Morgan, Reid and Parker all sat around a small, round table two days later. They had been called in on an 'emergency case', a woman being kidnapped every Wednesday; no similarities between them aside from a general age range, and not a single body to be found. Because of the complete lack of anything to help narrow any and all searches down, they had to cover all bases entirely. The trio was currently going over every file of every 19-28 year old kidnapped female in the tri-county area over the past fifteen years. Let's just say: not fun.
Except for Reid.
He could feel two sets of eyes on him- starring for about three and half straight minutes. Finally deciding that it was worth the risk, Spencer looked open at an annoyed Morgan and an amused Briana.
"You are so lucky." The female said with a laugh- looking at his huge piles of already read files. She then took a glance over to Morgan's side of the table and laughed.
"You are so not."
Reid looked over to Morgan's 'finished' pile and felt his jaw go slack. It had been two hours and there were only about twenty files in it. Briana's was much more extensive.
"Why the hell is it taking you so long?" She asked him, "Are you reading the entire file or something?"
Morgan just gave her a look and nodded.
"Why?" She shouted with a laugh.
"You're not?" He asked somewhat self-consciously.
Spencer tried to stifle a laugh, but according to the way Morgan directed his attention at the young man, he had failed.
"What are you laughing at, Pretty Boy?"
"We can't afford to read the full file." Briana explained- saving a poor Spencer who looked like the stereotypical dear in headlights, "There are way too many. You got to speed read."
"How the hell am I supposed to speed read?" Morgan snapped, the stress of the case getting to him, "We don't have a damned thing to narrow this down."
"Yes we do." She argued. "We have the lack of bodies. If the victim's body was found, then she's automatically out. Also, there is one major physical similarity between all of our victims."
"There is?" Spencer inquired in shock. Had they all missed something?
"Yeah," She answered, picking out one her previous files and tossing it too him. "They're all gorgeous. Like Barbie Doll so." Spencer opened the folder and saw a picture of a…not so pretty young woman. "I didn't catch on until that file, but then it made sense. Their all like the classic Sorority Girl stereotype; hot bods, thick make up, big hair."
"How does that matter?" Garcia asked, popping up on the main screen.
"It's the victimology," Morgan told, "as simple as it is."
"So what? We're looking for a pissy ex-frat boy who never got laid?"
"Probably." Reid scoffed. He never got laid in college. Granted, he was thirteen when he started college, but still.
"Well then what I'm about to tell you should help majorly," Garcia prepped, "Our three victims, Holly, Megan and Rachel, all went to the same college and were in the same internship program at some point."
"How old were they?" Briana inquired, thinking back to her college days. She took an internship as a paralegal in her sophomore year. She was 20 years old at the time.
"Holly was 19, Megan and Rachel were 21. They were each a year apart from each other in schooling."
"Okay, hold on." Morgan interrupted. "These girls went to the same college within a few years of each other, they all took part in the same program while they were at the college and all eventually moved to the same town?"
"He's an opportunistic killer." Reid concluded. "If the girls never moved here, he'd probably never have started killing."
"But how did he know that they were here?" Morgan questioned. "It may have only been a few years since they graduated, but these girls changed as the got older, they don't look the way they did in college."
Everyone looked at the photos on the screen and the comparison photos Garcia had pulled up. Morgan was right- the hair was more natural, the makeup was in fewer quantities and the clothes were more mature. They each looked like a new person.
That's when it made sense.
"Their counselor." Briana all but whispered, still staring at the pictures.
"What?" Spencer asked in disbelief.
"Their counselor." She repeated, more firmly, "A lot of people keep in touch with their guidance counselors, and even if the girls didn't, he'd still have access to their records."
"Why?"
"Stories." She answered, "The success stories, they need criteria for it, so they keep tabs on their clients."
"Garcia-" Morgan started
"Matthew Baillie. Originally Matthew Kempton. Counselor to all of the girls, got fired after never-ending reports of sexual abuse, moved to Boulder, Colorado three years ago, changed his last name and got a job as a high school counselor."
"I'll call Hotch." Briana said as they all grabbed their stuff and ran to the SUVs.
"That was a great catch, Parker." Hotch sort of, kind of, in his own way praised.
"I didn't do it alone, sir." She blew off, lowering her face to avoid people seeing her blush. She hated getting any kind of review on her work, good or bad. It was embarrassing and awkward.
"Either way, you did great."
Her blush deepened and she mumbled a 'Thank you', waiting for her boss to walk back to his seat on the plane.
When she could no longer hear his dissipating foot steps, Briana figured it was safe to look back up. Derek Morgan was sitting across from her.
"Jesus Christ, boy!" She shouted as she jumped in shock, successfully hitting her knees against the bottom of the small table between the seats.
She glared at him as he laughed and not-so-sincerely apologized. "I was just wondering if you were up for a trip around town tonight."
Briana couldn't help but stare at his cocky expression with a her own incredulous expression.
"Are you serious?"
He nodded.
"Even if I didn't already have plans tonight," She began, "there's not a chance I'd do anything like such with you."
He tried to speak up, but she just kept going.
"You're an ass. You hated me for no legitimate reason. You're a jerk and a bully and even though I'm forced to work with you, I don't have to do a damned thing outside of work with you. My entire life I have refused to associate with people who think they're so much better than everyone else. There is nothing that puts you above anyone else on this plane, and still, you walk around like you own the damn place. News flash, you don't."
Morgan gave her a shocked and pissed off look before replying, "You don't have to be such a bitch about it."
"Yes, I do." She corrected, "See, you're the type of guy who doesn't know the word 'no'. You like the chase, so if I'm sweet about the rejection, then you'll just chase after me, which would annoy me beyond reason until we get to this point-I'm just simply skipping over all of that middle stuff. And please, feel free to correct my judgment of you if it's wrong."
When he stayed silent, Briana took that as a conformation and gathered her things, seeing as the plane had just landed.
She jogged down the stairs and walked up to Spencer with a smile.
"You up for that coffee?"
He turned around and smiled back at her. "Let's go."
A/N: So I've started up In The Sun again, this time I've changed the future storyline so it has a much more...definite path, I guess, whereas before it was just kind of a 'wing-it' story. So, happy days about that. I should be updating Chess in Vegas soon. I'm thinking that one has about five or six more chapters before we're done. Then I'll work on this story and In the Sun. After one of these is either done or close to it, I'll start Cherry v. Lime. One more week of the cast on my wrist, then a week of a splint and it's done.
Oh, and a woman from a pet shelter is bringing by to kittens, C. Spider and his brother Raven, on Friday (Dec. 24, 2010) for an in-house visit and interview. Wish us luck!