A/N: Chapter two. Please review! The end may get a bit creepy. Yes, Elle and Gideon are in this because I'm not past Season 1 of CM (I've seen more of them... Pinkie Promise!) and I like them. Enjoy!
BRTxoxo
The BAU team gathered in the pep room, clutching mugs and foam cups of coffee. Dr. Spencer Reid's legs were pulled up to his chest in his chair, his curly brown hair covering one side of his face. Jennifer Jareau and Aaron Hotchner stood at the front of the room, looking ever so professional and serious as Derek Morgan, Jason Gideon, Penelope Garcia, and Elle Greenway shuffled into the room and sat around the table, case files spread out for them.
"This case…" JJ sighed, almost in frustration. "This one just got weird. Really weird. The unsub known to the public as Sweeny Todd has been unable to be caught. His signature is to slit the victim's throats, much like the cinematic Sweeny Todd. All the victims are women around the ages of twenty and twenty thirty, never older or younger. All have the same color eyes, blue, same hair color, blond, nearly the same cut. All are raped before he slits their throats and cuts their hands, also receiving blunt force trauma." She swallowed thickly. "There have been about fifteen murders over the past year, across the states. Every scene is left with the same message, left on a mirror in lipstick, 'And I will get her back even as she gloats. In the mean time I'll practice on less honorable throats.'"
"Why has this suddenly become weird?" Reid asked, flipping through the file folder.
"The latest victim was Taryn Powers, about an hour and a half south of here." With a deep breath, JJ brought her picture up on the screen. "Taryn isn't… normal. Her sister Katrina was taken, we believe by the unsub. She called the police to report a break in, claimed there to be blood everywhere, found her sister, and the dispatcher claimed that she heard Katrina scream for help before she lost contact."
The rest of the team was silent, staring at the picture of the latest victim.
Gideon sighed heavily. "Let's go."
The shuffling of papers and claps of hands on mugs and cups echoed throughout the silent room. Garcia was the first to reach the door, and as she yanked it open, she nearly stumbled into the small form of FBI Agent Kate Moretti and the tall form of Doctor Daniel Pierce about to knock on the door.
Garcia's hazel eyes opened wide as she righted the headset that was ever present over her constantly changing hair. "Sorry about that."
"No problem. Agent Kate Moretti." Kate pulled out her wallet and flipped it open. "This is Doctor Daniel Pierce. He's a professor and consultant to the FBI branch in Chicago. He's here to identify the body of Taryn Powers." She swallowed hard.
Daniel smiled tersely, lifting one hand up in greeting before lowering it back to its death grip on his satchel.
"Penelope Garcia." The blonde woman smiled and shook hands with the brunette. "Excuse me." She squeezed past the two new comers and made her way back to her computer room.
"Agent Moretti, Doctor Daniel Pierce, I'm agent Jason Gideon, this is my team; Agent Elle Greenway, Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan and Doctor Spencer Reid. This is our Communications Liaison Jennifer Jareau."
They nodded to the Supervisory Special Agents.
"Hotch and Reid will take you to the morgue. Thank you for coming here Doctor Pierce."
The neuropsychiatrist smiled nervously again and nodded before stepping aside with Kate to let the tall men lead them through the bull pen of desks. Reid stopped by his desk to pick up his bag-much like Daniel's-and slung it across his chest.
"Excuse me, Doctor Reid, aren't you a bit… young to be working for the FBI? Or be a doctor?" Kate asked as they followed them out to a black SUV.
Daniel tensed, and his head began to throb again. Natalie told him to calm down. He shook her off.
"I graduated high school at twelve years old, and I have an IQ of one hundred eighty seven."
"Oh," Kate nodded and fell back to walk beside Daniel. Daniel's eyes darted to the young doctors back.
"Doctor Reid how old are you?" He asked hesitantly as they got into the SUV and pulled out of the parking garage.
"I'm twenty five." He cleared his throat as he buckled his seat belt. "You're the Doctor Daniel Pierce, right? I've read your books and I find them very articulate. I really actually enjoy them."
Hotch rolled his eyes and suppressed a grin.
"Oh… um… thank you." Daniel flushed, holding his satchel closer and tighter to his chest.
Hotch stifled a chuckle with a cough and earned a look from Reid. The elder rose an eyebrow in his direction.
"Eh, sorry." He looked away from his superior and watched out the window as the city passed by.
Kate sat silently next to Daniel in the back of the SUV, watching him from the corner of her eyes. She was worried about him, about what might happen when he saw his niece. How would his missing niece affect him? And why hadn't the FBI been brought onto this case before now?
Daniel glanced at her and caught her staring at him. His cheeks flushed slightly as he shifted in his seat and she turned away, most likely to hide her embarrassment. His mind was whirling with thoughts. He'd seen the pictures of his niece. He knew what had happened to her. He wanted nothing more than to just identify the body and go back to the university. For things to just go back to normal again. Or as normal as they ever would be.
"Daniel, Kat is missing. She was taken away. You can't abandon her. You're all she has left."
"I know Natalie," he snapped, which was quite out of character for him. He hardly ever snapped at Natalie. Hallucination or no, she was still his best friend.
Dr. Reid and Kate snapped their heads to look at Daniel. Hotch's eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror to look at the neuropsychiatrist with an eyebrow raised.
Now his face really did burn and he turned to watch out the window, pressing his forehead to the cool glass. This was going to be a long ride.
. . .
When they arrived at the morgue forty five minutes later most of Daniel's tenseness and nerves had calmed some, enough for him to breathe a little easier.
As they got out of the car, Reid gently caught Kate's arm before she could join Daniel on the other side. "Uh sorry, but Doctor Pierce… He's paranoid schizophrenic isn't he?"
Kate looked up into Reid's brown eyes. There were circles under them, signifying lack of sleep. "How did you know?"
"I've read his books. He says so in the author bio. But… did he have an episode in the car?"
"I think you may want to take that up with him. I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss such things."
The young genius nodded a bit sheepishly perhaps and let the agent go. Kate gave him a small smile and made her way around the back of the SUV to join Daniel.
His satchel was left in the car, his arms wrapped tightly around him. Reid joined Hotch as they led the two from Chicago into the building.
"Hotch, you do know that Doctor Pierce is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, right? That's probably why he blurted that out in the car." Reid whispered.
"You don't think he's on his meds?"
"No, but it seems like he has it all under control. He called out the name Natalie, which suggests that his hallucination may be auditory and visual, or maybe just auditory. Most paranoid schizophrenics believe that people are out to get them and won't take their medication because they don't believe that it helps them or because it makes them feel numb and wrong. They usually shy away from people and keep to themselves. Doctor Pierce is not only an author, but also a professor at Chicago Lake Michigan University, and a neuropsychiatrist."
The taller man looked down at the young genius skeptically. "So how do you know he's a paranoid schizophrenic?"
"His author bios."
They glanced back at the two following them. Kate's hand was reassuringly laid on Daniel's arm.
"His behavior suggests it as well, but I think he may have developed a system, like a pattern that keeps his mind active and on track. Something that keeps him focused."
Hotch nodded as they reached the elevator doors and waited for the other doctor and FBI agent to catch up to them. Daniel's jaw clenched tightly. Kate's had squeezed his arm gently. The mood suddenly became gloomier than it had been before and they filed silently into the lift.
Reid and Daniel immediately stood to the side, gripping the hand rails that ran along the walls tightly with one hand.
Inadvertently, Kate and Hotch shared a glance with raised brows.
. . .
Sweeny Todd sat in a dust covered chair. His scared fingers pressed together in front of his face. His merciless eyes glaring scathingly at the girl before him, shivering and shuddering violently.
The blindfold that covered her eyes and her hands remained handcuffed behind her back. She laid in the fetal position on the dust covered cement floor in the corner where he'd set her. She was crying silently, tears streaming down her bloodied and dirt covered face.
Why was she so upset? He'd given her what she wanted.
She was different, like him. So different from everyone else; except for her sister who was now dead. He'd watched them for over a year, almost two, always returning to the same place after each kill. He was one that was always shunned, forgotten, left alone, ignored. He was the one that never showed compassion, no empathy, no emotion. But he'd seen her, the one he had before him, constantly looking at him over her shoulder, like she was begging him to take her away. He'd felt something then. Lust for her, longing, burning desire to have her as his own.
But she spent all her time with her sister. Too much time. She was making him jealous. And now he had her. All for himself.
But for some reason, the thrill of the kill had wormed its way into his mind, polluting his thoughts. He couldn't stop the want that he harbored to kill more. To see the fear in their eyes, hear their muffled whimpers and pleas of mercy, to watch as the liquid rubies spilled from their skin. The feeling of power and control consumed him, consumed his mind.
His scathing eyes raked down Katrina's body, drinking in the sight of her. The fear rolled off of her in waves and he grinned. Slowly he made his way to her side and knelt there in the dust and dirt. Gently he stroked the soft fur of her ears and ran his fingers through her long silky hair to her tail bone.
He brought her hair up to his face and he sniffed it appreciatively, slowly.
His fingers drifted along her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, down her neck and across her shoulders.