Pulling up at Horizon Peter and Sophie were waiting outside. Both older but still extremely fit.
JJ jumped out the car as soon as it stopped. Running to hug both her mentors who she viewed almost as her parental figures they returned the hug.
"JJ it's so good to see you" Peter said.
"I miss this place" JJ admitted taking a deep breath of the clean mountain air wishing not for the first time they sold it by the bottle.
"It's always here for you JJ" Peter promised.
"Whenever you need us" Sophie added.
"I know, I owe you guys everything you saved my life" JJ reminded them having told them this numerous times beforehand
"You saved yourself" Peter replied having had this discussion multiple times before "but thank you for reminding us of why we do it" He hugged her again.
"You'll be staying, here bunking with Kat if that's ok?" Sophie asked, JJ nodded,
"Where is Kat?" JJ asked, Kat was a counsellor and worked at Horizon.
"On a hike with the Ridge Runners she should be back soon" Sophie checked her watch as Scott came round carrying JJ's gear.
"I don't miss that part of life here" JJ joked, they all laughed remembering how she hated hiking. She grabbed her bag off Scott. Swinging it over her shoulder mindful of her gun she hugged Scott knowing from experience he would be leaving soon,
"Thanks Scott tell Jules and the kids I said Hi" JJ told him,
"Will do" Scott said hugging her back. He got back into the car driving off. JJ waved before following Peter to his office. As they agreed the first time she visited she locked her gun into the office safe. There were too many screwed up kids around looking for a way out to let the weapon stay unsecured.
Next she walked with Sophie to Kats cabin where they had set up the spare bed. JJ dumped her stuff next to it collapsing on the bed. Sophie sat on the chair next to her. The easy banter they had previously shared was gone JJ could tell there was something weighing on her mind.
"Sophie spill you are making me nervous" JJ begged Sophie checked the door.
"Daisy is coming over with the new police officer I said I would wait" Sophie explained. JJ nodded accepted there was something bothering the local community she would help. It wasn't the first time she had consulted off the record for them. Normally it was farmers killing each other or a family feud and while not officially a profiler some things rubbed off and a fresh pair of eyes was always welcome. But JJ could tell this was different Sophie was on edge. Suddenly a foreboding sense of doom came over her and she knew instinctively this would be a BAU case.
"What has got you worked up about it?" JJ questioned, wondering why and how Sophie was connected.
"They think we are connected," She admitted sighing and sitting on the sofa. "Why does when anything go wrong in this area do people think it's our kids?"
"Fear, nobody understands these kids society fears them and forgets them." JJ said before really thinking about it. A knock at the door stopped the conversation. Daisy and Pete the new local cop were there with a briefcase. JJ hugged Daisy with a squee. Even now she still considered Daisy as her best friend along with Garcia and Emily.
"Ok so what is all this about?" JJ asked the suspense getting to her.
"We think we have a serial," Pete told her his hands shaking slightly as he gave her the folders. Calmly JJ took them to the desk, this was her job looking at cases and deciding if they were linked, if there was any possibility she picked the profiler who would respond or take it to Hotch even if it wasn't a BAU case she would always offer a comment or a basic profile using the skills she had picked up from the team ensuring it was clear it was unofficial, un-submissable and most importantly if things changed to ring back.
Carefully going through each file JJ saw the connections, it was clear they were onto something. As she began making a mental count on the victims she knew it was definitely a BAU case. Finishing up with the most recent case she looked at her awaiting audience.
"Your right its serial, how did the count get so high?" JJ questioned not angry just curious. 8 victims in an area like this was huge.
"Different counties, different methods of killing, different victimology it's only Daisy that realised the connection" Pete praised.
"It seemed strange so many young people being murdered, so I started digging and checking as somehow they seemed linked. I talked to Pete and a few other police constables and we found it wasn't just this area. That was today." Daisy explained
"I'm going to make some calls get my team here" JJ promised. Her first call was to Garcia telling her the information, running though known names widening the search and beginning to try to locate where the victims came from. Next was Hotch telling him what she had asking he fly the team down. Understandably after just finishing a case in Miami and not even having unpacked Hotch was reluctant but promised to run through the files. If he agreed they would fly down the following afternoon.