Say It Again Part 4

"Hey, JJ, wake up. We gotta go," Emily says, shaking me gently. I open my eyes, and look around the room, still a little disoriented.

"What's going on? Is it five already?" I ask, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"No. It's not even four yet." Emily pulls a dark blue shirt out of her bag as she responds. "They just found another body."

"Where?" I'm wide awake now, and I climb out of bed quickly.

"Remember that statue we passed earlier, with the lady holding the bug up in the air?"

"Yeah, it's right in the middle of the main street running through downtown."

"Apparently the body is there, but I don't know anything else. Hotch said to meet him there as soon as possible. I'm going to go brush my teeth and get dressed. Let's leave in 10 minutes, yeah?" Emily disappears around the corner into the bathroom as she finishes speaking.

"Sounds good, but I think I need some coffee," I respond, pulling my shirt over my head.

"You and me both, Jen," I smile despite my exhaustion, realizing once again that I kind of like that she doesn't always call me JJ like everyone else.

...

Twenty minutes later, I hop out of the black SUV and duck under the crime scene tape, Emily right behind me. Somehow it's already hot and humid outside, even at 4 am.

"Good, you're here. I finally woke Morgan up five minutes ago, but he and Spencer are going to meet us at the station," Hotch says, as usual forgoing small talk.

I open my mouth to reply, but I stop short as I notice the victim in front of me. She looks like she was probably in her late fifties. Her gray hair is pulled up in a bun, and she's dressed in modest clothing. As with the other victims, a plastic bag is pulled over her head.

What catches my attention is the way she's posed. She was tied to the statue and posed in the same manner: standing upright with arms above her head. I let my gaze drift up toward her hands and notice a sign with one word written on it:

REMEMBER.

The sign is propped in front of the large boll weevil the statue holds, and it's sloped down a little, as if it was thrown up haphazardly.

I look back down at her face and allow myself to focus on it for the first time. She has an expression of horror, her mouth open in what was probably a scream. I turn away quickly, trying to shake the image from my mind. Unfortunately, I know that I will probably be seeing it for a while. That's the worst part of this job. I never really get to go home.

I hurry toward our vehicle and climb into the front seat. I lay my head on the dashboard in front of me and try to control my breathing. I hear footsteps approach slowly, and I turn my head to see Emily coming toward me.

"JJ, are you alright?" Her brown eyes are full of concern, and she lays a hand gently on my back.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't usually react like this, but the look on her face was awful. I can't imagine ever feeling as scared as she must've been," I respond, sitting up and facing Emily.

"That was hard for me to look at too. We're going to catch the son of a bitch that did that," her voice is hard and decisive.

"Yeah we will. Do you mind if I stay here while you finish up with Hotch and Gideon? I'm going to call and organize a press conference for 9:00. That'll give us a few hours to finish the profile," I say, already pulling out my phone.

"I think staying here would be good. I should only be another ten or fifteen minutes. Are you sure you're okay?" Emily asks, stepping back from the SUV.

"I'm sure. Tell Hotch what I'm doing, if you don't mind," I plaster a smile on my face to assure her that I'm alright.

"You got it. Be back in a few," Emily turns and walks back toward the crime scene, the wind ruffling her dark hair.

I lean back against the seat and focus on my phone, my breathing finally returning to normal.

...

We get to the station a half hour later. Morgan and Reid are already in the conference room, and they have Garcia on speaker phone.

"Babygirl, give me everything you can find on a Marie Baxter. We need to learn what we can about this latest victim," Morgan says, giving us a small wave as we enter the room.

"Okay, Marie Baxter was fifty-seven, born and raised in Enterprise, Alabama. She went to college at Auburn University and moved back to Enterprise after. She was never married, no children, and she's been teaching calculus at the junior college for the past ten years..." Garcia's words are punctuated by the clicking sounds of her typing.

"Wait, Garcia, did you say she works at the junior college?" I ask, interrupting the tech analyst.

"Yep! Why do you ask?"

"Guys, every one of the previous victims attended the junior college, and now the latest victim is a teacher there?" I say, making eye contact with each person around the table.

"What's going on?" Hotch asks as he and Gideon join us.

"I think JJ just figured out the connection between the victims," Emily responds, looking at me with an approving smile.

"Care to fill us in?" Gideon says, turning to face me.

"The junior college. The first three victims all attended at some point, and the most recent is a calculus teacher there."

"If you're right," Hotch begins, "then the unsub is probably involved with the college now, or he was before. Let's deliver the profile."

Deputy Crawford gathers most of the other officers, and they sit at the various desks in the main area in the station.

"The strength it takes to strangle, move, and stage the victims indicates that the unsub is a male in good physical condition," Morgan begins.

"Because of the sophistication of the staging of the crime scenes, combined with the reckless need to place them in popular areas, we believe the man you're looking for is between the ages of twenty-five and thirty," Reid supplies.

"There is nothing indicating a blitz attack when the victims were taken, and there were no drugs in their systems, so the unsub likely didn't make them feel uncomfortable. He was probably someone they knew or at least someone they trusted by default: a police officer, a fireman, something like that," Gideon leans against the wall behind him as he speaks.

"We think he's taking a little bit of blood from each of his victims, but we still aren't sure exactly why. Because there's no evidence of sexual assault or torture on any of the victims, along with the fact that the ages, genders, and races of the victims are different, we don't think there is a sexual component to these murders," Emily continues.

"The first three victims each attended the local community college at some point, and the latest victim is a teacher there. The unsub is almost definitely connected to the college in some capacity. Past and present students, teachers, and other faculty members should be checked," I say, making eye contact with multiple officers as I speak.

"In addition, look for people who were rejected or expelled as well. The victims don't seem random, so it's likely that the unsub has interacted with each of them on some level. Thank you," Hotch finishes.

I go outside a few minutes later and deliver much of the same information to the media. Someone knows this guy, and this is the best way to catch him.

...

Shortly after I finish the press conference, Emily walks into the conference room where I'm going through the autopsy report of our latest victim.

"Hey Jen, I think you deserve a short break," she says, sliding a bowl of ice cream to me. I raise my eyebrows at her, and she laughs. "I hope you like mint chocolate chip."

"I definitely do! Thank you, Em," I touch her hand for a moment before grabbing my spoon. "Where did this come from?"

"A little cafe near here called Milky Moos."

"That's cute, and the ice cream is amazing!" I take another bite and push away the papers in front of me for a few minutes.

"I really hope we can go get those drinks later this week. I need to unwind," Emily sighs.

"I vote we go as soon as the jet lands back in DC. I'm sure Penelope won't be opposed. Normally I'd want to go straight home and try to plan for a different day, but we've been getting an insane amount of cases lately. Carpe diem, right?" I take the last bite of my ice cream and resume my perusing of the report.

"Did the victim have the same puncture wound in her neck?" Emily asks, standing up and throwing away our trash.

"Yeah. Strangulation, puncture wound, and a clean tox screen just like the others. We need to catch this guy soon. He's really escalating. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes another victim in the next two days," I respond, running my fingers through my hair.

"We'll get him, okay? I'm sure Garcia can help us narrow our search a little bit—"

Emily is cut off when Hotch busts through the door.

"Hotch, what happened?" I ask, standing.

"A seventeen-year old girl was just reported missing. She's a duel enrollment student at the community college. She has English there in the morning, but she never showed up for her next class day at the high school. That's the third victim in the past 48 hours. We don't have a lot of time to find her if she's still alive. JJ, call Garcia."