Part III

As they walked through the front door of the station, they were greeted by the sheriff.

"Hey, glad you come so quickly," the young man said. His name was John McKiernan, and from his red hair and green eyes, it was obvious where his heritage came from. "We've got a room set up for you, all ready to go."

JJ took to the lead and shook the man's hand. "Agent Jennifer Jareau. Thank you for notifying us, Sheriff McKiernan."

He nodded. "Of course. Right this way."

They followed him into a room off of the main office area and found a large table with several boxes on it.

"Everything we have on the previous murders," McKiernan said, motioning towards the boxes.

Hotch nodded at him, an obvious nod of dismissal, and then turned to the team. "Okay, first thing we need is an in depth look at each of the victim's personal lives. Something, no matter how small, connects all of these women in some way. Whatever that something is, is where we can find our unsub."

They all nodded and they pulled out the files, quickly getting to work.

Reid had set up a board to the side that had a map of the town. He had started the unsub's geological profile, and it was obvious that he was perplexed by something. He kept on glancing down at the files in his hands and then back up at the board, his brow furrowing in confusion.

JJ sidled up to him, nudging his shoulder.

"What's bothering you, Spence?"

He pointed at the red push-pins that he'd placed on the map. "This is where our unsub has dumped the bodies, so, of course, we've naturally assumed that he's from the area. It's obvious he knows the town intimately, but something is odd about the dump sites…"

She gave him a sideways look and watched as he sorted through what he was trying to say.

"It seems that there should be a pattern. As human beings we naturally create patterns, consciously and unconsciously, even when we're trying to avoid making patterns. In fact, just the act of trying to avoid creating a pattern, creates a pattern all on its own…but here, there's nothing."

JJ gave him another look. "What do you mean, nothing?"

He lifted his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean nothing. It's like he's being driven by something that we don't understand and it's forcing him to act completely erratically…"

Rossi had been listening in and walked over to them, adding his own input.

"What if he's going to these places because they have some personal significance to him?"

JJ gave him a look. "You mean, like something happened to him at each location? Something involving this person that he's trying to replace with these women?"

Rossi nodded. "Exactly. Like he's trying to change his past."

At that, Hotch suddenly stood up, reading something from one of the case files. "Found something. Tricia Sherwood, our second victim, and Lacey Holden, the third victim, both were in a support group for abused women..." He looked up at the team. "…The same support group: Women's Advocacy."

At that, everyone looked up and Morgan grabbed his phone.

"I'll call Garcia, see what she can tell us about the other victims and if any of them were in abusive relationships."

Hotch nodded, obviously agreeing with Morgan's decision. He then looked over at JJ and singled her out yet again, making her feel slightly exposed.

"JJ, I'd like you to work with me to come up with a good press release for what we've found out so far." He then turned his attention to everyone else. "Prentiss, Rossi, I want the two of you to head over to the first dump site, see what you can add to the profile of our unsub. Reid, see if you can find connections with any of the locations."

Reid nodded, and Rossi and Prentiss grabbed their coats and walked out of the room. Hotch looked up at JJ and motioned for her to come to the end of the table.

She sat down next to him and began to work out a statement for the press.

Morgan headed down to where Reid sat and called Garcia, putting her on speakerphone so that they could both hear what she had to say.

"Hey, baby girl, you're on speakerphone."

They could hear the grin in her voice. "Of course I am, my beautiful man. So, you have contacted the goddess of wisdom and absolute power…how may I be of service to you?"

Morgan grinned at her words, and then he quickly explained.

"Okay, here it is. We've sent you all the names of our victims. We need to know about their personal lives, their romantic relationships. If any of them have ever been in any support groups for women in abusive relationships."

"Okay, got it." There was a pause. "Only the two you mentioned before, my prince. Tricia Sherwood and Lacey Holden. None of the other victims."

Morgan sighed in exasperation, but then Reid spoke up.

"Actually, Garcia, could you check to see if any of the other women have been hospitalized for fractured or broken bones, or if any of them have had noise complaints filed against them?"

They could hear the faint sound of her fingers flying over the keys of her keyboard, and then she let out a small exclamation.

"You are good, my fine friend. Yes, all three of the other victims have had such incidences. Uhh, Meaghan Dayton was hospitalized on several different occasions for "falling down some stairs" and such suspicious circumstances…Rachel Daniels had three different domestic disturbances over the past five months…and your last, most recent victim, Cara Bedford, had a combination of both."

Morgan looked at Reid and a look of comprehension ran across his face.

"There's our connection…they're not just similar physically, they've all been in abusive relationships." He paused, for a moment and then continued. "Maybe he thinks that he's saving these women and that what he's giving them is a second chance."

At this, Reid's eyes snapped up to Morgan's.

"Morgan…if he thinks he's saving them, then we need to check Elaine Wright against the victimology to make sure that she fits."

Morgan nodded and started to speak, but Garcia cut him off.

"I'm already on it, my chocolaty goodness." They waited a few moments and then heard her come back on, a note of perplexity in her tone. "Uhm, hate to be the rain on your parade, but not a single hospital visit, not a single complaint…I got nothing. Sorry, my boys…there is no record of any trouble in this marriage."

With that, they sighed.

"It's okay, baby girl. Thanks for helping us out."

They hung up, and tried to wrap their head around the new information. It didn't fit the profile. Yes, Elaine Wright was the right physical type, but that was the only thing that fit. In all of the other aspects, she was the complete opposite. She was a housewife, married, and had never been in an abusive relationship.

Why had the unsub changed?

They pondered over this for a brief moment, and Morgan stood up from where he sat and looked down the table to where JJ and Hotch sat working together.

He did a double take as he saw the soft look that Hotch gave JJ as she was bent over the file, writing away…

Wait a second…

When had that happened and how the hell had he missed it?

Morgan suddenly found himself profiling his boss and suddenly making sense of some of his odd behavior over the past few months. Hotch had actually gone home before the rest of the team on at least five separate occasions in the past eight weeks…and he'd actually seen the man smile a few times as well.

JJ had been happier recently as well…and from the corner of his eye he watched as Hotch actually pulled out JJ's chair for her as the both of them stood up.

His eyes widened even further as he saw Hotch's left hand barely brush the media liaison's lower back as the two of them exited the room and headed to alert the media to a press conference.

Something was definitely going on there.


Part 3/?