As always I do not own the rights to Criminal Minds, CBS, ABC and their affiliates. This is a fictional story for entertainment purposes only. All Original Fictional Characters are of my imagination and any resemblance to living or deceased individuals is purely coincidental. Do not use any or all parts of this story without prior permission from the writer.

Buried Beneath Still Waters

Chapter 15

Morgan looked at the mountain of stuff Garcia had brought with her. "How do you expect to get all of this…this stuff through the airport and then into Gideon's cabin?"

"You, my little beefcake." She touched his nose and kissed the air.

"Garcia you're a pain in my a…"

"ASK… me how I got it on the jet." She interrupted.

"I don't care how you got it on the jet. How much of this do you really need, little miss thang? I would bet it is only your laptop. It is isn't it? You just cart this stuff around to make us think your job is so difficult, don't you?"

Ah Mona me you shall never know. And one day I shall school you on how much I actually do for this team. Right now though, start moving before I kick your a…"

"Ah…no-no, girl!" Morgan wiggled his finger in front of her face. He laughed when she put her hands on her hips, stomping her foot. She punched his arm, which only made him laugh harder.

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One thing Agent Rossi, before you leave, I do not believe the person you are looking for is physically fit."

"Why's that?" He turned around to look at the short, grey haired woman. Her hair was cropped at the sides and deliberately spiked It appeared to have had gone prematurely white, perhaps at a very early age. She had crystal blue eyes, which stood out against the back drop of that snow white hair. Under the bright lights of the exam room, her pale complexion, most likely from spending so many hours indoors, washed any other detail of her face away.

Emily moved back into the room. The smell was almost unbearable, but she inhaled through her mouth trying to dismiss the thoughts that she could actually taste that rotten smell.

"May I?" Dr. Coreman looked at Emily holding up a length nylon fishing rope.

Emily raised her eyebrows. She knew this woman would not choke her. But the idea of having someone wrap a rope around her neck was giving up a little too much control for Prentiss' comfort level.

Dr Coreman knew what Agent Prentiss was thinking. "Just your forearm."

Involuntarily Prentiss let out a sigh of relief. It was Rossi's turn to raise his unruly eyebrows.

Emily scooted her three quarter sleeves of her powder blue blouse, up a little more, and then raised her fist to the ceiling, bending her arm at the elbow, squaring her shoulders. Rossi watched her confidence return and her breathing become normal. He was curious about Emily's reaction. Did she have issues with suffocation? He wouldn't voice those thoughts out of respect for her, unless she brought it up first.

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Morgan pulled the SUV up to the police station. Suddenly Penelope knew why he was complaining about her equipment. The old brick building sat on top of a hill that required you to walk three flights of cement stairs, seven steps in each. At the bottom, on top of the cement hand rails were glass globes that had the words Police painted on them in black lettering. Penelope hadn't seen this sort of thing since she was a kid.

"Do they even have the internet here?"

"Yes, but not much else." Morgan replied as he stalled getting out of the SUV.

Garcia took another look at the building. She noticed off to their left was a parking lot on a down grade to the street.

"Why don't you pull in there and we can unload instead of taking the steps."

"Because, smarty pants, you need a code for that door. And the good police chief decided we don't need that code, since we could use the front door."

Garcia made a tsk sound with her tongue. "Well Mr. know it all, I could go open the door from the inside." She sat smugly looking at him.

Morgan dropped his chin to his chest, looking at her over his sunglasses. He hated when she was right, hated it completely. He said something Penelope couldn't understand as he put the SUV in gear, driving rather fast into the parking lot.

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Dr Coreman stood next to Emily, slipping the rope over her clenched fist. "I'm going to pull this tight, if it is unbearable let me know, ok?"

Emily nodded.

"Agent Rossi, if you would, step over here for a minute."

Dave moved behind Emily, so he had an advantage point to see the crisscrossed rope on Emily's arm.

Dr Coreman pulled the rope. "Normally we see uniformed markings from the perpetrator…What did you call them, 'Unsub', is that right?"

Dave nodded when Dr. Coreman looked in his direction, "The unknown subject."

"Ah I see. My point is this. Say I was weaker on one side. Not quite able to pull this as tight." She let up on the left side, pulling more with the right to make up for the lack of strength from the other. The rope slid to the right as Dr. Coreman pulled more with that side.

"If the grip was compromised, we would see a skid pattern as the rope slides and changes position, so the person had to stop and restart, multiple times."

Dr. Coreman released the rope with her left hand then tugged slightly, pulling with most of her strength on the right side. Demonstrating the multiple ring patterns as the rope dropped lower on Emily's arm.

"That makes sense." Rossi said in a flat tone. He wasn't learning anything new with this information.

She dropped one end of the rope allowing it slide past Emily's arm.

Emily let her arm dangle along her side, a red bruise made an uneven pattern around her arm. She wouldn't complain, because if this helped them, so be it. The doctor was rather strong, even when she released the pressure; she still had the power to do a lot of damage. Emily was just grateful Dr. Coreman only used her arm

"On the victims that we could still see the markings, they all had a similar pattern on the front left side, a multiple x that told me the strangulation too longer than normal. I do not believe these woman died quickly, quite the contrary."

"Were they conscious?" Emily asked in horror.

"They could have been. Maybe even through the whole process."

"He watched, and deliberately delayed?" Rossi added more as a statement then a question.

"Eww..." Emily let a shiver run down her spine. She had heard all of this before. She knew that sadists like to watch the life leave the victims bodies. Some even went as far as to revive the person, so they could relive it. It still made her skin crawl, no matter how many times she dealt with this sort of thing.

"He's a sexual sadist and he is getting off on watching them die. I don't think I agree that he is unable to complete the task. I think he is just playing with them until it is done." Rossi looked at the woman's body laid out on the table. Her grotesque remains were bloated, bleached almost translucent grey. The smell was unbelievable, her eyes were sunken into her skull and her skin was sagging. She almost didn't seem to be human.

"That's possible too." Dr. Coreman nodded.

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Ryan was so frustrated that she couldn't think straight. She put her career on the line for Spencer. She had to come clean about the panties, her credibility was at stake. If and when they caught this person a Defense Attorney could easily have the case thrown out if that piece of evidence was on the photos and they were not logged. She had to tell them she was in fact on the lake and at the cabin prior to the bodies' recovery.

Ryan put her car in park outside of Sally Anne's house. The yellow wood paneling with white shutters always made Ryan smile. Even in winter Sally Anne had flowers in the boxes on the porch, greens for Christmas, but fake spring plants the rest of the time. To Ryan it seemed Sally Anne's house always was sunny, no matter what time of day or night. She smiled, 'Much like the woman herself.' Ryan thought. There was always a smile on Sally Anne face, always a kind word on her lips. That is why she liked, no loved the older woman, as if she were family.

Ryan smiled at the crocuses and the daffodils that were beginning to sprout in the front yard. On the porch in the wooden flower boxer were silk tulips, and hyacinths, waiting to be replaced by the spring planting when the weather warmed up. Two pink rocking chairs created bookends to a round glass table. On the other side of the wrap around porch was a wicker love seat and a porch swing. At that end, the door to the kitchen was always open and Ryan pulled on the screen door, surprised it was locked from the inside. Ryan leaned over the railing to peer at the garage. Sally Anne always parked in front of it, never using it for her car. Ryan knew why, the garage was jammed packed with holiday decorations, yard ornaments and extra furniture, 'some soul may need in the future.' Ryan smiled thinking about her friends words to her, when she asked about all the junk Sally Anne kept on hand. Even when she wasn't home she still made Ryan feel better.

A/N Special thanks to CSK for helping me with the forensic aspects of the case. Without you Crime Scene Kelly my case would be a bunch of fabricated foolishness. From the bottom of my heart a very big thank you for your time and effort!

Thanks to all of you who are out there proof reading, giving me suggestions and helpful hints. And to you the reader for your reviews and your continued support!