakfasts. Once they were finished eating the discussion drifted around to the case. "I certainly hope JJ and Garcia find something," Reid said. "We basically have nothing to work at this point in time." He sighed. "If we could identify these victims of course we could work victimology and I would have more for a geographic profile."

"We will identify them; and when we do we'll know how to proceed," Morgan said. As if on cue Morgan's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D. display. "It's Garcia… What do you have for me, Garcia?" He listened for a minute. "Are they sure... Okay, fax all the information to Sheriff Reischl's office. Thanks Garcia."

"What is it?" Rossi asked.

"Garcia and JJ think they've identified the fourth victim. They're faxing the information to Sheriff Reischl's office."

Jacob waved at Carla. "We have to get to the office Carla. Can you bring the check?"

"Be right there," she called.

A few minutes later they were all back at Jacob's office, and Jacob was pulling several pages of information off his fax machine. He handed the papers to Hotch who flipped through them. "Garcia and JJ faxed a copy of the sketch plus a description to each of the six Eagle Mountain High Schools they found. A counselor at a school outside Boulder believes they know the girl as a former student named Christina Belkas. JJ is contacting the family regarding a DNA sample for positive identification; as well as any additional information they may be able to provide regarding what she might have been doing in Alaska. Ms. Belkas has no criminal record, which explains why her fingerprints were not in the system."

"The preliminary autopsy report indicates evidence of sexual assault, but no foreign DNA was recovered," Reid said.

"They're still working on processing the clothing and shoes she was wearing," Morgan added.

"I'm still confused as to my connection to all this. I don't know this girl," Jacob said.

"You don't have to know the girl," Rossi said. "Actually our entire theory of your connection to these cases could be wrong."

"Agent Rossi, how often are you wrong?"

Rossi smiled. "Not very often; however, often enough to remind ourselves we're not perfect."

Morgan's brow furrowed. "Kid, what are you looking at?"

"I'm not sure, Morgan. I keep thinking there's a pattern I'm missing here, but I don't know what it is," Reid told him.

"A pattern? Where?" Hotch asked.

"Between the four dump sites…"

"I thought you said there was nothing to work with geographically," Prentiss pointed out.

Reid didn't respond. He was engrossed in looking at the area map mounted on the wall. All of a sudden he picked a marker up off the table and traced three lines on the map; the first one diagonally from where the first victim had been found to where the second victim had been found. The line ran northeast to southwest and passed through the intersection of the Parks Highway and the Weird Connection. Reid then drew a line from victim number two to victim number three. This line crossed the Weird Connection, but not the Parks Highway. He then drew a third line connecting victim three to victim four, and continued the line connecting victim one to victim four. "Sheriff, do you see the pattern here?"

"An upside down isosceles triangle," Jacob answered.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before," Reid commented.

"What does this tell us?" Jacob asked.

"I'm not sure yet…"

"Reid, you could just as easily have drawn a circle as you did a triangle," Morgan commented.

"You could; however the line wouldn't cross through victim number four. Therefore… Wait! You said a circle, Morgan!"

"Yeah, I know that kid."

"Sheriff, do you have a globe?"

"No Agent Reid, I don't. They'll have one at the school."

"Why do you want a globe Reid?" Rossi asked.

"Circles," Reid said absently.

"Uh, circles?" Rossi asked.

"I can't believe I didn't see this before!" Reid flipped through a stack of maps and then pulled one out and tacked it up next to the area map he had been looking at. He traced an imaginary line Northwest to Southeast from Alaska through Canada, the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean and through Australia. "Hmm…" He then traced an imaginary line Northeast to Southwest from victim one through victim two and then across the Pacific Ocean and through South Korea. "Sheriff, weren't you stationed in South Korea and Australia for a time?"

"Yes, I was."

"Do you know what a Great Circle is?" Reid asked.

"Yes of course," Jacob answered.

"Uh, Great Circle?" Prentiss asked.

"A Great Circle is a circle defined by the intersection of the surface of the Earth and any plane that passes through the center of the Earth, and divides the sphere into two equal hemispheres. The shortest distance between two points often lies along a Great Circle; therefore many airline flight paths follow them. There are an unlimited number of Great Circles we could trace, but these two intersect near Weird, Alaska and run through two different countries where you were once stationed. The two Great Circles intersect in two places; one is in the middle of the ocean, the other is the location where victim number two was found. Therefore I believe our connection lies between victim two and Australia and South Korea."

"Reid, how much knowledge would you have to have about geography to figure this out?" Hotch asked.

Reid shrugged. "Not that much. The only thing is it's not readily apparent on a large scale map because you can't see the angle the lines have to follow to form the circles. You need a small scale map for that to be noticeable. The UnSub would need to know that much at least. It doesn't need to be a precise angle following exact coordinates, just enough for the circle to pass through Australia; and the other through South Korea."

"At least we now have a starting point, we have victim number four identified; and we have a connection between the second victim and Australia and South Korea. Let's see what else we can figure out."

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9