A/N: Here is the next chapter. It actually took me less time to write this one than I thought it would. Like always send me a review to tell me what you think. Enjoy:)
Chapter 9- Victim Number Three
Down in the older suburban area of Quantico the two SUVs pulled up in front of a house roped off with fresh crime scene tape. With their badges and credentials already out and in their hands, Beth and Sam climbed out of the first SUV while Mick, Gina, and Prophet climbed out of the second. When they were all together the Red Cell team, after ducking under the yellow tape, swiftly made their way towards the house. Upon entering they were immediately met by the intense smell of fresh human blood. After only one whiff of the iron-like smell Beth started to feel queasy. Trying to limit the amount of contaminated air she breathed in Beth covered her mouth and nose with her hand. Knowing how the smell of blood made Mick feel Beth glanced over to her British friend and found him covering his mouth just like her. Seeing Mick reacting the same way Beth didn't feel that bag about her own reaction.
With Sam in front they all made their way deeper into the house. Following the sound of multiple voices the team made their way into yet another living room, just like the previous two murders. All around the room CSIs were already hard at work gathering evidence. Next to the body stood Quantico PD Chief of Police, Chief Dobson, and Quantico Detective Robertson. Having spotted these two men Sam and the rest of the guys made their way over to them. Coming to a stop Sam nodded his head to the other two men as he said,
"Chief Dobson, Detective Robertson, nice to see the two of you again."
After the two men nodded their heads in return greetings Sam looked down at the male victim's body and asked,
"Do we know who our victim is?"
Looking down at his little black book Detective Robertson replied,
"the man's name is Tommy Reines. He just moved into the house after being released from prison…"
Hearing that the man had been in prison Prophet looked to the detective as he asked,
"Do you know why he was in prison?"
The detective shook his head no sadly. Bending down to get a closer view of the body Sam said,
"That's ok, we can call Garcia and have her run Tommy Reines' name through the system."
Seeing what Sam was doing everyone became silent. Staring at the man identified as Tommy Reines Sam looked over every inch of his body. Along with the usual gunshot wound in the back of the head Reines also had a wound to his left arm. By the looks of it it appeared to be a grazing wound from a bullet. At that point Sam could already tell that Rawlins was tormenting them again. He wanted to make sure they would symbolize the victim with Prophet. Rising slowly to his feet Sam turned back to his feet, and with a sad look upon his face, said,
"This is definitely Rawlins' work- he grazed Reines' left arm just like he did Prophet's before he took Beth."
As if the mere mentioning of the incident caused his arm to hurt Prophet gently rubbed the area of his upper left arm where his scar lay. Taking his eyes off of Prophet Sam turned to Gina, Mick, and Beth and said,
"Ok, we're going to split up in order to search and evaluate everything in this house. Gina, I want you and Mick to go talk with some of the CSIs and even Detective Robertson and see what all they've found so far, and if you feel the need to, recheck the areas they've already worked, then do it."
After watching Gina and Mick nod their heads in understanding before leaving to get to work Sam then turned to Prophet and said,
"Prophet, since this victim was chosen to symbolize you, and because you have personal experience being in prison, I want you to try and find any type of records that can tell us where he was imprisoned, and why."
Finally, when Prophet had walked away to get to work, Sam turned back to Beth and said,
"And you Beth are going to work with me. We're going to remain here and continue to examine the body while also searching for any more messages from Rawlins."
Pleased with the idea of remaining with Sam, and the simple assignment he had assigned themselves, Beth nodded her head in agreement. Smiling at her response Sam, along with Beth, turned back around to look at the body of Tommy Reines. A chill ran up Beth's spine as she stared down at the victim. It was creepy how much Reines actually resembled Prophet; he even had Prophet's casual sense of style. Pushing the thought from her mind, Beth, with latex gloves on her hands, bent down beside Sam, and stared at Reines' head with a look of curiosity on her face. Seeing the expression Sam asked,
"What is it Beth? Have you noticed something?"
Keeping her eyes glued to Reines' head Beth shook her head slightly as she replied,
"I'm not sure, just something that I remember from Dallas. When Rawlins abducted me from the abandoned parking lot, he hit me over the back of my head with something hard to knock me out, and then when Prophet and I talked during the plane ride home he said that he had been struck in the back of the head as well. What I'm wondering is if this guy is supposed to symbolize Prophet, then was he subdued the same way we both were?"
Understanding Beth's reason for being curious Sam, while reaching toward Reines' head, replied,
"Wellm there's only one way to find out…"
Very slowly Sam turned Reines' head to the side so they could get a clear view of the back side of his head. And there on the back of his head, just like Beth speculated it would be, was a moderate sized knot protruding from the back of Reines' head. Upon seeing the knot Beth physically turned herself away from the victim's body. By adding the knot to the list of injuries made, the victim resembled Prophet even more in Beth's eyes, which disturbed her.
As she faced the wall now clear of all CSIs, fear froze Beth in her place as she read the message written on the visible wall, 'Hello Darlin', are you having fun?' A wave of nausea quickly washed over Beth, causing her to bend over with her hands on her legs as she tried to control the need to vomit. In a matter of seconds upon seeing Beth in her current position Sam was by her side. Overcome with worry at seeing her like this Sam asked,
"Beth, are you alright? Are you feeling nauseous? Just breath honey, everything will be ok."
Breathing deeply as Sam had instructed Beth kept her head down and remained silent as she raised her hand and simply pointed to the message on the wall. After quickly reading the message Sam wrapped his arm securely around Beth's waist, supporting most of her weight as he helped her straighten up. As slow as he could Sam started to maneuver Beth out of the living room and away from the taunting message. When they had reached the hallway that lead to the bedrooms, Sam, after determining that they had distanced themselves enough from the living room, brought both Beth and himself to a stop. Feeling Beth begin to shake Sam quickly leaned his back against the wall before he pulled Beth's shaking form into his embrace. They remained like this while Beth allowed the hormonal and fear-mixed tears fall, and Sam gently rubbed her back.
Finally, after all the tears had fallen, Beth heaved a sigh of relief, both because her tears had ended, and because her nausea had dissipated. As she took a deep calming breath Beth couldn't help but snuggle further into Sam's arms. Still rubbing Beth's back Sam asked,
"Are you feeling better now? Do you still feel nauseous?"
Not wanting to separate herself from Sam just yet Beth kept her head pressed against Sam's chest as she replied,
"Yes and no, yes I'm feeling better, and no, I don't feel nauseous anymore. I swear, when we finally find Rawlins I want him to pay for all the pain and anguish he's caused me. I want to hurt him somehow just so he knows how much pain he caused me…"
Listening to Beth's wishful thinking Sam couldn't help but smile and laugh softly as he said,
"You're not the only one Beth. I'm quite certain that the rest of the guys as well as me also want to severely hurt Rawlins for what he's done. Even though he is not mentally capable of doing it, Rawlins should feel afraid of when we find him."
Laughing at the mental image of Rawlins with a look of total fear on his face Beth pulled herself away from Sam slightly so she could look up at his face. Seeing the serious and determined looks in his eyes Beth knew that every word that he had said was true, which she already knew. Staring back down at Beth's calm face Sam asked,
"Do you think you can handle going back into the living room? I understand if you can't, I can always have Gina help me while you help Mick."
Seeing what he was trying to offer her Beth quickly shook her head no as she replied,
"No Sam, that's ok. I think I can handle returning to the living room."
With a nod of his head Sam turned, and with Beth's hand firmly within his own, lead the way back to the living room. Making sure not to look at the bloody message on the wall Beth instead returned her gaze to Tommy Reines' body. As she stared a thought occurred to Beth, turning to Sam she asked,
"Do we know if the CSIs found the bullet that grazed his arm? You don't think that Rawlins would have made the choice to take the bullet with him, do you?"
As he considered Beth's question Sam continued to stare down at the bloody gash on Reines' left arm. Unable to come up with an accurate vocal response Sam simply shrugged his shoulders as he replied,
"Both scenarios are possible; if the CSIs did collect the bullet then hopefully Mick and Gina found out about it. Now, as for the idea of Rawlins taking the bullet, I doubt that he did, he's never taken trophies from any of the other murder scenes. But if it comes down to it we can always have Garcia check the autopsy report to learn what caliber bullet was used."
Just as Beth nodded her head in agreement they were joined by Prophet, who stopped a few feet from Tommy Reines' body. This, along with Prophet's body language, said that he didn't like the idea of having someone symbolize him. Turning to look at his friend Sam asked,
"What were you able to learn Prophet, anything that may be helpful to us?"
Prophet shrugged his shoulders as he replied,
"After looking through some of Reines' old mail I was able to find out where he spent his prison sentence- the Goochland Men's Prison. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything about why he was in prison. I guess that'll be a job for Garcia."
As Sam nodded his head Beth asked,
"Have you seen anything of Mick and Gina, and whether they've found anything from the CSIs?"
Before Prophet had a chance to reply, Mick and Gina, as if knowing that someone had asked about them, walked into the room. As they came to stand beside Beth Sam wasted little time in asking,
"What were you guys able to learn from the CSIs?"
Casually stuffing his hands inside his jacket pockets Mick replied,
"Well according to one of the Medic technicians Tommy Reines has been dead for just a little over seven hours. It was apparently Reines' neighbor, an Emily Hayes who found him after he missed their morning job together. Detective Robertson gave us her contact information in case we wanted to ask her some questions ourselves. Also according to the CSIs Tommy Reines was shot and killed by a 9mm bullet, probably from the same gun that was used to kill the Morton couple, and the Willows couple. And of course Detective Robertson said that if there was anything else about their findings we wanted to know to call him and he'd help us in any way."
With a curt nod of his head Sam asked,
"Do you know if the CSIs found the bullet that grazed Reines' arm?"
This time Gina nodded her head as she replied,
"Yeah they did. They said at first they couldn't find it but then when they took a closer look at the vile message on the wall that they found a bullet hole within one of the letters. They extracted the bullet and found that it was a 9mm. They also said that they would send Garcia the ballistic results once they were complete."
At that moment just as Gina finished speaking, Sam's phone started ringing from within his pocket. As he retrieved the phone from his pocket Sam couldn't help but smile as he looked at the caller ID and said,
"Speaking of the heavenly she-devil…" Sam opened the phone, putting on speaker in the process, "Hey Garcia you have all of us on speaker, so what have you got for us?"
On the other end of the line they heard Garcia's cheery voice as she replied,
"Hello to my criminal catching friends, now before I answer Sam's question I want to mention that Sarah here says hi. She was going to say it herself but she suddenly became extremely shy…"
Smiles spread across everyone's faces as they simultaneously replied,
"Hi Sarah"
After waiting for everyone to say their hellos Garcia continued,
"Alright, now back to the interconnected cases at hand…I looked at the emailed results of Beth's rape kit, and the bad news is that Rawlins was smart and used a condom, which is also good in a way, but it means that he didn't leave any semen. Now the good news is that when Beth slapped and hit the bastard, she obtained some of Rawlins' skin under her fingernails…Now you all are probably wondering why this is significant, so I will tell you. After looking over the rape kit results I reexamined the crime scene photos, specifically the photo of the bloody message. In hopes of finally finding a connection I contacted the Quantico crime lab, and after sending them a copy of the same photo, asked them to scan it for any possible finger prints. They emailed me back just a few minutes ago, and they were able to find a finger print at the end of the last letter, they ran it and matched it to Rawlins. Apparently he didn't think to wear gloves when creating his masterpiece."
After a moment of silence to allow Garcia's words to sink in Sam said,
"Thanks for letting us know Garcia. We actually have some stuff for you to look up for us…"
In an eagerly serious voice Garcia replied,
"Fire when ready…"
Glancing to Sam and receiving an approving nod Prophet said,
"Our victim's name is Tommy Reines, he was recently released from the Goochland Men's Prison. What we don't know is why he was in prison, which is where you come in, P."
The sound of fast clicking keys could be heard over the phone as Garcia replied,
"Just give me a second…Tommy Reines, he was sentenced to four years in prison for beating a man to death in a bar fight. He apparently pleaded guilty at his trial to get that sentence. Was there anything else you needed my magnificent skills for?"
Shaking his head no to no one in particular Sam replied,
"No P that was all. We'll see you and Sarah soon. Bye."
Ending the call Sam returned his phone to his pocket. Looking around at the rest of his team Sam could tell that they all were thinking the same thing; Rawlins had really taken his time in finding someone to symbolize Prophet. With everything that had happened this was starting to turn into a sick game and Sam knew that he wasn't the only one who wanted to bring it to an end. One by one Beth, Prophet, Gina, and Mick ended their train of thoughts to look to Sam to learn what was next. Seeing that he finally had everyone's attention Sam said,
"Alright, there isn't much else we can learn from this crime scene, let's head back to the apartment. Once we're there then we can go over everything we know, and have just learned, and hopefully figure out Rawlins' next move before he tries to make it."
Without needing further persuasion Beth, Prophet, Gina, and Mick all nodded their heads in agreement. With Beth and Sam in the lead the Red Cell team quickly exited the crime scene of a house without a single glance back.