Criminal Minds: Danika

Cat

Hotch's POV:
My picture is found on the latest victim with her blood on it as well. This is The Replicator. I catch the Detective glancing over at Danika every once in a while, as if he's trying to gage if she was telling the truth or not.

"Frank killed over 100 people by taking them apart limb by limb, making them watch in a mirror above them while they were still alive. He could've kept going without getting caught if he didn't keep going through the same small town every few years to visit the first victim he was unable to kill. Danika was tasked with helping the sheriff make sure that victim was safe from him when she was taken. We found her in his homemade kill room in a trailer along with three other dismembered bodies." I explain to him and he gulps.

"How do you survive something like that and...get past it?" He asks.

"I'm not sure she ever really did. She puts up a good front, but if I'm being honest, I'm waiting for her to finally snap and explode." I confess my thoughts.

The truth is, I know Gideon helped her a lot with it, but I can't help but wonder if there's still residue left over from the whole ordeal. From all of them. Looking at her, you would never guess she'd been through such awful things, it's just who she is, she's good at moving forward, or at least pretending to and making everyone believing that she has. But there has to be a breaking point and it feels like I've been waiting forever for her to finally let go.

"It's impossible to tell when or where this photo was taken. It's shot on a telephoto lens and the frame's too small." Reid explains, bringing my mind back to the current situation.

"Well, his message is getting more clear. He's not just taunting us, now he's targeting us."

"He must've spent years to come up with a plan as intricate as this."

"This is his way of torturing us. This isn't just about anger. This is about revenge." Morgan adds.

"For what?" Blake asks.

"If we can figure that out, That's how We'll catch him." Reid adds.

"First it was Reid at the phone booth, me with the flowers and now Hotch. Which of us is next?" JJ asks.

"Who fucking cares?" Danika scoffs.

"What?" Blake asks.

"Come on, this is fucking pathetic. A photo on a body, flowers and a word?" Danika scoffs.

"Excuse me? He has photos of us, he's following us, how is that pathetic?" Blake asks.

"Seriously? It's what a bitter boyfriend does to his ex trying to scare her. The bodies aren't anyone we know, so it's not like it's that personal to use. Plus, there's no originality in the killings. He can't even find his own style, so he copies someone we already caught? Like, come on! At least pick someone that got through our fingers and then try to make your own signature to make sure we know it's someone else instead of the original killer." Danika scoffs.

"How could you say that? Innocent people are being murdered!" Blake argues.

"Innocent people are murdered everyday the difference is, you're letting these get to you because you think that somehow it's your fault their dead. Which is exactly what he wants." Danika answers and I furrow my brows sort of understanding her point.

I head to the autopsy for the latest victim with Rossi.

"Am I really that old?" Rossi asks.

"What?" I question.

"Danika said I've been doing this longer than Detective Rizzo has been alive." He recounts and I scoff.

"She was trying to make a point about us knowing what we're doing and that's what you got out of it?" I chuckle.