Chapter Four:

After my first day at the BAU, I couldn't help but look back on what all had happened. I met a great team of investigators, made a new friend, and found a devilishly handsome coworker. There was something about Derek that just.. oohhh.. chilled me to the bone. He was the utter definition of "tall, dark and handsome." And the fact that he saved me from humiliation, well, that was a plus. I couldn't wait for what tomorrow brought… Though, even though it was my first day of work, it was my first day of WORK. We had been signed on to a new case that was centered around the Quantico area. A string of abductions and vicious rapes had begun. However, this last time around, the women succumbed to her wounds before she could be saved, dying in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Each attack more destructive that the last. Lacerations across the chest, arms, hands, neck, face, legs, abdomen; practically anywhere you imagine. Plus the bruising. The victims appeared to be beaten and lacerated multiple times at different intervals. There was no trace evidence on the victims, but it did appear that they had been bound at the arms with some form of adhesive. We would have to wait for trace to get back to us on what the substance was. The pictures were brutal.

I sat up all night thinking about what had been seen. I did finally get to sleep that night but not for long. Shortly after I drifted off, my alarm sounded. Groaning, I sat up in bed and began to mentally prepare myself for the day. It was going to be a long one, for sure. I did my normal routine, putting on a slightly more comfortable outfit and a flat pair of shoes… I wanted to avoid that mess again.

When I got to work, I noticed that the team was busy working on some profiling details. They asked me to go back and analyze the images of all the victims to see if I could find anything that stuck out to me in the images… I did what was asked of me, feeling queasy the entire time. I had had hoped that something would stick out initially so that I wouldn't have to continue the search but to no avail. I skimmed and scanned over each photo at least a dozen times before I picked up on my first clue. They were all wounded by the same perpetrator. Each of the victims that had come forward had the same circular cuts in their bruises, consistent with rings.

The ring that was clearly distinct was rather large. There was a smaller indentation in the center of the ring, suggesting a stone of some form, however, in the middle of the stone area, there was a distinct pattern that was left. I zoomed in the image and saw the shape of a "J" that was indented into each of the wounds. So, whoever the unsub was, they had a ring on with the letter "J" cut into it.

I went to present what I had found to Hotchner when a report came in about another victim… this time, she was murdered intentionally. My stomach churned as the images were sent to my desktop computer. I didn't know how many more images like this I could take. Technically, it was not my job to analyze photos. I was there for the express purpose of audio examination and the need to break into computers that had firewalls and other such defenses put up. Not to examine photos of murdered women. I knew it would pop up, but I just didn't realze how soon they would appear and how gruesome they would become.

I glanced over to JJ. She looked back at me and mouthed "Are you okay?" at me. I shook my head in response. After the debriefing of the case, Hotchner released us and I headed into my office, shaking. JJ chased after me, obviously seeing my distress. "Garcia!" She exclaimed. "What's going on?" I just shook my head once again. I didn't really want her knowing how much this was eating at me.

"It's… It's nothing… I just didn't get enough sleep last night…" I said, hoping that she would drop the subject… I was wrong.

"You were thinking about this case, weren't you?" She asked. I just sighed.

"Yeah… I just, I never expected to have to deal with this for my first case… I just can't get their images out of my head and then I think about it more and more and even when I try to think of something else, it always goes back to that.. And then I lay in bed alone in my home and just think about what they must have been thinking and I just… I don't know…" I rambled on and on until I realized that JJ wasn't the only one in the room and that I was sobbing.

JJ came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "It's going to be okay. Come here…" She said and wrapped her arms me, holding on to my still shaky torso. The dark shadow moved towards us. It was Derek Morgan.

"I… just… don't… know… what…to… do…"I said, trying to calm myself down, but utterly failing at it. JJ just held me tighter and Derek moved, kneeling down beside my chair.

"It's gonna be alright Garcia…" He whispered and played with my hair a little bit. I could feel the tension releasing in my body. I felt better… Not that I wanted to look at those photos, but I no longer felt like I was alone.

"Thanks guys… I just… I've never done this before and it's just scary." I finally said after a few deep breaths.'

JJ smiled at me, "Come with me. I want to show you my office." She said, taking me out of the computer lab area and into a small area. It was covered with stuffed animals, coloring books, and lots of colors. "It may not look much, but this is my office. I've always found that when cases bother me, like this one, it's best to surround yourself with things that distract you from the evil in the world." She said, handing me one of the stuffed animals. I smiled, holding it tightly to my chest. I tried to hand it back to her, but she gestured it towards me. "Keep it. You need something to start your own collections."

I went back to my office and thought about what JJ had said. Perhaps she was right.. I mean, my office is kinda dull right now anyways. Maybe if I added the "Garcia" touch to it, I would feel more comfortable while analyzing all these terrifying images. I thought of so many things that I could do to sprucing up my office and decided that was exactly what I was going to do.

After figuring out a list of things that I needed for my office, I went back to doing my analyzing. It was still gruesome but I was able to think so much more clearly. The new pictures were sitting on my computer. I opened the file and started looking through them. They were much worse than I imagined them to be. This poor girl was murdered violently. And the thing was, that didn't fit the unsub's motives. The cuts were too deep, the bruising was inconsistent and the circular marks… they were still there… But this just didn't fit… I scanned through the photos, one by one, surveying the damage this poor woman had endured when I saw something that scared me to my core.

"JJ! HOTCH! MORGAN! ANYONE!" I screamed, stepping back from my chair and just moving backwards.. JJ came running first, followed by Derek. Hotchner was the last to arrive, but I was a bit of a mess when he got arrived.

"What's wrong?" JJ asked, focusing on me. Derek came in and just looked at the computer screen and put his hand over his face.

"The…p-p-picture…" was all that I could manage to get out.

"Hotch, I have a feeling the UNSUB has an edge on this investigation." Morgan said when Hotchner arrived. Morgan gestured to the computer screen.

Hotch looked over at the screen to see what all the fuss was about. On the screen was an image taken of the victim's left wrist. Engraved in her arm were the words Penelope Garcia.