Deep breath Percy, deep breath. The last thing the BAU wants is a nervous newbie, especially since your probably going to have your first case today. Your first case as Agent Prospect. I walked through the elevator doors, taking one last calming breath, and walked into my new work place.
Everyone was chatting around, and I saw a few people walk into a nearby conference room. Nobody even noticed the new girl, thank god.
"Excuse me, are you lost, or in need of help?" I looked toward the voice. It was a tall blonde guy, not much older then me, if older at all. He had blonde hair that was cut short, but in longer lengths. He held a cup of coffee, and wore black pants with a sweater vest. He was casually leaning against what I assumed to be his desk.
"Hi, I'm Priscilla Prospect, I'm joining the Behavioral Analysis Unit." He looked me over, and then gave a friendly smile.
"Spencer Marks," he stuck out a hand, " your just in time. We are getting ready to go over a case before flying out. I hope you don't mind, but I bought everyone coffee this morning, but since I didn't know what you like, and chocolate is the most craved food by women I thought I had a better chance of you wanting hot chocolate. Especially since only 54% of people drink coffee." He reached behind him and grabbed a hot chocolate cup, and passed it to me, a smile on his face. I stood dumb founded by the facts he had been able to throw off the top of his head.
"Thank you. And very nice to meet you Spencer."
"Nice to meet you as well Priscilla. We will be spending a lot of time together, so if I do anything to bug you let me know."
"Well you can start by calling me Percy." I smiled.
"Percy. Very nice, you can follow me to the briefing." I thanked him and followed him to the room I had recently seen the people go through. That was my team. When we walked in everyone was conversing about his or her nights. I noticed there were five other people in the room besides Spencer and myself. There was a blonde girl, definitely the same age as mine, who wore big dorky glasses and had a pink bow on the back of her head. She was talking to another girl, this one with short black hair; she was wearing a more professional outfit that consisted of black-heeled boots, and a black blazer, no bows. Three guys were talking in the far corner of the room as well. There were two older men, probably about forty, one with glasses, and a younger man with blonde hair and Irish freckles across his face.
"Spencer's here we can start!" The blonde girl bubbly yelled, and everyone sat down in his or her seat. Spencer ushered me to a seat next to him, and we sat down.
"Everyone I would like to introduce you to Priscilla Prospect. She is the new agent we've been waiting for. She prefers to be called Percy." Everyone started to say hello to me, and I felt slightly overwhelmed.
"Let me start! I am Elly, my real name is Evelyn. I am a techy here. I work behind the scenes helping you guys get names and addresses. " The blonde girl stated.
"I'll go next. I am Lyna, and I work in the field with you. I specialize in ass kicking, and chasing down the perp." The brunette girl spoke.
"I am Finn, " the blonde man spoke in a very Irish accent, " born in Ireland raised here. I have a good shot."
"Keith! Loves cocktails, and the coolest guy on the team." The rest of the team chuckled at the man in the glasses. "They're just jealous." He reassured me.
"Arthur Reid." The oldest of the people spoke. "I am the person in charge, and the person that talked to you on the phone. Your resume was excellent, welcome to the team. You can call me Artie." I nodded my head and Elly started the briefing.
"The scene is New Lexington Ohio, four women have been killed. Stabbed in the heart, leading to immediate death."
"Any similarities?" Arthur asked.
"All four women live outside of Little Lexington and were visiting for the week when they were killed. They all live in random counties and towns in the area, none lived at the same address. Two of them were married, one was dating, and one was widowed. No physical similarities throughout the four women."
"Could be a janitor, or someone local who has something against travelers." Lyna chimed in.
"But how many visitors could there possibly be in New Lexington to have something against new comers?" Keith asked.
"Well New Lexington last recorded a population of over four thousand five hundred people." Spencer responded.
"How did you know that?" I asked.
"He knows everything, you get used to it." Finn let me know. I shook my head yes, and looked to Spencer.
"Well lets get going, meet you guys in an hour." Arthur announced, and everyone started to move and leave.
"Would you like me to show you to the airport?" Spencer asked.
"Uh, yes, but I have to get my stuff first…"
"Well I am packed already, we knew we were gonna get called in. I can drive you to your place and then we can head out."
"That would be great!"
My little tiny house was on Little Hill, which Spencer found very ironic. He couldn't help but say how a little lady lived in a little house (as I had called it) on Little Hill. Spencer drove very calmly, the radio was off, and the windows of his SUV were down.
"Lyna and Elly say that I'm too tiny to drive this big truck. You'll find that Arthur and Keith normally drive on location. We have two SUV's down there."
"Are they good drivers?"
"Both are excellent drivers, but I find Arthur to be better then Keith. Arthur drives well in situations." I shook my head.
"It's this one!" I pointed out and we stopped.
I invited Spencer in while I ran upstairs and packed a bag. We had no clue how long we would be there so I packed enough for three or four days. I looked through what I had packed; I really need to buy more mature clothes. Up in New York these things were ok, but who knows if they're acceptable in DC, let alone the FBI. I grabbed my book, and ran back down the stairs. Spencer was in my living room, looking at my keyboard.
"Do you play?" He asked.
"Learning at a rather slow pace." He laughed.
"I can help when we come back."
"Really?" He shook his head yes, and then glanced down at his watch.
"We better get going." I nodded in agreement and we were on out way to the airport.
Everyone was there but Elly when we arrived, and she pulled up only ten minutes after us. We all boarded the plane, and I felt myself get excited for my first case.
"We got some more information guys, so you may want to sit down." Elly gathered us in front of a tiny screen.
"I did some more research of the area and on the girls, ends up all the girls were in town for their high school reunion."
"Which means any more of the murders will occur before the reunion ends." I said.
"Exactly. It ends Sunday, after their big dance party thing, or whatever reunions have."
"Didn't you go to your ten year El?" Keith asked.
"Me? No! I hated my school." She made a face and continued with her information. "The husbands of victims two and four are going to be at the same hotel as us, and the boyfriend of victim one is waiting there as well."
"I'll take Lyna and Percy to the hotel." Arthur said.
"Spencer and Finn you come with me to the crime scenes." Keith stated. "And Elly you set up at the local police station, get any intel you can, and try to get video coverage of the town's cameras. Not to mention trying to track the girl's phones to see where their last calls were and if any numbers are the same."
"You got it boss."
Once we landed we went into separate cars. Lyna sat in the front with Arthur, and I jumped into the back.
"Here you go Agent Prospect." Lyna turned around and handed me my badge and my gun.
"Ever shot one before?" Arthur asked. He handed me a 9 mm semi-automatic.
"Yeah, in New York they gave me something a little smaller, but I've shot one of these before."
"Ah. Very good, I always forget you came from New York, your so young I think your straight out of training."
"Remind you of anyone?" Lyna asked him.
"Yes, very much." The two shared a laugh while I sat in the back, rather confused.
"May I ask a question please?"
"Of course Percy." Lyna answered me.
"Speak at will, you don't have to ask." Arthur told me.
"Was there ever an event that may have occurred while the girls were in school? I know when my older brother was in high school there had been a fire in the library, and a girl had died. Her boyfriend went around threatening everyone who was in the library that day, saying that they all let her die. He had threatened my brother, sent him home with a black eye. It's just a thought though…" Why did you talk? Arthur pulled out his phone, clicking one number to get who he wanted.
"Elly at your service!" Her voice bubbled through out the car.
"Elly look up the year the victims graduated, and see if there were any scenarios, fires, shootings, car accidents. Something that all of the victims would have been involved with, and pull names of anyone who died that year, along with their families, and people the families may still be in contact with."
"You got it boss." They hung up.
When we arrived to the hotel, we split up. Arthur took Victims one, Anna William's boyfriend, Christopher Smith. Lyna was given Victim two, Maria Dumount's husband, Mark, and I was given victim number four, Monica Hewitt's husband Daniel. Daniel was in room 206 on the second floor. I knocked and checked myself over as I heard someone walking toward the door, and by the thumps of their feet I could tell the man was probably somewhere around two-hundred pounds, and then he opened the door. His eyes were red, his wife was the last one killed, he must have been crying.
"Hi Daniel Hewitt?" He nodded his head yes, "I am Agent Prospect from the FBI I am here to interview you about your wife… I am truly sorry for your loss Mr. Hewitt."
"Please do come in." I walked into the hotel room; the TV was turned onto the news, most likely watching for some news of his wife's murder.
"Did your wife have any enemies, or recent phone calls that may have seemed threatening?"
"Monica and I got married when we were eighteen, we hid nothing from each other. Everyone loved her so much, her friends, colleagues, or kids." He sniffled, and I offered him a tissue from my bag. He nodded his head in thanks.
"Did you two graduate together?"
"Same year, we were high school sweethearts. Monica got pregnant right after graduation; we got married that October, and that April our daughter was born."
"Did anything happen while you two were in school? A shooting, or fire? There might have been a death or a serious injury to one individual." He sat down and thought for a moment.
"None that I can remember."
"Would you mind if I looked through your wife's things?"
"Please go right ahead, she never had the chance to unpack. It's all there in the pink suitcase."
"Thank you." I flipped through her bag, and there was nothing that I hadn't had packed myself, well besides the condoms… I got ready to leave, thanking Mr. Hewitt for his time.
"If there is anything you need, PLEASE call me." He wrote down his number on a sticky note, I thanked him again, and went on my way. I took out my cell phone, and called Elly, luckily on the plane I was given everyone's contacts.
"Elly Belly here."
"Hi Elly it's Percy."
"Hello sweetheart, how can I be of service?"
"Is there anyway of accessing a yearbook from the year they graduated? Virtually maybe, so I can have it on my phone?"
"Sending to you right now doll face!"
"Really?"
"Why of course!"
"Thank you so much Elly!" We hung up, and I went to the foyer of the hotel, where Arthur and Lyna told me to meet them. I sat there and scrolled through the virtual yearbook, where I came across a page that was set as a memorial for some girl named Nichole Lynviesta, who was a year older than our victims. The story was sad, it was a trick or treating accident, pushed her little sister out of the way, and suffered major head trauma.
After skimming through their high school yearbook for about twenty minutes, I realized that the four victims didn't even participate in the same after school activities. Anna did nothing after school, Maria was in the Key Club and played soccer, Crissy was on the softball team and did peer tutoring, and Monica was a cheerleader. I looked away from my phone just in time to see Arthur walking my way, and I stood up as he approached me.
"Anything?"
"Nothing, but I had Elly send me a virtual version of their senior yearbook, none of the victims even participated in the same after school clubs or sports. They have nothing in common at all. And according to Monica's husband everyone loved her. They were voted Romeo and Juliet in high school."
"My wife and I were voted that as well, but that is very strange, according to Anna William's boyfriend Chris, the girls hadn't had talked since they graduated."
"Maybe Finn, Spencer, and Keith found something at the crime scene…"
"We need a profile to figure out his next move." Lyna said as she walked forward.
"We'll see what they found soon, they are on their way here now. We will be staying here as well, so we can give you the room keys and such soon." Arthur answered my question.
When the others arrived at the hotel we all went into Arthur and Keith's room, where we would be setting up our white boards and corkboards. Lyna sprawled the pictures of the victims across the board while Finn wrote everything down about them on the white board. I bounced back and forth, anxiously waiting to start the meeting.
"Well you seem nervous." Keith came up and stood by my side. He was tall, and I had to look up to look him in the eye.
"I think excited is more the word."
"You came from New York, right?"
"The North Midtown precinct."
"Damn. You've seen it all then haven't you." He looked down on me with a big cheesy smile. I shrugged my shoulders in a 'kind of' motion and he chuckled at me.
"Each victim was carefully layed down in their individually dumping zone. Victim one looked like she was sleeping on a bench right in the front, victim two was sitting on the stairs, victim three was sitting under a nearby tree and victim four was sitting in the corner of the underlay." Spencer spoke.
"The sites had no sign of blood. They weren't killed there." Keith added.
"Anna Smith's boyfriend said that she had sometimes spoke of the girls when referring to prom or homecoming, but that she didn't have any contact with the girls since they graduated." Arthur informed.
"Her cell phone records confirm this." Elly commented.
"Maria's husband Mark said that she was loved by her whole senior class, and that she was elected to be class president, but she declined. He also raved about her soccer scholarship to North Eastern, where they met." Lyna informed us of her findings.
"Victim four's husband Daniel told me that everyone loved his wife, her colleagues, their kids, her friends. He said that they were high school sweethearts, getting married the October after they graduated because she was pregnant, so that basically rules out past romances for her."
"Talk about the yearbook sweetie! Take claim to your ideas!" Elly pressed, wanting me to take credit for finding nothing.
"Oh uh, I had Elly send me a virtual version of their yearbook, and the girls didn't even have any activities together."
"Odd, he doesn't seem to have a pattern… Elly when are the girls birthdays? Sometimes on subs target the younger, or older people in their grades." Elly started to type away at a laptop she had just set up in the hotel room. After a minute she got up and wrote their birthdays down on the white board. We analyzed them for twenty minutes or so, with no obvious patterns.
"Did they have siblings?" I asked. Elly started to type away again, and soon her eyes seemed to light up.
"New girl's got game. All of the victims had little sisters who are all seven years younger."
"Strange. Maybe the girls were friends? Neighbors perhaps?" Finn added in. He didn't talk a lot I had noticed.
"I'll talk to the families in the morning, it's too late to call them now." Arthur said, making us all look to our watches. It was midnight already. "Everyone go to your rooms, we meet up here again at eight. We all said our goodnights and went to our separate rooms.
I was staying in a room with both Elly and Lyna. I came out of the bathroom, fully ready to be humiliated in my star wars T, and my non-matching polka dot shorts, not to mention my knee high socks, a habit I had picked up when I was playing softball.
"Knee high socks?" Lyna asked
"Star wars!" Elly exclaimed. I looked at the girls, Lyna was wearing a patriots tank top, and a pair of Capri's. Elly had on a hello kitty nightgown, and batman slippers. I had offered to take the pull out, since our room had two twin beds and a pullout couch.
"So how did you like your first day?" Elly questioned.
"Oh let poor Percy rest, it's been a long day."
"No it's ok I don't mind. I really like it, and you guys are all so nice. I just hope we get this guy before he gets another girl." They both agreed, and that ended my first night in the BAU.
The next morning I woke up right as Elly did, around six. I offered to buy everyone coffee, and asked her what everyone liked.
"Just text them all silly. They don't mind, everyone should be up, except for maybe Finn, but Spencer will know what he takes." With that I texted everyone, and got their orders, and I walked to a coffee shop a few blocks down. New Lexington was a pretty place, and the coffee shop was quaint and had many mirrors, which I found odd. I looked myself over; hopefully a striped shirt with a peek-a-boo back was ok… On the wall of one of the shop sat a plaque, in memorial to the same girl from the yearbook. After the lady at the counter took my order, I asked her if she had grown up here, and she said yes.
"Who was Nichole Lynvista?" She gave me a longing look.
"Nichole was a sophomore when she took her little sister trick or treating with some freshman who had little sisters that were friends. That night Nichole's sister, May, ran out into the street. Nichole pushed her sister out of the way, but got hit herself. In all truth I was suppose to go that night, but I got invited to a party instead."
"You said she went with freshman, and she was a sophomore?" A spark went off in my head.
"Yes." She looked at me odd.
"Do you happen to know the names of the girls she was with?"
"I think they were Monica, Cris, Anna, Maria, and Arlene."
"Did you know them too?"
"Sort of. I heard most of them died, it's sad. They were all really sweet. I actually saw Arlene last night she's in for their reunion, or something."
"Thank you." I grabbed my coffee and ran out. If all these girls went trick or treating together the night Nichole died, then maybe Arlene was the next victim. I had to tell the team, and quick.
I burst through Keith and Arthur's room, where Finn and Spencer were already there. It was seven thirty, and I assumed I was interrupting guy-time.
"What's wrong Perc?" Finn asked me. I handed everyone their coffee, and gave myself a second to breathe, I walked over to the white boards, writing as I talked.
"The year all of the victims were freshman, Nichole Lynivista was killed trick or treating. She got hit by a car, and was a year older then the girls, there was a memorial in their yearbook."
"What does that have to do with our victims?" Keith asked.
"Nichole was taking her little sister out with some of her friends, their older sisters all came as well. They were Monica, Crissy, Maria, and Anna. There was another girl there too, her name was Arlene."
"She's the next victim. Finn get Elly and Lyna we need to find Arlene." Arthur demanded, and Finn sprinted out the door.
"How did you figure this out?" Spencer asked me.
"The girl at the coffee shop knew them, she was suppose to have gone with them, but went to a party instead."
"Good choice for a coffee shop." Keith chimed.
Once Elly and Lyna arrived, Elly looked up the last known phone number for Arlene Harris, and called her. She was staying in the same hotel, two floors up, and we were on our way to meet her. Arthur led the way, and knocked on the door. Arlene let us right in.
"Arlene Harris I am Agent Reid, this is Agent Moran, Doyle, Lafoyette, Marks, and Prospect. I talked to you on the phone." She had dark brown straight hair, and she had on a floral knee length dress. She looked flushed, and nervous.
"Do you remember the night that Nichole Lynvista died?" Keith questioned.
"Of course. It was around nine that night, and her little sister kept getting distracted by all of the decorations, she had ADD. My little sister had begged me to bring her, and my mom forced me to miss out on a party. The girls were walking up a driveway, when Nichole's sister May saw a strobe light go off across the street. She immediately ran toward it, and then the car, "She started to choke, "that stupid car…"
"You don't have to continue." Lyna put a hand on her shoulder, and Arlene shook her head yes.
"Did Nichole have an older brother, an overprotective father? A boyfriend?" Finn asked her.
"Her dad died two years ago of a heart attack, I believe she was the oldest, but I think she was dating Robert McCoy… I can't be certain though. It seems so long ago." She shook her head, signaling that she was disappointed in herself.
"It's ok Arlene that helps us a lot. Is Robert in for the reunion?" I asked.
"He's in charge of the reunion."
"Arlene, we believe that Robert is targeting everyone who was there that night, we believe that he may blame everyone there for her death," I looked over to Elly, who was typing aimlessly on her cell phone, "We believe you are his next target."
"Oh my god…" She sat down on the bed; awestruck by the news she had just received. Elly ushered us to the hallway, and Arthur asked Arlene to give us a second. Once the door was closed, Elly spoke.
"Robert McCoy is not married and has been on four separate dating sites in the past three years. He works at a butcher shop two towns over."
"Well that sounds right, I mean the precision of the stab wounds, the accident with the girls, but why does he want to kill them now why not earlier on?" Arthur asked, and Elly tapped away.
"Robert McCoy was in a car accident two weeks ago, he was brought to the hospital but denied medical help." Elly looked up.
"Arlene is the next target, and we know he knows where all of the victims are staying since this hotel was the one registered for the reunion…" Keith started to try and figure out how to keep Arlene safe.
"If we catch him in the act, we can get him." Lyna added.
"But we don't want to put Arlene in danger, and who knows if she would be safe. I have an idea…" Finn started, and we went with his idea, little to my dismay.
I was to go undercover as Arlene, seeing how I had dark hair like her, and my body type fit better then Lyna's. We weren't positive Robert would attack her tonight, but I was to act like I was a normal tourist in my room, and I wasn't bringing my gun. Arlene would stay the night in my room. Keith would stay with her, while Elly and Lyna went to a party being held in honor of the reunion, in case he went there instead of to get Arlene. Arlene called a friend, informing her that she was not coming to the party. She came up with some excuse about her stomach bothering her. Spencer, Arthur, and Finn would be in the next room over, if they heard something going wrong they would interfere if necessary. Arlene easily agreed.
"Remember Percy, we are right there if you need anything." Finn pointed to the door, "If he doesn't come by twelve, we will assume he went to the party, or isn't coming. You can spend the night in the room, as to not look suspicious if he is watching. There are two more days to this reunion, so there is a chance he wont come." I gave him a silent nod of the head.
"IF you want, and I know Arthur said not to, but bring your gun. Hide it in the microwave or something if it makes you feel safer. Arthur will understand, and if he doesn't I'll simply say that I told you to bring it." He gave me a smile, and suddenly I felt a little safer. Finn had been a mystery to me since I walked in yesterday, and he really had spoke to me. Everyone else had goofed and talked, but he had just watched. Now I felt as if I could trust him as well.
Ten minutes later I was sitting in Arlene's room, as Arlene, in my unmatched pajamas again, and waiting for the clock to strike midnight. As time went by, I sat and read a magazine; every now and then I could hear the guys next door talking. Keith was downstairs with Arlene, and Elly and Lyna were at the party. At ten after twelve I got a text from Spencer, he said nothing seemed to be going on, and that there were cops around the building, it was safe to sleep if I wanted to. I thanked him and turned off every light, but the bedside lamp. I had always left one light on growing up, in case something went bump in the night…
It was one A.m. when I heard a noise come from the small porch attached to my room, I figured it was the wind and tried to go back to sleep. I heard something again, and got up to look through the door. When I sat up on my bed I heard the shot of a gun, followed by the glass of the door shattering before my eyes. I jumped out of bed, scrambling to get to the microwave where I had hidden my gun.
"Arlene." The man, Robert, spoke in an angry tone. I had to play the part.
"Ye..Yes." I stuttered, sound scared Percy, don't act like there are three FEDs in the room next door, and your gun in the microwave.
"Why did you let her die Arlene?"
"She ran to save her sister, it wasn't my fault." I backed up, and grabbed my gun from the microwave. It took two seconds for me to get it, and he didn't even notice he was too busy mumbling under his breath.
"You all said that, they all said that!" He yelled, firing a shot into the TV. He didn't even notice the gun I held. I heard the guys get up, they were up, thank god.
"Why, why would she save her sister, she hated her damn little sister." He was angry, and he grabbed his head. I held my gun up, time to get into action.
"Robert calm down, it wasn't anyone's fault but her own. She saved her sister, Nichole died a hero." He saw the gun and his eyes widened. He trembled to bring his gun up too.
"Put the gun down Robert." I said calmly.
"You let her die Arlene, and now it's your turn, just like the others." He shot another bullet, I ducked, and the bullet barely missed hitting me. I heard the door get knocked down as I fell behind the bed, out of Robert's sight.
"Robert McCoy put the gun down." Arthur said in a calm yet aggressive voice. I saw Spencer and Finn behind him, all three suited in their pajamas. Spencer shot me a worried glance, I mouthed the words 'not hit' to him, he seemed to ease up a little after that.
"She, she let my girlfriend die." Robert spoke.
"She is a federal agent. Put the gun down." Robert looked shocked.
"She… She isn't Arlene. Oh my god I just killed an innocent woman." I heard the gun drop to the ground, and Arthur walked over to put the coffs on him. Finn came over to me.
"Are you hit?" He asked, worried.
"No he completely missed." I sat back, displaying my star wars shirt, which made Finn glance back at Spencer, and then back to me.
"Did you two plan this?" I looked over to Spencer to find he was wearing a Yoda T-shirt. It read "Do or do not there is no try."
"A classic!" I said to Spencer who started to laugh, as Arthur dragged Robert out, quickly followed by Finn. Spencer walked over to help me up.
"Exciting first case?" he asked, I shook my head yes and we walked out of the room.
The next day we arrived back in Virginia, and we all sat down and did paperwork for an hour or so.
"Anybody up for dinner? There's a great diner around the corner." Lyna suggested to everyone.
"Did you know that all diners have a small metal plate hidden in the interior telling you who the maker of that specific diner was? It's almost like a game of Waldo though when it comes to finding it." Spencer informed us all.
"I think that means yes!" Keith said, everyone agreed, and we left to get some well-deserved food and rest.
I could tell I was going to like it here at the BAU.