Disclaimer: I only own the unsub and Embreonna...and the victims.
Review please? Let me know what you think!
EMBREONNA'S POV
I wasn't too excited about what Morgan and I had to do today. I've never really…seen a dead body before…and now I am forced to face four. Yes, I know! It's something I'll have to get use to in order for me to do my job, but I'm still human even if the people we hunt down aren't, I still like to believe I won't lose every fiber of my being seeing what I could possibly see being a profiler.
"Someone's nervous." Morgan laughed while looking to me for a second and looking back to the road.
"What makes you think that?" I asked lazily looking over to him.
"You've been biting your lip this entire time." Morgan replied.
I stopped in mid bite. I didn't even realize I had been doing it. I guess that's why it's called a nervous habit though. Your nerves cause you to do it, not your brain. I forced a cough and sat up straight in my seat, shifting myself to try and make myself look more relaxed than how I felt, which I could tell wasn't working by the way Morgan was grinning.
"Relax," He chuckled, "They're not going to jump up and bite you."
"That doesn't make this any easier." I replied through a sigh.
Morgan sighed, as if to agree with me without having to say anything else.
We pulled into the parking lot of the morgue; Morgan parked the car and took the key out of the ignition, "Are you ready for this?" He asked looking to me.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." I replied as we got out of the car.
Morgan locked the car and we made our way inside. The walk inside seemed longer than the car ride over here. It felt as though I was the one who had done this to them, and I was being forced to look at the carnage I had created stripping away the last of my humanity.
We got to the main office and met who I believed to be the coroner. We showed him our credentials and he led us back to where the bodies were, my breath became short and I felt like I was going to pass out. I managed to successfully keep it to myself though. I need to be able to look like I can do this job…even if sometimes I can't. We got to the bodies, there were four of them, all on separate tables lined up horizontally, and covered with sheets.
The coroner, whose name I didn't catch due to panicking, slowly started to pull the sheet down the first victim's body. My breath was caught in my throat as my eyes locked with the victim's. Embreonna Anatomy Fun Fact of the Day: It only takes five minutes for your eyes to lose their color after you die.
This is what could've happened to me…
I suddenly became very interested in the floor. Cement…nice.
I was brought back to the job by Morgan clearing his throat. I looked up to him and raised my eyebrows slightly, "Yeah?" I asked.
He pulled me aside, our backs to the coroner, "Are you okay?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"Peachy..." I lied smiling weakly.
He took the bait…for now. We got back over to the coroner and I was able to handle looking at the bodies, it's not like I could avoid looking at them.
"This guy," the coroner said pointing to the first victim with a pencil that he had tucked behind his ear, "died of asphyxiation."
"Wasn't he found hanging in his office?" I asked confused.
"Like the rest of 'em." The coroner replied.
"So the unsub took the time to find a way to suffocate him." I said looking down to the body. When I realized I could faintly see to lines going across the throat of the man, "He used…a belt." I said bent over getting a closer look to make sure I was right.
"The unsub realized leaving him hanging there wasn't an option and he was taking too long to die." Morgan stated.
"The second one," the coroner started turning around to face the second one, "died of, as you can guess, blood loss." He finished while pulling down the sheet.
"He's learning. So he's not completely stuck in his own little world." Morgan said crossing his arms over his chest.
"He is when he's doing this…" I stated trailing off.
"How do you know it's a he?" The coroner asked.
"A member of our team, Dr. Reid, determined this by looking over the notes the unsub had left at the scene. There were deep marks were the marker had bled out; males tend to have a heavier hand than females do. And females have more of a curve to their letters when they write." Morgan explained.
"What about the brands?" I asked.
The coroner nodded and walked over to the third guy and pulled down his sheet, they had laid him on his stomach. The brand wasn't easy to miss. It was about six inches long and right in the center of the man's neck. Up close and in person it was clear that the brand was a cross.
"It's on each and every one of 'em." The coroner stated.
"The same place on all of them?" Morgan asked.
"Yes."
"The only reason I can think of anybody branding anything…would be a farmer branding cattle…to prove it's theirs." I stated confused.
"If there's another meaning for it, we'll figure it out." Morgan said.
Morgan and I arrived back at the station. I for one couldn't have gotten there fast enough.
The feeling of what almost was my future was lingering with me ever since we left the morgue. It only made me even more grateful to be right here, right now. It also made me; I'm not going to lie, a little depressed. Just seeing what could've happened to me if the team didn't find me when they did, it hurt… a lot.
The team was sitting around the area the station had given us to use. I was trying to get the images of the bodies out of my head; I was staring down at the table, looking at a few of the forms that were handed to me, but not really paying any attention to what they were.
A cup was set tight into my eye sight; I followed the arm to the owner. Spencer. I smiled instantly.
"Thanks." I said taking the cup and leaning back in the chair.
He smiled taking the seat next to me, "Can't stop seeing them?" He asked.
"No I can't, but it's deeper than that." I replied barley above a whisper before taking a drink of what looked to be coffee.
"Do you need to talk about it?" Spencer asked following my actions and taking a drink of his coffee.
"Later." I said while looking up to the board.
"The fact that they look alike has to mean something to the unsub." Printess said looking up at the board.
"Male unsubs usually target females, as a substitute for their mother." Rossi said as we all stopped what we were focusing on to regroup.
I didn't want to talk about targets, for the simple fact that I was once a target. I tapped Spencer on the arm and pointer to the planner from the first crime scene; he passed it and went back into the conversation.
I opened the planer and started to look through it and I mean actually go through it. Not 'checking for hand writing' going through it. About half way though I got confused, "How long did it take anybody to find…Eric Copeland?" I said checking to make sure I had the name right.
"Well, the tape for that Friday was missing and the business is closed on the weekends; so it had to of taken at least three days for someone to find him." Morgan replied looking up from the paper he had read it off of.
"And what date was that?" I asked.
"July 28th is when he was found." Spencer answered.
"He was supposed to be on vacation with his family then." I said sliding the planner in front of Spencer. He leaned forward on the table to take a look at it, "Did the other tar-…men have planers or anything?" I asked.
"They're in one of the boxes in the other room. I'll get them." JJ said while getting up.
"I don't want to believe that it was simply coincidence that we was murdered when was suppose to be on vacation. How many of the workers would've known he would've been on vacation?" I asked.
"You think it was one of his employees?" Rossi asked.
"No, but only someone close to him would know his schedule. Granit, there are more people in his life than who he works with… " I started while picking up my coffee.
"But it's a start." Hotch said as JJ carried in two boxes and set them on the table.
It turned out, it wasn't just coincidence. All of the men were suppose to be on a family vacation. Spencer was left in charge of sorting out all of the planners by family affairs, appointments, meetings…so on and so on. Hotch, Rossi, Printess, and Morgan were out talking with the families again. JJ was doing her best to try and keep the press at bay.
I went back to tackling the matter of why it mattered what the victim looked like, "They don't only look alike…they're all family men too." I said more to myself than anybody really.
"So it matters if they're a father." Spencer said.
I pulled my phone out and dialed Garcia's number, "You got Penelope." She answered.
"Hey it's Embreonna, I need to know how many men in this area have brown hair, brown eyes and are about 6'2…" I said.
As expected I heard a small laugh, "A good majority of them." She replied.
"Narrow it down to family men." I added.
"Still in the hundreds, hon." She said.
"Narrow it again to big business men."
"Less than fifty."
"Alright, thanks Garcia." I smiled as if she were right in front of me.
"Until we meet again." She said as the line went dead.
"There are just about fifty other men in this area at risk." I said putting my phone back in my pocket.
"Hey guys, Hotch said to go a head and go back to the hotel. Get some rest and start fresh tomorrow morning." JJ said poking her head into the room.
I looked out the window. It had gotten to be night time so fast, I wasn't even aware about how much time had gone by.
"Thanks, JJ." Spencer replied.
"Need any help with them?" I asked with a smile as I nodded my head in the general direction of the general public that had slowly started to mob out front.
"Nah, I got it covered. You guys go get some rest." She smiled before walking away.
