When the Levee Breaks

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

M. Kathleen Casey

FOUR

It was almost 9pm before Morgan and Prentiss finished their victim interviews. Morgan had suggested coming back when it was light, but Prentiss – and the families of the victims themselves – seemed strangely eager to continue.

Some of the victims had been more responsive than Bert Bay, some less. The latest victim, who was still in hospital, was near catatonic.

'Seven victims,' exasperated Morgan. 'Seven victims and we got nothing.'

In the hospital parking lot, Prentiss lit up a cigarette. Morgan stopped.

'You smoking again?'

'You've never seen me smoke,' she reasoned.

'You learned to hide it because your parents would have disapproved. But you can't hide it from me,' he winked. 'You quit once, but you've started up again. In the last few days, I'd wager. And now you aren't trying to hide it.'

Prentiss fingered the cheap lighter that she knew had been her giveaway. 'There's no reason to hide it.'

The two shared a few moments of silence before getting in the SUV and returning to the police station.

Hotch and Rossi were still going through the video footage once they got back. Still it was not as though they were hard pressed with finding something to do. There was still a list written on the whiteboard in JJ's precise hand.

JJ had gone back to the hotel, one of the detectives told them. 'She was feeling a bit sick.'

'She went alone?' Morgan asked.

'I sent one of my patrol units with her. No-one should be alone around town these days.'

Morgan relaxed, and looked at the basic geographic profile that JJ had done. There didn't seem to be any pattern to the locations of abduction.

'It has to be something with the victims themselves,' mused Morgan. 'I think this is the kind of guy that would be going after the people he wants to kill, regardless of location.'

'So...victimology. These people were once strong, in charge of their own life. Pretty self-confident. Now they're shells.' Prentiss began writing the notes of a preliminary profile in a spiral notepad.

'He wants to feel in control. Degrade these people. Humiliate them. Hence, the torture videos.'

'Where were they sent to?' Prentiss asked Detective Walters, who was listening in with interested.

'Burnt to disc and sent to the victims' place of work. Wanted to make sure the people they worked with saw it.' Walters scratched his nose in an attempt to hide the expression on his face. The penultimate victim had been a police officer. It was awkward to say that he'd watched the footage, but even more awkward to say that he still had no idea who had sent the discs.

'Did you call the post office?' Prentiss's pen hovered over the pad, ready to make more notes if needed.

'They've got no way of knowing who sent those things. But they were sent from that post office.'

Morgan nodded. It was still possible that they could do a geographic profile. He put a green pin in the map at the post office. It stood out amongst the red pins of abduction locations.

'So he does frequent the area, if not live around here. He probably encountered his victims in the workplace. He's got an occupation that brings him into contact with a whole variety of people. IT, maybe. Plumber. Electrician.'

'I don't think he works in IT.' Prentiss looked up. 'Look at the discs. If he wanted to make sure everyone saw them, he would have put the video onto the system, not sent a hard copy. Unless he knew that he couldn't cover his own tracks.'

Morgan pulled out his phone, and speed-dialled Garcia. 'Hey baby girl,' he said. 'You at the office?'

Uncharacteristically, Garcia's voice sounded annoyed. It soon became clear why. 'You just interrupted a romantic evening with bubbly drinks.' Morgan could almost imagine her pouting.

'You're having a romantic evening without me?' he put on a tone of mock hurt, which succeeded in returning Garcia to her cheerful state.

'I did the analysis on the DVDs someone was kind enough to send me.'

'And?'

'Pretty basic stuff. You could make a DVD like that on any computer made within the last five years. No way of tracking it.'

'Anything special about the files themselves?' Morgan's voice dropped.

'Apart from being completely unsuitable for children? No, nothing that I could find.'

'Alright baby girl. I'll let you go. You behave yourself,' he joked, hanging up.

'So we've got nothing new from the DVDs,' concluded Prentiss.

As if having been waiting for such a comment, Rossi chose that moment to make a comment. 'Well we've got some stuff from the videos themselves.' His eyes looked red, not specifically from the content of the video, but more so for the fact that he had been looking at a tiny screen for several hours. Hotch, it appeared, was still going. He looked up briefly to signal to them that he was almost finished.

'What did you learn?' asked Morgan.

'He's methodical. Same types of torture for each victim. The length of time differed between victims.'

'What torture methods?' Prentiss had her pen ready again.

'Electric shock, Chinese water torture...' Rossi continued for at least thirty seconds, with a variety of different torture methods.

'Any clues as to the identity of the unsub?'

'He was masked, for the whole thing. I don't know if it was for the camera's sake, or the victims.'

'Probably both,' said Morgan. 'He's not taking any unnecessary risks here. It's important he gets his work done, but it's just important that he doesn't leave any tracks.'

'We should reconvene in the morning,' said Hotch, having just finished watching the video. His eyes looked similar to Rossi's, and they both seemed ready to fall asleep at the drop of a hat.

'Have you two eaten?' Morgan asked Hotch. 'We were thinking of picking something up on the way back to the hotel.'

'I'm fine,' said Hotch, and Rossi gave a similar answer, declaring he would order room service.

'I guess we'll see you in the morning then,' declared Morgan, but Hotch had already left.

A/N: I should probably clarify before more questions/requests come in. The only shipping that will be seen in this story is shipping that occurs in regular CM continuity. Feel free to read into the "hints" as much as you want, but hints are all they'll be. Read and Review, tfm.