Chapter 2
The Manchester medical examiner, Dr. Martin Burgess, greeted the two FBI agents as they entered the autopsy room. Laid on the stainless steel table laid their UnSubs' latest victim, Detective Tracey Madison.
"Dr Burgess, I am SSA Jennifer Jareau, and this is SSA Hotchner, our unit chief. We are here to go through your findings on Detective Madison." JJ handled the introductions as she offered the man her hand.
"Agents," answered the uncomfortable doctor.
Pulling down the white rubber sheet covering the body of the former detective to expose her head and shoulders. Hotch allowed JJ to examine the needle marks on her neck used to drain the victim's blood. "How much knowledge of the body structure do you need to be able to find this particular artery quickly?" JJ asked as she examined the puncture marks.
"This perp has a good knowledge of the anatomy of the neck. I found no hesitation marks or additional puncture marks. I dissected the neck and checked all the veins and arteries in her neck. They knew precisely the proper landmarks to locate the Carotid Artery. It's an extraordinarily congested area, though you could still drain her blood from any of them. It would just take a little longer." he answered, "It's not easy to completely drain a human body of its blood volume. It would be messy and time-consuming to accomplish." he added thoughtfully.
Taking a pair of latex gloves from her pocket, JJ quickly put them on and raised the victim's right eyelid. Bending down, she closely examined the eye and beckoned her two observers.
"What does that look like?" she inquired of her audience.
Taking a UV light from his workstation, he turned the light on and examined her eyeball using a magnifying glass. The ultraviolet light uncovered a very slight ridge from a fingerprint.
"Doctor Burgess, can you contact a specialist to see if they can lift a print from her eyeball.? We need to check the other victims ' eyes. How many of the bodies are buried?" Hotch asked as he silently passed his well done to his younger agent.
He looked horrified that he had overlooked such a crucial piece of evidence. "Three bodies were buried, and two families had their daughters cremated. I will issue an exhumation order for the three buried victims and inspect their eyes. How did you know Agent Jareau?" asked a contrite coroner.
A cheeky smirk appeared on her mouth as she beckoned the man across to the table, closed her right eyelid, and pointed out the missing eyelashes. "Female thing, doc," she smirked.
"Did you find any drugs in her tissues or hair?" enquired Hotch
"We tested her hair and found nothing." he started to answer before he was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. He just listened to the caller and hung up without speaking.
"We have deep bruises on her wrists and ankles, indicating she was restrained tightly using something well padded, preventing skin damage. I took photos under UV light. Images show patterns similar to leather restraints identical to those used in a mental health facility," he informed the agents.
Hotch thanked the medical examiner and turned to leave with JJ.
EJ
Drinking her flat white coffee, gazing out the coffee shop's window, she watched the nerdy-looking man exit the police car. Studying the new arrivals, she smiled when she saw him grabbing the strap of his messenger bag like it was his comfort blanket. He looked petrified, not what she expected of an FBI agent from the elite behavioural analysis unit. He wasn't an analyst; he had a revolver holstered on his hip. On the other hand, his companion was confident, a prominent alpha male.
"You are a Handsome young man, a very fetching agent," she told herself as she watched him disappear into the police station.
Returning to her iPad, she watched the live stream as she sipped on her flat white, enjoying the Colombian coffee beans.
"What are you watching, honey?" asked the barista with a smile.
"CSI New York, I love these shows; I can't get enough of them. The blonde has just found vital evidence that will break the case. I wonder how realistic these shows are?" She smirked as she took her fresh flat white from her. "I am sorry to hear about what happened to Tina; no one deserves to die like that." she sympathetically told the woman, pleased when she noticed the tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Thank you, honey. Excuse me, please," the upset woman said as she abruptly moved away.
Playing with the white foam topping her coffee, she returned to her iPad, watching the blonde woman talking to the doctor as she pointed something out to him.
"Well spotted, agent," she told the image of JJ as she pointed out the missing eyelash.
Pleased with things, she leisurely finished her coffee, packed away her iPad, and walked out the door, accidentally bumping into someone.
"Sorry!"
"Sorry!"
Both women apologised simultaneously and just smiled as they safely passed.
EJ
Emily scanned the crime scene photographs from Detective Madison's bedroom while Derek wandered around the bed.
"Emily, lay down on the bed for me, please," he snickered with a devilish grin.
"You haven't even bought me a drink yet, Derek; I'm not that easy; I have standards, you know, plus I haven't had all my shots yet so that I might catch something from your menagerie of lady friends," smirked Emily
"Funny, Prentiss, bed now!" he summoned with raised eyebrows.
Closing her case file, she sighed, got onto the bed, and laid on her back. Suddenly, she heard the shutter noise from his cell phone as he took her picture.
"I will hurt you badly, Derek Morgan, if this gets back to Garcia that you had me on my back," warned Emily, scowling at her partner.
Her partner mulled over her threat, and a cheeky smile appeared when he was struck with an idea. "Buy me a decent coffee and blueberry muffin when we get back to the station, and I will permanently delete the crime scene photo of you doing what I tell you," he told her mischievously.
"Fine! My warning remains in place until it's deleted from everywhere, including your cloud account, Special Agent Derek Morgan." smiled Emily
The two agents discussed removing the blood from the crime scene without leaving a single drop for them to find.
"Crime scene technicians have removed all the waste pipes from the house and swabbed them for blood. Only slight animal blood traces were found in the kitchen sink waste disposal unit. How do you remove one and a half gallons of blood from a crime scene without leaving a single drop behind? Those are excellent cleaning skills; I don't think she was killed here. I think she was killed elsewhere and just brought back once she had been drained and cleaned up." Morgan surmised
"Yeah, I agree our UnSub has to be physically fit." She paused as she checked the file. "the detective weighs 170 pounds, difficult to move but attainable; we can't rule out the possibility our UnSub could be female." added Emily
"This can't be our UnSubs' first victims. You don't become this efficient with your method of killing and not leaving any forensic evidence behind without practising and honing your ability." surmised Derek. "I will text Garcia and ask her to search for like crimes," he announced as he pulled out his cell phone and sent the text requesting his search.
Finished in the house, the two agents examine its back gate to check how straightforward it would be to enter unobserved with a body.
"Not overlooked, easy access from the road into the backyard." Emily summarised after looking around the backyard.
EJ
Morgan put the SUV into the park outside the police station, turned to his partner, and smirked, raising his cell phone to show Emily her snapshot from the crime scene.
"Fine, one decent coffee and blueberry muffin coming up. Ensure that it is deleted everywhere, including your cloud account, Special Agent Derek Morgan," warned Emily. "I will bring the other's usual coffee as well."
"Cross my heart, Princess,"
Emily crossed the road towards the coffee shop after returning to the station. She smiled at the barista as she ordered her coffee and watched as she commenced preparing her order.
"Officer, thank you for your service." said a voice from behind her
Emily turned to face the voice from behind her and smiled. The red-headed woman smiled at Emily and pointed to her holstered Glock on her hip, noticing the surprise on her face.
"Thank you, Ma'am; it's agent. I am with the FBI." Emily politely corrected the green-eyed woman.
"Let me buy your coffee for you?" she asked with a smile.
"Thank you for your kind offer, but I must politely refuse," Emily smiled. "goodbye," smiled Emily as she collected her order and walked out of the coffee shop.
Watching her leave as she ordered her sizeable flat white, the redhead smiled, "Very lovely to meet you, Agent Emily Prentiss." she told herself.
Turning around, she walked to the table and smiled at the occupant. "Hi, Rachel,"
EJ
Sitting at the table, drinking coffee, the team discussed the case. Prentiss and Morgan discussed what they had found at the detectives' house and presented their theory that the victim was killed at a secondary location.
"Baby Girl, you're on speaker with the whole team," announced Morgan as he placed his cell phone in the middle of the table
"Team Van Helsing," she started ", I completed Blade my day walkers commands and found no like crimes against women with similar or precise techniques. Completely bloodless bodies without any trace of the vampire milk are unique. Frighteningly, wannabe vampires sucking people's blood is not as rare as I would like to see. Yucky! If you can narrow down what they use to drain the blood, I could run searches for suppliers of said objects, and it is not a tiny list unless you can find different things to narrow down things. Anything else you need, boss man?" she asked.
"No, thank you, Garcia, good work," Answered Hotch
For the next few hours, the team discussed findings from the morgue, and Reid's geographic profile eventually found the team at a standstill.
"Agreed, on our initial profile?" asked Rossi.
'Aged 25 to 40, well educated, physically fit—good working knowledge of human anatomy, possible health care professional, veterinarian. Knowledgeable in forensic countermeasures. Obsessional nature.'
Rossi scanned his teammates, watching them all nod in agreement.
"We need more to differentiate the sex and firm up our profile. It's too vague at the moment, but it is better than nothing," Emily announced
"I will give them our initial profile, then call it a day as we can't do anything more until Garcia has completed her searches. Prentiss talks with Detective Hodges in the morning about her partner, JJ. You can interview Detective Madison's boyfriend. He arrives in the morning from his oil rig in the Gulf. Rossi, Morgan, you go through all her old case files and see if you can find anything. Dinner at the diner in two hours?" Hotch announced as he walked out of the room to present their basic profile to the Manchester police department.
EJ
The server smiled at the blue-eyed blonde as she poured her coffee, "can I get you anything else, honey?" she asked politely.
"Apple pie and ice cream, please,"
"Sure thing," she answered, jotting down her order as she walked away.
She took a satisfying sip of her fresh coffee and casually looked at the assembled FBI agents sitting in the corner booth. Watching them as they chatted, she scrutinised their interactions carefully as she sipped her coffee. She was catching a glimpse of the coloured agent mercilessly teasing her handsome agent from earlier. Unexpectedly, he looked directly toward her and raised his water glass when he noticed her scrutiny. Sheepishly, she lowered her gaze down to her tabletop, annoyed she had been caught staring, "whoops," she sighed.
Of course, the observant federal agent had sensed her close observations of him. She glanced up to see him rise from his seat with a smirk and start walking toward her.
"Hi, I am Derek Morgan," the charming man beside her table smiled. He handed her his FBI card with his cell number on the back. "Would you like to have a drink later?" He asked her as he touched her hand, passing his card to her.
She smiled, took the card, and took the time to look over it. She looked at him and laughed a little. "This is a little awkward, agent," she paused to recheck the card, " Derek Morgan of the behavioural analysis unit, I wasn't looking at you; I was looking at that handsome man you were busy teasing. I would love him to take me for a coffee." she smiled handing him his card back. "Sorry," she smiled at him kindly, shrugging her shoulders slightly.
He wasn't used to rejection by women. He hid it well but not adequately as she glimpsed the horror in his eyes at her refusal. She watched as he walked back to his teammates, all smirking, having observed his rejection. She smirked as she accepted her apple pie.
"Hi,"
"Hello, take a seat, handsome," she asked the nervous FBI agent.
EJ
Emily was mercilessly gaining her revenge on Derek at their table as they watched Spencer talking to the blonde hair woman who had just superbly shot him down in flames,
"Whoa, Mark this day down in history. Reid has more game than the player here," announced Emily as she embraced Derek, whispering into his ear, "Wish you hadn't deleted that photograph now?"
Everyone watched Reid hold the diner door open for his new blonde friend as they walked out. Rossi smiled. "Derek, remember if Reid has his sock tied around the hotel room doorknob? He is otherwise engaged and needs the room." laughed Rossi
"I need to bleach my brain and need a drink. Anyone else interested?" He asked as he placed his head on the table.
"I will help you heal your wounded ego, Derek," laughed JJ. "Emily, Rossi, Hotch?"
Everyone agreed to help support their wounded friend, well, not everyone. Emily wouldn't let the opportunity to make her partner cringe go to waste. She would be her supportive self tomorrow after she had some fun tonight with him. After all, he was a big, strong boy who started this current episode.