Losing Chances
Chapter One
Derek Morgan was officially pissed off. Three days in Tampa, and they weren't anywhere close to finding the sick son of a bitch that was breaking into the houses of single women and stabbing them in their beds. The few leads for the case had fizzled quickly as they were proved circumstantial. Time was running out, as this particular creep was striking every day now, escalating his violent rage for reasons that were still unclear.
"Damn it, Hotch, we don't really even know how these women are connected!" he burst out, slamming the file he was holding to the table hard. Hotch looked up from his own notes and merely nodded, disgusted himself by the lack of forensic evidence, witnesses, and sheer luck.
Just then, Morgan's phone vibrated in his pocket. It had to be Garcia, because he had recently called her to check for any similar cases in Tampa and the surrounding areas to see if the unsub had a wider comfort zone than originally thought.
"Garcia? You got something?"
"When don't I? I did what you asked and guess what? No similar cases. I mean, yeah, there's obviously a lot of stabbings in Florida, but they're mostly gang-related."
"Did you find any interesting connections between our victims yet?"
"Sorry, handsome. I mean, other than them all living in Tampa, they're completely different in terms of job, socioeconomic class, religion, ethnicity, none are involved with social networks so we can rule that out, they go to different stores and have different credit cards-" Derek interrupted her.
"DAMMIT! Garcia, it has been three days! Come on, you know there is a connection! None of these stabbings feel random! What have you been doing the last few days? Playing a damn game? Look, get your ass moving and find me something I can use. He's probably going to strike again soon, and while you're challenging some jackass to an online duel, someone out there is getting killed!"
Silence. Its thickness slapped Garcia in the face. Tears pooled in her eyes, confused, shocked, even angry emotions spilling through her mind. She hung up the phone and laid her head down next to the computer monitors. Never, in all her years at the BAU, had she felt this much hurt. Those words…..they had come from a man that she-she loved. There. She had admitted it. All those days of banter and teasing really came down to the fact that she was in love with one of her best friends. She'd thought he at least appreciated her as a good friend…but apparently not.
Upset, Garcia realized that she needed to go home and lie down for awhile. She called for a substitute tech to continue where she'd left off. Penelope walked dejectedly to her car and began the drive home. She turned the radio to an oldies station and focused intently on David Bowie instead of her troubles. Perhaps if she'd looked up when she adjusted the volume she would have seen the large truck barreling towards her….