"Wow I love the new look Reid." Jeff said raking his eyes over Reid's body, a playful smirk on his face.
"It certainly is different." Rossi said chuckling despite his best efforts.
"Were there auditions for a boy band?" Hotch said his face screwing into the same look of confusion as when Reid first changed his hairstyle.
"No! I slept in Daisy's room and I had to borrow some clothes from Adam and Sauli because the cleaning lady took mine by mistake and I didn't want to run to my room in my boxers." Reid said adverting his eyes to the floor.
"Can I ask the obvious question, what were you doing in Daisy's room to begin with?" Prentiss said. Her eyes shifted between Daisy and Reid.
"We had a dinner date in her room and she asked me to stay because she has nightmares and needed someone there to make her feel safe. She could've asked Adam but he has Sauli with him and she didn't want to interrupt their time together as they haven't been spending much time together due to traveling." Reid replied as he took a seat beside Jeff.
"Daisy has nightmares?" Garcia said turning a worried gaze on Daisy.
"Sorry guys but as scintillating as this conversation is it's not why we're here. We're here because there's a monster out there raping and murdering young girls so let's focus on that before someone else loses their loved one." Daisy snapped taking a seat beside Dale.
"Daisy, I'm sorry for mentioning it," Reid said offering an apologetic smile.
"Don't be, I think it's time for me to come clean but we're here for a reason and we need to stop this guy before someone else gets hurt. However, I promise once we close the case I'll talk about anything you guys want to know." Daisy said offering Reid a sympathetic smile.
"So the other day you said you thought you were the key to this case." Nick said sounding relieved to change the topic of conversation.
"Yes, I've noticed two patterns emerge over the last couple days beyond similar appearance and identical wounds. Firstly, I have noticed that when you arrange the victims in chronological order by abduction date the first initial of their name spells mine. Secondly, I found a photo in my case file of a necklace I was wearing on the night my ex attacked me. I compared it to the crime scene photos of our victims and noticed they had the outline of the same necklace on their necks." Daisy said pointing it out as she held up the photos in question.
"Do you mean this necklace?" Hotch said sliding the dog tag necklace across the table to her.
"Where did you get this?" Daisy said. Her eyes boring into Hotch's as she grabbed the necklace.
"I had evidence from your case shipped over from San Diego. You said it yourself Daisy that we need to go through your case if we want to catch this unsub." Hotch said sympathetically as Daisy glared at the necklace and ran her fingers over it.
"Yes this is the necklace, the message is in Danish and it means "forever in my heart." Dale gave it to me right before he enlisted in the military and got the message inscribed in Danish because he knows Danish is my favorite language." Daisy said turning her gaze to Dale.
"So why do you think our victims were wearing the same necklace?" Rossi chimed in his eyes taking on a softness that was not there before.
"I think the unsub is someone connected to me and he's trying to send me a cryptic message." Daisy replied leaning against Dale for support.
"Wait a minute look at the victim's ages, if you take away the first number what do you see Daisy?" Dale said pointing to the case file.
"745 that's the first three numbers of the address to your first house here in Las Vegas. This means the next victim will be 13 and her name will start with Y. Garcia, do a search and find every 13-year-old girl in the city whose name begins with Y." Daisy said glancing at Garcia.
"That is a long list." Garcia said wondering just what she was getting at.
"Narrow down that list by excluding girls who don't have a similar appearance to me when I was 15 and who don't have an older brother in the military." Daisy replied glaring at the screen as Garcia did as requested.
"There are still a hundred girls on the list Daisy." Garcia said sounding defeated.
"There has to be a way to narrow this down further." Jeff said scanning his copy of the case file.
"Garcia, can you triangulate the place where each victim was found and include their residential addresses? This should narrow down the unsub's hunting ground." Nick asked. "The first two victims live within two blocks of Dale's old address."
"You're right; in fact all four victims lived within two blocks of Dale's old residence." Garcia said looking at the screen as she added the last crime scene details into the triangulating program.
"There are three girls that match all the criteria you've listed, Yasmin Hays, Yaffa Mayers and Yanee Danielson." Reid said as he looked at the screen while standing behind Garcia.
"Hotch, how are we going to play this? Normally he does not attack his next victim for two weeks after murdering his previous victim. However, Adam interrupted his schedule so he could be out looking for his next victim as we speak." Daisy said turning to her boss looking for guidance.
"We will warn the parents and make sure they are under 24 hour protection. Morgan and Prentiss you take Yasmin Hays family. Jeff and Nick would you mind visiting Yaffa Mayer's family? Rossi, you're with me and we're visiting Yanee Danielson." Hotch said as he stood up to put his jacket on.
"Anything we can do to help." Nick and Jeff said in unison.
"JJ would you please make sure the media knows Daisy is in Las Vegas. If she's the link which I strongly think she is that will cause the unsub to make a mistake and inadvertently leave us a new clue." Hotch said firmly.
JJ nodded as she walked out the room grabbing her phone out of her pocket so she could call the news stations and newspaper offices.
"The rest of you stay here and look for clues about who the unsub could be. See if there is anything, we can add to the profile Daisy gave earlier. We'll have another briefing once Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, Jeff, Nick and I return." Hotch said turning to leave.
"I want to go with you." Daisy said grabbing his wrist.
"I need you here working on the profile because you know this case better than anyone." Hotch said rubbing her shoulder "You've hit the nail spot on so far."
Daisy nodded her head and let go of Hotch's wrist knowing that arguing with him was pointless. She watched as her four colleagues and two best friends left the room heading for their cars. She did not take her eyes off them until they were driving out of the precinct parking lot.
Daisy let out a sigh and turned around walking back towards the table. She slowly opened the box sitting on the table, which contained documents about her past. She spread the contents out on the table before turning her attention to Garcia, Dale and Reid.
"We better get started." Daisy said as she sat down besides Garcia.
Reid took the available seat beside her and grabbed her hand under the table, entwining their fingers to offer emotional support. He knew that she had managed to keep her secret buried for years within the confines of her diary. A physical representation of her horrific past that is until Reid invaded it albeit inadvertently.
It was one thing to have to talk to your new roommate and co-worker but it was another to have no choice but to reveal your darkest secret to a whole team of profilers plus old friends and brothers whom in their own way managed to let the wounds heal.
"If you wish to stop at any given time Daisy that's fine." Reid said letting go of her hand moving it up her arm and rubbing it to show his support.
"I will thank you Spencer." Daisy said turning her head staring straight into his gorgeous chocolate brown eyes offering him a genuine smile.
The three team members and the lead detective turned their attention to the case files ready to dive into a dark abyss.