heart like yours (jennifer jareau)

2. nineteen

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"sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. sometimes we cry with everything except tears." - gregory david roberts

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Delilah, Emily, Spencer, Hotch, Derek and JJ sat in the conference room, JJ holding the remote for the tv for their new case briefing.

"1996. The ribcage of a male was found in the desert rose national park. It was never identified. This morning, the remains of two victims were found in almost exactly the same area," JJ said.

"Well, one year later is cause for concern, but 10 years?" Emily said. "That could be a coincidence."

"It would be... If the unidentified male wasn't missing a right rib bone," Spencer said, standing up to walk around the room.

"And the torso found this morning is missing exactly the same bone," Hotch said.

"Both of them seem to be surgically removed, and the advanced rate of decomposition on the male means that he died far before the female," Spencer said.

"Oh, Katherine Hale. They found a bracelet on her wrist. She ran away about two weeks ago from her small Colorado town," JJ said.

"Unsub's crossing state lines. He's mobile," Hotch said.

The door opened, Gideon walking in with a box and dumping it on the table.

"If the remains are related to the same killer, where's he been for 10 years?" Derek asked.

"Killing," Gideon said, starting to throw the files out of the box on the table. "Unsolved case files going back 30 years. Every case, the victimology is the same. The unwanted. This box is just the tip of the iceberg. 13 cases spanning 30 years. Same MO. Right rib bone is missing. It's him, Hotch. It's the same killer," Gideon said.

"All the remains were dumped in remote areas and always near interstate 80. And up till now, no remains this intact or this close to the actual time of kill have been found," Hotch said.

"Never two victims dumped at the same time in the same place," Gideon said.

"All of these kills the work of just one man?" Emily asked.

"The most prolific serial killer ever," Gideon said grimly.

"Fun," Delilah whispered. "So much fun."

"Delilah, I want you to look at the corpses with me. Your sister's a surgeon. You know anatomy," Gideon said.

"Yeah, sure. Bring some bleach for my eyes," Delilah said, standing up from the table with a sigh. "Y'know, if the arteries are cauterised, they were alive when he was doing this to them," she said.

"That's... disturbing," JJ whispered.

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Delilah, Hotch, Gideon and Derek walked through the hills of Nevada, looking around at the closed off scene where the torso was found. Several officers were stood by, one of them hunched over.

"You seen enough, kid? Go on, get out of here," a man told the boy. He nodded, staggering off. "George! They're here," an officer said.

"That deputy drove 60 miles just to barf. No good reason to be here, not even from this department. What is it about death that fascinates us?" the woman said as the team walked over to the tent, Gideon continuing to walk on to look closer at the torso.