Rossi made his way down the long corridor, the younger officer seemed to have his guard up slightly. "I can take a statement" he half grumbled.
"I don't doubt that for a second." Rossi replied as he held the door open for him.
"So why am I being babysat by an fbi agent." He glared slightly.
"I don't do babysitting." Rossi mused. "But if we get some good information that we can use in our search it will help. We can't afford another victim. We already have too many." He smiles slightly.
He nodded slightly. "Sorry."
Rossi chuckled, "No need, we get it all the time. Everyone seems to think we take over, other departments of the fbi maybe do, but look at us as a resource." He paused. "And we can run searches quicker than local."
"Do you never get sick of being on the road all the time?"
"Nope, plus it isn't all the time, we have downtime. Which means we can catch up on paperwork." Shaking his head slightly. "Rather be on the road than writing reports, or writing up profiles for over police departments."
The younger officer chuckled slightly. "I think everyone hates paperwork."
"Some hate it more than others." His hand rested on the door. "I'll ask my question first, then you can get a statement off him. Is that okay?" Rossi asked. The younger officer nodded as they entered the room.
The ringing of her phone pulled JJ's attention. "What you got?" she asked before placing it on loud speaker.
"I've narrowed it down, but not narrowed it down enough." Garcia grumbled as she hit my keys on her keyboard.
"Okay? What's the make?" Morgan asked as he picked his pen up.
"Oh, it's a ford." She paused. "Do you know how many people in that town have a ford pickup truck?" she mumbled slightly.
"A few?" Morgan asked with a slight shrug.
"A few, a few. Try over a thousand." She grumbled. "So, unless you have a great way to narrow it down more, you need to find something else."
"Garcia." Hotch sighed as he spoke. "Are they all based in this town?"
"Yes sir."
"See if you can narrow down the year, the weight of the truck will go up on each model." He said softly.
"How can you know that?" JJ frowned slightly.
"I like my trucks." Hotch said with a slight smirk.
Shaking her head slightly. "Emily was right, guys have a strange fascination about their cars."
"It's not strange." Morgan said looking at her.
"You have two cars, suv and two trucks. More than one is too many."
"I'm with Hotch, I like my cars." Morgan laughed slightly as he spoke.
"Right going off the weight you gave, you're looking at models before two thousand and ten. But that still gives us over two hundred." Garcia said softly.
"Take off any trucks that belong to women and those under twenty." Hotch said.
"How can you tell that." Sanders asked.
Hotch shrugged slightly. "Hunting is more a man's hobby. He'd blend in. These are younger victims, which normally indicate an older unsub."
"Damn." Sanders smiled slightly.
Hotch pulled his cell out. "What you got Rossi?"
"He remembers a red truck." Rossi replied, "Older make. He didn't get a look at the driver. He played dead, the unsub checked him over after, he wasn't sure how much time had passed when he was found. He said he didn't want to move just in case he was being watched"
"Garcia, how many red trucks in the area?" he asked before cutting the call with Rossi.
"One second."
Hotch couldn't help the slight tapping as he waited for Garcia to give him an answer.
"Fifteen."
"Can you run background on all of them."
"Sure, but it may take a while. I'll hit you back. Pg, out."
"I wonder if he checked his other victims?" Morgan said as he looked at the map. "I think he uses this road a lot." He said as he walked over to the map to study it more. "Lot of side roads that don't necessarily go anywhere." He paused. "Do we have satellite pictures for this area?" he asked looking at Sanders.
"We do, it'll just take a second to print it off."
"Press conference?" JJ said as she flicked through the report.
"What you are thinking?" Morgan asked as he cast a glance her way.
"Could have more witnesses out there that just don't know it." She said with a shrug. "It's a long shot but."
"Better than what we've got so far." Morgan finished her sentence as he smiled.
"How fast can you write one up." He mused.
"Take me half an hour to sort it out." She said with a shrug. "Hotch?" JJ looked at him for his approval before she smiled and headed out of the conference room.
The cameras flashed as she stood on the podium, the media with their cameras recording, live on air, reporters taking notes for publication later. Police officers also present watching her command the stage. Sanders couldn't help but smile as he watched her talk with ease.
"she's a natural." He commented as Morgan stood next to him.
"Not someone I'd mess with." Morgan said with a shrug.
"I meant with the media." He said with a slight frown.
"I know," he replied kindly.
JJ took a breath, the butterflies always settled in the pit of her stomach as she addressed them. She knew that she could say something that could set the unsub off. It was always a worry each time she gave a press release, or they'd twist her words. She would damp down the medias fascination about giving them a title, it would only feed their unsub. The victims are the ones that needed to be remembered and it was always something she'd drive home.
JJ shook her head as she made her way back into the station. "You'd think after all this time, they'd learn." She grumbled.
"They never do, something about serial killers fascinates them." Rossi said as he followed her inside.
"I know, I understand that." She looked at him. "To a point." She paused. "I just wish they'd quit giving them titles or names. He's a murderer nothing more. His ego doesn't need a boost it needs a put down." She said firmly. "And don't even say it." She muttered as they entered the conference room.
Rossi held up his hand slightly. "I full agree with you; wouldn't be the first time the media have dubbed them with a name."
"Yes, but that so-called name, could lead us in the wrong direction. Like it has done in the past" she said firmly.
"Coffee." Morgan said as he watched the blonde rant at Rossi slightly.
"Thanks." She sighed slightly as she took the mug. "So, any news on the searches?" she asked looking around the room. "Where's Hotch?"
"Phone call." He smiled slightly. "Not exactly helpful. We have narrowed it down to ten. Five don't own guns" he shrugged slightly.
"Just because they don't have a licence doesn't mean they can't own a gun." JJ said giving him a pointed look.
"Agreed but since we can verify they don't have a gun we can leave them alone." He said giving her a slight nudge.
The slight knock at the door pulled their attention. "There's someone at the front desk you might want to speak to, thinks he knows who we are looking for."
JJ smiled at the young officer. "Thank you, can you put him in a room so we can talk." She paused. "Where's officer Sanders?" JJ asked as she scanned the bullpen.
"Restroom." JJ nodded. "Once I get him settled I'll come and get you." And with that the officer was gone.
"Is it bad we only know Sanders" JJ said with a shake of her head.
"Not really," Reid paused. "But we haven't interacted with many of them."
"Thanks Spence" JJ smiled at him softly.
It wasn't long before Morgan and Sanders were walking into the interview room, JJ and Rossi stood in the room adjoining watching through the glass.
"Officer Sanders and Agent Morgan." He offered his hand.
"Tim Fly." His voice trembled slightly. "I think I know who you are looking for." He rushed out.
"What can you tell us?" Morgan asked.
"I used to go to school with Kyle Mason, I hadn't seen him in over twenty years, job and family life took over." He paused slightly. "He was odd. Social outcast type of odd." His voice a little firmer as he carried on. "We used to drive up and down the same stretch of roads where the people been found." He swallowed slightly.
"Doing what?" Morgan asked.
"Shooting signs and small animals, there isn't much to do around here. So, we'd take a few bottles and the rifles and go shooting." He paused slightly. "I bumped into him at a local gun fair. Took him a while to acknowledge me, but when he did it was just like old times. We'd drive the road shooting, couple bottles of beer." He held his hand up slightly "I only had a couple. I know better than to drink and drive." He said firmly. "Anyway, he started talking to me about could I see him as a killer as in killing people." He swallowed slightly as he remembered the conversations. "He's always been odd, but this was too odd."
"What do you mean too odd?" Sanders asked.
"Kyle had gotten worse. He talked about how to get away with it, killing in different counties to throw law enforcement off, leaving no evidence." He carried on explaining giving a full description of him and his truck.
"Thank you, we will look into it." Morgan said as he shook his hand again before seeing him out the station.
Hotch held up his hand to quite them as they entered the conference room. "Thank you, would you mind coming in and giving a statement." He said easily. "If you ask for myself once you arrive." With that he placed the phone down.
"That's another one. It's amazing how many people think they know a killer."
"I'd call it a worry Reid." Morgan joked. "If you think your friend is a killer you might want to bail on them" he mused slightly.
"Two men think they may have seen him. They both got a good look at him. If it's the same unsub they were lucky." Hotch said firmly.
"Why you say lucky?" JJ asked slightly confused.
"From what he's just said they were out hunting when they heard rustling, thinking it was a deer his friend looked through his scope. The only thing he saw in his scope was a middle-aged man pointing a rifle in their direction." Hotch said as he made notes.
"Why didn't they report it?" Morgan asked. "Damn lucky they didn't get killed."
"They figured it was another hunter, like Sanders said earlier they get a few hunting accidents out here, could be he mistook them for deer just like they did." Hotch surmised.
"I'd say they were more than lucky." Rossi said as he pinpointed their location on the map.
"Someone was looking out for them that's for sure." Morgan mused.
"Can you set up surveillance?" Reid asked as he looked at the map. "Some spots you could place cameras?"
"We could try." Sanders shrugged slightly. "It'll give the techs a good challenge" he mused as he picked up the phone.
The men hadn't been able to give them much only that they all agreed they were lucky to be alive, they couldn't be sure it was the same guy when they looked at the pictures.
"We need to get some rest." Hotch said as he looked around the room. "Hopefully we will have more information in the morning."
JJ closed the door to her room as she picked up her cell. She hadn't heard off Emily all day, the brunette hadn't responded to and text, so here she was tapping her nails on the table as she waited for the call to be picked up.