Authors Note: This was written for aubigbang over on LiveJournal. I'm actually pretty proud of it and I hope you all enjoy it, let me know what you think! There's fanart for the fic on LJ if anyone is interested, it was made by Brinchen86 and it's awesome.

The Mind of a Killer
By Hannah554

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Chapter 1

It had taken longer than she would have liked but the assignment was done, she could hand it into her professor tomorrow and be done with it. The thing had been plaguing her for weeks now and it felt good to have it done, to not have to worry about it anymore, one more thing to check of her 'to do' list. It was dark as she left the library and she walked quickly, her dorm was only five minutes away and it wasn't that late yet, there was no need to call for an escort. The university had started providing them last year for girls walking home late at night, particularly from the library but being so close to her dorm she didn't think it was necessary. She crossed the street quickly, glancing both ways to make sure no cars were heading her way. Her heals clicked against the pavement, the only sound on the quiet street. She was surprised there weren't more people around, there were still a few in the library but the street was empty.

There was a noise behind her and she spun around, seeing the street still empty and quiet. She shook her head at herself, getting paranoid was the last thing she needed, she didn't think this was going to be the last late night walk home from the library. She continued walking, making it around the corner and onto another quiet street. The dorms were up ahead, she could see most of the light's still on and she didn't doubt that she'd be able to hear a lot of the students inside once she got a little closer.

Another noise behind her caught her attention and she turned around. There was a man walking up the street behind her, a backpack over his shoulder, probably another student. She picked up her pace anyway, walking quickly, wanting to get to the safety of the dorms. She heard the footsteps behind her speed up too and she knew she was in trouble. She didn't even look back, just started running, the strap of her bag gripped tightly in one of her hands to keep it from swinging around and slowing her down.

She could hear the man behind her running too, he was getting closer. The next thing she knew she was hit by a massive weight behind her, knocking her forward and she fell to the ground, her hands coming out and hitting the pavement first in an effort to protect her head. The man had fallen with her but he recovered too fast, straddling her back and holding her still, stopping her from getting up.

She called for help, screamed as loud as she could and struggled to get free but she wasn't strong enough. He put a cloth over her mouth before she could scream for more than a few seconds; she could smell something as he pressed it hard against her face. Everything went blurry, out of focus, suddenly it was hard to struggle, hard to concentrate, her body wanted to go to sleep and with a silent protest from her it did exactly that. She wondered if the pavement was going to be the last thing she ever saw.

Buzzing...

It was a cell phone buzzing and he opened his eyes, looking over to the bedside table to see it was his phone that was demanding attention. He disentangled himself from the woman asleep next to him, between his movement and the phone he could see her waking up, she was probably going to need to get up anyway. He reached over her for the phone, sitting up as he answered it.

"Flack," he muttered into it needing a few more seconds to wake up completely. There was more buzzing, the phone that had been sat on the bedside table beside his was now demanding attention too and a hand reached out to grab it, a half muffled voice coming from behind him. "I'm on my way," he said in answer to the voice on the other end of the line, flipping his phone closed and turning to the woman still laid on the bed.

She hung up as well and turned onto her back, looking at him with tired eyes. "Guess I'd better get up then."

"Yeah, you wanna shower first?" he questioned and she nodded, getting out of bed and dragging the sheet up with her, wrapping it around herself as she headed for the bathroom. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling on a pair of sweat pants that were lying on the floor next to the bed and heading through to the kitchen for coffee. He returned to the bedroom with two cups, one that he left on top of the drawers and the other one he carried with him as he walked into the bathroom.

"Coffee's on the drawers Jess," he told her as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, her hair tied up and somehow still completely dry.

"Thanks," she replied as she disappeared into the bedroom and he took another drink of his coffee, leaving it on the bathroom counter as he showered. It didn't take him long and when he got back to the bedroom, Jess was just pulling on her suit jacket, coffee cup half empty. He got dressed; ignoring the look Jess gave his tie as they left the apartment. They drove to work in their separate cars, Don arriving a few minutes ahead of Jess.

He waited for her at his desk, watching as she walked in a few minutes later with a paper bag in her hand. She stopped to talk to someone briefly as she stepped out of the elevator, smiling and nodding before continuing toward him, putting the paper bag down in front of him.

"I figured you probably didn't have time for breakfast yet, ate mine on the way here," she said and he thanked her. He didn't get time to eat or even see what was in the bag before he spotted Grayson heading their way.

"Agent Flack, Agent Angell, conference room now," he ordered them and both nodded their heads following him up the stairs and into the conference room. They took their seats at the long oval table along with their boss. Macey, one of their liaisons, was waiting for them with the details of whatever case they were undoubtedly being sent on and with a nod from Grayson, she started the briefing.

She clicked a button on the remote in her hand, the large screen behind her changing from the FBI symbol to a picture of a young girl. She was white, long brown hair, green eyes, slim; Don's mind was already working through the possibilities. "This is Diane Swanson, a 19 year old student at NYU. She went missing four days ago, her body was found in a dumpster two days later."

Macey clicked a button again, the picture of Diane Swanson shrinking back and joining several other pictures. All young women, all similar in appearance, all of them had brown hair, the same build, all looked to be between the ages of 18 and 25.

"Five other women have been kidnapped and found dead over the last seven weeks, all of them in Manhattan, all of them with the same mark cut into the back of their right shoulder," Macey informed them. The screen changed again, crime scene photos appearing one after another. "They were all sexually assaulted and tortured; there were bruises, cuts and burns all over the bodies. Evidence from the scenes is pretty scarce, NYPD currently has no suspects and they're asking for our help."

"I've already looked through some of the information we've been sent on the case," Grayson said turning to look at Don and Jess. "This guy is brutal and he's going to keep killing until someone stops him. You two are the best profilers I've got, so go stop him."

"Yes sir," Jess said as Grayson stood up and left. Macey offered them a smile before she left too and Jess turned to Don. "I guess I'll go call the airline."

After a delayed flight, a mix up with their tickets and a flight that seemed longer than it actually was Don and Jess arrived in New York. They were greeted by a uniform who had handed over the keys to the standard black SUV they'd been given for their time here. Don drove to the precinct while Jess continued to go through the files, thinking out loud as they bounced theories off each other. The faster they came up with a profile, the faster they could catch this guy.

"They're tortured pretty brutally, burns, cuts from some kind of blade, bruising. They're sexually assaulted, repeatedly from the look of things," Jess said as she went through the file on the last victim. "All points to a sexual sadist."

"There's less time between the last two victims than all the others," Don added. "His cooling off period is getting shorter; he'll probably want another girl within the next couple of days."

They arrived at the precinct and were met with the usual staring from the locals as they located the captain's office. Captain Taylor spotted them coming and came out to greet them, shaking both their hands.

"Thanks for coming, this is Detective Messer, he's our lead detective on the case," Taylor introduced the man next to him who also shook both their hands but seemed less than thrilled by their presence.

"We need to see everything you've got on the case that you didn't already send us, we're also going to need to see the victim's homes and the dump sites," Don informed them, wanting to get to work on this as quickly as possible, seven victims was more than enough for any serial killer. "We'll need to speak to the victim's families."

"How will that help you?" Detective Messer questioned.

"It's what we call victimology," Jess explained, always better with the locals than he was. He'd dealt with more than his fair share of local detectives that didn't want the FBI swooping in and taking over. He'd dealt with it a lot longer than Jess had and he was perfectly capable of handling them but Jess was always more diplomatic than he was, it seemed easier to let her handle it. "It helps us to understand what kind of people he's targeting and why, it helps us to understand him."

"Whatever you need," Captain Taylor stated. "We want this guy caught before he can kill more women. Do you have any theories yet as to what we're dealing with."

"We're already putting together a profile, as soon as we have something we'll brief your people," Don told him.

An hour later Detective Messer had given them a detailed run down on everything they had on the case, a board had been set up with everything related to the case laid out for them to see, pictures of all the victims pinned up there. They were catching some attitude from Detective Messer but nothing bad, nothing that would interfere with the case, nothing they hadn't dealt with before. Don's mind took in everything, cataloguing it and filing it away for later use.

"How about I do half the families and you do the other half?" Jess suggested. "We can compare notes when we're done but seven victims is a lot and if we're right about this guy's cooling off period getting shorter then we don't have long before he kidnaps another victim."

"Sounds like a plan," Don replied, his eyes scanning over the evidence board.

"I'll grab Detective Messer and get started now, I'll call you later," Jess said as she grabbed a few of the files and left.

Melissa Davies had been the third victim; she'd been nineteen years old, a waitress at a dinner only a block from where she lived. She'd disappeared somewhere between the diner and home at the end of her shift. Her body had been found in an alleyway two days later, the same torture evident as all the other victims. It was clear her family had been torn apart by the killing, a month later they were still struggling to deal with it.

Her mother, Sandra, looked weak and thin but judging by the family photos she was usually a happy, healthy woman. Her father, Bryan was unshaven which again was in contrast with the family photos, the two people seemed unable to look at each other properly, stood separately, no contact between them. Their other daughter, Lauren, seemed to be the one coping the best; she seemed to be the one holding it all together.

"I just have a few questions about your daughter," Jess told them.

"We've already told the police everything we know, which is nothing," Bryan replied angrily.

"But what I need to know is about your daughter, what she was like," Jess stated. "Did she have a routine, would she usually be walking home alone at that time?"

"Are you saying this is our fault, I have to work, I can't be picking her up all the time," Bryan defended. He wasn't happy about them being here, from the moment he'd opened the door and seen Detective Messer he'd made that clear.

"No one is saying that Mr Davies," Messer told him. "These are just some questions."

"If Melissa had a routine then it's possible that her killer knew that, that he'd been watching her and that might help us to catch him," Jess explained. "Did she usually walk home alone at that time?"

"Her shifts were never the same," Lauren stepped forward, her arms wrapped around herself protectively. "Sometimes she'd be working the early shift and be home in the afternoon, sometimes she'd work later and be home at night, whatever she had to. She didn't always walk home alone either, she has a friend at the diner, sometimes he'd drive her home if they finished their shift at the same time."

"What was she like outside of work?" Jess asked.

"What do you mean?" Sandra questioned.

"Did she have a lot of friends, how did she interact with others, her hobbies, what kind of things was she into?" Jess elaborated, she needed to find out how this guy was picking out his victims, where he might have come across Melissa Davies.

"She was very quiet, she loved to read more than anything else, there must be fifty books in her room," Lauren told them. "She was pretty friendly though, if someone spoke to her on the street, on the subway, she wouldn't just ignore them but she wasn't stupid either, she knew not everyone is as nice as they may seem. She has a few friends, they were all really close, had dinner together all the time."

"Would you mind if I saw her room?" Jess questioned. Lauren seemed to know her sister pretty well but there was nothing more telling about a person than how they chose to decorate where they lived, what they chose to surround themselves with, or not surround themselves with as the case sometimes was. Sandra sniffled and blinked back tears gesturing for Lauren to show her to Melissa's room, the younger girl nodded her head. Lauren looked to be about fifteen years old; it was strange to see her holding the family together and not one of the parents. At the same time though she could see the effect this had all had on her, in the way she held herself, the way her eyes kept darting to the family pictures they passed.

"Melissa spent a lot of time in her room, if she wasn't at work or out with friends she was usually in there," Lauren said as they walked up the stairs and along the corridor.

"Did she get along with the family?" Jess questioned.

Lauren nodded as she opened one of the doors along the hallway and Jess followed her through it. "She did for the most part; I was pretty close to her. She argued with mom and dad sometimes, they wanted more for her than waitressing but she was happy. We all still ate dinner together at least three times a week though, dad insists on it."

"You seem to know her pretty well," Jess said as she looked over the room quickly.

"Yeah, like I said, we were pretty close," Lauren said.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," Jess replied, the well rehearsed line never seemed like enough. "Could you go and get Detective Messer for me please?"

Lauren nodded and left the room giving Jess a few moments to look through the room alone. There were a lot of pictures, only one of her with her parents, several of her with her sister and some with other people she assumed to be friends. Her book shelf was stacked to breaking point, a couple more books on her bedside table and some on her desk. There were a few posters on the walls, singers and bands that she'd seen in dozens of other rooms just like this one. There were some clothes on the floor, a magazine open on the bed and some jewellery scattered over the dresser. It was a room typical of a nineteen year old girl. She picked up a day planner that was on the dresser, flicked through to the week she disappeared, lunch with the girl's on Friday, gym on Saturday morning and the movies in the afternoon.

"Find anything useful?" Messer asked from the doorway.

"Melissa was every bit the normal nineteen year old girl. We're going to need to take the diary, if we can find some overlap with the other victims then we may be able to figure out where and how he's targeting them," Jess told him and Messer nodded as Jess continued to look through the room.

TBC