My dear readers, I am so sorry I have not updated, well, anything in so long. The last year I have been at a jobcorps center learning how to be a computer technician and when I returned, I got a job at my local walmart. Problem is, I work the night shift so my only days off are Sunday and Monday, which I spend a lot of time catching up on sleep with.
Hopefully you guys can forgive me!
Chapter 2: The Case
November 25, 2014
Cori's apartment, Washington D.C., VA
Cori pinched the bridge of her nose as she woke up the next morning. Her first day at work had been uneventful. All there had been was paperwork, paperwork, and, oh yeah, more paperwork. The only thing that possibly kept Cori sane was either watching Derek slip some of his folders in Spencer's stack when the younger man was out of the room (if Spencer noticed, he didn't say anything) or when Penelope came and dragged her off to her lair, as she called it, for pretty much anything.
Cori reached over to her nightstand, grabbing her hearing aid, turning it on and putting it in her left ear. She got up, running her hand over the ears of her black tabby, Cynder, as she did so, and walked to her closet. Running a hand through her hair to try and tame it, Cori selected her outfit and quickly got dressed.
After she had gotten dressed, she walked into her kitchen to fix Cynder's breakfast as well as her own. As she took out the can of cat food, she glanced at her calendar, noting that it was her goddaughter, Luka's, birthday. She grinned. "Today's Luka's birthday, Cynder." she said, looking at the tabby, who had jumped on the counter when she smelled her food, and running a hand across her soft black fur. Cynder looked at Cori, her green eyes locking with the dual colors of Cori's eyes.
Cori chuckled, finished with Cynder's food and set the food dish on the floor, laughing when the black cat jumped from the counter onto the floor and began eating her food. Cori went to the cupboard, took out some bread and fixed her some toast with butter, along with some hot chocolate to drink (She didn't drink coffee. She found it disgusting). Once she was finished with breakfast, she cleaned up her mess as well as Cynder's, filled a travel mug with hot chocolate, grabbed her backpack and keys and left her apartment, locking the door behind her. She walked down the stairs of the complex and began walking to the BAU.
Behavioral Analysis Unit, Quantico, VA
Nearly as soon as Cori entered the BAU, Hotch called them into the conference room. Raising an eyebrow, Cori followed the others to the room and took a seat beside Spencer. He grinned slightly at her before turning his attention to the file in front of him. Penelope came in with a remote and what looked like a tablet in hand. She came around and handed the tablet to Cori.
"That's so you can easily look at whatever I put up there." she said, pointing at the screen on the wall. Cori looked over at Spencer, who was still looking through the folder. "Oh, Reid hates the newer tech so he still uses the actual file folder." Cori nodded slowly.
"I don't hate newer technology." Spencer said. "The newer technology slows me down so I find it simpler to have a paper file in front of me."
Garcia rolled her eyes, smiling, as Cori smirked.
"So where are we going this time, Garcia?" Karma asked.
"My fellow crime solvers," Penelope began. "You are headed to Springfield, Missouri." Cori, mid sip on her hot chocolate, choked and coughed on her current sip. Kate reached over and whacked Cori on the back a couple of times before the younger girl regained her composure.
"You okay, Rogers?" Kate asked. Cori looked around as the others gave her concerned looks. She nodded.
"I'm fine." she replied. "Just wasn't expecting to be going home my first case."
"Oh right." JJ said. "You told us you were from Springfield."
Cori shrugged then nodded at Penelope to resume presenting the case. Penelope looked at Cori concernedly for a moment before looking back at her tablet. "Anyways, in the last three weeks, six women have been murdered."
"Six women murdered in three weeks?" Derek repeated. "And we're just now hearing about this?"
"There was no reason to believe that the murders were connected in any way." Penelope explained. "None of the women seemed to have anything in common."
"What changed their minds?" Charlotte questioned.
"The fact that all the victims were abducted within two days of the previous victim was abducted. The previous victim was also dumped the day the next victim was abducted." Penelope said. She brought up photos of the six victims, one after the other, naming them as she did so. "Mary Louis, nineteen years old. She was stabbed thirty-two times; Katie Walker, seventeen years old. She was stabbed forty-nine times; Michelle Owens, twenty-one years old. She was stabbed twenty times; Rachel Michaels, twenty-six years old. She was stabbed twelve times; Cindy Collins, twenty-three years old. She was stabbed sixteen times; and Nicki Alexander, sixteen years old. She was shot fifty-three times."
Hotch looked at Cori, who was staring at the photos, deep in thought. "What are you thinking, Rogers?"
Cori blinked and looked at Hotch. "I was just thinking two things: one, the younger the victim is, the amount of overkill increases."
"And the second thing?" Karma asked.
"The victims have similar appearances." Cori said. "Dark brown or black hair and heterochromatic eyes."
"They're surrogates for the unsub's true target." Spencer said. Cori nodded slowly.
"There's one more thing." Penelope said, clenching her teeth. The team looked at her. "Another women, sixteen-year-old Madylin Jane, was reported missing yesterday." Penelope brought up another photo of a teenage girl, another one with dark hair.
"The unsub must have taken her." JJ said. "If we look at this, it looks like he's sticking to a schedule."
"Then we better get moving." Hotch said, picking up his tablet. "Wheels up in twenty."
Twenty minutes later, they were on their way to the airstrip, Cori catching a ride with JJ. The ride there was quiet until JJ decided to break the silence. "So, you nervous about going back home so soon?" Cori shrugged, though internally she was actually a little nervous. "After the case, you should pay your mother a visit."
"And then what?" Cori suddenly snapped, looking at JJ. "I told Mom I wouldn't be back in Springfield unless I had figured out what had happened to Kyler."
"I take it Kyler is the brother who ran away eighteen years ago?"
Cori nodded then sighed. "I'm sorry I snapped, JJ. I just don't know what I could possibly talk to Mom about."
"Don't worry about it." JJ said. "Your mother will just be happy to see you."
Cori smiled, and then suddenly slapped her forehead. "I forgot to call my neighbor and ask her to check in on Cynder while we're gone."
"Cynder?"
"My cat." Cori answered, taking out her cell phone. "She's a six-month old black tabby and is such a sweet heart." She dialed her neighbor's number. "Hey, Laura, it's Cori. and then hung up. Cori sat back in the seat. "Cynder is all taken care of."
JJ smiled. "That's good." A few minutes later, they were at the airstrip. From the look of things, they were first to arrive. When they got out of the car, Cori wasn't sure what amazed her more: the size of the jet or the fact that it was for BAU use only as far as she knew.
"This is for us to use?" she asked, looking at JJ, who laughed softly.
"Yup." she replied. "It gets us to whatever city and state we need to go to. Come on. I'll show you around the inside so that you're not confused when we take off." Cori grinned as JJ led her up the stairs and into the jet. "Okay so there's where you can get coffee." Cori stuck out her tongue. "Or something else I bet." Cori sighed with relief. JJ smirked. "Over there is the restroom and then of course here is the cabin where we discuss the case a little more and relax after the case is done."
Cori walked between the chairs and sat down on the chair at the table, near the window. JJ smiled and sat down across from her. five minutes later, the rest of the team arrived. Spencer sat next to Cori and Hotch sat next to JJ. Kate and Karma sat down on the couch, Dave and Derek remained standing, and Charlotte sat on the chair across from the table.
They went over the case, this time in a bit more detail, with Penelope on the computer screen that sat on the table.
"This unsub definitely has a racial preference." Kate said. "All six women were Caucasian white."
"But their ages are all over the place." Derek said. "The youngest victim was Katie Walker, who was seventeen years old and the oldest victim was Rachel Michaels, who was twenty-six years old. The latest victim, Madilyn, is sixteen. This says the unsub doesn't have an age preference."
"Cori, do you have something to add?" Dave said, looking at the newest member.
Cori, who had been staring intensely at the photos of the women, shook her head and looked up. "Sorry, what?" she asked, a slightly confused expression on her face.
"Do you have something to add?" Hotch repeated.
Cori nodded slowly, taking a slow sip of her drink. "Yeah, I found another thing the women had in common. Other than the fact that all had very dark hair ranging from dark brown to black, they were all of a very slight build and very pale skinned. They actually look like they suffer from some sort of immune disorder."
The rest of the team looked at the photos again. "She's right." Spencer said. "And it looks like the fifth victim, Cindy Collins, and the sixth victim, Nicki Alexander, suffered from heterochromia. Their eyes are completely different colors, one eye is brown and the other is blue." At this revelation, the team looked up at Cori.
"Cori," JJ said. "Except for the ages, all these girls resemble you."
Cori shook her head. "Okay, yes, I admit that they and I share some physical traits, but that doesn't mean anything. Heterochromia may be rare, but it's not uncommon. When I was in college, my roommate had heterochromia. One of her eyes was lime green and the other was sky blue. This doesn't mean anything."
"But it could mean something." Charlotte said. She turned to the computer. "Garcia, see if you can find anything else the women had in common. There might be something that was overlooked."
"I'm on it." Garcia said.
Hotch looked at the team. "Okay, Rossi, Reid and Karma, go to the coroner's office. See what they have to say. Morgan, you, Callaghan, and Darla head to the latest dump site. JJ, you, me and Rogers will coordinate with the local police."
When they arrived at the police station ten minutes after landing, Cori sighed. She knew her way around this city, something she knew she could contribute. Later, she knew she'd have to go visit her mother, but for now, they had a case to solve.
"Well, if it isn't little Cori Rogers." Cori looked up at the sound of her name and found the chief of the SPD walking towards them. She bit back a groan. "I thought after you had returned from FBI training, then moved just a few days later, you were gone for good. But here you are." Cori clenched a fist, willing herself not to make a smart remark. She was on the job and it would look bad if she said anything in reply. The chief turned to Hotch. "You must be from the BAU. I'm the police chief, Daniel Walker."
"I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner." Hotch replied. "This is Agent Jennifer Jareau and you already know Agent Cori Rogers."
"Has Madilyn shown up at all?" JJ asked.
Walker shook his head. "No and that has me worried that this son of a gun has already killed her."
"Actually, if the unsub is sticking to a schedule," Cori started. "that means he may not kill Madilyn until tomorrow."
Walker sighed. "That doesn't give us long to find her."
"Do you have a room set up for us?" Hotch asked. "We'd like to get started right away."
"Yeah, we got our conference room all set up for you." Walker answered.
About an hour later, pictures of the victims as well as a map of the area were pinned up on the board, covering most of it. Hotch and JJ were talking with the officers so when the rest of the team walked into the conference room, they found Cori sitting alone at the table, files and papers strewn out around her. She had a pair of glasses with dark blue frames on and was currently staring at one of the papers intently, her eyes moving from one side to the next. She held a pen in her left hand and her right hand was placed on her forehead, pushing her black bangs out of her dual-colored eyes.
"Got anything yet, Rogers?" Dave asked as he walked over to the younger girl. Cori said nothing, her eyes still moving across the paper, her mouth moving in silent speaking. Dave reached out and gently grabbed Cori's shoulder. "Rogers?" he said, a little louder this time.
Cori jumped slightly when Dave's hand grabbed her shoulder, but she quickly recovered, looking up at Dave, her bangs no longer lying flat on her forehead from where she had pushed them from her eyes. Cori blinked a couple of times before clearing her throat and speaking. "Sorry, what?" Karma's eyes narrowed as Cori repeated the same question she had said when she had zoned out on the jet. She made a mental note to ask Cori about that later.
Dave sighed and repeated his question. "Do you have anything yet?"
Cori cleared her throat again, taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes, before replacing the glasses and speaking. "Yeah." She stood up and walked over to the board. "All of these women were low risk. They never did anything out of line and were considered very responsible."
"Which makes us wonder why the unsub is doing this to them in the first place." Spencer said, hand on his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Have you figured out what the victims have in common?" Charlotte asked.
Cori shook her head slowly. "Sorry, no." she replied. "What did you guys find out?"
"The victims' stab wounds were very deep, but all over the place as if the unsub were stabbing them out of rage." Dave answered. "This usually suggests that this was personal but as far as we can tell, the victims have nothing in common."
"The dump site is very open." Derek said. "If anybody were to drive by, they'd see the unsub dumping the victims."
"The site may be personal, but it may also be a means to further demean the women." Karma said, crossing her arms.
"So the question is, why is this guy targeting them in the first place?" Charlotte questioned.
So what do you guys think? Alright? R&R please!