CHAPTER SIX
Whenever she began thinking things couldn't get worse they always did. Just when Sarah-Jane thought she had seen the worst possible thing one human could do to another someone somewhere did something to prove she hadn't scratched the surface.
The corpse was definitely the work of the Butcher, but this? Sarah-Jane waited as Aaron stepped in to look at the body.
"Sarah-Jane?"
She turned. This close to David Rossi was some form of purgatory that only existed on earth.
Hell couldn't be this cruel.
She forced herself not to tremble, "I'd say good-morning but…"
"Yeah, nothing good about it," David agreed as he watched the crime scene guys began to process the body.
Aaron joined them, "Sarah-Jane, was there any ID on her?"
Sarah-Jane shook her head, "It's going to take awhile, Aaron. He obliterated her face and I'm hoping her hands will wash up."
They watched as the coroner began placing the pieces of the victim in the black cadaver bag.
"He's spiraling."
Sarah-Jane had always been terrible with names and she struggled as she tried to remember the handsome well-built agents name…Eric something, or maybe…no…Derrick, Derrick Morgan!
"So what do we do now, Agent Morgan?"
Derrick looked at Aaron, "Follow the profile."
Sarah-Jane watched as Joe and Mike talked with the locals getting as much information on the grisly discovery as possible.
"What is it Sarah-Jane?" Aaron asked.
"It's the profile," Sarah-Jane took a deep breath. "It doesn't fit Aaron."
"What do you mean?"
"All those years ago, all those women – torture yes, but sadist…psychopath? No, I'm missing something but I don't think we're dealing with a sadistic psychopath, and I don't think this type of torture is part of some sex act either."
She watched as David and Aaron shared the look. She'd seen it often enough in her struggles with the men in the ABI. She was a woman and couldn't possibly know what she was talking about.
Well if that was the way the BAU wanted to play it, she had plenty of experience in proving men wrong before.
"If you don't think the profiles accurate, why do you think this UNSUB is killing again?"
"That's just it David," Sarah-Jane looked out over the calm waters, "why?"
"I don't follow," Aaron stepped between her and David as Joe joined them.
"The question isn't why he started killing again, but why he stopped. I've looked at the prison records and there's nothing to collaborate the theory he was incarcerated."
"We are having Garcia check medical records, he could have been incapacitated."
Sarah-Jane shook her head, "No, it doesn't fit."
"Why?" Joe asked, choosing to ignore David's presence altogether.
"Anyone with a medical issue for twenty-two years wouldn't be able to exact this amount of torture on his victims in the exact same manner."
"You think he wouldn't be physically able to repeat the pattern?" David offered.
"If you've been ill for twenty-two years, that some serious recovery time; you'd need an awful lot of rehab for that."
"So we check rehabilitation clinics in the area."
"Yeah, well I'd get your Garcia to start in Georgia. We don't have any facilities with that kind of long term care here."
Sarah-Jane watched as the handsome agent grabbed his cell phone and made his way up the slopes.
She looked at the team of agents and back over the waters of Wolf Lake. It was so simple it should jump up and bite her in the ass. She was sure of it. Whatever clue she was missing was a simple one. What was the quote David use to read her from Sherlock Holmes? "When you've eliminated the obvious, whatever remains no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
She shivered, there were truths and then there was THE truth.
She turned and collided with David; his arms instinctively pulling her to him.
For a moment neither moved.
Damn, everything in her that was female instantly responded to him. Her arms grabbed his shoulders and her body molded itself to his. His eyes locked with hers and she watched them as they morphed from protector to predator.
A predator that had captured its prey.
Her heart began to break - that wasn't right – it ached and it was more than just her heart that ached her body ached for this man.
"Sarah-Jane?"
She held her breath.
"I'm fine, I was just thinking."
"Yeah, so was I."
She pulled away from him and headed towards the other agents.
"Sarah-Jane, I'm sorry."
Sarah-Jane stopped. She couldn't face him, not with the pain of the past twenty-two years in her heart. "Yeah, that makes it all better David."
He was standing behind her now, his voice a low husky growl that caused the tiny hairs on her neck to stand at attention.
"Damn it woman we need to talk about this."
Sarah-Jane didn't move.
"I'm coming over tonight."
She turned to face him with a barrage of excuses.
"No arguments, woman. I'll be there at six."
Sarah-Jane watched as he made his way back to his team.
What the hell was she going to do now?