Chapter 4: Reid's POV
"They found a message carved into her stomach." Emily said, her voice serious.
When he heard that, his heart stopped. "What did it say?"
Silently, she handed over her phone. A picture of the third victim's stomach was there. There was no excess blood, so it was done post mortem. It read "I will find HER".
"Who is the her mentioned?" I asked, though I didn't expect Prentiss to answer.
But she did. "Well, all the victims fit the same physical description. All of them were in their sophomore year of high school, all of them went to Las Vegas College Prep, all of them had dark hair and dark eyes, and all wore glasses. So it's safe to assume he's looking for someone of that description."
"Maybe we should ask Garcia to get us a list of all the girls matching that description?" I asked, mind whirling. The girl I had talked to, Phoebe, matched that description. She was in danger if I didn't solve the case, along with other teenagers. Kids who hadn't had their first kiss yet were turning up dead, kids who were supposed to have their life ahead of them.
Maybe I should take a break from this job.
"Well that would get us victims, but it wouldn't help us catch the unsub." she replied, unknowingly interrupting my internal monologue. But she was right, of course. She usually was.
"Do you think it was a student or a teacher?" she continued, as I took a left, heading towards the police station.
"Probably a student," I responded," Teachers would have access to all student records, and if they needed to get the victim alone, they wouldn't ask them to go to a diner. Plus, most teachers who kill their students do it due to mental illness, and are unorganized or even confess, but this unsub seems to be organized." I continued, keeping my eyes on the road in front of me while my mind drifted far away.
"Spencer…" She said, and I looked over at her, then pulled over. She looked sad, but mainly she looked worried.
"What's going on with you?" she asked, and in that moment I knew it was over. Emily never used my first name, not unless it was serious.
"Being back home… hurts. I spent my childhood here, and all we've seen lately are kids who lose their lives. It's draining, and this case is even worse because I see so much of myself in that girl I interviewed earlier. She looked so scared when we walked in, but she turned happy in the instant I told her that I was who she thought! She's begging for friends but doesn't know how to ask!" I exclaimed, and with a jolt realized that I was crying.
"It's going to be alright, Reid," Prentiss assured, and as she talked her hand moved to my thigh as she looked me in the eye. I grabbed it, but retorted.
"But what if it isn't, Emmy? What if he takes another girl, what if he takes Phoebe?"
She hugged me.
"We're experts at this, Reid. It's literally our job to save people, and we already have a good idea of who the unsub might be. He's a student, and that narrows our search to a few hundred people." she said, and I realized how close we were. Our faces were almost touching, the gap was so small-
But before I could reply, or move, the phone rang. We hastily returned to our proper positions before answering, like what was happening was a secret, which I guess it was.
"Prentiss, it's Garcia. I was looking into possible future victims of the unsub like Hotch told me too. I cross referenced all of the victims schedules, and while none of them shared more than one class, all of them shared at least two classes with a boy named Jeremy Jacobs- and here's where it gets weird. Jeremy Jacobs's dad died when he was two in a car accident- and local consensus was that it was set up by his wife when she learned he had an affair and got someone else pregnant, leading to Jeremy having a half-sister that he's never met" Garcia said, rushing through her words.
Shocked by the information Garcia just gave, I couldn't respond. Luckily, Prentiss was ready.
"So you think the "her" mentioned is his lost sister?" she asked, a shocked tone in her voice as I saw the wheels turning in her mind.
"I think so. I already told Hotch and the others, they want to regroup at the precinct," Garcia said, before hanging up the phone.
"So we have a suspect," Emily said, and we nodded at each other before I put the car in drive and headed towards the precinct. We arrived a few minutes later, and headed straight for the conference room that had become our base of operations. It was nice, we had our own coffee machine as well as a few maps of the area. On the right of the room once you entered was the victim board, with pictures of the last three girls on it, along with where the bodies were found and their last known location. I walked over to the map, but before I could examine it further Hotch started talking.
"So all of the girls were brunettes in their sophomore year at Las Vegas College Prep, all were active in the music program, and all shared at least two classes with Jeremy Jacobs. He is currently our top suspect, due to his missing half-sister who he believes is one of his classmates." Hotch said, looking for signs of recognition in the officers faces.
"The band director, David Blake, said that all three of the victims went to "Dandelion Diner" the day they went missing," Prentiss offered, and Hotch nodded.
"How about you and Morgan follow up at the diner, while Rossi, Reid, and I talk to Jeremy?" Hotch asked, though it was more of an order. Nevertheless, we all agreed and started heading towards the SUVs. And before we all got in, I shot Emily a nervous smile, which she returned.