Chapter 3
Back at the CBI, the team were scanning through every possible lead they could find. Van Pelt was staring at her computer while Lisbon, Rigsby and Cho sifted through pages and pages of notes.
Jane was sitting on his couch, reading one of the folders containing information from some of their killer's other victims. His phone rang suddenly, making Rigsby jump in his seat.
"Hello?" Jane said, rising from his seat. A heavy breathing sound was all he heard, but that was enough. Jane knew instantly who was on the other end, and he hung up quickly.
"Who was that?" Lisbon asked, noticing his abrupt end to the call.
"Wrong number" he told her, returning to his couch, but Lisbon was not convinced.
"Are you okay?" she asked, but was answered with only a small nod of his head and an almost inaudible grunt.
She frowned, still concerned, but returned to reading.
"I think I've found something" Van Pelt called from her desk.
Lisbon joined her, reading over her shoulder.
"There's been several other similar family deaths in surrounding states, all put down to the father going on a rampage and then killing himself. A couple of the earlier ones sound less gruesome, the mother and kids just had their throats slit, but they get worse as time goes on" Van Pelt told her.
"That makes sense, starting cautious and simple, then getting more and more confident" Lisbon evaluated.
"What's the earliest killing you can find?" Jane asked, looking up from the notes he was sifting through. "Often a serial killers real motive lies with their first victim."
"The first one I've found is in Arizona, about seven years ago. A young boy and girl killed in their room, mother found with her throat slit and the father in the lounge room, gun shot to the head, the weapon lying next to him".
"Hmm" Jane hummed thoughtfully, a look of deep concentration on his face. "Is there one before that, mother and two kids killed but not the father?"
As Van Pelt typed obediently, Lisbon turned to him, a questioning look on her face.
"Well," Jane began in answer, "it's possible the very first family our killer murdered was his own."
"Here, a couple of months before the Arizona killings, a family was found dead in there apartment. The father was the prime suspect, but he disappeared. The authorities never found him" Van Pelt read.
"You think he's our guy?" Rigsby asked enthusiastically.
"It makes sense" Lisbon said, nodding. "He killed his own family, left the state and had the urge to kill again."
"But why did he kill his family in the first place?" Van Pelt questioned.
"It's like I said before" Jane remarked. "When he was a child, his mother killed his family and then herself, but he survived. Then, when he was married and had a family of his own, he re-enacted the whole thing. He left the state, changing his name and probably his appearance too, but he couldn't stop killing. He had to re-enact the scene over and over again."
"And he won't stop until we catch him" Cho said solemnly.
"But why would he re-enact his past on his family?" Van Pelt asked, horrified by the idea.
"He was probable pretty messed up after what happened to him as a kid, then once he had a family himself, he flipped and killed them. Something would have triggered it" Jane guessed, turning to Lisbon who nodded her agreement.
"What was the family name?" Lisbon asked Van Pelt.
"Castillo. The father's name was Daniel Castillo" Van Pelt told her.
"Can you find a photo of him, and check his record. See if Jane's theory about his childhood is correct."
"Sure" she agreed, and mere seconds later his face was on the screen.
"This picture is about eight years old, and he's probably changed his appearance by now. But this is what he looked like."
He was a slightly built man, of average height. His hair was short, brown but for the odd streak of grey. He had striking blue eyes and a small mouth. He didn't look like the sort of person who would kill his own family. He didn't look game enough to kill a wild animal. But then, looks could be deceiving.
"It says here his mother killed his father and younger sister when he was just eight years old. He somehow managed to survive" Van Pelt said, looking at Jane in surprise and awe.
"Impressive" Rigsby smirked, giving Jane a playful punch in the arm. Jane didn't even try to hide his smug expression, beaming brilliantly. Lisbon rolled her eyes.
"He was pretty badly injured, and nearly died from blood loss, but pulled through" Van Pelt continued. "He married his wife Jenny, and they had two kids, Stacy and Howard. He had a couple of speeding tickets and one arrest for a drunken brawl, but nothing as serious as murder."
"Maybe he was drunk when he killed his family" Rigsby suggested.
"That's possible" Jane acknowledged. "He was probably a perfectly normal guy when he was sober, but as soon as he had too much to drink his past caught up with him and he got violent. Either that or there was something else that pushed him over the edge before the murders."
"So we have until he next has a couple of beers to catch him" Lisbon said.
"How are we going to do that?" Rigsby asked. "We don't even know what the guy looks like now."
"He probably lives in some sort of rental house, and it's likely he lives relatively close to the three crime scenes in the area, in somewhere easy to leave at short notice should he need to flee" Jane replied with certainty.
"How do know that?" Van Pelt questioned sceptically.
"Serial killers are relatively easy to understand once you have enough information about them. They all have a certain kind of mind set. Once you work out what that mind set is, you have a bit of an idea how there minds work, and the sorts of things they'd do. Not enough to actually predict where and when they'll strike next, of course, but enough."
"Okay, I'll look up rented properties, maybe we can find out if Daniel Castillo's staying in any of them" Van Pelt said.
"Yeah, there shouldn't be too many that have been occupied for exactly five years" Lisbon agreed hopefully.
"There, the computer's searching now. It should take around an hour. You wanna go get some late lunch?" she asked the team. They all nodded in agreement, except for Jane, who had fallen asleep on his couch.
They decided not to disturb him.
My eyes stayed closed for a minute after they'd left the room, in case one of them had forgotten something and returned. Lunch sounded nice, but there was too much on my mind right now to continue with the cheerful charade.
The phone call was really getting to me. One I could understand, he wanted to renew the suffering. But a second, on the very same day? It was just breathing, but it was strange. What did he want?
He could be trying to lure me into a trap, but I didn't see how. There was no point tracking the call, it would be impossible. He'd never let himself be found so easily.
But what other motive could he possibly have? Was he getting bored? It was possible, but not likely.
No, there was definitely a reason behind it. But what was it?
It's getting intense! And the next few chapters are gonna get even more intense! So remember, more reviews mean I'll be motivated to type faster and update sooner!