Chapter 7 – Fear and Loathing

Lilith walked in to the bull pen tired, she went to grab a coffee but split it everywhere.

"Damn it" She swore as she held her burnt finger.

"Big weekend, Fallon?" Morgan asked laughing, walking over to her.

"Not in the way you think" Lilith muttered

"What's wrong?" Morgan asked worried

"Nightmares" Lilith muttered and Morgan looked at her sadly.

"Look, forget about it ok. I've had nightmares more than half of my life. I can deal with them" Lilith added as Hotch walked over to them.

"Conference room in 5 minutes, please?" Hotch asked

"Got it" Morgan said with a sigh.

They walked into the room to find Reid, Hotch and Gideon with JJ.

"Sandra Davis, 16 years old. This is her singing at her high school talent show a month ago. This is her on-Again, Off-Again boyfriend, Ken Newcombe. Their bodies were found in a park Near the male victim's car in Groton, An affluent, mostly white suburb of New York City in Westchester county. It's the third of 3 killings believed to be a series of hate crimes" JJ explained

"Hate crimes?" Lilith asked

"The first 2 victims were Keisha Andrews, 15, and Vickie Williams, 17. They disappeared from their homes in central Westchester one night. Their bodies were found in a wooded area in a southern part of the county near the city" Hotch explained as JJ flipped through the photos of the victims and their bodies found on leaves. Lilith saw Reid flinch before going back too normal.

"Strangled, beaten, stabbed" Gideon said

"And this was painted on their faces" JJ added as she showed pictures of the Nazi symbol.

"What about this couple? How were they part of it?" Morgan asked

"Another swastika. This one on the boyfriend's car" JJ explained

"It's a different victimology" Lilith said

"Maybe just an escalation" Morgan said

"Or a different killer, and it doesn't end there. Yesterday an African-American community leader, a reverend Williams, decided to take this on as a political issue. Racial hate in the suburbs" Hotch explained as he pressed play on a video.

"What we are seeing is pure apathy. Black kids are getting killed and the police are doing nothing to stop it. When will these racists be confronted?" Williams asked angrily

"Apparently, in response to reverend Williams' muckraking, a black kid was beaten on the streets of Groton this afternoon. Connecticut neo-Nazi group called the white stallions claimed responsibility" JJ explained

"There are neo-Nazi groups in Connecticut?" Lilith asked

"The mayor of Groton called me this morning, frantic. He is desperate to solve these crimes before it escalates even more" JJ said as Reid looked at the photos and rubbed his face as if trying to rub away memories.

"What are the racial demographics of Groton?" Gideon asked

"Population 42,000. 8% black" JJ said

"I'd say the mayor has reason to be worried. If it doesn't stop soon, it could flare up into a full scale race-war" Gideon said seriously as Lilith watched Reid worried, noting he has been very quiet.

"New York, New York" JJ said looking out the window of the jet.

"Too bad we're flying straight to the suburbs" Morgan joked

"Hey, this is weird. There are traces of G.H.B. found in the first two victims but no sign of sexual assault. So... why would the unsub use a date-rape drug to commit a hate crime?" Lilith asked

"Maybe he wants to weaken them so they can't fight back" Reid suggested

"But there was no G. H. B. In the victims of the double homicide" Lilith stated

"There's a lot that's different about the double homicide" Morgan said

"The question is why" Hotch asked

"All right, we just got new information. A few weeks before the murder of Sandra Davis and Ken Newcombe, a threatening letter was delivered to Sandra Davis' door. She showed it to her parents, who then notified the police. The police never figured out who wrote it" JJ explained as she handed the copy of the note to Reid.

"'We see Ken with you and it makes us sick. Take care to stop this now, or you will pay. If you tell anyone about this, you will pay"' Reid read

"Strange. Doesn't seem real" Reid commented

"What do you mean?" JJ asked confused

"First of all, the use of 'we' in a threat this direct is almost always bogus" Reid said

"One individual trying to diffuse responsibility" Lilith explained

"Also, the message itself seems contradictory. On the one hand, "take care to stop this now, or you will pay"? Presumably, they want then to stop seeing each other. But then, on the other hand, they don't want them to go public with it. 'If you tell anyone about this, you will pay'" Reid explained

"The point of hate crimes is to increase publicity, not decrease it. It's like terrorism" Hotch added

"An effective threat let's everybody know that they're in danger if they do this behaviour. The author would want Sandra to tell people about the note" Reid explained

"Doesn't sound like a guy who's actually prepared to kill" JJ said

"Actually, it... doesn't sound like a guy at all. "Take care to stop this" Implies empathy. "Take care"? Males don't use this type of language, especially when they're trained to threaten somebody. This message is certainly written by a female, and based on the lack of psychological sophistication, I'd say it's most likely an adolescent" Reid explained

"You think a girl killed these kids?" JJ asked

"I think a girl wrote this note" Reid replied

"Let's call that mystery number one" Gideon said

"You got a number 2?" Hotch asked

"Maybe. Says here the autopsy on Sandra Davis was inconclusive" Gideon said

"She suffered blunt force trauma to the face, she had some bruising around her neck. Cause of death is still unclear. Coroner's working on it" JJ explained

"A lot of questions. Let's get started on some answers" Hotch said simply

…..

"Agent Jareau, Gregory Hughes" Hughes said shaking hands with JJ.

'Mayor Hughes' JJ said

"This is Detective Rick Ware from the state police department. We haven't had a murder here in 2 years, you understand. This was way above our heads. So we put Rick in charge" Hughes explained

"These are Agents Gideon, Hotchner, Morgan, and Fallon" JJ introduced

"I have to say that what's been happening here the last few weeks Is... It's just hard to fathom. I mean, we're 30 minutes from the city" Rick said

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked

"Well, this isn't the deep south. For the most part, these are sophisticated New Yorkers" Rick said

"Are you saying you don't think this is a race issue?" Morgan asked

"All we're saying is whatever happened here is way out of the norm for this community. I wouldn't want you entering this investigation under assumptions that... well, aren't true" Rick said simply

"Fact is; we don't know what this is about yet" Gideon said

"We need to concentrate on the double murder and make sure that it's the same killer, first of all" Hotch said

"You mean there could be more than one?" Hughes asked

"We don't know that yet. All we do know is the threat sent to Sandra Davis was written by an adolescent girl" Morgan said

"You can tell that just from a half a page note?" Rick said

"It's pretty straightforward profiling" Morgan said as Rick shared a look with a local cop.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Gideon asked

"Uh, there was a girl that we suspected at first, but then we talked to her and dismissed her" The local said

"I'd like to meet her" Morgan said

"I think it's a waste of time" Rick said

"I'd like to decide that for myself" Morgan said firmly

"Sandra showed us the note 2 weeks before she was killed. We asked around the school for who might have a grudge against Sandra and Ken. The only girl's name that came up was Tonya Mathis. Rumour was Ken dumped her for Sandra, although ken told me Tonya was never his girlfriend" Rick explained to Morgan and Lilith as they walked through the local station.

"You said you talked to Tonya about the note. What did she say?" Morgan asked

"She swore up and down she had nothing to do with it. I find it pretty hard to believe she'd write a racist note" Rick said

"Why is that?" Lilith asked

"See for yourself" Rick said, opening the door to reveal a black teenage girl.

"That's Tonya?" Lilith asked

"In the flesh" Rick replied

"Leave her in there for a few minutes" Morgan said

"You're gonna make a 17-Year-Old girl sweat?" Rick asked

"I want to scare the hell out of her" Morgan replied

….