Somebody's Watching & Machismo- 1:18 & 1:19
Harita's POV
"We got a case. LA. Reid and Gideon are already there." Hotch announced.
"Cool, never been to LA." I started gathering my stuff.
"Oh, Harita, my office, now." Hotch went into his office and I followed.
"Harita, you're not going on the case."
"What? Is this about the chopsticks from the last case?" I asked. "I won't do it again, I promise. See, I will even-" Hotch cut me off.
"No it's not that, even though I wish you would stop. It's that-" I started panicking.
"Is about the Strauss incident? Oh, come on. It's not my fault that she had bad WiFi. She deserved-"
"No, it's not about that either. Just let me finish. The IRT has requested for you to help them in a case."
"Why me, and just why in general?" I asked.
"Well, the victims are close to your age."
"And…" I said, knowing that's not why.
"And they need a translator."
"And…"
"And there is a big storm about to hit and they need to find the victims fast."
"And…"
"Fine, Matt Simmons requested you."
"There we go, I see. So what's the case?" Hotch handed me a file, in which I opened.
"American college freshmans Laura Johnson and Sarah Harris went off the grid 2 days ago. They went on a volunteer farming trip in Bangkok, Thailand. They were last seen with a guy named Jeff Little. He also disappeared." Hotch read.
"Got it." I left Hotch's office and went to my desk to gather my stuff.
"So, what was that about?" Morgan asked.
"I'm not going to LA with you guys. Instead I'm going to Thailand with the IRT."
"Good luck." Elle said as she left.
"Don't fall in love with someone there." Morgan warned
"Oh you wish. It's not like you're going to fall in love with someone in LA faster than me!" I yelled after him.
…
The case was finished. We saved the two girls, and everything was fine and joyful. I saw that no one was there, considering it was early morning, 3 am to be exact. I sat on my desk starting my paperwork. I was in an oversized gray sweatshirt and black sweatpants. When we left the Thailand PD, it was pouring rain, and I rode back on Matt's motorcycle. My clothes were drenched, so I decided to change into something cozier in their jet. Oh my god, their jet. It's amazing. Think of it as the conference room plus Garcia's bat cave plus a garage that can fit like 5 cars. Yeah, it's huge. Besides the jet, I connected very great with everyone, thanks to Matt. I met him last year. We were partners for a case. We had to go undercover together, posing as a couple. It was pretty fun, we talked about our own partners, things we like to do, and basically anything else. We realized that we had a lot in common. The only horrible part about the IRT is the amount of paperwork you get. I only worked for the IRT for one case, I got more paperwork than I would get at the BAU for 3 cases. As I got a little more than halfway on my paperwork, I heard some voices. I turned around in my chair, and everyone just stared at me.
"Oh, come on I'm not a ghost. I want my hugs." I got up and finally got my hugs from everyone, even Gideon.
"So, Spencer… you and Lila, huh?" I saw from the news about the two, and well, got a call from Elle and Morgan on the jet about the two.
"Wait, how do you know about that?" Spencer asked.
"The news." I simply answered. "And Morgan and ELle."
"Hey!" Spencer complained as we all laughed.
"So, I got a call from Jack. Looks like you were able to talk an unsub down." Aaron said.
"Looks like my little sister is all grown up." Morgan wipes a fake tear as I chuckled.
"Well, the guy was easy to talk down. He was lonely and well I connected with him."
"How much paperwork do you have?" Elle asked with a smug look on her face. I groaned. I held up the file to show her how much.
"Well, we all also have a few to do, let's get to work so we can go home." Hotch said, as he, JJ and Gideon went to their offices, and Elle, Morgan, and Spencer sat at their desks.
"So, you thinking about transferring to the IRT?" Morgan asked as I looked at him deadpan.
"Hell no. No offense to them, but it's just no for me. Traveling outside of the country 24/7, the huge amount of paperwork, ugh no. Besides, I want to stay home. But you want to know what's better, if we can get a jet like theirs"
"That's a no, Harita!" Hotch yelled from his office. I was shocked by how he heard that.
"I swear, he's a psychic." I whispered. We all got back to our paperwork.
…
It was 5 am, and I finally finished my work. Earlier, I went to Hotch and told him to go home and celebrate his birthday. I told him as a birthday present, I'll do his paperwork for a week, even though I knew I would regret it. As I was about to gather my stuff to go to my apartment, JJ came out of her office.
"We have a case." She headed to the conference room. I groaned.
"I just want to go home." I whined.
"After this case." Morgan patted me on the back. We headed to the conference room and I sat in my seat. Hotch was there too, even though he shouldn't be.
"Allende Del Sol, Mexico, population 20,000. The victim is Lupe Trejo. 62. She was found in her home, stabbed in the face, chest and genitals. The papers down there connected her murder to 11 others in the past 2 years, all elderly women. They're saying it's the work of a serial killer." JJ stated.
"The Mexican Government disagrees." Gideon added.
"What kind of city is this?" Hotch asked.
"Half factory town, half tourist town, the factory makes the Tchotchkes and clothes that tourists buy. And even though the murders have happened in the poor neighborhoods where the locals live-"
"Serial killers make lousy tourist attractions." Hotch finished for JJ.
"Yeah."
"So if the government denies that this is a serial killer, why'd they call us?" I asked.
"They have a suspect in custody, the victim's son. Where are the serial killer experts? They want us to go down there and confirm that this was just a one time killing. Put the serial killer angle to bed." JJ answered.
"So we're going all the way down there just to prove they don't have a serial killer?" Morgan asked.
"Maybe. Or we're going down there to tell him if what I've read in the mexican papers is true they've got one of the worst serial killers the country's ever seen, let's go." Gideon said as we all left.
...
"Hey. At least you get to spend your birthday weekend in Mexico." JJ sympathized with Hotch, as he was slouched in his seat on the jet.
"Yeah, what's dog-house in spanish?" Hotch asked.
"La casa del pair-o." Spencer answered as I cringed at his pronunciation. I was about to correct him when Elle beat me to it.
"La casita del perro."
"That's what I said." Spencer argued.
"Face it, chiko. You're only a genius in english." Elle replied, smirking.
"That's what I have been telling him." I added.
"You speak spanish? Since when?" Morgan asked.
"I'm full of hidden mysteries." Elle responded, as I fist-bumped her.
"All right, so why are there so few serial killers in Mexico?" JJ asked.
"They probably have as many as we do, but they document almost none of them." Hotch replied.
"Why is that?"
"It's the Chikatilo Syndrome." Gideon answered.
"The what?"
"Andre Chikatilo, one of the most prolific serial killers of the 20th century. By the time they found him, he had killed more than 50 people." Spencer answered.
"He was no more experienced than any average serial killer, but he lived in the Soviet Ukraine. The Soviets were convinced, the serial killer is a uniquely American phenomenon. Inevitable result of decadent capitalism." Gideon added.
"So, what's the cultural bias in Mexico?" JJ questioned.
"Many Mexicans believe that serial killers are the result of the breakdown of the family, which gives rise to the kind of alienated loner who becomes a serial killer." Hotch answered.
"It's a fact that there are 12 times as many broken families in the US than in Mexico." Spencer recalled.
"All right, so is it possible that there are fewer serial killers in Mexican culture?"
"It is possible. But, in my experience, evil is not a cultural phenomenon. It's a human one." Gideon answered.
...
"Nothing like jet sleep, right?" Morgan asked as we got out of the car and into the Mexico PD.
"Yeah, kind of like a night of drinking without the drinking." Elle added.
"Agent Gideon." A guy said, coming out of the station.
"Captain Navarro."
"You're shorter than I remembered." Captain Navarro joked.
"I was on a stage."
"This is Lieutenant Borquez." Captain Navarro introduced.
"Hello." Lieutenant Borquez said.
"This is my team. Captain navarro has been put in charge of the case by the assistant attorney general." Gideon stated.
"You guys got history?" Morgan asked.
"We met at a seminar I gave in Mexico City a few years ago." Gideon explained.
"'Sexual Homicide in Latin America'", I just read a chapter on the subject in Max Ryan's book." Captain Navarro added.
"Where do you think I got it from?" Gideon chuckled.
"I'm glad you came. I was never sure how much you liked me." Captain Navarro admits.
"Why is that?" Elle asked.
"I've often told Agent Gideon that his profiling technique would not translate accurately in Latin Culture without a better understanding of our cultural values."
"Now is a good time to find out, right?"
"Uh, captain, I'd like to get a handle on the type of press this has been getting and meet some of the local police here." JJ said.
"Of course, but I imagine you would all like to settle into your rooms and rest before we go?" Captain Navarro asked.
"No. We're ready." Gideon responded.
"Let's go."
...
"What's all this?" Morgan asked as we got out of the car. We arrived at a graveyard, filled with Dia de los Muertos 'decorations'.
"Dia de los Muertos. Day of the Dead." I answered.
"Okay, please don't tell me you also speak Spanish." Morgan pleaded.
"I'm offended. After the 4 plus years of working together, you still didn't know." My face turned into a hurt look.
"Sorry," Morgan mocked. "Anyways, explain more."
"A 3-day Latin holiday where souls of dead relatives are said to return to earth to enjoy the pleasures that they once knew of." Spencer answered.
"It sounds like he was reading that out of a book." Lieutenant Borquez replied.
"No, trust me. He always sounds like that." Morgan stated.
"Actually, I was reading. I picked this pamphlet up at the airport." Spencer admitted as we started walking towards the crime scene.
"The victim's name is Lupe Trejo. 62. She was found in the bedroom by the daughter. No sign of forced entry." Captain Navarro stated.
"Are there always this many people around?" Hotch asked.
"No. Church just got out. They're walking home from the town square." Captain Navarro answered.
"What time was she killed?" Gideon questioned.
"I'm guessing some time during the evening mass. There wouldn't have been a lot of people around. Otherwise he would've been seen." Captain Navarro replied.
"Unless he blended right in." Hotch added.
"Let's go." We walked inside the house.
"No forced entry means one of two things." Gideon recalled.
"A push in, he holds a knife or a gun to her and forces his way inside." Morgan stated.
"The murder weapon, the knife, was taken from the kitchen and placed at the scene." Captain Navarro debunked.
"Then she probably let the killer in voluntarily. She looked through the peephole, saw someone she recognized, someone who made her feel safe. I don't blame her.
"She lets him in and then what?" Gideon asked.
"They have a drink?" Spencer held up a cup that was on the table. "Hey, did you run a DNA analysis on this?"
"The closest thing we have to a crime scene unit is Detective Hernandez. He has a fingerprinting kit from 1984."Captain Navarro admitted.
"Find anything?" Spencer asked.
"The victim's prints were on one. The prints on the other one were too smudged to make any match but I don't think the killer drank this anyway."
"Why not?" Elle asked.
"This drink is tamarind water. It's sweet. I could see the victim offer this to a woman. But these are family festivities and at night most men will have a shot of tequila, some beer and maybe some cigarettes. This looks like two women to me."
"You don't think a woman could've done this?" Hotch asked.
"Do you?" Captain Navarro asked back.
"It's highly unlikely."
"Get them to the FBI. At the very least they'll be able to tell us the gender of the drinkers." Reid ordered.
"Where was she killed?" Gideon asked.
"This way." Captain Navarro led Gideon and Spencer into another room. The rest of us tried to find what went missing. Morgan, Elle, and I headed to the daughter's bedroom.
"Ok, so the unsub took items of jewelry out of the daughter's bedroom. You think he did it before or after he killed the mother?" Morgan asked.
"I would say after. The way the victim was stabbed means this was a sexual homicide." Elle answered.
"And when the killer is looking for a sexual release, the items taken are usually an afterthought. Trophies. But he left jewelry on the victim's body. Why?" I asked.
"It's a common sign of remorse. A small amount of respect for the dead." Elle answered.
"Very small, if you ask me." Morgan answered as we left the room and went outside.
"You are almost certainly looking for a heterosexual male." Gideon answered.
"Why do you say that?" Captain Navarro asked.
"Well, the victim was found on the bed, multiple stab wounds to the face, chest and genital area. All indicators of sexual homicide. In case it's a sexual homicide, the attacker targets objects of his or her sexual attraction." Gideon answered.
"Heterosexual men attack women." Hotch added.
"So homosexual men attack men?" Captain Navarro asked as we all nodded.
"Did the daughter have any ideas about who might have done this?" Hotch asked.
"She didn't have any ideas about anything. When she found out that her brother was a suspect, she wanted to talk to him alone. I refused because I didn't want them to get their stories straight. Then she stopped talking completely." Captain Navarro admitted.
"So what's she protecting?" Gideon asked.
"We're ready to talk to the suspect." Hotch stated.
"Of course, but first there's someone I'd like you to meet."
…
We got back to the station, and the person Captain Navarro wanted us to meet was apparently...
"Maria Sanchez. District attorney general." Captain Navarro introduced. Do not be afraid."
"Agente Gideon." Maria Sanchez greeted. "Hello. It's an honor. Our papers are fascinated with the idea of a serial killer. And when Navarro suggested that I invite you in to dispel this nonsense, I immediately saw the wisdom. But, enough formalities. I will let you get down to business. Excuse me." She pushed past us, and I scoffed.
"She's worse in spanish." Captain Navarro stated, as we got inside. "Neighbors heard a loud fight the day of the murder. Between the victim, her son, daughter and brother-in-law. One big happy family. Well the uncle had a solid alibi. But we could not find the son. Then got a tip he had hired a coyote to take him over the border. We caught him before he crossed. That's Miguel's sister, Rosa. She's been here ever since she found out that her brother was arrested." Captain Navarro pointed to a woman sitting on a bench in the next room.
"Seems though she thinks he's innocent." Hotch observed.
"The dutiful sister. This way." Captain Navarro led Hotch and Gideon to Miguel's cell.
...
"The best way to bring the attorney general on board is by providing a complete profile." Gideon ordered. We found out that Captain Navarro had to play politics in order to protect the women, since no one believed him when he tried to say that there was a serial killer. In the end, Miguel was a homosexual, and did not fit the profile of a heterosexual.
"What do you need from me?" Captain Navarro asked.
"We need the files of all the murders." I ordered.
"Of course, but I must warn you. These reports were taken by local police in the area who are not used to this type of killer. Most basic details are missing." Captain Navarro warned.
"We'll take a look at them." Reid insisted.
"We also need to get the whole story out of Miguel Trejo. And right now he's not talking." Hotch ordered.
"Why does that matter? Obviously, he's not a serial killer." Captain Navarro asked.
"Because there's obviously a great deal of anger in the family, and before we give a profile we need to rule out the fact that this might be a crime of passion and not one of the serial killings." Hotch argued.
"Why wouldn't Miguel talk if he's innocent? Must have something to do with the fact that he's a homosexual. He'd rather be straight in jail than gay as a free man?" Morgan added.
"Now that's messed up." I stated.
"I can protect him here." Captain Navarro answered. "But if he's taken to a prison in mexico city and the other inmates find out that he is gay he will be killed. That's the way things work here."
"So how do we get him to talk?" Spencer asked.
"What about his sister?" I suggested.
...
"Rosa. Do you know the saying, 'El amor es ciego, pero no los vecinos'?" Captain Navarro asked, which translated to 'Love is blind, but not the neighbors'. My mom used to say that before she… died. It was her way of saying that they know, and you will be freed soon. Freed from the abuse. "We know there was a fight. We need to know what it was about."
"Rosa? We know about your brother. If you don't help us he could go to prison and he could be killed there." Gideon admitted.
"Esta podría ser su última oportunidad. ¿Entiendes?" Elle asked, which translated to 'This could be his last chance. Do you understand?'
"Miguel has a friend." Rosa admitted, in her thick Spanish accent. "Roberto. He was outside the house, waiting for my brother. Watching. He saw the fight with my mother."
"Did Miguel see him?" Gideon asked.
"I don't think so."
"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" I asked.
"Because it would mean telling you that... Miguel is... like you said, if he goes to prison and they know this about him they will kill him. And I could not risk that." Rosa started crying.
"But you're talking about the man who might have murdered your mother." Elle said.
"You do not understand how bad it is. You do not understand the shame! You do not understand what people will do to us. I just lost my mother. I cannot lose Miguel. La familia es todo."
"Family is everything." I translated.
...
"She may have come clean about that day, but I still think she's hiding something." Elle said, once we were 'away' from Rosa.
"I agree." I added. "The way she went on about shame, almost like she was talking about herself."
"This is interesting." Captain Navarro called out. "Before Miguel met Roberto, Roberto had a wife."
"Well if he was bisexual, that makes him capable of sexual homicide of a woman." GIdeon stated.
"And if he blamed Miguel's mother for denying their relationship that would give him a motive." Captain Navarro added.
"We need to find Roberto." Morgan said.
...
"I don't think he did it." Morgan admitted. He, Captain Navarro and Gideon came back from talking to Roberto.
"Why not?" Spencer asked.
"The way he talked about Miguel. He didn't point the finger at his boyfriend. I think a guilty man would've." Morgan explained.
"See if he has an alibi. Run his prints against any found at the scene. Right now, though, I feel confident we can rule out a family fight as a motive for the murder." Gideon ordered.
"There's a call from the FBI." Lieutenant Borquez announced, as he put the phone on speaker.
"Yeah. Morgan." Morgan called out
"Como esta, my lovelies? Es bueno, no? Tripero, esta-la?" I cringed at her pronunciation. I would have gone all out on her, but I knew her, and she's too soft for that.
"Ok, take it easy Garcia, I think you just offended somebody's mother." Morgan warned.
"Shut up, you. I took french, what can I say?"
"Penelope, your last name is Garcia."
"Yeah, I know, it's my stepfather's name. Now do you want my genius or not?"
"Yes, please. Get on with it." Elle ushered.
"Okay! So, I rushed your cups full of mucus through all the regular channels at lightning speed and the survey says one female drinker and one male."
"Thanks, doll." Morgan hung up the phone.
"It's strange. On this occasion, a man took that drink." Captain Navarro said.
"Unless the victim thought he was a woman. The woman Roberto described, the social worker, that's a common ruse for old lady killers. What if-"
"She is really a he in women's clothing?" Morgan finished Spencer's hypotoshis.
"A heavy woman. He comes to the door, knocks on it-"
"And the victim feels comfortable because she thinks it's a woman." Elle finished my sentence.
"It would explain why no witnesses have come forward. No one expects the killer to be a woman. Not in this country." Captain Navarro
"Or ours." I added.
"We need to tell the locals." Morgan stated.
"And give them the rest of the profile." Gideon got up from his chair.
...
"We have reason to believe that the killer may be a man who wears women's clothing. As a ruse to get into his victim's homes." Hotch started.
"Once inside, the killer stabs his victims and then abuses them sexually with the knife." Morgan added.
"But he wasn't always a killer. He gradually escalated from sex crimes. This may have started out as peeping tom incidents eventually leading to rape."
"And then at some point, he couldn't rape anymore. So he began killing women who represented authority figures in this life he hated. Typically a mother, grandmother. Women that he blamed for his impotence." I stated.
"How would he have targeted these women? We found no connection between them." Captain Navarro asked.
"We don't know yet." Hotch admitted. "But based on the number of times he's killed and the skill of gaining the trust of his victims we can assume that he plans his murders and that he's been committing sex crimes for many years. We think he's somewhere between the ages of 35-50." Hotch answered as Lieutenant Borquez went up to whisper something into Captain Navarro's ear.
"You need to talk to all known sex offenders. And compare them to this profile." Gideon ordered.
"You should also re-interview all your witnesses and see if anyone saw a man who might have been dressed as a woman. Gracias." I ended.
"We have another body." Captain Navarro delivered.
...
"Isabel Santiago, 67. No sign of forced entry. Stabbed in the chest and genitals." Captain Navarro said as we examined the scene.
"Abrasions on her neck. Beads. From a necklace." Elle pulled out a few beads.
"Obviously ripped off her neck." Morgan added.
"Yeah, but jewelry taken from the body. That's the first we've seen from this guy." Elle stated.
"So why was this one different?" I asked. We went outside after examining it thoroughly.
"For the past 2 years we've had an average of 1 killing every 9 weeks." Captain Navarro recalled.
"Not 2 in 3 days." Hotch stated.
"That's a pretty extreme escalation." Gideon exclaimed. "He'll kill again soon."
"Who's that over there?" Morgan pointed to the girl in a blue shirt, crying on someone's shoulder.
"That's the daughter of the victim." Captain Navarro answered.
"Maybe she could tell us something about the necklace." Elle, Morgan, and I headed over to her.
"Buenos días Anna. Me llamo Harita. Crees que podrías responder algunas preguntas ahora mismo?" I asked, which translated to 'Hello, Anna. My name is Harita. I'm sorry about everything. Do you think you might be able to answer a few questions right now.'
"Si. Yes." Anna, the victim's daughter answered.
"Your mother was wearing a necklace, it was taken from her. Do you know if it had any special significance to her?" Elle asked as Morgan handed her some beads from the necklace.
"She gave it to me for my birthday. She never bought jewelry for herself. She asked if she could wear it during the holiday." Anna answered.
"So this necklace was yours?" Morgan asked.
"It was my favorite. I wore it almost every day."
...
We left the crime scene and went back to the station, where Hotch told us what happened earlier. The police officers brought in drag queens, and were confused, causing there to be a lot of comotion around.
"These police are not stupid men." Captain Navarro defended. "They're frustrated. They read articles in newspapers saying that they're ineffective. And they want to prove that they are not. They will do this any way they know how."
"We told them that the suspect was probably a man dressed as a woman. We didn't say to round up all the transvestites and bring them in." Hotch argued.
"Why? Is it possible that this man is a transvestite?"
"No, no, no. That's not what we're saying. Men dressing like women is a manifestation of sexual preference, it is a lifestyle. It does not imply a psychology of violent behavior." Gideon stated.
"We're talking about the killer's past. That's why we were asking for people who'd been accused of sex crimes. Are the police looking onto this?" Hotch asked.
"How? Most rapes here are not even reported. And the rapists are often people who have power over them. Sometimes family, sometimes even law enforcement. I have interviewed many, many women and they do not want to talk." Captain Navarro complained.
"We can help you." Elle offered. "We can teach you interview strategies. I specialized in sex crimes and two of us speak Spanish."
"How do we even get to these women?" Lieutenant Borquez asked.
"We hold a press conference." JJ answered. "Let everyone know what we're looking for."
"What about the attorney general? She wants us to leave." Hotch asked.
"Do not worry about her. I convinced her to bring you down here. I can convince her to let you stay. We will have that press conference."
...
"Because we know this man commits sexual homicide, we could also assume that he was once a rapist." Morgan said to the following officers.
"It's a lot easier to track a rapist than a killer because you have witnesses." Spencer stated.
"You also have the chance to discover something else. The reason he began killing. Which is the stressor." Elle added.
"As far as we can tell, the first killing was about two years ago. What happened to the suspect during that time?" I asked.
"A typical stressor. Loss of job. Loss of love. He may have been released from prison. Whatever it was, it made him feel impotent made him feel frustrated and very angry." Morgan answered.
"And that's when he started killing." Elle added.
"You should be talking to victims who reported rapes just before that first murder two years ago." I ordered.
"Hopefully the press conference will help bring some of these women forward but we also need to head out and talk to some of these people directly. You should use all the female police you have. That'll help put potential victims at ease." JJ demanded.
"We don't have any, boss." Lieutenant Borquex admitted.
"You do now." Elle said, talking about us.
...
"I've been talking to so many women and forgetting how to speak english." Elle said. Her, Lieutenant Borquez, and I were on the streets, talking to women.
"Same here. God, it just feels weird." I admitted.
"Well, you know, you look latina." Lieutenant Borquez pointed to Elle.
"There's a good reason for that. My mother's cuban." Elle admitted.
"But you don't." He pointed to me. I don't blame him. My skin is brown, and I look like an Indian. Well, I was born from one.
"My mom always wanted to learn Spanish before she died, so I guess I took that upon her and learned in college."
"Well, we may have something. A woman called the police station after she saw the report on television. She says she has information on the rapist." We walked towards this sort of bar/cafe, and saw the woman cleaning a table.
"Perdona me. Me dijeron que querías hablarme sobre el violador que estamos buscando. ¿Puedes ayudarnos?" Elle asked, which translated to 'Excuse me. I was told you want to talk to me about the rapist we're looking for. Can you help us?'
"¿Te importa?" The woman responded. 'Do you care' is what she asked.
"¿Lo siento?" I asked, 'I'm sorry'.
"Do you care?" The woman repeated in English. "Most of the time nobody around here cares what happens to women. Nobody does anything about it. That's why nobody talks to the police."
"What can the police do if when a crime is committed no one comes forward?" Elle asked.
"The man who attack me is a stupid dog." The woman admitted. "He's a coward. He came up from behind and he started to rape me. But then I turned around and I started hitting him. I scratched him, I made him bleed. And that's when I saw he was wearing a dress. A dress. I couldn't believe it. I laughed in his face. A called him a pathetic woman. He was so scared. He ran away like a little boy."
"When did this happen, milagros?" I asked.
"2 years ago."
"If you weren't afraid of this man, why didn't you report him?" Elle asked.
"I told you what good would it do?"
...
"She claimed it happened 2 years ago, in August." Elle told the others back at the station.
"The first murder happened in September." Spencer observed.
"So she could've been the last one who was raped before whatever stressor made him kill." Captain Navarro added
"Or she could've been the stressor. You say this woman laughed in his face, hit him, called him a woman. Could've been enough to make him impotent. He tries to rape again and all he can hear is this woman laughing." Gideon stated.
"Maybe he thought he could rape older women. Thought they'd be easier, wouldn't put up a fight, so he tries." Morgans suggested.
"But he can't. He gets frustrated, he kills her, and then he finds the release that he was looking for. So he kills again." I added. Lieutenant Borquez came and whispered something into Gidoen's ear.
"Send them in." 6 more women came out of the door.
"You wanted us to come forward? There are 6 more women who were raped by this man. Now prove to us it will finally do some good." One of the women said.
…
We talked to all of the women, which was exhausting, switching from English to Spanish, vice-versa.
"They all have the same story." Elle compared. "He goes up to them in the street, puts a knife against their back, blindfolds them, and takes them out to the desert."
"He also kissed their neck while raping them." Spencer added.
"And then, when he's finished, he asks, 'How did I do'?" I gagged.
"Classic power reassurance behavior." Gideon stated.
"What does that mean?" Captain Navarro asked.
"Power reassurance rapists lack confidence. They can't develop normal relationships with women." Elle answered.
"Passive and non-athletic." Hotch restated.
"He most likely fantasizes that the victims are his girlfriends, and of the different types of rapists, he's the most likely to be dissuaded if the victim screams or struggles in any way." Spencer added.
"Is that it? All the characteristics of the power-assurance rapist?" Gideon tested.
"Uh, there's actually one more."
"Excuse me. I've been going over the forms filled out by the women. 4 of them work in the same factory." Lieutenant Borquez interrupted.
"He most likely lives and works near the victim." Spencer finished.
...
Morgan and Hotch got the employee records from the factory, and Morgan, Spencer, Elle, and I started sifting through them.
"So far I found more than 3 dozen men fit the target profile between the ages of 35 and 50." Spencer claimed.
"This owner wasn't kidding. Almost all of these guys had a citation for lewd behavior against the women here. They'd be warned once, and then they'd be fired if it happened again." Elle read.
"I wouldn't mess with her." Hotch stated.
"Afraid of a woman, Hotch?" I teased.
"Shoot, I'd be afraid of her." Morgan added.
"Only one of these men showed up on police records, with a sex crime. He beat up a prostitute when she refused to get rough." Captain Navarro stated.
"Not our guy." Hotch debunked. "He'd be scared, he wouldn't have the confidence to stand up to a refusal."
"But this is crazy. There's way too many men here to interview and not enough time." Morgan complained.
"Ok, we need to narrow down the profile." Hotch ordered. "What would make our guy stand out?"
"From what you told me, he completely lacks machismo. He has none of the confidence of a typical man in Mexico." Captain Navarro stated as Morgan said,
"Even with a knife in his hand. What was it that he said to the women after raping them? 'How did I do?'
"Any guy with confidence doesn't need to ask if he's doing a good job. He assumes it. In bed and at work." I stated.
"In bed and at work." Hotch repeated. "Come on."
…
We got a name, Pablo Vargas. We went to his house, but he wasn't there. Instead was a dead body, so dead that she turned into a skeleton. We also found that he a had a wall full of rape victims.
"We have a name, how do you find him?" Captain Navarro asked.
"We always ask 'Why this victim, why the next victim?' Serial killers plan their killings, and if we can figure out how he targets his victims, we can get ahead of him." Hotch answered.
"Borquez, what is this?" Captain Navarro asked.
"I charted all the names of all the rape victims who came in, like they instructed us." Lieutenant Borquez responded.
"That name, 'Torres'. There was a murder victim with that name. Let me see the statements." Captain Navarro gasped.
"What is it?" Morgan asked.
"They are maiden names." Captain Navarro answered.
"The murder victims and the rape victims." Hotch added.
"The names are the same. He's killing the mothers of the women he raped." I observed.
"And he's doing it in the same order." Spencer added. "The daughters of the last 2 murder victims, Trejo and Santiago, never came forward. If we can assume they were raped, then- according to the board the next rape victim in the line was-"
"Milagros Villanueva." Hotch answered.
"His last." Gideon gasped.
"He's gonna kill her mother." Morgan said as we ran out of the station.
...
We got to the house, but it was all thrashed up. We went to the backyard and found a dead body. It started coughing.
"Over here!" Morgan yelled. We flipped it over and found out it was a guy. A bunch of women came out of the bushes, with their hands in the air.
"He pretended to be a woman. Now he doesn't have to pretend." One of the women answered, as they all dropped their weapons.
...
We were back at the station, and all the women were getting praised. No one was charged besides the unsub. It was a happy ending.
:I'm thinking of starting a BAU in my district." Captain Navarro admitted as he walked us out.
"Takes a lot of training." Gideon chuckled.
"Thank you."
"De nada."
That took a heck load of time. 6,282 words, and 20 pages on Google Docs, all a size 14 in the font 'Patrick Hand'. Okay, let's go to the credits.
Credits:
The first part, 'inspired' by the show 'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders', the first episode, 'The Harmful One'.
All of the Spanish translations were translated by Google Translate, so don't come for me. Yes, I stopped paying attention to Spanish class.
Sandman17- :)
Now, the rant:
I started watching the Ariana Grande documentary on Netflix and holy shit, it's amazing. Also, I have this plant that I got back in July, and I thought it was just an 'only leaves' plant, but last week it started growing flowers, and I don't even know what to do. Any tips would be appreciated.
Toodles,
HernameisBurrito.