Authors note- Hey guys! I just wanted to give a little information about what they fanfic is going to look like before it begins, and if you aren't interested in any of this than you can just scroll down and begin reading, for any of those people I really hope you enjoy this first chapter. So I began watching Criminal Minds 3 weeks ago, in that time I have watched all 11 seasons and am anxiously awaiting for season 12 just like all you guys, I can't even put into words how much I love his show and how much I feel like it's a big part of my life, like this has only happened like one other time with a show and it was when I started watching my all time favorite show that I literally have my room themed lol, so obviously I wanted to write a fanfiction based on it because not only does the profiling aspect of the show intrigue me (hence writing about different cases for my favorite crime fighting family to solve would be a dream come true) but also since the first time he made his very first appearance in the show I have been hopelessly and hopefully incurably in love with both Doctor Spencer Reid and Matthew Gray Gubler. I adore everything about Reid and while I love all the other characters with all my heart I have always known I wanted my fanfiction to focus on him, so this is obviously going to be heavily focused on Reid and the team as they solve cases, but the kicker is that as a writer I have always been able to imagine myself being in the show and obviously having the dream of mine to end up with Reid, and I am not crazy so I know that isn't really going to happen so I came up with an O.C that I could live through while I am writing this fanfic, so the character of Izzy started as the idea for myself, and while I am writing her I am going to imagine it is me every single time but since you don't know what I look like it won't matter to you, the only similarities that we share are our first name, our nickname, our ethnicity and the fact that we are in love with Reid. She is every much as an O.C as any other fanfic you can find on this website, I really thought that was important to address so none of you were getting the wrong message considering that you can see very clearly that my name is Izzy from my username.
Now that that's out of the way I just want to give you some more quick information before getting to the actual story, the perspectives with change from Reid to Izzy, that isn't limited to specific chapters only being in just one of their perspectives, it can and probably will change mid chapter, also each chapter will be pretty long and will be set up how an episode would go, it will follow the whole team through a case but will heavily focus on Izzy and Reid and how their relationship develops. Also each chapter will have a title as if it was an episode. The fanfic is up to date as in if you haven't seen every single episode you could stumble across some spoilers so I am warning you now, and while I know Morgan and Prentiss left I am going to have the full team consisting of Hotch, Garcia, Reid, Morgan, Rossi, JJ, and Prentiss so you can think of it as my take on season 12 if they didn't have Morgan leave, Prentiss came back for sure, and they hadn't fired Thomas and are taking our Hotch away from us. So I really hope that was helpful in some way and you understand that Izzy's life and backstory are just things I created for her and while she started off based on me we are only a little alike, I just really couldn't imagine writing a fanfic where Reid doesn't end up with an Izzy, I mean it's kinda the best name. Anyway thank you for bearing with me and my long explanation and I really hope you enjoy the start of this fanfiction, I am putting my all into this and I have so much hope for how this can turn out, I love you all and until next time-Izzy
Izzy's POV
I press the button on the elevator and head up to the floor of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, I head up towards my future. I nervously rethink everything I have done this morning to prepare for this, including the outfit I picked out. I look down at my long sleeved purple sweater and my black pants, I look formal but suddenly feel like it's completely wrong. I pull on the sleeves so they cover my arms, I know that eventually it's going to come up, I mean it's in my file but I would still hate for that to be the first thing my new team knows about me. Just thinking about meeting these people makes me feel like I am intruding on everything they have, they all have known each other for years and here I come, a complete stranger that doesn't have half the experience they have. Coming from sex crimes I am walking into completely different territory, I am going to be apart of a widely respected and remarkable team that I have admired from afar for a long time. If it wasn't for Kate I wouldn't have even thought to apply, but she saw something in me and I believed her, even with the nerves talking I know that I can do this, the only problem is going to be if I will let the pressure get to me. I hear the ding of the elevator telling me that my fate is sealed, no going back now. I step off and walk through the doors and look around at everything in front of me, everything is so busy and there are people everywhere, they are all going my speed. I look around and notice that up the stairs is the closed door, it reads "Hotchner" I walk up the steps and knock on the door, I hear his voice from the other side giving me permission to come in, I open it up and see that he is sitting at his desk, when he notices who I am he stands up and comes over to shake my hand. "You must be Isabella Santiago"
"Yes" I shake his hand and can't stop myself before I correct him. "I actually go by Izzy" I am mortified, I can't believe I just corrected him like that. I try and study his face for any signs of hesitation, I try and catch any sign that I just made myself the definition for the worst first impressions.
"Yes, of course. It is very nice to meet you Izzy"
"Sorry if that sounded completely rude, I didn't mean to be a complete ass already, I am just so used to doing that all the time that I didn't even think before saying it"
"That is quite all right, I was not offended at all"
"I'm glad, I'm just a little nervous right now but I have always wanted the opportunity to work here"
"Well Kate spoke very highly of you, and your file is very impressive as well"
"Thank you sir" So he doesn't hate me, I mentally kick myself and pray that meeting everyone else will go better than this did. I look at his desk and see a picture of him with a little boy and a blond girl, they look so happy. Kate told me about Haley, I mean everyone in the bureau knew about what happened with him and Foyet but seeing that picture made everything more real. Kate told me a little bit about Hotch but from seeing him in person I can tell that while he has been through something tragic he doesn't let that define him, he may not show the most emotion but he cares very deeply for those who are close to him. Look at me, already profiling my team, I told myself that I wouldn't do this.
"Why don't we go meet the rest of the team" He walks out of the door and I follow his lead, we go down the stairs and head towards a group of people. There are three guys and two girls, the oldest guy is clearly David Rossi, one of the men who single handedly started this department. I look at the blond and the brunette who are laughing at something someone said, they are clearly close friends and I hope someday I could potentially be that close with them too. Hotch stops and I come to stand next to him, they all turn to me and suddenly I feel intimidated. "Everyone, this is Isabella Santiago, she has transferred from sex crimes and is here to join our team" I study all their faces, looking for some kind of reaction that is negative, but they all look very happy to meet me, I already like my team already.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm David Rossi" He extends his hand out to me and I shake it, I give him and smile and silently thank him with my eyes for making the first move.
"I'm Derek Morgan" The guy standing next to Rossi extends his hand out to me next, he gives me a big smile and I can tell he is a big flirt, a ladies man of the group. As I am shaking his hand I notice he is wearing a wedding ring, he still has charm but it's completely harmless, I can already tell he loves his wife deeply.
"I'm Jennifer Jareau but everyone calls me JJ" I shake her hand and she gives me a kind smile, I can tell that she is a very warm person and she seems welcoming. I notice that she too is wearing a wedding ring, along with a necklace that has two different birth stones on it, she is undoubtedly a mother. I look behind her to the desk she is leaning up against and see the picture of two young boys. The next woman with dark brown hair shakes my hand next.
"I'm Emily Prentiss" She is also kind and seems trusting, like you can tell her something and you know that she would never tell anyone. She reminds me a lot of my mother. There is only one person I haven't met yet, I finally take a good look at him and feel my pulse begin to race. He is tall and thin, his hair is curly and messy but it looks as if that was intentional, he is definitely handsome and I really hope that I'm not blushing.
"I'm Izzy" I mean to direct this comment at everyone but I can't take my eyes off him.
"I'm Doctor Spencer Reid" A doctor, of course he is a doctor. The first crush I have had in a long time has a PhD, it's very fitting. I extend my hand to him and notice he hesitates, everyone is looking at us and I feel like my blush is starting to show, did I do something wrong? Have I offended him? No one is saying anything and I am about to just apologize so this awkwardness can just end.
"Oh, Spence doesn't shake hands" JJ says, she doesn't say it in a mean way but with a laugh, as if it's just something they all know and can joke about. The way she calls him Spence lets me know that she is closest with him. He takes my hand and shake it, it's warm and he gives me a smile, I already know that I am smiling back.
"Spencer Reid shaking somebody's hand" Prentiss makes a big show of acting surprised, I can tell she is only doing it for effect but there is a hint of actual surprise in her voice. Morgan gets close to me.
"That must mean he likes you" Morgan laughs and Reid drops my hand, even after it's gone I can still feel the warmth. I can already tell that he is smart, and from his body language I can tell he has been hurt before, lost someone close to him, he sometimes has problems with letting people too close, I just hope I can break down those walls. I look and notice he is still looking at me, not in a creepy way but trying to figure me out the same way I am trying to figure him out.
"It's really nice to meet all of you, I have heard a lot about you guys from Kate but I am really excited to be joining this team"
"You know Kate?" Reid asks me, he must have been good friends with her while she worked with them.
"Yeah, we were in sex crimes together for a few years"
"How is she doing?" JJ asks.
"She's good, she really loves having the time off to spend with Meg and the new baby"
"Next time you talk to her tell her we miss her" JJ says and I can feel how close this team is, Kate wasn't even with them for very long and yet they still talk about her with so much excitement, they all really care about each other, no matter how short of a time they are together.
"I will" Suddenly everyone's phone goes off at the exact same time, must be about a case.
"It's Garcia, we have a case" Hotch says, they all start heading towards the stairs again, I follow them all into a room with a round table and eight chairs. Standing in front of the screens in the room is a blond woman with a bright yellow dress on, just from her outfit alone I can tell she has a big personality, and that everyone clearly loves her, it would be hard not too. "Penelope, I want you to meet our newest member Isabella Santiago"
"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Izzy" I smile at her and extend my hand, she gives me the biggest smile and gladly shakes my hand.
"Oh my god it's so nice to meet you" I look at her and try and figure out her last name, Garcia is clearly Hispanic but she doesn't seem to fit the last name. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from California"
"And your last name and your beautiful tanned skin clearly means your Hispanic" I laugh.
"Yes, I'm Mexican"
"Finally, another person who understands our culture"
"Baby girl, your last name is from your step father, don't try and confuse the poor girl"
"Derek Morgan you better watch yourself or I will hurt you, and how will I explain that to that precious little baby of yours?" From the nickname he calls her I can tell they have a very flirtatious relationship, but the way she talks about his child makes me know that they are only friends and that she is clearly happy for him and his wife.
"Don't worry, I'm only half Mexican" Morgan laughs and I sit down in a chair next to Reid's.
"Garcia, the case?" Hotch says.
"Oh yes, we have a quite a doozy" Imagines of a woman's mugshot appear on the screen and next to them is multiple imagines of her dead body. "This is Abigail Hall, she is our first victim. She was murdered two weeks ago and was found outside a gated community in Manhattan New York, she was a prostitute and had been arrested before, hence why she was so easy to identify. She was strangled but had her chest cut up pretty badly"
"Was there any sign of sexual assault?" Reid asks.
"No, and there wasn't any sign on the second victim either, Taylor Jackson was found strangled with her chest cut outside a different gated community not to far from where the first body was found, and she was found just last night, she was also a prostitute"
"Is there any indication this is the same person?"
"That's what I was getting too sir, you see after the autopsy on Abigail it was shown that the cuts to her chest wasn't a form of stabbing but that she had her breast implants removed, Taylor also had breast implants that were removed as well"
"So that's his signature" Hotch says.
"He has to be targeting these woman, I mean how else would he know that they both had their breasts done?" Prentiss says to Hotch.
"Unless there could be more victims tied to this unsub that we don't about yet. Wheels up in 30" Hotch says and then he exits the room, everyone starts to stand up and Garcia is clearing the screen, she makes a face when looking directly at the murder scenes, even if I didn't already know she was the technical analysis that would be her tell.
"Welcome to the BAU" I whisper to myself as I stand up and follow the rest of my team.
I look through the case file as I listen to the rest of the team discuss and bounce ideas off each other, as a profiler I have to be observant, by listing to the way they are looking about this case I can figure out the best way I can help this team. I look up from the file and I look across to see Reid giving some facts and statistics, it is a little hard to focus on what he is saying, all I can keep staring at is his beautiful brown eyes. I am snapped out of the trance he put me in when Garcia's voice can be heard, she appears on the computer that sits on the table in front of us and I am interested in knowing what she has been able to find. "What do you have Garcia?" Hotch asks.
"I'm sorry sir but not a lot yet, I keep going through all the security footage from the cameras placed around these neighborhoods he has been dumping the bodies at but so far nothing and no one is raising any red flags"
"Keep us posted if you find anything, and run background checks on all the residents of both communities"
"Done and done" Her face disappears from the screen and I am back to feeling like I should say something, but also worried I'll say the wrong thing.
"So both these woman were just left out in the open, do you think our unsub could be a thrill killer? He gets off on the idea that he could be caught at any second?" Morgan asks.
"I don't think so, this was careful and planned out, this wasn't just an opportunity kill to get his blood pumping, it's almost like he is acting out a fantasy of some sort" Prentiss adds.
"And it looks like a very specific one at that. Both of these woman are blonds, out of all the prostitutes in the entire city and he kills two blonds, that isn't a coincidence" I say.
"So it's about a specific type of person then" JJ says.
"Or maybe these victims are just surrogates for the actual woman who revolves around his sick twisted fantasy" There is a hint of disgust in Morgan's voice as he speaks. It is a little reassuring that even after 12 years of being in the BAU there is still hope that the things we see can still bother us, it means were human.
"Are we thinking he's a sexual sadist? He butchered the breasts of these woman" Rossi looks like he is going to add more but Reid jumps in.
"I can't tell for sure yet but the lack of evidence of a sexual assault could point to signs of impotence, he may have wanted to assault her but couldn't, enraged he cut her to make up for what he was unable to do. In many cases the act of stabbing and or cutting can be a substitute of rape. It could also be very likely that he never meant to assault her in the first place, statistically prostitutes are more high risked targets and he could have easily wanted to feel what it was like to kill and he went with someone who wouldn't raise alarms if they were to go missing or end up dead"
"So your saying we could have an unsub who killed our first victim as a way to test if he liked killing in the first place?" Prentiss asks.
"And from the looks of our second victim he found his answer" Hotch says.
"And he found a way he likes to do so" I add.
"When we land I want Rossi and Morgan to go to the scene of the crime, JJ and Pretniss I want you to come to the station to get set up and help me interview the victims families" Hotch turns to face me now. "Reid, I want you and Izzy to go to meet with the M.E." Reid nods his head and I do the same. I close the file and go over to find something to drink, my mouth suddenly feels dry and I don't know if it's from nerves or from flying. I am looking for a bottle of water and when I look back up I almost spill the water all over myself, Reid is standing right there in front of me. He must notice the look of surprise on my face because he suddenly looks worried, his face scrunches up and I know he thinks he's done something wrong.
"I'm so sorry, did I scare you?"
"No, your fine. I just didn't expect you to be standing here, that's all" I laugh a little and he gives me a smile, his face relaxes again, I know I shouldn't be profiling my team like this but something about Spencer Reid just makes me want to know everything about him, why not put my skills to use to try and figure him out for myself?
"Well I'm glad I didn't scare you, I wouldn't want you to be scared off so soon" He gives me a small smile and I can't help but let out a little laugh, I think he just made a joke and I can tell that is something out of his comfort zone.
"I don't scare very easily, I mean why else would I go into a job involving serial killers?" It takes him a second but finally he realizes I made a joke, he must think it was funny because he laughs too and even though I know it was terrible he actually looks like he thought it was funny.
"I just wanted to come over and make sure you had everyone's numbers already, I wasn't sure if you did or not because I don't have yours yet-" He looks like he may be a little nervous, I can tell by the way he starts babbling on, but in a cute way.
"Are you asking me for my number?" I tease him.
"No, I mean not no, I mean yes, just not in that way you are thinking" He is babbling.
"Spencer, I'm just making a joke. I actually don't have anyone but Hotch's number yet ,so it would be really helpful if you could send them to me?" I touch his arm when I say his name and he doesn't shy away. I don't feel any tenseness and that's a good sign.
"Yeah, I could do that" He pulls out his phone and I take it from his hands, as I take the phone I feel his fingertips brush mine and I feel electric. I hope he doesn't notice the way my hands shake slightly as I type in my phone number. I hand him back his phone and pick up my water.
"Thank you"
"Yeah, no problem" I give him a smile and go back to sit down. As soon as I sit down I notice the way Morgan is looking back and forth between the two of us, but what I notice more is Reid's not so subtle glances at me.
We stand in front of the corpse that is our victim, I watch the way Reid stares intently at the body, I notice how focused he is. His body language alone paints a picture of who he is, he is hyper aware of everything and is trying to find the answers to this case from what this poor girl's killer left behind. Every inch of his body shows how focused he is, from the way he crinkles his forehead to the slight movement in his fingers. The doctor walks in holding the chart and Reid reaches out to take it, immediately he starts reading over the chart at hyper speed, he flips through the pages quickly, retaining every single word that quickly. Kate told me that he was able to read that fast but hearing about it and seeing it are two completely different things. "Have you figured out cause of death yet?" Reid asks.
"Yes, strangulation is what killed her"
"So the blood loss from the cutting on her chest didn't speed up the process?" I ask, I am out of my territory here, working in sex crimes there is usually a living victim to deal with. Some say that the live ones are the hardest but there is no advantage either way, we can't ask her anything about what happened to her. It looks like the doctor is about to say something when Reid holds up the chart for me.
"Izzy, look at this" He point to the section he wants me to read and I have to read it over twice just to make sure I got it correctly.
"He removed the implants anti-mortem?" I ask the doctor.
"That is correct"
"So he wanted her to feel the pain he was inflicting on her. He gets off on torturing them"
"But then why strangle them? Bleeding out would be a much slower and more painful way to die. It's almost like he tortures them, and the realizes what he has done and quickly ends their suffering"
"So he feels remorse" As if psychopaths could actually be capable of having the emotion of remorse.
"What was she strangled with?" Reid asks.
"The markings on her neck could indicate that it was a type of belt, there is impressions in her neck that would match wearing a belt too tightly"
"Did you find any DNA under her fingernails?"
"I checked but there wasn't any DNA found" This happens sometimes, it's always rough but you see it more times than not.
"And was there any traces of drugs in her system?" I ask, if I was being cut opened and didn't scratch the hell out of the son of a bitch attacking me then it would be because I physically wasn't able or drugged.
"There wasn't any type of drug found in her system"
"He must be strong then, a man who is able to hold a fully alert woman down while cutting her while she is still alive has to be strong" I look at Reid and he is inspecting the cuts on her chest, he is looking at the the incisions the unsub made. "Was there any trace of DNA on the second victim?" I am always hopeful that there will be one time where they might mess up, just once is all we need to nail to their ass.
"No, same as the first victim" Reid suddenly stands up and walks over to the second victim, he inspects her chest and then her neck and then comes back over to the first victim and does the same thing all over again.
"What is it?"
"I think I found something. On the first victim there is clear signs of hesitation marks on her neck, that is consistent with what we initially thought about how he was testing out his preferred form of killing and how he was going to do that, and on the second victim's neck there are no hesitation marks"
"Exactly, because he is already comfortable with how to kill"
"But the thing that doesn't make sense is that on both victims there are no hesitation marks whatsoever on the chest, he made exactly the right incisions that he would need in order to remove their breast implants"
"How is that possible? He butchered them, there is marks all over the place"
"But even the ones that are meant to look like he was messing up are precise, and from the looks of the incisions I can tell he didn't use a knife but a scalpel"
"So our unsub is a doctor"
"I believe so, he has at the very minimum the right knowledge and training of how to not only preform procedures correctly but he knows how to make it look like he had no idea what he was doing"
"So he is smart, that is the worst type of dangerous"
"So you think he is a doctor?" Hotch asks Reid.
"He has to have at least gone to medical school and been there long enough to get actual practice on operating, he is precise and that isn't something you can just do perfectly without any kind of practice" Reid goes over to the board and draws circles on his map, while talking with JJ and Prentiss and Hotch about this case I have been taking glaces at Reid as he works, I can tell he gives it his all in everything he does, no matter how small the task. He makes geographic profiling look like the easiest thing in the world, he is so consumed with this project that it actually started me when he started talking to Hotch. "From the disposal sights of each victim and the surrounding areas between where both victims were known to work I can tell that this specific area has to be the comfort zone" Reid is showing us the distance that the unsub is comfortable killing at, while it is helpful to narrow down our search it still is a lot of area to cover. Hotch's phone begins to ring, he answers it and puts it on speakerphone.
"Garcia, your on speakerphone"
"And Morgan isn't here right now" Prentiss adds which earns a laugh from JJ.
"Alright, I'll be on my best behavior"
"Have you found anything about our unsub?" Reid asks. He called her in the car to tell her to limit her search to doctors or people who attended medical school in the surrounding area of where the bodies were found.
"With the information you gave me earlier boy wonder, I wasn't able to narrow down the search much at all. Doctors in the surrounding area between where both bodies were found is a whopping 15,873 and while narrowing my search to only men brings it down a little at 12,642 it is still a lot of potential weirdos"
"Garcia, look for guys that are strong, so with an athletic build" JJ says.
"And try and even find people that were in medical school but never graduated, having these skills doesn't necessarily mean that he became a doctor" Reid suggests.
"Well that doesn't make my job any easier, but I'll do my very best"
"Thank you Garcia" Prentiss says and there is a click from the other end. Just then Morgan and Rossi walk in.
"Did you find anything at the crime scene?" Hotch asks them.
"No, there wasn't anything that he left behind, this son of a bitch is good" Morgan answers for both him and Rossi.
"Did you two find anything at the M.E.?" Rossi asks Reid and I.
"Reid found evidence to support that he might be a doctor, or have some medical training" I give to them.
"No wonder he is so careful, he knows that his DNA would come up, that could be a reason he hasn't assaulted them"
"Something about the fact that he isn't assaulting them isn't sitting right with me, working in sex crimes it was the prostitutes who were easier targets. I mean they would already have a lot of men's DNA on them so it would be harder to sort out from their johns to the unsub, and working girls can sometimes feel like they would have a harder time reporting an assault because they think we have a bias for them because of what they do"
"That's a good point, but we know that he didn't have any other interest in them but to kill, that is his goal and he is officiant and organized. He has one goal and one goal only" Prentiss emphasizes this, I can tell she is frustrated that we aren't getting anywhere.
"But why steal the implants? Why take those when he just wanted to strangle them?"
"Maybe he didn't want us to be able to ID them, all breast implants, and any implants of any kind have a serial number on them, they can easily be traced back to the patient" Reid says to me.
"That is a possibility, what did you guys get from the family members?" I ask JJ and Pretniss.
"I talked to the mother of our first victim, Abigail, what she told me was that Abigail was a runaway and had very little contact with her until a couple of months ago" JJ answers for me.
"I got basically the same thing from Taylor's sister, she told me that she saw her a few times a year but was mostly absent from her life" Prentiss adds.
"If they both were absent from their families then how did they afford the implants?" I ask.
"My best guess is they had to be gifts from their pimps, Rossi and I checked out these girls apartments and they weren't living off much" Morgan tells us.
"Morgan, call Garcia and tell her to find out who paid for these girls surgeries, if it was their pimps and he suddenly decided he wanted to kill them he might have wanted his money back" Hotch tells Morgan.
"But that wouldn't fit with the perfect incisions" Reid directs his comment at Hotch.
"This is the best we have go on right now" Just then his phone goes off, I know it's not Garcia because Morgan just stepped out of the room to call her, I sit there patiently waiting like everyone else. When Hotch gets off the phone he turns to us and his facial expression is more serious than it usually is. "There's been another murder, they just found the body outside of another gated community"
"He must be escalating, this is his second kill in less than 24 hours" JJ points out.
"Hopefully he slipped up this time"
Reid holds up the police tape for me so I can slip through, I hear the sounds of reporters begging for any word on who the victim is and what we are doing to find the killer, vultures. I give Reid a small smile as a thank you but that quickly fades when I see the condition of our latest victim, she is not yet covered with a white sheet and I can barley make out what she looks like based on the massive injuries that she sustained. "He beat her to a bloody pulp this time" I mean to say it just to myself but say it out loud instead.
"This is clearly overkill" Reid points out. I am about to ask if we are sure this is the same guy when I notice the slashes to her breasts and the faint lines around her neck indicating she had been strangled.
"And clearly our unsub's type" I motion to her blond hair and his eyes follow my gaze. "But why beat her up and then still preform the same ritual?" I ask.
"That must be what's important to him"
"So what did she do that got her beat up so badly?"
"Maybe she didn't give him the gratification that he looks for from his victims so he beat it out of her"
"Whatever it is, this is a clear sign that he is unraveling, he is either going to kill more to boost his confidence or go right to the real object of his rage" I watch as they cover her with a sheet and then I look around, there are many people standing around watching us intently. These people who pay thousands of dollars to live in a nice neighborhood where these types of things shouldn't happen, where these types of people shouldn't be in the first place. Then it hits me, I think I might have figured out something major about this case. "That's it" I say out loud.
"What is?" Reid asks me with a puzzled expression.
"I think I know why he is leaving them outside these nice neighborhoods, somehow he knows that they are able to afford these expensive procedures, so in his mind they must have some money, excuse my French but he sees these woman as whores who don't belong in the same social class, he must be someone who lives in these type of areas and he wants to expose these woman for who they really are"
"So he must be a doctor, he must live in one of these communities around the area and that's how he is able to afford it. The real object of his rage must have done something for him to deem her a whore to him, he is starting small by punishing these prostitutes with a little bit of money but soon that isn't going to be good enough. We need to get back and add this so we can help build the profile" We both rush from the crime scene back to the car and I feel a wave of relief wash over me, I can actually do this.
We all sit around the table bouncing ideas back and forth from each other, it is late and I take another swig of my coffee to try and keep my eyes open. For all we know this guy could be out hunting for his next victim at this very moment, there is no time to be tired. "What did you get from Quinn's family" I ask again, sometimes it is just easier to go over everything again to make sure you didn't miss something that has been staring at you right in the face the whole time. Quinn is the name of the last victim we found, the one who's face was almost unrecognizable to her sister that ID'ed the body.
"That she wasn't super close to her family but got the breast implants when she was in her late teens, her sister didn't know where she got the money for them and her boyfriend didn't know much about it either" JJ answers for me. At the sound of hearing the word 'boyfriend' I can feel the sleep leave my body and I sit up a little straighter.
"She had a boyfriend?" I ask.
"Yeah, Morgan interviewed him, he had an alibi for her time of death and was pretty shaken up over it"
"That is pretty strange for a prostitute to have a boyfriend, was she open with him about her work?" I ask.
"He knew, he wasn't very happy about it but she told him she was going to quit so they could get married soon"
"Did she have an engagement ring?"
"No, he hadn't bought her one yet"
"Maybe that's why he beat her up, maybe she pleaded for her life and thought by saying she had something to live for, someone to live for that he would let her go" I suggest.
"You think she was trying to tap into his empathy?" Morgan poses this question.
"Maybe, but she didn't know that would just fuel his rage, I think he beat her up because she was in a relationship yet still working, he values monogamy and when he found out she had broken that he just lost it. That has been what we've been missing, he doesn't assault them because he must be married or in a long term committed relationship and views that as cheating on her" I say. I wait for their reactions, anything to indicate that they agree with me.
"And she could be the one who has cheated on him, that's why he is exposing these woman like you suggested, he is building up the courage to expose her once and for all" Prentiss says.
"I think it's time to deliver the profile" I announce, suddenly I don't feel so tired after all.
We stand in a line and all eyes are on us, my team. Everyone is waiting patiently for us to deliver the highly anticipated profile. "Our unsub is a white male in his late 30's to early 40's. He is most likely a doctor and probably drives an expensive car, dresses nicely and is all about appearance" Hotch starts us off.
"He is easily someone that would look desirable to a prostitute so after scoping out the scene and finally deciding on his next victim he would approach them and they would assume they could make a lot of money from him. He is handsome and likes control and order, we can tell that from his crime scenes and the same can be said for his personal life" Rossi continues.
"He is in a committed relationship and values that, but the same can't be said for his partner, it has most likely come to his attention recently that she hasn't been as faithful and since he can no longer control her the way he desires he has turned to killing these woman that remind him of her, he is most likely married to a blond or someone who was blond when they first met" Prentiss continues.
"He views these prostitutes the same way he views her, like whores who need to be exposed for who they truly are. His recent kill can indicate that he is most likely unraveling, this makes him both dangerous and unpredictable. He could keep killing to satisfy his urges to lash out at the true object of his rage or he could decide he has enough confidence already and practice to take care of her once and for all" I add.
"While his last victim was a clear sign of overkill he couldn't help but still take the time to remove her breast implants, this is his compulsion, there is something about this that he is fixated on and he can't help but do this to all his victims" JJ says.
"From the evidence that all three victims had breast implants means that he knows them personally or had personal information about them previous to their murder and he used that to pick them. And from all the dump sights and the area between them and notorious spots where prostitutes work can indicate that he lives in the area himself" Reid adds.
"While he knows he has messed up we can predict that he won't care, he will think that he is too careful to get caught and he will continue with his same patterns he has exhibited already" Morgan finishes.
"Thank you" Hotch concludes and we all head back into the other room. I am looking at the pictures when I hear JJ swear from behind me.
"Damn it" She says.
"What is it?" Reid asks her.
"The information about the sophisticated cuts on the victims chests got leaked to the press, they put two and two together and figured out he is a doctor. They are having a field day with this and even nicknamed him The Botch Doctor"
"This is really going to boost his ego" Pretniss says, with unsub's like this who no longer feel important because of someone or something always get off on all the attention, and now that they have given him a name it will take his ego to a whole new level. The phone rings and Morgan answers it.
"What do you got for us mamma?"
"I ran three victims names through my data base looking for information about who paid for their boob jobs and about what doctors preformed their surgeries. I have three different doctors and three different names on the credit cards"
"I know you didn't call us if you didn't have anything" Morgan flirts back at her.
"And you are correct my delicious cup of hot coco, while I didn't find any matches on the plastic surgeons they all went to the same hospital"
"There we go"
"Garcia, run a list of all the plastic surgeons that work at that hospital, minus the three we already have" Reid asks.
"I'm running the names, and we have narrowed it down to about 20, give me something else"
"Try and find doctors who are in their late 30's to early 40's"
"That still only brings it down to 15" We are all racking our brains for a connection between these three victims, there is obviously something there but there has to be an easier way to narrow this down.
"Garcia, why don't you try and find doctors that are in a higher position than just surgeons. This guy is about control and order, he must has some experience overseeing some doctors, and that would make sense as to why he would have access to patients that aren't his own and be able to see their files"
"I'm doing that and it narrowed it down to two different people, one is a Lenard Anderson but he is in his late 60's and is near retirement age, so this is probably not our unsub, so that leaves us with 39 year old Robert Dawson, he will actually be taking over for Lenard when he retires and Dawson would have access to our victims files"
"See if he is married"
"Checking, Richard Dawson is married to a Lisa Dawson, they have been married for 15 years, uh oh" She stops midway through her sentence.
"Baby girl, what is it?"
"Lisa just recently filed for divorce two weeks ago"
"So right when the killings began, I think we just found our trigger"
"And from her picture from her licence I can see she is a blond just like all three of our victims, and it gets worse. She was a patient of Richard's 16 years ago, she came in for breast implants and that must be where they met"
"So he is going after woman that remind him of his wife in all aspects" I say.
"That must be why he is taking out their implants, it's as if he is symbolically removing what bound them together in the first place" Reid says to me.
"Garcia, I need you to send me Lisa's phone number, he could have been set off by the fact that we are on to him and he might take his chance now, I will call her from the car. Rossi, Morgan and Izzy, I want you to come with me. JJ, Prentiss and Reid you follow behind, we have to try and get to her before it is to late" I nod my head and follow Hotch and Morgan and Rossi outside of the station and into the car. Morgan is driving and I am sitting in the back, I can feel my adrenaline already pumping, I can hear the sound of the sirens coming from our car and the one behind us that has the rest of our team, that Reid is in. I can't let myself get distracted by him right now, a woman's life is on the line. I hear Garcia giving us the address over speakerphone as Morgan speeds to get there, Hotch has tried calling her phone three times now and still no answer. Soon we pull up to the second neighborhood where the body of our second victim was found, we were so close, so close to him the whole time. Morgan stops the car and all of us jump out, I strap on my vest and pull my gun out, I am ready for this. We split up and Reid, Morgan, Hotch and I are going up to the front of the house while JJ, Prentiss, and Rossi and headed towards the back. We walk up to the door with our weapons drawn and Morgan knocks on the door.
"Richard Dawson, this is the FBI and I need you to open this door" There is no answer and Morgan breaks the door down, we all rush in and can hear the cries of a woman's voice coming from the living room, we walk in and find blood on the floor, Richard is holding a knife to her throat and I can see the starts of cuts on her chest.
"Back up! All of you need to back up right now or I'll kill her!" He is screaming, we all back up a few inches but keep our weapons directed at him.
"Richard, we know you love your wife, you don't want to her hurt her" Morgan directs to him, he is trying to make him remember why he didn't hurt her before this in the first place.
"You don't know me, and it doesn't matter if I loved her, she is just a stupid bitch who couldn't keep the vows she promised me"
"That must have been pretty painful to find out about what she did to you" I try.
"You don't have any idea about what she did!"
"I know it was wrong, when you marry someone you make a promise, and she stood in front of all your friends and family and promised you that she would never cheat on you and then she goes and embarrasses you"
"She humiliated me, I risked everything to be with her, my family knew the whole time she wasn't right for me. She was just some trashy whore who tried to be something she is not, she had to go and get surgery to try and pretend she actually was like me, that she actually belongs in a house like this"
"So you had to expose her, you wanted her to know what she did and you want everyone else to know too, that you were right"
"Of course, of course I'm right"
"Lisa, why don't you apologize to him, tell him how sorry you are"
"Richard, I I'm so so sorry" Her voice is shaking through her words, she is terrified.
"He doesn't know how much you actually mean it, he needs to know you are sincere, Richard, let her face you when she owns up to her mistakes"
"This better not be some kind of trick! If it is I will kill her right here in front of all of you!" He is getting angry again, I hope my team knows what I am doing because we only get one chance to make this work.
"It's not a trick, I promise. I just want you to be able to see how sorry she is, how much she really means it" He nods his head as a indication that he understands what I mean. He lowers the knife to let her turn to face him, as she is Morgan takes the shot and the bullet goes into his shoulder and he drops the knife as he falls to the ground, he is screaming out in pain and Lisa runs away from him and into my arms. I hug her tightly and keep apologizing. "I'm so sorry, I just had to say that so he would let his guard down" I don't know if she understands or not because she is crying too hard. She is still bleeding pretty heavily and Reid must notice.
"We need a medic in here" He pages and Morgan is finished handcuffing Richard and they are both standing up now.
"Your damn right I need a medic" He spews.
"You will be fine" Morgan barks at him. He is trying to control him but he keeps thrashing around, he manages to turn to face me and spits in my direction.
"You lying bitch, you are all the same"
"That's enough" Reid says in a tone I have never heard from him, he sound angry and protective all at the same time. I watch as Morgan walks him out, he killed three woman, three people that didn't deserve to die. No matter what there are always going to be the ones you can't save, I try not to think about that too much as I feel Lisa clinging onto me tightly, I hold onto the one we did save and it feels pretty good.
I look out at the night sky and all the clouds, I am so tired but I can't seem to fall asleep. I am focused on all the lights from the city we are leaving below as Hotch comes to sit down in front of me. "I just wanted to tell you that you did excellent today, you helped save that woman's life"
"Thank you sir, it means a lot"
"And your attention to detail while working on building the profile, Reid said you figured out he wanted to shame his victims by leaving them to be found around nice areas" I don't know what to say, Reid made sure that Hotch knew where to give the credit, that is the sweetest thing.
"I just used what I learned from the rest of the team, you have a good one"
"Yes, we do" I notice the way he uses the word 'we' indicating that it's just as much my team as it is his now. Hotch gets up and leaves the seat in front of me empty again, I wonder why at first but then Reid comes over with two cups in his hand.
"Would you like some tea?" I laugh out of a mix of exhaustion and relief that it isn't coffee, I don't think I should be drinking any this late, I will be up for hours.
"Yes, thank you" He sits down across from me and I realize how it's just the two of us back here, the rest of the team is talking with each other, just enjoying the simplicity of getting to spend time with each other without the stress of an unsub at the moment. I take and sip and feel the warmth rush through me. "Thank you again"
"It's just tea, it was no big deal, really"
"Not just for the tea, but what you told Hotch. That was really sweet of you"
"Oh, well you deserved it. You were spot on with that whole idea that he just wanted to show how out of place they were and how they never really could be like the people who live in those communities"
"Yeah" I try not to let him detect the change in my voice and demeanor, I don't want him to know how I knew that.
"Are you okay?" He already noticed.
"Yeah, I'm okay"
"If you don't want to talk about it that's fine"
"No, it's okay. I just was able to come up with that so easily because I grew up in a nice neighborhood in L.A, my father is a doctor and my mom an immigrant from Mexico. They married young and during that time my dad was building his career as a very successful doctor, since I lived in a nice area I went to a nice private school but not all of the kids there were so accepting, it's hard enough being a half Mexican, you don't feel like you fit in with the white kids because your too Mexican for them, but anywhere when I was in high school a rumor went around that the only reason I could afford the tuition was because I was a prostitute. It wasn't even a very clever rumor or anything but I heard a lot about being a 'whore who didn't belong where I shouldn't be able to afford'" I know I shouldn't have told him any of this, we just met and he doesn't need to know the depths of my high school trauma, I mean I shouldn't have even said anything in the first place. This isn't even the worst of it.
"I'm really sorry, that must have been terrible. When I was in high school I got lured to go meet one of the pretty and popular girls and they blindfolded me, told me it was going to be fun. When they put the blindfold on me she stated taking off my shirt and that is when I heard the laughing, it was all a huge joke and they striped me and tied me up while they all laughed" He just told me something equally as personal, he must really trust me already, or want to.
"Spencer, I am so sorry" I unknowingly place my hand on his leg, when we both notice what I've done I am worried he will try and move away from my grasp, but he doesn't. I take my hand off his leg and take another sip of my tea, I look behind him and see Morgan keeps making glances at us when he thinks we won't notice.
"It's okay, now you know something equally as traumatizing that I went though"
"Well, if it makes you feel better I definitely wasn't popular or pretty when I was in high school"
"I don't believe that, because you are pretty" He says it matter of factly and I feel a slight blush creep to my cheeks, I smile as I take another sip of the tea.
"You are the genius" This makes him smile and he wouldn't even have to say anything else right now, because everything is already perfect.
