Of Beasts and Men

Chapter 2

Hotch barely had time to put the car in park and remove the keys before he and Lewis were jumping out. They had tried to call Reid back several times, only to get a robotic message telling them that the line they were trying to reach had been disconnected.

"Hotch," Lewis said, "His car's still here." They stepped up to it and looked inside, it was empty. Hotch scanned the area, hoping for some evidence of what had happened, and then he saw the fragments of glass and plastic shattered on the asphalt a few yards away. He walked over and examined the pieces of the smashed phone, and then he noticed the small splotches of blood.

"Lewis!" He called, "I've got blood." She came over and stood beside him, then swore under her breath. "Can you call CSI? I want to go inside and talk to someone, see if we can fill in some missing pieces."

"Sure thing." She got out her phone and dialed.

"And...Lewis?" She looked back up at her boss. "I think you should call the rest of the team, too." She nodded, looking conflicted.

Hotch passed through the automatic doors and stepped into the library. He glanced around and figured that the best place to start would be with the information desk. A young woman was sitting behind a computer and looked up at him with a bright smile when he stopped in front of the desk. He flashed his badge at her, "Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, FBI."

"Oh, um, hi. I already talked to an agent, just a few minutes ago, is everything okay, mister?"

"Was his name Dr. Spencer Reid?" Hotch demanded, making the girl blink in surprise at his harsh tone.

"Yeah. Yeah it was, what–?"

"Did you see him leave?" Hotch interrupted.

"I did. He came over and asked me some questions, then he went over to that section. After that he just left."

"He didn't talk to anyone else?"

"Well, he talked to Jamie, he's the other desk clerk, asked him some of the same questions he asked me." She was looking more and more confused.

"Could I talk to Jamie?"

"I don't think he's here, his shift was done an hour ago, he usually hangs around for a while after that. I was able to catch him before he left so Agent Reid could talk to him, but he's probably gone by now."

"May I ask what sort of questions you answered for Agent Reid?" Hotch was trying to keep himself composed, hoping that Reid was okay and would just magically waltz out and ask Hotch what he was so worried about. That scenario was little more than wishful thinking, and Reid didn't suddenly appear.

"He asked me if I recognized anyone from any of these pictures. The only one I did recognize was Phoebe. He also had me look up what books the people in his photos all checked out, and then I went to get Jamie." She nodded, satisfied with her explanation.

"He wanted to know books they checked out?"

"Yeah, and it was really weird, too, 'cause the books were all on the same topic."

"What topic?" Hotch asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Ātmāra." She answered.

"I need to know your name and Jamie's surname so I can contact him, please." He pulled out a business card and handed it to her, "This has my number on it, if you remember anything else that might be important, don't hesitate to call me."

"I'm Liza Hart. Jamie's last name is Enright. Um, Agent Hotchner? What's this about?"

"My team is investigating the disappearances of five people... And we think something may have happened to Agent Reid when he left here." He hated having to say it out loud.