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Not Like This
Chapter Seventeen: Repainted Trauma with a Side of Lies
The whole team was back at the station, brainstorming ideas about their ever-changing unsub.
"Look at the ads here," Rossi prompted, holding the advertisements in his hands. "Two of the victims are listed here. Look at their pictures…" He handed the paper to the outstretched hands of Morgan.
"Subservient positions, as if they're asking for a dominant."
JJ nodded in agreement, "Them promising to come to you? That automatically cuts out any social interactions of meeting on a street corner or by chance."
"That's a long way from a self-assured unsub, though. Especially one who feels comfortable hitting the clubs late at night."
"Except he took a year off between these murders." Hotch injected. "Maybe he took that time to change himself."
Jamie shook her head, "That's impossible."
"Why's that?" Hotch questioned, all seriousness.
"You're talking about a complete three-sixty, a complete transformation. Take into consideration the way someone speaks, the way they hold themselves, the clothes they wear. Even the way that people think of themselves."
"It would be difficult, but not impossible."
"He had already started killing," Rossi stated. "There has to be some sort of secondary trigger that served as motivation to change who he was."
"So, if you were going to transform yourself, how would you do it?" JJ thought out loud.
"Create and follow a steady diet, self-help books, maybe?" Morgan offered. "Start going to the gym?"
"You need to learn how to read people." Spencer stated. "I mean, a pick-up is basically just a profile."
Jamie looked a Spencer, nodding in agreement. "Okay, so, decoding cues of any and all interest and recoding similar ones."
"Being too obvious turns off the target."
"If you're oblivious, your target moves onto a better profiler."
"That doesn't sound like something he could do on his own, though." Hotch noted.
"No, he'd have to learn it from somewhere." Rossi remarked.
"A self-help class, maybe?"
Morgan stood on his feet, clearly thinking through things they weren't. "Wait a minute, now. We have an unsub who kills prostitutes. Is the guy seriously going to be thinking about signing up for a Tony Robbins seminar?"
"He would if he found one." JJ spoke, pointing to the paper in her hands. "Especially if he found it in the same place he found his victims."
There was an ad that had a big, bold headline: "Learn How to Pick Up Chicks".
"Agents," Detective Harding came into the room in a rush. "there's been another murder."
"Let's go." Hotch instructed, the team leaving the safety of the precinct.
There was a sizable pool of blood in the middle of a sidewalk when the team arrived at the scene. They were handed latex gloves by the CSI team as they approached the spot, for caution. Jamie slid on her gloves and was standing near the blood with Morgan, Rossi and Spencer.
"I'm guessing either she jumped or…" Jamie started, but knew she didn't need to finish her sentence.
"The preliminary autopsy came back." Morgan said.
"And?"
"The victim's name is Becky Williams."
"Was she disemboweled?" Rossi asked.
"Nope," Spencer answered. "What's strange about it, too, is that all of the cleaning supplies were left out, but there's no trace of it anywhere on the victim."
"Now, why would this unsub alter his signature and push Becky out of an eighth-story window?" Jamie wondered, looking up at the place where she could see officers and more CSI personnel. Her mind played through different scenarios, but she could never really know what actually happened. Jamie looked back down at the pool of blood by her feet and crouched down to get a closer look. The blood was bright and it stood out against the grey concrete. There were fragments of what Jamie could only assume was pieces of the victim's skull, splayed out in the sticky substance.
It was like she couldn't help herself, like her hand had a mind of her own. As her gaze was extremely focused on the scene before her, Jamie reached out her gloved hand, dipping her finger tips into the blood. She brought it back to her face, letting herself get a better look, and never letting her eyes tear away. The thick liquid trailed down her covered fingers and Jamie found herself trapped, unable to escape the pull of her own mind.
"Jamie, hey, no, no, no. I need you to keep your eyes open."
She was trying.
"You're going to be fine…you're going to be fine."
Jamie gulped harshly, spitting up more blood as she did. It pushed past her lips, drawing red lines down her chin and out the corners of her mouth. The little effort that she was giving towards keeping her eyes open and holding her head up, seemed to evaporate all at once. Her green eyes rolled back and her head slumped to the side, out of Spencer's grasp.
"Jamie! Jamie! No, please, hey! Not like this…it can't happen like this."
"Carter!" Morgan yelled, placing a hand on Jamie's shoulder.
She jumped at the touch, finally releasing her eyes from the crimson liquid drying on her glove. Looking up, she switched glances between the three of her male coworkers. "What?" she asked them, a bit of bite to her tone.
"What do you mean 'what'?" Morgan pressed. "We've been here trying to talk to you while you dead-stare at the blood."
Jamie glanced back down at her glove, rubbing her fingers against her palm, breaking the lines of blood. Standing back up, Jamie looked around her instead of at her teammates. "What did you say?"
Rossi adjusted his stance, taking his hands from his pockets and facing Jamie. "You alright, kid?"
"I'm fine!" Jamie snapped. When she realized what she had done, she instantly regretted it. She sighed and took off her gloves. Her hands were very sweaty inside the gloves and it was making her uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." she apologized. She balled up the pair of gloves and held them in one hand. "What did you guys say before?"
"We were talking about how there weren't any surveillance cameras at the club." Morgan responded.
Jamie nodded, trying to gain back her composure.
"Becky's friends say she was talking to some guy with sunglasses. Maybe we could get the sketch out to Garcia. She could try to run it through facial recognition."
"Wait, sunglasses?" Spencer questioned, receiving a nod of confirmation from Morgan.
"Sure, but none of that explains why he pulled out his cleaning supplies and then decided not to use them." Rossi said.
"Yeah, sounds good, guys." Jamie said, focusing on anything other than the words coming from her teammates. Her eyes trailed up to the eighth story and she stepped forward. "I'm going to find Hotch." she declared, leaving the others behind, wondering what the hell just happened.
When she reached the eighth floor, Jamie wasted no time making way to the other part of the crime scene. She entered the room after flashing her badge, moving under the yellow tape.
"He's struck two Friday's in a row and if his routine is being interrupted, it might compel him to strike again." Hotch spoke to JJ.
"It's Saturday night," JJ said matter-of-factly. "the clubs will be packed."
"Take a look at the classes the unsub might have taken. We need to generate a suspect pool as soon as possible."
"Got it." JJ replied, sending Jamie a small smile as she walked past her.
"Did you need something, Carter?" Hotch questioned.
"You should tell him." Jamie thought to herself. Then again, if she told her boss about the freaky flashback she just had downstairs, he would surely take her off the case. She would probably be sent back to Quantico and would have no idea where to go from there. So, she went in another direction. "Uh, can we get Detective Harding to send a copy of the sketch to Garcia?"
Hotch didn't answer her. His face held a very deep look, one that said he was thinking of something they hadn't thought of. "Did you find anything outside?"
Jamie wasn't expecting that. She had been overcome with bloody flashbacks when she was supposed to be discussing the scene with the other three. "Um, I-I don't, I-"
"There might be a new pattern coming up, Hotch." Morgan suggested, walking through the room.
Hotch nodded, sending one last glance out the window. "Okay, we need to get that sketch out to Garcia and head back to the station." Without another word, Hotch left the room. He didn't mention Jamie's stuttering, but that doesn't mean he didn't notice it. They had a serial killer to catch, Jamie's episode could wait.
Jamie tried to follow Hotch out the room, past Morgan, when she felt a hand on her arm. She didn't even attempt to get out of the grip, instead, she froze in place, waiting to hear some sort of lecture.
"Carter, what's going on?"
She spared no glance to him, keeping her body turned away. Swallowing the lump in her throat and shaking her head, Jamie answered, "Don't worry about it." Her arm shook loose of Morgan's grip and she exited the building, the same way she entered.
After retreating to the precinct, Spencer was able to turn out a brilliant theory with the help of Garcia, of how the unsub was most likely using accessories to hide an identifier. JJ was instructed to give out the new sketch the public, one that showed the unsub's identifying mark. She held the press conference, while the rest of the team separated. Jamie had stayed behind at the station, declaring that she was going to look further into the geographical profile since they had a new location.
While she was in the conference room, Jamie did nothing to the geo-profile like she said she would. She sat at the table, drumming her fingers on the table-top, ignoring the world around her. Okay, so maybe she was wrong, she wasn't "fine". Her near-death-experience, if you could call it that, was starting to affect her mentally. The flashback that she had at the latest crime scene was so vivid and it was loud, as if it were happening in that exact moment. The worse thing about it, per Jamie, was that she didn't even realize she had been sucked into the daze until Morgan called her out.
It was costing her clarity and her focus, two important qualities to have for this job. During the three weeks where she had stayed behind in the office, Jamie swore to herself that she couldn't wait to get back into the field. She was itching for that familiar feeling of using her brain to spin out theories to catch unsubs, of working alongside her team, she even admitted to herself that she missed the jet. Instead, all of it was put on hold, thanks to her being hit by a stray bullet. It was just her luck that it had hit her in one of the worst possible spots, almost costing her the one life she had. That night, sitting on the pavement, being held upright by Spencer, it seemed sort of unreal. Yet, she could comprehend everything around her and now, she could remember it like the back of her hand. Almost losing her life would be something that haunted her, no doubt in her mind. It was like having a bad disease, having a strong memory. Then again, she kept letting her mind drag her back to that place, in that hurtful direction. It was just a matter of time before she let her emotions rise, before she experienced the details in full consciousness. She never asked for this and she knew the risk when she took the job, but she never asked for painful, painted memories.
Jamie stood on her feet, sighing. Observing the big whiteboard in front of her, she walked over to it. Picking up a red marker, she pulled the cap off, ready to draw lines onto the map; but before she could do that, JJ stuck her head into the room.
"Hey, Jamie, we need to give the profile."
"Okay, I'm coming." Jamie replied, replacing the cap on the marker. She met JJ at the door, the two of them strolling into the room where the rest of the team had arrived, along with officers and Detective Harding.
Hotch stepped in to begin the delivery of the profile. "This unsub is a white, confident alpha male. He's between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. He's in excellent physical shape. It helps him overpower woman and it also feeds his self-image."
"He is obsessed with cleaning." Rossi added. "He probably works in the service industry, probably cleaning up after others, and convinced that people look down on him."
"The change in his victimology and in himself reflects that." Jamie noted, going down the line.
"This is the kind of guy who wants to stand out in large crowds. He's taken a class on how to pick up woman. So, more than likely he'll attempt to repeat a series of well-rehearsed lines and mind games." Morgan explained.
"He may be uneducated, but do not be fooled. This unsub is by no means stupid. Taking this class has given him the ability to read verbal cues and body language." JJ mentioned.
"Also," Spencer spoke up. "one classic routine Viper promotes is called the "push-pull". He'll insert himself in between two women and immediately after complimenting one of them, he'll deliver a subtle insult and pay attention to the other." Spencer walked over to JJ, grabbing her hand and holding it in front of his face. "That's a nice ring."
JJ smiled at the "compliment" and gave a small laugh. "Thank you."
"My grandmother used to wear a lot of fake diamonds, too." Spencer insulted, releasing her hands and walking away. He had demonstrated the technique he just described and even though it was serious, it earned a few laughs from the audience.
"Ignoring the one woman puts her in direct competition with her friend and causes the other to pursue more aggressively." he concluded.
It was Harding's turn to speak to her officers. "We've mapped all of his hotspots and he frequently hits the same clubs that Viper does, so we're going to need eyes and ears in every single one of them."
"Make sure to circulate the sketch we have a widely as possible." Hotch added. "We need everyone aware that there's a killer out there. Thank you," he said, ending the meeting and the officers all going their own ways.
"You know, I think I might just stay here tonight and man the tip-line tonight. I-well, clubs aren't really my thing." Spencer claimed, looking to Hotch.
"Woah, not a chance, kid." Morgan stepped in. "I need my wingman."
"Actually, there's another angle we need to go by here." Rossi mentioned.
"We still don't know what made the unsub change his victimology." Hotch stated. "What made him stop killing prostitutes and move into the clubs?"
"That answer might be somewhere in Viper's class, but to figure that out, we need to profile the teacher."
"So, we have to bait him, then. Give him someone he would see as a challenge." Morgan suggested.
"Study his style up close and personal." Spencer noted. "It's going to take someone that he's already attracted to." Spencer shifted his gaze towards JJ, along with the rest of the team.
JJ knew instantly what they were suggesting. She shook her head and crossed her arms, "This should be fun…"
"Why bait him with one when we have two." Morgan stated, turning his gaze to Jamie as she was standing right by JJ.
Her eyes went wide and she let out a scoff. When she was about to open her mouth to speak, she was stopped by someone voicing what she considered concern.
"Wait, what?" Spencer wondered out loud. The tone in his voice wasn't normal and everyone could sense it.
Jamie stepped forward, completely ignoring Spencer's outburst. She looked around at her team, kind of at a loss for words. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"We know he likes to put himself between pairs and if this is what it takes to catch him-" Hotch began to explain.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." Spencer interrupted.
Jamie turned her attention to Spencer now. "Why?" she lifted one eyebrow, waiting for his justification.
"I just-you don't-I…"
Morgan chuckled and clapped him on the back. "Don't worry Pretty Boy, your girl will be safe. She'll have eyes on her at all times."
Jamie rolled her eyes slightly, looking back at JJ. "So, what do you feel like wearing tonight?"
The two female agents were in the locker room of the police station. Jamie sat in front of a mirror, applying a makeup look that she never thought would see the light of day, ever again.
"I'm actually kind of glad I won't have to face this guy alone." JJ spoke up, dressing herself in the provided outfit.
"Ha, I used to love places like this in college. Every chance I got, I would hit some club with my friends."
"Really? What about Spencer?"
Jamie laughed again, putting the finishing touches on herself. "It wasn't his most favorite thing to do. I mean, you know him pretty well, you know that he'd rather sit at home and read War and Peace for the four-hundredth time; but don't fool yourself, Jareau. The guy knows how to have a good time."
They laughed and heard a knock at the door. "JJ, Jamie?"
"You can come in!" JJ shouted.
Hotch entered the locker room, greeting then with a nod. "Are you both okay with this?"
"I'm good to go." Jamie assured.
"Me, too."
"Okay," Hotch replied. "just remember what we discussed and we'll all be there if you need help." He gave a slight smile before leaving.
When the door shut all the way, Jamie looked over at JJ. "Did he just smile?"
JJ nodded and smiled a little herself. "It's a rare sight, I tell ya'." she joked. "Get dressed, we should be there soon."
"Right." Jamie acknowledged. She grabbed her dress from the garment bag and took it out of the cover. It was a simple black dress, yet very alluring. "Wow…"
JJ looked over her shoulder, then looked own at her own dress. "If it gets us this unsub, then I say flaunt it."
When Jamie had her dress on, she checked herself in the mirror one more times. She grabbed her purse and strapped on her heels. "Let's get going."
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