A/N: I don't own any of the Criminal Minds characters and I am not making any money from writing this.
Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.
This is a case!fic. It focuses on a fictional case that I made up and all characters are involved. This is not a romance and there are no actual ships feautured, although potential love interest for Spencer is introduced as a part of a storyline and for purposes of character study. I wrote it because I would like to see more depth regarding Kate's character by now and I feel like most of episodes of season ten don't focus on profiling or Reid enough. Of that is not your thing, you shouldn't ne reading this. If it is, carry on.
It was a chilly evening in Brooklyn. There was nobody at home, except for one person.
Young brown haired man was breathing heavily as he glued the last photograph of a young brown haired woman on the big piece of paper hanging from his bedroom wall, already covered with many other photographs and many detailed plans and notes written on it. Everything had to be just right, he couldn't, shouldn't leave anything, anyone out. So he could plan his next move... and remind himself of his previous successes. He shuddered.
Leaves for work at eight am. Comes home at about five pm. Works as a fashion designer. Has a boyfriend, doesn't live with him.
Her took a step back and observed the craft that he had just made. All of them, he still remembered every single one. And he knew that they will remember him too, as long as they are alive. Always fearing that he would come back to get them.
Words echoed through his mind.
I predict that she will break by the next month.
He sighed as he ran his hand through his spiky hair. Now, number six...
#
It was a nice, sunny morning in Quantico, and all members of BAU team were already at work, looking into case files, interrogating suspects and examining the evidence. Some were doing some non work related things too.
Spencer Reid was typing something on his laptop while sitting at the desk in his office, real fast. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of well familiar voice, emerging from the door way. "Hey, pretty boy."
Spencer quickly closest his laptop shut and turned facing Derek, smiling nervously. "Hey..."
Derek frowned at him. "What did you just do."
"Oh, you mean... you just surprised me, that's all."
Derek tilted his head at the side. "Are you OK?"
Spencer nodded his head, but couldn't help but blush. "Yeah, sure. I was just... googling, I know."
Derek was confused. Not only did Spencer never talked or acted that way, If that wasn't Spencer, he would have thought that he just caught his colleague browsing for porn. But he didn't have time to discuss the matter further. "Hotch wants to see us all. We are assigned on the investigation in New York City."
Within half an hour, all team members were sitting around the desk in the conference room, with Penelope joining the last. They had a new case on their hands. "Blast from the past, people!", Penelope explained as she stood in front of the screen, taking a remote in her hand. "It looks like you will have to reopen te Brooklyn stalker case. Also known as "Bralker". Because, irony."
Aaron sighed as he cracked open the file. "I remember this", he commented, already deep in thought. "He claimed five victims in four year span, all of whom were Caucasian, brown haired woman in their early thirties, average height and weight, single and living alone in Brooklyn area. He would begin with calling them late at night, breathing heavily or yelling obscenities on them. Calls would soon turn more frequent and he would soon start sending them anonymous letters, very graphic in nature. On the third and fifth occasion, he managed to snap naked photographs of his victims and post them online, and he would also send them a letter containing them. He also hacked his fifth victim's Facebook and MySpace page and deleted them completely. In all cases except the first one he would also vandalise victim's car at least once. With his fourth and fifth victim, he would also break into their apartments: he would ransack them, write insults on the walls and steal their underwear. Victim number four had a dog, a beagle. He strangled it to death with it's own leash."
Kate had a disgusted look on her face. "I so want to get this guy", she mumbled.
"Even after they would change their telephone and cellphone numbers, he would still be able to contact them", JJ read. "It would take him a few days though. And then things would turn even worse."
David frowned. "That is weird."
JJ shifted in her seat. "Not necessarily. By stalking his victims, he would probably stalk their family members and closest friends. Those persons would know their new numbers. Given his obvious stalking and technology skills, he could have easily obtained numbers from them after realizing that his victims had changed theirs."
"Victims number one, two and four eventually had to move away, victim number three ended up having a psychological break down and was institutionalized for two months, victim number five attempted suicide by jumping from her balcony", Spencer read before looking up to face his colleagues. "She was in a coma for a month and is currently in a mental health clinic on a recovery. After such incidents, he would stop, but always send them a text message, a goodbye note. But he would note that There is always a possibility of him coming back."
"All victims contacted the authorities, but they were unable to locate him", Aaron explained. "We were called in two years ago. We delivered a profile, interrogated the victims, gave some advice, but we weren't able to solve it either."
Garcia sighed. "Well, hopefully, you will be able to do so this time because he claimed another victim two days ago and it didn't end with her moving away or attempting to commit suicide." She took a deep breath before continuing, trying to hide a dread in her voice. "This time he raped her and murdered her."
Everyone widened their eyes and garde at each other, surprised at such the sudden turn of events. Penelope pressed at the remote, and the photograph of young Caucasian woman with long brown hair and brown eyes.
"Ella Wilkerson, thirty four", she explained. "A resident of New York, Brooklyn. That guy started stalking her about two months prior to her death." She clicked at the remote again, making photographs of the letters and phone records appear on the screen. "He broke into her apartment a week before murdering her." Crime scene photographs appeared on the screen. "Since then she got a better lock and had antiburglar alarm installed, and also convinced her friend to check on her by calling her every day at eight am and every night at ten pm and to call 911 if she doesn't answer within a minute. On the morning of January 25th, Ella didn't answer, so Allison called 911. A responding officer rushed to her apartment and found her lying dead, face up on the bed in her bedroom, completely naked, her hands tied to a bed frame with black leather straps." She pressed at the remote again, turning away so she wouldn't see anything gruesome. Crime scene photograph showing Ella's body appeared on the screen. "She was beaten viciously over the face and chest area, raped and strangled to death."
"The killer apparently took all the clothing she had on, as well as bed sheets from the bed, with him", Kate read.
"Probably as a trophy or a forensic countermeasure", Derek theorized. "Or both."
"According to the forensic report, ligature marks around her neck seemed to be bra strap marks, the same size like the one she wore, and black lace fibers found on her neck match to the ones found on her chest, on an area when one would expect a woman to have her bra on, and on her lips and inside her mouth. Her own pubic hair was also found in her mouth. So it is likely that he hanged her with her own panties and strangled her with her own bra."
"Strange", JJ noted. "So organized and careful, and yet he opted to use something that he found on the scene to gag her and murder her."
"Maybe he did bring it but couldn't resist, or he planned to use some of the victim's clothing in committing the murder right away", Kate suggested. "Maybe that played some sort of special sexual element for him."
"Apparently, they already have a suspect in custody", Derek noted while going through the files.
"Yes, but they have no strong evidence against him, so they are calling us. I mean, you", Penelope explained.
JJ continued godine through the file. "Gary Lake, twenty nine." A photograph of young, Caucasian, brown haired man appeared on the screen. "Works as a computer programmer in a succesfull company for the last five years. Married for the last three years, one child. No priors. Lives in New York, Brooklyn. None of the victims lived more than twenty miles away from his home."
"A resident noticed a suspicious looking car lurking around the area at about two am, black SUV, and wrote down the licence plate just in case", Derek read. "After hearing about the murder, he reported his finding to the police. They ran the licence plate number through and found that the car is registered to Gary Lake. One other witness reported seeing black SUV in the area at the approximately the same time, but didn't notice anything else and couldn't describe the driver. Neither of the witnesses could identify him, but they both identified his car. Further forensic examination also recovered traces of very specific appliance on victim's body, the one used by the company where Gary worked, for disinfection."
"Close proximity, age and profession fit the profile that we had previously composed, and working as a computer programmer would give him enough free time to stalk his victims and skills and resources needed to bully his victims the way he did and not get caught, having no priors is a little off but not impossible, but being married with a child does not fit at all", David said.
"Anyway, we will not know that for sure until we see him in person and interrogate him", Aaron concluded as he stood up, taking his file with him. "Wheels up in thirty."
#
The grownigly nervous unsub was reading the news article about Ella's murder. His hand held tightly at the page, almost ripping it, his erratic breathing echoing through the room. Every written word seared into his mind, that already struggled to think of what was the good thing to do next. The time was running out.
The unsub shivered at the vivid image of life draining away from Ella's face before closing his eyes, thrilling sound of his victim taking her last breath sending jolt down his stomach.
~OPENING ROLES AND CREDITS~