Chapter one
JJ entered the kitchen and sleepily poured a cup of coffee. She hadn't heard Spencer get up and she wondered if he had slept at all. They had just returned from Oregon the night before, it had been a particularly unsettling case and in hadn't ended well. The UnSub had killed his last victim when the BAU had closed in and it was Spencer who'd found the body of the young woman when they broke down the doors. He'd refused to speak to anyone on the plane back and she had let him alone, but when they'd gotten home they'd cried together. They'd gone to bed late and he'd been restless for hours.
She went into the living room and he was sitting in his favorite chair reading with several books piled beside him. It amazed her to watch him read. She once expressed jealousy at his abilities and he'd said she was crazy to want his life and his intelligence. She walked over and took the book away from him and curled up on his lap.
"Did you get any sleep or have you been up reading all this time."
"I can't her face out of my mind JJ; sometimes I really hate this job."
"I know babe, I know, I wish I could make it all go away.
"You do every time you kiss me or touch me or when you just listen like now. I love you JJ and I need you always."
"I love you too, Spencer." She kissed him and for a little while the pain of loss was pushed back in his mind and his heart, she was everything.
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Spencer was trying to dig through the paper work on his desk when JJ came out of her office. She walked over to him and laid her hands on his shoulders. With out looking up he reached up and squeezed her hand.
"Heads up babe, I just got a very interesting case across my desk. Everyone's meeting in the conference room."
He groaned and said, "Honey can't you give us a break I'm not even halfway through the first pile on my desk." He said as he got up and walked beside her to the conference room
They sat down with the other members of the team, while JJ took her usual place. She handed out files to the others.
"This case just came into us from the Kansas, Mariposa County to be exact; we got the paper work just a few minutes ago from Dr Matthews." JJ said glancing at Spencer who looked dumb founded.
"Dr Stephanie Matthews as in Reid's sister? Morgan asked looking at Reid like he should've known this was going to happen.
Reid noticing the look shrugged his shoulders and mouthed to Morgan "Don't look at me."
"This case is baffling the ME's office and she's desperate." JJ said turning on the projector.
Everyone studied the photographs with dispassionate silence while JJ talked. There were two young teenage women both with blond hair and blue eyes. They were short and slim not devastatingly beautiful but pretty none the less.
"As you can see there have been two victims so far. The first was sixteen year old Stacie Goodwin. She disappeared last month on the first day of the full moon in December. She was found in a cornfield early on the third morning after her abduction, posed and with a single white rose and a single red rose in her right hand. She was badly beaten, raped and strangled. The second girl abducted was fifteen year old Colleen Johnson. She disappeared on the first day of the full moon in January and was found on the morning after the last night of the full moon. She was killed the same way after being beaten and raped. She was posed in the same way and the same color roses left in her right hand." JJ informed them
"Do we have any forensic evidence," Hotch asked, his eyes grim, he hated cases with kids and sexual predators.
"He cleans them up before he leaves them to be found. So far the only evidence we have are the flowers. The ground is always frozen in the area this is happening as they've had so little snow this year, so there are no foot prints. He's been very careful."
"Both of the girls were sophomores at the local high school. Stacie sang in the school choir and Colleen was on the swim team. Their grades were average, and neither of them out shined their peers in the extracurricular activities. They both had small circles of friends and went largely unnoticed by any of the clicks in school. They weren't related, but as you can see they are very similar in looks." JJ explained.
"We only have one week till the full moon, which means he's already picked his next victim. We have to find her before he grabs her." Hotch said.
"That's what worries Dr Matthews and why she sent for us. She feels we need to be there before he strikes again." JJ said
"She's right, okay people, wheels up in thirty minutes. Hotch said.
The filed out of the room each lost in their own thoughts. Perhaps this time they wouldn't be too late.
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The man watched her walk out of the school yard as she did everyday on her way home. By now he knew her every move and everything about her. She was the one. This time he was sure of it. There would be no more mistakes. She would realize who she truly was. He would explain it to her and then they would be together for eternity.
Michaela Simms was on the debating team. She wasn't one of the best on the team but she could hold her own. She wasn't worried about the killer. He wouldn't come after her, she was no one special. She'd known who both of the murdered girls. They weren't friends though; she didn't have a lot of close friends just Kathy and Andrea. And she had him.
She hadn't told anyone about him. He was her secret. She'd never had a real boyfriend before and he was so nice. He was a lot older than she, but that didn't matter. All the boys she knew where so immature. He seemed to know what she was thinking and feeling. He understood her like no one ever had, not even her own parents. Her cell phone rang and she saw with delight his number on caller ID.
"Hi princess"
"Hi" she said dejectedly
"What's wrong beautiful, you sound so sad, another bad day?"
"I lost the debate."
"You'll win next time."
"Do you think so?" she asked with hope, he always knew how to cheer her up.
"Of course my love, you are the best, the teacher just can't recognize it."
"When am I going to see you again?"
"Soon princess, we have to be careful."
"I know but I miss you."
"I know you do I'll see you soon, I promise but now I have to go." he hung up the phone.
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The jet cruised at an altitude of thirty eight thousand feet and at an air speed was just over 320 knots, inside it was a smooth ride and the people sitting around the table barley noticed where they were.
"He patient, methodical, and organized, he's watched them for some time, planning his every move. He spends time with them before killing them." Gideon was saying as he stroked his chin.
"He's romancing them Reid said, everyone turned to him. He flushed a little. In Victorian times, suitors would present a bouquet to their intended that held much meaning once the flowers were looked at. Every courtship began with their presentation. The content of these tokens often changed as the relationship did until the bride walked down the aisle with the most meaningful bouquet.
For example red roses mean I love you, while white mean reverence, humility, innocence and purity. Together they mean unity." He said in his usual "this is useless trivia" voice.
"I'm not gonna ask how you know this Reid." Morgan said looking at him as he always did when Reid pulled this stuff out of his brain.
"But he is a sexual predator; he's raping the girls before he kills them, so why bother with the symbols of love or romance." Elle asked
"When we can figure out his fantasies, what drives him, we'll know why he gives them the flowers." Gideon said as he sat slumped in his chair his face unreadable.
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Reid greeted his sister with a bear hug and once again everyone in the office stared at them. It was startling to see them together. The same eyes, the same hands, their facial features were different but she stood only two inches shorter than Spencer and they had the same hair color.
"Hey girl, when are you going to leave this boring little town and come back to Virginia where the action is?" Morgan said enthusiastically. He hugged her much to Reid's consternation.
"Don't worry man; I have no designs on this one although she is beautiful." Morgan winked at Stephanie and she blushed.
Morgan laughed and said "Now I know you two are related."
Everyone went for the coffee on a table in one corner of the room. Gideon watched with some amusement as Stephanie teased her brother about all the sugar he put in his cup, she drank hers black.
"She's a beautiful and intelligent woman. Gideon thought. "Wait, a minute Jason, since when do you notice Reid's sister that way? Down boy she's half your age." He shook his head as if to clear it and noticed with relief that no one noticed.
I'm glad you're here; I don't want to see another young girl on my autopsy table." Stephanie said as they sat down, the sadness in her eyes mirroring the agents'.
She brought her emotions under control with difficulty as she explained all that had been found. There were no drugs in their systems. They were otherwise healthy young people who had been killed before their lives had really started.
The police had spoken to the parents to try and determine how the girls had come in contact with their killer but the families hadn't been much help. They were mourning their children and could think of nothing else.
"We need to go back to their homes and talk with them again and see where they lived. " Gideon said.
"Elle and I can go" Hotch said. Elle was great with victims' families. She seemed to have a natural ability to empathize with parents and loved ones.
"Ok, Gideon said rising from his chair, Morgan and I will go to the school with JJ and see if we can find out anything from their teachers. Stephanie do we have the girls computers?"
"Yes, they're in evidence at the Sheriffs office but I can get them signed out. I assume you want Spence and me to look at them." She asked.
"Yes and please interface with Garcia, if anyone can help she can."
"Okay we're on it."