Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. No copyright infringement is intended.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A steady downpour made the streets of downtown Charlottesville glisten as the crime scene investigation van pulled up by an alley on Market Street. Vince Keller and Beth Drake got out, the hoods and their yellow rain suits protecting them from the rain, and opened the back of the vehicle to retrieve their gear. "Whaddya got Tully?" Vince said as they approached a tall, broad shouldered black man in a navy raincoat with police printed boldly on the back who stood in the alley.
"Looks like a mugging gone bad," he said, pointing to the body of a white male that lay facedown on the cracked pavement of the alleyway. The man, dressed in dark colored pants, it was impossible to tell exactly what color in this light, especially with the distortion of the blue and red lights of the police car, a dark shirt topped with a grey sports jacket, appeared to have been beaten.
"Any ID on him?" Vince asked but Detective Jacob Tully of the Charlottesville PD shook his head. "Let's get him covered so we can preserve as much of the evidence as we can." The man pulled out a plastic tarp that would protect the victim and any evidence he held from the rain.
"M.E. been here yet?" Beth asked as she removed the camera from her kit and began to take pictures while her partner and Tully covered the body. "I hate these kinds of scenes. There's so much garbage to sift through." She looked at the paper and bottles strewn throughout the alley, rats scurrying for cover and graffiti on the wall of the building. "Who knows if any of it is relevant to the case? Not to mention this rain washes away any good evidence."
"I hear ya Beth," Tully responded, "just wishing the M.E. would get here so I can get out of this damn rain."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The light mist that had hung over the campus at the University of Virginia when Rossi and Reid had arrived had given way, first to a gray pall but now the early afternoon sun was trying to peek through the clouds. Rossi had just finished his spiel that after completing their course of study they could apply to the bureau to the fresh young faces that filled the lecture theatre. He had successfully convinced Reid to forgo any joke telling. The floor was now open for questions.
"Have you ever been shot?" A pretty blond in the first row asked.
"I haven't," Rossi replied, "but Dr. Reid was shot in the leg last year while saving a man from a serial killer." The females in the class suddenly seemed to take more interest in his partner, sitting up straighter in their seats and appearing to give Reid's body a good once over while smiling at him . Whatever worked, Rossi thought.
A few more questions followed and then the seminar wrapped up for the day. Dave was pleased with how it had gone this time. They hadn't been approached by a serial killer so far. As the students were filing out, one young woman headed against the stream to the front of the theatre, being jostled by those in a hurry to leave. She dropped her pen and as she bent to pick it up papers came falling out of the inside envelope of her blue vinyl clipboard. She quickly began to pick up the papers as people pushed past her. Reid stepped forward, a slight limp the only reminder of his injury, to offer his assistance. Once they had all the papers picked up he handed them back to her.
"Thank you Dr. Reid," she smiled at him. To Reid her smile, which went all the way to her lovely green eyes, seemed to light up the room. Her round face was slightly flushed and perfectly framed by a layered razor cut bob of dark brown hair.
"It's so nice to meet you," she said. "I've read all the books you've written Agent Rossi." Rossi smiled and nodded in reply. "And I've read all your articles Dr. Reid. They're very interesting reading."
"Are you hoping to join the bureau someday miss…?" Rossi asked the young woman he thought to be in her mid twenties.
"Beresford, Kayleigh Beresford," she replied. "I don't really know. I hadn't thought that far ahead." She blushed again. "I know that sounds stupid. Here I am in university taking classes. I should know what I want to do."
The older profiler looked at Reid who seemed incapable of opening his mouth, so Rossi replied, "Better to take your time and be sure than to jump into something and regret it later."
"Oh, I love the law, don't get me wrong. I'll be involved in it somehow but, as yet, I'm not sure just how."
Rossi again looked at Reid who appeared to have turned into stone. "Let me reiterate, the FBI offers great opportunities. The pay isn't the greatest but…"
"Nobody goes into your type of work for the pay," Kayleigh said. "No dollar amount would be enough to get into the sick minds of the people you seek or see the things that you see. You've made loads of money off your books and private consultations and Dr. Reid could make a fortune in the private sector. You could only do what you do out of a passion for justice."
"Did you have some kind of question Miss Beresford?" Rossi asked.
"Uh, yes, yes I did. How do you know for sure when it's a serial killer?" the young brunette asked.
"What do you mean?" Rossi questioned.
"I went on a ride along with Detective Tully of the CPD for my Criminal Investigation class and we saw a death that made me curious?"
"Curious how?" Reid had finally found his voice.
"I made some notes and I took some pictures. I tried to explain it to Detective Tully but he wouldn't even listen to me. I can't get rid of this feeling that I'm on to something."
Oh great, another weirdo with pictures of murder victims, déjà vu all over again as Yogi Berra would say, Rossi thought. He'd have to tell Erin that he and Reid were not doing this anymore.
"Look Miss Beresford, I applaud your enthusiasm and ingenuity and don't take this the wrong way but the CPD is far more equipped to decide whether they have a serial killer than you are," Rossi told her.
"H…how are these people killed, if you don't mind me asking?" Reid said.
"One was a hit and run, one was a stabbing and another was made to look like a mugging," Kayleigh replied.
"Serial killers don't usually change their methods," Rossi and Reid said together.
"I know, but what if he used the best method at hand?" the girl tried to convince the profilers.
"Why do you think they're serials? I mean what do they have in common? All serial killings have something in common," Reid said.
"Well, I don't know, other than one thing, the letters. I mean I wasn't privy to the autopsy reports or the investigation or anything on two of them so it's just my own investigating that I have to go on."
"Your own investigating," Rossi remarked, "how did you even know about these other deaths? Were they well publicized?"
"No, I…uh, I have a radio in my apartment on police band," Kayleigh admitted to the floor. "So, I went to the one last night, a mugging gone bad and there it was again, the letter." She took a picture from her pile of papers that showed an alleyway with a huge red 'T' spray painted on the wall of the building.
"This is your big clue?" Rossi said. "Some graffiti on a wall in an alley, you've got to be kidding me!"
"There were letters spray painted near the sites of the other deaths as well." She pulled out pictures she had taken. "Maybe the killer's trying to communicate with us in some way."
"There's no way to know that the graffiti was put there by the killer." Reid played devil's advocate.
"Last night there is. Look closely." She put her handbag on the front seat and dug inside pulling out a magnifying glass. "Look at the paint, it's running in the rain. The only way it would be running was if it had just been painted there."
"She's right Rossi," Reid said after examining it. "The paint is running."
Rossi gathered up the papers. "It's all very interesting but there's really no proof of anything here. We have so many police departments requesting our help to catch unsubs out there we can't waste our time on something that might not even be a serial killing." He handed them back to her. "Good luck with your studies Miss Beresford."
The young woman bowed her head. "It was a pleasure to meet you anyway," she said. Rossi and Reid smiled at her as she made her way to the door which banged loudly behind her reverberating in the silence of the room.
"That wasn't very nice," Reid said after Kayleigh had left.
"Come on Reid, we don't have the time or the energy to look into something that might not even be a serial killer."
The young profiler nodded as he followed his colleague up the steps that led to the exit, "But what is she's right?" He said quietly.