Chapter 8 –
6:45am Tuesday 15th November 2011
Emily stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror, she looked terrible, and didn't feel much better, the lack of sleep over the last three weeks were beginning to take their toll. Emily knew that there was no way that she could function today, quickly she placed two fingers down her throat before she managed to choke up the bile from her stomach into the toilet. Wearily she went back through and sat on the bed reaching for her cell to make the call.
"Hotch its Emily, I'm sorry, but I've just been sick."
"Hang on."
Hotch had hung up on her, just as Emily had anticipated, she counted to five before the knock at her door sounded, Emily staggered over and opened the door.
"Hotch."
"Prentiss you look terrible, do you need a doctor?"
Emily shook her head as she breathed towards Hotch, hoping that he would pick up the stench of bile.
"Ok look stay here and rest up, I'll check on you later ok?"
Emily nodded her head as she locked the door before collapsing on the bed, exhaustion finally taking her body over.
8:10am Tuesday 15th November 2011
"Where's Prentiss?"
Morgan frowned as he sat down, immediately focusing in on Hotch.
"She's ill, so I've told her to stay her to stay at the hotel for the day, we can catch her up later."
Hotch's tone told them to move on, that it was time to get down to the case at hand.
"Ok let's go over what we know."
"He has been at this for some time, the location had been researched well and if it hadn't been for the dog, it might not have been discovered."
Rossi looked at Hotch as he finished but it was Morgan who spoke next.
"We need to know the last movements of the victims we have identified, how long have they been missing for, how long have they been dead for, is he keeping them alive or killing them straight away?"
Hotch nodded as he waved his hand at the door and it opened letting two male detectives walk in, he waited until the door was shut until he made the introductions.
"Detectives Logan and Sanchez from the vice squad, I want Morgan and JJ to team up with them and talk to the girls, find out all you can about the two identified victims and if there are any other girls that have gone missing. We're going to need to gain their trust if we are going to catch this unsub."
The team got up and greeted the two detectives before Morgan and JJ left the building with the two detectives.
9:48am Tuesday 15th November 2011
Emily opened her eyes, her head buzzing as she turned over but then she realised that it wasn't her head that was buzzing and quickly picked up her cell.
"Prentiss."
"Is that Emily Prentiss?"
Emily sat up at the unfamiliar voice.
"Yes, who is this?"
"Stan Freund from the West Dallas Motel, you came in on Saturday asking if your sister had been here."
"Yes of course, you've seen her?"
"I think that she was here last night."
"Oh god, ok I'll be with you soon."
Emily cut off the call and headed straight for the bathroom, not caring if the water was hot or not as she stepped into the shower. Finally she had a lead on Milly and thoughts about the case instantly disappeared.
1:24pm Tuesday 15th November 2011
Morgan and JJ were sat opposite Detectives Logan and Sanchez, all of them tucking into fries and burgers, the morning hadn't been entirely fruitless, with Logan and Sanchez able to garner information from some of the girls, narrowing down the time of Nicola's disappearance to five days ago.
"Sorry I've got to take this."
Sanchez quickly put his burger down as his cell rang, everyone else stopped eating and waited.
"Shit. We've got another one, female body, gunshot wound to the head dumped in Samuell Park."
"I'll let Hotch know and he can meet us there."
Morgan reached for his cell as he stood up, their fears that the unsub would strike again soon had just been realised.
1:47pm Tuesday 15th November 2011
"Shallow grave, gunshot wound to the face, definitely looks like the work of our unsub."
Morgan sighed heavily as he watched the crime scene technicians clear the soil away from the body.
"I know her."
Logan's voice was low as he looked up and down the body.
"How can you tell, her face...isn't there."
JJ looked at him as Logan turned away from the victim and back towards JJ and Morgan.
"The legs, the handbag. Her name is Sally Rogers, works the streets."
Morgan nodded as he took a few steps away from the group and reached for his cell.
"Hey babygirl I've got a name for you, Sally Rogers a prostitute in Dallas, we've just found her body...yeah she also worked the streets so it might be worth checking the CCTV footage as well."
Emily sat on the motel room bed, only a few hours ago her sister had been there but now there was no sign of her. Stan, the motel manager, had said that she hadn't been there alone, a middle-aged man had accompanied her to the room which they rented for three hours. Emily's stomach churned again as she closed her eyes.
"Milly, where are you?"
3:20pm Tuesday 15th November 2011
The door was always shut, sometimes she regretted the fact that she couldn't hear the hustle and bustle of the bullpen but then there were days, moments, like today, for which Garcia was eternally grateful for the fact that she worked alone, in a closed safe environment. Only two monitors were on, one had the arrest record, DMV photo and residential address of Sally Rogers, the other, the other monitor had the CCTV footage from the camera outside a diner in Dallas, the time line was stamped at 2:42am Tuesday 15th November 2011. It was that monitor that had Garcia's full attention, she had checked the feed several times but there was no mistaking the fact. Staring hard at the photo of the tall brunette Garcia reached for the phone and hit number 3 on her speed dial list but sighed heavily as the call went unanswered, with not even the voicemail picking up.
"Oh Emily sweetie, what have you done?"
Garcia stared hard at the screen once again, she knew that she had no choice in the matter as she reached for the telephone once again, this time the call was immediately answered.
"Hotchner."