Lead the Way - Chapter 092 - 4x23 - Roadkill
Guys, I'd love to rant and stuff, but I should've been out of the house like 20min ago. Since I don't know when I'll be back I thought I'd post now. I vaguely remember telling that the last episode chapter would be the second to last, but that turned out to be wrong. The last episode chapter of this season of LTW is Amplification. It's really time to take a break if you can't even remember your own story :(
Credit where credit is due: Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie wrote this episode. The Unsub, the plot, the dialogue is theirs. Hope you enjoy my take on things.
Lead the Way - 092 - 4x23 - Roadkill
“An Unsub who kills with his car. Haven’t seen that before.”
“Neither have the police in Bend, Oregon which is why they need our help.” JJ had been surprised that the sheriff had made the connection so quickly to be honest.
“Two victims in the last twelve days.”
“First was hit while on a morning jog. Maria Delagato, 23. The second was a stranded motorist, Shannon Makely, 43.”
“What makes the locals think, that they were connected?” Morgan was right. Victimology seemed random and accidents weren’t exactly a specific MO.
“For one thing, they were both backed over after the initial impact.”
“No accident there,” Rossi commented dryly.
“They matched treads at both scenes; large wheels, all terrain.”
“Wounds also indicate a raised bumper, so they’re thinking large SUV or a truck.” JJ remembered giving Hotch the file a mere ten minutes ago. How had he managed to pick up on the most important details already?
“Do they know the model or make?”
“Tires aren’t factory issue. They could be on a number of different models.”
“No witnesses to either incident?”
JJ answered Emily by shaking her head. This wouldn’t be easy.
“A hit and run is loud, draws attention. Someone usually sees something.” That bothered Rossi.
“Both victims were attacked in secluded areas.”
“Two tons of metal make a hell of a weapon,” Morgan said, raising his eyebrows.
“Serial killers have been known to become rather attached to their vehicles.” Reid would have given them statistics if there had been a study on the subject.
The team quickly settled on the assumption that these were thrill kills based on the lack of victimology and the nature of hit and runs. It would be hard to stop this guy, but then Prentiss thought of Norman Hill. And for that case JJ hadn’t been there to help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily decided to make time and stop by Garcia’s office before joining the others on the jet. Ever since she had downloaded that weather app to make sure she had the right things packed, random storm warnings for the most remote parts of the country kept popping up. Preferably in the middle of the night.
“Hey Garcia, could you help me out with this?” Garcia turned around and looked at the cell phone, but she didn’t say anything.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll have it fixed in just a minute.” Emily put her hand on the phone and said:
“I’m not talking about this.”
“Kevin. He’s taking a job. Well considering taking a job. The thought that he’s considering to consider a job, I mean, it’s his FINAL interview? Why didn’t he talk to me about this first? Leaving my family. He’s insane!”
Emily tried to sort this out quietly for a minute, but failed.
“Wait… He got a new job and you’re upset because he didn’t tell you?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“What’s the job?”
“I don’t know!”
“Back up. What are you saying here?”
“I’m telling you that Kevin is about to accept a position with the NSA, an overseas position and I have no idea where he’s going and he’s asking me to join him and leave my family and I can’t leave my family, but I don’t want to be without him either.”
Emily nodded. That was a pretty tough choice and she appeared to be thinking about it. Garcia fixed her cell and then looked up to see her smiling broadly, much to her surprise.
“What’s so funny?”
“I just remembered something someone very smart told me once.”
“Which is?”
“When it comes to love, rules are on vacation.”
“Someone smart said that?” She grinned too now.
“Very smart.” Emily hugged her and left for the jet. She had always known that one day she would give those words back to her friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I think it’s safe to assume our Unsub is male.”
“I agree with you, given what we know about aggressive driving and road rage.”
“And the fact that men have an unnatural bond with their cars.” Emily went even further. To name two tons of steel anything other than car was something she simply couldn’t relate to. To her, cars were merely a mode of transportation.
“That is true.” JJ supported her.
“Wait a minute. I don’t know about unnatural.” Of course it would be Morgan who objected to this line of thought, while Spence was just observing.
“I once dated a guy who washed his car more than he washed his hair.” The media liaison shared, clearly unconscious of what that could say about her. Emily smiled and filed that information away for another - more private - time.
“A nice car needs love.”
“And a woman doesn’t?” That seemed like a leap, but the profiler in Emily had made that same leap.
“I’m not qualified to answer that.” Rossi said with mock humility.
“I’m just saying: big car - it’s phallic.”
“So he’s compensating?” Hotch asked.
“Or overcompensating.” This was much more Reid’s territory, really.
“Impotent?”
“Possibly. If the Unsub sees himself as physically defective the car not only gives him the power and control he otherwise lacks, but it also serves as a shield.”
“A way to avoid physical contact?”
“Power and control. Female victims. That almost reads like a rape profile.” Prentiss remembered their case in Nevada where the Unsub had first abducted a couple, tortured them and then staged an accident during which the woman was left without underwear as a way of second rape.
“Vehicular rape.” Something in Rossi’s eyes told her he was thinking along those same lines.
“Rape and thrill kill are two very different profiles.” Morgan sounded skeptic.
“What does the victimology tell us?”
“Nothing. Yet. Shannon Makely was a white, married, 43 year old, commodities traitor. Maria Delgado was a 23 year old Hispanic grad student and competitive tri-athlete,” JJ read from the file.
“So far, gender is our only link.” Hotch didn’t need to say that for a rape profile there should have been more in common between Delgado and Makely. “Hopefully the crime scenes will tell us more.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While Morgan and Rossi went to the Makely crime scene, Prentiss and Hotch drove out to the Delgado crime scene. Both pairs quickly reached the conclusion that these weren’t accidents. The chance that all circumstances were lining up just perfectly for the Unsub to kill and get away without being heard or seen was highly improbable.
It seemed much more reasonable that he had somehow known where his victims would be, most likely by stalking them, which also meant that they weren’t chosen at random. They would have to dig deeper to make sense of this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So… uhm… you dated a guy who washed his car more than he washed his hair?” Emily had whispered the question into JJ’s ear who suddenly found herself out of breath. She licked her lips to regain control and turned around.
She was nose to nose with her lover who seemingly unintentionally brushed against her as she leaned forward to get a cup of coffee from the machine behind JJ. She wanted to explain, make this somehow seem like an honest mistake, but she found it hard to form coherent sentences.
The scent of Emily’s shampoo was so strong and she remembered their kiss only two nights ago. Her knees went weak at the thought alone and all she could muster was:
“College.” As if that one word could say it all.
Emily nodded and breathed out through her nose, knowing it would tease JJ even more to feel her breath on her neck. Smug smile on her lips she licked the spoon invitingly so only JJ could see. She was more in control and still aware that they were standing in a police station, albeit in a dark corner.
“I think we should talk about this when we get home.” She turned around and walked away with an extra sway in her hips. JJ’s heart was pumping like mad. She had no idea what had just happened or what Emily wanted to talk about, but she had said home.
When we get home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shannon Makely’s husband wasn’t of much help save for the fact that he told them about a truck he hadn’t recognized being parked outside the house. Emily could see guilt build up behind his tears, but there was nothing he could have done either way.
How was he supposed to know that a truck that he hadn’t seen before was a threat to his wife’s life? They kept showing him pictures of black trucks for a couple of hours, but eventually they had to face the fact that the Unsub had tampered with the grill so that it was unrecognizable.
Hotch and Rossi came back from the car shop where they had been informed that Shannon Makely’s car had broken down due to sabotage. The victim had been targeted, chosen specifically, and never even known.
The Unsub was used to working around cars. He had to be if he could pierce the right cable without popping the hood. The team was torn from building on the profile by the news of a new crime scene. He was quickly devolving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The newest victim was a man in a hospital parking garage. Dr. Victor Costello. That certainly threw their vehicular rape theory out of the window. Prentiss, Reid and Rossi followed Detective Quinn and Officer Feder to the level above where the incident had started.
Upon seeing the victim’s car Reid darted off his phone pressed to his ear. Rossi noted that the victim had a reserved spot and that the Unsub must have come in early to reserve the spot across. Prentiss mused that someone might have seen him and Officer Feder confirmed.
“Talked to an X-Ray tech on the third floor. Noticed the truck when she arrived.”
“And he was inside it?”
“Yeah, but she couldn’t see him because of the tint.”
“So how did she know he was inside the truck?”
“She said the window was cracked. Occupant was smoking.”
From the way Feder phrased his answers Emily could tell that he was fresh out of the academy. It was almost like reading short hand.
“I don’t suppose your people found any cigarette butts.” Rossi brought her back to the present and she followed him to the Unsub’s parking space.
“What time did the tech get in?”
“10:00 am,” Feder read from his notes.
“Seven hours. Proper addict could kill a whole pack.” He bent down and with his pen he pushed around some papers on the concrete floor. “Did you ever smoke?”
It took a second to register that he had actually asked her that. Unsure where this was headed Prentiss said truthfully: “I used to do a lot of things.”
She was not, however, going to go into detail about Amélie and Mariella, marking the beginning and the end of her bad habit.
“Bet you never did this.”
“He field stripped it.” Quinn was catching on. Emily however was still lost.
“What is that?”
“Something they teach soldiers to avoid leaving traces in the field.”
“To squeeze out the filter and ball up the surrounding paper.” Rossi showed her what he meant.
“Okay, so our guy could be ex-military.” Prentiss wondered how much that would narrow their search and if Garcia could provide them with a useful list.
“I can get DNA on this. Maybe we get lucky… he’s in the system.” They watched as the officer secured the evidence.
“If he’s military, why would he choose a truck as his weapon?” Quinn asked.
“Maybe he drove a tank.” That remark earned Feder an angry glare from his boss that had Emily wondering about the nature of their relationship.
“Well, that’s a good question.” Quinn refocused his attention on Rossi. “Using a vehicle on the open road is one thing, but this is closed quarters.”
“Yeah, a truck is loud, draws attention. Plus, he risks rendering it inoperable.”
“Doesn’t make any sense.”
“Does to him. He needs to kill this way. I just don’t know why.”
Meanwhile Reid had confirmed his suspicion with Garcia that all the victims drove red two door coupes. Back at the station when Quinn asked if that was relevant, Spencer launched into a speech of statistical probabilities while a simple yes would have sufficed to convince him.
All three cars travelled routinely on highway 7, a dangerous stretch of road.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hotch called from the highway he’d gone to inspect with Reid and Quinn. He asked JJ to set up a press conference and added that the Unsub was most likely handicapped.
Prentiss and Morgan went with a couple of uniforms to retrieve all accident reports from that stretch of the road for the last five years. When Hotch and Reid were back they gave the amended profile to the police and pointed out that they should use that while canvassing rehab facilities and asked them to help the agents go over the reports.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only half an hour later Gil Bonner walked into the station and said he had information on their case.
Hotch, Reid and JJ listened as he told the story of his accident. He had been driving home late, taken his eyes off the road for a second and the car that had been there seconds ago had vanished.
JJ didn’t understand how he could just go back to his routine after this, but judging from his current emotional state he hadn’t. He was crying and the guilt was written all over his face. He was sure that the car he had driven off the road was the truck they were searching for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prentiss and Morgan had gone to interview the director of one of the rehab facilities in the area. He shook his head when he heard their request, saying it was impossible to give them the information they wanted as there were simply too many cases.
After JJ’s call Prentiss narrowed down their time frame from five years to five months. It was a bit of a stretch, but it was all they had. The doctor made the connection to the hit and runs he had heard on the news and showed them the file of Ian Coackley.
“He left us about four months ago. Didn’t make the progress that we’d hoped for.”
“Getting himself back in shape?”
“No. Physically he made great strives. It was emotional issues.”
“Anger issues?” Prentiss asked and he nodded.
“Did he ever talk about getting even?”
“You can look for yourself.” Emily took the file offered to her and found disturbing plans for a truck with chainsaws and spikes attached to the front. “We have the patients write and draw daily. Small tasks to help strengthen their hands. Ian spent most of his time on those.”
Emily handed Morgan the most explicit one.
“You had to know this guy was disturbed.”
“It’s part of healing. We encourage this kind of…”
“Murder fantasy?” Emily was trying her best to see it from his point of view.
“Grief can take on disturbing forms.”
“Red car.” She said to Morgan while she kept rifling through the file. There were several drawings of red two door vehicles.
“They’re all different, like he couldn’t decide,” he said, looking over her shoulder.
“When his memory came back it was fluid.”
“So it changed? Like his targets.”
“His mind was trying to find out the truth about what had happened.”
It was clearly something the doctor saw often enough, but to the profilers it was more. They had found their Unsub.
“We need the date of his accident.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ian Coackley was a former light wheel mechanic in the Army National Guard. September 28th 2007 he had been in an accident with his wife who died on the scene. Ian was left paralyzed from the waist down. There were no witnesses and no arrests made.
Garcia found them an address through his orders for truck parts where Morgan and Prentiss met up with the others. They suited up and guns drawn, stormed the house. The truck as well as Coackley was gone.
The profilers stayed to find out where he was going. Morgan found a stash of pictures from his prior victims and several of a man they hadn’t heard of before. Most likely his next target. While Garcia was running the plate from the picture Rossi and Morgan went to interview him, Emily looked through different parts of the house as did Hotch, Reid and JJ.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily walked into a room with boxes. She opened a few and looked inside. Some contained photos, books, letters and documents, others were filled with clothes and in some she found silverware, cloth napkins and candles. A woman’s things.
They must have belonged to his wife at some point. She looked around and saw that some of these boxes still had the tape on them. He had never even opened them. She could feel his pain, his loss as if it was her own.
What if Rocky had been right, but she hadn’t been wrong either? What if JJ wouldn’t leave her for someone else, but die on her? She had taken her best friend’s advice and gotten JJ back - sort of - but she could still lose her. Loss of this magnitude could never be compartmentalized. Would a year of happiness be worth a lifetime of sorrow?
Before she could find an answer she was startled:
“Hey, thought you could use a hand.” Emily spun around and saw JJ.
“Ah thank you.” She handed her a box. “Have you heard anything from Hotch?”
“They think they’ve located Garret Burke.” He was the man from the picture, Morgan had found. “If they bring him in, Coackley has nowhere to go.”
“He’ll go somewhere. Hopefully going through this stuff will help us figure out where.”
Prentiss was ready to turn back to the boxes and work, until JJ said:
“All of his wife’s things. Never unpacked them.”
“He never unpacked anything as far as I can tell.” Emily tried to hide her true feelings by coating them in anger. She tried to see Coackley as weak and herself as strong.
For a brief second one of the boxes read Mariella. She knew her mind was playing tricks on her. There was no way the box from the top shelf in her bedroom closet somehow ended up here, but for the briefest of moments she believed it.
All of her memories washed over her. All that hurt that she thought she had buried a long time ago resurfaced. She had had that once. An oasis of peace and love in a brutal world. It had given her more than she could ever hope to express. Losing it had meant losing part of herself. To this day she had kept that box closed and stashed away.
“What do you think this means? Living like this?” JJ couldn’t have known what that question meant to Emily, who was too surprised by it to say anything but the truth.
“I think it means he’s stuck.”
If Coackley was stuck, then maybe so was she? Maybe her not letting JJ get too close was a result of losing Mariella? Knowing that JJ came with a child had pushed a lot of buttons that she had thought had been disconnected years ago. Maybe it had nothing to do with her? Maybe it was a bit of both.
Either way she still had that box and they still had to find Coackley. Prentiss snapped back into reality and resumed working as efficiently as ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Burke was - according to his wife - out on a bike ride. Morgan and Rossi followed the route in their car after calling Hotch who tried to cut Coakley off following the route from his house. Quinn was with him to show him the shortest way.
Emily and JJ were still going through the boxes when JJ found a digital camera. She clicked through the images and saw a loving couple out for a picnic.
“Anything?” Emily asked from the other side of the room. She was sure JJ had picked up on her discomfort earlier, but it wasn’t something she could address now.
“09/26/07. That was two days before the crash?” JJ looked back down on the camera in her hands and Emily sized up her girlfriend while she wasn’t looking.
It occurred to her that she should tell JJ about Mariella. She had promised to share her memories and her secrets as well as her scars this time around, but the question was if JJ would understand, would still stay with her, when she knew the truth.
Would she run the other way once she knew the person sharing her bed had murdered someone? Would she look at her differently once she had been told that Emily had caused a person’s death? One she had come to love so deeply?
Emily realized that for the first time she wanted, actually longed to share. All of these plans were crushed though, when Prentiss remembered why she couldn’t tell. It might have been unfair from a lover’s point of view, but JJ would be put in danger and she would not stand for that.
Her internal debate was cut short when she heard JJ say:
“Wait a second.” She crossed the distance and looked over JJ’s shoulder. Unaware of how close she had come to stand next to her Prentiss suddenly saw what JJ had and immediately dialed Hotch’s number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hotch? You know how Coackley was driving his wife’s car on the night of the accident? It was a red coupe.”
“Are you sure?”
“We have pictures.” Prentiss reaffirmed gesturing towards JJ although he couldn’t see it.
“What does it mean?” Quinn’s voice came through a little quieter.
“Maybe there was no other car.”
“What?”
“Think about it. The make and model of his target car keeps changing.”
“Like he knows they aren’t right.” Hotch was catching on.
“And his doctor at the rehab facility called it fluid memory, but what if it was more than that?”
Throughout the phone call Emily had been pacing up and down the room and JJ had watched her. She couldn’t hear Hotch’s end of the conversation and it wasn’t exactly her field of expertise anyway.
She weighed the camera in her hands as she weighed her options in her head. Should she speak to Emily? Clearly something about these unopened boxes had triggered a memory for her.
It probably wasn’t the right time for the whole story, but something about Emily’s darting eyes told JJ that she needed to be told something. She needed to hear that whenever she was ready, JJ would listen.
“So if it’s a single car accident…” Quinn was trying to wrap his head around this.
“It was Coackley’s fault. He was driving back from Napa Valley that night. That’s a long drive.”
“He fell asleep at the wheel. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“The guilt of that would be overwhelming.” Prentiss wasn’t quite sure what to make of Hotch’s silence, but she took it as a positive sign nonetheless. “The truth almost impossible to take.”
“So he’s projecting blame.” There was the strong voice of her boss!
“A red coupe did cause the accident and he was driving it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although they would only hear it later on Hotch rammed his SUV into Coackley’s truck, barely slowing him down. Quinn talked to him like he would have to any other suspect, challenging his delusions.
He couldn’t know that it would lead the widower to drive off a cliff. Morgan and Reid came too late and could only watch as he chose to follow his wife instead of facing the consequences of his actions in this world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Emily.”
“Yeah.” Her head spun around so fast JJ wondered if she’d pulled a muscle. She took a step toward her girlfriend and took her right hand into her left. She looked down and around and said into the empty room:
“This means something to you, doesn’t it?” She looked at Emily from the side.
Emily’s breathing had become shallow and uneven. She was looking around the room, searching for something.
“I mean more than Coackley being stuck.” She squeezed Emily’s hand gently. “Something personal?” Emily bit her lower lip and nodded once, very discreetly.
JJ seized her up and remembering the trouble Emily had letting her in, all this pushing back and forth, the inability to accept that she was worthy of love she said:
“There won’t be a JJ box.” Emily smiled weakly and her eyes filled with tears. “Or was it something else?”
“That and something else.” Emily whispered, not sure if she could trust her voice not to break.
“Whenever you want to talk about it, I’ll be here for you.”
She kissed her lightly on the cheek and Emily moved to step outside the room. She was surprised to find that JJ was still holding on to her hand and turned around.
“No matter what it is. No matter what you say…” JJ’s eyes weren’t so dry anymore either. “There won’t be a JJ box.”
Emily would have loved to close the distance between them and pull JJ into a searing kiss right then and there, but she knew there were officers all around them in the house and it would be unprofessional. She looked into the blue eyes that had been her undoing so many times now and found that she had been understood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the station JJ helped Hotch pack up the files. She overheard parts of his conversation with Quinn and his guilt over saying the wrong things. When she saw Gil Bonner by the front door she excused herself and approached him.
“Mr. Bonner.”
“I got a message that you wanted to see me.” He looked at her like a scared school boy about to be expelled. His shoulders were up, his cheeks unshaven and his eyes red from crying.
“Yes. Thanks for coming in. I did some fact checking. You said the moon was just a sliver that night. The new moon was on November 10th 2007.”
He processed what she was saying and asked: “What else did you find?”
“A man named William Madlock was run off the road that night by a car that drifted into his lane.” She handed him the police report and he could see for himself what the officers had found out.
“No injuries?”
“There was some damage to his car and you’ll be held responsible for fleeing the scene.” At these words he looked more relieved than ever.
“A Volkswagen.” He shook his head a little. “But it was a truck.”
“Was it?” She paused when he got emotional again.
“I think you’ve wanted to tell someone about this for a very long time. And this case, that truck gave you the excuse you needed. Guilt’s a powerful thing. You didn’t hurt anyone Mr. Bonner.”
The corners of his mouth were twitching and she could see that he was struggling to hold back the relief he felt at her words.
“Thank you.” She walked away, wondering if her last words had really been meant for him.
Credit where credit is due: Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie wrote this episode. The Unsub, the plot, the dialogue is theirs. Hope you enjoy my take on things.
Lead the Way - 092 - 4x23 - Roadkill
“An Unsub who kills with his car. Haven’t seen that before.”
“Neither have the police in Bend, Oregon which is why they need our help.” JJ had been surprised that the sheriff had made the connection so quickly to be honest.
“Two victims in the last twelve days.”
“First was hit while on a morning jog. Maria Delagato, 23. The second was a stranded motorist, Shannon Makely, 43.”
“What makes the locals think, that they were connected?” Morgan was right. Victimology seemed random and accidents weren’t exactly a specific MO.
“For one thing, they were both backed over after the initial impact.”
“No accident there,” Rossi commented dryly.
“They matched treads at both scenes; large wheels, all terrain.”
“Wounds also indicate a raised bumper, so they’re thinking large SUV or a truck.” JJ remembered giving Hotch the file a mere ten minutes ago. How had he managed to pick up on the most important details already?
“Do they know the model or make?”
“Tires aren’t factory issue. They could be on a number of different models.”
“No witnesses to either incident?”
JJ answered Emily by shaking her head. This wouldn’t be easy.
“A hit and run is loud, draws attention. Someone usually sees something.” That bothered Rossi.
“Both victims were attacked in secluded areas.”
“Two tons of metal make a hell of a weapon,” Morgan said, raising his eyebrows.
“Serial killers have been known to become rather attached to their vehicles.” Reid would have given them statistics if there had been a study on the subject.
The team quickly settled on the assumption that these were thrill kills based on the lack of victimology and the nature of hit and runs. It would be hard to stop this guy, but then Prentiss thought of Norman Hill. And for that case JJ hadn’t been there to help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily decided to make time and stop by Garcia’s office before joining the others on the jet. Ever since she had downloaded that weather app to make sure she had the right things packed, random storm warnings for the most remote parts of the country kept popping up. Preferably in the middle of the night.
“Hey Garcia, could you help me out with this?” Garcia turned around and looked at the cell phone, but she didn’t say anything.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll have it fixed in just a minute.” Emily put her hand on the phone and said:
“I’m not talking about this.”
“Kevin. He’s taking a job. Well considering taking a job. The thought that he’s considering to consider a job, I mean, it’s his FINAL interview? Why didn’t he talk to me about this first? Leaving my family. He’s insane!”
Emily tried to sort this out quietly for a minute, but failed.
“Wait… He got a new job and you’re upset because he didn’t tell you?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“What’s the job?”
“I don’t know!”
“Back up. What are you saying here?”
“I’m telling you that Kevin is about to accept a position with the NSA, an overseas position and I have no idea where he’s going and he’s asking me to join him and leave my family and I can’t leave my family, but I don’t want to be without him either.”
Emily nodded. That was a pretty tough choice and she appeared to be thinking about it. Garcia fixed her cell and then looked up to see her smiling broadly, much to her surprise.
“What’s so funny?”
“I just remembered something someone very smart told me once.”
“Which is?”
“When it comes to love, rules are on vacation.”
“Someone smart said that?” She grinned too now.
“Very smart.” Emily hugged her and left for the jet. She had always known that one day she would give those words back to her friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I think it’s safe to assume our Unsub is male.”
“I agree with you, given what we know about aggressive driving and road rage.”
“And the fact that men have an unnatural bond with their cars.” Emily went even further. To name two tons of steel anything other than car was something she simply couldn’t relate to. To her, cars were merely a mode of transportation.
“That is true.” JJ supported her.
“Wait a minute. I don’t know about unnatural.” Of course it would be Morgan who objected to this line of thought, while Spence was just observing.
“I once dated a guy who washed his car more than he washed his hair.” The media liaison shared, clearly unconscious of what that could say about her. Emily smiled and filed that information away for another - more private - time.
“A nice car needs love.”
“And a woman doesn’t?” That seemed like a leap, but the profiler in Emily had made that same leap.
“I’m not qualified to answer that.” Rossi said with mock humility.
“I’m just saying: big car - it’s phallic.”
“So he’s compensating?” Hotch asked.
“Or overcompensating.” This was much more Reid’s territory, really.
“Impotent?”
“Possibly. If the Unsub sees himself as physically defective the car not only gives him the power and control he otherwise lacks, but it also serves as a shield.”
“A way to avoid physical contact?”
“Power and control. Female victims. That almost reads like a rape profile.” Prentiss remembered their case in Nevada where the Unsub had first abducted a couple, tortured them and then staged an accident during which the woman was left without underwear as a way of second rape.
“Vehicular rape.” Something in Rossi’s eyes told her he was thinking along those same lines.
“Rape and thrill kill are two very different profiles.” Morgan sounded skeptic.
“What does the victimology tell us?”
“Nothing. Yet. Shannon Makely was a white, married, 43 year old, commodities traitor. Maria Delgado was a 23 year old Hispanic grad student and competitive tri-athlete,” JJ read from the file.
“So far, gender is our only link.” Hotch didn’t need to say that for a rape profile there should have been more in common between Delgado and Makely. “Hopefully the crime scenes will tell us more.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While Morgan and Rossi went to the Makely crime scene, Prentiss and Hotch drove out to the Delgado crime scene. Both pairs quickly reached the conclusion that these weren’t accidents. The chance that all circumstances were lining up just perfectly for the Unsub to kill and get away without being heard or seen was highly improbable.
It seemed much more reasonable that he had somehow known where his victims would be, most likely by stalking them, which also meant that they weren’t chosen at random. They would have to dig deeper to make sense of this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So… uhm… you dated a guy who washed his car more than he washed his hair?” Emily had whispered the question into JJ’s ear who suddenly found herself out of breath. She licked her lips to regain control and turned around.
She was nose to nose with her lover who seemingly unintentionally brushed against her as she leaned forward to get a cup of coffee from the machine behind JJ. She wanted to explain, make this somehow seem like an honest mistake, but she found it hard to form coherent sentences.
The scent of Emily’s shampoo was so strong and she remembered their kiss only two nights ago. Her knees went weak at the thought alone and all she could muster was:
“College.” As if that one word could say it all.
Emily nodded and breathed out through her nose, knowing it would tease JJ even more to feel her breath on her neck. Smug smile on her lips she licked the spoon invitingly so only JJ could see. She was more in control and still aware that they were standing in a police station, albeit in a dark corner.
“I think we should talk about this when we get home.” She turned around and walked away with an extra sway in her hips. JJ’s heart was pumping like mad. She had no idea what had just happened or what Emily wanted to talk about, but she had said home.
When we get home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shannon Makely’s husband wasn’t of much help save for the fact that he told them about a truck he hadn’t recognized being parked outside the house. Emily could see guilt build up behind his tears, but there was nothing he could have done either way.
How was he supposed to know that a truck that he hadn’t seen before was a threat to his wife’s life? They kept showing him pictures of black trucks for a couple of hours, but eventually they had to face the fact that the Unsub had tampered with the grill so that it was unrecognizable.
Hotch and Rossi came back from the car shop where they had been informed that Shannon Makely’s car had broken down due to sabotage. The victim had been targeted, chosen specifically, and never even known.
The Unsub was used to working around cars. He had to be if he could pierce the right cable without popping the hood. The team was torn from building on the profile by the news of a new crime scene. He was quickly devolving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The newest victim was a man in a hospital parking garage. Dr. Victor Costello. That certainly threw their vehicular rape theory out of the window. Prentiss, Reid and Rossi followed Detective Quinn and Officer Feder to the level above where the incident had started.
Upon seeing the victim’s car Reid darted off his phone pressed to his ear. Rossi noted that the victim had a reserved spot and that the Unsub must have come in early to reserve the spot across. Prentiss mused that someone might have seen him and Officer Feder confirmed.
“Talked to an X-Ray tech on the third floor. Noticed the truck when she arrived.”
“And he was inside it?”
“Yeah, but she couldn’t see him because of the tint.”
“So how did she know he was inside the truck?”
“She said the window was cracked. Occupant was smoking.”
From the way Feder phrased his answers Emily could tell that he was fresh out of the academy. It was almost like reading short hand.
“I don’t suppose your people found any cigarette butts.” Rossi brought her back to the present and she followed him to the Unsub’s parking space.
“What time did the tech get in?”
“10:00 am,” Feder read from his notes.
“Seven hours. Proper addict could kill a whole pack.” He bent down and with his pen he pushed around some papers on the concrete floor. “Did you ever smoke?”
It took a second to register that he had actually asked her that. Unsure where this was headed Prentiss said truthfully: “I used to do a lot of things.”
She was not, however, going to go into detail about Amélie and Mariella, marking the beginning and the end of her bad habit.
“Bet you never did this.”
“He field stripped it.” Quinn was catching on. Emily however was still lost.
“What is that?”
“Something they teach soldiers to avoid leaving traces in the field.”
“To squeeze out the filter and ball up the surrounding paper.” Rossi showed her what he meant.
“Okay, so our guy could be ex-military.” Prentiss wondered how much that would narrow their search and if Garcia could provide them with a useful list.
“I can get DNA on this. Maybe we get lucky… he’s in the system.” They watched as the officer secured the evidence.
“If he’s military, why would he choose a truck as his weapon?” Quinn asked.
“Maybe he drove a tank.” That remark earned Feder an angry glare from his boss that had Emily wondering about the nature of their relationship.
“Well, that’s a good question.” Quinn refocused his attention on Rossi. “Using a vehicle on the open road is one thing, but this is closed quarters.”
“Yeah, a truck is loud, draws attention. Plus, he risks rendering it inoperable.”
“Doesn’t make any sense.”
“Does to him. He needs to kill this way. I just don’t know why.”
Meanwhile Reid had confirmed his suspicion with Garcia that all the victims drove red two door coupes. Back at the station when Quinn asked if that was relevant, Spencer launched into a speech of statistical probabilities while a simple yes would have sufficed to convince him.
All three cars travelled routinely on highway 7, a dangerous stretch of road.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hotch called from the highway he’d gone to inspect with Reid and Quinn. He asked JJ to set up a press conference and added that the Unsub was most likely handicapped.
Prentiss and Morgan went with a couple of uniforms to retrieve all accident reports from that stretch of the road for the last five years. When Hotch and Reid were back they gave the amended profile to the police and pointed out that they should use that while canvassing rehab facilities and asked them to help the agents go over the reports.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only half an hour later Gil Bonner walked into the station and said he had information on their case.
Hotch, Reid and JJ listened as he told the story of his accident. He had been driving home late, taken his eyes off the road for a second and the car that had been there seconds ago had vanished.
JJ didn’t understand how he could just go back to his routine after this, but judging from his current emotional state he hadn’t. He was crying and the guilt was written all over his face. He was sure that the car he had driven off the road was the truck they were searching for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prentiss and Morgan had gone to interview the director of one of the rehab facilities in the area. He shook his head when he heard their request, saying it was impossible to give them the information they wanted as there were simply too many cases.
After JJ’s call Prentiss narrowed down their time frame from five years to five months. It was a bit of a stretch, but it was all they had. The doctor made the connection to the hit and runs he had heard on the news and showed them the file of Ian Coackley.
“He left us about four months ago. Didn’t make the progress that we’d hoped for.”
“Getting himself back in shape?”
“No. Physically he made great strives. It was emotional issues.”
“Anger issues?” Prentiss asked and he nodded.
“Did he ever talk about getting even?”
“You can look for yourself.” Emily took the file offered to her and found disturbing plans for a truck with chainsaws and spikes attached to the front. “We have the patients write and draw daily. Small tasks to help strengthen their hands. Ian spent most of his time on those.”
Emily handed Morgan the most explicit one.
“You had to know this guy was disturbed.”
“It’s part of healing. We encourage this kind of…”
“Murder fantasy?” Emily was trying her best to see it from his point of view.
“Grief can take on disturbing forms.”
“Red car.” She said to Morgan while she kept rifling through the file. There were several drawings of red two door vehicles.
“They’re all different, like he couldn’t decide,” he said, looking over her shoulder.
“When his memory came back it was fluid.”
“So it changed? Like his targets.”
“His mind was trying to find out the truth about what had happened.”
It was clearly something the doctor saw often enough, but to the profilers it was more. They had found their Unsub.
“We need the date of his accident.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ian Coackley was a former light wheel mechanic in the Army National Guard. September 28th 2007 he had been in an accident with his wife who died on the scene. Ian was left paralyzed from the waist down. There were no witnesses and no arrests made.
Garcia found them an address through his orders for truck parts where Morgan and Prentiss met up with the others. They suited up and guns drawn, stormed the house. The truck as well as Coackley was gone.
The profilers stayed to find out where he was going. Morgan found a stash of pictures from his prior victims and several of a man they hadn’t heard of before. Most likely his next target. While Garcia was running the plate from the picture Rossi and Morgan went to interview him, Emily looked through different parts of the house as did Hotch, Reid and JJ.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily walked into a room with boxes. She opened a few and looked inside. Some contained photos, books, letters and documents, others were filled with clothes and in some she found silverware, cloth napkins and candles. A woman’s things.
They must have belonged to his wife at some point. She looked around and saw that some of these boxes still had the tape on them. He had never even opened them. She could feel his pain, his loss as if it was her own.
What if Rocky had been right, but she hadn’t been wrong either? What if JJ wouldn’t leave her for someone else, but die on her? She had taken her best friend’s advice and gotten JJ back - sort of - but she could still lose her. Loss of this magnitude could never be compartmentalized. Would a year of happiness be worth a lifetime of sorrow?
Before she could find an answer she was startled:
“Hey, thought you could use a hand.” Emily spun around and saw JJ.
“Ah thank you.” She handed her a box. “Have you heard anything from Hotch?”
“They think they’ve located Garret Burke.” He was the man from the picture, Morgan had found. “If they bring him in, Coackley has nowhere to go.”
“He’ll go somewhere. Hopefully going through this stuff will help us figure out where.”
Prentiss was ready to turn back to the boxes and work, until JJ said:
“All of his wife’s things. Never unpacked them.”
“He never unpacked anything as far as I can tell.” Emily tried to hide her true feelings by coating them in anger. She tried to see Coackley as weak and herself as strong.
For a brief second one of the boxes read Mariella. She knew her mind was playing tricks on her. There was no way the box from the top shelf in her bedroom closet somehow ended up here, but for the briefest of moments she believed it.
All of her memories washed over her. All that hurt that she thought she had buried a long time ago resurfaced. She had had that once. An oasis of peace and love in a brutal world. It had given her more than she could ever hope to express. Losing it had meant losing part of herself. To this day she had kept that box closed and stashed away.
“What do you think this means? Living like this?” JJ couldn’t have known what that question meant to Emily, who was too surprised by it to say anything but the truth.
“I think it means he’s stuck.”
If Coackley was stuck, then maybe so was she? Maybe her not letting JJ get too close was a result of losing Mariella? Knowing that JJ came with a child had pushed a lot of buttons that she had thought had been disconnected years ago. Maybe it had nothing to do with her? Maybe it was a bit of both.
Either way she still had that box and they still had to find Coackley. Prentiss snapped back into reality and resumed working as efficiently as ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Burke was - according to his wife - out on a bike ride. Morgan and Rossi followed the route in their car after calling Hotch who tried to cut Coakley off following the route from his house. Quinn was with him to show him the shortest way.
Emily and JJ were still going through the boxes when JJ found a digital camera. She clicked through the images and saw a loving couple out for a picnic.
“Anything?” Emily asked from the other side of the room. She was sure JJ had picked up on her discomfort earlier, but it wasn’t something she could address now.
“09/26/07. That was two days before the crash?” JJ looked back down on the camera in her hands and Emily sized up her girlfriend while she wasn’t looking.
It occurred to her that she should tell JJ about Mariella. She had promised to share her memories and her secrets as well as her scars this time around, but the question was if JJ would understand, would still stay with her, when she knew the truth.
Would she run the other way once she knew the person sharing her bed had murdered someone? Would she look at her differently once she had been told that Emily had caused a person’s death? One she had come to love so deeply?
Emily realized that for the first time she wanted, actually longed to share. All of these plans were crushed though, when Prentiss remembered why she couldn’t tell. It might have been unfair from a lover’s point of view, but JJ would be put in danger and she would not stand for that.
Her internal debate was cut short when she heard JJ say:
“Wait a second.” She crossed the distance and looked over JJ’s shoulder. Unaware of how close she had come to stand next to her Prentiss suddenly saw what JJ had and immediately dialed Hotch’s number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hotch? You know how Coackley was driving his wife’s car on the night of the accident? It was a red coupe.”
“Are you sure?”
“We have pictures.” Prentiss reaffirmed gesturing towards JJ although he couldn’t see it.
“What does it mean?” Quinn’s voice came through a little quieter.
“Maybe there was no other car.”
“What?”
“Think about it. The make and model of his target car keeps changing.”
“Like he knows they aren’t right.” Hotch was catching on.
“And his doctor at the rehab facility called it fluid memory, but what if it was more than that?”
Throughout the phone call Emily had been pacing up and down the room and JJ had watched her. She couldn’t hear Hotch’s end of the conversation and it wasn’t exactly her field of expertise anyway.
She weighed the camera in her hands as she weighed her options in her head. Should she speak to Emily? Clearly something about these unopened boxes had triggered a memory for her.
It probably wasn’t the right time for the whole story, but something about Emily’s darting eyes told JJ that she needed to be told something. She needed to hear that whenever she was ready, JJ would listen.
“So if it’s a single car accident…” Quinn was trying to wrap his head around this.
“It was Coackley’s fault. He was driving back from Napa Valley that night. That’s a long drive.”
“He fell asleep at the wheel. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“The guilt of that would be overwhelming.” Prentiss wasn’t quite sure what to make of Hotch’s silence, but she took it as a positive sign nonetheless. “The truth almost impossible to take.”
“So he’s projecting blame.” There was the strong voice of her boss!
“A red coupe did cause the accident and he was driving it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although they would only hear it later on Hotch rammed his SUV into Coackley’s truck, barely slowing him down. Quinn talked to him like he would have to any other suspect, challenging his delusions.
He couldn’t know that it would lead the widower to drive off a cliff. Morgan and Reid came too late and could only watch as he chose to follow his wife instead of facing the consequences of his actions in this world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Emily.”
“Yeah.” Her head spun around so fast JJ wondered if she’d pulled a muscle. She took a step toward her girlfriend and took her right hand into her left. She looked down and around and said into the empty room:
“This means something to you, doesn’t it?” She looked at Emily from the side.
Emily’s breathing had become shallow and uneven. She was looking around the room, searching for something.
“I mean more than Coackley being stuck.” She squeezed Emily’s hand gently. “Something personal?” Emily bit her lower lip and nodded once, very discreetly.
JJ seized her up and remembering the trouble Emily had letting her in, all this pushing back and forth, the inability to accept that she was worthy of love she said:
“There won’t be a JJ box.” Emily smiled weakly and her eyes filled with tears. “Or was it something else?”
“That and something else.” Emily whispered, not sure if she could trust her voice not to break.
“Whenever you want to talk about it, I’ll be here for you.”
She kissed her lightly on the cheek and Emily moved to step outside the room. She was surprised to find that JJ was still holding on to her hand and turned around.
“No matter what it is. No matter what you say…” JJ’s eyes weren’t so dry anymore either. “There won’t be a JJ box.”
Emily would have loved to close the distance between them and pull JJ into a searing kiss right then and there, but she knew there were officers all around them in the house and it would be unprofessional. She looked into the blue eyes that had been her undoing so many times now and found that she had been understood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the station JJ helped Hotch pack up the files. She overheard parts of his conversation with Quinn and his guilt over saying the wrong things. When she saw Gil Bonner by the front door she excused herself and approached him.
“Mr. Bonner.”
“I got a message that you wanted to see me.” He looked at her like a scared school boy about to be expelled. His shoulders were up, his cheeks unshaven and his eyes red from crying.
“Yes. Thanks for coming in. I did some fact checking. You said the moon was just a sliver that night. The new moon was on November 10th 2007.”
He processed what she was saying and asked: “What else did you find?”
“A man named William Madlock was run off the road that night by a car that drifted into his lane.” She handed him the police report and he could see for himself what the officers had found out.
“No injuries?”
“There was some damage to his car and you’ll be held responsible for fleeing the scene.” At these words he looked more relieved than ever.
“A Volkswagen.” He shook his head a little. “But it was a truck.”
“Was it?” She paused when he got emotional again.
“I think you’ve wanted to tell someone about this for a very long time. And this case, that truck gave you the excuse you needed. Guilt’s a powerful thing. You didn’t hurt anyone Mr. Bonner.”
The corners of his mouth were twitching and she could see that he was struggling to hold back the relief he felt at her words.
“Thank you.” She walked away, wondering if her last words had really been meant for him.