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Here's the next chapter of this! Sorry it's so late :( Thank you for the reviews guys! I'm glad you're liking it…enjoy!
The team was all gathered back in the precinct with lunch to go through what everyone had learned from the employees at the Church of the True Disciples and the victims' families. Olivia observed Derek trying desperately to get Penelope to talk to him. She thought their behavior was laughable. Both of them were completely convinced the other had nothing but platonic feelings for them. It was one of the most bizarre situations she'd ever seen.
"How long have they been like this?" she asked JJ who she was sitting next to. She took a deep drink of her soda and tilted her head in question.
JJ glanced in the direction Olivia had tilted her head and smirked. Morgan was very clearly trying to get Penelope to speak to him, but she was ignoring him to chat with Fin. It was clearly driving him mad because he was glaring at the other man with a vicious expression. "The two of them have been like that nine years," she told him. "It's insane. They just need to hook up already."
Olivia laughed. "They should get the hint," she muttered. She looked at JJ again and asked, "How about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"
JJ stiffened and her eyes flashed. Quietly, she murmured, "I – I had a husband," she started. "He died from cancer last year."
So that was where her external sadness came from. Olivia had wondered who or what had made JJ so forlorn looking and now she knew. "I'm sorry," she whispered sympathetically. "I didn't mean to pry."
JJ shook her head. "No," she murmured. "It's okay. You don't need to tip toe around me. I've been dealing with it."
Olivia wanted to say more, but Hotch unofficially called the room to order by entering and asking Penelope, "Garcia, you did a background check on Father Andrew Franklin?"
Penelope jumped up from her seat, looking relatively eager to get away from him. She started typing away on her laptop and nodded. "Yes, I did sir," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "We found out that until December of two years ago that he was visiting a mental hospital in Upstate New York monthly, but we never found out why. Detective Munch called them to see what he went up there for because there was no listed reason and he wasn't on any medication. They refused to give a reason for his visits, but they did say that he was preaching and giving his religion a name around there."
"They were much less than gracious," Munch said dryly.
"So that's what we found on him," she said. "He's clean."
Hotch nodded. "Alright," he said, turning to Derek, JJ, and Olivia. "Morgan, JJ, Benson, what did you find out talking to him?"
JJ snorted. "He's a sanctimonious prick," she said. "Obviously narcissistic. Sexist as well."
"He got extremely defensive of the male members of his church when we asked if any of them stuck out to him," Olivia added. "He also go very stingy with information when we mentioned some certain traits the perp might have. He knows about something going on."
Derek nodded in agreement. "Liv's right," he said, nodding in Olivia's direction. "He's hiding something."
JJ glanced up to see Penelope's now suddenly pale face. She wished she could beat it into Derek's head what he was doing. Calling Olivia "Liv" was just going to hurt her feelings and make her upset. As if on cue, she could almost see tears rising in Penelope's eyes and her friend's struggle to hide them.
"We still have to talk to the bookkeeper," he continued, oblivious to what he'd just done to Penelope. "That's all we got."
"What did the rest of the employees have to say?" Hotch asked, directing his attention towards Stabler, Blake, and Reid. "They must've had something to add."
Stabler nodded. "Yeah, they all had something to say," he grumbled. "They were all spouting off about how much God and Jesus were doing to help the families of the bereaved. Every last one of them."
"He's not exaggerating," Reid said, nodding. "They were all fiercely loyal to Father Franklin. None of them had anything bad to say about him. If we were going to get dirt from any of them we would have to be in their inner circle."
Rossi sighed and rubbed his face. "This place has an iron grip over the people who attend the services," he grumbled. "I don't know what possesses people to go to places like this. The families of the victims who were talking to all said the same thing: their girls were addicted to the place. Only four of the families attended with the victims at the Church of the True Disciples and they were all equally fanatic. Their religion is the main part of their lives…they follow blindly."
"We need to get a better idea of the unsubs way of catching –" Hotch began to say.
Before he could keep going with what they needed to do, an officer burst in. "We just found another body," he said. "The Violator…he's struck again."
Cragen cursed. "Alright," he growled. "I want Olivia and Elliot to go with the agents to the crime scene. I need Fin and John to stay here and keep helping Penelope go through the True Disciple material. Is that good with you, Agent Hotchner?"
Hotch nodded. "That sounds good," he said. "Morgan and JJ, I want you with Detective Benson. Reid and Blake, you team up with Detective Stabler. Process the scene. We've got to catch this son of a bitch before he leaves another woman."
XXXXX
Several Hours Later at 8 o'clock
Penelope rubbed her face tiredly. Her brain was beginning to hurt trying to figure out what was going on with Derek and Olivia. Was he interested in her? Was she interested in him? It was all becoming too much. Before they'd left to go to the crime scene, she'd witnessed yet another flirtation occurring between the two.
"Sweetheart, I'm telling you that we're going to have a hell of a time figuring out how this guy is going about getting his victims," Derek growled as they were pulling their jackets on to go out to the crime scene. "This is going to be one hell of a case if we've got seven victims."
She clucked her tongue. "Oh, I agree," she said. "This is one of the worst I've seen."
Derek hadn't even glanced at Penelope as he'd left.
"How are you hanging in there?" Fin asked, sitting down next to her again. He gave her another cup of coffee. His look was one of concern and he took a thoughtful sip of his own coffee. "You look really tired."
She shook her head. "I'm fine, Fin," she said, although her voice certainly contradicted her statement. "But thanks for asking."
"You know, I really think that he's not –"
Holding up her hand, she met his eyes and with a begging expression murmured, "No. Please, just don't say anything about him."
Fin sighed and said, "He doesn't know what he's missing."
Penelope smiled gratefully at him and returned to trying to find the signal to where the videos were coming from. So far, over ten million people had viewed the unsub's conquests. She hadn't been able to get the website to shut down and had even less luck finding the source of the signal. The situation was becoming increasingly more frustrating. Not to mention it was making her feel even less like the tech goddess that she knew she was. After a few more minutes of typing away, a dinging began and she perked right up.
"What is that?" Munch asked as he came up. "Did someone win the lotto?"
"Better!" Penelope said with a squeal of delight. "I got a hit! We got a hit!"
XXXXX
Somewhere Secluded – Midnight
He'd had to kill again in order to satisfy his need for her. The girl he'd picked wasn't an ideal match, but it was the best he could get.
But he needed the one from the television.
He needed her more than anything.
She was the exact match.
She was his one hundred percent.
