Family Fortunes
Disclaimer – I own nothing but the ideas
This is written for the OC challenge on CCOAC. I selected Garcia as my character and was assigned Carlos Garcia, her step brother.
I had two ideas this story the first a basic her finding out about and meeting her step brother. However the second was much darker and that is what you have here. Hope you like it.
I have tried to research everything as thoroughly as I can, sorry if I cause offence to anyone in any of the cities I have named – literally found a map and started picking from it.
At the start of the year I made a resolution not to post a story without finishing it first – however 5 chapters in this has caused me to break that resolution. The only promise I will make at this stage is a weekly update, until I have managed to finish it in real life. Sorry.
. . .
Pen shuffled her way into the early morning crowd of the bullpen. Her turquoise heels doing little to hinder her progress toward the collection of her coffee consuming colleagues.
"Good Morning my Sweeties," Pen smiled, "except it is not a good morning really," she added, waving a manila file at them before leading the way towards the conference room.
The five individuals followed her obediently – with various rolls of eyes, moans and groans. Joining Hotch around the table, each member of the elite team took a seat; ready to hear whatever had drawn their leader's attention.
Garcia flicked the large flat screen on before passing the paper copy of the information over to Reid - settling herself next to Hotch she begun the team's briefing.
"So my intrepid explorers, your help is desired in my home State. We have a roving bad guy that needs your attention," as Pen spoke, she aimed the remote over her shoulder, pressing buttons as various images filled the screen.
"Before you are Dana Howarth, Lisa Potter and Tina Brown." The head and shoulder shots of the three women showed remarkable similarity. All three had beautiful rich auburn hair - loose waves long enough to cover their shoulders. Each appeared to wear too much make-up, but it was obvious they were of a similar age - in their mid thirties.
"If you look at the information I have collated so far for you, you will see each of our ladies had a lot in common. All three worked as 'exotic dancers' in the city they died in," Penelope paused briefly to glance round the group. "Dana 'Phoenix' Howarth was a San Diego resident, though originally hailed from Phoenix, Arizona – hence her stage name. She turned 35, two weeks ago. Went to work on the Friday night as usual but didn't turn up the next evening for her shift. When the club owner got no reply on her cell he left her to it; apparently no shows are not unusual in his business – though he did describe her as reliable when interviewed. Later Saturday night, Dana's body was found dumped in an alley - mere feet from her apartment."
"Dumped alongside the trash," Rossi thought out loud as his finger lazily slid through the crime scene images on his tablet. "Guess we know what our guy thinks of these girls. Did she have a record?"
"If you are referring to the assumption that these women are prostitutes, then no – none of our victims have been charged or suspected of prostitution. They dance, admittedly in less than I wear on the beach, but that's their choice, I guess." Pen couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at the thought – give her a computer any day.
"They weren't prostitutes, yet each of them has been sexually assaulted…was he assuming they were and when they didn't give him what he wanted he took it for himself?" Emily pondered the MO.
Penelope nodded before continuing. "A week later, Lisa 'Bellatrix' Potter turned up in Anaheim under similar circumstances."
"There is no arrangement of the bodies," Reid pointed out as his eyes flitted from one photo to the next that he had carefully pulled from his file. "It seems probable that the attack and murder happen at the spot that the body is left." Spreading out the contents of his file with his long fingers Dr Reid tugged at a series of reports. "They are strangled, then post-mortem stabbing occurs."
The whole team could see his brain working through the information as his eyes skimmed over the sheets in his hands.
"Usually such an action would be associated with impotence," Reid continued. "However, he has already raped the women so we know that is not the case. Yet to switch from strangulation to stabbing is a form of over kill, and it is extremely unusual; normally the killer would continue with the original method – combining the beating with the strangulation. The over kill probably occurs due to the fact he is too self-absorbed to know when to stop. Our UnSub is angry, but possibly confused, too."
"Suggesting what?" JJ asked, the member newest to profiling was doing well but still keen to learn from her colleagues.
"He's young," Morgan interceded, causing Reid to look up from the open file and nod his approval, "late teens, early twenties maybe. Just like your average teenager swings from one fad to another while they find their true identity, so does our killer. He's experimenting with what 'fixes' things for him. He is full of anger and needs an outlet. The rape is important, but why not use the knife to keep them quiet? Strangulation is very controlling."
JJ nodded, returning her gaze to the images.
Pen sat opposite Morgan, open mouthed. "Has this junior Sicko not heard of gaming? Hell, he can kill as many as he wants and no-one gets hurt."
"Actually," the whole team turned to face Reid, who was posed, one finger in the air, "there have been several studies into the effects of gaming on violence in young people. Though they vary greatly in their results, a meta-analytic review conducted by CA Anderson and his colleagues in 2010 took the results from a range of previous studies and then averaged them out to give us the best estimate of the true effect of violent video game playing on actual violence. They stated there is a clear causal link between violent video-game playing and actual violent behaviour, aggressive emotions, physiological outcomes associated with aggression, and aggressive thoughts."
For a second time since entering the room, Pen sat slack-mouthed, staring at the genius and mentally making a note to talk to Kevin about his 'World of Warcraft' addiction.
"Okay, thank you for that," she managed. "So, if I could just draw your attention back to our third victim who was discovered mere hours ago and caused the Los Angeles field office to request our help. Tina 'Flame' Brown, so nick- named for the golden highlights in her enviable red hair, was found in Long Beach."
Hotch glanced around the team. "We can discuss this more on the jet. Garcia, please continue to check the background of our victims and let us know anything you find out."
"Of course, sir." She gave a slight nod of her head as she begun to gather her belongings from the table.
Then Hotch spoke the immortal words: "Wheels up in thirty."