A/N: HELLO! My little snowflakes. We finally get to see it… Riley as a 26 year old. And we get to see her in her job. And what's with the ring? I'm slightly evil ;). By the way… I'm kind of basing Riley's job at the FBI off of the show Criminal Minds so if the characters start to sound a bit familiar, that's where I'm coming from. Anyway enjoy and review
Still Riley's P.O.V.
My partner and I sit in our seats as one of our teammates starts to debrief us on the case.
"Ok so. Get ready for Texas. This is Jessica Ryans. Two nights ago she went missing from her car near Austin. Two weeks ago Kristin Withers went missing from the other side of Austin and her body turned up in a dumpster in the city. She was raped and stabbed several times as well as strangled." Melissa Jones explains as pictures of Kristin appear on the screen.
"Well he could be impatant that could count for the stabbing and the strangulation." My partner, David, says.
"But what about the rape? That isn't the sign of an impatant person. This guy is angry but this is overkill." I say back.
"Overkill means rage, and rage means personal connection. So there is a very good chance that he knows his victims." Our human computer, Steven, says.
"How long was the time between her abduction and her body being found?" I ask Melissa.
"About a week." She looks at the file in front of her.
"He's escalating." Steven says
"Well, let's get to Texas." We all get up from the table and go get our go bags ready. I'm not looking forward to going to Texas, for very obvious reasons, but a job is a job. I can't let my feelings about something like this get in the way of my job.
"You ready to go." David asks me from the door of my office.
"Yep." I grab my bag and we both head to the elevator. Once we get to the parking level we both head for a black SUV. "I'm driving…" I say as I grab the keys from him. I run to the car and jump into the driver's seat. He sends me a joking glare as he gets into the passenger seat. After 20 minutes of driving to the airstrip, we get on the plane and take off.
"When were you planning on telling us?" David asks as I read my book.
"Telling us what?" Melissa asks.
"Look at her finger." David says as he lifts my left hand to show everyone.
"Dylan proposed?" Steven asks, with excitement in his voice. Everyone is now staring at the ring on my finger
"Like a week ago." I say as I take my hand back.
"How's he doing by the way?" Katie Miller asks me.
"He's good. He can't stop talking about how much he loves his new job with NASA. It's all he'll talk about, but I don't mind because I was the same way with this job." I explain as I continue to read my book.
"He's at NASA now?" Steven asks.
"Yeah. He's in a new section of NASA but he can't say that much about it." I say. Then the Captain comes on and says that we are descending.
"Riley, you and David go to the morgue. Steven and Katie go to Jessica's house. Melissa and I will get set up at the police station." Alex Justice says. We all nod and wait to land. David and I get into a black SUV and head to the morgue. Upon arriving at the morgue, we are greeted by smoldering heat. It is pure relief to enter the air conditioned morgue.
"Hello." The doctor greets us when she sees us enter.
"I'm agent David Hense and this is agent Riley Matthews. We're with the FBI." David and I show her our badges and she nods and takes us to the body of Kristin.
"He held her for about a week. The marks on her wrists and ankles were made by nylon rope." The doctor says as she shows us the marks on her wrists.
"What about stomach content?" I ask as I read the file.
"She was starved. Both her stomach and intestines were completely empty." The doctor states. "She also had high levels of, say this ten times fast, Ethylenediaminetetraacetic." The doctor says in a slight joking matter.
"EDTA is chemical that is used to remove excess iron from the body. But it's also easy to get high on." I say as I look at the body. Strangely, she looks like me.
"Thank you." David says and the doctor walks away. "You ok, Riles." He asks me.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Suddenly my phone rings. It's Alex.
"Riley, you and David go to the last known location of Jessica." Alex says.
"Got it. Where is it?" I ask as David and I walk out of the morgue, toward our car.
"It's a bar called 'The Wolf and Rose'." Alex says from the other side phone.
"Got it. Thanks Alex." I say as I hang up. "Alex wants us to go to the last place Jessica was seen." I say as I buckle my seatbelt.
"And that is?" David asks as he starts the car. Yes, I let him drive sometimes.
"A bar called 'The Wolf and Rose'. It's on the other side of town." I say. We drive for a few minutes is complete silence. "What's been up with you?" David asks me, breaking the silence.
"With me?" I ask as I look at him.
"I've been watching you for the past few days and you seem out of it." David says.
"It's nothing. Just some trouble with my parents and their making me a bit worried." I respond. "But I'm ok…" I send him a reassuring smile. "... profile me again and you won't be." I add in a joking voice. We both laugh as we reach the bar. It was surprisingly crowded for it being noon. We enter the bar and the smell of alcohol hits me like a brick wall.
"Ok I'll go interview the bartender and you ask the citizens." David says.
"Nice try, desperado." I say as I walk over to the bar.
"What can I get ya?" The woman says with a thick southern drawl.
"My name is Riley Matthews, I'm with the FBI." I say as I show her my badge.
"FBI? What'ch ya'll doing here?" She asks as she leans against the bar.
"We are looking into the disappearance and murder of two women. Does she look familiar to you?" I show her a picture of Kristin.
"Old Krissy. Yeah, she comes 'round all the time." She says as she looks at the picture.
"What do you mean by 'all the time'?" I ask her.
"Almost everyday. I'm Lauren. Krissy and I grew up together. She comes in when she's upset bout somethin' and that was quite often." She says.
"What would upset her?" I ask.
"The fact that she knew her husband was having multiple affairs, but she couldn't leave him." She says looking down. She looks like she's about to cry.
"What couldn't she leave him?" I question her. She doesn't answer but her body rakes with silent sobs. "If you don't want to talk about it here, would you be willing to come down to the police station and finish there." She looks at me with tears running down her face. She silently nods and walks around to the outside part of the bar. Once we got outside, David was waiting for us by the car. "Did you even ask anyone about anything?" I ask him.
"No. Those people in there are in pretty rough shape." David says. I roll my eyes.
"Can you take Lauren down to the station? I'll stay here and ask some of the locals if they know anything about Jessica or Kristin." I say. David gives me a questioning look but nods his head and leads Lauren to the car. I watch them drive away, then I re-enter the bar. I ask around to see what people know, and let me tell you it ain't much. I am just about to walk out of the bar when I see someone sitting in a booth by the door. They don't notice me until I sit down across from them.
"It's been a while…" He says. The voice sounds familiar but I can't place my finger on it.
"Do I know you?" I ask. The person lifts his head and removes his hat. "You've got to be kidding me."