Wow! Over 200 reviews! That's really exciting for me and I'm very grateful to those of you that continue to read and review! Perhaps some of the other lurkers out there would consider leaving a review… :) Anyways, this chapter is pretty case-heavy – just a heads up.
"Will you have dinner with me the first free night after we get back home?" They had just left the Nichols' house when Aaron dropped that question on Emily unexpectedly.
She grinned at him and nodded her agreement. "Okay. What brought that on?"
He glanced over at her, one side of his mouth quirked up in a dimpled smile. "I just want to do this right." He reached over and squeezed her fingers briefly before returning his attention back to the road.
When they reached the medical examiner Dr. Miller's office, they were briefed on her findings concerning the first girl's body. The cause of death had been suffocation, and there had been no signs of physical or sexual abuse, except for the fact that there had been a long burn across the girl's left forearm that had started to heal and there were ligature marks on her wrists and ankles from being tied up. In addition, the girl's long brown hair had been cut into a short bob and glasses had been placed on her face even though she didn't normally wear glasses. Furthermore, the girl had been found in clothes different from the ones she was wearing when she went missing. The M.E. estimated that the girl had been dead a little less than 24 hours when her body was found.
Hotch and Emily took notes of the M.E.'s findings and then headed back to the police station to meet up with the team. But they'd barely made it a mile down the road when Morgan called Hotch's cellphone, which he put on speakerphone so Emily could hear as well.
"Morgan. Prentiss and I are headed to the station right now. What've you found?"
"We just got word that the second girl's body has just been found in a dumpster behind a restaurant on the outskirts of town. Rossi and I are headed there now. I'll text you the address so you can meet us there."
"We'll be there in ten."
Hotch ended the call and then dialed JJ's phone.
"Hey JJ. …. You've heard about the second girl being found? … Okay, I want you to prepare a press release as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the press will be having a field day with this. Tell Reid to stay at the station and add this new location into his geographical profile, alright?"
Once he ended the call with JJ, it took them only a few minutes to arrive and a few minutes more to make it through the throng of reporters, bystanders, and police officers. Morgan was already interviewing the witness – a busboy at the restaurant – who had found the body, and Rossi was standing by the dumpster, guarding the body until the M.E. arrived.
Emily walked over to him and glanced in, immediately regretting her decision and looking away. How could someone just toss a child in a dumpster like that? As if she were no better than the trash surrounding her? She decided to go help Morgan interview witnesses, rather than stick around waiting for the M.E.
Once Dr. Miller had arrived and they had removed the body from the dumpster, it didn't take long to find the similarities between the body of the first girl and this one. The second girl's hair had also been cut short, she was wearing glasses, and she had the same burn mark as the first girl on the same forearm. There were ligature marks around her wrists and ankles. The main difference was that the first girl had been missing for three weeks before she was found dead and this second girl had only been missing for two. They would have to wait on the M.E.'s report to know the official cause of death, as well as how long ago she died.
The team headed back to the police station to put together a profile that could be released to the local police force, as well as the media.
"Okay, what do we know?" Hotch gathered the group's attention, hoping for valuable insight from the other team members.
Emily was the first to speak up. "Well, the girls' hair has been cut short and they're wearing glasses they don't need. So we're probably looking for an unsub who's trying to replace someone he or she lost with these girls. As for the burn mark – that could be something the unsub is trying to replicate or it might be some kind of torture used to control them."
"So when the unsub decides the girl doesn't fit into who she's supposed to be replacing, she's killed, her body is dumped like trash on the side of the road or in a dumpster, and another girl is taken." Rossi surmised.
"But how does the unsub take these girls in broad daylight in public without anyone noticing?" JJ questioned.
"There are a lot of possibilities," Hotch answered her. "Some kind of ruse maybe? Or someone that seems trustworthy? It could be someone they know, or it could be someone that is generally perceived as trustworthy – like another child or a priest or police officer. The unsub might be a woman, since children generally perceive them as more trustworthy than men."
"Morgan, were you guys able to find any connection when you talked to the victims' families?"
"Not really, Hotch. They live in different neighborhoods, socialize in different circles, both girls take piano lessons, but from different teachers, they both played sports but at different schools. Maybe there's a connection between the parents that we weren't able to find, but between the girls themselves, there's nothing."
"Okay, Reid. Have you been able to come up with a geographic profile?"
"I've narrowed the area down to a 15 mile radius of where the unsub probably lives or works."
"15 miles, kid? That's not gonna help us much." Morgan protested.
"Well, without another dumpsite or abduction, it would be difficult to narrow it down any further without increasing the potential for errors."
"Alright," Hotch interrupted. "Let's get Garcia on the line."
"You've reached Penelope Garcia – Mistress of All Things Technological."
"Garcia, it's Hotch. Have you found any connections between the girls or their families yet?"
"Not yet, boss-man. My usual garden-shovel-level-of-digging hasn't turned anything up, so I'm bringing out the excavator to dig into their dirt."
Hotch chuckled at her metaphor, before stating his next request. "Alright, what about the security cameras at the mall and gas station?"
"The only camera at the gas station probably hasn't been updated since Richard Nixon was in office so I doubt it's captured anything other than gray fuzz for the past 10 years. I was just going over the feed from the mall when you called, so I'll send you that now."
"Alright. Can you run a search for me? Look for any records of brunette girls ages 8 to 10 that have either died or been removed from their home by social services in Wichita in the past 10 years. She probably wore glasses."
"Okay, anything else to help narrow it down?"
"Uh, she probably had short hair and she might have had a burn mark on her left forearm."
"Okay, I'll call you back when I've got something. I've sent you the mall video – it looks like Rebecca Nichols was approached by a man she knew while her mother was shopping for a tie-dye jacket. Apparently she didn't get the memo about those going out of style after the 1970s."
"Thanks Garcia."
"Your wish is my command, G-man! Garcia out."
They pulled up the video to watch and it definitely looked just as Garcia had described it. The girl evidently knew the man she was talking to and willingly followed him out of the line of the cameras in the direction of the doors. Unfortunately, the man was wearing a hat and a hooded sweatshirt, so the camera was unable to pick up a clear image of his face. Without anything further to go on, they were stuck for the moment.
"JJ, I want you to put out a press release with a general description of the man in the video and a picture of Rebecca Nichols. Maybe someone's seen something and they just don't know it. After that, why don't we all take a short lunch break since we've got the chance while we're waiting to hear back from Garcia?"