Beauty and the Genius

Chapter 8

The three of them walked up to Penelope's bed and Morgan put his hand on hers.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Morgan asked her.

"Good news, bad news. The morphine's wearing off. When I was in the ambulance, I could hear the song Heroes playing in my head. I kept flashing in and out of consciousness. Everything was really bright. And I remember thinking, wait...is David Bowie really God?"

The three of them chuckled.

"We have a, uh, we have a sketch artist coming in," Spencer told her.

"I'm still a little hazy."

"It's okay," Morgan reassured her, "Anything you tell us will help. This guy say what he did for a living?"

"He said he was a lawyer."

"Did...did people know him where you went?" Spencer asked.

"He said he wanted to show me a place. It was half an hour away."

"You drove together?" Morgan asked, "What kind of car?"

"White. 4-door Sedan. American. It smelled new."

"Rental car maybe?" Spencer asked.

"Maybe. I don't know. I don't look at things like you guys do. I don't see danger..."

"Okay. Take it easy. Take it easy," Morgan told her, "What else can you remember?"

"He smelled good."

"He seem nervous?" Spencer asked.

"I thought he was just afraid to kiss me good night."

Morgan wiped away the tear that fell down her cheek. "Hey. You sure you're up for this?"

Penelope nodded. "I could hear him walking. He leaned over me and I held my breath so he'd think I was dead."

Gwen wrapped her hand around Penelope's. "That probably saved your life. If he thought you were still alive, you wouldn't be sitting here with us today. And that'd just be a crying shame."

Penelope smiled and lightly squeezed Gwen's hand.

Despite their best efforts, four days later and they had no leads.

"Penelope, I know it's gotta be hard to keep reliving this," Morgan said.

"I just don't know what else there is to remember," she told him.

"Let's start with behavior," Spencer suggested, "That's all, that's all profiling really is, just noticing behavior."

"Sweetheart, any details you can remember will tell us who he is," Morgan said, "Okay?"

Penelope nodded.

"All right, so let's go back to when you first arrived at that restaurant. Was he nervous?"

"No. The opposite, actually. He ordered wine for us."

"So he was trying to impress you by showing you how he can take charge."

"I guess so."

"Tell me about his watch," Spencer said.

"It's a fake Rolex."

"You sure about that?" Morgan asked.

"I know my knockoffs."