Profile Me

What are friends for?

       August winds tore through a small town just off the outskirts of Chicago. Dark, looming cloudy skies threatened an intense pouring as Morgan, Rossi, and JJ drove onto an empty lot. The fifth dead body in a string of murders was displayed leaning against an abandoned car; the signature connecting each crime appeared as a red scarf slung across each corpse's torso.

       The police station received an anonymous call from a pay phone a block away from the scene, leaving Garcia to try and find any security tapes that may have caught the concerned citizen. Emily was still at the ME's waiting on the final report for victim 4, as Reid was trying to figure out the unsub's comfort zone. Each body was dumped 5 miles from where they were taken, but in all separate directions. Victim 1 was a 23 year old, caucasian female dumped in the woods north from where she was taken. Victim 2 was a 67 year old black male dumped south outside of a nightclub. Victim 3 was a 12 year old Hispanic girl placed on a park swing west from her abduction site and victim 4 was a 32 year old male dumped east at the edge of a lake. This unsub crossed both race and age barriers, seemingly without a preference. 

      JJ was the first out of the van, she noticed the  similarities to one of their own immediately.  The woman lying against the car had shoulder length brown hair, outgrown bangs pushed to the sides, fingernails completely chewed off, and though her stare was blank, even her dark brown eyes were piercing. Just like Emily. JJ took a deep breath and knew she had to remain professional, for her own sake at least. Morgan took note of JJ's sudden odd behavior, but pushed it aside to ask her later.

      "So what do we know?" Morgan asked the group instead.

      "Well I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is the usual 5 miles from her abduction site." Rossi added, also taking note of how JJ could not look at the body for more than a few seconds at a time.

      "Her fingernails have been chewed down. That's either out of habit, stress from the kidnapping itself, or a forensic countermeasure." JJ shared after a moment.

      "Her clothes are still nice, no stains or cuts to the fabric. Similar to the other victims, we do not know how they died--" Morgan began thinking out loud.

      "Or where they were kept--" Rossi piped in.

      "Well lets call the station to make sure the scene gets processed and check in with the others, see if Reid made any connections."

      JJ stared at the body, once she was talking to Morgan and Rossi, the face on victim 5 seemed to morph into that of one close friend she never wanted to find on their memorial wall at the FBI headquarters.  "JJ, hey Jayje? Jennifer? Hey JJ!" Morgan snapped his fingers in front of her face, trying to coax her out of her trance. "Ready to go?"

      "Yeah, yeah. Just lost in thought" she replied absentmindedly, following the men back into the black SVU.

------

      Everyone was gathered around the whiteboard in the back of the conference room. Reid had managed to limit the comfort zone to a 15 mile radius around the focal point in the town square, being the only place all the victims had crossed. As Reid rambled on about his process, Emily sat at the other end of the table, farthest from everyone. She kept glancing at the crime scene pics of victim 5, suddenly feeling uneasy about the entire situation.

       Hotch's phone came to life and he answered with the normal "Hotchner" before leaving the room. JJ glanced behind toward the female brunette, immediately sensing her anxiety. Her eyes kept darting and the obvious distance placed between her and the group were both easily picked up signs. JJ slowly rolled over on her chair and calmly placed her hands on Emily's thighs, forcing Em to look into her eyes.  

      "What's going on?" JJ questioned

      "Nothing, Jayje." Emily's eyes stared straight into JJ's, trying to convey the truth. She forced her hands to stop shaking and held JJ's in her own as proof. "I'm fine. What is going on with you is the question, Morgan mentioned you were not on your A game at the last crime scene."

      "Oh---you can't turn this around on me missy! I was perfectly fine...and I am so going to hurt Morgan later." JJ quickly snapped back, throwing an impressive glare in Morgan's direction.

      "Sure you will, and even if you did, I'm sure his 'baby girl' would completely ruin your credit score." Emily laughed in response.

      "Its a good thing Garcia loves me more then..." JJ teased back, snapping  into "work mode" once Hotch reentered the room.

      "Alright guys, we aren't going to get any further tonight. Lets all head to the hotel and meet back here tomorrow 7 am sharp. Sadly there are only 5 rooms available, so two of us are going to have to pair up." Hotch announced.

      "I am not sleeping with Reid!" Morgan shouted instantly, calling dibs on a single room.

      "Em and I can share, if that's ok with you?" JJ volunteered, asking Emily as an afterthought.

      "Yeah, that's fine." Emily silently thanked Garcia and heaven above for not letting her be alone tonight. Both girls were relieved on the inside, as there was something about this case that was getting to them, though they didn't know what.