Serendipity

chapter 14

Markus Ransic’s ex-boss confirmed what Garcia had told them; he had no family, he had quit his job, and as far as anyone else knew he simply went on sabbatical. Hotch had arranged for local LEO’s in Knoxville to search his apartment, but that had yielded nothing of value, apart from a pamphlet for some spiritual retreat; most likely where he was planning on spending his time off. Hotch had sent Rossi and Morgan to check it out; they could get no confirmation that their victim had even made it there. Isabella felt like they were pushing against a brick wall. Just as she was contemplating smashing her head against said wall, Garcia came to the rescue. “I have two more matches for you!” Oh thank God. “Victim 5 is Gregory Lance, 42, from Salt Lake City. Basically the same story, he quit his job and left. He has a girlfriend though, Sarah Victor. But she didn’t report him as missing.” Isabella did a little happy dance in her head, a real lead! “Great, and the second one?” “Second one is your latest victim…he was reported missing by his son, Luke Folton, 3 weeks ago. Jeremy Folton, 45. From Auburn, Alabama.” “Penelope Garcia, I could kiss you right now!” Isabella exclaimed, already pulling up the files Garcia had sent to them. They needed to talk to Sarah Victor and Luke Folton ASAP. “Oh Kitten, don’t tease me.” The rest of the team let out a round of bubbling laughter, Hotch just shook his head at the phone conversation, “Thank you, Garcia.” He said, before ending the call.

“Talk to the girlfriend and the son, hopefully they can shed some light on this.” Hotch ordered. Doing everything over the phone made Isabella feel antsy; they couldn’t have a proper interview, and it felt like she was just sitting around. Emily had jumped to call Sarah Victor, and Morgan and Rossi had a race as to who would get to Luke Folton first, Rossi won. Seemed like telling someone a loved one had died was preferable to sitting around doing nothing. JJ and Hotch were working on another media statement, telling them more nonsense in such a way that they don’t realise. Isabella hated the reporters, they were impatient and annoying, and they kept asking the same questions on repeat, expecting different answers. Insanity, she thought. Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. Not exactly what Einstein had meant, but it was close enough.

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Sarah Victor turned out to be the Ex-girlfriend of victim number 5. There seemed to be no love lost there, so she never bothered to wonder if he was missing or not. She wasn’t exactly heartbroken over the news that he had died either. To any normal person, it would seem suspicious, but Emily had had enough experience to be able to tell, even over the phone, if there was something amiss. Miss Victor, it appeared, simply just didn’t care. She had given them some information about their victim. Gregory Lance was a loner, he had trouble forming relationships, had major trust issues, and he had recently found some spiritual group that promised to help him overcome his problems that he replaced her with. A place called Lightbringers. “That’s the name on the pamphlet from Markus Ransic’s apartment.” Spencer blurted out before Emily could even finish her relay of the phone conversation. “That can’t be a coincidence.” Morgan said, “but the guy we talked to at the retreat said Maruks was never there.” “So he lied.” Rossi had heard the conversation between his colleagues, and interrupted Luke Folton amidst his ramblings about who might have wanted to harm his father. “I’m sorry, Mr Folton, but do you know if your dad had any connection to a spiritual group called Lightbringers?” There was a moment of silence as Luke supposedly answered the question on the other side of the phone. Emily held her breath, if three of their victims had connections with Lightbringers, it would give them somewhere to start looking. It might also be enough for a warrant to search the campgrounds, if they asked very very nicely. Or got JJ to ask very very nicely. Rossi thanked the man on the phone, and ended the call. “Jeremy Folton didn’t just have a connection to Lightbringers, he was a founder. The son said he was coming down here every so often to make sure things ran smoothly. He was supposed to only be gone a week, but he never got back. The retreat doesn’t allow phones, so there is no communication with the outside world.” “I’ll have Garcia see what she can find on them.” Emily announced, already dialling.