𝙰𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝙾𝚍𝚍𝚜 | 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚍

The Wondrous Beach

'𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 '𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'.'

————-««»»————

So much for having a simple case, Aitana thought as she stepped onto the sandy beach. The wind was particularly strong which made it hard to keep one's hair out of the face. And for this case, they needed to have keen eyes. It wasn't every day that dozens of human remains were dumped out from the ocean pumps.

Aitana headed for the set up the local precinct had placed a short distance from the shoreline. She had done her due diligence with the media and found that this was one case she wouldn't be able to push them away from. The beach was big and reporters were relentless.

"They won't be leaving," she told Hotch on their way to meet the main detective on the case. Already there were several news reporters lining up outside the cautionary tape. She was sure at least one of them would sneak in sooner or later.

"It's fine for now," he told her. He was aware that it being her first case back she was doing everything to be one step ahead of the others, basically exerting herself more than she should. Her evaluation was up soon too, as well as a pending talk about her status at the BAU. She had every reason to take things one step extra.

"Agent Hotchner," the main detective greeted first when the pair arrived, "I'm assuming Agent Serrano?"

Aitana nodded. "We spoke on the phone. Detective Foreman?"

"Yes ma'am. Call me JT. Not the most cushy arrangement," he made a feature to their set up, "But it'll keep your team close to the crime scene for now."

"Well, thank you for setting it up," Hotch said. "This will help us preserve what we can. Excuse us." He walked away with Aitana.

"Has Garcia found any potential leads on who we found so far?" she asked curiously.

"Cold leads but they might not be that if we keep studying the remains," Hotch said, stopping by another tent where Spencer was currently examining the pieces of bones.

"You know, based on the parasites on the most recent kill, the unsub killed as recently as a month ago, which means he's still active," he told the pair as soon as he felt them coming in.

Aitana blinked at his quick-pace. "How did you establish a timeline so quickly?"

"By reverse engineering mother nature. Each year, sand and sediment cover up the remains, creating layers on the ocean floor. The deeper the pump dug, the older the remains. Nine victims in 9 years means that he's in control of his urges."

"Any sense of the victimology?" asked Hotch. He and Aitana gazed over the different bones. Some definitely appeared older than others, some even grimy.

"Only that he likes variety. Pelvic bone width indicates that he kills both men and women, and skull structure says he crosses racial lines as well."

"Agent Hotchner, excuse me?" Foreman peered into the tent. "We found 3 more remains."

That would make the count go up to 15 at least. Aitana lowered her gaze to the bones on the tables. "If he's been dumping this long, it's not just out of convenience," she murmured. The mere conformation of her words laid with the bones themselves. "There's got to be an emotional tie as well."