Hey guys!
I'm truly sorry for the late update! I've been away for the past one and a half week for a small holiday, so the writing of this story have been halted.
But fear not! Because I will not be giving this one up so easily. I've got plans for this and probably even the sequel thought of.
I've just gotta get them down in words :)
So I do hope you guys like this chapter!
Thank you to freakyXely, lalalalauren24, Loony Reid and Morbidmuch for faving the story! And also to the reviewers: mykidmom, Morbidmuch and Loony Reid!
You guys inspire me to write more 3
Disclaimer: I only own my own characters and the plot.
xx.
It was less than an hour later when the team was called to gather in the conference room for a briefing. Apparently, the document Hotch had been going through before was their newest (and on Audrey's part; her first) case.
In that short amount of time, Audrey had managed to make the empty cubicle completely hers. From what she was told by, the cubicle used to belong to an Agent named Elle who had resigned after a misjudged action on her part, and had been vacant ever since.
Now, instead of it looking bare and dreary, Audrey had given it a complete makeover, turning the space into the most colorful cubicle in the whole office. It stood out so much against the other tables due to its colours, pictures and also, the lack of documents, files and old coffee cup stains. Printed quotes from her favorite book – Alice in Wonderland and several Polaroid pictures of her best friends Lisa and Marcus were tacked onto the small piece of 'wall' separating her cubicle from Reid's. She barely had time to take out the wooden frames holding pictures of her family, when JJ came down from her office, informing the agents about the impromptu meeting.
The fighter jets that had been bothering her were long gone, parked away into their respective lots in the back of her mind. She was overwhelmed by the team's friendly address, making her feel far more welcomed than what she thought she would have received. Before today, she had always perceived federal agents to be burly, tough, brooding and angry; instead of the friendly faces that were always joking around and smiling.
Turning to her right, she could see Morgan teasing Reid about one of his unusual quirks again, while Prentiss, Garcia and JJ watched on in quiet amusement.
"I mean I know you're a genius and most geniuses have weird habits," Morgan had said, leaning an elbow on the armrest of his chair. "But wearing your watch over your sleeve? You're the first."
"Oh… well." Reid flushed red and fidgeted in his seat, hating the sudden attention as he tried to get comfortable. "Like you've said, it's a habit."
"No statistics to support the percentage of people who wears their watches over their shirt sleeves?" Prentiss joked with a huge grin of her own. "No facts to astound us?"
Reid tutted in annoyance at the obvious dig about his random outbursts of numbers, percentages and patterns on nearly anything the team had talked about. He was known to anyone who knew him, be it permanently or briefly, to interrupt a conversation or silence by providing a lengthy speech about the topic. It was a rather bad habit of his, which although provided that small amount of amusement at first, had many a time, drove his team mad.
"Actually, it's a rather typical trait among gifted people," Audrey commented quietly, not getting the hilarity out of the whole 'poking-fun-at-Reid' thing, and drew the attention away from the genius agent. "They are often oddly sensitive to things like clothing tags and jewelry against their skin. So it's pretty explainable why Reid wears his watch over his sleeve,"
Morgan's eyebrows rose at her sudden input. "And you said you weren't a genius?"
"It doesn't take a genius to know that," Audrey shrugged with a small smile. "You just have to know how to read,"
It was silent for a few seconds before the roar of reactions echoed through the conference room at the same moment. Garcia and Prentiss both let out barks of loud laughter while Morgan let out a huff of disbelief.
Reid on the other hand, smirked and patted his friend on the back. "Do you feel the burn, my friend?"
"You're the first to diss me like that, Colette." Morgan said, releasing a low chuckle as the blue-eyed quiet new agent surprised him yet again with her quirky nature.
Audrey made a confused face at the hunky agent. "I wasn't trying to… insult anyone. I'm just… stating a fact!"
"Stating what fact?"
Audrey's head snapped up to where the familiar baritone voice came from as Hotch walked through the door with JJ in tow, holding a stack of cream coloured files in her arms. Another man, whom Audrey guessed was the senior agent she had yet to meet, entered the room behind the two silently. His graying brows were lowered over his dark eyes that were now contemplating the new member intently, causing Audrey to fidget under his scrutinizing gaze.
The stern looking agent walked towards Audrey, never moving his eyes from the young woman, much like a hawk watching its prey. Slowly, Audrey stood up from her chair and managed a small smile at the new acquaintance before grasping the offered hand.
"I trust you are the new member of the team?" His voice was the completion to his tough exterior. It held a sense of roughness and wizened experience, a trait that would make anyone treat the man with respect, just like Hotch. His voice alone could make a suspect quiver in his bloomers.
Audrey nodded her head. "I'm Audrey Démarchelier."
"David Rossi," he replied with a firm shake. "Are you in any way related to André Démarchelier?"
"He's my grandfather," Audrey replied uncertainly.
"Good man," Rossi said, breaking the handshake as he took a seat beside Morgan. "Worked with him on a case many years back,"
"Your grandfather's a federal agent?" Prentiss asked, passing Audrey a file JJ's distributing.
Hotch cleared his throat loudly and sent Prentiss a look. "As much as we would like to know our newest member better, we've got an unsub to profile. So if you may, I'll like to proceed with the briefing."
Taking her cue, JJ picked up the white remote from in front of her and switched on the LCD screen, which she usually used to brief the team on their newest case. A click of another button on the controller brought three different pictures out on display.
"There has been a series of murders taking place in the Upper East Side." She moved towards the screen and proceeded to provide the team information on the victims. "Three men with ages ranging from 23-27 were found dead in their penthouse apartments,"
Morgan raised his dark brows in surprise. "Penthouses?"
JJ nodded. "It seems our unsub is picking up rich boys and murdering them. All three victims were kids to wealthy parents who owned at least two mansions in America or in other parts of the world. Two of them attended the same elite private school in Manhattan while the third was homeschooled."
"Lucas Kershaw and Jason Corner were found dead last Tuesday and Sunday consecutively, while Kevin Ward was discovered by his housekeeper just this morning." JJ said, pressing a button so that pictures of the victims were displayed on the screen. "All three victims were found with multiple stab wounds to their torso and a single fatal one to their heart."
"If the victims were killed by the fatal blow to the heart," Reid said. "Then, the unsub is taking out his or her anger on the victims,"
Morgan nodded in agreement. "Probably for revenge, or the unsub has got something against young, rich and handsome boys."
"Other than the injuries to their torso, the victims were also found with their…" JJ pressed a button to change the pictures.
"Oh, that's nasty," Prentiss made a face and looked away from the screen. Pictures of shriveled manhood that had been sliced off of the victim's bodies were placed in their hands were displayed clearly on the screen, much to the female agents' disgust.
"Their genitals were removed and arranged in their left hands," Rossi stated, looking at the pictures.
"What do you think, Colette?"
Audrey's head snapped up from the picture she was analyzing and flushed at the sudden attention her team was directing at her. She cleared her throat awkwardly and seat up straighter in her chair.
"The unsub would most probably be a female, a young woman. The fact that the dismembered uh, manhood were not disposed but placed in their left hands is not a meaningless pattern." Audrey explained. "It was to present men as the weaker gender, as compared to women. Left is universally associated with the female side and we all know that the one organ representing the males is their uhm, penises. So having it removed from their body lowers their gender power,"
"Like an eunuch?" Prentiss asked as Audrey nodded.
"And cradling it in their left hands, which stands for the female side of the human body, lowers it even further to make them even less worthy than a woman," Reid finished.
Audrey nodded, happy that someone had caught onto her assumption. "So this unsub most probably has had a bad encounter with men that makes her feel angry at society's problem with the gender status and forces her to feel inclined to commit such actions."
"Hold that thought, we'll work on it later. Everyone on the jet now." Hotch stood up, closing his file. "Garcia, we'll call you from the plane later,"
Garcia nodded her head quickly, causing the furry pom-pom on her hair tie to bob comically. "Yes sir,"
"Uh…" Audrey stood up uncertainly and picked up her own file. "Where are we going?"
The flurry of movements stopped instantaneously at her question as everyone turned to her. Audrey squirmed uncomfortably under the attention and started scratching the pit of her elbow. It was a weird habit of hers to scratch at that part of her arm when she was nervous or feeling awkward. Although it doesn't make her feel better, it gives her something to do in the situation.
"We're going off to the Upper East Side," Prentiss explained.
"Now?"
Prentiss nodded and chuckled at the incredulous look on Audrey's face.
"Are you sure you don't need to grab a go-bag?" Prentiss asked, turning to look at the newly appointed profiler.
She alongside JJ had offered to walk Audrey to the airstrip, meanwhile giving her brief information on the in-and-outs of the BAU office. "We might be away for a couple of days, or at least until we've caught the unsub."
"I'm okay," Audrey smiled, looking up at the taller woman. Her oversized bag was slung over her shoulders while a bottle of Snapple apple juice was held tightly in her hands. "I've got an apartment in that area, so if there's any need, I'll just go back there for a change of clothes."
"Oh, so you're from New York?" JJ asked just as the trio reached the metal steps of the jet.
Audrey shook her head, following after the blonde-haired agent in ascending the steps. "I'm actually born in Paris,"
"France?" Morgan turned to the girl in curiosity. "You don't sound French to me, sweet."
"That's because my family moved to London when I was five, so I've more or less lost the French accent." She explained, taking a seat opposite Reid unknowingly as her blue eyes trailed around the interior of the plane.
Cream coloured leather seats provided comfort for the agents with various buttons on the armrest for the occupant to adjust the angle of their seat. The small rounded windows were fixed with a small shutter curtain, which Audrey had fun in pushing it up and down. A small black reading lamp was placed strategically beside each window seat while a retractable mahogany table hid inside the wooden ledge under the windows.
"I didn't know FBI agents had such posh privileges," She whispered, turning to Prentiss beside her.
"Considering the fact that it's your first day at work, there's still tonnes of stuffs you've yet to learn about the bureau."
Turning back to the front, she noticed Reid's eyes fixed on a spot on the table between them. With a light smile, she nodded at him. "Hi,"
The sudden greeting caught the young genius off-guard as he whipped his head up from where she was zoning out at and stared at the agent before him.
"Oh, uh. Hey,"
A small amused smile stretched across Audrey's rosy cheeks at Reid's awkwardness before she turned back to the file in her lap and proceeded to catch up on the details of the case, leaving him looking at her in befuddlement.
"Alright, now back to the case," Hotch said, settling into the seat opposite Rossi. A laptop laid open in front of him "So from Colette's deduction, we know that the unsub is a female,"
"A gorgeous one at that." Audrey added in. "Or at least pretty enough for these good-looking victims to be interested in."
Reid looked up from his file. "The first two victims are friends?"
"Yeah, best friends actually." JJ said. "We've interviewed the victims' families and other close friends, and from what we gathered, Lucas and Jason had been good friends through their high school. They were one of the popular students, and I don't mean it in the academic area."
Morgan rolled his eyes. "The woes of being Misters Popular,"
"What about the third victim, Kevin?"
JJ shrugged, moving her bangs away from her blue eyes. "No connection to the first two. He was the one being homeschooled."
"Garcia," Hotch said, turning back to the computer screen.
"Yes sir?"
"I want you to gather all the information on the three victims. Pick out common traits, past offenses and send them to me," Hotch said, closing his case file.
He turned to the rest of the team with a deep frown set over his dark eyes. "Be prepared to face pressure from the victims' parents to find the killer. They're wealthy people, so they expect their demands to be met."
Prentiss sighed. "The way some of the rich treat the people around them are the reason why they're most targeted."
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