persephone de luca joins the bau,
solving cases by understanding
the unsubs, struggling with her
past and her future in the process.
━━━━ a criminal minds anthology ft. persephone de luca.
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HELLRAISER. && part five. the case of the starman, waiting in the sky, finale
I DID NOT SLEEP WELL the previous night, and when I awoke, having tossed and turned in the early hours of the morning, I realized I was late. Haphazardly, I pulled on my suit pants, a black singlet and, as I slipped on my boots, I buttoned a shirt that I began to tuck in. I had no time to look organized yet fashionably haunted, so I resigned to look present. As I opened the door, Hotch stood outside, waiting for me with a stern gaze.
"I waited for you."
I tilted my chin. "Obviously." He did not seem pleased with my response, so I added a hasty, "I have the preliminary profile for the client."
That worked. "Tell me as we drive."
"Okay, so obviously the client isn't strong enough to kill a man like Moretti or Cox, so he's physically weaker, he's detached from the crime because he seeks to enter the industry after because removing the politician and gang leader leaves a power vacuum." I began to talk, or ramble, more accurately.
Hotch's eyes did not stray from the road, but he nodded.
"The client is organized, wealthy enough to afford a contract killer and meticulous. Normally, contract killers have a signature but no MO, they can change depending on the wishes of the client. But, and this is if I'm right about our Unsub, the client requested for the attack to be like an execution."
Hotch's eyebrows furrowed. "The client knows the victim personally?"
I nodded. "Normally they do, but this implies he knows them personally and dislikes them enough to have them killed like they were prisoners. They were shot like how traitors of war would be killed."
"So you think that the client sees the victims as traitors?" Hotch asked, eyebrow raised.
"I do. That means that it's most likely someone who works with the victims. I think the attack on Sullivan is connected, not a copycat killer in the same sense, but someone who wanted him to be the third victim."
Hotch nodded. "Alright, well done. Also, De Luca, I wanted to apol────"
"No worries, I deserved it." I interrupted quickly. "It's like water off a duck's back."
The car stopped, and I got out as swiftly as possible and into the police station. I skipped past the posters and desk, the water cooler and the bullpen. At first, I was driven by the need to get out of that conversation as quickly as possible, but then I stopped. I deserved it. He deserved it. I ran the edge of my tongue across my teeth. He deserved it. Like Ryde wasn't talking about Sullivan's career at all. I thought back to the moment I talked to Ryde, the way he self-soothed, the way he was so certain that his best friend was dead. His quivering tone but lack of tears. Ryde was telling himself that Sullivan deserved to be beaten, he was affirming his own violence to himself.
