It was the third day of a case with missing teenage girls. They had all come from the same high school and had all been last seen with the same person. At first the BAU had hope that they would come home or be found somewhere outside the small Pennsylvania town not far from Pittsburgh. But then one of their bodies was placed at the atrium of their high school . So now the unsub had escalated to homicide along with abduction charges that would be filed against them.
It was not a time for any of the profilers to feel less than full speed. They needed all of their energy and all of their game focused on finding the girls fast before things were taken any further and anymore lives were lost . But it seemed like one of their bodies hadn't gotten the message that it could not be sick right now.
Luke Alvez and Matt Simmons had been paired up in this truck and they were headed to the high school to look around the area where Trisha Jordan's body had been placed. It was the best crime scene that they had at the moment.
Matt was driving their assigned truck and Luke was in the passenger seat up front.
Matt was talking about the plan once they got to the building when
Luke popped the glove compartment open and reached for one of the boxes of tissues that was inside. He pulled two out and then turned his head to the window with his nose and mouth covered. " Achoo." Then he sniffed a little and blew his nose.
" Excuse me, you were saying?"
" First of all bless you. I was thinking we'd do a walk through of the atrium area first and then the rest of the school."
Luke sniffed a little. " Sure."
" Are you feeling okay man?"
" Might be the start of a cold. I was feeling kind of rundown yesterday."
" Well if you start feeling worse let me know and I'll drop you at the hotel okay."
" All right , I have Dayquil and water in my go bag. I'll take it when we stop at the school okay."
" I wonder if I brought that in in the first place. My kids bring home everything."
" You seem good now though."
" I had it all weekend . My wife was mad because she wanted boxes of Christmas decorations brought down from the attic and she thinks I planned it to get out of doing any of that for her."
" Sounds like a married people problem." Luke smiled.
" Yeah I guess it is."
They got to the high school and Luke took some cold medicine with bottled water and popped a cough drop into his mouth. Then they walked inside together.
Luke's phone buzzed. " Hey Garcia." There was a little rasp in his voice.
" You sound like smooth jazz."
"Is that a compliment?"
" It might be but it could also be because you're sick. Which I hope isn't the case."
" Hmm I might be." He coughed a little.
" Aww honey please don't push too hard okay."
" I won't I'm with Matt and if I feel worse I'll go back to the hotel okay."
Then he handed his phone to Matt. "She wants a minute ."
Matt said " So far he's trying to power through. I'll keep an eye on him. We're in the same room."
" Let me know if he's not good okay."
" Will do."
" Thank you Matt."
He handed the phone back to Luke then,
" When I first left the Army, I almost ended up in the hospital with bronchitis. One good thing about the FBI is you don't have to steam roll through anything ." Matt said.
" Well let's finish up here and then I think I'll take you up on that offer to go back to the hotel. Maybe if I get some sleep I can start kicking this thing. " Luke sniffed again.
" All right I'll drop you off and then head back to the police precinct again. "
He texted Emily to let her know Luke wasn't feeling well and he would be taking him to the hotel once they finished at the school. She said tell him to that she would join Matt in the field.
Luke drank some more water slowly . " So Trisha Jordan's body was found down that hallway there."
Matt nodded. " An atrium is a pretty wide open space for leaving a body. And here in the school building. Someone wanted shock value when they did this."
" Or they panicked and just figured getting rid of the body anywhere was better."
" It tells me that this unsub hasn't killed before. So she was the first ."
Luke sniffed a little and blew his nose quietly . " Had to be."
" Which means we have something to add to the profile. New inexperienced unsub. We don't see that everyday."
" Is this a female?" " I ask because with men they don't worry about having a body a long time , this one bothered someone to keep her for more than recent days after she died."
" Good thought." " I think we're done here other than looking at these memorials."
" She was pretty popular, what a shame."
" Now we get you back to the hotel and find you some juice and chicken soup for that cold."
" Thanks, honestly I just want a shower and then a bed, if I'm hungry later I'll find the room service menu."
" All right I'll check in on you later ."
" Thanks Matt, I hope you don't get this again."
" Just feel better,". He dropped Luke at the hotel and watched while he went inside the building slowly.
Then he headed back to the police precinct.