Hello, everybody; ModernDayBard here with part 2 of Amanda's first BAU case! I realize she's not taking as proactive a role in this investigation, but, as she gets more comfortable with the team, that will change!
Because I am required to say it: I do not own Criminal Minds or any cannon characters/events; just those of my own creation.
The team was still discussing the enigmatic profile a half-hour later, when one of the deputies poked his head into the conference room.
"Agent Hotchner?" the young man asked uncertainly.
"Yes?" Hotch looked up, knowing only a handful of possibilities warranted such an interruption, and almost none of them were good.
"We just found a third body."
Like the other two dump sites, this one was a trash-filled alley. The new girl—young, petite brunette like others—was wrapped in plastic and fully clothed, though covered in the evidence of physical beatings, just like the first two victims.
Amanda frowned at several observations as Morgan and Spencer began pointing them out.
"The fact that they were all re-dressed and wrapped in plastic indicates some amount of remorse," the young doctor began.
The slightly older agent nodded. "But strangulation is personal, anger-filled. He wanted to feel them die. Then he's dumping them here, calling them trash, basically. If it weren't for that, I'd say one partner felt remorse and handled the disposal of the bodies and the other committed the assault and murder..."
"Instead of remorse, it feels more like taking out the trash," Amanda put in, a ghost of an idea screaming in the back of her head. "And the attacks were carried out by two people, and none of the injuries indicated hesitation or remorse."
Hotch and Rossi glanced at each other, a light of comprehension in their eyes. "We need to get back to the station—we're almost ready to give the profile."
"We aren't just looking for a pair of UnSubs," Hotch began. "The treatment of the bodies would indicate the involvement of a woman, and the fact that everything up until the assault and murder was carried out by both at once indicates a nearly-coequal relationship."
"That's why we think we're looking at a married couple," Emily said, picking up the team's train of thought. "It would also explain why and how this team used a ruse to get these women to let their guard down."
It was Rossi's turn to speak now. "The woman would be less likely to put them on edge, she might have even offered them shelter and food for the night."
"But why are they doing it, then?" one of the officers asked, and it was Morgan who answered him.
"Given that the focus seems to be the beatings, it would seem to be some kind of foreplay for them, or something to do together, to bring them closer."
Spence now jumped in. "But it's not working—the husband has an ulterior motive. It's likely he is a serial adulterer and the true psychopath in the relationship, and the woman is trying to cater to his desires and keep their relationship together."
"Wait...what makes you think the wife isn't in on the rape and killing?" another officer asked, clearing not buying that profiling could tell them quite that much.
Now Amanda spoke up. That observation had been Spence's, and it'd been the key to the profile. "Everything up until that point—the abduction, drugging, restraining, and beating, had been carried out together, but suddenly only the man assaults and murders the girls, right after worked so closely with this wife. A man like that either can't or won't remain loyal to a single woman, and if they're still married, the effort had to have been on her, meaning this was probably another one of her attempts to fix the marriage. That also explains the dump sites—the woman is disposing of the bodies, cleaning up her house, but she sees these women as trash that is breaking up their marriage instead of fixing it."
The newest profiler fell silent as Hotch again took the lead, explain to the assembled officers just what sort of people they'd be looking for.
"Alright, my dashing crime fighters," Penelope chimed in as the conference call began, "please tell me that you have something for me to help you with that doesn't involve reporters and PR people—I need a break and a chance to do what I am good at."
"Garcia..." Hotch began.
"Right! Sorry, sir. My fingers are yours to command—tell me what I am looking for, and I will have it for you in a trice."
Rossi was the first to begin describing the couple. "We're looking for a married couple—the woman will have gone to marriage counseling quite a few times, but the husband hasn't."
Morgan then took up the thread. "He's also had violent tendencies for a while, so as a young man, he may have had run-ins with the law, but probably wasn't arrested."
"She won't have mentioned any physical attacks, but if the beatings were what aroused him, she's probably had quite a few ER visits that have steadily decreased over the years," Amanda put in. It made a sick kind of sense—as their unorthodox relationship soured, the ER visits would've slowed at the counseling sessions would've begun. "They'll also have a large, isolated house and will have bought a large amount of sleep aids recently."
They could practically hear Garcia's shudder. "Right...There is no end to the flavors of crazy and sick; I should've known by now."
"Anything?" Prentiss asked.
"And...yes! I got the names and address for your marriage from hell," Garcia reported, "Wilson and Hellen Kaymon. I'm sending you the address to your tablets now."
Since they didn't have specific physical evidence yet, the best they could hope to do was bring the couple in for questioning and interrogate them separately, pushing the buttons that the profile had highlighted to get them to trip up and admit guilt.
That didn't take nearly as long as they'd expected it to, however: they'd arrived in the middle of an argument between the Kaymons, as Helen had finally had enough of Wilson's infidelity. As soon as she saw them pull up, she started screaming at the cops and FBI alike.
"It was him! He kept killing them so I wouldn't know what he'd done, the bastard! All that I went through, all that I did for the two of us, and he kept killing those girls because he didn't even want to fight for this!"
Wilson retaliated in kind. "You aren't innocent, either, Helen! You're the one who kept bringing new girls—what else was I supposed to do?"
The two were cuffed and led to separate cars, Amanda helping Prentiss with Helen, who abruptly shifted her focus to the shorter woman. "I didn't do anything wrong—all I was doing was trying to meet him in the middle. You won't understand unless you've been married. No one is willing to do what it takes today to fight for their marriage."
"Nothing justifies that level of abuse or torture. Even if you never meant for those girls to die, your marriage is not reason enough to put them through that agony."
Prentiss glanced over at the other agent as Helen was at last settled in the back of one of the cruisers. Amanda's voice had been calm, she supposed, but almost too clam. She hadn't exactly risen to Helen's taunt, but something in the situation had made the 'new girl' remember something—Emily was a good enough profiler to tell that Amana's words had been as much for someone else as they had been for Helen. The dark-haired woman filed that information away for later; this wasn't the time to pry.
But there's definitely a difficult past, here.
As Amanda settled back on the plane, ready to head home with the rest of the team, Rossi paused by her seat. "You did good today, Mandy; you'll fit in seamlessly in no time."
"Thanks, Rossi," she replied with a genuine smile. She could tell Rossi was checking in on her—seeing if she was all right after her first BAU case—because he had that look in his eye, so she nodded subtly. She was fine; he didn't have to worry.
Rossi returned the slight nod, asking over his shoulder as he made his way to his own seat. "Maybe next weekend will be a little more relaxing for you."
"Oh, if things go as planned, it should be," Amanda responded, thinking of the coming week with excitement, though she tried to stay realistic.
A case can come at any time, after all. At least now I know I can handle them.
So, yeah. I'm not too hugely into this case, but I think some of my later ideas are better; I just wanted to get my feet wet with something a little closer to the show's formula. And yes, I had a few more hints to Amanda's past—more than I originally intended, honestly; some of them just came out.
As always: if you saw something you like, or something you think I can fix/improve on for next time, don't hesitate to leave a review and let me know!
