EMBREONNA'S POV
"Alright; Reid, JJ, go to the station and see what you can gather from the files they have there. Morgan and Printess; visit the families and get to know the victims and the schedules they followed. Rossi, Embreonna and I will go to the scenes." Hotch said looking to each of us as he called our names, getting a nod from each of us in return.
Hotch, Rossi, and I arrived at one of the scenes, I stood in the doorway to the office and just looked at everything. Seeing how this happened to someone was beginning to bring things back that I thought I had repressed, things I had thought I would never have to remember.
Damn him and what he put me through, I can't let this affect me…not now…
I sighed and entered the room completely; being sure to look at everything I passed. There were ropes hanging from the ceiling where the unsub had hung the victim from his arms, it was the only way to keep the victim from trying to stop him. Below the ropes was a large blood stain on the floor.
I was crouched down in a corner of the room. It was too dark to see anything, hell, I gave up on trying to see anything days ago. This room was made for me to be basically blind. I've been sitting with my arms around my legs and my head in my knees. I'm not sure how long I'd been here for, but I wasn't about to complain about that, if I were to say anything at all it would give him enough of a reason to come down here. That's the last thing I needed. I was gently rocking myself back and forth; it was the only movement I was able to get.
I lifted my head to the sound of the door being opened, "Get up!" He ordered grabbing me by the arm.
I quickly stood up and he unlocked my chain, dragging me out of the room.
"He must've bled out." I heard Rossi say, snapping me away from my thoughts.
I nodded swallowing hard and looked around the victim's desk. I didn't find much that seemed out of place. Until I opened the drawer and pulled out his planer, stuck to the front of it was a post-it note that read 'THE' in large black block letters. It looked like it was written in permanent marker.
"Hotch, Rossi…" I got their attention while pulling the post-it off of the planer.
They looked to me as I held it out to them, "The…" Rossi said reading it as he took it from me.
"Check to make sure it doesn't match the victims." Hotch said after he took a look at it.
I opened the planer and checked every letter, "Nope, it looks like the victim only wrote in cursive." I said flipping through the pages making sure he didn't write like that, not even once.
"Bag this and send it to the station." Hotch said handing it off to evidence.
This day had to be the longest of my life. All in one day we had searched each crime scene, got the specifics about the scenes, talked to the families, companies, and just about anybody who might have known what happened, and tomorrow Morgan and I get to go to the morgue to take a closer look at the bodies. Joy.
I sighed as I closed the door to the car, "Long day?" Rossi asked me in a hushed tone.
I smiled weakly, "Feels like it."
"So I heard you and Reid had kept in touch over the years." He said raising his eyebrows at me, as if implying something.
"Y-yeah…" Was all I could muster up to say, "I didn't get him in trouble, did I?" I asked going wide eyed.
"No. No, not even close. Only a few teasing words from Derek." He replied.
I sighed through a smile, "I bet I'm going to get it tomorrow, huh?" I asked with a light laugh.
"You might, considering we all saw that hug this morning." Rossi replied with a grin.
My mouth dropped…
It wasn't supposed to be a secret, but these people are profilers. My heart sped up just at the memory of that hug, it was the first hug in a while for me…and the team could sense it…because they're like animals when it comes to behavior.
"Uhh…" Was all that would come out of my mouth; my brain went numb, I couldn't think of anything to say.
"None of us have a problem with it, but Hotch might. There's this little rule about co-workers dating…so you might want to be expecting a talk from him if he thinks it's getting to serious between you two." He said as the car pulled out of the parking lot.
"Profilers…" I grumbled with a smile while looking out the window, only to receive a chuckle from Rossi.
What could he possibly mean by 'getting to serious'? This is the first time I've seen him in months, of course I would hug him. Then again they could argue that it's the first time I've seen the rest of the team in years…so where's their hug? And it's not like it is any level of serious in the first place. We're just…just…
Just what?
SPENCER'S POV
It was driving me crazy that I haven't seen her all day. Now that I have the option to see her pretty much every day, I was going to be sure to use it to its fullest.
Although I had Embreonna on my mind, this case was keeping me up. At each scene Hotch, Rossi, and Embreonna found post-it notes that when put together made a phrase, 'Keeping the Faith…' I didn't want to believe that the unsub was doing this for God. There had to be something else that made this fit for me.
I kept going over the files, everything we had on the unsub so far.
He would brand his victims…
The victims all looked alike…
One the second victim he started to cut open all the major arteries on their bodies…
He's right handed, the only reason I knew that was because of the lack of smudge marks on the paper and the amount of pressure that was needed for the marker to bleed out on the paper where it did.
All of this…because he thinks God told him to?
