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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE HARDER THE FALL ( aka 04x05: catching out )
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THE NEXT MORNING, HOTCH decided they were ready to give the profile and had everyone on the team who was present in Sacramento arrive bright and early at the station. There, Dallis officially met Detective Liman, who was a quiet man focused on the importance of the job at hand. He had his officers sit and listen attentively to their profile, then asked as many questions as he saw fit so they'd head back into the field prepared.
Once they'd wrapped up, Dallis stopped to make herself a tea before joining Reid and JJ in the office space they'd been allocated. They had several files laid out in front of them but JJ was busy laughing as she held Reid's hand against her stomach. Reid's face was twisted with discomfort as if he was the one being continuously kicked by a growing human.
"Does that freak you out?" he asked, oblivious to Dallis as she leaned against the door frame watching them.
JJ caught her eye and smiled. "No, not at all. Why, does it freak you out?"
"Very much so."
Dallis couldn't hold back a snort. "Oh, Reid, I can't wait for the day you have a baby of your own."
"Do you want to feel, Dallis?" JJ asked her.
She gasped and crossed the room in seconds. "Do I want to feel? What kind of question is that, Jayj?" Setting aside her tea, she kneeled down beside JJ's chair, allowing the blonde woman to position Dallis' hand at the base of her swollen stomach. There, beneath the skin was the rapid flutter of tiny feet. "Oh! Reminds me of butterfly wings."
"I wish it felt like a butterfly," JJ sighed, releasing Dallis' hand but Dallis was hesitant to move, fascinated by the feeling. Unlike Reid, she thought it was kind of beautiful. "It's like my insides are being rearranged and not in a good way."
Dallis' shoulders shook with the force of her laughter. She nearly tripped backward when Reid tilted his head and asked, "There's a good way to have your insides rearranged?"
JJ's cheeks flushed from just the thought of explaining it to him. Thankfully, she was saved by the bell (quite literally) when their computer pinged with a livestream notification from Garcia.
"Hello, my loves," she waved a ring-clad hand at the camera. "Bad news alert."
"Hold that thought," Dallis said, standing up and crossing the room to the open door. Standing off to the side was Hotch, Emily and Liman. "Hey, Garcia's got something for us."
"I had Garcia look into all unsolved burglary-homicides in Central California paying particular attention to small farm towns," Reid began once everyone was present.
"I found his DNA in three more cities."
Liman's eyes widened. "How did I miss this?"
"Small towns don't always link their evidence up to state or national DNA databases," Reid explained, making him hang his head and sigh.
