Unfinished Business- 1:15
Harita's POV
"Guys, we are about to meet Max Ryan, the guy responsible for catching the Boise child killer. Have you ever talked to him before?" Reid's voice wakes me up from my slumber.
"Shut the fuck up." I moaned. I got here as soon as Gideon called. Sadly Starbucks was closed so I couldn't get my coffee and stay awake. I was the first one, so why not catch some sleep.
"What are you doing here so early, especially sleeping at your desk?" Hotch asked as everyone else put their stuff down at their desks.
"Well when Gideon calls you at 4 in the morning, and you accidentally wakes up your girlfriend, she's obviously going to tell you to go instead of cuddling with her for 5 more minutes." I replied sleepily, still laying my head down on my desk, "Besides, Starbucks was closed so I couldn't get my drugs."
"Which is why I brought you this." I looked up and saw Hotch placing two cups of iced coffee, large to be exact, onto my desk, "I picked this up from my local coffee shop."
"Oh my god, you are a lifesaver." I started to take huge gulps of the coffee to get high- I mean energized.
"Of course. And Reid, to answer your question, he's pretty intense, brusque. Not much of a bedside manner." Hotch stated.
"Sound like anyone else we know?" Elle joked, clearly talking about Gideon.
"I heard he was forced into early retirement." Morgan said.
"Where did you get that from, Buzzfeed?" I asked.
"No, he chose to retire." Hotch answered.
"He's written a new book on the Keystone Killer case. He moved to Philadelphia to be closer to the crime scenes." Reid added
"That's retirement?" Elle asked as we made our way to the conference room.
"BAU style." Morgan responded.
...
"'Who in his mind has not probed the black water'?" Reid read the letter that was being projected onto the TV. On it was a word search puzzle "John Steinbeck, East of Eden."
"Story of good and evil, love and hate. There's been some new activity on the Keystone Killer case." Gideon announced.
"New?" ELle questioned.
"He was in Max's lecture last night." Gideon answered. I choked on my coffee.
"Excuse me?" I exclaimed.
"He got away?" Morgan added.
"Would we have woken you up if we caught him?" Max asked.
"He handed this letter to the security guard." Gideon stated.
"And he included two drivers' licenses with it." Max added.
"One is from his last victim-"
"Last known victim." Max corrected Gideon's statement.
"Amy Jennings, strangled in 1987." Gideon said as Reid was muttering to himself, holding up the letter.
"Do you see something?"
"Ya, what is the significance of black bra and grey wool socks?" Reid asked. I looked down and realized I was wearing grey wool, tall socks. I also remembered I was wearing a black bra.
"Is it bad that I'm wearing those same stuff." I muttered to Derek, who just shrugged his shoulders.
"That's what Amy Jennings was wearing when we found her." Max replied.
"That's a lot of detail to remember for 20 years." I remarked.
"The Green River killer couldn't remember where the bodies were buried much less what they were wearing." Morgan added.
"Well, some unsubs take pictures and print them themselves so they can manipulate the scene, bring it to life. That would explain the level of detail." Hotch suggested.
"Does no fight in the rear window have anything to do with the Jennings case?" Reid asked.
"No. He entered in through the front door. There's sample evidence that Amy fought him very hard. Now he's referring to a new victim there." Max said.
"The second driver's license." Elle brought attention to.
"Carla Bromwell." Gideon announced.
"Ya, there is a C. Bromwell here in the puzzle." Reid stated.
"Philly PD went to the address on the license a little while ago. Found her suffocated with a plastic bag." Gideon
"Suffocated?" I asked, "His previous victims were strangled. His MO's different."
"He hasn't been killing all along, has he?" Elle questioned.
"It would have been difficult to tie these new murders to the Keystone Killer what with the change of the methodology and the time that's elapsed between kills." Hotch stated.
"If he'd been active, I would have known." Max cockily said. He's got to get his attitude in check.
"It's not entirely impossible for an unsub to switch his MO. The Zodiac Killer went from stabbing people to shooting them." Spencer recalled.
"Yes, but he wanted to take the credit. This bastard didn't do anything in secret."
"I'd say good morning but, it's still dark outside." JJ placed a picture of a girl, who was suffocated in a plastic bag, onto the table.
"Who's this?" Morgan grabbed the picture.
"Carla Bromwell. Gideon, can you put on the news?" Gideon did as told and turned on the TV, the local news channel was running.
"The Philadelphia police were notified late last night of a letter that was hand delivered to this news station." The reporter said, "Apparently it was written by the infamous Keystone Killer, who's wanted in connection with the murders of 7 women back in the late 1980's. He also included a photograph of a woman. She appears to be dead in the photo, suffocated with a plastic bag. Now, subsequently police discovered a body in the Overbrook area. But they are not confirming that it's the woman in this picture."
"He works fast." Hotch turned off the TV.
"It's an understatement, isn't it?" Gideon chuckled.
"Meet you on the plane in 30 minutes." Hotch said, leaving the room.
"I'm coming with you." Max announced as I raised my left eyebrow, "I'm not asking, Jason."
…
*CUE INTRO*
(For one of the 'pictures' in the intro, imagine Harita fidgeting with a pen, looking at a map with her left eyebrow raised.)
...
I don't know what's worse, the fact that I had to wake up at 4 in the morning on a Saturday, or Max is coming. He's just really cocky. Like grow a dick dude.
"Philly PD confirmed that Carla Bromwell's been dead less than 12 hours. She was 47." Garcia stated on the other side of the computer. I was munching on some sour gummy worms, occasionally giving a few to Hotch.
"Victims are getting older." I observed.
"That is unusual." Morgan remarked.
"Victimology rarely changes." Elle added.
"Her hands and feet were bound with flex-cuffs." Garcia finished.
"Flex-cuffs? No ropes?" Max asked.
"That's what they said. They're waiting at the crime scene for you."
"Thank you, sweetheart." Morgan flirted.
"Here if you need me." Garcia ended the call.
"So older victims and a different mode of binding and killing." Hotch stated.
"Maybe the note just means we have a copycat on our hands." Morgan suggested.
"The copycat who just happens to have Amy Jennings driver's license? No! No, it's the Keystone Killer." Max exclaimed as he left to go to the bathroom.
"How are we supposed to work with him?" Morgan whispered, "Gideon, he is not even an active agent."
"He's here because he knows this case better than any of us. We're leading the investigation, he's only consulting." Gideon responded.
"Anyone tell him that?"
"That guy needs to cut his attitude and grow a dick." I added as Hotch nudged me and whispered harshly, "LaNgUaGe."
...
"What do you think of Ryan?" Reid asked.
"He hasn't changed much." Hotch answered
"Oh darling I feel so bad for you." I sympathetically said to Hotch as I put on my latex, rubber gloves, "How did you deal with his attitude." Hotch just shrugged his shoulders.
"I think we can learn a lot from him." Reid added.
"What could you possibly learn that you don't already know? The only thing I'm going to learn from him is to not act like a dick." I remarked. I moved out of Hotch's range so he wouldn't smack me for cursing. In Hotch's rule book, cursing is only allowed sometimes, but not all, and as I 'child' of Hotch, I have to follow it. But I am a bad bitch so fuck rules.
"Harita, repetitive thinking is the death nail for the brain. For complete brain usage diverse stimulation is the key. Look at this." Reid held up another note, with another word search puzzle.
"Let's go show this to everyone." Hotch took the note and put it into an evidence bag. He walked out of the room, the two of us following, "Found another note." Hotch told Elle, Gideon, Morgan, and Max.
"Let me see that." Max grabbed the note from Hotch's hand. I looked at Elle and we rolled our eyes, "'In order for the light to shine so brightly the darkness must be present.'"
"He's quoting sir Francis Bacon now." Gideon stated.
"I used this specific quote on-" Max got cut off by Reid
"On your book on page 184. I read it on the plane." Reid fangirled. I shook my head in disappointment.
"And you remember the page number of the quote?" Max questioned.
"Don't ask." Morgan intervened.
"He says to expect another gift in 2 days." Hotch read.
"A gift?" Elle queried.
"Calls his victims gifts." Gideon answered.
"Gifts for whom?" I asked.
"For me." Max answered.
...
We were at the Philly police station, giving the profile.
"A lot of things have changed in 20 years including the age of the Keystone Killer's victims." Hotch started.
"He's older, his victims are older. Makes sense to me." An officer blurted.
"Most unsubs have specific fantasies. This is as if they're killing the same person over and over again. This man clearly had a preference for young brunettes, and now he's switched to older women." Hotch continued.
"Well, what does that mean?" The same officer asked.
"Ted Bundy only killed women that looked like his fiancee. But then, he devolved and brutally attacked a house full of sorority sisters that looked nothing like his previous victims. He went off script. His final victim was a 12 year old girl. When the police found the van that he used to kill her, the amount of blood revealed that he had lost complete control. It was that devolution that eventually led to his capture." Reid recalled.
"He could be devolving into a frenzy." Gideon stated.
"So you mean he's about to mess up?" An officer asked.
"Keystone Killer's devolution is only a theory. We need to be prepared for anything." Morgan warned.
"And if he is in a frenzy, there's no telling how quickly he'll fall apart." I re-countered.
"Or how many more victims he'll take with him." Gideon added.
"So, we're going to go over anything we know, old and new, and hopefully we find him before we find another body." Hotch hoped.
"We'll start with Agent Ryan's original profile. Max, you want to present it?" Gideon asked.
"No." Max responded and left. I raised both of my eyebrows and looked at Morgan, who had the same look on his face. Hotch gave the profile as Gideon went after Max. After Hotch finished, the officers left and we re-grouped, besides Gideon and Max.
"All right, let's focus on the differences in the crimes. What's he doing that's new?" Hotch asked.
"Well, his latest victim was hit in the head. That's new." Elle pointed out.
"In the word puzzle he said she didn't fight. So, why hit her? Scare her? Show her he's in charge?" Morgan asked. I looked over at Reid, who was scanning the word puzzle. I threw a grape, red to be exact, into my mouth.
"Well, he never did that before." Hotch reminded.
"And a blow that hard wouldn't scare her, probably just-"
"Probably just knock her unconscious." Morgan said, finishing my sentence. I threw a grape at him in response.
"In order to control her?" Hotch questioned.
"He switched from ropes to flex-cuffs The intricate knot was a part of his signature." Gideon stated.
"Flex-cuffs are easier. Probably saved him time." Elle suggested.
"No no no, there's more than that. The rope was meticulously tied, it was intimate, completely unnecessary." Gideon argued.
"And he abandoned the rope and the use of his bare hands which makes his kills less personal and less controlling." Elle added.
"Okay. Seriously, guys, let's just abandon all this. Let's just treat him like he's a new offender." Morgan professed.
"He isn't." Gideon interjected.
"Guys, I have a name." Reid announced.
"Nibrahs." Elle read from what Reid circled on the word search puzzle, "That's a name?"
"From what country?" I asked.
"It's backwards. S. Harbin. And there was a Scott Harbin on Ryan's original suspect list."
"It's not Scott Harbin." Max interrupted Reid, "S Harbin went to jail in 1988 for stabbing a guy while he was trying to escape during a home invasion. The guy later died. Harbin didn't even know there was anyone at home at the time he broke in."
"How long did he get?" Morgan asked.
"30 years."
"So it makes him a little more than a half way done." Gideon observed.
"Unless he's been paroled." Hotch thought.
"No. No, it's too easy. I interviewed Harbin, twice. He's a pervert. He's a small time burglar with a fetish for lingerie. I mean he's a creep. But he is not the Keystone Killer. Believe me. Our guy has not been in jail for all these years." Max argued.
"All right, I'm going to call Garica. See what she can dig up on this guy." Morgan stood up.
"He's not the guy!" Max yelled at Morgan. It was clear, you could see steam coming out of my ears. No one, not some stupid ass retired agent that can't keep his shit together. Max left the room and I went after him, despite the silent protests from Hotch. I followed him into a room, where no one was there.
"Hey man, I get that he used a quote from your book and that you tried to solve this case a few years ago, but you need to get your shit together." I argued.
"What are you talking about?" Max asked
"You got to be fucking kidding me. The same person who said 'Not to take anything personal.', is taking this case very personal. Now that's hypocrisy. Look, we allowed you to come and consult this case, but it looks like you are actually ruining it. We work as a team and incorporate EVERYONE'S ideas, no matter how stupid it sounds. Also, NEVER yell at my older brother ever again. We are like a family, so we treat each other like one. Until you can grow some balls and nipples, you may step out of this room." I left the room and slammed the door.
...
We went to the address of Scott Harbin's house, due to Garcia telling Morgan that he's been paroled, but missed his last meeting. We arrested him and found out that he had the socks and a pair of women's underwear. Unless he was fucking someone, I'm pretty sure it's one of his victim's stuff. I mean, who would want to fuck him. He is wrinkly as fuck, and I bet he has a pruny penis.
"Hey, Morgan, Harita!" Hotch called out.
"Yo." Morgan responded.
"Don't say that ever again." I pleaded to Morgan.
"Think he makes his own movies?" Hotch asked, pointing to the boxes in the closet.
"Well, if he's a control freak, or Ryan thinks he is, why wouldn't he?" I asked.
"Where are the tapes?" We started looking around the room,trying to find any tape. Hotch lifted the bed and patted underneath it. It sounded hollow until there was a thud. That was not a sound that should happen.
"Hear that?" Hotch asked as we nodded. Hotch handed Morgan a plank from the bed and he put it aside. Hotch and I grabbed the side of the bed and pulled it out, and there was a body. The woman started screaming, just as well as Morgan was screaming "Call the ambulance." We tried to assure the woman that we were the FBI and we weren't going to hurt her, but she kept struggling. We finally got her to calm down, and the EMTs grabbed her out and took her away.
"Scott Harbin. Single obsessive military background. Fits your profile." Gideon stated as we headed to the SUV.
"But he keeps his victim in his house? He's that far off script?" Ryan asked.
"Ryan. It's got your name on it." Morgan showed the piece of paper that was on the wind-sheild wiper.
"'Isn't Scott Harbin an inelegant creature? A monster. There is no light with him. No balance. He is pure evil. Balance is what gives one mercy. You'll be reminded of my brand of mercy tomorrow, Max.'" Ryan read from the letter.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Scott Harbin's a predator just not the one we were looking for. Cordon off the area at least six block radius. Someone must have seen this guy." Gidoen ordered.
...
"Well, that's got to be a first. A killer actually leading us to another killer." Morgan stated as we walked into the room we set our stuff up.
"Come on. We all know they make the best profilers. They admire each other's work." Gideon exasperated.
"Ya, but usually from the far." Elle corrected.
"At least we got Harbin off the street." Hotch congratulated, "All right, let's review. What do we know about the Keystone Killer?"
"Well, we know that he's not dead or in jail." I responded.
"Enjoys taunting the game." Gideon added.
"Ya, he's in complete control." Morgan agreed.
"He strangled 7 women in the 1980's, stopped for 18 years, and then began again suffocating them. 10% of all violent crimes are caused by strangulation, it only takes 11 pounds of pressure to fully incapacitate your victim and if you hang on for at least 50 seconds, they will never recover." Spencer stated.
"When you suffocate someone you actually have less control over their death. It's actually more passive because the killer doesn't feel the life leaving the body." Hotch added.
"He's changed almost everything that he does." Elle concluded.
"Why why why why? I mean, what's he getting out of this new M. O.? Where's his payoff? You got Carla Bromwell, she sustains a significant head injury. Blitz attacks, suggests disorganization, no self-confidence. This is a guy who walks into 7 victims homes prior to this. There was no forced entry at any of the scenes. Where's the loss of confidence?" Gideon exclaimed.
"He would never change the way he kills by choice. What? We've been operating under the assumption that he purposely changed his MO." Max concluded.
"You're saying he changed because he had to change?" Gideon asked.
"He knocked her unconscious. And it wasn't to scare." Morgan stated.
"Because he couldn't control her physically while she was awake." Elle added.
"He could be incapacitated. At least partially." I thought outloud.
"Maybe an injury." Max suggested.
"Or a stroke." Hotch added.
"Either way you're gonna have to have medical records. Agreed?" GIdeon asked.
"Yes, so what are we talking about? This had to have happened after the middle of 1988 in Philadelphia?" Morgan questioned.
"Somebody who fits the rest of the profile." Gideon stated.
"It's a lot of hospital records." Spencer exclaimed.
"Call our girl Friday." Gideon ordered Morgan.
...
Garcia sent us files of past medical bills, and we had to go through all of them. Lucky for Reid, he could read 20,000 words per minute, not lucky for us, we can't.
"Something debilitating enough to lose strength permanently, I'm still thinking it was a stroke." Hotch answered.
"You know Ryan's profile puts the unsub in his late 20's. Isn't that too young for a massive stroke?" Morgan asked.
"Technically you're never too young for a stroke. 80% of strokes are ischemic, the other 20 or hemorrhagic, which usually result in death. Ischemic strokes occur when plaque builds up in the arteries, causing restricted vessels to be blocked by a blood clot." Spencer stated.
"Okay, but doesn't it take years for that type of plaque to build up?" I asked.
"Ah, typically."
"Well then like I said, he was too young." Morgan concluded.
"Did you know that stroke victims that play virtual reality games show significant advances in recovery than those who don't?" Spencer exclaimed.
"Now, here's somebody. In 1987 he was 30, single, dishonorably discharged." Hotch read.
"It's a good start. What was the injury?" I asked.
"Broken neck. Intensive skull therapy for 9 years." Hotch answered.
"What's he been doing since?" Spencer questioned.
"Ah, never mind. The guy moved to the Florida Keys, he's a scuba instructor. He's got the right idea." We all laughed.
"Come on. There's got to be something in here." Morgan encouraged as we kept on looking.
...
"Elle's running down injuries on college campuses." Hotch announced, "The guy's well read, he may have been a professor."
"There are just too many hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, we'd be sifting through records for weeks." Spencer exclaimed.
"Says the person who can read 20,000 words per minute." I muttered.
"Come on. There's got to be some way to narrow down the search, right?" Morgan asked.
"Well, we ruled out a stroke and half the hospital don't even say how the accident occurred." I answered.
"Accidents? In America, someone's involved in a car accident once every 10 seconds." Spencer stated.
"Car accidents with injuries would all be reported by the police." Gideon recalled.
"We profiled him driving a late model American made sedan." Max added.
"All right, so how about I get Garcia to check Philly PD records for accidents involving American made sedans in serious injury." Morgan announced.
"It's a long shot." Max exclaimed.
"It's a shot. Start with 1988, if it was an accident it stopped him in his tracks." Gideon ordered.
...
"Walter Kern had a military background. ROTC in high school, 4 years in the air force." Morgan handed us each a piece of paper about him.
"Hospital records show that he lost mobility in his right side due to severed nerve damage to his spinal cord." Spencer read.
"He never got the strength back." Max explained.
"Kern's been a county worker, claims adjuster, and get this, he installed home alarms with Scott Harbin." Hotch added.
"Takes one to know one." Gideon stated.
"All those jobs allowed him access to people's homes." Spencer realized.
"Explains why there was no sign of forced entry." I added, "He had a legitimate reason to knock on the door."
"Women felt comfortable letting him inside." Gideon concluded.
"He got a degree in criminology from Villanova in 1988. I wonder if he murdered anyone on campus." Elle thought.
"That certainly explains his knowledge of law enforcement." Gideon added.
"This looks like our guy. Anybody's got a current address?" Hotch asked.
"557 Wight Street, Southeast Philadelphia. I got you, you son of a bitch. We got him, let's go bring him in." Max read as he and Gideon left.
...
Max, Spencer, Elle, and Reid went to the address, but soon called us to say that Walter was somewhere else, about to kill the new victim. Wait, let me correct myself, old victim. That's right. When Walter got into a car crash, he was going to kill his next victim. He had a list of targeted victims. Now he was going to finish it. Gideon sent the address to Hotch's phone, and we drove there.
"I believe Walter Kern is in Sylvia Gooden's home now, Kern's car is parked on the next block." Gideon pointed as we got out of the car.
"I want Walter Kern alive." Max demanded.
"I'll stand by for the word." The officer said.
"Okay, let's move out. I'll call you when we've secured Kern." GIdeon said to Elle and Spencer, as Morgan, Hotch, Gideon, Max, a few SWAT/FBI agents, and I went in. As we went in we heard screaming from upstairs. We ran upstairs and barged into the room where the screaming was coming from. We saw Walter about to suffocate Mrs. Gooden, but Morgan and I tackled Walter to the ground. We handed him to Max, who arrested him, and Gideon got Mrs. Gooden out and safe.
...
"Did Jason ever tell you about the time that he found the director's itinerary in a bomber's car?" Max asked. We were back on the jet. I was munching on some cashews, occasionally throwing some at Morgan.
"Wait, what?" I exclaimed.
"No, no. He never said anything." Spencer added, as Gideon cringed.
"Well, let me fill you in then. We had this bomber case, it was one of Jason's first so we had him go over and search the bomber's car, which was in the Quantico garage. Except for me and the guys had planted this piece of paper that had all these times and locations of where the FBI director was going to be over the next 48 hours. Anyway, Jason takes one look at this piece of paper and before we could stop him, he takes off runs up 25 flights of stairs to the director's office, barges in interrupting a meeting with the Attorney General himself." We all laughed at the story, "The director didn't find it very funny. Now, he was the only one who did this."
"Okay, I'm getting more snacks, anyone want anything?" Everyone shook their heads and I stood up and went to the mini kitchen. As I was finding some of my gummy worms, I saw Max behind me.
"Hey." Max said.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked.
"I just wanted to thank you, and I quote, for helping me to 'grow some balls and nipples'. I guess after your little 'lecture', I recomposed myself."
"Hey, that's what family's for."
You know, I work better in the night than the morning.
Sandman17: Thank you for the reviews :)
Toodles,
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