Sofia's breakdown on her birthday last week broke my heart. It was the first time I saw her so emotional and open. She never got a cake, she wasn't allowed to cry, she never heard the words 'I love you'. For a moment, it was like I was holding little Sofia; so hurt and neglected. And those realizations really hit me like a ton of bricks.
I felt so happy watching her smile after she blew out her own candles. I couldn't stop smiling while I watched her eat her cake and enjoy it. We didn't even have sex last night. She fell asleep in my arm. So I held her and made sure she feels safe all night long.
I hated that I had to leave the next morning. I hate every morning that I have to say goodbye to her in order to go come back to all this madness.
Due to incoming cases, we haven't had time to focus on the Black Widow until today. Unfortunately, the phone number we got from the women that hired the Widow belonged to a burner that has been out of service since the night of the murder. The last message was a picture of the victim after death and before he was cleared of evidence. The bank account was a dead end as well, since it belonged to a dead person and closed right after the money withdrawal.
What we do know is that the Widow took 50k dollars for the murder; 25k before the event and 25k after proof, both payments sent into the dead persons account which she closed afterwards.
"Garcia..." I call as I enter her office, "What if we look at the paper trail from the opposite direction?" I suggest
"We could try" she answers
"Ok. Cast a wide net over the past 10 years. Look for bank accounts that reveived at least one transfer of exactly 25.000 dollars" I speak
"Well, I already did that. The numbers are astronomical" she says
"Eliminate currently open accounts and businesses"
"Oh, yeah, right" she replies as she types. "I have a little over 200 across the country"
"Pull up the names and the date of those transfers"
"Done"
"By those names, keep only the dead ones"
"36"
"How many of those have two 25k transfers within a year?" I ask
"23...".
Missing 4, but it's good enough for now.
"Can you see which accounts transfered in the money?" I ask
"Faster than Reid can read a police report..." she says as she types. "The list of names, locations and dates has just been sent to your tablet"
"Garcia, you're amazing"
"So are you, sir".
I print the list and call everyone else in the conference room. "These are 23 potential clients of the Widow; holders of bank accounts who sent two payments of 25k to dead people's accounts right before they closed. All dates corespond with the 23 latest victims during the last 10 years. We haven't found payments for the first 4 murders and I doubt there are any, I'm assuming they were the Widow's personal targets and practice" I explain
"Could be the people who hurt her and caused her to start killing" Prentiss suggests
"Who was the very first?" Morgan asks
"Matthew Wade" Dave answers, and my heart skips a beat when Sofia comes to my mind.
"Based on the reasoning behind Guller's assassination and her anger, I am pretty sure she's been a victim of those behaviors" JJ suggests.
"Exactly. However, only 5 of the victims had records. So, please, split up the list and come in contact with the clients. Make sure you don't sound threatening and remind them they will not be arrested if they give us information on the victims' behaviors and their own communication with the Widow" I say.
"Sir..." Garcia calls as she comes in the conference room carrying her laptop, "I was digging a little deeper into the financials of the dead accounts and one of them, Olivia Foley, has been renting a storage unit in DC for the past 6 years. The unit is being paid rent in time in cash every month, but she has been dead for 8 years and she lived all her life in Ohio" she explains
"Has Olivia Foley every booked a flight in the last 8 years she's been dead?" Reid wonders
After some more typing, she answers "Atlanta, 5 years ago" she answers
"Jeremy Nielson" Dave connects the victim
"Did she have a return ticket?" I ask
"No. Just one flight" she answers
Of course she uses different IDs.
"Morgan, JJ and I will check-out the storage unit. The rest of you go through that list of names and bank accounts" I ask
"Yes, sir" I hear we head out.
The three of us drive to the location of the storage unit and, to be honest, I'm ready for this case to be over. I'm tired. For the two and a half months, every lead we had got us to a dead end and I'm really fed up.
With vests on and guns in hand, we approach the building. The desk manager leads us to Olivia Foley's unit and states that he isn't paying enough attention to give us a description; says he is not a security guard and prefers to be on his phone during his shifts unless someone asks for him.
The door of the unit looks clean and heavy duty the lockpads don't have dust on them. She's been here recently. We ask for tools and break 2 of those. The third lock is harder to undo. It's a touchpad by the side of the door and requires a code. There are no fingerprints on the screen or signs of what the code could be.
"Do you guys smell something burning?" JJ asks.
I touch the metal door and feel it's warmer than before. But it remains shut. Morgan runs into it and tries to break it down with his whole body but it doesn't move. We call for the fire department, but by the time they get here and manage to open that metal door, everything is already burned to charcoal.
I don't bother searching through the ashes. I go back in the car and slam the door. Of course she has destruction mechanisms set! She was probably notified as soon as we stepped in front of that fucking door.
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Mastermind || Aaron Hotchner
FanfictionA homicide in Louisiana makes the BAU revisit a series of old murders in the area that follow the same MO. And soon they discover that the case is much bigger than they originally thought. During the investigation, Agent Hotchner comes in contact wi...
