Short story for NCIS season 4 episode "Smoked" which aired on November 28, 2006. David Rossi rejoined the Behavioral Analysis Unit on Criminal Minds on October 31, 2007. I own nothing of NCIS or Criminal Minds. I'm just borrowing and not getting paid.

Title - How did we miss that?

Rating - K+

Warnings - Spoilers for the NCIS episode and for back story of characters on Criminal Minds. No violence. No pairings. Mention of cannibalism but not graphic.

Conversation which closes out the NCIS season 4 episode.

FORNELL: "I've got to tell you, Jethro, that was… that was…"
GIBBS: "Mm-hmm."
FORNELL: "How in the God's name could we miss that?"
GIBBS: "I don't think God had much to do with it, Tobias."
FORNELL: "You know what's really got me freaked out? If her husband's body hadn't gotten hung up going down that chimney five years ago, she'd still be out there. We'd never have caught her."
GIBBS: "I can do you one better than that."
FORNELL: "Nah. Can't top that, Jethro."
GIBBS: "What was the toe doing in her husband's stomach?"

Thirty minutes later on the West coast.

Retired FBI Special Agent and author, David Rossi, had taken a short break from signing books and was sipping water from a plastic bottle while discreetly observing the people browsing the shelves and sitting nearby. A boy about 10 was talking excitedly about a book he wanted to buy with his birthday money and his Dad was smiling as they walked past. A woman about 80 with white hair and a gray sweater was relaxing in a oversize recliner reading a hardback copy of Margaret Coel's "Eye of the Wolf." A much younger woman, maybe 18, leaning against an end cap leafing through a paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was being watched by a man about 40 who was feigning interest in Rossi's book. Four college age kids were standing in front of the table waiting for him to return and sign their books. The fascination with serial killers was big business and he'd made a lot of money in his voluntary retirement writing about what he'd done as a FBI profiler. A man and a woman in their late twenties or early thirties who were texting on their phones got in the signing line and Rossi took another sip of water. Three teenage girls, all talking on their phones, walked by and he wondered how much any of these people ever talked to each other, let alone to their families. Still, it was good to see people under 50 in a book store. With internet sales on the rise and electronic readers available for not too much money, people were moving away from the classic. He'd sold lots of books through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other sellers so he wasn't against them, but he knew someday someone would regret not having more book stores in communities.

Just as he was thinking it was time to return to the table, his phone vibrated, alerting him to a call. Surprised to be hearing from anyone, he pulled the black cell phone from his pocket and glanced at the display. His interest really peaked when he saw the area code. Five more people had lined up to receive autographed copies of his newest book and to talk to him so Rossi let the call got to voicemail, but that didn't stop his brain from conjuring up all kinds of reasons why someone from Washington, DC would be calling. Unable to quell his curiosity he punched in the number and code to access his messages. He hadn't worked with Tobias Fornell in a very long time, but he knew the man wouldn't call him without a good reason and especially not at the late hour. It was only 7PM in California, but Fornell spent most of his time in the DC area where it was 10PM. Rossi had another hour and a half signing session and then he'd go back to the hotel so since Fornell's message hadn't indicated an urgent call back, he'd probably give him a call in the morning.

NCIS~Criminal Minds~NCIS~Criminal Minds

FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell had been working on closing out the case all morning and still had quite a bit more to do when his desk phone buzzed. Still reeling from the revelations of the previous day, a late night and now dealing with a huge stack of paperwork, he growled "Fornell" into the handset without bothering to check the caller ID display first.

"Hey Tobias, long time no see."

Fornell smiled tiredly, recognizing the voice. "Dave, you have no idea."

Rossi laughed, the sincere warmth of it flowing through the phone connection. "I'm sorry I didn't get back to you last night."

"Not a problem. I hope you were having more fun than I was."

Rossi had had a pretty decent evening. He had signed a lot of books. He had enjoyed a nice late dinner. He had gone for a swim in the heated hotel pool. He had slept through the night which only happened once in a while. Still, he played it down. "It was okay. Just out of curiosity, how'd you get my number?"

Fornell wasn't about to explain Penelope Garcia. If you hadn't met her, you'd never believe what anybody told you. "That's a secret. Suffice to say, an all knowing information guru tracked you down for me."

Wishing his expression could somewhere transfer through the phone, Rossi grinned. It wasn't like Tobias to be so mysterious. The man could keep a secret better than anyone he knew, but he didn't usually joke around about it. "It's not that I don't want to be found."

"It's okay, Dave. When I retire I won't want the guys calling me either."

He still didn't know why his friend had called. "You sound good, Tobias. What's going on?"

Fornell leaned forward onto his desk, his elbows supporting his tired body. "You haven't heard?"

The question surprised Rossi. "Heard what? Something happen?"

Closing his eyes for a few seconds, Fornell realized that nobody had called Rossi. Why would they? He would eventually find out, but even the media didn't have the story yet. Still, Fornell had cleared the call with his immediate superior just to keep things on the up and up. "I thought Hotch or Gideon might have called you." When Rossi didn't reply Fornell told him about the discovery of the body at Quantico, NCIS, the investigation and the arrest of the wife, Karen. They rehashed the original evidence of only two partials and a single strand of hair. They discussed the toe found in the corpse's stomach and the way he had died and they went over the discovery of the four new bodies.

Rossi asked the same question Fornell had asked Gibbs the night before. "How did we miss that?" Their profile had been partly right. **Male. White. Probably between 25 and 35. Methodical, organized, intelligent. Sexual sadist. Will kill until we catch him. ** Or in this case, until someone killed him.

"I don't know Dave. I've been thinking about it since late yesterday and they had to be partners. Why else would his partial fingerprints be at two of the crime scenes?" Fornell relaxed and placed one of his forearms on the desk top. It was good to talk to his old friend. "She knows she's caught and you should have seen the look on her face when the NCIS special agent told me the bodies in the yard were recent, but she hasn't confessed to anything yet."

Rossi was thrilled that the killer had been caught, but there were still a lot of questions. Fourteen kills, all women, all drugged and strangled, all left near rural interstate highways. Now it was 18 kills, but those four most recent ones had been partially buried near the home. "Maybe she did the killing and he cleaned up after her."

"Yeah, we thought of that too. It doesn't explain the toe in his stomach."

It appeared her husband had been the cannibal in the duo. If Karen Bright ever opened up about what she and her husband had done, Rossi knew the interviews and conversations would make for great reading. The crimes had been committed while the couple had young children at home and both had jobs. "Who is talking to her?

"Soon as NCIS is finished with her Gideon will.. I think." As an afterthought he added, "Or maybe Hotch." The BAU would want less experienced agents to benefit from the interrogations and interviews so all of them would be videotaped, audio taped and transcribed. "They're working a case right here in DC."

Rossi thought for a second. He'd seen something in his complimentary copy of USA Today that morning. A three line article, located between ads at the bottom of a middle column on a back page, had been about a prostitute's murder and he'd seen a similar just a few days before. "The murder of prostitutes?"

"Yeah, that's it.' Tobias knew Dave Rossi's profiler brain would always make the connections.

"That foiled burglary attempt at the new mall in Alexandria wasn't really a burglary, was it?"

Tobias smiled. He shouldn't have been surprised. "I don't know all the details, but no."

"It's comforting to know everybody is on top of their game."

From almost anyone else the quip would have sounded hollow and insincere, sarcastic even. But Tobias knew Dave had been serious. "I think they're all doing fine."

Rossi remembered the expression "I'm fine." It was something Jason Gideon always said and it usually meant that he was not fine. Gideon had been one of the absolute best profilers anybody had ever seen. The man's skill coupled with his intuition had made him a formidable opponent and serial killers most of the time didn't stand a chance. He'd gotten most of the worst ones to open up about their childhoods and their cravings and their fantasies and their dreams and nightmares. The BAU database had quadrupled in size because of what Gideon had been able to get convicted serial killers to admit about themselves. But he'd suffered a setback when he'd sent six agents into a warehouse with a bomb in it. All had perished and he'd been horrifically criticized for the decision. Taking himself out of the field, a choice he made, but the top brass couldn't have been happier, he had spent the time since then teaching, until two years ago when he returned to the BAU. Since that day he'd been instrumental in stopping numerous killers including a copycat bomber. When Gideon defeated Adrian Bale at his own sick game, a small spark had brought back at least partially, the damaged soul of Jason Gideon. That soul would be forever haunted by the deaths of the six agents that were colleagues and friends. "How is Jason?"

Fornell understood what Rossi was really asking. "Oh, you know."

Rossi did indeed know. "Yeah, I do." Everybody had good days and bad days but Jason seemed to have many more of the bad ones when he would fall into depression. Since coming back to the BAU as a profiler, he'd had lots more good days... at first. But eventually it all takes a heavy toll and the person pays a price. Gideon had suffered and paid a toll, but he was always right on the edge of paying a much larger one.

Thinking he should give Jason a call sometime, Rossi changed the subject back. "Do you think the Director would let me interview Karen Bright for my next book?"

After the last couple of days Fornell had had, he couldn't help himself and roared. His boisterous laughter could probably be heard all the way to the Director's office.

The End

Thanks for reading. :)