Penelope Garcia was running late. Again.
She caught a glimpse of Morgan's smug- although completely sexy- grin as she slid into her seat next to Reid at the end of the BAU conference room's table. The ginger-haired boy shot a quick smile of welcome in her direction, but then returned to avidly studying the file in his hands.
Aaron Hotchner stood before his team, stiff and calm as he always was, and began yet another day with his emotionless "Let's get started."
Images popped up one after another on the screen behind him, and Penelope moved her hand to cover her grimacing face. The tech analyst had spent years being bombarded by images of dead body after dead body, mangled and massacred in every way, shape, and form, but there was still something about the three corpses on the screen that made her sick to her stomach.
"Harry Everson, Terrance Ames, and Jonathan Bailey," Hotch announced. "All Caucasian males, late thirties, single, upper middle class. The three of them were found dead in their homes in New York City within the last week. Nothing was stolen, no signs of torture, but each of these men were found tied to their bedposts with designer silk ties."
"Ick," Penelope muttered under her breath, prompting a sympathetic glance from Morgan across the room.
"Sounds like a female unsub to me," Seaver interjected. All eyes turned to her. She swept a stray lock of blonde hair from her face and added, "She could have seduced them. That would explain having them tied up. We don't know what sort of kinky stuff these men were into."
Morgan smiled. "Well, look at you, new kid. I might have to watch my back around you."
Rossi ignored him. "It's plausible," he said. "But the men were all found in either suits or pajamas. Doesn't seem to me like any of them were looking to get laid."
Reid let out a loud cough from Penelope's left. He was clearly uncomfortable about the topic; especially when it was being brought up by Seaver, whose face immediately began to redden at her theory being shot down so soon.
There was an awkward pause before Reid cleared his throat and asked, "What motive is there for a male unsub?"
"Well, money's out of the question. Nothing was stolen," Rossi said. "That leaves revenge… Power…"
Hotch clicked a button on the remote and the screen went blank. "We'll discuss this further on the plane. We leave for New York as soon as possible."
Penelope knew it was her cue to leave when he looked at her and said "Garcia, you know what to do."
Her earrings jingled as she nodded to her boss and scurried out of the room, headed straight to her cyber battle stations.