Once the team got checked into their hotel they made their way to the designated headquarters. A man who was Hotchner's height greeted them as soon as they walked in.

"Chief Winters," Hotch said as he shook the man's hand. "I am Special Agent Aaron Hotchner and this is my team, Special Agents Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, and Dr. Reid."

"Agent Hotchner," Winters greeted with a nod to the others. "Thanks for coming at such short notice."

"Not a problem. It's what we do," Hotch answered, plainly.

Chief Winters adopted a fierce look. "This guy's really pissing me off. Do you really think we can catch this SOB?"

Hotch allowed a small smile. "My team and I will do everything we can to close this case quickly." He scanned the room. "Is there somewhere my team can set up? I have a few minor details I'd like to discuss with you."

"Certainly. Officer Russell!"

A petite blond, young enough to be fresh out of high school, appeared. "Yes, Chief?"

"Take our guests to the large conference room." He turned back to Hotch. "Agent Jareau explained you'd be short a person. Borrow Russell."

Hotch raised his brows. "Oh, that won't be necessary."

"None-the-less..."

Russell blushed as she led the federal agents towards the back of the building. "Chief Winters likes to get his way."

"So does Hotch," Prentiss told her.

Russell turned her head to throw a smile back at her before saying, "Is this the type of welcoming you always see?"

"What do you mean?"

She nodded towards the various desks, every occupant not hiding the fact that they were watching them. "The staring."

They looked around. "Oh," Prentiss said. "I guess we're used to it."

Morgan grinned. "Folks like to see how FBI agents look like."

"Plus," Reid added as he hitched his satchel higher on his thin shoulders, "most law enforcement agencies tend to be territorial with their crimes. Even in the different divisions of the military there is an 'us versus them' mentality with the 'us' believing they are the superior ones."

Russell showed them into a decent sized conference room complete with a round table and chairs, a chalkboard, and a free-standing corkboard which Reid promptly moved to a better location.

"Well," the officer said, "I, for one, am glad you are here. This case has kept me up at night." She shivered as she watched Reid pull out the case files from his pack and start to arrange the crime scene photos to pin onto the board with Prentiss stepping in to help.

David Rossi perked at Russell's sentence. "Do you know much about the case, Officer Russell?"

"More than I want to, sir. My partner and I were first responders to the first and third crime scenes. That's one reason the chief thought I could help."

Morgan raised a dark eyebrow. "And the other reason?"

She blushed again. "I'm a rookie, sir. Chief thinks we make good go-fers."

Rossi smiled as he patted her hand. "We all have to start somewhere. Is your partner around to talk to as well?"

Russell shook her head. "After the last discovery she took several days vacation."

Morgan grimaced from his position near the door, arms crossed. "Can't say I blame her. The last victim had a lot more cuts than the first two."

Prentiss and Reid, done with the board for a moment, joined the others standing around the table. "Our UNSUB has progressed rapidly to insane rage," Reid commented. "Vanessa Roper was stabbed a total of 36 times, mainly in her abdomen and chest according to the autopsy report. That's more than Marcella James and Wanda Sims combined."

Russell nodded. "Blood was everywhere at the Roper residence."

"More emotionally involved?" Emily suggested.

"The cuts on the first two vics were mainly superficial, caused more for torture purposes while he watched them suffer," Reid answered.

"Rushed for time?" asked Morgan.

"No," Russell told him. "Each were dead two to five days before being discovered."

Reid frowned as he thought. "All three victims were found by their husbands."

"All three alibis checked out," the officer confirmed. "Each were in different cities hundreds of miles away for work."

"And no connection where they worked," Hotch said as he joined them.

"No, sir."

Reid wandered back to the corkboard to study the tacked photos once more. What was he missing? "Did the husbands notice anything different?"

Russell turned to look at him. "Different?"

"Moved? Missing? Something added?"

Morgan moved to join Reid. "You thinking souvenirs?"

Instead of answering Reid marched out of the room. They all turned to watch him approach the nearest detective. Prentiss leaned towards Russell. "He does that."

Reid came back, magnifying glass in hand.

"You want to tell us what's going on, bro," Morgan said. "We've had this discussion. We can't read your mind."

He looked up from the pictures triumphantly. "Souvenirs? No. I think the UNSUB left something behind." He pointed to an object in one of the images. "This silver plaque is directly in two of the scenes. And I'd be willing to bet more than a dinner the edge in this pic is the same thing."

Morgan grinned sheepishly. "Heard about that, did ya?"

Prentiss spoke up. "Spencer, how can you be sure the killer placed the item? It could very well be something of the victims that link them together."

"It could," he acknowledged.

"But you don't think so," Hotch finished for him.

"No. If you look at this one you can see the outlines of the plaque clearly. The area on the wall around it is lighter in a uniform rectangle."

Russell looked confused. "What does that mean?"

Rossi spoke up. "It means something was hanging on that wall a lot longer than that plaque." He looked at Hotch. "I think it's time to search these houses."

"I agree," Hotchner said. "Rossi, have Officer Russell take you to the Sims house. Morgan and Prentiss, you take James. Reid, you're with me."