Nighttime in Sarasota. It was dark out, even earlier than usual. Although it was July, it was only 8:30 and the sun was down. Nikki did not particularly care. She had lived in Sarasota for twenty-three years, her entire life, and knew St. Armand's Circle well. The shops were crowded, but not nearly as busy as they were during season. In those months it was practically impossible to even take a step without running into another person. Her assailant took her completely by surprise as she passed an alley just outside the circle. Mere seconds later Nikki was on the ground, dead, her life draining onto the sidewalk from her slit jugular. The assailant bent down and carefully brushed Nikki's auburn hair away from the wound before positioning a small vial to catch the blood flowing from her neck. The assailant counted seconds as the blood dripped into the vial before closing the top, but paused before standing. Staring directly into Nikki's eyes, the assailant snarled and closed the dead girl's eyelids. Then slunk back into the shadows and disappeared.
"Good morning my children," Garcia piped as the BAU team filed into the briefing room at Quantico. Her orange hair-bow bobbed back and forth on her head.
"Morning baby girl," Morgan answered. "What's got you so excited?"
"Yeah, what gives?" Prentiss iterated.
"Well, definitely not our un-sub. Meet Nikki Ramos, our fourth victim in a series of murders in Sarasota." Garcia motioned towards a series of images that popped up on the screen. "Apparently she was walking home from an evening dinner with some friends at St. Armand's Circle when she was killed. Her attacker slit her throat and her body was found in an alleyway about a block away from the main shopping area. Same as these other three victims here. All found five days apart."
Another set of images appeared on the screen, two blondes and a brunette. "Well, victimology doesn't appear to be appearance," Rossi spoke up. "In fact, they don't resemble each other at all. What makes the police think that this is a serial? All we have is a consistent timeline."
"An excellent question," Garcia responded. "Well aside from the MO of the throat-slitting, the only other real similarity is their eyes. All four women had their eyes closed after being killed."
"Well, closing the victims' eyes indicates regret, sorrow, or sympathy, which strongly contrasts with the bloody action of slitting their throats," Reid stated. "In fact that doesn't make sense at all. You said their eyes were all closed after being killed?"
"Um, that would be correct."
"So the un-sub didn't mind being seen by the victims when he killed them, but didn't want them to see afterwards?" Reid puzzled. "He wanted to be the last person they saw, but that still doesn't explain why he closed their eyes."
The rest of the team exchanged glances before Hotchner spoke up, "Alright, we'll work on the profile on the plane. Let's get going everyone."
Garcia jumped to her feet, resuming her bubbly manner.
"Did you have something you wanted to tell us?" Morgan smiled curiously.
"Oh, no. I was just excited that you were going to be by Lido Key."
"See you later Garcia." Morgan grinned as he followed the others out of the room. As much as Garcia's peppiness brightened up his mood, he knew that this would not be a pleasant case.