*Edit* - I just fixed some grammar mistakes. I finished writing this chapter at 2am this morning so I'm not surprised at how many errors there were *facepalm*. If you notice anymore, don't be afraid to tell me haha - it saves me the embarrassment of finding them later.
Here's the official first chapter, which takes us back to when this whole case began. I had to do quite a bit of research for this chapter and it made me realise just how bad at Geography I am. I apologise for any mistakes in place names, distances, time lines etc – the sole thing I had to rely on for help was good-ol' Google Maps!
Thank you for the follows and reviews from the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one too :)
*Nearly two months earlier*
It was a rainy Monday morning and the team was tired. Though it had been over three weeks since the hunt for Peter Lewis ended, the high intensity of the past few months had really taken its toll on each member of the Behavioural Analysis Unit.
The office was quiet. It was the team's first day back after the director awarded them some time off to recuperate after the stressful year. The only things that disturbed the silence were the occasional turn of a piece of paper, the click of a pen, or the sound of the elevator doors opening with a resounding "ding". Everyone was seated at their desks working on their – rather large – pile of reports that had been steadily growing as the weeks passed by. Reid was (of course) nearly finished with his workload, however every time he returned from the kitchenette or bathroom, he had an extra two or three files on his desk. He decided to ignore the not-so discrete cheeky grins on Morgan and Emily's faces, and each time with a sigh, chose to continue writing without saying a word.
JJ watched as, for the third time that morning, a file was slipped into the pile that sat on the edge of Spence's desk. She chuckled when she realised that the one and only David Rossi had decided to join in on her coworkers' game. He turned to face the blonde and slowly brought a finger to his lips when he noticed the "boy genius" returning with another giant mug of coffee. Nobody dared to ask anymore how many teaspoons of sugar had been mixed in to his "caffeinated goodness", as Garcia called it. JJ spun around in her office chair to face her best friend;
"Hey Spence, Dave here thought that he would be oh-so-nice and add another report to your pile!"
"Reid don't believe her, she's lying!" The senior profiler quickly retorted, his face adopting a fake look of innocence.
"Well Rossi, the last time I checked I had exactly eleven files left to do, and now-" his eyes flicked over to his desk just in time to witness Emily adding yet another to the top of the stack, "- there's twe-thirteen."
"Darn." Rossi turned to face JJ, who sported a wide, mischievous grin. He raised a finger and shook it, pretending to give out to her, "next time, Jen, remind me never to trust you with a secret!"
The blonde agent shrugged and tucked a stray piece of her long hair behind her ear.
"Suit yourself Dave. But, just so you know, I'm actually very good at keeping secrets."
She finished her statement with a wink and continued to smile at the man, who she considered the father figure she never had.
Suddenly, a colourful blur ran into Hotch's office murmuring something along the lines of "this is bad, this is bad, this is very bad!"
Derek gestured towards the office, where he could see Hotch and Garcia nodding as they both scanned their eyes over a thick case file. "Looks like our time off has officially come to an end."
The others glanced up at the window and could see their Unit Chief rub his tired eyes. His brow was furrowed and the stoic expression that was always on his face remained intact. His hand moved to scratch his chin. Even from where they sat in the bullpen, they could sense that this case was going to be a tough one. Each agent began guessing what they could possibly be dealing with;
"Maybe it's an LDSK – we haven't had one of those in a while, and Hotch is probably worrying about the lack of evidence they have for us to work from," Morgan suggested.
"Hmmm, maybe a serial arsonist? Those cases are always hard," Emily followed suit with her guess.
JJ shifted uncomfortably. She recalled the case in Los Angeles that the BAU had investigated a few months back. A frown crossed her face as images of the burning warehouse and the two siblings she had tried desperately to save appeared in her mind. The terrified expression of the older girl, Francesca Morales, just moments before the building completely erupted in flames, still kept JJ up at night sometimes. She had chosen to save Francesca's younger brother first because he had reminded the blonde agent of her own son, Henry. The guilt still resurfaced every now and then in waves.
Rossi's comforting hand landed on JJ's shoulder, while another reached passed her and slapped a ten dollar bill onto her desk.
"My money is on a child abduction. I don't think I need to explain to you guys why," Rossi patted JJ's shoulder knowingly. Everyone on the team was well aware that Aaron and JJ found cases involving children incredibly difficult – especially those dealing with young boys. They saw their own kids in each and every victim, and never failed to return home exhausted. They felt defeated even if the Unsub had been successfully apprehended. The two agents could only think about the children whose lives they didn't quite manage to save. Their minds would only focus on the "what ifs".
"Okay my gorgeous humans, we have a case!"
"Fuck!" JJ blurted out before she could stop herself, clearly startled by the sudden appearance of Penelope behind her back. She blushed and her hands came to cover her face. Emily, Derek and Rossi laughed at the outburst, whereas Reid merely raised his eyebrows. JJ rarely cursed in front of them, but they had been told by Will that the "Pennsylvanian Petite" could curse like a sailor on occasion, especially when angry or upset.
"Geez Blondie, someone's a little jumpy today," Morgan stood up from his office chair and smiled widely, flashing his very white teeth. He took a step closer to Garcia;
"So what's the case, Baby Girl?"
"Well, my Chocolate Thunder, it's not good. I mean, it's bad – very bad. Not Jeffrey Dahmer, or Ted Bundy bad of course. Not that any serial killer is worse or better than another – just, uh, follow me my crime-fighters!"
The team, minus Hotch, shook their heads at their friend's short, comedic rant. Each one stood up from their desk and tidied their pile of papers and reports, before following her up the few steps and into the round table room. Garcia's pink heels clicked as she walked and echoed throughout the bullpen.
When everyone was seated in the round table room, all eyes moved to the screen in front of them, waiting for the horrible images to appear. Hotch hadn't appeared yet so the team continued to chat amongst themselves.
"Where's Dad?" Rossi jokingly asked, echoing a question Emily had asked years ago.
"Boss man is just making a call to Jessica to let her know that Jack will be staying with her tonight and – speak of the devil, here he is."
Hotch entered the room and nodded curtly at the team, before joining Garcia at the top of the room. The technical analyst took that as the cue to begin.
"Right my friends, we are heading to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." A quiet groan escaped JJ's lips and small, sympathetic smiles appeared on everyone's faces.
"Three people, all of various ages, races and backgrounds were all found outside different hospitals, clinics and medical centres within a 15 mile radius of East Allegheny, where all victims lived and worked."
JJ absentmindedly pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. She could already feel a headache coming along. It could have been anywhere in Pennsylvania – let alone anywhere in Pittsburgh. But, of course if was just her luck that the BAU's first case back after Mr. Scratch was going to bring them right beside her hometown.
"East Allegheny is quite a small hunting ground. The school district itself is only about five square miles. The Unsub must be confident that he won't be caught." Reid mused, his brow furrowed. JJ nodded at everything Reid said. She remembered hating the small confines of the neighbourhoods she grew up in.
"The dump site – hospitals and clinics – could mean that this guy thinks that these victims can't, or couldn't have been saved. It's almost like he, or she, is taunting the hospital workers," Emily proposed.
"Cause of death?" Morgan asked, still scanning the information on the tablet in front of him.
"Well, Dark Chocolate, that's where it gets slightly tricky. According to the post mortem, all victims had a different cause of death."
She pressed a button on the remote in her hands and images appeared on the screen of a young, brunette woman.
"Shelby Connolly, twenty-eight year old caucasian woman. She worked at a small café as a waitress, and lived with her wife, Alison, who is expecting a baby girl in just two months. She was found dead outside Allegheny General Hospital exactly three weeks ago when the night staff were leaving to go to their cars. She was reported missing by her wife two weeks prior. She had no signs of injury or sexual assault, aside from some faint ligature marks on her ankles-"
"The post mortem report reads that the cause of death was hypothermia. If Shelby Connolly had ligature marks, it's unlikely that she was kept outside and it's nearing summer too. The temperature is most likely over seventy degrees Fahrenheit." Reid spoke out loud, not directing his thoughts at anyone in particular.
"That's right Boy Genius. It's unsure how she developed hypothermia. If it wasn't for the ligature marks or the dump site, Pittsburgh PD wouldn't have linked her death to the other three victims. Speaking of which," she paused to press the button on the remote again and gestured behind her to pictures of a middle-aged black man.
"Jonathon Michaels, forty-six year old African-American male. He worked as an independent lawyer for his own company and was married to his wife, Jeanette. They had two young kids together, Rachel and Justin. He was found dead outside a Drug Addiction Rehab centre nine days after Shelby was discovered, exactly fifteen miles from his house in East Allegheny. No missing person's report was filed because he was supposed to be away from home for multiple business meetings that week. He was also found by staff who worked at the centre at approximately 7am that morning. Michaels also had some ligature marks on his ankles, but no other obvious signs of injury or sexual assault. However the cause of death this time was a drug overdose of Hydromorphone, also known as-"
"Dilaudid." finished Spencer, whose mouth formed a tight line.
Garcia smiled weakly at the younger man, her eyes filled with sympathy; "exactly."
"The fact that Michaels had a wife rules out the possibility that this is a hate crime against the LGBT+ community, unless of course he was still in the closet before he was killed," JJ spoke for the first time since the team sat down. The team nodded in aggreance.
"That's right my blonde butterfly. I've already checked his social media profiles, looked for any signs of LGBT+ friendly dating app accounts, and I also searched his credit card statements. But, nada! There is no evidence that Michaels was hiding his true sexuality. Him and his wife seemed very content. They celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary last month," Garcia confirmed JJ's statement.
"Okay, em, victim number three."
Pictures of a blonde, teenage girl flashed onto the monitor.
"Jessica Ross, sixteen year old caucasian female. She attended East Allegheny High School, and played for their soccer team. She also helped to coach the Little League's softball team on the weekends."
JJ's eyes widened and she let out an extended breath. This girl reminded her so much of herself; blonde, petite, attended EA High school, played soccer. Focus Jareau. JJ criticised herself for letting her mind wander.
"...found outside the Emergency room at UPMC Shady-side Emergency Department last Wednesday, approx. eleven miles from where she lived with her mother and older brother in East Allegheny. She was reported missing by her older brother, Matthew, a week before her death. She died from blunt force trauma to her head, and there was moderate to severe bruising on her stomach, neck and thighs, most likely from a fist. There was – thank God – no sign of sexual assault. This time, it was paramedics who found her. They were just exiting the building to respond to a 911 call. They quickly alerted the doctors inside, however Jessica was pronounced dead on the scene."
"Okay, so this Unsub clearly is not afraid of injuring, or killing minors. His MO is rapidly changing. The only thing that is consistent is the type of dumpsite, the hunting ground, and the staff who stumbled upon their bodies," Rossi recounted all of the information they had.
"Oh guys, there's two more things."
All eyes turned to look at Garcia.
"All victims were found wearing a white hospital gown with mint green polka dots, and, lodged at the top of their throats was – what appears to be – crumpled up, typed notes. The same thing was said on each one."
"I am sorry for everything it did to you.
You are better off now."
Hotch read the note aloud the minute it appeared on his tablet screen. He looked up from the close-up pictures of the notes and examined the look on everyone's faces. Emily and Morgan were still reading all of the information on their tablets, clearly mulling over the new information. Rossi's brow was furrowed and his hand stroked his short beard. He thought about how rare it was to encounter a case with an Unsub diverse as this one. Whoever this person was, he or she was capable of being extremely violent, or refraining from injuring his victims at all.
Hotch's gaze then gravitated towards JJ. His eyes softened as he observed the anxious look on the younger woman's face. She bit her lip and twirled a lock of her golden hair around her finger, and her leg bounced rhythmically under the table, releasing some of her pent-up nervous energy. He knew how much she hated working any case near her home town. She was afraid of running into a person she knew, of being questioned about her sister, and most importantly, of being reminded of horrible memories of her childhood. From what Hotch could tell, there were many memories that his friend had shoved down, never to be revisited again – or so JJ thought.
Hotch blinked and brought himself back to the present. He cleared his throat in order to capture the team's attention once more.
"We have a lot to discuss on the jet. Make sure you have everything you need because I have feeling that we're going to be in Pittsburgh for a while."
He pressed the "lock" button on his tablet and began to walk out of the room, before turning around and saying the famous last words;
"Wheels up in thirty."
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