Skies Turn Grey

Hotch was so immersed in the evidence he didn't hear JJ come in until she was standing in front of the makeshift desk at the police station and saying his name repeatedly.

After the third time he looked up, bleary eyed. It had been twelve hours since Prentiss had gone missing. True to his word, Rossi had called Strauss and knocked her nose into joint.

"Yes?" he said, after registering the who and what in front of him.

"The coroner worked out the timelines for the previous deaths," JJ set the files in front of him and kept talking. "The women all died of suffocation. Not strangulation, just lack of oxygen in the air. Like carbon monoxide poisoning. There was no sign of rape or even bruising from blows. No needle marks, negative on toxicology screens. No forensic traces. They get washed and redressed and left in Dumpsters. Sorry," she added.

Hotch shook his head. "He's saying they're not worthy of anything, not their positions or families or lives or good looks. Or even air. How long between abduction and death?"

"With the first victim it was hours, and one lasted two days."

"That makes sense. He has to have a sealed room to keep them in and keep new air out. The more they move, the more air they waste, the quicker they die."

"Hotch?" he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Hotch!"

He looked up at JJ's sharpness.

"Hotch, we're all working this case, okay? So don't think you're alone with this. We all want to find Emily."

"I know."

"That means you have to come out from under all this," she waved at the files and used burger wrappers. "You have to get off your butt and rejoin the living."

He had never heard JJ use the word 'butt' before. It wrung a small smile from him. "Okay. I'm coming."

She nodded. "Tip line's ready to be set up as soon as you all work out a profile." the phone on the desk rang, and Hotch picked it up.

"Hotchner."

Almost total silence for six seconds.

"Hello, Mister Hotchner," the computer generated sounds that formed the words crackled across the line. "Remember to say thank you."

"Excuse me?"

The line went dead.

"Hotch?"

He looked over at JJ. "See if anyone close to the victims got odd phone calls," he ordered, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.