"Thank you so much, Miss Martin, I feel so much better."

Melissa's last client before the lunch left the office and she made her way to their tiny lunchroom to get the yogurt container she'd brought with her for lunch. Sitting at the table, she pulled her phone out of her purse and smiled when she saw she had two missed calls from Spencer and no further calls from the school. She listened to the message he left and called him back. Disappointed to get his voicemail, she left a message of her own,

"Sorry I missed your call, Spence, I've got a full day of clients today. And the school called. Anna's been acting up I guess. If you have a chance, Spence, please call me back around eight our time. Anna should be in bed by then. Be safe in Shreveport, Sweetheart. I love you, hope to hear from you later."

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"Okay then, Dave, you and Lewis go to the M-E, Morgan you and JJ to the murder scenes. Reid and I will go to the P-D and set up. We'll get started on victim family interviews and the geographic profile."

Reid felt his cell vibrate in his pocket and gritted his teeth that he was probably missing Melissa's call. Again.

"Is something wrong, Reid?" Hotchner asked. Spencer shook his head no and Hotchner murmured, "Okay. Victimology?"

"The first one looks like a practice run, guys," Rossi opined, "Throat was slashed and it doesn't look like a neat cut." He swiped through the photos on his tablet and stopped at the last one.

"Knife to the heart. That's telling us something too," Lewis contributed.

"Yeah, it sure is."

"The second victim, not far from the first one. The slash to the throat's much steadier looking," JJ pointed out.

"Signature's the same, knife to the heart," Morgan added.

"What do we know about Shreveport?" Hotchner asked.

"The town was founded in 1836 by the Shreve Town Company, established to develop a town where the Red River meets the Texas Trail, the overland route to what was then the newly independent Republic of Texas. Henry Miller Shreve, for whom both the company and the city were named, owned that company. The city is the seat of Caddo Parish and is the third largest city in Louisiana. The 2010 census lists the population of Shreveport as 198, 311 people. Combined with its neighbor Bossier City, just across the Red River from Shreveport, the metropolitan area population is just over 441, 000. Served by I-49 and I-20, there are two airports and a fairly extensive transit system," Reid reported to the others.

"Relevant to our investigation, there are thirteen homeless shelters in Shreveport and Bossier City. I'll put them on the map once we set up at the police department. There are about a thousand homeless people in Shreveport at any given time, and nearly half of those are veterans." Reid paused for a moment because he knew this piece of information would not sit well with David Rossi and he was right. Rossi made a disgusted face, but remained silent as Reid continued.

"All citizens included, women actually outnumber men, a departure from the national average, about 100 to 87." He pressed his lips together and gave a slight nod indicating his lesson on Shreveport was over.

"Thanks, Reid."

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After introductions to the local police, Hotchner had Reid set up a map on the provided corkboard, to start building the geographic profile. He moved to an interview room to start questioning the mother and a coworker of Ivy Lester. Neither woman thought Ivy knew the homeless woman or the judge, Evelyn James. Ivy had never been in any sort of situation requiring family law. When asked if it was possible that either of the other victims had frequented the coffee shop, the coworker agreed it was possible but had no way of knowing and didn't recognise either woman from the photos Hotch showed them. Hotchner thanked them and gave them his card in case they thought of anything that could be of further help.

The women left and Hotchner pulled his cellphone from a pocket. There was a text waiting for him.

Sorry to bother you Agent Hotchner but I've been trying to reach Spencer all day.

He grimaced and made the decision to ignore the text for now as the family of Judge James had just arrived.

Reid pinned the board and drew some lines, then sat back, deep in thought when his cell rang. He answered it, and Rossi told him what they'd found out from the medical examiner.

"The first victim, the homeless woman, was stabbed twelve times, but there are lots of hesitation marks. She bled out due to a botched throat slash. There were no defensive wounds on her, the M-E thinks she was probably murdered in her sleep, she was found with her sleeping bag and meager possessions around her. The second victim had nineteen stab wounds, not as many hesitation marks. And defensive wounds to one hand, like she was holding on to something with her other hand. Her throat was slashed and the cause of death was also bleeding out. The judge, well that was just overkill. Thirty-two stab wounds, most of them made after she was already dead. No hesitation marks. And the c-o-d was also the throat slash. All three of them had knives stuck in their hearts post mortem. That's a message if I ever saw one."

"Thanks Rossi, I'll tell Hotch."

"We should have Garcia trace those knives, Reid. They look like they could all be from the same set of steak knives or something."

"I'll call her, I have something else I need her to do anyway."

"And we're waiting for test results to come back on blood and tissue from the second victim."

"Ok, call me when you have the answers." Reid hung up with Rossi and called Garcia.

Morgan and JJ returned from checking out the three murder sites. The coffee shop was in easy walking distance of where the homeless woman was found, they reported. Morgan pointed to a location on the map and told Reid that was the courthouse where Evelyn James had worked. A pin went into the map to represent this. The team members all agreed that a route from her house to the courthouse would take her right past the coffee shop.

There were no visible signs of a scuffle by the coffee shop dumpster. Morgan didn't think Ivy Lester could have put up much of a struggle.

"Evelyn James was attacked in her own bedroom," Morgan told Reid just as Hotch joined them, finished with family member interviews. "The window beside the front door was broken, and entry gained through there. The TV was still on, tuned to the news channel, in Evelyn James' room, so she may not have heard the glass breaking. Total overkill on the body, no defensive wounds, she was down and dead in seconds."

The lead local detective came into the BAU's makeshift conference room and announced there'd been an attempted murder with the same M-O and signature as the three the team was working on. The woman, a social worker named Margaret Marshall worked out of an office that was within a stone's throw of the coffee shop. Hotch and Reid headed to the hospital hoping to speak to her.

Morgan turned to JJ, Rossi and Lewis and said, "Maybe the unsub's stalking them from the coffee shop."

They sat down and threw ideas and thoughts around.

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