A/N I still do not own Criminal Minds.

Thanks to all who read and reviewed.

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Reid awoke to a loud pounding on his motel room door. He struggled from sleep, at first not realizing where he was, then, remembering he was in Kentucky and finally realizing someone was knocking at his door. "Just a moment," he called out, jumping from the bed, fumbling for the lamp and tripping while getting into his jeans and tee shirt. He opened the door to find the sheriff and a deputy standing there. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 2:23 AM.

"Are you Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid?" the sheriff asked, looking surprised; he had expected to see someone older.

"Yes," Reid replied; "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm Sheriff Kyle Rutherford. You met my wife and daughter earlier at the diner. They told me that you're an FBI agent. Something has happened this evening and I could really use your help. May I come in?" Reid opened the door and allowed the sheriff and his deputy access to his room. The sheriff continued, "This morning around 12:30AM one of my deputies found the body of one of our townspeople near a wooded area on the outskirts of town. This is a quiet town Agent Reid, nothing much ever happens here. In the time I have been sheriff, the most we have had to deal with is some minor shoplifting, the odd vandalism, some drunk and disorderlies and one domestic dispute. We have never had a murder in Brookdale and I really don't know where to begin to find out who did this. I was wondering, since you are here, if I could lean on your expertise. My wife and daughter seem to think that you will know just what to do. Please Agent Reid, I could really use your help. Would you at least come to the scene and see what you think."

"Okay sheriff, I'll come and have a look. I won't promise that I will be able to help but I'll do what I can," Reid offered in response to the sheriff's plea.

"Thank you so much Agent Reid; that's all I can ask of you. By the way, this is my deputy, Roy Butterfield. He was the one that found the body," Kyle Rutherford uttered with relief. Roy Butterfield and Reid shook hands and then Reid set about getting ready to go. He put on a shirt, ran a comb through his hair and retrieved his firearm from the drawer beside the bed.

"Okay sheriff, lead the way," he said as he and the other men vacated the room.

On the ride to the murder scene, the sheriff filled Reid in on who the victim was. "The victim's name is Valerie Simms. She was born and raised in Brookdale and has always gotten along well with everyone. She was single and worked at Walgreen's. I can't think of anyone who would want to harm her, let alone kill her."

"That's always a major factor sheriff, finding out the reason an un sub does something goes a long way to finding out who it is. As senseless as this may seem, I'm telling you, that in the mind of the un sub, there is a very valid reason for this murder," Reid stated.

Kyle and Roy looked at Reid with baffled expressions on their faces and then both said together, "Un sub."

"Oh sorry," Reid replied. "It stands for unknown subject, in other words the murderer or perpetrator of the crime."

By this time, they had reached their destination. Reid could see there was another deputy standing guard over the body. Getting out of the vehicle, he asked the sheriff if he had a flashlight and Roy retrieved one from the trunk. Reid also asked for a pair of latex gloves and was again met with puzzled looks. They didn't normally carry them Reid was told but the young deputy was dispatched to get some right away. Reid decided to walk the scene while he waited for the gloves. He noticed that the area had not been cordoned off with crime scene tape. There was a lot of blood at the scene. He also noted a few feet away from the corpse, someone had vomited, the young deputy, he was presuming. Oh well, it happened to everyone at some time. He knew this was a lot to take in if you'd never seen anything like it before.

The victim looked to be in her late thirties, she had been relatively attractive, with short dark blond hair. Her blue eyes remained open but were now forever unseeing. Reid approached the body, noting that it was covered with numerous stab wounds. The worst were on her upper torso. "She was stabbed numerous times. The first few are not very deep and did not do much damage. This suggests the un sub is not familiar with killing. In fact this may be his first kill. Finally, a stab wound went deep and severed a major artery. You can note that by the arterial spurt here," he pointed to an area on the upper chest. "This was the fatal wound; she bled out from this wound. The downward thrust of the knife and the angle suggests the assailant was at least 5' 11" and right handed. The force needed to make the thrusts also suggests that it was a man; a woman wouldn't normally have that kind of strength. She has no defensive wounds, which suggests she knew her attacker and was not afraid of him or she wouldn't have agreed to meet him in this secluded area at night."

At that point the young deputy returned with a box of latex gloves. Reid donned a pair and suggested the others do the same. With gloves on Reid approached the body more closely and was able to touch her. "She is in full rigor that means she has been dead at least three to four hours, so you are looking at a TOD of around 11pm to midnight, your ME will be able to give a closer approximation," Reid said. Sheriff Rutherford and the two deputies stood in awe of all this young man was able to tell them. "Where is the CSI team, sheriff, should they not be here by now?"

"I'm afraid we don't have a CSI team, we've never needed one before now, he stated apologetically.

"Okay," Reid said, pointing to the outer area where the blood drops receded. "We need to get this area cordoned off with crime scene tape and you'll need to have someone guard the site until I can get all the forensic evidence we need. We don't want curious townspeople coming and compromising the crime scene. I can collect all the samples and take all the photos that you need. I'll have them sent to Quantico for processing. Who is the ME, he'll have to get here and pronounce and the body will have to be shipped out for autopsy." The other three men were still trying to process all this, while Reid was moving along. He motioned to the victim's lower body, "These stab wounds in the vaginal area were made post mortem. Notice there is hardly any blood from them because the victim had already bled out. They are haphazard and frantic. That suggests rage toward the victim and that there might even be a sexual element involved."

Reid was about to continue, when the sheriff's cell phone rang. He answered it and the others heard him say "What, where, okay we'll be right there." He ended the call and turned to the others and said, "Guys we got another body!"