CHAPTER TWO
“Hotch?”
Supervisory Special Agent In Charge Aaron Hotchner looked up from where he was perusing the file for the fourth time. JJ had passed it on to him the previous night and it had been he who had put out the full alert so early in the morning. But the team didn’t have to know that. He’d taken one look at each one of the victims’ pictures and his heart had frozen in his chest.
Jessica Malone, 38, worked in the highest echelons of a Columbus, Ohio PR firm. Her eyes were dark, her hair coal black.
Addison Howard, 35, was a high-power accountant at one of the biggest Columbus firms. The file listed her eye colour as brown and her hair colour as brown.
Kelly Wright, 35, held the ADA position. Her hair was more of a russet colour, but her eyes were dark.
But it was Lauren Sheldon, FBI Unit chief of the Columbus office, that had metaphorically punched him in the gut.
Pale skin. Dark hair. Dark eyes. The same features that had haunted him since Colorado. Agent Prentiss’ features. Emily’s features.
“Dave.”
“They’re waiting.”
Hotch sighed as he closed the folder and followed Rossi to the conference room. Sure enough, the whole team was gathered there, some looking a little more worse for wear than others. He took in their positions at the table grimly. It was sometimes terrifying how the residual emotions of Colorado played themselves out even here. Reid had his eyes fixed on the blank screen at the front of the room, his fingers weaving and releasing. Hotch knew he was still having trouble coming to terms with what Emily had gone through to protect him.
Emily sat three seats away, sipping at coffee in a travel mug, eyes a million miles away. Derek sat to her left, darting glances at her every once in a while, but mainly focused on their technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, seated between him and Reid. JJ stood at the front of the room, stomach bulging with her pregnancy but politely waiting for the last two members to sit. They did, Hotch taking the seat next to Emily, like he had every briefing since Colorado, and Rossi taking the one to his right.
“Four women have been found dead in Columbus Ohio in the last six months,” JJ began, not bothering to greet anyone or wish them a good morning. No good morning started with a case. And no good morning started as early as theirs had.
Why the hell did it always have to be her? Or at least it felt that way. These days, it wasn’t that far from the truth either. Emily sat, eyes closed, head tilted back against the seat of the FBI jet. Derek sat across from her, a comfortable presence as his foot accidentally tapped against hers with his music. Emily didn’t mind. It was relaxing to know that he was there. Hotch boxed her in on the other side, a notion that, again, didn’t surprise her.
After Colorado, it had been his reaction that had stunned her most. It shouldn’t have, now that she thought back on it. Not at all. Something had shifted in all of them after New York, during New York, and Emily found herself more comfortable around her supervisor. Something about him didn’t scream at her ‘cold, aloof’. It was quieter, more subdued and Emily had briefly wondered how much of it had to do with Agent Joyner’s death. Mind, she’d been the first one in the hospital to inquire as to how he was holding up. She’d been there when the excavator had triggered the unbearable pain in his ear.
What had probably surprised her the most was the look on his face when she’d come limping out of the Cyrus’ compound. He’d looked so intensely relieved that she’d had to turn to see the others come out. She was sure she would have done something stupid, like hug him close, if she hadn’t. Instead, she’d hugged Reid. There had been an odd look on his face when she’d eventually faced him again.
Still, his warmth at her side was a welcome safety. Because even though Derek was the one that had come bursting through the doors, it was Hotch she credited with the rescue. She opened her eyes when his hand nudged her hip to get attention. She took the folder he slid towards her without thought. She probably wouldn’t need it by the end of the flight. This was already starting to feel like a case that would stick with her.
“Columbus PD linked the victims by this,” JJ’s voice came floating through the computer on the table, startling everyone sitting around. “Right hip, every time.”
“Pretty specific MO,” Rossi agreed, dropping his picture of the mark on the table.
“No signs of break and enter in the home,” Emily said absently. “And they were all assaulted in their own homes.”
“We know he’s got a type,” Derek said unnecessarily. “What we don’t know is why.”
“Someone he knew that looked like these women ticked him off,” Rossi responded as if it was obvious.
“But what? We can’t put out a press release that says all dark-haired, dark-eyed women need to look out,” JJ replied. “We need something more specific.”
Emily felt Hotch move marginally closer at the same time her heart leapt uncomfortably. Much to her surprise, it jumped again at the feeling of him brushing against her. She tried not to make her deep breath audible. “We need to find out what specifically triggered him to make our UNSUB go after these women. It can’t just be her looks.”
“Jobs?” Derek volunteered, his foot starting to tap against Emily’s foot again. She’d once told him it was a comfort. “All high-power, high food chain jobs.”
“Garcia,” Hotch ordered and JJ’s face on the screen was exchanged for the tech’s. “I want to know if these women shared as much as the same stroller when they were kids.”
“Starting the cross-reference now,” Garcia promised. “I compared Agent Sheldon’s case load with our girls though and unfortunately I’ve got nothing. I’m in the process of dumping credit cards and phone records. I can run it simultaneously.”
“You do that,” Hotch agreed, not looking at the screen but flipping through the folder in front of him.
Emily shrugged when Garcia arched her eyebrow. His shortness had no explanation in her mind either. “Call.”
“Always. We’re out.”
Emily dropped her head into the folded arms on the table she’d been using. Part of her understood the mentality behind assigning her to victimology. It was the way the men of her team had chosen to protect her. She knew that at least part of the decision had everything to do with Colorado and the beating she’d taken, but that didn’t make her any happier to be assigned to precinct duty. And between her and Garcia, they hadn’t been able to link any more details. It was driving her crazy. It would have been easier to understand if they’d been able to find something, but that hadn’t been the case. It would probably be easier if she’d had JJ too. The away cases without the blond always felt like they were missing something. Adding to that the shock it had been to see the pictures of all of their victims and realize one of them had been and FBI unit chief was starting to batter her brain. It was an interesting feeling for her already battered body.
Voices brought her head up again, though slower than she would have preferred.
“Hey there, Princess. Sleeping on the job?”
Emily wasn’t exactly in the mood for Derek’s coddling and he only ever called her ‘Princess’ when she was at her worst. She shot him a glare. “The searches so far have turned up nothing.”
Derek arched an eyebrow at her snappy attitude. “That isn’t like my Baby Girl.”
She would only mentally admit to being thankful when Derek’s accompanying LEO left. “She’s still looking.”
He glanced around, closing the conference room door behind him as he made his way to her side. “She always finds something.”
“I’m sorry,” she said on a sigh, running a hand through her hair. “I just-“
“Feel like we’re watching too closely.”
She glanced up with a small smile. “That obvious?”
“I thought you were going to strangle Hotch when he ordered you on victimology.”
She wasn’t going to dignify that. “Anything?”
“No,” he replied. “Sounds like Jessica Malone lived for her job. Not unusual.”
Emily sighed. “No, no its not.”
She knew Derek wasn’t stupid enough to miss her underlying thoughts. “Tomorrow Hotch wants to do the professional interviews. At least if Hotch, Reid and Rossi come back with the same results we’ll have something more to go on.
“When they get back we’d better be going to eat,” Emily responded. “Reading made me hungry.” She burst out laughing hysterically when Derek’s stomach growled loudly.
“Oh yeah?” he asked, eyebrow raised in challenge, devilish smile on his face.
Emily squealed but couldn’t get away fast enough. His fingers dug into her sides and skimmed across her stomach and Emily laughed harder. Until the clearing of a throat brought their attention to none other than their severe-looking supervisor.
And if Emily didn’t know better, she’d have said he looked jealous.