Author's Note:

It's Round Table Time! Time to test my skills in creating parts of a CM episode! I confess I don't have as firm a grasp on the Brit Mick Rawson character from CM: Suspect Behavior. I'll try to have the next chapter up before Friday, but no promises as THE DARK KNIGHT RISES! (Sorry I am a huge comic geek.)

Chapter 7:

All the members of the BAU team were bleary-eyed when they arrived in the conference room at Quantico. Morgan and J.J. were standing next the monitor as the team took seats and cups of coffee were distributed.

"Sorry to call you in so early," Morgan said. "But the Las Vegas PD feels this case requires our immediate attention." He turned and nodded at J.J.

J.J. pulled out the remote and turned on the monitor. "On Saturday twenty-one year-old Delia Odessa was found with her throat slit in an alley in a suburb of Las Vegas. She was a junior at Octavian University, and was on her way to attend an extra credit lecture at an art Gallery on Friday." Her Octavian University ID photo appeared. "Today another Octavian University student named Tina Billson was found with her throat slit in the driveway of a vacant house forty feet away from her off-campus sorority house. They believe it happened sometime before midnight on Monday" Her Octavian University ID photo appeared. The ID photos were then put side-by-side.

The team stared at the screen curiously. Mick looked at the photos intently. "Both girls are found in different sections of the city. Of different ages and race, so aside from school, what is the connection?"

J.J. clicked the remote again. "This," she said and their crime scene photos appeared. And a few gasped. "Well this is a first," Rossi remarked.

The girl's hair had been cut and styled. Delia Odessa's hair had been cut down to a pixie-cut, and pieces of her had been scattered around her body and the ground in the form of a heart. Tina Billson's long dark frizzy hair had been flat-ironed and trimmed into a flip. Pieces of her hair had been scattered in a similar shape.

"Pieces of what the police believe to be Delia's hair was found on Tina's body," J.J. said. "The police reports are loaded on your tablets," she said as the team flipped open their tablets.

Erica flipped through the crime scene photos. "Were there any signs of sexual assault found?"

"No," J.J. said.

"That suggests the UnSub may be impotent," Erica said. "A woman considers her hair part of her identity. If their hair was being cut while the women were dying, it might have been excruciating."

Morgan nodded his head. "That definitely something to ask the coroner about," he said and then approached the table.

"The other thing these women have in common was the fact that they were both criminology majors at the school." Morgan sounded dead-serious. "Guys there are five thousand students on that campus. This Un-Sub is targeting women of different races, residences, and killing them in different locations. So it is more than likely he works or lives at the school."

Morgan turned and took the remote and changed the pictures back to the ID photos of the girls. "We are going need to look into every detail of their lives. This Un-Sub chose these girls in particular for a reason. We are also going to need to do everything we can about what goes on at this campus. And we only have three days based on the current pattern."

J.J. spoke next. "The school is giving us complete access to their facilities and more than willing to comply with any of our requests. However," she said, slightly rolling her eyes. "They want their name kept out of the press. Some sort of porn movie was made on-campus last year and they're trying to rebuild their reputation."

"Even it means covering up a murder?" Rossi said.

"But so far none of the murders have occurred on campus," Morgan responded. "Our best option is to stay on good terms with the administration and spread the word for students to be hyper-vigilant."

Morgan opened the door. "Wheels up in twenty."

"Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in."

~ Sydney Harris

"Well it's been a long time since I lived on a college campus," Rossi remarked from his seat on the plane.

J.J. laughed. "Not exactly Rossi, we're living at the president's mansion while he's on sabbatical."

"Now that sounds much better," Rossi responded.

Erica looked at Mick sitting across from her. "You know you're going to be our go-to man on campus," she said flirtatiously.

Mick didn't look up from his table. "It seems the accent is more of a turn on than the looks," he said.

"I wouldn't go that far," Elle said twisting a lock of her red hair that she kept out of her bun. "I think it's a perfect combination of both."

J.J. laughed. "Hey Erica, in addition maybe you should get back in tune with your inner-Goth."

Erica rolled her eyes. "All that black was frying my hair even more. I'm just giving our British mascot a taste of what to expect at the school. Don't you think he looks like the guy who won all those medals- in the London Olympics-?"

"That's enough!" Morgan shouted from the seat across the room. He stood up and glared at them. "This is not something to kid around about. The plane lands in thirty minutes, and I expect everyone to be ready to work."

The plane went silent and Morgan took a seat as far away from the group as possible. Rossi slowly walked to his side.

"Something else on your mind Derek?" he asked quietly.

Morgan didn't answer immediately. He looked out the window. "Rossi, do you ever feel as though something is going to go wrong before we even land?"

"All the time," he said to Morgan's surprise.

"Right now all we have are what the police have given us Derek. It is so much easier to see what could go wrong based on the information we know hasn't been collected properly. That is why we do this Derek. It is our job to find the right information to apprehend the Un-Sub."

Morgan turned and stared across the cabin. "Thanks for the reminder Rossi," he said. "But you know that is not what I'm talking about."

Rossi sighed. "I know."

They arrived at noon and were working out of the large conference room at the Octavian University police office. J.J. spent much of the time in the school's public relations office. Rossi and Morgan visited the crime scenes and Erica met with the coroner. Mick looked at maps of the school and the surrounding neighborhoods before going on campus to speak with students who knew the victims. He was later joined by Erica and gave talks on the importance of hyper-vigilance at the largest dorms.

J.J. brought takeout from Chipotle when they converged at the police station around six o'clock. No one was particularly pleased with their findings.

There wasn't any evidence that the girls knew each other and their schedules didn't over-lap. Delia Odessa didn't seem to have any friends and a few people said they saw her at the library regularly. Though there was a sealed police report attached to her name, they wouldn't be getting any information out it for another twenty-four hours. Tina Billson was out-going, well-liked and involved in several clubs. She also came from a wealthy family. They couldn't find a single connection.

Morgan and Rossi even found the ways the Un-Sub chose the victims were different. Morgan determined that Tina was most likely observed from one of the neighboring houses regularly and was a victim of opportunity. Rossi believed that Delia was stalked by the Un-Sub as her trip across town was a departure from her regular routine.

Erica couldn't find any conclusive evidence as to whether the girls were alive when their hair was being cut. The coroner was able to provide a handful of suggestions as to the kind of knife used to murder them. Trace evidence of the kind of styling products used was being processed by the crime lab and they wouldn't know the results for another few hours.

Mick and Erica did find something of interest when they were making their last rounds on campus. It seemed that there was some sort of unofficial club on campus called the Dead Profilers Club meeting tonight.

"Dead Profilers Club?" J.J. asked as she picked at her salad. "Why didn't I hear anything about this when I was speaking with the dean?"

Mick took a large bite out of his burrito before answering. "I believe that might have something to with do why it is called a club. A reference to the famous movie quote 'first rule of fight club'."

Erica nibbled at an edge of her taco. "I think the 'the dead profilers' part suggests that they may be learning more during the meeting than what is taught in class."

"And there is no love for the department," Mick added. "The students hate the teachers who stayed on after the scandal robbed the school of its best professors and their replacements are 'unqualified hacks' as one way a student put it."

J.J. was mildly intrigued. "How is a club like this kept secret anyway? With all the social networking sites and the size of this school, I would have expected to have heard about it by now."

Mick stopped eating and rubbed his hands together. "Oh this is the good part. The group meets to seek help from this mysterious tutor. They believe he works at the library but he refuses to help a group larger than fifteen. He has been known to walk out of the room if he sees more than that number and they say he has helped students improve their grades by as much as twenty percent."

"In other words," Erica said. "If they want this guy to stick around to be their all-knowing god or something, they have to keep his identity quiet. Other students in the department hope to grab a spot once the seniors leave or if a few transfer out at the end of the semester."

Rossi had given up on eating his taco bowl and looked mildly annoyed. "So where do we find this 'secret meeting' and when does it start?"

"Third floor, in the section labeled QL for scientific studies, at eight o'clock," Erica replied.

Morgan had already finished his meal and had remained quiet. "Two of us should go to that meeting. These kids might know more based on their commitment to investigative studies."

J.J. ate the last bits of lettuce out of her plate and began to clean up. "Well I nominate Rossi," she said.

Rossi didn't look thrilled about the idea. "Why me? I can't exactly relate to these kids. I can't-"

"Rossi at least three of your books are listed as required reading," J.J. said. "They would be more than thrilled to meet the famous profiler on their book jackets. And if I recall correctly at your last signing, there was a large crowd of young women-"

"Alright, alright," Rossi said. "I'll go meet my adoring fans. So who else would like to join me?"

The room was quiet. "I think it should be you Derek," Erica said.

Morgan looked stunned. "Why? I don't exactly present the most assuring figure-"

"Morgan you're the only other person who hasn't been seen around campus," J.J. piped in. "You're also in charge of the investigation. These students, who are serious about their studies as you pointed out, would feel honored to receive your attention."

Morgan looked around at all of them with their heads nodding with approval. "So I take it the decision is unanimous?"

"You still have the power of veto boss," Rossi said lightly.

Morgan groaned. "I'll go."

"The first thing I'm going to do when we're done is talk to campus security about having all the upper floors closed off after 7:00," Morgan said as they climbed the stairs. "There are too many places for someone to hide and take their targets by surprise."

Rossi was huffing a little. "After that, I'm going to suggest having the elevators fixed go to the top of the maintenance priority list. I can't imagine all of these kids wanting to climb this high just to find a book on quantum physics."

Morgan couldn't help but smile. "Well it is one way to encourage physical fitness."

Rossi offered no response as they finally reached the third floor.

The room had an eerie feel to it as they entered. There were endless rows of empty metal shelves that almost resembled narrow cages. Judging from the sound, they determined the meeting area must be in back of the room.

As they moved closer they could hear the sound of voices bouncing off the metal shelves. The sound became more isolated to one particular voice. Morgan felt shivers going down his back. He looked to Rossi and he had a similar reaction. They could hear what sounded like criminology terms. The voice wasn't so much as scary it was unnerving.

They finally reached the end of the shelves and found where the students were sitting at parallel rectangular tables facing a board covered in maps. A thin young man with slightly long brown hair wearing a white dress shirt and black dress pants was circling locations on a map of what looked like Los Angeles.

"Remember the dump site of the body reveals lot about the level of sophistication of the Un-Sub. If it is-"he suddenly stopped talking and looked across the room. He looked directly at Morgan.

The way this man stared at him froze Morgan on the spot. The man seemed equally stunned. Yet there was also something piercing about the man's gaze. Something that bordered on a level of-

"I don't believe it Spence," one of the students suddenly shouted. "You predicted right down to the minute as to when the agents would arrive and even which ones."