Cowboy Like Me || Aaron Hotchner

Chapter 4 - Jules

Best regards,
Aaron Hotchner
Supervisory Special Agent
Behavioral Analysis Unit
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Thank you so much for pointing out all the obvious facts, Agent Hotchner. Your email was a complete waste of my time. This is exactly what I needed to read after the family cookout I attended yesterday.

"Fucking bureaucrats..." I curse under my breath as I shut the screen of my laptop closed.

To be completely honest, he did give me a few good pointers at the one paragraph where he brought psychological facts into the case, but other than that he simply repeated what I had written in my reports. I bet he didn't even look at the case for more than an hour. I must have been an inconvenience in his boring day of sitting around in his office and acting like he is working.

Unlike Agent Hotchner, I have to do actual work. And like he mentioned in his email, I found a person that is connected to the first and the second victim and I have him in an interrogation room since right now. David Ruiz is Michael Ruiz's brother, and according to a very accurate source -gossip Millie- David used to date Sarah Thompson around the time of her murder 7 years ago. Those connections explain how he could have gotten in the two victims houses without signs of forced entry, but had to find a way in for the third.

After some digging into David Ruiz, we discovered that he is suffering from bipolar disorder. He was diagnosed 5 years ago, 2 years after the first murder. I talked with Dr. Clark, his doctor, and she gave me a very good understanding of the severity of his situation. Apparently, David has been on and off his meds since last year because they are trying some different prescriptions. And the timing where Dr. Clark changed his medication corresponds with the time frames of the two latest murders.

So, I grab his file and head to the interrogation.

"Sheriff Knox! Sheriff!" Deputy Wells calls running to me right before I enter the interrogation room

"What's up?" I ask

"There has been another murder" she reveals

"When?"

"Last night, or this morning. The ME is not there yet"

"Fuck..." I run a hand over my face.

David Ruiz has been here all night, so that is a pretty solid alibi for this murder, at least.

"Text me the address of the crime scene. Take Gomez with you and get Mr. Ruiz home. Keep a close eye on him 24/7. I will send the next shift to relieve you at 7pm" I say

"Yes, Sheriff" she replies and goes to fulfill my order.

I go the other way, leaving David's file behind and I head to the crime scene. The first murder was 7 years ago, the second 14 months ago, the third one happened last week and now this... The cooling off period certainly jumped.

I am sure Agent Jerk will not be pleased when he hears about this. He will probably be pissed at the fact that it will make him get off his chair and do some actual work. I will call him later to inform him, I want to listen to his dissapointed voice while I act all nice to him. Usually, that makes them less likely to make up an excuse and avoid doing what I ask. I love pissing men off.

I arrive at the crime scene at the same time as the medical examiner. The CSI's are already taking photos of everything.

The newest victim is a woman. Her name is Emily Harris. She is a college student. She was found stabbed in an alley less than an hour ago. Her friends report that she was clubbing with them last night, and the last time they saw her she was getting an Uber home. They didn't get the license plates or get a good look at the driver, but where able to describe the model of the car to us.

"Need a hand there, Sheriff?" Dr. Monet asks

"Yeah, thanks" I accept the pair of gloves she offers me.

I help the ME turn Harris' body over to her back. She has multiple stab wounds on her torso and her clothes are soaked in blood. Once again, the MO does not match with the pervious murders. Maybe inconsistency is his MO.

I check her limbs and sure enough I find a new carving on the palm of her hand. This time it is the female symbol; circle above a cross. I really can't understand how the gender symbols are relevant to the other two. What are you trying to tell us, man?

I stand up straight with a long sigh.

"I will send you the autopsy report as soon as possible" Dr. Monet reassures me

"Thank you. I will be at my office"

"Are you going to call the G-men down here?" she wonders

"I have to now. And I dare him to brush me off again" I state causing her to chuckle.

I return to my office and make up the new case file quickly. I send it over to Agent Jerk immediately. I give him an hour. And once his time is up, I call him; He really shouldn't have shared with me his contact information if he didn't want to be bothered.

"Hotchner" he answers

"Good evening, Agent. This is Sheriff Jules Knox from Rusk, Texas. I am calling you to confirm that you received the new files I shared with you regarding the investigation on the series of homocides in the Rusk" I keep my tone as polite as possible

"I received it but I haven't had time to look into it yet. I will contact you when--"

"There has been a fourth murder, which is very concerning since the cooling off period drastically decreased from a year to a week" I inform him

"Does the body has similar markings?"

"Yes, I wouldn't contact you otherwise" I roll my eyes

"Have you read the notes I've sent you last night?"

"Of course, first thing this morning"

"Any suspects so far?"

"I did have a suspect last night before receiving your notes" I mention, "But he has been under surveillance all night so he couldn't have committed this murder".

I hear his sigh as he takes a second to think. "Me and my team will look over the case files, including the new updates, and we will be in Rusk tomorrow morning" he says

"Alright. I will be expecting you at the Sheriff's Department" I smirk to myself

"We'll be in contact" he says and hangs up.

Knox 1 - Hotchner 0.