In The Light

Bless Your Heart (Derogatory)

One of these days, Aaron would stop being surprised when Tor came up with some hair-brained scheme that was almost impossible to explain to anyone who was not used to her antics. His jaw would not drop when she casually said some idea so unexpected that not even a seasoned team of profilers could predict it. His mind would not race through the possible explanations for why she thought such an idea would work. His head would not ache as he attempted to keep up with her methodology, which was half behavioral science theory and half counterintuitive instincts. One of these days, he would understand what the hell she was talking about.

But today was not that day.

"You want to use scents to get the suspect to confess?" he repeated, fighting to keep the incredulity out of his voice. Tor looked up at him with an endearingly deep frown and nodded.

He sighed heavily and pinched his brow, hoping to stave off his migraine long enough to understand what she was trying to accomplish. They had been in the field for twenty-four hours and gotten sleep during none of them. A serial killer had been prowling the beachside vacation town of Cape May for months, killing locals in the winter and spring before taking out tourists during the summer. The threat to the town's most profitable industry had been enough to get the mayor to approve thousands of hours of overtime to catch the bastard. And it had partially paid off. The police had a suspect with a mountain of circumstantial evidence against him, but it didn't take a former prosecutor to know that it was not enough to convict.

The BAU had been called in to run the interrogation, with no success. They had half their time left before the suspect had to be released. And while the bastard was dozing in his chair despite being handcuffed to the table, they were spinning their wheels trying to think of some way to get him to confess. Which was where Tor's special brand of insanity came in.

"We've profiled that the killer is motivated by some sort of trauma that he suffered during the vacation season," she reminded him, her accent thickening as her passion took over. "And Joseph Cratchet was in a terrible boating accident when he was seventeen that was caused by some drunk spring breakers. He hates all things tourist, so he targeted the bed and breakfast owner, the travel agent, the motorboat rental salesman, the advertisement firm manager-" she listed, pointing to the wall covered in pictures of victims. "All of these poor folks were somehow connected to the tourist industry before he moved on to the people he truly hated: the tourists themselves."

"We know all this," a local cop interjected, his impatience as clear as his dislike of the Feds coming in to take the glory of the conviction.

Tor did not so much as glance at him as she continued, "If we want to make him show his true colors, we need to trigger his hatred. Studies have found that scents can be a powerful reminder of our past. So if we can remind him of that boating accident, maybe we can get him to say something he doesn't mean to let slip."

The cop loudly scoffed. Tor's lip twitched in a stifled snarl, but she held it back with admirable self-control. Aaron had much less restraint and clenched his fists at his side. He could see the rest of the BAU shifting their weight in his periphery, though whether it was in reaction to the cop's rudeness or Aaron's rapidly shortening fuse, he was not sure. Either way, he knew he needed to get this conversation to end quickly.

"How do you suggest we do that?" he asked Tor, keeping his voice level. Her eyes darted to his fist before going back to his face. She exhaled sharply and straightened her shoulders.

"There's an HVAC vent in the interrogation room," she explained. "If we put the items with the scent in the vents connected to the room, the air will blow it right at him."

"So you want to make our entire station smell like a boating accident?" another cop exclaimed.

"Would you rather let a serial killer go free because you can't breathe through your mouth for an hour?" Emily demanded loudly. Aaron stifled a wince at her sharp tone. As much as he wanted to chew out the cops for their blatant disrespect, he knew it would only make matters worse. They were stuck in this town until they got enough evidence to convict. Getting bogged down in a fight with the locals would only add time to their stay. And while he wanted to berate the officers, he wanted to get Tor out of the station even more.