Location: Quantico, Virginia
Jennifer Jereau gathered the members of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in the conference room.
"We just got a call from the Greenville, South Carolina Police Department, in the past two months, fourteen girls have been found raped and strangled, there bodies found in a local park. Their ages range from fifteen to seventeen and each girl was found with a letter, a last words of sort. Another girl, Elizabeth Thomas, has been reported missing by her aunt. Her parent's were killed during the girl's abduction."
"Are the letters any help?"
They're sending over the last one, found with the body of fifteen year old Samantha Collins."
"Why wait so long to call us in?" Emily Prentiss asked.
"They said they didn't see the pattern, they thought they could catch the guy." JJ replied.
"Fourteen bodies, raped, strangled, no there's no pattern." Derek Morgan said.
"They've botched a lot of cases over the past couple years. They didn't want to seem incompetent by bringing in the FBI." Rossi said, clearly irritated.
"Wheels up in 20," Aaron Hotchner said, "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."
Once they were on the plane, JJ, passed out copies of the last letter, which had just been faxed through. It read;
If you're reading this I'm in a better place. Know how much I loved you and how much you taught me. They say time heals all wounds in time, so don't bury away the bad memories, replace them with the good. Tell my friends I love them and how much I was blessed to know them. Especially Liz, she helped me so much. I will always be with you. Your baby girl, Samantha
"There's nothing here." Emily said, "It's just last words, nothing helpful."
Hotch came up from the back of the plane. "I called Spencer, his mom is doing better and he's going to take a flight that leaves tomorrow night. When we get there JJ, Derek, I want you to go to the station and start sorting through things. I'll take Rossi and Emily to the last victims house, see what we can find.
Location: Greenville, SC
There were fourteen letters, all similar, but all written by a different girl. In the past three hours JJ and Derek had gone through them at least ten times each.
"This is pointless," Derek Morgan said, throwing one of them aside. "There's nothing here."
"There has to be, there was no DNA evidence on the bodies, these letters are all we have got to go on."
Even when the rest of the team got there, they found nothing. Hotch's group had been unsuccessful with Samantha's parents, the girl had been well liked and the parents had no enemies. They were all thankful for Spencer's arrival two days later.
Spencer Reid had been quiet, something that was uncommon for him. It was his first day on the case, he'd been carefully analyzing the letters for the past hour. He stared intently at the one that had been found with the last victim. Finally, he looked up.
"This last one, I think there's something here. She underlined several phrases, ones that wouldn't make the unsub suspicious, but that I think are clues." he said finally, beginning to list the phrases on a marker board. "She underlined "blessed to know them" and "you taught me" I'm venturing a guess here, but I think the unsub was her teacher at some point. She also underlined the phrase "don't bury away the bad memories, replace them with the good."
"Oh, come onBoy Wonder, even you can't get something out of that." Emily Prentiss quipped.
"Just that the unsub is using these girls to replace someone he probably lost. Considering she also underlined, "your baby girl," I'd say it's his daughter." he said with a shrug. "The only one that confused me was her underlining "Especially Liz, she helped me so much." Her parents told officers Samantha didn't have any friends named Liz or Elizabeth, but I knew I'd seen the name somewhere, so I went back through the files. Elizabeth Thomas is one of the victims that is still missing, the one that's set to die tomorrow."
"But what does she mean by Liz helped her?" Rossi asked.
"I think Liz helped her word the letter, leave the clues that would help us find the other girls." Reid said.
Everyone was staring at him, except Agent Aaron Hotchner, who picked up his phone and called Penelope Garcia, the team's technical analyst.
"You've reached the all knowing one, how can I help you?" she chimed.
"Garcia, I've sent you a list of names, see if they have any teachers in common." Hotch could hear typing on the other end for several minutes.
"Two had the same English teacher, a Patricia Simmons and they were all in a summer arts program directed by a Jordan Daniels." she said.
"Ok, Garcia, has he lost anyone, maybe a daughter?"
"Two years ago his daughter was found raped and strangled. She was seventeen."
"Same way the victims were killed, and they were all between fourteen and seventeen." said Spencer quietly.
"Garcia, I need everything you have on this guy. If he holds to pattern, Elizabeth Thomas dies tomorrow."
"Right away," she said
Hotch's computer beeped ten minutes later and he pulled up the file.
Hotch rattled off an address and told Rossi, Derek and Emily to go check it out.
"Is that the same place he lived when his daughter was killed?" Spencer asked.
Hotch flipped a couple pages, "No, he lived on the other side of town, that house is now condemned." he picked up his phone, "He gave Derek the other address, try this one first, it would make more since for him to keep them there. We'll meet you there."