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'Weird, Alaska'
Chapter Eight
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"He found another body?" Hotch asked.
"Yes," Jacob replied. He pointed in the direction Reid had walked. They all headed in that direction. "Agent Reid?"
"This way," they heard him call from a few yards ahead of them. The group followed the sound of Reid's voice until they spotted him standing in a small clearing. A couple feet away from him lay the body of a young female. Reid already had gloves on and had pulled a roll of yellow crime scene tape out of his bag.
"You carry crime scene tape around with you, Agent Reid?"
"Yes," Reid said simply.
Jacob crouched down next to the victim's body and pulled the collar of her shirt down slightly. He shook his head. "Bruising around the neck is a definite sign of strangulation. I don't know her from town," he said. "Wade, call the state police. We need the coroner out here also."
"Sure thing, Jacob." The deputy walked a few yards away to make the call.
"This is really starting to piss me off," Jacob said. "Number one, because these girls are dead in the first place; and number two because he's leaving them in my town." He sighed and stood up. "I'll need to go to Fairbanks with the coroner for the autopsy again."
Hotch spoke. "If you don't mind Morgan will go along with you to the autopsy."
Jacob nodded. "Of course. It will take them a couple hours to get out here form Fairbanks though; so we will need to do what we can now to preserve the location."
"Now that we have this fourth location we likely won't get to the other two until tomorrow," Rossi said. He turned to Jacob. "How many hours of daylight do we have?"
Jacob looked at his watch. "It's going on 3:30 p.m.; so approximately six hours until dark."
"Sheriff," Morgan, who was crouched next to the body, called. "Take a look at this."
Once again Jacob crouched next to the body. He looked at a spot slightly under the body where Morgan pointed. "It looks like a class ring."
"You didn't find any jewelry on the bodies according to your reports," Reid said.
"We didn't," Wade said, as he walked up behind Reid. "We didn't find any jewelry on any of the victims." He handed a case the size of a tackle box to Jacob.
"Thank you, Wade." He opened the case and pulled out a pair of disposable gloves which he quickly pulled on. "What did the State Police say?"
"Coroner will be on his way within a few minutes."
Jacob nodded. He pulled a small envelope out of the case and wrote the time, date and type of evidence on it. He reached for the ring and held it up to look for an engraving. "There's no engraving," he sighed. "However I do see the name of a school on the side. Eagle Mountain, Class of 2003."
"May I see it?" Reid asked. Jacob handed him the ring. "Aquamarine birthstone," he commented.
"Sheriff, are you aware of a school by the name of Eagle Mountain?"
"No, Agent Hotchner. However, that certainly does not mean there isn't one. It could be in Anchorage, Fairbanks, some other town in Alaska or anyplace outside of Alaska for that matter."
Reid handed the ring back to Jacob who dropped it into the envelope and sealed it. "It's definitely a woman's ring. If it belongs to the victim it might help to identify her."
Morgan stood up. "There's no identification anywhere on her body, so unless there's a DNA match or a match to a missing person's report the ring may be all we have."
"I'll call JJ and tell her what's going on at this point," Rossi said. "I'll also ask Garcia to do a search for Eagle Mountain High School or Eagle Mountain College anywhere in the US or Canada." He looked at the victim. "If it's her ring, given the year 2003 I'd say it's a high school ring."
"My guess is she is mid-twenties. She's full dressed, and there is a gunshot wound to the left side of the chest in addition to the signs of strangulation. There is no corresponding damage to her clothing; therefore she must have been redressed after being shot instead of before," Reid said.
"Was she killed here?" Prentiss asked.
"Hard to say. There's no visible blood in the area, so I just don't know."
"Sheriff, how does this scene look to you compared to the other three? Does it seem staged the same way?" Morgan asked.
"Almost exactly the same. And like the others there's been little animal activity around the body; therefore she couldn't have been here long."
"Garcia and JJ just arrived in Fairbanks. As soon as she is set up Garcia is going to do the search for Eagle Mountain," Rossi said as he walked up beside Hotch. "Sheriff, is it possible the UnSub could have known we were coming?"
"That's a good question, Sheriff. Who else knew we were coming ahead of time?" Hotch asked.
"You mean aside from everyone in town?"
"And the State Police," Talbot added.
"And the F.B.I. Field Office in Anchorage," Reid added.
"If the UnSub knew we were coming and wanted the body to be discovered, that would explain the timing of the fourth victim. But what about the other three?" Morgan asked.
"Sheriff," Rossi said. "You actually found the first three victims yourself?"
"Yes, I did."
"That tells me the UnSub knew there was a reason for you to be out in the woods at those particular times."
"He wanted you specifically to find the victims," Reid said.
"The question is why? And I have no idea why," Jacob said.
"What in particular were you doing those days that caused you to be in the woods?" Morgan asked.
"You were checking on reports of poaching in the woods," Wade said.
"I was looking for illegal traps," Jacob added.
"Every time?" Hotch asked.
"All three times." Jacob stared at Hotch. "So what are we saying here? This has something to do with me personally?"
"Either that or they just wanted you to find the bodies," Rossi said.
"How did you receive the poaching reports?" Prentiss asked.
"Anonymous tips called into the office," Wade said. "All three times."
"Have you had problems with poaching before?" Reid asked.
"Yes. That's why I had to take the tips seriously."
"I think it's obvious it wasn't because the UnSub didn't think you couldn't handle the investigation. Even if that had been the reason the first time; after seeing how well you and Deputy Talbot handled the first victim it certainly wouldn't explain the second and third victim," Hotch said.
"And now with this fourth victim being left just yards from one of the locations anyone could have figured we would all be visiting…" Rossi began.
"I don't like this. I don't like this at all," Jacob said. "It's also less than a month between victims this time. The first three victims were all killed three months apart."
"Sheriff…it doesn't mean these girls are being killed because of you. It could simply mean the UnSub either thinks you can solve the case or wants you to solve the case," Reid said.
"So he wants to be caught?" Jacob asked.
"Not necessarily. Some UnSubs want to be caught, others simply like to challenge law enforcement to catch them," Morgan said.
"Why me? Why challenge me?"
"Maybe the UnSub met you at some point. Maybe he stopped in town in the past; there could be a number of reasons," Rossi told him.
"Have you gotten any media attention since you've been Sheriff?" Reid asked.
"For what?" Jacob asked.
"For any reason."
"Agent Reid, look around you! It may be beautiful country, but it's also out in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I'm getting any attention for is finding bodies in my jurisdiction."
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Ninety minutes later the coroner's van pulled up behind the Expedition and the Bureau SUV parked on the side of the Weird Connection. Talbot met the coroner and his assistant and led them into the forest where the victim's body was located.
"Sheriff Reischl, we really need to stop meeting like this," the coroner commented. He looked around at the BAU team members combing through the nearby woods looking for evidence. "You actually were able to bring the F.B.I. in on this."
"I said I would do whatever I had to do, Damian."
"You did indeed."
Jacob introduced the coroner to the team as Damian Londen and his assistant as Erika Sparks. Within half an hour Londen and Sparks had bagged the victim and she was being carried to their van. "Will you be following us Sheriff?" Sparks asked.
"I just need to tie up a few loose ends here and then I'll meet you there as soon as possible."
"We'll get started as soon as we get back," Londen said. "Going to be another late night. Thanks a lot, Sheriff!"
"Humph…" Jacob grumbled as Londen and Sparks departed.
"I'm guessing the State Police are leaving the investigation to you and Talbot," Morgan commented.
"Technically I have to ask them to help as long as it's within my jurisdiction. Since you're here we might as well handle it between us." He sighed and looked over at the spot where the victim had laid just moments before. "Do you think maybe our UnSub left that ring on purpose, or could he have just missed it?"
"It's too early to tell Sheriff," Rossi told him. "He might not have seen it under the victim's body when he left her here."
Jacob shook his head. "Agent Morgan, are you ready? I think we should head for Fairbanks." He turned and walked toward the Expedition.
"I'll be right with you, Sheriff." Morgan turned toward Hotch and Rossi. "What do you think of all this? What could the connection be between Sheriff Reischl and the UnSub?"
"I'm going to have Garcia dig a little further into his background and see if she can turn up anything in his military record or personal history that might be helpful," Hotch said.
"Sounds good," Morgan answered. "I'll let you know what's going on when we get to Fairbanks." Hotch nodded and watched Morgan walk over to join Sheriff Reischl.
"Well," Rossi commented as they turned back toward Reid, Prentiss and Talbot. "At least we know neither the Sheriff nor the Deputy is the UnSub."
"That's not funny, Dave."
"It may not be funny, but it's the truth."
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