Criminal Minds
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
. The namesake murder club .
.
.
Hotch and Emily were called to the murder scene. Flipping the blue tarp over to reveal the pale face, Hotch gave a thorough look the rest of body; according to her ID found in her possession, she was in thirty-seven.
But ravaged by years of drug abuse, street life, and prostitution, the victim was looked more than fifty years old!
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
The local ME had stood up and was removing his latex gloves, "She's a jumper." He looked up at the apartment building next to them and continued, "Yeah...seven floors up, that'll kill." He shook his head. "I don't know why you folks are here. This is a suicide case." He turned to his assistant. "Okay Roy...let's bag her up and take her to county." He turned back to Hotch. "We will do an autopsy...standard procedures." He said with a heaviness and tired tone.
Hotch nodded, "Thanks, you'll do a drug test on her as well, won't you?"
The ME nodded, "Of course, and I'll let you know the result."
"Thank you again."
"Hotch..." It was Emily, she was squatting by the body and she was holding an outdated MP3 player in her gloved hand. "Listen to this."
He walked to her and placed the earplugs near his ears as Emily pressed the play button.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles." Hotch said after a moment. "It's one of my favorite songs." He gave her a puzzled look.
"The vic's name is Lucy Diamonds." She said.
"Let me guess, the Namesake Murder Club?"
Emily nodded, "Looks like it."
Hotch walked to the ME and tapped him on his shoulder, "Doc, a moment."
"Yeah, agent?"
"Will you check and let me know if she's positive for LSD in her system?"
The ME frowned, "LSD? Now, that's an old drug I've hardly heard used in the streets anymore." He shrugged. "But I'll run it as you requested."
"I appreciated it."
"No problem, Agent Hotchner." He nodded before he departed for his vehicle.
Emily watched Hotch, "Why LSD?"
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with you head in the clouds
And you're gone
"It was speculated that the first letters of the title noun of the song spells LSD."
She raised her brows in surprise.
He shook his head, "I know, of course John Lennon and Paul McCartney who co-wrote the song had denied it."
"Do you believe it?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. I mean, it was written in the '70s and even though it was inspired by John's son, Julian and his childhood friend," he shrugged again. "Who knows...Lennon's dead, we'll never know. And it's not the point of this case."
She looked grimly, "Right." She held out the evidence bag which she had placed the playing device within. "We need to get the scum who is perpetrating all these murders."
He nodded at her, "Any news from Garcia?"
She shook her head, "No...she's knee-deep in her computers, and I don't think she has come out of her office at all."
They were walking towards their SUV, "We're stretched thin on this case and I'm on the tight rope with Strauss."
Emily watched at him, "She can't skewer you on this, Hotch. This case is spread all over the country. We have Morgan and Reid in Pennsylvania, JJ and Dave in West Virginia, and here we are in South Virginia..." she hesitated and tilted her head.
"Emily? What is it? You thought about something, haven't you?" Hotch noticed her tell.
"These murders have so far been concentrated on the East Coast. What if our UnSub is located here or close by?"
Hotch stared at her and smiled, "I think you might have somethin, Emily." He pulled out his cell phone and pressed the number for their TA and began to relay their suspicions.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
An hour later, the ME called and notified Hotch that Lucy Diamonds did indeed overdosed on LSD, in fact she had three times the intake of the drug. "She probably thought she was literally flying when she jumped." He explained to Hotch. "She didn't feel anything. Bones are pretty shattered on impact on the concrete ground. I'm ruling her death as a suicide."
"Doctor, her death was caused indirectly by another influence."
"You mean the LSD she took? She's a user, Agent Hotchner, she's been using it for many years, I'd say it's a matter of time before her body shuts down from such abuse or she'll overdose, like she did. No, Agent, this is a suicide case. It's simple, case close."
"Thank you, Doctor." Hotch said simply before he pressed end on his phone and turned to Emily, explaining to her what the ME had said.
"You don't believe him?" She asked him.
"No, and neither do you."
She gave him a look, "No...I don't. Garcia went through her play list, and found a voice message."
"Oh? What does it say? Whose voice was it? Was it a match to the one found on Valentine Day's message too?"
She nodded, "The same exact male unidentified voice, same recorded message, I can help you feel complete. I can help you become who you really are. Join me and you will find eternal bliss. Your name is special and true, your name is blessing, and in the end, your name will become who you truly are. You are who you will be, find yourself in your name."
"Find yourself in your name..." Hotch repeated the last line. "We have so many people named after songs, both male and females."
Emily sighed, "It'll take a super computer and ten of Garcia to filter those names, and that's just in the East Coasts..."
Just then, they received a call from Garcia, there was a possible case involving the namesake murder club. This time it was in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
"Well, I guess I'm wrong this time, UnSub has branched out into the Midwest now." She nodded, "I'll grab my go-bag."
Hotch sighed as well, "Meet you in half?"
"Yup. What about the rest of the team?"
"We're still split up, they're working on their own, so it's us."
She nodded, "Fine with me, meet you at the jet."
He nodded as he watched her leave the conference room.
…...
To be continued...