It was a calm Friday in the BAU, and everyone was hoping they would be allowed to go home at 5 and not see this place until Monday. No one said a word, not wanting to jinx it. But, as luck would have it, the odds were not in their favor.

"We have a case." Aaron Hotchner announced as he walked through the bullpen. "Meet in the conference room in two minutes." You could hear the groan of everyone as they stood to move to the conference room.

"And I thought we might actually get a weekend off." Emily Prentiss said, leading the way up the stairs. "But I guess that's what I get for hoping."

"What's 'a weekend off'? I've never heard of it before." Derek Morgan replied, with amusement in his voice, as they stepped into the room and took their seats.

Penelope Garcia walked in, not a second later, passing folder around the table before saying "I was hoping the same thing, even made plans with JJ to go to the new night club downtown, but when she sent this to me, I knew we couldn't ignore it. They sent a request when the first murder happened two months ago. Since then, there have been three more; all of them being couples, gay or lesbian couples to be exact. That's eight dead so far and their lead detective is desperate because it's causing panic in the small town of Union Connecticut. Each couple was found wrapped together in plastic wrap, after having being choked to death from what they believed was a rope and gutted, and hung upside down in trees."

"It could be a hate crime. There's a lot of religious freaks who could have snapped one day and decided to take judgment into their own hands." Morgan stated, looking at the pictures in the file. He looked over to Spencer Reid for an answer "How many gay couples are in Union, Connecticut?"

Reid went to answer, but Garcia interrupted. "That's the strangest thing about this is, none of the couples were actually from Union. The first couple was from Alabama, second was from Pennsylvania, and the third was from New Jersey, and the last being from West Virginia."

"Then I guess the real question is why are they bringing the couples to Union, Connecticut?" David Rossi pointed out, not bring his head up from the file.

"There is one more thing that makes this case spooky and strange, this isn't the first time a crime like this has happened," Garcia said, making everyone look up at the TV screen to see pictures of three different couples. "The same thing happened in Georgia four years ago to these three couples. The couples were taken from different states, except for the last couple, and they were all found in Athen, Georgia. The last couple was from Athen and was found hanging outside of there house."

"Who did it?" Morgan asked, "It's probably a copycat."

"They never actually found original murder, they stopped killing after the last killing. There were accusations against the last couples adoptive son, Elijah Jackson, formally Elijah Nicks." A picture of a buff 20-something-year-old man came up on the screen. He had blond hair and brown eyes, and a smirk rested smugly on his face. "After many trials, they found him not guilty and had let him go. Many people in the town of Athen still believe that he was the one responsible, and he was attacked many times during and after the trails. Two weeks after he was found not guilty, he disappeared. He's been off the grid ever since, and I can't find anything on him. But, get this, he has an adopted sister, who was adopted two years after him. And guess where she lives now?"

"Union, Connecticut?" JJ guessed.

"Bingo." Garcia pulled up a picture on a girl with short dyed red hair with light blue eyes. She wore a police uniform that looked like it was too big for her and a gentle smile. "Six years ago, 23-year-old Kendall Jackson applied to the FBI. She got in but resigned before she even started but didn't give a valid reason, just saying that she no longer wanted the job, but she gave birth to her daughter, Kimberly, about nine months later. I would assume that was probably her reason, there is also not a father's name on the birth certificate. She's very educated, having a Masters in Computer Science and a Doctorate in BioChemistry, she would have been great here and she came highly recommended by her professors and the police station she worked at in Georgia. She's now the resident Medical Examiner in Union, moving there right after she resigned from the FBI. She also patrols some nights with other police officers, there only before three total. They have her down officially as a 'backup' detective, and she's called in for emergencies. And she's in charge of a lot of their research and finding information on their victims. Very tech savvy it would seem."

"It could easily be her. Having her parents killed three years ago could not have been easy and the amount of access she has would make it very simple to cover her track. Does she have a record?" Hotchner asked.

"Kendall is squeaky clean, straight A's all through primary school and college, except for a B that she got in Spanish. Her birth parents abandoned her at the doorstep of a Mom and Pops Diner called Nickey's Favorites in Athen when she was four weeks old. She was adopted when she was seven by Nick and Asher Jackson. She lived there until she was 18 and went to college. Also, I took the time to check her communication records. All connections to her parents stopped in September six years ago, not long after she resigned from the FBI. The only time she bought a plane ticket to go down there was to attend their funeral. But, according to her bank records from around that time, she sent five thousand dollars to Elijah, two days before he disappeared. From what I can tell, she has had no contact with him since." Garcia explained.

"Did they question her?" Derek asked.

"Probably, but the lead detective, Owen Jones, would probably believe anything she said in a heartbeat. Not only do they work closely on a daily basis, but they live together with Jones's husband Kevin Jones. It seems to me that he is too close to that situation to accurately assess it."

"Husband? He's in a gay marriage?" Spencer asked. Garcia nodded. "This must hit home hard for him. No wonder he's been requesting us since the beginning. That and it says here that that the last murder in Union was five years ago, and they found the murder right after. This is new for all of them."

"Yes, it is. We'll have to question Kendall Jackson ourselves, it's more likely than not that she's hiding something. If you don't mind, Garcia, I would like you to double check all the information we got from her that you can. We'll ask Detective Jones to have her take pictures of the body than compare them to the bodies to see if she's leaving anything out." Hotchner said, looking up.

"We should probably find out what really happened six years ago." David Ross butt in. "It's easy to say that they had a problem with her choice to keep the baby without a father, or with her decision to resign from the FBI to keep the child instead, but we can't know for sure, it could have been anything. If they had a nasty falling out, her angry could have just been building ever since. Hell, she could have been the original killer and was very good at covering her tracks."

"True, calming down after the two people she was really after dead and gone, but serial killers can only keep quiet for so long. Garcia, dig deeper into Kendall and try to find Elijah. We need to know where he is and where he's been. I feel like there is a connection here, we just have to find it. Alright, guys, wheels up in thirty." Hotchner said as he stood and gathered his file. Everyone followed suit.

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"Hey, Kendall, can you do me a favor?" Detective Owen Jones asked ME Kendall Jackson as she walked into his office.

"Hey Owen, how are you? Oh, that's good. I'm doing well myself. Spent two hours convincing a woman her 87-year-old diabetic husband was not poisoned in his sleep, he just had heart failure." She replied, sarcastically. She plopped down on one of the chairs across from his desk. "I swear, this town is going crazy because of these murders. Every time someone dies, the family insist that it was murder. I've never been this busy! I've barely had enough energy at the end of the day to patrol. And I love patrolling."

"Hey Kendall," he said again, not looking up from his computer but a gentle smile pulled at his lips. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure O, I am your slave. Anything you want, master."

"Ken, you are so weird."

"You say that likes it's a bad thing! But, really, what do you want? I have to pick up Kimberly in an hour and get lunch. I haven't eaten yet."

"Kendall, that is so unhealthy, it's almost three o'clock!" Owen sighed, knowing it was an argument neither would win and with what he was about to ask, she was going to have to wait even longer to eat. "I need you to take close up pictures of the victims, every wound, scar, and mole needs to be in those pictures. The BAU is going to be here in about three hours, and they've requested those pictures. I also need you to go with Emma to pick them from the Airport at 6."

"You know that slave thing was a joke, right?" Kendall said, giving him a look.

"Come on, Ken. Jared called in sick today with a 101 fever, and it's Mike's weekend with the kids and I can't call him in, he never gets to see those kids. I have to finish making up the rest of the folder and clean up that broom closet we call a conference room. You know they asked if they could have a whiteboard? I don't think this police station has ever had a whiteboard. I'll cook dinner for you tomorrow." Owen begged. Kendall threw her head back and groaned before standing from the chair and stretching.

"Okay, Owen. I'll get those pictures for you. And you are cooking dinner for a week! I'll probably call Kevin to see if he can pick Kimberly. I don't want her here if the FBI is going to be here, she doesn't need to be getting in the way." Kendall said, moving towards the door. "There's a whiteboard downstairs. I'll bring it up when I go to leave."

"Thanks, Ken, I appreciate it." Kendall nodded and reached for the door when Owen cleared his throat. "You know… they're going to want to question you. This situation doesn't look good for you. You're going to have to talk about all of it, you can't dodge the subject like you do with me."

Kendall let her hands fall to her side. She leaned her head against the door and took a shaky breath before letting out a sob. Owen stood to move towards her, but decided against it, staying behind the desk. Once Kendall pulled herself together, she turned toward him, wiping her tears away.

"I know. I'd question their skill if they didn't. But, I have nothing to hide. I'm going to try to keep Kimberly out of here while they're here. I don't want her to find out this way. She doesn't need to know what happened to her grandparents, not this young."

"Are you going to tell them where Elijah is?"

"Yes. At least, I'll tell them what I know. Who knows where he went after I helped him change his name and leave the country. I haven't spoken to him in years." There was a silence that made both of them uncomfortable, neither wanting to ask the question they both had on their minds. Owen finally broke it.

"Do you think he-"

"I don't know, Detective Jones. I have to get back to work." Kendall said in a hard voice before turning back to the door and walking out, letting the door slam behind her. Owen sighed, running his hand over his face, before going back to his computer and finish printing off the info about the victims.