CM: BigBang 2011
Chapter 2
The following Wednesday
Setting his phone down, Hotch looked out his office window as he scanned the bull pen. He´d just been informed of Agent Davenports arrival and the timing couldn´t be more perfect; they had a case briefing in a few minutes. Hotch noticed Morgan hobbling in on a crutch and quickly made his way to the Agent.
“What happened?”
“Clooney. He pushed me down the stairs in my apartment. It´s twisted pretty badly and I´m out for the next week at least. I´m sorry, man.”
“We have a case,” Hotch said with a hint of frustration and looked around the bullpen to see if Agent Davenport had made her appearance, but found no sign of her. “I can´t take you with us if you can´t do the footwork.”
Morgan shook his head, disappointed, but he knew Hotch was right. “I´m really sorry, Hotch. I´ll stay behind and work on some paperwork and if you need me, conference with Garcia.”
“Okay,” Hotch nodded, “Conference room in five minutes.”
Hotch spotted Agent Davenport walking through the glass doors. This time she was dressed more conservatively in dark dress-pants, white shirt and a black jacket. Hotch met her by the door and shook her hand before gestured her into the conference room.
“Before we start, I have an announcement to make,” Hotch said calmly to the group as they took their seats at the round table. “This is Agent Davenport, she´ll be joining us for a trial period.” Hotch introduced everyone, and they solemnly welcomed her. Rossi held her hand a bit longer than necessary and the pair exchanged a curt nod with a hint of smile.
“Thank you,” Agent Davenport said and beamed at everyone, ignoring the gloomy silence. “Please, call me Jo.”
The group sat quiet for a few seconds. “Does that mean JJ isn´t coming back?” Garcia asked quietly.
“I´m still trying to find a way to get her re-assigned but I´m running out of options. Meanwhile, our workload has increased, even more so after Prentiss…” He drew in a breath. “We´re all trying to do our own jobs as well as theirs and it´s been going on for too long. We´re all tired which makes us less efficient.”
The group fell silent again and the newcomer looked around before pulling out a chair and hanging her bag on the chair´s back.
“We have a case, are you ready to work?” Hotch asked and turned toward the new agent.
“Of course,” she replied and took a seat to gesture her willingness.
“I´m sorry, Hotch, I didn´t make an extra copy of the file,” Garcia said.
“She can have mine,” Reid said and pushed the papers toward the new agent.
Jo smiled at him as she drew the papers toward herself. “Thank you,” she said quietly, “but we can share.”
“I´ve memorized it,” Reid told her and looked at Garcia.
“Thank you,” Jo said unsurprised and took the file. Reid looked at her thoughtfully for a second before averting his eyes.
“Garcia,” Hotch prompted and took his own seat.
“Right,” Garcia said and pointed the remote toward the screen behind her.
Two sets of pictures of the three blond, young women appeared on the screen behind her, one with them smiling for the camera and the other with them tied to a bed and lifeless. The Boston PD report told them they had all been violated sexually and murdered in their own homes. Garcia told them, aside from their common hair color and age, they´d all been murdered on Thursday nights and had all sung at a karaoke on the evening of their murder, although, not at the same places. According to their social-sites, they all enjoyed a bit of karaoke.
Hotch informed them they were being called in because there were no leads and the police department was taking heat from the press. He looked over the group as he spoke. ”Three murders in three weeks has all the potentials of a fast escalation.”
Standing up, Hotch turned to Jo. “Do you have a go-bag ready?”
“Yes, it´s in my car.”
“Good. Since Morgan is staying behind you´re coming with us. Wheels up in thirty,” Hotch announced.
“I just need to make a quick phone call and then I´ll be ready,” Jo said quickly and pulled out her phone from her jacket.
***
As soon as the jet was airborne, Jo followed Hotch´s indication to take a seat next to Dave and watched as he took a seat across from her, next to Reid. The Unit Chief quickly started the second briefing, working on a preliminary profile. Jo made sure to voice her ideas and noticed, with a bit of pride, that the men all considered them and none of them were too far out. They all agreed that the unsub had started as a rapist that had escalated, for some reason, to murders.
“So, he´s learning. It wouldn´t have mattered if anyone else was home. He wanted those girls,” Rossi said and pointed at the pictures on the table.
“I agree. If the boyfriend of the third victim had been home he´d had killed him too,” Jo said quickly, “and then he would have to start to go after couples for the thrill.”
Jo noticed Reid lean over Hotch´s hand that rested on the armrest between them and started reading the report in front of Hotch. Hotch moved his hand so Reid could get a better look and gave the papers a small shove toward the genius. Reid picked up the file and started reading. Jo discreetly looked over to Dave to see if he noticed the action but Rossi only looked at Reid when he started flipping the pages at the speed of light.
“Guys,” Reid claimed and everyone focused their attention on him. “Jo said that the unsub would have killed the boyfriend if he´d been at the house.”
“Yes,” Jo said.
“The first victim, Michelle Malory - she had asthma and suffocated. The others were strangled.”
Jo looked at him with a frown. “Why is that important?”
“Breathing is immediately affected when we sense danger and people with asthma have hyperactive lungs. Anxiety or panic attacks cause bronchial constriction that feel like tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing. That triggers an asthma attack, causing the muscles lining in the airway to tighten, the lining of the bronchial tubes to swell and become inflamed. Also the mucous that lubricates the airway becomes thick and sometimes plugs it. All that leaves little room to push air through the lungs and without immediate treatment can cause suffocation.”
The air became somber as the three of them listened to Reid. Hotchner spoke first. “So you are saying the first victim was an accident.”
“Yeah,” Reid chipped, “The gag in her mouth would have made it even harder for her to breathe.”
“And the unsub had found a new thrill,” Rossi said, “Now we just need to find the trigger for the rapes.”
Jo tilted her head in thought. “Reid, did the report say anything about which songs they sang?”
Reid looked at her, surprised at the question and glanced at Hotch. “No.”
Hotch nodded and Jo saw a small smile on his lips. “Rossi, you and I will go to the latest crime scene. Jo, get set up at the station and try to get on top of the media. Reid, you start a geographic profile and see if you can find out where he´ll strike next. I´m going to call Garcia and give her the victimology to run through open cases.”
Everyone acknowledged their assignments as their names were called out and Hotch stepped into the galley to call Garcia.
***
Ch: 3