Chapter 3
"I'm tellin' you, pretty boy, you can't find a place more isolated than this," said Morgan. He and Reid walked through the dump site of the first body, and found nothing. It is obvious to both agents why their Unsub had no trouble dumping Barstow's body without being seen.
"I agree," Reid was crouched down, his hazel eyes scanning the ground hoping to find something the locals might have missed or overlooked, "Other than the occasional vehicular traffic we've seen, a truck in these woods wouldn't draw any unusual attention."
"I'm the Unsub. I drive my vehicle along this road and veer off into the woods looking for a suitable dump site. I need to find some place with which I am familiar. And two, when I'm seen in these woods I do not look out of place." Morgan said as he looked at the ground.
"Which means," Reid added. "He'd be either a resident, or he doesn't stand out. People are comfortable in his presence. He isn't drawing attention to himself." Morgan stood beside Reid with hands on hips.
"If I'm Barstow, I meet the Unsub someplace in town. And because I'm comfortable around him, I don't suspect a thing until it's too late." Reid stood up and still looked around the site. "Question is, how does he lure his victims to wherever he ends up killing them?" He looked Morgan in the face.
Morgan shrugged his shoulders. "He might have offered Barstow a lift somewhere, incapacitated him, then drove him to his place and killed him. Or…or he might have been waiting to get Barstow alone, overpower him, then take him to his place." He started walking back to their vehicle with Reid behind him. "I guess we'll have to wait to see what the others find out." As Morgan slid behind the wheel of the SUV and Reid buckled himself into the passenger seat, Morgan took out his cell phone. He called Hotch and informed him they had a rough idea why their Unsub choose these woods.
"Good. I'll see both of you back at the police station," was Hotch's gruff response.
"From what we know so far, our friend paid close attention to his second victim," Rossi said looking around the scene. "And then he dumped her here as if she was trash," he added with disgust.
Hotch, crouched low examining the ground, and found nothing. "I agree," he said. "The fact that he did indicates he has a strong dislike for women, and the first vic may have been a trial run for this one." Hotch studied the impression on the ground where the body had lain. He stood up placing both hands on his hips. "There's nothing here to tell us who might have done this."
"And from what Detective Parsons says, there's no forensic evidence as to who it might be either. This guy is careful to not to leave anything behind to reveal his identity," Rossi added with a sigh.
Hotch looked at his friend. "There's nothing useful here. Let's go see what the Medical Examiner can tell us."
JJ looked around as Prentiss rang the doorbell. The two agents didn't have long to wait for the door to open. A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and eyes looked at the two women standing on the top step.
"Yes? Can I help you?" she asked, suspicion etched on her face looking from one to the other.
Prentiss and JJ held up their credentials for the woman. "I'm Agent Prentiss, and this is Agent Jareau. We're with the FBI. May we come in?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. Please come in," the woman said opening the door wider and allowed the agents to enter. "I'm Maggie Linton. Detective Parsons told us somebody from the FBI will be stopping by to talk with us. I guess this concerns the body in the woods." The last sentence more of a statement than a question.
"Thank you, and yes," JJ smiled as she followed Emily inside the house. Maggie Linton closed the door and followed the agents into the living room.
My husband and daughter are in the backyard with the boys. I will go get them. Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you both something? Coffee perhaps?"
"No thank you," Prentiss replied with a slight smile as she and JJ sat on the sofa. The woman hesitated for a few seconds then disappeared into the kitchen. Now alone, JJ turned toward the raven-haired woman.
"Em, you should talk with Carrie's father while I talk with Carrie. It might be easier for her to talk if her father wasn't present."
Prentiss started to respond when they heard footsteps and both women stood. Maggie Linton entered the living room followed by her husband and a shy young girl. She introduced the two agents to her husband and daughter. Prentiss and JJ smiled at the girl trying to diffuse any nervousness. Maggie Linton turned and walked back into the kitchen.
JJ looked at the shy teen. "Hi, Carrie. I'm Jennifer and this is my friend Emily. Why don't you and I go to your room and talk?" The girl shrugged, not looking at the blond. JJ tilted her head to the side. "Y'know, I have a little boy of my own. Would you like to see a picture of him?"
"Sure," Carrie replied lifting her head. She looked into JJ's bright blue eyes. With a smile, the blond took Carrie's hand. Below, Robert Linton watched his daughter walk upstairs with the agent.
"Why is your partner taking Carrie upstairs?" he asked the raven-haired agent.
"We've found that children will often be more inclined to talk if a parent isn't in the same room," Prentiss explained. She gestured to the sofa, took a seat, and waited. Linton hesitated for a few moments before he sat beside her. He ran a hand over his hair.
"I can't believe any of this," he muttered not looking at the agent. "I mean, what person does that to somebody?"
"That's what we're trying to find out, Mr. Linton. To start with, can you tell me how you came to find the body?"
Upstairs, Jennifer followed Carrie into her bedroom. The agent smiled when she saw the room. It reminded her of her own room when she was her age. Except where JJ's walls had been covered with posters of the Beatles, Carrie had posters of Justin Bieber. She sat beside the girl on the edge of the bed.
"Before you ask me any questions, can you show me the picture of your son?" asked Carrie.
"Of course," JJ beamed removing her wallet from her inside jacket pocket. She took out her most recent color photo of Henry and handed it to the girl who studied it for a few minutes. "He looks just like you." She handed the photo back to the agent.
"You think so?" JJ asked looking at the photo. "Everybody tells me that. To me he looks like his daddy. As long as he doesn't inherit the Louisianan accent." A small smile appeared on Carrie's face as JJ replaced the photo in her wallet, and put it back in her jacket pocket. "Carrie, tell me how you discovered the body in the woods? Take your time."
"I just want to forget the entire thing."
"I know, sweetie," JJ stroked the girl's hair. "But to find out who did this, we're going to need your help. Anything you can tell me might help, no matter how small a detail."
Carrie looked at her hands in her lap, and picked at her fingernails. "It was my turn to walk Sasha."
"And Sasha is you dog?"
"She was a gift from our parents to my brothers and me."
JJ nodded. "Go on," she urged the teen.
"Everything was fine until Sasha started pulling on the leash. I figured something in the woods had caught her attention."
Downstairs, Robert Linton rubbed the back of his neck. The man appeared traumatized by everything. He forced a nervous grin on his face and looked at Prentiss. "I'm sorry. This entire thing has left me overwhelmed, y'know. I mean, I think Carrie's handling it better than I am right now."
"That's understandable," Prentiss said. "You're doing fine. Just take your time."
"Right. Uh…after I saw the body and realized it was human, I grabbed Sasha and ran back here to call the police. My God, that poor girl!"
"Did you know Shannon Carstairs or the first victim, Anthony Barstow?"
Linton shook his head. "I don't know either of them. Neither do my wife or children. I'm sorry. It's so horrible what happened."
"I know. Mr. Linton, thank you for your help. You did just fine. We'll be in touch if we have more questions." Reaching inside her jacket, Prentiss removed a card and handed it to Linton. "You can reach me at that number if you or Carrie remember anything else."
"We will. Thank you." He got to his feet along with the dark-haired woman in time to see JJ reappear. The two women said their goodbyes and left the house. Alone, the two of them exchanged their information.
"This entire thing has Mr. Linton rattled," Prentiss explained. "How's his daughter handling it?"
"The reality hasn't hit her yet," JJ answered. "I feel sorry for her when it does."
"I know. What did you find out?"
"Carrie was walking the family pet when it smelled something and bolted away. She chased after the dog and caught up with her while the dog pawed at the body. She then ran home and told her parents."
"How horrible. But that coincides with what Mr. Linton told me. He said after his daughter told him and his wife what she found, he went out to the site. He finds the body, grabs the dog, and hurries home to call the police. JJ, from what I can tell he's telling the truth. He had nothing to do with any of this."
Reaching their SUV, Prentiss opened the driver's side door and slid behind the wheel as JJ slid onto the front passenger seat. "Let's head to the police station," the dark-haired woman started the engine. "Maybe the others have come up with something." She pulled away from the curb.
The drive to the morgue was made in silence, both Hotch and Rossi lost in their own thoughts about the information they had uncovered so far. Once they arrived, the agents walked to the front desk and showed their credentials. They were then directed to the room where the Medical Examiner waited for them with the two bodies.
"Doctor Barlow? I'm Agent Hotchner, and this is Agent Rossi," said Hotchner, seeing a tall man with thick hair looking at something on a clipboard. He held out his hand.
"Agents," Barlow said shaking hands with both men. "I've been expecting you."
"Unfortunately it isn't under better circumstances," Rossi chimed in, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. "You did the autopsies on both victims?"
"Yes, I did." Barlow looked at the clipboard in his hands. "The first victim, Anthony Barstow, put up a fight against his attacker. He had deep defensive cuts on both hands, and deep slashes and gouges on his face and torso. His body was severed at the waist, and all the blood drained from his body."
"How were the cuts made?" asked Rossi. "What I mean is are they smooth? Ragged?"
"The cuts were smooth and surgical in nature. None of them were jagged from what I saw. But what I will say is that more than one knife was used."
"What kind of knives were used, doctor?"
"One was an average size knife similar to a carving knife. But I will add that a larger knife, possibly a machete, was used to cut the bodies in half at the waist."
"No signs of sexual abuse?" asked Hotch.
"None. But I might add the majority of these wounds were made after the victim was dead. The ligature marks around his neck, wrists and ankles were made postmortem as well, possibly from a rope. The COD was blunt force trauma to the head from the vicious beating he received."
"What about the second victim?"
Barlow let out a deep breath as he opened a door to the refrigerator and rolled out an aluminum slab on which lay a covered body. He pulled back the sheet covering the corpse allowing the agents to get an up-close look at the body. Rossi winced at the sight while Hotch's face remained unreadable. But the older agent knew his friend was just as appalled. Barlow picked up another clipboard while Rossi and Hotch studied the body.
"It appears he spent more time with this one than the earlier victim," he said.
"What do you mean?" asked Hotch without looking at the doctor.
"The cuts on her body are much deeper than on the first victim. The cut through her middle was done with the same skill as with the first victim. The guy has to be either a doctor or someone with medical knowledge."
Rossi leaned closer with hands on his thighs. "Can you tell how much of the damage was done to her before and after her death?"
Barlow shook his head. "Hard to tell. Her body's been so cleaned off, it's difficult to tell how much was done while she was alive, and after she died. The ligature marks on her neck, wrists and ankles appear to have been made with wire. To be honest, if it wasn't for the blunt force trauma to her head, I would have suspected the cause-of-death was either strangulation or excess blood loss."
"Any sign of rape with the second victim?" asked Hotch.
"No sign of it considering the way she was displayed at the crime scene indicated otherwise."
Hotch studied the woman's face. "I see the lacerations to her face were stitched closed."
"Yes, sir. It was the only way we could align her jaw before a sketch of what she might have looked like could be done. Believe me when I say the bastard who did this worked her over but good. I hope you find him."
"We intend to," Rossi replied. "Were there any sign of drugs in either victims' systems?"
"I didn't find any drugs in either body, but I did find something unusual."
"What do you mean by unusual?" asked Hotch, straightening.
To show what he meant, Barlow maneuvered the upper part of the girl's body turning it on its side. He moved her hair out of the way and pointed to a mark on the back of her neck. Both Hotch and Rossi leaned closer.
"Those looks like burn marks," Rossi said, eyes narrowed.
"They are," Barlow explained. "Both victims have them in the same location. If I had to venture a guess as to what caused them, I'd have to say a taser."
"That's our guess as well," Rossi concurred. "Thank you for your time, Doctor Barlow." He and Hotch said their goodbyes and left the morgue. Once back outside, they climbed into their SUV and headed to the police station.
"So what do we have?" Hotch asked. "We have an Unsub who enjoys inflicting the ultimate amount of pain on his victims. And he seemed to inflict more pain on the woman than the man."
"That tells me he has more anger against the female victim than the male. Why? And how does he select his victims?" asked Rossi.
Hotch let out a deep breath. "Hopefully we'll find out soon. What worries me is he seems to be escalating from his first victim," he said. "Two weeks between his first and second victim isn't a lot of time. He could already be searching for his next victim as we speak."
Rossi glanced at his friend's face. "What's troubling you, Aaron? You've had that look on your face since we learned about the second victim."
Hotch looked at the older man. Rossi always could read him like a book. "I'm not sure and I can't explain it. I just have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better."
"Then let's catch this son-of-a-bitch before that happens," Rossi stated.
Morgan and Reid returned to the police station a few minutes before Prentiss and JJ. When the girls entered, Reid was at work on the geographic profile hoping to find the Unsub's comfort zone.
Thirty minutes later, Hotch and Rossi joined them.
"Morgan, Reid, what can you tell us about the first crime scene?" Hotch asked with arms crossed.
"The area where Barstow's body was found is somewhat remote," Morgan began. "Also, one needs to be familiar with or live in the area. My guess is if a vehicle left the road and headed into the woods, it wouldn't seem all that unusual."
"In addition," Reid continued looking around from the white board on which he had been working. "He blends in and doesn't draw attention to himself which causes people to be comfortable enough around him to lower their guard. We just don't know yet how he lures his victims or how he overpowers them."
"We can answer part of that," Hotch replied, his face impassive. "He uses a taser on them. There were burn marks on the back of the neck on the second victim. The Medical Examiner verified burn marks on both victims. Apparently his victims feel comfortable enough around the Unsub to let him get close enough to use the taser and immobilize them."
"Well, that answers the how he overpowers 'em," Morgan tossed out. "Now if we could figure out how he lures them."
"My guess," said Prentiss. "He either talks them into coming with him, or he waits until they're alone and overpowers them."
"The medical examiner added the cuts are smooth which indicates the killer either knew what he was doing, or had medical training," Rossi explained, arms crossed. "Also, he said two knives were used. Possibly a carving knife and a machete."
"There are no signs of a struggle at the first crime scene so Barstow might have gone with the Unsub of his own free will," Morgan added.
"Nor are there signs of a struggle at the second crime scene," Rossi concurred.
"What about Shannon Carstairs?" asked JJ moving a strand of her hair behind her ear.
Rossi shook his head and exhaled. "He spent more time with her than with his first victim. The ligature marks on her neck, wrists and ankles were from being bound with wire."
"There are no sign of drugs in the systems of either victim," Hotch added. "But why would he spend more time with the girl than with the male?"
"Could be Barstow was a practice run so to speak," Rossi explained. "By the time he moved on to Shannon Carstairs, he felt surer of himself."
"I don't think so," Reid interjected after a long period of silence. The others turned to their resident genius. "What I believe happened is that with Barstow he honed his skills as a killer. What I mean is, I don't think Barstow was his first victim. He was, as Rossi stated, a practice run for when he killed Shannon Carstairs. He spent more time with her because she was important to him."
"How so?" Hotch folded his arms.
The young agent's enthusiasm showed as he continued. "Both victims were killed in the same fashion as 22 year-old Elizabeth Short who was known as the Black Dahlia back in 1947. Her killer, who to this day, remains unknown, spent a long time with her when he killed her. She was tortured, beaten, and bound with rope. Her body had been cut in half at the waist and drained of blood. Only difference being there were no Dahlia flowers left with her body when it was found."
"Why was she called the Black Dahlia, Spence?" asked a fascinated JJ.
"The press called her that because of her jet black hair and penchant for wearing black clothing. She also had a habit of wearing white gardenias in her hair. Sort of how the late jazz singer, Billie Holiday, did."(1)
"So you're saying this Unsub is recreating the Black Dahlia murder?" asked Prentiss.
"It was the most sensational murder in 1947 and her killer never caught. I believe it could be the reason he chose it in the first place," the young man stated. "He's recreating a murder in which the killer was never found believing he can do the same thing."
"There's something I don't understand, Reid. I get it where Shannon Carstairs is concerned. She was a woman like this Elizabeth Short. But how does Anthony Barstow fit in?"
"I'm not sure yet. But if I had to make a guess, I'd say he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Just then, the door to the conference room opened, and Detective Parsons looked in, a grim expression on his face. "Sorry to interrupt, folks," his eyes sought out Hotch. "Agent Hotchner, we've got another body. But this one wasn't found in the woods."
(1) Billie Holiday nicknamed 'Lady Day' was an American jazz singer had a thriving career for many years before losing her battle with drug addiction. Her trademark was the gardenias she wore in her hair when she performed. She died on 7/17/59 at the age of 44.