Rachel Sanders lay in front of them on the autopsy table; a white sheet covered her body. Judging by the way the sheet rose and fell in relation to different body parts, Hotch and Rossi were willing to bet that the head was missing. When the coroner pulled back the sheet, their suspicions were realised.
The body of Rachel Sanders was in pristine condition. Below the neck she bore no marks, no scars, no injuries of any kind. Above the neck, however, there was little to inspect.
"The brain was pulverised to pieces but your guy couldn't sever the brain stem," he pointed to a piece of tissue that extended from inside the neck and hung limply on the table.
"Where's the rest of the head?" Hotch asked.
"It's over here," the coroner moved over to the table beside the body where a large plastic container sat. He pulled open the lid and motioned for the agents to come closer. "It was impossible to keep the head and the body connected."
"It's completely fragmented," Rossi noted, wrinkling his nose as he took in the bone, brain and hair all mixed together. Suddenly Garcia's voice popped into his head: "...like some UnSub stew." He forced down a gag.
"Can you determine what was used?"
"Most definitely a sledgehammer," the coroner replied, picking up a clipboard and consulting his notes. "I would say no less than 20 pounds in weight."
"Was there any damage done to the body," Rossi asked, although he was certain he already knew the answer. "Internally?"
"No damage whatsoever," the coroner said. "We found traces of semen on her underpants but there is nothing to suggest sexual assault."
"The police found 20 dollars on her," Hotch said to Rossi. "He might have had sex with her before he killed her."
"What a gentleman," Rossi sneered.
Xxx
Sasha Jones was twenty-two and very pretty. JJ assumed that in Sasha's line of work, that could only be a good thing.
"Did you see which car Rachel got into?"
JJ knew to tread softly here. She had asked Sasha to come into the station to answer a few questions and whilst the girl was compliant, she remained hesitant and wary of JJ's motives. JJ could tell that Sasha was suspicious of the uniformed police officers, so she had taken her in the back room of the station where the only furniture inside was two chairs.
"I can't say for sure," Sasha replied, her voice thick with tears. She had a tissue in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Her nose dribbled and she went to wipe at it. "It was dark and I'm not good with cars and all that guy stuff."
"That's okay," JJ assured. "Could you make out the colour?"
"It was dark – maybe blue or black."
Of course it was, JJ thought bitterly. It always is.
"Was it a small car?" JJ prodded. "A van or a sudan?"
Sasha looked off to JJ's right for a second, her face scrunched up, trying to remember. "I don't know," she admitted. "It was like one of those small, crappy boxes you see college kids riding in."
JJ smiled and scribbled the description down in a small notepad she had perched on her leg.
"Had you seen that car before?" JJ tried. "Was it there often?"
"I've never seen it before."
"Do you know any of Rachel's regular customers?"
Sasha huffed. "Rachel didn't have any regular customers," she blew her nose and stared fiercely at JJ. The agent knew she had to wrap this up quickly if she wanted to keep Sasha on good terms for possible later contact. "She ran away from home only two months ago. She hasn't been out long enough to get regulars."
"Thanks a lot for your help, Sasha," JJ said kindly, removing a card from the inside of her jacket pocket. "If you remember anything else, please call me."
Xxx
"You're on speaker Garcia," Prentiss said, holding her cell phone between herself and Morgan as Morgan drove closely behind the police car escorting them to the next crime scene.
"Ok, so I've been doing some more digging-"
Reid's voice cut through, "We've."
"We've been doing some more digging," Garcia corrected, "and turns out our first victim, John Usher, is quite the little criminal."
"He has priors for lewd and disorderly behaviour, selling drugs to minors and exposing himself to minors," Reid supplied. "He's also spent a few nights in lockup for public drunkenness."
"Charming," Prentiss scoffed.
"The third victim, Rachel Sanders, was a runaway," Garcia continued. "Which I wouldn't have known if JJ had not called."
"Why not?" Morgan asked in teasing tones. "You losing your magic touch, sexy mama?"
Garcia chuckled. "Oh baby," she purred seductively. "You'll know when I lose my touch."
Reid cleared his throat. "There was no missing person's report filed for a Rachel Sanders," he explained quickly. "She's originally from Charles Town where she lived with her mother and uncle. A year ago her teacher filed a report with the local police. She suspected abuse, but nothing ever came out of it."
Morgan tapped the steering wheel in thought. "So we have a troubled man and a runaway – two high risk victims. What did you find on Ben Garrett?"
"So you know when you've nearly finished a jigsaw puzzle and you only have one piece left? And then you go to put that piece in the puzzle but it doesn't fit? And then you realise that somewhere in the one thousand piece puzzle, you've forced a piece into a spot where it doesn't belong and you have to rethink your whole puzzle..."
"Garcia..." Prentiss prodded, all too aware that one of Garcia's analogies could take up a good part of an hour.
"Well, Ben Garrett is that annoying last piece. He goes somewhere but you just can't see it," Garcia breathed in deeply. "This kid was outstanding. College graduate, straight A's. Graduated top of the class, volunteered at the homeless shelter, never even got a speeding fine."
"It looked like he couldn't find a job in his field though," Reid continued. "So he's been taking an online computer course in education. He works nights at the bar to keep up with rent but that's about as risky as he gets."
There was a pause on both sides of the phone as everyone digested this new information.
"It doesn't make any sense guys," Reid broke the silence. "The UnSub is all over the place. He takes a high-risk victim and then builds the confidence to hunt more difficult prey. You'd think he's escalating but then he takes Rachel."
"Maybe it's not who he kills, but when he kills," Prentiss theorised.
"So we're looking for a spree killer?" Garcia queried.
"We'll know by tomorrow morning," Morgan said. "He has escalated his killing time."
"What did you guys find at the crime scenes?" Reid asked.
"We're on our way to where Usher was found," Morgan said. "But it looks like Garrett was only dumped in front of the school, not killed there."
"The damage done to Garrett's head would make it impossible to transport the body intact from one location to the other," Reid speculated. "That would mean the UnSub bashed in the skull at the dumpsite."
"That's what we thought," Prentiss confirmed.
"There's obvious overkill in the victim," Reid continued. "Overkill equals rage. But the UnSub was able to control himself long enough to transport the body."
"What does that mean?" Garcia asked.
"It means that this guy has a message," Morgan replied. "That kind of rage is impulsive and not easily contained. The kill itself is not so important as what he does to the heads."
"But it also explains why the bodies were untouched," Reid said. "It's all part of the message. We just have to figure out what that message is."
"There has to be a connection with the victims," Morgan tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as the police car escorting them indicated to park. "Garcia, dig deeper."
"I'll try, sweet-cheeks," Garcia promised.
"Reid, call Hotch and update him," Morgan further instructed.
"Yeah, but, guys, we have another problem," Reid warned. "The UnSub's crossed the border once already. Who's to say he won't do it again?"
"We've alerted the surrounding counties and the bordering states," Prentiss assured. "We've given the M.O. If he strikes again, we'll know about it."
Xxx
A/N: Thanks so much to Annber03 (thanks for the offer, I might take you up on it!) and tannerose5 for the reviews!
Feedback is always welcome :)