The Popular Kids- 1:10
Harita's POV
"Mcallister." JJ said as she walked into the conference room and handed us our files for the case. "Western slope of massanutten mountain in Virginia. 2 bodies discovered in the woods both with apparent blunt trauma to the head."
"Skeletons?" Reid asked.
"One of them. The second victim was just killed this morning."
"How do we know there's a connection?" Elle questioned.
"They were found about 75 feet apart with nearly identical head wounds." Hotch answered.
"Where's the rest of the case file?" Morgan queeried.
"There isn't one. The sheriffs are on the scene waiting for us." Hotch replied.
"Their location is only a half hour away by plane." JJ stated.
"Then what's the rush?" I asked.
"Well, there was evidence on the scene that could cause a bit of a public uproar."
"A satanic cult." Gideon finished for Hotch as he left the conference room. I looked at the picture that Gideon dropped, and on it there was a tree. 'Satan lives LOD' was written in blood on it, with a star drawn.
…
*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.)
...
"Hey, what's up? You never call me when I'm on a case. Are you okay?" I asked. Once we got in the air on the jet, Saline called me, which was very weird because she never does that. I was standing in the mini kitchen/bar, getting a bag of pretzels when she called.
"Physically, yes, mentally, that's icky." She replied, her voice sounding tired, depressed, and strained.
"Oh no, who's ass do I need to kick?" I jokingly said.
"Cancer's" Saline said, monotone.
"Oh no." I sighed as I propped my elbow on the counter and leaned my head against it. Saline's grandma had cancer for a long time, but it was stable. Recently though, it wasn't, which is why Saline would go and visit her more often. I was really close to her, she treated me like her own granddaughter, which was nice, since I felt 'known' and 'belonged'.
"It's gotten worse. She's in critical condition." I sighed and pursed my lips.
"Are you there with her?"
"Yeah, I arrived at the hospital a few minutes ago. The doctors are checking her right now."
"Okay, well I got to go. Call me back when you get something."
"Alright, go and save some lives. Love you.
"Love you back." I hung up and rubbed my forehead. After a few seconds, I got my bag of pretzels, and put on a happy face. I walked back to my seat where we started to discuss the case.
"JJ, we need to obviously, keep this out of the press for as long as possible." Hotch advised.
"I'll do what I can."
"Why is that so important?" Elle questioned.
"Ooo!" I exclaimed. " In the 1980s there was a nationwide scare involving satanic ritual killings and abuse. It was called 'Satanic Panic'. Kinda catchy." Spencer nodded.
"Yeah, it began after the publication of a book about repressed memories being recovered through hypnotherapy. Memories of growing up with devil worshippers who use children in their rituals and ceremonies."
"Most of the claims were later found to be false or just impossible." Hotch added, ruining the mood.
"But, numerous therapists accepted the assertions as true and began searching for similar signs in their own patients. After one year, thousands of people reported the exact same repressed memories." I said.
"The bureau conducted an investigation and concluded that most of the most of the ritual killings or abuse were more urban legend than anything else." Hotch counter-argued.
"You're saying that there's no such thing as devil worship?" Elle asked.
"Not at all." Gideon admitted. "But most of the satanism that we've seen is juveniles damaging property, desecrating churches, cemeteries. To my knowledge, there has never been a proven case of a satanic ritual killing in the United States."
"Well, maybe there is now." Morgan said.
...
"WHEEEE!" I yelled as I ran down a hill. Yes, sometimes I act like a kid, but you only live once. We were at the crime scene, Hotch was talking to an officer, Elle was inspecting a tree, and Morgan was right behind me, who also ran down the hill, but didn't yell. The officer that Hotch was talking to looked at me weird. Adults, am I right?
"Don't mind her." Hotch dismissed. "So he was a pretty strong kid, huh?"
"I know he used to run out here on the mountain all the time. That's not easy." The officer replied, taking off his hat that had a star on it.
"Was he out here running today?" Morgan asked.
"He was wearing sweats."
"Who wears sweats while they run?" I questioned, squinting my eyes and shriveling up my nose in judgement and disgust.
"Apparently this guy." Morgan pointed out. "A crime of opportunity or was the unsub lying in wait for this kid specifically?"
"Unsub?" The officer asked.
"Unknown subject. The killer." Hotch responded.
"If it is a cult, do you think they cared who the victim was?" Elle asked as she walked over to us.
"Maybe. Maybe not." Morgan replied.
"So we're talking about a blitz attack on a high-risk victim, one who could defend himself with a weapon picked up at the scene." Hotch observed a rock that he picked up.
"Disorganized offender, it could be a cult. That would be fun." I commented.
"The manson crime scenes were textbook disorganized murder." Morgan recalled.
"This looks like a heavily traveled area." Elle said as she looked at the path.
"A lot of the locals walk these paths. Some tourists, too." The officer answered.
"If you are gonna conduct a ritual killing, would you do it in the middle of a traveled path?" Elle questioned.
"Well, if the other crime scene was a ritual site where the pentagram is I might blitz the victim here and drag him to the other scene." Hotch answered.
"Then why didn't they?" I asked.
"Find anything interesting down there?" Hotch asked Gideon, as he, JJ, and Spencer made their way up the hill from the other crime scene.
"Yeah, it does look like some kind of ritual site." Gideon replied.
"Have any of you ever heard the expression 'lod' or the acronym 'LOD'?" Spencer questioned.
"Not me." Elle replied, after helping him up.
"Maybe it stands for 'Live or Die' or 'Lots of Death', since it goes with the cult theory." I suggested, tugging on my black trench coat.
"Cherish?" A woman screamed. "Cherish? Sheriff Bridges!" The same woman yelled as she was being held back by an officer.
"It's ok, Harris. Let her in." Sheriff Bridges said.
"Was Adam Lloyd killed out here?" The woman asked.
"Who told you that, Veronica?" Sheriff Bridges questioned.
"Was he?" Veronica insisted. "My daughter was with him. They were out running together this morning. Oh, my god. I can't find her. Cherish is missing. Cherish is missing! Help me, please."
…
Next time, make sure you don't go for a little 'walk' with Morgan and Elle without a map. We almost got lost if it weren't for me and my amazing memory. As the other adults were handling the situation, Hotch told the three of us to go and try and get 'familiar' with the place. If only we had a map. Luckily, we made it back safe and sound.
"This is some rough country. We only went 1/4 of a mile, and we almost got lost." Elle huffed.
"Yeah, thanks to you two." I pointed at Morgan and Elle, which Morgan replied by slapping my finger.
"The unsub has to be from this area. You don't just stumble onto a place like this." Morgan said.
"JJ, where'd the sheriff go?" Gideon asked.
"He's setting up a search party." JJ replied, looking up from her phone.
"Tell him I want him to use volunteers from the area. Locals."
"Do you want him to know why?"
"No, not yet." Gideon chuckled as JJ left.
"Is it wise to alienate him?" Hotch questioned.
"Well, he thinks we're looking for a monster. If we tell him we're looking for volunteers so we can profile who shows up he might call the whole thing off." Gideon said and then walked away.
...
Who knew one phone call can change your mood. Right as JJ came back with the sheriff, I got another call from Saline. This time she told me that her grandma was in surgery, due to her condition. It wasn't great, but I had to keep my head up and try to at least smile, or make others smile.
"I grew up in Brooklyn. You couldn't get this many people out for anything less than free money." Elle said. We got the whole town here at the crime scene, which was great, that way we can find the unsub easier, since we knew they lived here.
"Well, here come the jocks and cheerleaders." Morgan pointed to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention, please?" Sheriff Bridges shouted. "Now, you're all assigned grid squares to search. Each grid has a deputy or an FBI agent. You find anything, do not touch it. Just let your grid leader know. Now, are there any questions?" Silence. "All right. Everyone get in your group now."
"You have the sign-in sheets?" Gideon asked JJ.
"Yeah."
"Is Garcia standing by to do background on them all?"
"I got a deputy waiting to take me back to the station. I'm gonna fax her soon as I get there."
"Good. This type of unsub can't resist injecting himself into a show like this. He's here with us."
...
That was the most boringest walk ever. Out of every other grid, my grid had most of the jocks and cheerleaders. Ugh, and they did nothing. Luckily, or unluckily, I found nothing. I met up with Elle back where we started and she found something. It was a piece of paper. It said, 'Satan commands the virgin be sacrificed at the next full moon.' and there was blood on it. We all gathered back up and headed back to the station to give the profile.
"Contrary to popular belief there has never been a proven case of satanic ritual killing." Hotch started. "Never a verified human sacrifice. Having said that, there have been isolated cases of animal sacrifice. Many, many cases of vandalism in the name of satan."
"But that doesn't mean that ritual satanism is impossible. More importantly, for our purposes there have been cults that killed, just not in ritual fashion." Morgan said.
"'The Reverend Jim Jones and The People's Temple', his followers killed a U. S. Congressman and 3 people before committing mass suicide and leaving over 900 people dead. And perhaps the most widely-known of the killer cults, 'The Manson Family', under the direction of Charles Manson killed 9 people in a 4-day period in an attempt to initiate a race war." Spencer recited.
"Killer cults do exist, and they all have one thing in common, invariably they're headed by charismatic megalomaniacs." Elle added.
"You're looking for that leader, who will stand out. He's memorable to somebody, and people who aren't in his group will see him as strange, weird, scary." I said, taking a bite out of my Clif bar.
"Since we're dealing with professed satanists which is often practiced by younger males we may be looking for teenagers. Heavy metal music is often associated with satanism and these kids and their leader may reflect that in their look." Hotch stated.
"Most likely, there'll be sex, drugs and alcohol. And the leader, he'll be older. It's part of his charm." Morgan added.
"And he is from this area. He's definitely local. These woods are too thick and confusing for a visitor to get around in." Hotch revealed.
"You think one of our own people is doing this?" The sheriff asked, shocked.
"We're sure of it." I replied.
"I would know if someone was capable of doing-"
"Dad." Cory, the sheriff's son, interrupted. "I know somebody like that. His name's Mike Zizzo. He graduated about 5 years ago. He's in his 20s, but he still hangs out with high school kids. He's got a group of them. They follow him everywhere. They all get high and listen to heavy metal. He calls them the lords of destruction."
"'LOD'." Spencer exclaimed.
"How do you know this, Cory?" The sheriff asked. "It's all right, son." The sheriff softened after Cory hesitated.
"I've been there, where they hang out drinking beers. He talks about Satan all the time. Says he's the one true god."
"Where is this place?" Gideon asked.
"On the other side of the mountain. The old Jenson house." Cory responded.
"It's out of my jurisdiction." The sheriff admitted.
"Not ours." Hotch pointed out as we gathered our stuff and headed towards the SUVs. As I got in, Gideon stepped back and closed the door.
"I'm not going on the raid."
"What's up?" Hotch asked.
"I don't know yet." We got settled in and drove away.
...
After a heck ton of screaming, mostly containing 'FBI!' and 'Up against the wall!' and my favorite, 'Turn the music down!', we arrested the 'leader', Zizzo, and brought him into custody for interrogation, which was being runned by Elle, Hotch and the Sheriff. Morgan, Spener, an officer, and I stayed behind just to check out the place thoroughly.
"I've got to give the sheriff a report." The officer said. "I'll be back as soon as I can. You guys need anything?"
"Coffee would be nice." Spencer said.
"He takes about a quart of sugar in it." Morgan joked, walking away.
"2 teaspoons is fine." Spencer corrected, walking away to join Morgan.
"Make that 3." I whispered to the officer. "Oh, also, can you bring back a bag of chips?"
"You got it." The officer drove off in his police car. I ran to join the others.
"Morgan. You knew I didn't want you to tell Hotch about my 'problem'." Spencer accused.
"The thing with Morgan is that 'privacy' isn't in his dictionary." I teased.
"Reid, that's something they need to know about."
"What do you mean 'they'?"
"Hotch and Gideon."
"You told Gideon, too?" Spencer yelled.
"Yeah, and it's ok, kid." Morgan reassured.
"I kinda don't blame him, nightmares are something you need to talk about to someone." I replied.
"You told her too?" Spencer exclaimed.
"No, I just… knew." I replied.
"I am that easy to tell? What if they think I can't do my job? What if they want to pull me off the team?"
"Look Spencer, they won't." I said, calmly.
"Oh, yeah? How do you know that?" Spencer yelled. "You had no right, man." He pointed his finger at Morgan. "I confided in you. You know, this is exactly what I get when I trust someone. It gets thrown back in my face."
"Spencer, calm down. We all get nightmares at some point-"
"Mine started 6 months after I got into the BAU." Morgan cut me off. Gideon, and I were the only ones who knew about his nightmares. I found out from Morgan from his facial expressions and to be honest, I just knew. I then told Gideon about it, Morgan told them, and now is fine and stronger as ever. Well, I'm still stronger than him. And better. "Yeah. Mine. We were working a strangler case in Montana. Four victims. Me, I was still pretty young at the time so you know, I was feeling myself. I was cocky, I was arrogant. The locals, they didn't have anything, so I stepped up. I said I can nail down a profile for you just as soon as I can get what I need."
"More victims." Reid said.
"She was found the next day. So I went down to the scene to do my thing. And as I was looking over the body, that's when I saw them. Her eyes, Reid. They were wide open. And there was something different about them, it was like they were looking right at me. Like she knew. I asked for a victim. Well, here she was. That's when they started for me. Night after night I would fall asleep and I would see those eyes. They were dead eyes. Accusing eyes. And it got to the point where it was happening even when I wasn't asleep. Reid, everywhere I went, I saw those eyes."
"What did you do?" Reid asked.
"Harita. She knew. I didn't tell her. I was like you. I didn't want anybody to know. She just knew. She told Gideon. And he sat me down and he just kind of talked me through it. I still have the nightmares to this day, just not nearly as often. But when they come back, I know how to handle them better." Morgan admitted.
"What did he say?" Spencer asked. Morgan was about to tell him but a car pulled up near us. Inside was Cory. He got out of the car and headed towards us.
"Did you find her? Cherish?"
"No." I answered.
"Did Zizzo say anything?" Cory asked.
"We don't know. We've been here the whole time." Morgan replied.
"Cory, calm down." Reid added.
"How am I supposed to calm down? Cherish is missing. Did you check all over?" Cory insisted, walking towards the house.
"We searched the whole house." I said.
"What about the outbuilding?" Cory asked.
"Outbuilding?" Morgan questioned.
"Did you check the other area? Back in the woods?"
"I didn't know there was another area." Morgan said.
"Yeah, it's like a sluice structure or something. He took me there once. It's this way." Cory ran off and we followed him.
...
"It's up here. This is their secret place." Cory pointed. Morgan shined his flashlight across the building, and stopped. I saw it. It was the LOD signature and the star. I looked at Morgan and nodded. I got my gun and flashlight drawn and headed to the building, with Morgan in front. We went in and quickly saw the body. It was Cherish's. It was all bloody, but that wasn't the worst part. Her eyes were wide open, staring back at us.
"Morgan turn around. Please." I pleaded, and he did as told. I knew this reminded him of his nightmares/his 'incident' so I didn't want him to go through that again. We walked back out and went to the other two.
"Is she there? Is she all right?" Cory asked, persistent.
"Cory, she's in there." I replied.
"Is she dead? She can't be dead." Cory solemnly said. Morgan pulled out his phone and tried calling Gideon, but there was no service. We gave each other the 'look'.
"Reid, I want you to go to the house and see if the deputies have come back." Morgan said.
"What?"
"We need the sheriff and the crime scene team here." I added.
"But-"
"Reid. Do it." Reid left and went back to the house. It was just the three of us, Morgan, Cory, and I.
"I can't- I can't believe Cherish…" Cory muttered.
"I'm sorry about your friend." Morgan sympathized.
"I saw her the other day. It was a pep rally."
"Reid tells me you've read all the profiling books." Morgan sat down onto a bench, as he was trying to start up a conversation.
"Actually kinda hoping to be one of you guys someday."
"Are ya?" I chuckled. "So then you know what profilers do?"
"You know that we look at a crime scene from a different perspective than regular cops, right? We look for more than just the evidence. We try to pick up on the behavior of the killer." Morgan explained.
"For example, in this crime we're looking for a guy that would be classified as a disorganized killer." I added.
"Sounds like Zizzo, doesn't it?" Cory interjected.
"Yeah. Sure it does." I chuckled. "But then again, sometimes a disorganized killer only looks disorganized. Sometimes it's actually an organized guy, and pretty smart guy. Somebody who can manipulate a crime scene to make it look like somebody else did it."
"Because of that, we also gotta look for someone who might try to put himself right in the middle of an investigation so that he can influence things." Morgan paused as he got up and stood next to me. "Especially if he knows exactly what it is that we're looking for." Cory started to slowly walk away, as he knew we might be onto him.
"I mean, he wants to control this, right? And that would extend to discovery. Wanting the body found when and especially where he wants that body found." I stated.
"You mean me?" Cory questioned as he turned around to face us.
"This was more than just a lucky guess, wasn't it?" Morgan said.
"I knew about the building."
"You also knew about Zizzo and the satanism."
"I was only trying to help."
"Well, you did that. We couldn't have found this place without you." I retorted.
"Hey Morgan, Harita, no one's up there." Reid said as he came over to us. Suddenly, Cory pulled out a gun, grabbed Spencer and held the gun to his head. Morgan and I pulled out our guns and pointed it at him.
"This got all messed up." Cory admitted.
"Don't be stupid." Morgan warned.
"She wasn't supposed to be with him. It was his run. He runs it every day, not her."
"Cory, listen to me. We can fix this. But you've got to let Reid go." I said, trying to sound sympathetic.
"I never meant to hurt her. But make no mistake I will shoot your boy right now." Cory threatened.
"No, you won't." Morgan replied.
"Tempt not a desperate man." Cory flipped the trigger. "Put the gun down!"
"Okay all right." Morgan said as we both dropped our guns and put our hands up. "You're in control, Cory. Let him go."
"For the evil is man's best force. Man must become better and eviler." Spencer spitted out.
"What?" Cory asked.
"That's what this is about, right? Zarathustra? The superman? There's no moral obligation for killing someone if you're superior to them? But Nietzsche was speaking metaphorically about evolving as a species." Spencer explained.
"You're just a horny kid who wanted to get rid of the cheerleader's boyfriend." I added.
"No." Cory insisted.
"Yes." Morgan said.
"That was never my intent-" Reid got out of Cory's grip and Morgan tackled him to the ground while I did the same to Spencer. Cory was about to get up and fight back when Morgan punched him first, knocking him out.
"You all right?" I asked Spencer as I rolled away from on top of him.
"What happened?" Spencer replied back.
"Him bringing us down here was way too much of a coincidence." I answered.
"I got that. But did you have to tackle me too?"
"You're welcome, Reid." I smirked as I got up. I held my hand to him and he grabbed it. I pulled him up and he dusted off the dirt from his clothes. Morgan grabbed Cory and dragged him to the now approaching cop cars, which was heard due to the sirens.
…
I kept on looking at my phone constantly, trying to see if I got a message from Saline. I guess you could say I was pretty anxious. I mean, I bet you would too if you were waiting to see if your girlfriend's grandma is alright. We were on the ride back to Quantico, and everyone was sleeping, except for Hotch. I was sitting in my usual seat, not doing my usual stuff, and Hotch seemed to have noticed. He sat down in front of me.
"Hey, is everything alright. Normally, you would be knitting, or playing cards, or eating a Clif bar." Hotch chuckled, trying to make me laugh, but it didn't work.
"Well." I sighed. "Earlier, when we were on the jet, debriefing the case, I got a call from Saline. Her Grandma's cancer got worse, where she was in critical condition. Then, before all of the volunteers came, I got another call. This time Saline told me that she was admitted to surgery. I guess I'm just waiting for an update."
"Hey, she'll call soon." Hotch said. As if he was a magician, my phone rang. It was Saline. I picked it up and I heard Saline… crying?
"Hey, what's up? Is everything alright?" I asked, worried. Saline sniffled
"Grandma didn't make it." Saline stated. I put my hand over my mouth and tried to not cry. Key word, 'try'. Though there were tears in my eyes, which were threatening to fall out.
"Okay, look. We just finished our case and I'm on my way back. Once I arrive, I'll book a flight to London and I'll get there as soon as I can, alright."
"Yeah. I got to go. Bye."
"Bye." I hung up the phone and looked down. I looked back at Hotch and sighed.
"I needed to take a few days off, maybe a week or two even."
"Yeah, that's alright. Is everything okay?" Hotch questioned.
"She died." I admitted as the tears finally spilled from my eyes and streamed down my face.
"Oh Harita, come here." Hotch opened his arms wide and I crashed into them. His arms wrapped around me as I wrapped my arms around him. I buried my head into his shoulder and poured out all my tears.
I am so sorry for the sad ending. But as Garcia always does, look up some cute cat pictures/videos. They do help. How else is Garcia so joyful and full of sparkles and sunshine.
Toodles,
HernameisBurrito.