Reid surveyed the scene blankly. He felt his numb lips move on their own. He mouthed the words, barely a whisper.
"Definite overkill."
Prentiss rolled her eyes. Obviously.
"Tell us something we don't know"
Reid hummed under his breath and pulled out the facts from the recesses of his mind like water from a well.
"The forensic report says that gunpowder was used in the construction of the bomb- it's very prone to ignition from static electricity when packing in the material or screwing on the end caps. Nails were also added to the inside of the bomb- while these increase the amount of damage that the bomb does, they also add to the risk of accidental detination."
"So the UNSUB was willing to risk his own safety in exchange for a hell of a lot more damage." Hotch nodded to the carnage.
"Hm. Definite overkill." Prentiss acknowledged.
The sun was set low on the skyline, peeking through the monolithic skyscrapers, painting the dusky sky with swaths of red. The team had reconvened in a slightly seedy-looking hotel room. Getting a hotel room in New York City on such short notice was pretty much impossible. Rossi had naturally claimed the biggest room, so the team was using it as an impromptu meeting room. The NYPD were still arranging a room for them at the station, but they wanted to get a head start on the case before tomorrow.
The files and assorted papers were scattered over Rossi's bed in some sort of organised chaos. Reid sat on the bed and stared through the chinks in the blinds at the crimson sky.
"Please tell me that you got something." Reid begged JJ and Morgan.
"Well, we pulled up the CCTV tapes of the delivery." JJ opened her laptop and placed it on the bed.
The grainy, monochrome image showed a man in a wrinkled buisness shirt and dark slacks approach the reception desk with a brown paper- wrapped package held casually under his arm. He briefly chatted with the receptionist, she nodded and he left the package on top of the desk.
The man kept his face carefully turned away from the camera at all times. Only small glimpses of his pale cheek could be seen. '5 foot 8. White male. Likely to be middle age. Oh joy, there's only like a million of those in the city.'
"Act casual, look like you belong there, in and out. Simple" Morgan said.
"And clever." Said Rossi.
"The receptionist was unable to describe the man. I mean, who remembers every single person they meet, especially at work." Morgan said.
"I do." Reid frowned.
Reid was nailed in the head with a file.
"You've reached the office of the almightly goddess of knowledge. Virgin sacrifices are welcome, just leave 'em on my desk."
"Garcia. Professional boundaries." Hotch growled.
Garcia flinched. "Oh, hey Hotch, heh heh." Garcia ran her fingers through her outlandish braids and looked at the other occupants of the room through the webcam. "So. . .How goes things in N-Y-C?", she drawled and swayed nervously from side to side on her spinny- chair.
"Not very good." Hotch said, his voice devoid of all its previous steel.
"We need you to do a background check, starting with the male staff members of Twin Hill's Elementary. Mainly those who are associated the victims. Look for things like criminal records, our UNSUB is liable to lash out against any percieved wrongs done to him. Assault charges, restraining orders, those kinds of things."
"Just them? Oh well, it's gonna take some time, anyway."
"Uh-uh-uh, Baby Girl, you don't get off so easy. If you don't find anything interesting, we want you to look at the victim's backgrounds, then their parents if nothing else shows up after that." Morgan chuckled.
"Urrrgh." Garcia rubbed her eyes and slumped back in her office chair, spinning around a few times. Then, as if a flip switched inside her, she sat bolt upright. Radiating false enthusiasm. "Okay, I'm on it. I'll probably be done by the end of the day!"
"Really?" Prentiss asked hopefully.
"Hmmm, nah. . . I might need another day." Garcia tapped her chin with her sparkly pen.
"Two days? You're loosing your touch, Goddess." Morgan teased.
"Oh, Goddess, now? Are you willing to be my virgin sacri-"
"Garcia. Profe-"
"I know, I know, sorry boss-man. I kinda forgot you were there for a second." Garcia smacked her head with her palm.
"I gotta go now. I'm gonna have so much fun with these background checks. Who knows, maybe I can dig up some pretty interesting dirt? ." She muttered more to herself than the team. She reached out to turn off the webcam.
"Wait, Garcia. I need to ask you something." Hotch said.
"Uh, sure Hotch. what is it?" Garcia looked nervous.
"Do you know what an MMORPG is?"
My apologies for the very late update. School holidays are over and homework is really kicking my ass. It's 2:08am right now and I. Am. On. Fire.
I've decided to ease up on the grittiness and focus more on the team's dynamics and the whole "gamer" thing. Cheers to all those who reviewed, faved, followed, whatever. I really appreciate it and I'll try not to disappoint!
Be prepared for much shorter chapters, but I'll try to update periodically.