Chapter 22
Week 10

June brought nothing good and more bad than they wanted.

Nothing happened for the first two weeks of the month. They got the profile, the pictures and sketches they had out to the police departments and airports in their target area but they didn't have much hope. These Unsubs were extremely good at security, it would take a major slip for them to be caught. And without more input they couldn't really add more to the profile.

Two weeks in brought the first blow. Rossi brought it in to morning meeting with a sigh. "I just received work from Sterling House in Ithaca." He said. "Martha Walderman had another stroke last night. The funeral is on Tuesday."

They let out a collective sigh at that one. "Ouch." JJ muttered, "Poor Laura."

"According to Dr. Cargill one of the hardest things for people with Asperger's to deal with when it comes to death is the sudden change." Rossi said. "Martha Walderman has been deteriorating for a while now, hopefully that will mitigate the effects somewhat. It still won't be easy though. I just wish we could have gotten them back so Martha would have known before she passed on."

"I just wish we could get them back." Garcia replied.

Week 11

A few days later Rossi got a phone call, "Agent Rossi?" A polite male voice asked. "I'm Daniel Walderman. The home said that you were looking into the disappearance of my mother's friend Laura."

"That's right."

"My mother left her a few things in her will. I tried contacting Laura's family but her mother was rather…"

"I believe her stepmother isn't well." Rossi said diplomatically.

"Ah. And her housemates said to contact you with any questions. I'm not entirely certain where to send this stuff…"

"Odds are we'll be the next people to see Laura. If you send it here I'll make certain it gets to her."

"Great. Thank you so much."

When the packages arrived Rossi didn't open them. He just placed them in his guestroom, talismans for a safe return.

The next blow came late Friday night. On Saturday morning the entire BAU team was standing outside Spencer's apartment building, surveying the mess. JJ, having tapped her liaison skills, left the knot of men gathered outside and came up to them. "The building management is taking full responsibility. And they're insured." She said, "They said the fire didn't spread to his floor. But they had to use a lot of water to put it out."

"Can we go look?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah."

Once inside the full impact was clear. Spencer's apartment was soaked. The plaster was already ballooning off the ceiling, the books were swelling on the shelves, and chemicals and water soaked his furniture and clothing. "At least this is okay." Garcia said, looking at the box of letters from Maeve. The box had protected all of the letters and the book tucked into the back, whatever it meant.

"Yeah, but everything else is a loss." Morgan looked around. "It's going to take months for them to even start to repair this. What are we going to do?"

"He can stay at my place until he gets settled." Rossi replied. "I have room. Aaron, don't you have his power of attorney still?"

Hotch nodded. "I'm sure he had insurance. At least that will give him a nest egg to start over."

"I'm going to get the sizes off his clothes and a list of toiletries." Blake said. "We can at least get a suitcase together for when he gets back."

They left the picture and his cookbook collection behind. There was nothing they could do.

Lizzy didn't call in June.