"The unsub's having a psychotic break. He's in love with these girls, and he deludes himself into believing that she is in love too. He thinks the sex is consensual. But then he regains his senses and realizes how much he hurt these teenage girls and puts them out of their misery, as we've been saying..." Reid said.
"But then, why stab them?" Rossi asked.
Reid was really wired, talking a mile a minute. "Because he regrets it the minute it's done. He's angry he raped and hurt them, and then he feels like he has no other choice but to kill them. Then he's angry that they're dead and lashes out. There's no way he can stop because the only time he can ever see this clearly is the moment after he hurt them."
Rossi rubbed his beard and thought about this. "It makes sense. It's still just a theory, but I'd venture a guess that it makes just as much sense as the death penalty theory. And at the very least, it gives us a more workable profile."
Reid picked up his phone and dialed. "Hotch? Are you getting anything out of Charles?"
"Nothing. I don't get the feeling he's our unsub. He seems genuinely concerned about the murders and willing to help. I don't get a feeling like he'd be capable of murder. We should be seeing the pent up anger if he's our guy."
"Not necessarily. Although he doesn't fit the new theory at all in any other way, the new theory suggests someone that would feel remorse for what he did."
"Are you sure?" Hotch asked. "Dumping them on highways and stabbing their corpses doesn't shout remorse to me."
Reid explained the theory to the full extent to Hotch. "You might be on to something, Reid. We'll regroup in an hour and work on a new profile."
"He's a white man aged thirty to forty-five," Morgan said, addressing the Cleveland Police. "He's someone you would notice. If you had seen him, you would remember him."
Reid continued, feeling barely brave enough to address the police department with a severely bruised face. He thanked the fact that his line of work would make them fill in the blanks for themselves in a benign fashion. "He will be unemployed. We believe that his psychological condition wouldn't enable him to work. He would have quit or been fired between a month and six months ago. His employer would likely give you a full list of complaints about how poorly his job was done, and about his personality and mental health."
Hotch picked it up from there. "His job wouldn't have been anything prestigious. Think an office job, or anything menial that doesn't involve working around people that much. And because the victims have all been teenage girls, pay attention to anyone working in or around school with these types of jobs."
"Thank you all for your time. If you have any questions, feel free to talk to me or Agents Hotch or Reid," Morgan said.
Prentiss and Rossi went to the last victim's school to see if the new profile struck any chords. Hotch and JJ took the second victim's school, and surprisingly Morgan and Reid got assigned to the first victim's school together.
"What do you think the chances are that this will turn up anything?" Reid asked Morgan as he drove to the school.
"You never know. The first victim could be the one he was originally in love with, the one that set things in motion. If that's the case, maybe someone knows something," Morgan said, trying to remain optimistic.
Spencer wanted to ask, what do you think the chances are we'll get out of this okay? But he kept his mouth shut. Besides, things were going better. He didn't feel like killing himself every time a team member looked at him anymore. It was starting to seem like they might let up. And if he and Morgan could just get themselves together, just maybe they stood a chance. The longer since it happened, the less significant it was starting to feel. Like everyone was just making a big deal about nothing.
As if reading his mind, Morgan said, "I think we'll be okay, Spencer. If we work at it."
"Yeah..." Spencer smiled at him, and in no time they had ended up at the school.
They went to the principal's office. "Mr. Taylor? I'm Agent Morgan and this is Dr. Reid. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
"Sure," he said, shaking their hands. To Reid, he said, "Jeez, you're face looks terrible. What did you get in a fist-fight with Agent Morgan?"
"Something like that," Spencer said, with the intent of being ironic. "Why don't we step into your office?"
They went into his office, and Mr. Taylor sat behind his desk while Morgan and Reid took seats on the other side. It was oddly like being in school again. Morgan didn't want to remember high school and shut this thought down. "I trust someone told you why we were here?"
"Yes, Katie Simmons death. It's so unfortunate. Anything I can to do to help, I will," Mr. Taylor had said. Morgan was starting to think maybe he wasn't as much of an ass as he first sounded.
"We're going to describe a profile, and we're going to ask you if you've know anyone that fits it," Reid said. "He would be a white male between the ages of thirty and forty-five. He might have been employed here, or somewhere nearby. Maybe another school. But he wouldn't have had a job that involved working with a lot of people."
Taylor's face fell a little. Morgan continued. "He would be unemployed. Lost his job sometime before Katie's disappearance and most likely less than six months ago." Morgan noticed the man's knuckles were bone-white from clenching his fists. "Is this ringing any bells?"
"Yes. That's Mark George. He used to work here..."
A/N: I was a good girl and updated fairly soon! Aren't you proud of me? The next update will be just as prompt. But I have to warn you… the next one might be the end! I say maybe because I am having such a hard time deciding how to end this. Like, lying awake in bed at night in a cold sweat just panicking about it. Seriously. I keep waiting for some sort of epiphany on which way to go. So far I've been leaning towards the next chapter being the last. God, that's depressing. I'll miss ranting in these author's note. *sniffles* I love you guys. All of you.
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