A/N: Fuego - thank you so much for your lovely review. I'm so pleased to see that you are continuing to read this story. And thanks for your amazing compliments on The Weakness In Me. It was very uncharacteristic of me to write a story like that, so to know you have enjoyed it so much really does please me.
The team had all returned to the Sheriff's department and were now sat in the room discussing their findings.
So far there had been little information to help them.
"The victims seemed to live typical lives. The one thing they had in common is that they tend to stick to a routine. They have their favourite grocery stores, salons, coffee shops, dog groomers, gyms. But none of them overlap. I can't see any connection between them other than a similar lifestyle." JJ spoke.
"Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the night out either. Tina doesn't remember anyone unusual. They stayed within their friends group and took a taxi home. Celia was the last to be dropped off. I spoke with the taxi company and the driver can be tracked as dropping Celia off near her apartment and then returning to town to take another job. So he's in the clear." Prentiss added, having recently spoken with Celia's friend.
"So she was likely abducted from outside of her apartment. That's another deviation. The other victims were taken from public places, likely using some sort of ruse." Hotch said thoughtfully.
"Maybe they knew the Unsub?" JJ suggested.
"Unlikely, given the lack of overlap in their lives." Reid finally added, not looking up from the file.
"So these woman are predictable and likely easy to stalk." JJ said, her voice dark.
"I'm not sure they are being stalked." Rossi contradicted. "Not in the traditional sense anyway. It all suddenly seems very rushed. The gap between Amelia's body being discovered and Celia being taken didn't allow much time for stalking, if that is part of his M.O."
"Perhaps he already knows which victims he is going to take?" Suggests Hotch.
"I don't think so." Morgan said thoughtfully. "An Unsub like that would have everything planned. That's not what I saw with the most recent body. There was not the same level of sexual assault. He didn't keep her for as long. She was with him for around 13 hours according to the time of death. The other victims showed a much more sophisticated level of control. Amelia had a lot more defensive wounds compared to the other victims. Like Rossi said, it almost felt rushed. Pretty much everything about this victim was different to the others. If it wasn't the same DNA I would think we were looking at a different guy entirely."
"I came to the same conclusion from the dump site." Rossi added with clear frustration.
"Have we heard anything from Garcia?" Hotch asked, his brows furrowed. An Unsub breaking pattern could be helpful, but this was often when they already had an established profile. This guy hadn't even given them chance.
"I heard from her earlier." JJ said, "She was struggling to find anything useful."
Hotch looked to Morgan who pulled out his phone and dialled her, putting her on speakerphone.
"You've reached the genie in a bottle, rub my lamp and I will grant you three wishes."
They all smiled at each other.
"Baby girl, please tell us you found something that links these victims together?"
"Oh sugar, you're going to have to rub much harder than that 'cause this genie's got nothing."
"Oh, baby girl, you're killing us." Morgan said, disappointed.
"What about the last places they visited, Garcia?" Reid spoke gently, looking at the map.
"Boy wonder, so good to have your beautiful cadence back in my ear." She said with a dramatic breath of relief. "There is nothing of note. Celia visited 'Hairways' and the local supermarket, Amelia took her dog to the groomers, 'Fluff n Stuff' – cutest name for a groomers I've ever heard. Victoria visited a hardware store, 'Richard's Hardware' and a florist, 'In Full Bloom' and Samantha's last purchase was at 'Carl's Diner'."
Reid suddenly stood up, looking at the map with furrowed brows.
"Reid? You see something?" Hotch asked.
"Those locations. The hairdressers, the groomers, the florist and the diner, they are in this square."
They waited for him to draw some form of square on the map. When he didn't they all looked confused.
"What square, Reid?" Rossi asked slightly impatiently. When Reid was in his head, it was sometimes hard to get him to be coherent.
"This square." He pointed to the floor then to the map. "This very square we are in right now. If we were to walk outside we would see all of those places."
They looked at him stunned. The amount of information he could take in just walking from the SUV to the building was nothing short of incredible.
"Boy genius is right, as usual." Garcia confirmed, obviously viewing her own map at her end. "Consider the gift of that big, beautiful brain as my wish granted. I shall return to the safety of my lamp, feel free to rub me up again later. PG out." Garcia disconnected the call and Morgan grinned. Hotch grimaced slightly at her unprofessionalism.
"So this square could be the connection we are looking for?" JJ asked.
"Hard to say." Reid said, always careful not to get too ahead of himself, looking at the map with squinted eyes. "I want to speak to the business owners and see what they can remember."
"I'll go with you." Rossi said. Hotch nodded. Understandably no one wanted him out of their sights for some time.
When Reid went to collect his sunglasses off the table, Morgan grabbed his wrist.
"Did you get changed?" He looked him up and down and Reid shifted awkwardly.
"Um, yeah." He didn't expand any further and pulled back his wrist.
The rest of the team, aside from Hotch, examined him, noticing for the first time.
He quickly turned to Rossi. "You ready?"
Sensing his need to dodge the subject, Rossi threw him a rare bone.
"Yep, let's go."
Rossi and Reid then left the room.
Morgan looked around the room curiously.
"Is it just me or was that weird?"
"It was weird." Prentiss agreed.
"He had a run in with a deputy earlier." Hotch said simply, careful not to make a drama out of it for Reid's sake. "He purposely rammed into him while he was carrying coffee. Hence the change of clothes. The deputy has been suspended, so he won't trouble him again."
"What?" Morgan exclaimed. His expression changed to one of protective anger.
"He's fine, Morgan. They don't trust the FBI and took an opportunity when one of us was alone."
JJ shook her head.
"Poor Spence. He really could do without that."
"If any of you see any behaviour that leaves you remotely unhappy, you are to report it to me. Understood?" They all nodded. "I have told the Sheriff I will not tolerate that behaviour towards our team and I don't intend on letting it happen again.
"Was he okay?" Morgan asked, concern had now replaced the anger.
"He's okay now." Hotch responded pointedly, his tone said to drop it.
"Okay." Morgan looked skeptical but appeared to accept it.
Hotch sat down.
"So, let's review what we know so far."
Rossi and Reid had visited the groomers, florist and hair salon. None of them could remember anything suspicious happening on the days in question. The women would simply visit and leave like any other customer. The women were friendly but didn't stand out for any reason other than the fact that they were generally perceived as being attractive.
They walked out of the dog groomers and Rossi frowned.
"Well this is getting us nowhere fast." He said cynically.
"Those aren't the places that interest me." Reid said, glancing to the diner. Rossi followed him across the road towards it.
Reid stopped outside in front of one of the windows where a group of deputies were sat.
He turned around and looked outwards.
"Look what can be seen from here."
Rossi followed his gaze and realisation washed over him.
"Everything." He confirmed. "So you think the Unsub selected his victims whilst watching from the diner?"
"It's possible. Either that or it's a huge coincidence that those four women all came to this area prior to their abductions. I think it's likely that however the Unsub is selecting them, it takes place somewhere around here."
Rossi heard loud laughter ring out through the glass of the diner. He turned to find four deputies looking at them both. The laughter was obviously at their expense.
He furrowed his brow and shook his head.
"Damn deputies. You wouldn't think we were trying to help their community locate a missing woman."
Reid simply hummed in response, completely ignoring the interactions behind the window.
Rossi looked him up and down, sensing a tension that wasn't there before the mention of the deputies.
"So, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to profile it out of you?"
Reid shot him a look of innocence.
"Tell you what?"
Rossi raised his eyebrows, making a point of raking his eyes over his new clothing choice.
"Why the fashion show."
Reid glanced at him, embarrassment flashed across his face and just as quickly it was gone.
"Oh, I uh, had an argument with the coffee machine. The coffee machine won." He said with a small, feelingless smile.
"Ah, I see." Rossi said skeptically. "The coffee machine make you have a flashback too?"
Reid's eyes shot to Rossi's face, surprise and confusion plastered his features.
"What are you talking about?" Reid tried his best to sound casual. It was never his speciality.
Rossi lifted his hand, and mimicked tremors, much like Ethan had to him back in New Orleans all those years ago.
"One of your carefully concealed after-symptoms. You hide it well. But, you know, with over 30 years experience you can't put much past me."
"There are rules on inter-team profiling, you know."
Rossi just breathed out a dramatic sigh as if to say 'I haven't got all day'.
Reid rolled his eyes. The man could really be a pain in the ass sometimes.
"Fine. Deputy Phillips made sure his shoulder was in the way when I was walking back to our room. I walked right into him and the coffee went everywhere. That's it."
"There, that wasn't so hard was it?" Rossi said with a fond smile. "Has the delightful Deputy Phillips been dealt with?"
"Yep. Suspension."
"Good." Rossi hid it for Reid's benefit, but he was seething. What right did someone have to bully Reid? FBI or not, he was one of the gentlest souls he'd ever come across. He hated that he seemed to be a walking target to anyone who felt the need to bolster their alpha standing.
"Looks like we have a fan club here too." Reid said with a tight lipped smile. Finally acknowledging the deputies in the window.
"Yep. Let's not disappoint them." Rossi gestured to the door of the diner. "Shall we?"
Reid and Rossi entered taking a cursory glance around. It was largely frequented by the local Sheriff's department.
Their entry earned them some glares from multiple deputies who were still skeptical about the FBI involvement. The group at the window had already locked their eyes on them the second they approached the door. Reid suspected some may have heard about the suspension of one of their colleagues earlier in the day.
They both approached the counter and showed their credentials to a tall man with dark curly hair and a messy beard. He did not appear welcoming.
"Hi, I'm Spencer Reid and this is David Rossi with the FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
The man shot a look to the deputies.
"FBI? You look like you're barely out of diapers." Laughter came from the window. Anger flashed in Rossi's eyes. The man flicked his gaze to him. "This must be your Daddy."
"Grandfather." Reid replied without missing a beat, his lips quirked up a little when he sensed Rossi's unamused gaze on him.
Rossi turned his head to look at Reid, raising an offended eyebrow as if to say 'really?'
The deputies automatically stopped laughing. One or two others smiled at the comeback.
"Are you the owner?" Reid asked.
"Don't see anyone else here, do you?" He said sarcastically.
Ignoring the attitude, Reid persisted.
"Have you noticed any suspicious behaviour among any of your patrons recently? Someone who may have been spending an unusual amount of time here or perhaps paying too much attention to goings on outside of the diner?"
"This is a diner. People stay as long as they want and do as they please." The man replied bitingly. "I'm not in the habit of policing their free time."
Rossi took a step towards the counter and slapped down a photograph of Celia in front of the man.
"Maybe you don't want to help us, but what about her?"
The man looked down at the picture, his gaze went introspective for a few moments before a flicker of regret crossed his features.
He sighed in acceptance.
"She hasn't been in here as far as I can remember."
"Can you recall if there was anyone on Saturday who was behaving strangely?" Reid asked again but with a narrower focus this time.
"Honestly, no. The majority of my customers are from the Sheriff's department. They come in for breakfast, lunch, dinner. Anyone else is already familiar and most just keep to themselves. I would notice someone who looked out of place or suspicious straight away. Every day is pretty much the same here. Same faces, same orders."
"Do you have any CCTV?" Reid looked around in search of a camera.
"This is a diner. Not a bank." The man answered irritably.
Rossi placed down photos of the other three women.
"Are any of these women familiar to you?"
He looked at the photos.
"These two," He gestured to Victoria and Amelia, "I only recognise from the news reports. But Samantha, she used to come in here quite a lot. She was friends with one of our old waitresses, Tammy."
Reid 's eyebrows lifted in intrigue.
"Does Tammy still work here?" They had been made aware by the Sheriff much earlier on that Samantha often visited the diner but no one had mentioned Tammy. He was hopeful that Tammy may have some useful information for them.
"Sadly no. She passed away, two months ago now. It was a real tragedy."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Rossi said gently. "What happened to her?"
"Car accident. It was a real bad one. She died instantly. Samantha was heartbroken, they were so close people always thought they were sisters."
Reid's eyes narrowed somewhat, his brain seemingly piecing together an invisible puzzle.
"Sisters." He said thoughtfully. Rossi looked at him, intrigued as to where his thought process was leading him. "Did they look alike?"
"Yeah, they were very similar. Same colour hair, eyes." He looked down at the photos again. "A bit like all of these women really."
Seeing where Reid's mind was going, Rossi asked the next question.
"Was there anyone who paid an unusual amount of attention to Tammy when she worked here?"
"Not that I can remember. She was very pretty so naturally a lot of the guys would flirt with her but she really wasn't interested in dating guys from here. Her circles were a lot more... expensive shall we say? She only worked here a couple of days a week because she was bored. She really didn't need to be here."
"So she was wealthy?" Reid asked.
"That's what I said, wasn't it?" He snapped. Reid ignored the man's rudeness. Rossi did not and glared at the man.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about her?"
"She was reliable and that's all I needed to know. I didn't date her." His irritation with the questions was clear. "Now if that's all, Agents." He said the word in a condescending manner. "I really need to be getting on. I have a lot of hungry deputies in here."
"If you think of anything else, please give me a call." Reid placed his card down on the counter for the man to take.
He did. Then ripped it in half.
"I will contact the Sheriff. Not some wet behind the ears kid and his over protective Daddy."
Reid gave a tight-lipped smile.
"Thank you for your time." Reid responded in a manner that was way more polite than the man deserved.
Rossi had to respect his self-control. If the same attitude had been shot in his direction, he couldn't say he would be so polite.
The agents moved away from the counter and towards the exit.
"Well, he was pleasant." Rossi said dryly, opening the door for them to leave.
"People here really don't trust us." Reid said knowingly.
"You don't say." Rossi gave a sardonic smile.
They crossed the road back to the Sheriff's department and Rossi gave Reid the side eye. Sensing his gaze on him, Reid's head turned.
"Grandfather?" He said in an incredulous tone.
Reid's face broke out into a smile and he huffed a laugh, saying nothing.
"Oh kiddo, you're going to pay for that."
"It appears the diner makes a good viewing spot for picking out potential victims. If Reid's right, the Unsub could easily have seen all four victims from within the diner. It's discreet, has an owner who really doesn't care what you do as long as you pay and is swarming with Deputies at most times of day. It's one of the last places they would think to look for their Unsub." Rossi summarised their findings.
Reid added the locations to the map and recalculated whilst Rossi was speaking.
"If this theory is correct, that would narrow the Unsub's comfort zone down significantly. I can get his home to within a two mile radius based on these new points." Reid said, standing back looking at the map which was now covered in various colours, shapes and cross hatchings.
"It seems a likely theory." Morgan added. "And let's be honest, we're not exactly swimming in them at the moment."
Hotch looked to his watch. "Ten hours since she was reported missing." He said sternly.
Reid's stomach flipped. What was happening to that poor woman at this very moment? He had tried all day not to think about it, but hearing she was at least ten hours in to her ordeal took him back to a familiar story. A sinister voice filled his hearing.
"You're gonna let me make the most of you. I'm gonna destroy you... And when I'm done, I'm gonna kill you."
His breath hitched.
"She's probably already run out of time if she was taken the night before." JJ said, the concern lacing her voice.
"We have to find her." Reid 's eyes were horror-struck as memories rolled over him like waves on the beach. Permanently tuned in to changes in his demeanour, Morgan discreetly moved to Reid's side.
"I think we need to deliver the profile." Hotch spoke. "I'll get the Sheriff. Five minutes." He nodded to the team. His eyes lingered a second longer on Reid, then Morgan. His face stern, he nodded again, then left the room.
Morgan quietly slipped his hand into Reid's and squeezed. He didn't squeeze back. Morgan closed his eyes in disappointment. He was trying to do this without drawing attention.
"JJ, pass me a chair." He said quietly.
She looked at him a little puzzled, but passed one over regardless. He dragged it behind Reid and pushed him down into a seated position, his eyes were tightly shut now.
All eyes were now on the pair. Realisation washing over them.
JJ's expression turned sad.
Morgan perched himself on the table opposite and covered the hand he was holding with his other one and squeezed again.
"Reid, I'm here brother. Come back to me. Feel my hand." He felt Reid's hand twitch as if the awareness was starting to creep back in.
"That's it. Come back to me. I'm squeezing your hand. It's safe here."
Morgan smiled when he felt Reid squeeze his hand in response.
"That's it, kid. Keep pushing it all away and focus on me."
Prentiss sat down at the table, watching the interaction carefully. She knew this was something Morgan had done a lot. But it still impressed her abundantly. Whenever she saw Reid had disappeared into some unknown world of suffering, she still felt immense panic. It scared her, especially for someone with such a powerful mind to become so lost within it.
She found herself wandering to that world with him. Conjuring the horrors he might be seeing in her own mind too, like some empathetic vampire. But Morgan seemed to always know how to handle it. And he did it with such calmness, despite the fact that she knew each time he lost him, a little bit of him died inside. How could it not? They all just wanted the old Reid back. But he had been pulled out, ripped to pieces and never quite put back again by Jason in that basement.
Finding herself wandering down incredibly negative roads, she shook the thoughts away. This was exactly the reason why Morgan was capable of doing this, where she never could. As good as she was at compartmentalisation, that required a certain level of distance. What Morgan was doing required closeness, affection and love. Three things that would not allow Emily Prentiss to remain focused.
Her mind came back to the present and Reid's eyes were now open. A good sign.
Morgan still had a firm hold of his hand, but they were making eye contact and Reid seemed to be responding to his words now.
"You okay?" Morgan asked gently.
"... Yeah." Reid's voice still sounded distant.
" You with me, kid?"
Reid just nodded.
Morgan shook his head in response.
"Push those bad memories away, kid. Come back. It's safe here with me, JJ, Emily and Dave. You're so safe here."
He nodded to JJ.
"Spen- Reid." She caught herself before she made an almighty cock up. Whilst she was now once again using the moniker, she knew better than to use it during a flashback. That had been learned the hard way when one evening a whisper of that name resulted in half an hour of sobbing, screams of pain, pleading and hitting out. 'Never again', JJ had sworn.
"Reid, we are all here for you. Please come back and see us. We need you" She said with a small smile, trying to keep her voice light and breezy.
Reid gave Morgan's hand two successive squeezes. An indication that he is focusing on what they are saying and it's working.
His eyes started glancing around the room taking in his surroundings.
"Reid?" Morgan spoke gently. "You back?"
Reid nodded.
"Reid, I need words, kid." He tapped the back of his hand lightly trying to draw his attention.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm back." A sudden shudder ran through his body from his feet to his head. "Is it just me, or is it freezing in here?"
Morgan smirked. "Just you kid, it's like over 100° outside."
Reid was shivering now.
"That may be so, but it's like a fridge in here."
The next second Rossi was by his side, dropping his jacket around his shoulders.
He looked up and gave a small, embarrassed smile. "Thank you."
Rossi took him by the sides of his head and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead. Reid blushed.
"I'll make you a coffee." He said simply and left the room.
"Are you okay?" JJ asked, the concern clear in her voice.
He looked at her with soft eyes. He never liked to hear JJ sound so sad.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just wish this wasn't happening at work." Reid flushed.
"I'm sorry. I know it's this case." JJ said quickly, the guilt eating away at her. "If they had contacted us a bit earlier we could have been here last week and you wouldn't have had to deal with it."
"JJ, it's not your fault." Reid smiled at her. "There's always going to be cases like this."
She looked him over and moved closer.
"You're shaking." She put her hand to his shoulder.
"Just an after effect I think." He thought back to his conversation with Rossi earlier. "I should be okay once I get some coffee."
Morgan sat back, still holding Reid's hand. He seemed content with it, so he'd let him control when the contact ended.
He looked to Prentiss and JJ.
"Will you just give us a minute, please?"
They both looked at each other and then to Morgan.
"Um, sure." JJ answered, not fully understanding why she seemed to be getting kicked out.
"Come on, Jayje. I could do with a coffee before we give this profile." Prentiss said with a smile.
They both moved towards the door and left the room.
Morgan stared at Reid, his gaze serious and probing.
"How many a day?" He asked simply.
Reid appeared to feign confusion.
"Huh?"
"How many are you having a day, Reid? I'm not going to tell Hotch, but I don't believe for a second you had been clear of them for three weeks on your return."
Reid frowned. Morgan could always read him like a book these days and it was getting a bit annoying.
Reid pulled his hand back from Morgan's.
"I was clear. I guess it's just this case. It's a bit... close to home." He admitted. As usual, not being entirely truthful.
"Sure. I get that." Morgan nodded, "but I know you've still been having flashbacks and panic attacks. I can tell just by looking at you. JJ was right. You look tired."
"I'm dealing with it." Reid snapped quickly.
"Did I say you're not?" Morgan answered calmly. "I just want you to know that you can call me, anytime, day or night and I will come over. If you want to talk, or even if you don't and you just need someone to sit with you. I'm always here, man."
"I'm not a baby, Morgan. I can take care of myself." Reid looked affronted and stood up, facing his map again.
"Again, not saying you can't. I just don't want you to feel like now you're back at work, you're all alone. And I know I haven't been around much lately." The guilt was clear in his voice.
"I've been perfectly fine." He was well aware he had entered the realms of lying through his teeth now. If Morgan only knew how many times Reid had thought about picking up the phone only to hear his voice or have him come over to keep him company, he'd laugh him right out of the office and Hotch would be sending him on the next flight back to Virginia.
Seeing another shudder run up Reid's back, he stood up next to him. Almost sensing his thought process, Morgan spoke softly.
"Do you want a hug?"
Reid's initial reaction was to scoff, give Morgan a little shove and distance himself. But he did none of it. His feet simply wouldn't move him. He closed his eyes, feeling completely vulnerable and nodded.
Morgan brought his hands up around his colleague's shoulders and turned him to face him. Reid's gaze dropped. Morgan put a finger to his chin, lifting his head so his gaze met his own.
"Never feel embarrassed for needing some comfort, Reid. It's what separates us from guys like that." He gestured to the board.
Reid gave a tight lipped smile and Morgan pulled him in to a tight hug by the shoulders. Reid's tension soon melted and he found himself relaxing into the hug and resting his head on Morgan's shoulder. His arms found their way to Morgan's waist and he squeezed back in response. A small tear leaked down his cheek.
He had needed this for weeks, as much as he hated to admit it.
Meanwhile, JJ and Prentiss met Rossi in the kitchenette to make some coffee.
"Is everything okay in there?" Rossi asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Morgan wanted some time alone with him." Prentiss answered.
"That poor kid." Rossi shook his head. "He's doing well coming back to work, honestly better than I expected. But I'm really hoping he's not pushing himself too hard. This job is tough at the best of times."
JJ looked downcast.
"I know. He's stronger than he looks but that doesn't stop me worrying about him every second of the day. I've gone to call him so many times over the last few weeks and stopped myself because I didn't want him thinking that I was mothering him." She laughed an unamused laugh. "He hates that."
"Has anyone seen much of him the last few weeks?" Prentiss asked, genuinely curious. "I know Derek hadn't seen him for three weeks."
"What?" JJ looked shocked. "No, I've not seen him for four weeks. I assumed Morgan was with him a lot."
"I haven't either, not since that night where we watched Avengers." Prentiss said, her mouth dropping open as they all realised he had been unintentionally left alone for almost a month prior to him returning to work. And this time it couldn't actually be blamed on Reid.
"Right, we don't let this happen again. This weekend, I'm throwing him a welcome home party. And we're not taking no for an answer." Rossi said firmly.
"Good idea." Prentiss smiled.
Hotch now approached the group.
"We're ready."
Rossi followed with Reid's coffee over to the BAU's room and entered. Morgan emerged a minute later with Hotch and a now coffee-less Rossi.
Hotch obviously felt it was best if Reid sat the profile delivery out.
"We are looking for a white male between the ages of 28-35 years old. He will be fit, but not obviously so. He has what is commonly called an inferiority complex." Hotch introduced.
"In his professional life he will be often overlooked. He may feel that his abilities are underappreciated." Prentiss added.
"This guy is not necessarily someone who would spring to mind. It may not even be obvious to those around him that he feels this way. The slights may be imagined or real. But it's likely he has recently been overlooked for some sort of professional advancement, further adding to his rage." Morgan stated.
"In his personal life, he is a loner. Think incel – involuntary celibate. He doesn't know how to have relationships with women, nor does he respect them. He goes for high class women, from above his social status as that's where he sees himself. This guy, despite his insecurities thinks a lot of himself. Which is why the perceptions of those around him will never match up to the value he places on himself." Rossi adds.
"This will further fuel his feelings of frustration. We believe this Unsub is targeting women based on his ideal type: Blonde, slim and attractive, as that's what he thinks he deserves. We believe his first target was Tammy Underwood and her sudden death acted as a trigger for the other killings." Hotch's expression was stern.
"This led to him targeting women of a similar type who represented Tammy in order to fulfil his fantasies." Prentiss added. "We believe the fantasy is hugely important to this Unsub. He makes sure the victim is under his complete control in order to enact his plans. If anything goes wrong or the woman doesn't fit the fantasy, he kills them."
A Deputy interrupted.
"So are you saying that all of these killings are kidnaps that have 'gone wrong?"
"They aren't Tammy." Prentiss stated. "She was his ideal target, and since he never got to enact his fantasies with her, this Unsub will be near impossible to please."
"The most recent victim was kept only for 13 hours. Compared to the others who were kept for up to 24 hours. She had a lot more defensive wounds and there wasn't the same level of control. This could mean one of two things. Either he's devolving and getting sloppy or the fantasy is becoming more and more important to him and his ability to find someone to fit that role is becoming more difficult." Morgan added grimly.
"Neither of these is good." Rossi stated firmly. "Either of these circumstances will result in more victims over a shorter time period. Make no mistake, even if this guy thinks he's found his 'perfect' Tammy, he will not stop. He will eventually kill her. The fantasy is just part of it. The control he feels over the victims is the key element of this guys M.O. As he lives purely in fantasy, his fantasy will evolve and eventually even the 'perfect' victim will do something to displease him."
Reid sat listening to the delivery of the profile from the back of the room and idly wondered if they had done the same thing when he was missing. He supposed they probably had. As they moved onto the geographical profile he looked around the room to watch the reactions of the deputies. He expected a lot of resistance to the idea that the Unsub may be someone they may come across on a regular basis in their favourite diner.
As expected he observed numerous scoffs and head shakes. He knew it was only natural to want to believe that you would be able to spot someone like that if they were right in front of you. He had believed the same at one point. He was only glad that these deputies would not have to learn how wrong they are in the same brutal way he had.
Suddenly he detected movement from within the BAU's room. He spun on his chair to see a deputy stood staring at the board. In particular, the map. Furrowing his brows, he stood and headed towards the room.
He pulled the door closed behind him in order to not interrupt the profile delivery.
"Can I help you?" He asked curiously.
The man turned and looked at him, a slightly sheepish look on his face.
"Oh, hi! Sorry, I just had to have a look at this." He gestured to the map. "I've been watching you do it since you arrived and it's fascinating."
Reid looked at the man skeptically. The deputies had been far from supportive of the FBI methods so far and he suspected this man was going to be no different.
"They can be helpful." He said non-committally.
Noticing Reid's hesitance to engage with him, the man stepped forward a little.
"I'm not one of those idiots who seems to think you've come in to take all the glory. In my opinion it doesn't matter who catches the guy, as long as women stop dying, what does it matter who does it?"
Reid smiled at this and visibly relaxed.
"My sentiments exactly."
The man extended his hand out.
"Deputy Sam Lomax."
Reid didn't extend his hand, they were still experiencing tremors. He gave his awkward wave instead, earning an amused smile from the Deputy. "Dr. Spencer Reid."
"Doctor? That's uh, impressive."
"Are you not listening to the profile?" Reid asked, intrigued by the man's apparent lack of interest.
"My partner will catch me up. I am off shift soon and off after tomorrow anyway, so with any luck that guy will have been caught by the time I return." He shrugged.
"Even so, it can be helpful to listen to. In case it sounds familiar to you. The more people who hear it the more likely that someone will recognise him."
"You think I know someone like that?" Deputy Lomax looked at Reid, raising his eyebrows.
Reid cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"You would be surprised what some people are capable of. And sometimes it's the very people you put your trust in." He shifted uncomfortably.
The Deputy hummed in response, sensing there was a story there but not pressing the matter.
"So, what exactly is this?" He turned back to the map.
"It's a geographical profile. We use it to map out points of interest for the Unsub; abduction sites; dump sites; sightings; then we can use these to pinpoint where he may live and where his comfort zone is."
Deputy Lomax quirked an eyebrow. "Comfort zone?"
"Yeah, the Unsub's comfort zone tends to be where he operates. Somewhere he feels comfortable. With an Unsub like this, where he keeps his victims will be within his comfort zone. It will be very important to him as he needs to feel secure when he's doing what he's doing."
"Do they always have a comfort zone?"
"Not always. A geographical profile isn't always appropriate as sometimes Unsubs will move around intentionally to throw off authorities. Sometimes locations are completely random, in which case a geographical profile will only tell us what we already know, which is the location isn't an important element to their crimes. Merely a means of avoiding detection."
"And you work out all of this just from a few points on a map?" He looked at Reid, impressed.
"Yeah. I mean the more data points we get the more accurate the profile but I have been able to narrow down the Unsub's likely home location to within a two mile radius. Within the radius is also the square outside where we suspect he selects his next victim." Reid was clearly enjoying explaining the ins and outs of geographical profiling to the man. He was always pleased when someone showed a genuine interest in some of the work he was doing.
"You must be extremely intelligent to do work like this."
"It's a pretty straight forward algorithm once you've done it a few times." Reid said, playing down his abilities as he usually did.
"So this 'Unsub' is a local guy?"
Reid nodded.
"More than likely."
"Man, you never think that it might be someone you've seen around." Deputy Lomax said thoughtfully, a slight look of horror flashed in his eyes.
"Yeah. I guess every psychopath is someone's son or daughter." Reid shrugged.
"Very true. Never thought of it like that before." Lomax said, shaking his head. Seeing the team approaching, having finished the delivery of the profile, he started moving out. "Well thanks for explaining this. It was interesting."
"No problem, anytime." Reid nodded. "Enjoy your afternoon off."
"See you tomorrow, Doctor." He said with a respectful smile and moved around Morgan as he entered the room giving him a nod as he left.
"What was that about?" Rossi asked, his voice already projecting a fierce protectiveness.
"He was intrigued by the geographical profile. Just wanted to know how it worked."
"So you've been busy lecturing then." Morgan said with a grin.
"Something like that." Reid gave a small smile. "How was the profile received? I saw some not looking too happy with the suggestion that it's someone they may have come across."
"These guys are never happy." Rossi said dryly.
"They were okay. They didn't like it but they don't have to. As long as they follow it. The Sheriff is making sure no one disregards it." Hotch said, his usual frown on his face. "I've managed to convince the Sheriff to do door to door DNA testing."
"That's good. I feel like we're stuck just waiting for the Unsub to make his next move." Morgan said, disgusted with the situation. "That profile isn't enough, Hotch."
"I know." He said sternly. "But it's all we have for now."
"Do you want me to set up a press conference?" JJ asked.
"Not yet. He's already shown he's capable of changing his M.O. in response to increased patrols. We don't want to drive him underground. Not when he still has a live victim." Hotch explained.
JJ nodded in understanding.
"So, what now?" Morgan asked.
They all looked at each other, a sinking feeling was shared amongst them. They knew there was only one thing they could do.
"We wait."
Another five hours had passed since they had delivered the profile. Around 30 men in the area had surrendered their DNA samples. So far 15 had been ruled out. Another 18 had refused to provide a sample.
Morgan, unable to settle had gone out on patrol with some of the Deputies to assist with the door to door visits. Something he often did when he felt they were in a helpless position.
Most of them were starting to wish they had done the same. Sitting and waiting was not something the BAU did very often. It was disheartening and came with a lot of guilt. It suggested that they had given up hope of finding their victim alive.
Around 11pm came the news that another body had been discovered but not in the area they were expecting.
"The body was found on the outskirts of the Sanguaro National Park." The Sheriff said in an irritated manner. "Completely OUTSIDE of the areas we had been told to look."
Hotch nodded his head, his face in a deep frown.
"I understand that this is unexpected-"
"Unexpected?" The Sheriff huffed in anger. "I've been working my ass off to get my Deputies to listen to your profiles and your guidance, telling them you know what you are doing. And now, Celia turns up some 15 miles outside the predicted zone. What am I supposed to tell my men?"
Reid was urgently looking at the map. Recalculating the comfort zone based on the new data.
"This isn't right." Reid said, shaking his head. "It's rare for an Unsub to move so far out his comfort zone like this."
The Sheriff moved up to the map and pulled it off the board, making Reid take a step back in shock.
"Sheriff-" Hotch said warningly.
"This thing has driven us in completely the wrong direction! We could have been patrolling a wider area, but instead we were focused on this tiny 2 mile radius!" He looked at Reid, scrunching up the map and throwing it on the floor.
Reid ducked his gaze and gave a sheepish side eye to Hotch.
"That's enough, Sheriff. It's not unheard of for an Unsub to change his comfort zone when there is pressure from authorities."
"What pressure? We didn't even go to the press with it! The guy doesn't even know what we are looking for. My men were right. I shouldn't have invited you. It has only made things worse."
"Sheriff, I suggest you cool off before you say something you are going to regret." Rossi said. His authority could be a match for Hotch's when he felt like it.
The Sheriff looked around the room in frustration and then stormed out. A sea of angry faces stared their way as he manoeuvred through the office.
Morgan bent down to pick up the map from the floor, straightening it out and putting it back up on the board. Reid didn't look at it. He was quite clearly troubled.
"Okay, we are going to take ten minutes. Have a break. Then Morgan, Rossi, I want you to go to the latest dump site. See what you can learn. She could have been there for some time if we've been looking in the wrong place. Prentiss, I need you to speak with the family when they come in. See if there's anything you can learn about her movements outside of the immediate area, see if she has any links further afield especially towards the Sanguaro National Park. Reid, I want you to keep working on that geographic profile using the new data we have. See if you can predict where his next victim will be taken from."
"This data is more likely to skew the results than it is to provide anything useful." Reid answered, clearly concerned about how trustworthy the data was. If this was an intentional move by the Unsub to throw them off, it would most definitely send them in the wrong direction.
"We need to be searching a wider area. If we end up with a ten mile radius to search then so be it. We are not missing anything like this again, do you understand?"
Reid's opened his mouth to speak but then dropped his gaze down to his shoes.
"Yes, Sir."
Morgan looked at him sympathetically. This was the down side to geographic profiling. It was dependent on data and they were currently being drip fed anything remotely useful.
"Aaron, we didn't 'miss' anything. We can only work with what we know and that geographic profile, based on what we knew was correct." Rossi argued. Not at all happy that this seemed to be landing on Reid's shoulders.
Hotch simply ignored him. The pressure from the Sheriff's department had obviously caused him more grief than he had let on.
"JJ, you and I will work on damage limitation with the Sheriff." Hotch shook his head in irritation.
"Aaron, I think everyone needs some rest." Rossi said, carefully. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted. We are no use to them half empty."
Hotch looked at Rossi for a few moments, then sighed.
"You're right. We have rooms in a motel 2 miles up the road. After we have done what we need to do, go back and get some rest. We'll meet back here in the morning."
"Okay Rossi, you ready? Let's get this done." Morgan said tiredly.
"Lead the way." Rossi followed him out of the room.
"What time will Celia's parents be coming, Hotch?"
"I didn't realise the time, so probably not until morning now. You can give Reid a hand with remapping."
She glanced at Reid, he didn't look back.
"Reid? You want a coffee?"
At the mention of coffee, Reid's head perked up.
"Please." He gave a small smile.
"Coming up!" She said brightly, trying to ignore the tiredness that was creeping into her limbs.
JJ spoke through a large yawn.
"I think I'll join you."
Reid stood and turned towards the map, trying to smooth out some of the creases that had been formed by the irate Sheriff. He obsessively ran his hands over it, trying to flatten it out to no avail. It was going to drive him mad working on it like that.
He stood back and looked at it, huffing as he did so. He suddenly yanked it from the board and ripped it up in frustration, throwing it carelessly into the bin. A whole day of work, completely wasted and useless.
"Reid! What are you doing?" Hotch exclaimed in surprise.
Reid went over to his bag and pulled out a fresh map and slammed it down on the table in front of him.
"I can't work with it like that." He said in irritation. "Besides, it's wrong." He quickly went to work replacing all the sites of importance on the map from memory. Dump sites in red, suspected abduction sites in green and places the victims visited in blue. He finally added the new dump site, much further East than any of the other points. He frowned at it, clearly unhappy. He replaced it on the board and started his calculations.
Hotch had been watching him with regret.
"It's not wrong, Reid. I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming you. Between the subject matter, the Deputies and the constant shifts in M.O. I guess it has gotten under my skin a little more than I would care to admit."
Reid guardedly turned to meet his boss' gaze.
"I'm sorry." Hotch said with a tight lipped smile.
He didn't apologise often, but when he did, he truly meant it.
Reid simply nodded his acceptance of the apology and turned back to the map, once again engrossed in his calculations. Soon grids, shapes and cross-hatchings were covering the relevant areas once again. This time, they covered a much wider area.
"Woah." Prentiss exclaimed. "Give some of us a chance to catch up!" She smiled as she placed the coffee on the table.
JJ laughed. Prentiss stood behind Reid looking over his shoulder at his musings.
"That dump site has really thrown things out of whack." She said with a grimace.
Reid simply hummed in response. He turned round and sat down, wrapping his hands around his coffee.
"His comfort zone has now expanded to an 11 mile radius. That can't be right." Prentiss said, shaking her head.
"Without more data, that's how it is." Reid responded flatly.
"What about his home radius?" Hotch asked, not looking forward to the answer.
Reid looked at him, his eyes hard.
"Do you want my expert opinion or the political answer?"
JJ and Prentiss exchanged glances with each other, surprised at the way Reid was speaking to Hotch.
"Your expert opinion. Always."
Reid stood again, coffee in hand. He gestured to the bin.
"Then tape that map back together, photocopy it and stick it to every desk in the place until they see it in their sleep." Reid paused, giving a small cynical smile. "Seeing as that's not going to happen, 7 miles. Now centred 3 miles East of here." Reid headed towards the door, but Hotch was blocking it. He simply raised his eyebrows, looking past him, as if to say 'are you going to move?'. Hotch frowned and stepped aside, allowing Reid to exit the room.
JJ and Emily glanced at each other, wide eyed, choosing wisely not to comment on what they had just witnessed.
Hotch appeared decidedly nonplussed. He spoke after a brief pause. "JJ, five minutes."
The team entered the Sheriff's department at 8am. Unfriendly gazes met them once again on their approach to their room.
After a few hours of sleep they felt better prepared to deal with the judgemental glares. Prentiss looked to JJ, rolling her eyes when some of the deputies started snickering.
Reid mostly kept his gaze down, only lifting it when a friendly "Morning, Dr. Reid" was shot his way.
He looked up to see Deputy Lomax smiling at him. He nodded a greeting and continued towards the room.
They settled in closing the door behind them.
"The tensions don't seem any better this morning. How did that chat with the Sheriff go?"
Hotch looked to JJ and she sucked in a breath.
"Not well. Hopefully he's had some time to calm down a little."
Reid locked eyes with someone outside of the room. Morgan followed his gaze to a large deputy who seemed to be fixing him with a rather unkind stare.
"Who's that?"
"No one important." Reid answered quickly.
Hotch turned to see where what they were looking at and his eyes landed on Deputy Phillips, who had apparently been reinstated by a seemingly vengeful Sheriff Miller.
He gave Hotch a casual wave and walked away from the window, satisfied he'd made his point.
Hotch's face was like thunder.
"Excuse me." He said sternly and left the room, heading to the Sheriff's office.
Reid put his head in his hand. He could do without this after the night he'd had. He glanced to Morgan who looked equally as tired. A pang of guilt jolted through him. Next time he would make sure he got a room to himself so that he didn't wake anyone up with his screaming.
There was a knock on the door and Deputy Lomax popped his head round.
"Morning guys. I just wanted to ask if you guys want anything from the diner? I'm heading over to get some breakfast and thought I should see if you'd like anything."
"Urgh, breakfast sounds like a great idea." Prentiss groaned.
"Great!" He put a note on the table with the list of orders. "Just put down what you want on there and we'll sort payment after."
Prentiss was the first to grab the sheet and add her order. The paper was passed around the table. Reid skipped his turn and slid it to Morgan who intentionally added two orders without him knowing.
He handed the sheet back to Lomax.
"Thanks, man. That's really kind of you."
"Not a problem." He scanned the sheet. "I could probably do with a hand actually. Not going to be able to get this all back by myself." He said with a laugh. His gaze landed on JJ who was nearest the door. She smiled and nodded.
"Sure, I'll come with you."
Reid's hairs suddenly stood on end, he couldn't pin point why.
"No JJ! I'll go." He said, going to stand up.
She smiled at his protectiveness.
"Reid, it's just across the road. You guys are needed here to work on the profile. I'll be back shortly." She said with an amused expression, standing up.
"About ten minutes, fifteen tops." Lomax smiled.
"I'll be back soon." She said, with a pointed smile to Reid as she left the room.
It was touching that he worried about her but she knew it didn't come from a healthy place. The old Reid never would have thought anything of her going over the road to get some food for the group. It saddened her that his world felt so scary and unsafe these days.
Reid just couldn't shake the tingling feeling that erupted in his body at the thought of JJ going over to the diner. Something was gnawing at him and all he wanted to do was follow her and bring her back to the safety of the station.
He didn't know if it was hypervigilance or the fact that JJ largely matched the victimology of the women involved in this case. But something just felt wrong.
His foot started tapping and he fidgeted with his fingers.
"So did you guys learn much from the dump site last night?" Prentiss asked.
"He is keeping them for less and less time now. Celia had only been kept for around five hours. Assuming her abduction was around 11pm when she returned home, her estimated time of death was about 4am. She was dumped shortly after in the early morning." Morgan responded.
"So she was dead before our plane even landed." Prentiss shook her head. No one would have thought that yesterday. "Did the site tell you anything about why he might have changed location?"
"Nothing to do with the location, no. What I will say is that he is devolving. He's not displaying the same level of control on his victim as he did at the beginning. This kill was almost sloppy. The cuts to the neck showed signs of hesitation this time. As if he didn't really want to do it, but felt he had to." Rossi replied.
"Do you think he was rushing?" Prentiss asked curiously. Knowing they had briefly discussed this possibility yesterday.
"It certainly feels that way. But why?" Rossi asked, confusion marring his features.
"The profile hasn't been released to the press so it's not public knowledge. He has no reason to feel we are getting close to him." Prentiss reiterated her point from yesterday.
Reid suddenly identified what had been making his skin crawl.
He stood suddenly taking the others by surprise.
"That's it. It's not public knowledge." He spoke thoughtfully but quickly. "The diner, the women, this square, it all fits. The change of M.O. upon us accepting the invitation to come here and the change of dump site after the profile was delivered. A ruse that would work on a lone female."
Morgan quirked his eyebrow.
"Reid, where are you going with this?"
"No one would suspect an officer of the law." Reid pulled his gun from its holster and pushed his way out of the room racing towards the front door of the department.
The rest of the team looked at each other as horrified realisation settled on them.
"Shit!" Morgan gasped, realising. Reid was right. The damn bastard was a deputy.
They all quickly drew their weapons and ran to follow Reid outside.
They arrived to find Reid frantically rushing over to the Diner. He burst in through the doors and was soon back out on the street.
"JJ?!" He shouted, hoping that she would suddenly pop her head up somewhere and the panic would be over.
"Jayje?" Prentiss called out.
Hotch emerged with Sheriff Miller.
"What is going on?"
Prentiss and Rossi were now checking side streets in one direction and Morgan the other.
Reid was now unsteadily making his way back over to Hotch. His chest was clamped tightly in a panic attack. Hotch went out to meet him in the middle of the road.
"She's gone..." Heavy half breaths were compromising his ability to speak. "He... he took her."
He fell to his knees and Hotch reached out to him.
Panic had now gripped Hotch's heart.
"REID! Took who? Breathe for god's sake." His frustration at receiving half the story was becoming clear.
"JJ." His chest heaved. "Lomax" he managed to squeeze out.
Sheriff Miller's eyes opened wide.
"Deputy Lomax?!" The Sheriff looked furious. "Oh god!" Miller removed his hat and ran a hand over his head. Something about it did not seem to surprise him.
Turning to some of the deputies who had followed the commotion outside, he shouted.
"Get road blocks in place within a 7 mile radius. Do NOT let him leave the area! Do you hear me? He has an FBI agent and has murdered four women right under our noses. That son of bitch is going to fry for what's done!"
Prentiss, Rossi and Morgan all returned empty handed.
"Nothing." Prentiss shook her head. The worry was plain on her face.
"Dammit!" Morgan shouted. "Right in front of our god damn faces!"
Hotch was still with Reid on the floor who was hyperventilating.
"Hotch, she can't. She can't."
Reid looked up hopefully to Morgan who had now approached him, his eyes glistened with tears.
"JJ?" He asked in a small voice.
Morgan shook his head, a look of disgust and panic crossing his features. This couldn't be happening again. It simply couldn't.
An image of JJ tied up and being assaulted flashed into Reid's mind and he gasped. The next thing he knew was blackness as a final wave of sheer panic overwhelmed him.