The flight to Seattle was just under 6 hours, JJ spent the flight quiet, only talking when she had to.
"Hello, my crime fighting pretties" Garcia spoke through the screen "We were right in thinking that the school seems to be the connection, I'm not finding a link from the first victim and the school but our first victim Lucy, I am not finding a connection to the school but the second victim was short term volunteering at the school, looks like she works for a charity that uses horse riding as therapy and our 3rd owned a cafe in the village where the school had a movie night for some of the kids."
"So, what kind of school is in the woods in the mountains?" Morgan asked.
"Therapeutic boarding school" Reid started, "Therapeutic boarding schools offer boarding for kids with emotional or behavioral problems, they tend to focus on emotional well-being as well as academic abilities."
"Yeah, it says here that these guys focus on troubled at-risk teens, it's like 20 miles from the nearest town" Emily scrolled through the website. "Looks like they use allot of outdoor therapy and activities for these kids."
"Garcia has arranged for us to stay at the school, makes the most sense since that seems to be the hub and there's only one small bed and breakfast in the town that can't accommodate us all at short notice." Hotch spoke
JJ looked up across the plane at him, "We are staying at the school?"
"Is that a problem?" he asked curiously.
"No... no problem" she shook her head and looked back down, pretending to focus on the file in hand again. Her shift in attitude since this morning hadn't gone a miss by a colleagues and friends, they mostly assumed it was down to her similarity to the victims, each team member had made a silent promise to keep an eye their friend.
"When we land, I want us to go straight there, there isn't much we can do tonight so we will have an early night in the morning, meet with the sheriff and go from there." Hotch added, they all nodded and filled the time in their own way until they landed.
Reid and Morgan began a card game with Rossi watching and Hotch reading up on the file still. Emily decided to move over to the couch where JJ was curled up with her trusty blue blanket.
"Hay, you good?" the older women asked her friend.
"I'm good" JJ gave a small smile and nodded.
"You don't have to pretend; you can talk to any of us you know that right?" Emily placed a hand on her knee.
"Just tired... you know how it is" she shrugged and cuddled back down, not even giving Emily a chance to respond.
Eventually, they landed at the local private air strip, the drive from the airport to the school took the team about forty-five minutes in their government SVU's. JJ sat in the back with Prentiss in the front and Morgan driving, Reid, Rossi and Hotch in the other car. Neither Emily nor Morgan failed the notice that the closer they got the more nervous JJ seemed to become.
"You okay back there blondie?" Morgan glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she practically snapped back.
"Just checkin" he stated giving Emily a look as they heard JJ sigh and watch out the world go by out the window.
By the time the team arrived it was just after midnight, the place was mostly in darkness apart from the main light in the main building and an outdoor light for the team, there waiting was a tall, friendly looking man.
He reached out to shake Hotch's hand "Peter Scarbrow. I'm the head teacher and owner here." he spoke in a soft, friendly voice.
Hotch shook the man's hand, "Aaron Hotchner, this is agents Prentiss, Morgan, Rossi, Jareu and Dr Reid."
Peter smiled and shook the hand of each team member, stopping at JJ he suddenly looked like he had seen a ghost.
She shook his hand and spoke before he could say anything, "Jennifer but my friends call me JJ. I'm the team's media liaison, tend to work with the families of the victims and media if needed."
"JJ... right" his eyes lingered on her, once she spoke, he knew instantly it was Shelby, his Shelby.
"Umm anyone, we have 3 visitor cabins set up for you guys, they're cozier than they look" he chuckled leading them to 3 small but cozy cabins.
Once they confirmed some finer details for the morning the agents headed to bed with the agreement to meet in the morning in the main reception for breakfast bright and early, not that JJ got much sleep that night.