A/N: Ah! Thanks for the response guys, you only made me want to write faster! Please please please review, and I'll love you forever.
"You're right, Morgan, this isn't how we normally choose our cases." Aaron said sternly as he flipped through the Red Wing case file. "And the director will definitely find it unprofessional." he sighed, closing the file. "But we haven't had a case in a few days and I was about to fly you out to a Nevada town on a serial arsonist, but I think this one will take precedent. Arrange the team in the conference room, we can work close to home on this one which everyone should appreciate. What's the woman's name?"
"Zoe Martin." Derek said.
"Alright, I want her in there too, she's the only connection we have to a witness and she probably knows something she doesn't think she knows. Also, the stalking and harassment of the victims is key here, and she'll definitely be able to help with that."
Garcia had already made a small infopacket on the case from what articles and archives she could dig up. As the team gathered in the conference room, Zoe in the corner in an extra chair, she sent the packet to everyone's tablets, and set Spencer's old fashioned files in front of him with a playful hair ruffle.
"The Red Wing Killer has resurfaced after 20 years, after last being seen in 1992. There was no DNA evidence collected from the bodies, and Ms. Martin's mother's rape kit came up empty. So we have no DNA to work with."
Zoe made a little noise. Garcia looked up, and the team turned around.
"What if we do?" she asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" Garcia asked.
"Well, I mean, I might have, like, half his DNA." she looked embarrassed. "Haven't people gotten convictions on partial DNA matches, like, sibling or child? I know it's illegal in Illinois to do that, but seeing that I'm probably his daughter-"
"Wait, you didn't mention this before." Morgan said.
"I'm sorry." she looked genuinely worried. "My mother only told me the night she died, and it's sort of a sore spot." she wrinkled her nose. "That it's a possibility I have the DNA of a serial killer."
"That definitely changes the victimology." Rossi said. "He might be stalking his own daughter for other reasons."
"He doesn't know. How would he know?" Zoe said, fear creeping in her voice.
"He probably doesn't." Hotch said. "We should stay on track with the sexual sadistic motive, I think. Either way, Spencer can swab you and we'll send it to the lab so Garcia can run the DNA."
Spencer watched Zoe with concern. She was biting on her thumb nail, her eyebrows knotted together.
"What we should do is place an agent or two at Zoe's house for the next couple days. I'm going to make some calls to the PD who worked this case 20 years ago, they might be able to help. Reid, you're on security detail, and I want you to see if there's anything at her house that might help us identify this guy. While you're there, try and find a pattern in the letters. JJ, I think that if we make a press release saying that the Red Wing Killer has resurfaced, it might change the behavior of this guy. Morgan, work with Reid on Security detail, focus on the exterior of the house, so we can get a mock up on his perameters. I want to see how he's been stalking her consistently for 5 months. Rossi and I will head up to..." he glanced down at the file "Conrow, West Virginia, to gather any evidence and talk to the head detective on the case. We'll work up a profile by tomorrow."
As the team stood, gathering their belongings, Zoe rushed over to Garcia.
"Thank you so much for doing this, Ms. Garcia. You have no idea how much it means to me, you don't understand, I've been so scared these past few months, and finally someone listened to me. Thank you." she said gratefully. Garcia grinned, taking the woman's hand in her own.
"That's what we're here for. And you can call me Penelope."
"Come on, Zoe, we'll follow you to your house." Derek said.
"Actually, I took the bus and then walked. My car broke down and I can't afford to fix it." she explained. "Starving college student, heh." she said, her cheeks turning red again.
"We can just give you a ride." Reid said with a small smile.
Zoe had never felt more relief in her life than she had in the past hour at the BAU. She finally wasn't looking over her shoulder every 5 seconds, her thoughts were clear and less hysterical, and the constant flood of adrenaline was slowing down. In the backseat of the shiny SVU, she leaned against the window with exhaustion and quickly fell asleep, finally feeling safe enough to do so.
As she slept behind them, Reid watched her in the review mirror. She was startlingly beautiful, although her features were drawn and pale from exhaustion, he still felt himself drawn to her, but he didn't know why. He flipped open the file Garcia had compiled to read on what information they had on Zoe. She was a sophomore at the University of Virginia, working on getting her Masters in Ecology, and was an intern for the Virginia Environmental Society. She'd graduated high school early, at 16, and her educational history was covered in various awards for academics. On the next page, there was a report for sexual assault filed by her mother on behalf of Zoe, but underneath it said that the charges were dropped.
"She's cute, huh?" Morgan asked Reid when he noticed Reid flipping through her file.
"Oh, uh, I don't know." he shrugged.
"Yeaahh, right." Derek laughed, as he turned into the driveway of Zoe's small house. It had belonged to her mother, but when she passed, it was inherited by Zoe.
As Spencer helped the groggy young woman from the car, Derek began walking around the perimeter of the house, snapping pictures at the cars parked on the street.
"Uh, Morgan?" Reid called a moment later. Morgan jogged back to his fellow agent, who had his arm around Zoe, who's head was struggling to stay upright. Reid was holding another photograph in his hand. "This was on her door."
Derek took the picture. Instead of a polaroid, it was a printout of a woman bound to a chair, burns all over her body, and a blindfold over her eyes.
"Is this a copy of another one?" he asked Reid.
"No, that's not one of the other victims. Look at the date on the side of the image."
Derek did.
"This was taken yesterday. He's got someone else."
Zoe's head snapped up. "What?" she asked.
"Don't worry, we're just going to get you inside." Spencer said, gently taking her keys and unlocking the door.
"There's someone else? What is that?" she reached for the photograph, and looked down at the image. Her eyes filled with tears, and then closed. All at once, her knees gave out, and Spencer just barely stopped her head from hitting the porch railing.
A/N: Chapter 3 within a couple of hours, thanks again for reading! Please read and subscribe!