A/N: Beta read by editor frog, and I own nothing except Penny, and she's not any source of income. Get ready, ladies and gentlemen.. Here it is..!
Reid truly feared for his life. Seeing the last breath of life leaving the young boy lying motionless in the corner of the basement almost made him start to cry again, but he managed to keep it in. Swallowing hard, he looked up, only to see the young, psychotic murderess walking towards him. He made an attempt to speak, forgetting the gag across his mouth. All that could be heard was a muffled garble through the duct tape.
Penny sat down in front of him. "Sorry you had to see that. I just couldn't lose you. Not after all we've been through." She reached her slender hand out and caressed the young agent's cheek, pushing some bloodied hair out of his face. There was a soft smile resting on her lips, almost caring. "You are so beautiful, you know that?"
The words made him shudder. Why was she doing this? The intonation of her voice was soothing, nearly flirtatious, and her eyes had a strange look to them.
Penny's hand made its way down Reid's neck, onto his chest, softly touching his massacred ribs. She let her eyes fall down onto the young doctor's thin body, grazing every inch of it. "You look so hot." Her fingers made circles around his nipples.
A thousand and one thoughts rushed through Reid's mind, but every single one of them ended in the same way. NO! He tried to speak once more. "Mrrf!"
Penny smiled. "Shh..." Letting her hand slide down the flat of Reid's stomach, she lifted the edge of his gray, checkered boxers and reached in behind the fabric.
The young agent flinched as her hand made contact with his private parts. He tried to move away, push her fingers away, but the pain in his chest stopped him. He winced, and once again felt the tears rushing to his eyes. "Mrrrffff!"
"Hush, puppy." Penny let her fingers close around the most personal part of the young doctor's body. "You have nothing to be ashamed of." She began to move her hand, still smiling.
The touch of her hand made the frightened man want to vomit. Oh, please, no! Please, stop! He shut his eyes, trying to pretend he was somewhere else, anywhere else but there. Tears ran down his face and he sobbed through the gag.
For what seemed like an eternity, Penny held a firm grip around Reid's privates, but just as suddenly as she had grabbed it, she let go. "This isn't going very well, is it?" She tilted her head in her usual manner, and looked at the crying man before her. "Maybe we should try again later?"
Reid didn't answer. He kept sobbing, keeping his eyes firmly closed. He refused to look at his assailant. He wouldn't give her the pleasure. After this, nothing could possibly be worse.
The young girl shrugged. "Fine then." She rose and brushed some dust of her jeans. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry." She didn't even wait for an answer, but turned around and walked up the stairs, shutting the door behind her.
Reid cried. He cried and cried and cried. He had never felt so violated in his entire life. The pain in his chest was nothing compared to what the deranged girl had just subjected him to. He had just been, as far as he was concerned, raped.
--
The phone rang in the police station of Brewton, Alabama. Not even one signal had gone through before agent Hotchner had the phone in his hand. "Hotchner." Silence. "Yeah." Silence. "Good, thank you." Click.
The remaining crew of the BAU waited anxiously for the result of the phone call. "Well?" Morgan lifted his hands in question.
"No prints on the bag." Hotch put the phone down. "The fibers on the cloths were a green fabric, 100 nylon, no trace of blood on them." He sighed. "We still have nothing."
"Green fabric?" Gideon looked up from his notes. "Did you say green fabric?"
"Yes."
Morgan turned to his older colleague at the table. "The missing carpet in the Harrow house. It was green." He watched as Gideon nodded.
"That's too far fetched, Morgan." Prentiss leaned on the armrest of the somewhat comfortable chair. "There has to be a thousand green carpets in Brewton. Didn't you say it was a modular home?"
"Yeah."
"They're all constructed the same way, same tiling, same wallpapers, same carpeting." Hotch sat down in his chair. "We need more."
"Why?" Morgan stared his boss in the eyes. "The least we can do is go back there and have a closer look around."
"There's not a judge in this country that would give us a search warrant based on carpet fibers and a dead father." Hotch shook his head. "Be realistic, Morgan."
"Well, what are we supposed to do?!" Morgan burst out, nearly screaming at his superior. The helplessness was getting to him, and he had to let some of the frustration out. Hotch just happened to get in the way.
"Morgan!" Gideon rose. With one look at his younger co worker, he managed to make him calm down and return to his seat, although reluctantly. Taking a few steps through the room, stopping at the white board. "What do we have..?" he asked. "We have a killer with no apparent M.O., we have 14 dead bodies lacking any trace of the murdered, we have no comfort zone, we have no motive, no suspect and we have lost one of our agents." Turning to his peers, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Is this really a good time to turn on each other?" The room fell silent as Gideon scrutinized every one of the agents in it.
The silence was broken by the distinct signal of Morgan's cell phone. Flipping it open, he pressed the button to activate the speaker function. "Make me feel better, sweetness."
"Penny Harrow, age 15, student at the TR Miller High school. Looks like we have a real number here, guys."
"What do you mean?" Hotch.
"Penny Harrow was admitted to the Dewmoore youth institution in 2003 after attacking a student in her class with a fork in the dining hall. Released in 2004, reincarcerated in 2006 after engaging in self mutilation, this time at the Alhambra Mental Institution in Austin, Texas. She was released eight months ago and returned to Brewton. She was indicted three months ago for assaulting a classmate, but the charges were dropped. A real little crackpot, isn't she?"
Hotch stared at the phone. It couldn't be this obvious. How could he possibly have dismissed this girl as a suspect? But the profile..? "The last victim", he mumbled.
"What?" JJ.
"The last victim. She had her throat cut. That classifies as a unisex M.O. It could very well have been a woman who committed the murder." Hotch.
"She lied to us when we were at her house", Morgan continued.
"The fibers", JJ added.
"The father dying could have been an early stressor." Prentiss.
"Where's the mother?" Gideon turned to the phone still lying open on the table. "Garcia, can you pull up something on the mother?"
"Give me two seconds and I'll give you the world, my good man." The two seconds passed and there was Garcia's eccentric voice again. "Holly Harrow, age 38... Oh, my... She was reported missing a week ago. She never came in to work and the daughter called the police."
"Penny said both her parents were on a business trip." Morgan's voice began to get worked up.
"What is the best way to avoid detection when committing a crime?" Gideon asked straight out into the air.
"Report it yourself." Prentiss grabbed her jacket off the chair as all the members of the BAU rose and quickly made their way towards the door.
A/N: Wohoo! They're on their way! But will they make it in time..? Stay tuned for the next chilling episode of.. Camera Obscura!