Case by Case

Narrowing the profile

Bringing all the information back into the Chicago field office, we started to narrow down the suspect pool.

"Cataloged footprints at the dumpsite allow for the person to be a male who is easily 6 foot 3 inches." Morgan says in a matter of fact tone.

"That's good. Now we just need to find out where he finds his victims" Hotch says looking down at the victims photos sprawled across the stained wooden table in the conference room.

"It is likely that he's a loner, a secluded house, that's how he is able to spend so much time with them before he dumps them." Emily gives her theory as confidently as she can, but they are only theories and I had a different one.

"So he stalks them, finds out where they live, their patterns and then what? Kidnaps them and tortures them for 7 days? No disrespect Agent Prentiss, but this un-sub seems to be doing a lot more than just sitting around waiting for people to come up to his front door step, he's got to be active in the community" I look around the room, I see faces of agreement and faces of negativity, mainly from Prentiss. Did I over step my boundaries?

JJ's phone rings as we all continue to work on the victim's locations, but the lines on JJ's forehead tell me that she just got some really bad news.

"Guys- Uh, local campers just found another body in the same woodland area, they believe it to be the fourth victim that went missing in the last 5 days"

"Okay, Rossi, Reid and Alison head to the crime scene and the rest of us will work on the suspect list" I nod in command and get up from my warm seat and follow the other two out to the SUV's.

I sat quietly in the front passenger seat, something just keeps bothering me about this case, but I can't quite pin point what exactly it is.

I flick through my phone, as I try and remember why this case seems so familiar. Rossi and Reid are throwing theories around, but I cant hear them, my mind keeps zoning in and out of their conversation.

"Alison, what do you think?" Reid taps me on the shoulder after they call my name for the third time.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't hear a thing about what you said" I say flinching from his touch and he immediately retracts his soft hand on my shoulder.

"Uh," Rossi hesitates "we just were wondering what you were thinking of the case, if you had any ideas" Rossi asks as he has is eyes focused on the road ahead. I shake my head as subtly as I can, because I still cant remember!

~

Back at the field office

"Baby girl, I need you do a background search for me on the three victims that we have and find me any sort of connections" Morgan says into the phone that he put on speaker.

"Done and done, Payton Ellington and Ashley Camberwell both frequently visited the coffee shop called "Coffeeteria" a week before there bodies were found. It was their last known transaction"

"Well Payton Ellington worked there so that's the likely reason as to why she was there" Hotch explains.

"That doesn't make sense, how did he find his third victim then? At random?" Emily says with her hands running through her hair in desperation.

"Nothing that this Unsub does is random, we just have to figure out the pattern, lets start at that coffee shop, JJ the press is going to be all over this now-" Hotch says, gathering a case file.

"I'm on it" she says picking up her mobile phone pressing speed dial

"Thanks baby girl" Morgan says about to press end on the machine.

"Morgan wait -" Garcia starts

"What is it?" Morgan says concerned.

"Well when you asked about Molly Hansen's connection to the other girls, as it turns out, they all has the same health care practitioner"

"When was their last visit?" Curiosity filled the room.

"It's not listed but it does give me a name and a hospital of the man that they all saw, generally speaking" her voice was fast which made the words in her voice somewhat slur together.

"Send me that address, Garcia"

"Oh, honey, if you check you phone, you would have seen that I sent it 60 seconds ago" you could hear the smile in her voice.

"I love you, Garcia" Morgan says as he hangs up the phone

~

At the crime scene: 3:46pm (the edge of the camper trail)

"First, why dump the body where it is likely going to get spotted easily?" I ask in the most obnoxious tone.

"Maybe he's regressing?" Reid steps in with his hands in his pockets, as always.

"I doubt that, a man that killed 4 women and now suddenly realizes that he needs to change is M.O? Hardly seems likely," I try to reason.

"Well, actually the change in a killers M.O can be from a variety of different reasons, due to panic or even sometimes due to desperation. In fact panic due to being afraid to get caught causes the highest rate of mistakes in -" Reid starts to explain before Rossi cuts him off "Reid - please. We know that he likes to hunt girls around their early to mid twenties, but why? What indicates why?"

I look around, the leaves that are gathered around where the body was found. "He tried to cover her up." I say, squatting down to get a closer look. I pull out a glove from my back pocket, putting it on I then start to shuffle around the browning leaves until I spot something. I reach in and pull out a white petal.

"A petal?" Reid asks in complete confusion.

"Not just any petal, a white rose petal - Payton's mom had said that there were flowers left on her daughters car every morning for a week, then stopped after she went missing." I say examining the petal.

"So he's telling them that he is after them - if we hold press conference, tell the public to watch out for strange men with a flower fetish, it may throw him off his game. Pushing him to make a mistake." Rossi says in the very way he explains things, very clear and concise.

"If he sticks to his routine, he's already got another woman and if we hold a conference, it may push him to kill faster..." I say drifting off as something triggers a memory.

**

Hand in hand, a cold autumn breeze, laughter walking along the trails.

"Daddy, come on!" a child's laughter follows, giggling.

"Slow down Alison" a man's panting breath as he chases the 4 year old in a pastel pink dress and white boots.

Crying, "Ali, are you okay? Answer me please!" more giggling,

"I'm just kidding Daddy" Smiling up at a man she admired.

"Oh you cheeky monster!" Pulling the child up, holding her hand. He reaches into the bush as they walked, giving her a small white rose, "For you princess Alison of Chicago" A man's laughter bouncing off the trees and a child's quiet giggle.

**

A tear lands on the hand that wasn't holding the petal, quickly wiping it away before Rossi and Reid notice, but Reid makes his way over to me, leaving Rossi to talk to a park ranger.

"Is everything okay?" Reid tilts his head to get a better look at my face as I stand up.

"Yeah, everything is fine, lets just get back to the others" I say hastily as I retreat back to the SUV.