"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible." – George Chakkiris

Chapter 4: To Boise We Go

Monday morning

Approaching his office door, Emily knocked. "Here early, as requested," she said.

"Emily-" he stopped "Prentiss," he corrected himself. "Sorry, this is why I asked you to come in early," he told her when she smiled at his fumble. "I thought we should talk, set some ground rules, before everyone else comes in, seeing as we didn't quite get around to it yesterday," he said, smirking.

"I agree," she told him. "I don't think it's that big a deal if you use my first name, however. After all, it's not like you don't call the others by their first names."

"Good, because calling you Prentiss after this weekend seems rather sleazy," he said, smiling in relief. "Other than that though, I don't think anything else should change. We need to remain professional at work,"

"That sounds reasonable - nothing personal while we're on duty," she agreed.

"I much as I don't want to say it that should probably also apply to hotels and such when we're on cases," he said.

"Dang it! There goes my plan to seduce you!" she said, mock serious.

A knock on Hotch's office door prevented him replying.

"Sorry to interrupt but, we have a case," Jenifer Jareau informed them.

"Alright, tell the team we meet in the conference room in 3 minutes," Hotch replied.

"Yes, sir," she said, leaving his office and closing the door behind her.

"Alright, JJ," Hotch said, as the last member of the team, Reid, arrived, looking flustered and juggling his bag, coffee and tablet.

"Ok, so, over the last two months in Boise, Idaho, 5 women have been abducted and raped, and until now were found alive, gagged and blindfolded, in cheap motels," JJ started, bringing up crime scene photos on the flat screen.

"Approximately 85 percent of all rapes are perpetrated by an acquaintance of the victim. The other 15 percent are committed by strangers," Reid quoted.

With no more than a nod in acknowledgement, JJ continued, "The first victim was Rachel Hollis, 21, abducted exactly seven weeks ago, the second, Monica Eden, 20, four weeks ago, the third Samantha Vermont, also 20, two weeks ago, the fourth Jessica Fields, 19, was abducted 8 days ago, she was the first victim the UNSUB killed. Her body was found yesterday, and the medical examiner believes she'd only been dead a few hours. Boise PD is calling us in after Veronica Giles, 17, was reported missing this morning by a friend. The friend was with Veronica at a club last night when she went missing. They were using fake IDs and she didn't want to get either of them in trouble so she waited until now to file a missing persons report."

"What makes Boise PD think she's our UNSUB's next victim?" Morgan asked.

"A few reasons, the first being she fits the UNSUB's victim type perfectly – shoulder length brownish red hair, blue eyes, average height and slim. She doesn't fit the age previously shown to be preferred by our UNSUB, but that could be attributed to the fact that her ID said she was 22…"

"It could also be that the UNSUB saw her to be younger than she claimed and it gave him the opportunity he hadn't previously had – a chance to go after what he really wants," Morgan suggested.

"All the previous victims are only just past adolescence, and Veronica is an adolescent; this suggests that we're dealing with a paraphilia" Reid said.

"I'm sorry - a what?" Garcia asked.

"You don't want to know…" JJ said.

"Someone who is attracted to teenage girls," Rossi told her.

"Oh…" she said, her mouth making an 'o' as her look turned to one of horror.

"So it could be that until now he hasn't had the opportunity to go after younger victims," Hotch said.

"JJ, is there anything else that makes Boise PD think it's the same guy," Morgan asked.

"Yes, the latest victim, Veronica, disappeared under similar circumstances as all the others, she was at a club with friends, all under 21, all using fake IDs, disappeared from right in front of them, and none of them saw her leave with anyone," JJ answered. "Each of the women are found after having sustained an increasing amount of violence and bodily harm. The first woman, Rachel, had bruises on her arms where he held her down, the second, Monica, also had bruises on her left cheek and –"

"Wait, JJ, her left cheek – that would imply that our UNSUB is left-handed," Morgan interrupted.

"Statistically, only 15 percent of people are left-handed, with males being twice as likely to be left-handed than females," Reid offered.

"Yeah kid, that's my point – that should really help to narrow down our suspect pool," Morgan explained.

"Actually, that doesn't really narrow it down at all, as it still leaves 1,046,060,765 people in the world, 46,738,788 in the US, and 31,522 people in Idaho," he said, matter-of-fact. "Did you know, studies have shown that left-handed people are three times as likely to become alcoholics? They also generally have a lower life expectancy than right-handed people." Without waiting for an answer he continued, "Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do," he informed them.

"No, Reid, I'm quite sure none of us knew that," Emily said indulgently, pursing her lips to avoid laughing when Morgan, who was sitting beside her, added under his breath to her, "and none of us wanted to either."

Reid, not hearing Morgan's comment, took that as encouragement and continued, "Oh, well, then you should know that they generally also have higher IQ's than right-handed people and–".

"Ok, thankyou Reid, but I think that's enough," Hotch instructed, stopping him from going on to list every statistic ever recorded on the subject, "JJ, if you would continue."

"As I was saying, the first victim had bruises on her left cheek, as well as heavy bruising to her arms and a black eye, the second had a split lip, black eye and two broken fingers, and the third a broken nose, one broken rib, more bruised ribs, and a dislocated shoulder."

"So he's definitely escalating, not just in frequency but also ferocity," Rossi said.

"That's not all: while he was raping them he apologised when he hurt them and after he was done he asked them how he did," JJ said, disturbed.

"So he has a script," Rossi said.

"Interviews with the earlier victims revealed he also made them ask for it, and say that they wanted him," JJ said.

"The stressor could be a girlfriend or lover who rejected him or made him feel inadequate," Prentiss said, "now he wants to feel in control."

"The UNSUB definitely has some form of narcissistic personality disorder," Reid agreed.

"It sounds like we're dealing with a Power Reassurance rapist," Morgan said.

"How many different types are there?" Garcia asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Four," Reid answered. "The most common, at 70 percent, being Power Reassurance rapists, followed by Power Assertive rapists, 25 percent, Anger Retaliatory or Excitation rapists, 3-5 percent, and Sadistic rapists, 1-3 percent," he continued. "If you want, I can tell you the diff–," he said, before she interrupted.

"No, no. That's ok Reid, I get the idea," she inserted hastily, having decided she really did not want to know.

At her obvious regret for having asked, and Reid's obliviousness, Rossi, Morgan and Prentiss all chuckled, JJ hid her smile behind her hand, and even Hotch struggled to contain his amusement.

"If that's true, it means he could be building up to the girl he really wants to kill," Hotch said.

"And given his MO, Veronica is probably still alive," Rossi said.

"Alright, wheels up in an hour," Hotch ordered. "Garcia, I want you with us on this one."

"Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one who inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it." – Mark Twain

A/N: I have never attempted to write a casefic before so please let me know what you thought!