Chapter 7
Danny sighed as he pushed through the door leading into headquarters. He felt like he was spinning his tires. They had little to go on, and that worried him. Kono and Agent Jareau were already back and were helping Agent Reid get what they did know set out on the 3 large glass dry erase boards that he had lined up along the far wall.
"You could have just used the walls, Spence," J.J. said, pointing to the walls behind them.
"This is more efficient because we can move these out of the way," he said with a shrug.
"What do you have up there, Pretty Boy?" Morgan called as he, Chin and Blake returned from the park.
"I had Garcia run places where Maggie and Steve's lives cross. The team," he said, motioning around him, "was easy. She worked here. But finding places where they cross other then that, is harder. We also started looking for other cases with the same M.O. So far we've found two. One in New York from four years ago. And another from about 15 years ago. So far its been the easiest to find the case file for. It happened here. Garcia's trying to find out if there are any other cases."
"Are there any connections between either case?" Danny asked as he walked over to where everyone was standing.
"Both cases had a male and female victim. Non-related. In both cases at least one of the victims were in the military," JJ said as she tacked another picture up to the glass board.
Garcia chose that moment to storm in from where she had been making phone calls. "I swear to all that is good in this world, if I get the run around from another person I'm going to…" she grumbled. She walked over to where her trolls were sitting and grabbed her stress ball. Her heels clicked on the floor as she stalked back into Steve's currently unused office.
"If anyone can find the cases it'll be Garcia," Blake answered confidently.
"Wouldn't want to end up on her bad side," Chin chuckled.
"Me either. Now, how well known are you guys on the island? Is there a possibility that he was target because of the unit, and not because he was military?"
"We are pretty well known. Steve can be very, unsubtle when he's ruffling feathers. We're also a major crimes unit. So anything that's going to make national news, you can bet we're involved somewhere." Danny shrugged. "He tends to go after people hard and without a lot of fore planning. The former Governor created this unit to operate outside of the police force, and because of that, we have a good bit more flexibility in how we can operate."
"I have a feeling that there are more cases out there. I just don't know how many," Reid interjected.
"What makes you say that?" Kono's voice drifted in. Her hands loaded down with coffee.
"They are brazen. They took not only a police officer, they took someone from a specialized unit and with the high notoriety of your team, they feel like things have been 'too easy'. The fact that they stalked Steve. They took not his badge but his dog tags. They want attention and they want us to chase them." Reid shook his head. "Military is a part of this. Why else would they take his dog tags? I mean there are many other trophies that they could have taken. Why take those if there isn't a tie there?"
Rossi nodded. "They took the time to find them. Lieutenant Rollins said that he kept them in his bed side table. Not out in the open. She said that he kept his badge and gun on the other side, so it wasn't like they found them when they were looking for his gun. So they took the time to find them. It was intentional. Do we know if Maggie had or has any connection to the military?"
Chin shrugged. "She's done some photography work for the Navy. Mostly just taking pictures of ceremonies and the like."
Morgan took a swig from one of the many cups of java sitting around the office. "Any of her family serve? Like her Dad; someone that would have had her on bases as a kid?"
"Actually her Dad worked Interpol along with her uncle, her Mom was FBI and as far as I know, the only people who served in the military were both her Grandfathers. Actually she was talking about that a few weeks ago. She has one of each of their tags. Her Mother's father, was a code talker during WWII and her Father's father was the only survivor of his unit when they were penned down in an old church. They actually met during the war, and spent the last 3 or so months they were in Germany together."
"So they knew each other before? What started that conversation?"
Danny blinked for a long moment before he answered. "Steve saw her wearing their dog tags… He asked her about them… If they were stalking both of them, do you think it's possible that they overheard Maggie tell us that? We were at the shrimp truck in the open."
"Very likely. That could have been what made her a more desirable target over Kono or Lieutenant Rollins," Hotchner answered. "At this point it's as likely as anything else."
—-
The team worked through lunch, Kamekona bringing over enough food from the truck to feed the small army that they had become. The boards were covered in notes and dry erase marker. The room was filled with the silence that stills over any group of people when they eat, only to be broken by computer chirps. Danny was the first one to the table and hit the answer button on the messenger program that they used.
"You got something, Charlie?"
"Two voices from the audio. I can't get the other voice cleaned up enough to know what it's saying. But there are two of them. Both male."
"Well, that tells us that they are a team. The Dominant personality didn't just find someone to use while taking out Steve."
"They didn't use a voice changer. And wherever they are, there is a lot of echo. That's why I can't isolate what they other voice is saying, there is just too much sound play in the audio track to pick up any words. Sorry I don't have more."
"Do you think it would be possible to send just the audio files?" Blake questioned. "I'm a linguist so I might be able to pick up something. It's worth trying anyway."
"Already done. I'll keep going over to see if I can clean it up anymore."
"Thanks Charlie," Danny said as he closed the chat window.
—
Danny walked out of his office hours later. Everyone was tired. Blake had headphones in, still pouring over the audio files. Everyone else were taking turns calling different people trying to track down case files on the still growing list Garcia had been compiling. He mentioned for Chin after a moment of watching everyone work.
"You heard from Cath yet?" he asked, covering a yawn. He was thankful that one of Gracie's school friends were able to let her stay with them while he was tied up at work. He had already made sure it was okay that she stay there. With Rachel and Stan on the mainland, he didn't really have much of a choice.
"Yeah, she just called," Chin replied. "She said she would be by in a few minutes to get the keys to my SUV and stuff for Maggie's. I'm going to ride over with her and then come back here. You should get home to Grace. And we should all get some sleep."
"I don't like the idea of going home when they are out there somewhere," Kono sighed.
Chin's phone chirped. "That was Cath. I'm going to help with the dogs." He pulled his keys out of his pocket as he headed towards the elevator.
"Does she have any idea what she's in for with those three fuzz balls?" Garcia walked over. A leftover lunch carton in her hands.
"Nope," Kono laughed.
"What's the deal with these dogs. What are they?" Morgan asked as he yawned himself.
"She has two Irish Wolfhounds, Dent and Isley. And then she has Goliath, who is a wedontknowasarus."
"A what?"
"A wedontknowasaurs. He's a mutt. A giant fuzzy mutt. We know there's Tibetan mastiff in there, but we have no idea on the rest," Danny said as he covered another yawn. "Dent can't be left alone, or he eats things. A door and a couch were the most recent victims. Generally when she has to be out of town for a shoot or something Steve takes them. Or we split them up between the three of us. They don't really like that, but if we're working a big case we don't always have a choice."
"Hey guys," Blake called out from the conference table. "I think I might have something." She took a moment to cue up the part of the file she wanted to them to hear. "The video that they used, they didn't even try to take all of the audio out. What they actually did, was turn the audio down, not remove it. So the voice over just covers the lack of noise."
"Okay. So what's that tell us other then they don't have much in the way of editing skills?" Danny prompted.
"I was finally able to pick out something from the voice that's under the voice over. So we hear Steve growl and Maggie whimper, but not anything after that because the voice over starts. The voice over, almost sounds business like. Non emotive and controlled which is a stark contrast to the other voice. The second voice is biting, and uses a very abrasive tone. About mid way through the video, he refers to Steve using his rank, not his name. When the unsub says it, instead of being in respectful tone that most of us would use, it's more like a poorly veiled insult," Blake finished.
"That just leads more to the fact that they targeted Steve because he's former military. But still doesn't get us any closer as to why they would pick Maggie. If that's how they pick their targets, then it would make more sense for them to have taken anyone else but her." Danny rubbed his eyes. He hated that they had so little to go on.
