Two months had passed, and Emily was finally allowed to go back to work. Passing all her psych evaluations had been easy, she felt fine.
She stood in front of the mirror as she brushed her dark hair, JJ had come over to cut her bangs yesterday, so she'd finally be released from JJ's eternal mocking of her crooked bangs. Emily eventually slipped into black pants and she put on a red long-sleeved shirt. She wasn't necessarily ashamed of the bun marks Luke gave her, it however did remind her of what had happened.
She filled Sergio's bowl to the brim before heading towards her front door. She turned on her alarm before exiting the front door. She got into her car fairly quickly and drove to the BAU office, a place she hadn't been in a while.
Penelope was waiting outside when Emily arrived, holding two steaming cups of coffee. '' Welcome back, Emily'' she said as she pushed the coffee into Emily's hand. Emily thanked her before following the brightly dressed young women into their work space.
Emily took a little pause in the doorway of their office. '' If you drive through first street, take an exit at the N36 and then drive along sixth and you'd be there in 20 minutes. You'd even have time to stop for pancakes''. Emily listened as Reid rambled to Morgan who merely muttered something along the lines of; sorry I asked, before walking away. '' I prefer taco's, would I have time for those?'' smiled Emily as she made her way over towards Reid.
'' Emily, you're back'' he exclaimed excited '' How are you feeling?''. '' I'm fine, thanks Reid. Ready to work a case''. '' Well you're in luck beautiful crime fighter, because we have a case'' smiled Penelope whom reappeared behind the two of them.
Everyone followed Garcia into the conference room and took their seats. Garcia handed Reid a paper file as the rest of the team opened their tablets. '' Three white men have been murdered and put on display in an almost identical way. The Oklahoma police department think they're dealing with a serial killer and asked for our beautiful eyes to take a look'' she said.
'' What concerns me is how often this unsub kills, these three men were killed with just one day apart. Which means we have to get over there quickly. Wheels up in 30'' Hotch said.
'' All of these men were found in the living room of their home, they were all divorced and living alone. Their arms and legs were spread out in a weird angle'' said JJ as she inspected the photo. '' And they were found in only their underwear'' she added. '' Were there signs of sexual assault?'' Emily asked. '' The ME didn't find anything that indicates sexual assault'' replied Hotch. '' Then why only the underwear?'' asked Emily as she flipped a way pages in the file. '' It could be humiliation, or a way to make the victim more submissive'' suggested Reid.
'' Reid and Prentiss, you two can make a start on the victimology when we land. Morgan and JJ, you two can go to the crime scenes. Rossi and I will go to the ME'' said Hotch once they had shared some initial thoughts.
They landed fairly quickly after this and the team parted ways. Reid and Emily arrived at the Oklahoma Police Department 30 minutes later. '' I'm SSA Emily Prentiss and this is Dr. Spencer Reid'' said Emily once they were greeted by a gruff looking officer. '' I'm officer Jared Mitchells'' he said.
Officer Mitchells led them to a room in the far corner of the police station. '' A few rookies cleared this room for you, I've set up a board over there like you asked and I've put all the files and notes in a box over there in the corner, and the coffee is brewing in a pot just outside the door''.
'' First things first'' smiled Emily as she poured a mug of coffee for herself, and a small mug for Reid. '' Garcia has found an overlap between the three victims. All three of the men were on a sex offenders list. However, there's no similarity in the victims of the victims'' said Emily as she opened the files Garcia had send them about the three victims.
Reid pasted a few of the pictures of the victims on the board before writing sex offender under it. '' They however don't live in close proximity of each other. There's at least 10 miles of distance between the victims''. Reid stared towards the floor in thought '' could the unsub be a woman? Maybe a sexual assault survivor looking for revenge?''. '' Could be, however all the victims of the killed men are either young children or dead'' said Emily.
Morgan and JJ entered the room where Emily and Reid were working on the victimology later. '' We've checked the crime scenes; all three men were not killed where they were found. They were all shot in their bed and then moved downstairs to be put on display'' said Morgan as he went over to check the board. '' So, the unsub could not be a woman, no offence, but these men were very heavy dead weight and would be very hard to move down the stairs'' said Morgan as he looked over towards JJ and Emily.
Hotch and Rossi joined the team a few minutes later as well and looked over the board. '' The only thing these victims have in common is the fact that they're all sexual offenders. We could go talk to the only victim from these men that is still alive?'' said Morgan. ''Call Garcia and ask her to track the address'' said Hotch before he continued looking at the board.
'' Oracle of all that is knowledge speaking'' said Garcia once she picked up the phone, her pencil clicking on the green button. '' Hey baby girl. I need you to track the sexual assault victims these men targeted'' Morgan said as he listened to Garcia type quickly.
'' Oh no'' he heard Garcia mutter, the rougher details of these things always hurt her. ''There's only one alive. Her name is Gracie Peterson, She's 12. She pulled into a bush when she was seven while playing in a park. One of our murder victims; Mr. Andrew Jenkins molested her until he was hit into the back with a brick by a bystander. He served five years in prison and got out two weeks before his murder''. Morgan wrote something on a paper from his pocket '' I've sent the address to your cell'' she added. '' Thanks baby girl'' Morgan said before hanging up.
''JJ and Prentiss, I want you two to go see the girl and her parents. See if they remember something about him that may help our victimology'' said Hotch. Both women agreed and reached for their coats.
They arrived at the house from the young girl fairly quickly, they rung the bell and waited for someone to open. '' Sorry, we don't buy from door to door seller's'' said the tired looking man whom opened the door, he was about to close it again when Emily pushed it back open with her foot. '' This is SSA Jareau and I'm SSA Prentiss, we're looking for Gracie Peterson and her parents''. '' What's this about?'' the man asked, casting nervous glances from JJ to Emily and back.
'' We would like to ask some questions about her assault from five years ago'' Emily stated, which caused the man to cave in. He allowed the two to enter and led them to the living room.
A red-haired girl sat in the corner, ear buds blasted music so loud that Emily could hear it from the other side of the room. '' Is that Evanescence?'' asked JJ kindly as she neared the girl. Two green eyes met JJ's surprised '' Yeah, it is''. Emily took a seat on the couch next to JJ. '' Gracie, we're with the FBI'' JJ eventually said after she allowed the young girl to finish her song, which JJ silently enjoyed as well.
'' We want to ask you some questions about the man that hurt you five years ago. I understand that it may be very hard for you, so when you want to stop, just tell me'' smiled JJ. Emily looked towards both parents for confirmation and when they nodded she asked her first question; ''Could you tell me anything you remember about the man?''. The father interrupted immediately '' Sorry, but why is this relevant? The man was put in prison''.
'' We are looking for more information about this man because he was murdered last night. He has no living relatives and we need to gain insight into him'' Emily explained. '' He's dead?'' whispered Gracie, her green eyes wide. '' Yes, he is''. Confusion mingled with relief as it covered Gracie's face.
Gracie suddenly stood up, her eyes still very wide. She hurried up the stairs, without a word, leaving the rest of them into confusion. '' Gracie got very depressed after what happened, she started wetting the bed again'' sighed Gracie's dad once they had watched Ms. Peterson run up the stairs after her daughter. '' We recently found out that she's been hurting herself as well''.
'' I'm sorry to hear that'' whispered Emily, her voice croaked slightly as she spoke which caused JJ to look at her curiously. '' We'd better leave you for now. Here's my card if you think of anything or if Gracie thinks of anything'' said Emily whom abruptly stood up. They thanked Mr. Peterson before they left the house.
Once they were situated in the car, JJ turned to face Emily. '' What happened in there? We hadn't even asked any of the questions''. Emily merely shrugged '' I'd seen enough, we weren't going to get anything useful from them''. '' Are you sure you're okay Em?'' JJ asked worried, she placed her hand on Emily's knee, a thing they'd do every time one of them was struggling. '' I'm fine, let's just get back'' sighed Emily as she massaged her aching wrist.