Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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Emily Prentiss looked down at the lifeless body of Doug Hay on a slab in Baltimore's morgue. Dr. Vic Tashita, fiftyish, Emily thought, with grey beginning to streak his black hair, stood on the other side of the slab. He was a little shorter than Emily herself and very handsome she noted. The harsh bright lights of the morgue shone down on the unfortunate corpse while Dr. Tashita's assistant, Ann, went to retrieve files of the other two murders.

Doug Hay was now dry, not soaked as he had been on the pictures they'd seen in the conference room. Emily could see now, unimpeded by the darkness and the stormy weather, the many stab wounds inflicted on the man's body as the knife had ripped through his flesh to the organs and blood vessels below. Ann entered the room and handed two files to Dr. Tashita before leaving them alone.

He opened the first one and showed Emily the photos that had been taken of victim number one, Jeffery Blaylock. "This might have been this attacker's first kill," the doctor stated. "Notice," he said pointing at the photos, "that these wounds on his torso were tentative and not deep. They entered mostly muscle and soft tissue and would have hurt the victim but not killed him. There were defensive wounds on his hands so he did put up a struggle. The killer managed to slash his left femoral artery." He handed Emily a picture of the cut left leg. "Then it was game over for poor Mr. Blaylock, I'm afraid."

He opened the file on Keith Fenmore. "Mr. Fenmore was riding his bike when he was hit from behind by a vehicle. There were some lacerations and a large hematoma on his head." The doctor pointed these out in the photographs. "This victim didn't exhibit any defensive wounds but that could have been because he was momentarily stunned when he hit the pavement hard. His bike was quite mangled. His knife wounds were all to the torso and abdomen and were deeper than those on the body of the first victim. The killer hit Mr. Fenmore's aorta and he bled out rather quickly. The cuts on all three victims were made with a smooth edged knife with a sharp tip; my guess would be about ten inches long.

Vic Tashita now turned to the body that lay on his examination table. "Mr. Hay's attack was even more violent than Mr. Fenmore's. As you can see, these cuts are deeper and more savage in nature than the first two. These stab wounds hit major organs. There are no defensive wounds on the victim although it was a frontal attack and from the angle of the wounds, the assailant was shorter than the victim."

"So, what you're saying is that Blaylock was blitzed from behind and Fenmore was knocked over by a vehicle but the third victim was able to see his attacker coming at him but didn't put up any fight?"

"I'm saying that Mr. Hay saw his attacker before the attack. Perhaps with the storm he wasn't seeing things clearly and was unaware of the danger until his assailant was upon him."

"Thank you Dr. Tashita," Prentiss said as she turned and left the morgue.

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Reid and JJ entered the Baltimore precinct and were met by Detective Isaac Judd, a tall, well built African American with short cropped hair and striking good looks. JJ thought he looked like a black Adonis. "Jennifer Jareau, we spoke on the phone," JJ said as she reached and shook the man's hand, "this is Dr. Reid."

Reid gave one of his usual waves before Judd reached out his hand, "Pleased to meet you. I wasn't exactly sure if I should call you. I didn't know for sure if I had a serial killer on my hands or just three murders that had a lot of coincidences," the detective explained.

"The similarities were close enough for us to believe it's a pattern," Reid responded. "You were definitely right to call us."

"Do you have a place where we can set up? The rest of the team split up to visit the schools and the morgue," JJ informed him.

"Judd led them to a small conference room. "I hope this will do," he said.

"It'll be fine," Reid said. "I'll need your files on all three victims, a lap top so we can keep in touch with our analyst at Quantico, a large city map if you have one and a pot of strong coffee."

"Coming right up," Judd said as he left the room.

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Rossi and Morgan entered Heritage Park Elementary School and proceeded to the front desk housed in a large room behind a wall of smoky glass, flashed their badges and asked to speak to the principal. The extremely stout matronly like woman behind the desk wearing a white jersey top and an almost floor length plaid pleated skirt, that seemed to call attention to her size rather than hide it, waddled off in search of her boss. Shortly a man no taller than 5'8", balding with the few strands of grey hair that remained on the top of his head combed back, entered the room from one of the back offices. His blue eyes were hidden behind round wire rimmed glasses and his thin lips were pressed together in irritation. He quickly covered this up as he approached the agents. Rossi and Morgan again produced their badges. "SSA Rossi," he indicated his partner, "this is SSA Morgan from the FBI. We're here regarding the death of Jeff Blaylock. If you could answer a few questions for us we'd appreciate it."

"Len Pearson, I don't know how I can help you but please, come to my office." He opened the waist high door that allowed them behind the desk. "Please sit down," he said, indicating two chairs in front of his desk. He went around the desk and sat in his large swivel chair. "What do you think I can do for you?" he said.

"Can you tell us a bit about Jeff Blaylock?" Rossi asked.

"He was a nice man, well liked by his coworkers and his students. He was devoted to his students." Rossi paused for a moment thinking those were the same words Reid had used to describe Doug Hay.

"Did he ever have a problem with anyone outside the school that you know of?" Morgan said.

"Not that I know of; as far as I know, Jeff didn't have a life outside the school. He was quite brilliant and well, what you'd call a nerd I suppose. When you needed an answer, he was your go to guy, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, we have some idea," Rossi replied.

"Was it normal for him to stay late at the school?" Morgan inquired.

"Oh yes, Jeff was always the last to leave. I never dreamed he'd be attacked but he wasn't really the physical type so I guess an attacker would stand a good chance of getting the better of him."

"Thank you for your time Mr. Pearson," Rossi said as he stood and shook the man's hand.

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"Tim Curtis, principal or headmaster, whatever term you prefer to use," the sandy haired middle aged man said as he shook Hotch's hand. "It's devastating what happened to Doug but more so that it happened on school property. I've had a devil of a time trying to convince the children and their parents that the children are safe. Anything I can do to help catch this guy, I'll do."

"Can you tell me about Doug Hay?"

"I'll tell you what I know which isn't much. Doug was a very devoted teacher. That's all he ever wanted to do. He was something of a science nerd. He majored in chemistry in college thinking he'd go into the family business. His father owns Hay Pharmaceuticals but I guess the teaching bug bit him and he decided to become a teacher. I believe it was a sore spot between him and his father. But Doug was an avid reader and knowledgeable in so many areas. The other teachers were always trying to get him to go on Jeopardy but he said he didn't need the money. I think he got a huge trust fund from his father that he didn't even touch."

"Do you know of anyone who might want to harm him?" Hotch asked.

"That question's been going around in my mind since I heard this had happened," Curtis replied. "Who could do this to a great guy like Doug? He was nerdy but he was funny. He always had time for the kids. He was voted Baltimore teacher of the year once for God's sake. His life really was his work. He didn't have a girlfriend or any outside activities, really, so I can't think of anyone who would do this."

"Okay, thank you for your time. I'm just going to go out and look at the scene." Hotch knew there wasn't much point to this as the rain had washed everything away but he wanted to get a feel for the crime scene all the same.

He didn't have to look up at the windows of the Weinthorpe Academy to feel the eyes upon him. "Is that one of the guys who works with your dad?" Jamal asked as he and Fletcher watched Hotch in the parking lot.

"He's not really my dad," Fletcher replied.

"Okay, your pretend dad?"

"Yeah, that's Hotch, he's the head guy. The team will find out who did this. You can bet your allowance on that."