The bright flashing light of the camera broke Reid's concentration as he stared dazedly at the body. His eyes shifted quickly to stare at the young CSI taking pictures in front of him. He distractedly nodded back at the apologizing agent before focusing once more on the scene before him. Blood soaked the sheets around her body like a cape. Her red hair blended with the blood surrounding, creating something of a hood. Her blue eyes, though glazed with death were still vibrant, as they lay open. Her face was contorted in agony and you could almost taste her fear and pain in the air as it hung heavy in the room.
She suffered greatly.
Reid shifted slowly, walking closer toward the bed to get a better look. Slashes littered her body; her arms, legs, torso, all suffered the same treatment. In some places it almost looked like mince-meat, those spots Reid made only quick glances at, his mind was already haunted by bloody atrocities and he no longer desired to see any more. Though she laid in a pool of her own blood, her body was clean, as if she were washed before being redressed in an almost virginal white dress before being laid to rest in the middle. The small defensive wounds and bruises stood out darkly against her pale alabaster skin and from what Reid could see she wasn't able to put up much of a fight, her room not showing any signs of her struggles. Actually the room was clean, not an item out of place, not a speck of dust in sight, as if it had been cleaned as well. There was a faint smell of bleach and detergent in the air so Reid knew the chances of them finding any DNA was slim.
There was a meticulousness to the murder, to the way that her body was positioned that rankled with Reid. He didn't know what it was about the scene but he felt like he should recognize it; that somewhere buried in his mind he knew what or who this was. There was mastery and precision in every stroke inflicted upon her body. It was disturbing as it was a beautiful.
A masterpiece. A work of art.
She was the centerpiece and everything around her was white noise. Everything they needed to know centered on her and Reid just had to figure out what it was that he was missing. He squinted as he drew closer to the body; something had to be off, wrong. His eyes shifted even faster as the traced up her body from her bare feet with red-painted nails to her face which was tilted enough to make Reid feel as if she were staring right at him, asking why he did this to her.
Her eyes ensnared you with her pain, her mouth hung open as if releasing a vicious scream. Her palms had crescent shaped cuts from her nails as she fisted her hands violently. Everything about this murder screamed it almost made Reid's ears bleed. It screamed for attention. The killer wanted people to see, to marvel at the horrid beauty that was this murder depicted. Grotesque in it's brutality, there was still a twisted beauty in the display.
"He's an artist."
"An artist?" Reid jumped as Gideon's voice sounded right behind him. He turned to face his mentor as he tried to quickly school his features to hide his surprise. Gideon stood in front of him waiting for Reid to continue his thought. He had allowed the boy to get a feel for the room first without interruption before coming to join him. While he knew that Reid had grown significantly since being a fresh-nosed agent wielding multiple PhDs, Gideon still feared Reid going too far into the mind of a killer. While he wanted to say that Reid was different, it was people like Reid that Gideon feared the most tapping into that dark side. Brilliance alone was dangerous, add in a killer's instinct and the combination becomes lethal.
Reid looked around quickly before beginning, "Look at the way that the body is positioned. It's a cry for attention. The killer wanted you to focus on her, wants you to see what she went through, what she suffered. There's something the unsub wants us to find."
"What?"
Reid shook his head, "I don't know yet. It appears the unsub cleaned her bedroom so we can possibly assume that this is where the murder took place but I doubt that we'll find much of anything, if anything at all. I expect we'll find puncture wounds at her back that would have led to the pool of blood beneath her." Reid said stoically as he continued to glance around the room quickly, like a bird fluttering from flower to flower to find pollen.
"You almost sound impressed." Gideon said sarcastically before leaving Reid's side to take his own perusal of the crime scene. Like Reid said, everything was clean as a whistle, nothing stood out that would draw attention away from the center of the room. The unsub didn't want people to look away at something else, to see something else. "This screams look at me, look at me. Our killer is a narcissist who feels the whole world should be looking at him. He wants people to talk about what happened here. He wants news cycle to talk about his horrific reign." Gideon approached the bed opposite to the side Reid stood upon. "These markings though are not the markings of a first time killer. He's well practiced. An artist." Gideon finished quietly in agreement with Reid's initial assessment.
Reid looked at his mentor before slowly turning away to stare at the victim's face. "Most artists leave a signature. What's this unsub's signature?" Gideon shook his head, no past murders came to mind that could be related to the brutality or the artistry displayed here.
"I don't know." Gideon shrugged helplessly before turning to leave the room. His hip checked into the bed and though it was faint Reid could just make out the crinkle of paper under the victim's head.
"Gloves?" Reid asked for ambiguously, his hand held out in waiting for someone to fill his demand. He barely murmured out a thank you as he quickly yanked on the gloves and leaned over the body to get a better look at her hair. It was hard to see against the white pillow, but there was a crumpled piece of paper buried below the curtain of the victim's red hair. Reid gently slipped the paper from beneath her before flipping it over to read.
"What is it?" Gideon asked, knowing Reid needed no time at all to read what was written. Reid's eye's were furrowed with concern and hinted at a tinge of fear before handing the sheet over the bed for Gideon to read. After Gideon took in the words on the paper, he glanced up quickly to meet Reid's shaken eyes before saying, "We need to find Hotch."
Hotch stood still as his eyes quickly glanced at the faces of the gathering crowd. He saw the concerned faces, the scared ones, the curious, but the one he looked for was missing; the one face that looked like he liked it, the attention. Hotch had been inside already to see the crime scene. The killer was a pure sadist and Hotch could feel his skin crawl at the amount of danger this unsub could create. He was smart and precise and Hotch could say that he was not surprised that he wasn't here to reminisce his act of passion. Hotch shifted when he felt Rossi approach him from behind to come stand beside him.
"See anyone of interest?" Rossi's eyes started to take in the faces of the crowd as well. Like Hotch no one struck a chord with him. "Hmm… This one doesn't like to stick around to see the aftermath of his work huh? Tricky."
Hotch hummed in agreement before adding in, "This one has a plan. To attack an FBI agent is a bold move, brazen and it serves a purpose. This one is coming after us and that means he's not done. Better yet, he's only just begun." Hotch turned to face Rossi as he finished the thought. He sighed before continuing, "I don't have a good feeling about this one Dave."
Rossi nodded in agreement before stroking his beard once. He shrugged helplessly after a second before saying, "What can you do Aaron? Bad guys come, they kill and we catch them and make sure they never do it again. There's evil in this world, in humanity. It's up to men to conquer it and until they are ready to do that, we have to do it for them." Rossi said dramatically before letting out a quiet chuckle. "I'm getting philosophical in my old age."
Hotch let out a small smile before opening his mouth to reply but was disrupted by the shout his name, "Hotch! You need to come see this." Hotch turned to see Gideon standing in the door holding a piece of paper in his hand. Both he and Rossi quickly approached him to see what was on it. Hotch reached out slowly, trying to read Gideon's before he looked himself. Like always, his mentor gave nothing away. He looked over to see Reid shifting behind him and while the young doctor looked uncomfortable, Hotch still couldn't completely read what had him so shaken. He turned the paper to face him, allowing Rossi to read over his shoulder.
A team torn apart, through scandal and lies.
In the darkest of depths, everything dies.
There comes a tale of pain and sorrow.
It begins with red, the slashings of tomorrow.
A bit of candy, sweetening fear for adventure.
A tiny bump mistaken, for fear of censure.
Revenge, promises, betrayal til the last breath.
For all is the same, even in death.
It's good to see you again, Agent Hotchner
Hotch looked up to meet the eyes of his teammates. "This is obviously a message." He said nothing else about the apparent familiarity the killer seemed to have with him.
Gideon however was not hesitant to state the obvious, "Someone you know?" The question sounded more like a statement than a question but he waited for an answer all the same. Rossi and Reid both held the same curiosity as they both stood still staring at Hotch.
"I don't know. But it appears that he knows me. Either way, this was a message." Hotch turned the paper to face Reid, "Does this mean anything to you?"
Reid squinted as he recited the poem in his mind, "Its obvious the first couple of lines refer to us, the BAU. The rest though, I'm still trying to decipher, it doesn't really give us much. I think the unsub made a big effort to leave us guessing, which means he's highly intelligent and has spent a lot of time watching us. The end of the note would suggest that all of this is targeted toward you Hotch, but the poem seems to indicate that we're all targets. I'll need to see more before I can come up with anything else." Reid finished quietly.
"Well attacking an FBI agent would seem like a direct message to all of us. None of us are safe." Rossi put in. "I hate to say this but we'll have to wait and see what comes next." Gideon nodded in agreement.
"Let's get back to BAU and let forensics finish up here, we'll gather the rest of the team to get a profile together." Hotch finished before leading them out the door.
**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the delay on this chapter. I promise the next chapter will not take as long to post. As always, it would be awesome if you guys could leave reviews! I'd love to have some feedback on the clues and mysteries being left by our killer; what the poem really means/refers to, etc. Hope you guys enjoy!
