All These Scars... (A Criminal Minds fan-fiction)

Chapter Twelve

JJ's POV:
Digging into the victims' past was like looking for a tiny leaf in an entire forest. Finding where their paths crossed was always tough but when prostitutes and drug dealers try to stay under the radar, it made it a lot harder.
   But, after a long search and two cups of sweet coffee, Garcia and I finally found something and as soon as we did we contacted Hotch immediately.
   "Okay," Garcia started as Hotch walked into her den to see her findings, "all of the victims had barely a paper trail but after some hardcore digging through their blotchy history, we found where they all met at the same time a couple months ago." 
   "And where would that be?"
  "They met at Southeast Neighborhood Library where there was a release 'party' for the book Junior-G-Man was talking about: Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy."
   "And their paths never crossed anytime before or after the release. There were no records of the prostitute victims who went to the hospital because of an overdose of anything of the sort," I added.
   "Garcia, do you think Spencer was right about the book? Or is this just a coincidence?" Hotch asked as he furrowed his eyebrows. He hated when he was wrong.
   "I don't know... But if it is, this is one hell of a coincidence," Garcia announced hesitantly.
   "Aright," Aaron began, "I'm going to call Spencer and Blake to see if they've gotten anything on the new victim."
   There's another one?
   "Wait, there's another victim?"
   "Yeah. An unidentified drug dealer. Male..." He trailed off.
   "Okay, when you find out any new information just call me," I told him and walked to the bathroom after watching him walk back to his office without another word.
   As soon as I got into the bathroom I approached the sink and splashed my face with the cold water that I had cupped in my hands. I watched as the tan water went down the drain and looked up to see my bruises and tiredness making, yet, another appearance.
   I removed all of the makeup from my face, only to reapply a fresh layer moments after. The sight of my own pain made me remember just how sucky life could be. I lost my sister when I was young, and then my dad, my optimistic nature when I joined the BAU, my unborn child and then my husband. It was overwhelming because every time I lost someone they took a little piece of me with them.
   I was losing myself. My faith. Me.
  As soon as I refreshed myself and walked back to my office I was met shortly after by Garcia.
  "They identified our newest victim; Chad Wilcox J.r. He's a 19 year old drug dealer who lives about half a mile from Reid's apartment," she said innocently but I could tell she was getting tired of pulling up dead peoples' history.
   "Thanks, Penelope," I gave her a little smile and she returned the gesture before walking out.
   Coffee always gave a little pick-me-up feeling but after a while I would always crash.
   Hard.
 
   Spencer's POV:
  His eyes bore into mine and I found myself with tears welled in my eyes. He was too young. He was an amazing kid who just wanted to make a living to feed his two year old daughter. He was my friend.
   And he was my dealer.
   No other drug dealer offered Dilaudid within a twenty-mile radius of my apartment except for Chad. I needed to quit but I was having withdrawals already.
   But he was too young and brilliant. He had so much potential and could have made something of himself...but it was too late.
   "You know him?" Blake asked me as she leaned to my eye level. I had been observing the body for over three minutes without saying a word.
   "Um, no. He's just, uh, too young...for this," I trailed off and she gave me a look of agreement. 
   "I just got off the phone with Hotch. Turns out you may be right about the book," the older profiler told me.
    "How?"
   "All of the victims, with the exception of Chad, here, all met at a library a few miles away on the same day for the same reason. A release party for the book you mentioned. Every victim was very interested in Greece and Mythology, no doubt."
   "Maybe it's just a coinc-" I started to say but stopped myself when I noticed lettering etched into Chad's arm that stuck out from under the bloody tarp.
  "What is it?" Blake asked and I stepped closer to the body of my dead friend.
   The words read, "whoever kills enemies is pure."
   That's what I thought.
  "What is it?" Blake asked again as she knelt down closer to the body and traced my eyes to the wording. "Oh."
    "It's from page 229 of Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy. I was right, and even when I told Hotch the theory I knew I was going out on a limb." But, I mean, he asked for a theory and that's what he got. My somewhat educated guess. But I was right!
   "We need to get this information to Hotch," she told me and I agreed with her.
  
    At the BAU we all went into the conference room and spoke of our findings and conclusions.
   The Unsub was obviously a fan of mythology, the victims too but that's where the similarities virtually stopped between the two. The victims weren't necessarily strong but they would put up a fight. For the Unsub, they didn't because he killed them on the spot. Thus meaning the Unsub was smart and strong enough to kill a person with one blow to the head.
   We were ready to give our profile.
   We all gathered out into the Bull Pen along with the head detectives and sheriffs.
   "This Unsub, or unknown subject, is a fan of mythology and blows it way out of proportion or transforms it into something completely different. We believe the Unsub is a white male, in his late twenties to early thirties," Blake started. I watched as the group scribbled down notes and watched us intently.
   "And," said Rossi, "he would be too obsessed with Greek mythology that he wouldn't have time to go out and socialize, let alone maintain close relationships so we know he's single and has no children."
  JJ pitched in: "But, this doesn't mean he doesn't have a pet. He isn't a narcissist and is antisocial, but with the lack of communication and relationship he most likely would have a pet such as a dog. And because he has to over power everything, it's most likely that dog is either dead or extremely abused so look for cases of animal abuse reports that relate to the profile."
   Again, the group looked down at their little note pad and jotted some sloppy sentences.
   I decided to go ahead and get my part out there. "This Unsub has such an obsession with the book Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy that he has probably purchased more than one of the books, attended every book fair or signing within a twenty mile radius and most likely named his pet after one of the characters in the book. So look for name's of pets such as Apollo and Ion when researching surrounding animal abuse."
   "He is quick, organized and very sly. He will have a van, or truck to transport the bodies from the abduction sites, where he takes them and dump sites so look for strange vehicles, especially around alleys and bars. We need to catch this guy as soon as we can. Thank you for meeting with us," Hotch wrapped the whole profile up and we went about our business.
   Until something a little weird happened. Then again, anything considered weird to normal people is the norm for us. Unfortunately...
    "Hey Pretty Boy," Morgan grinned at me after the meeting. "Garcia said a note was sent here. Just. For. You," he teased and I gave him my boyish, awkward look like I always did.
   "Who's it from?" I asked.
  "You tell me." Wink.
  "Okay...I guess I'll go find out for myself." Another wink from Derek. That man has romance on the brain 99% of the time. At least I thought he was hinting towards romance. I wasn't very good at evaluating certain tones or gestures. Especially some sarcasm.
   I went into Garcia's den and she was there, she always was. I gave the door a knock even though it was open and she pivoted around on her chair to reveal her cleaning her glasses with a silky white cloth. 
   "Yes, Mr. Genius?" She asked and quickly put her flowery glasses on.
   "Derek said a note was delivered for me," I asked and she nodded toward her desk.
  "Right there, my lovely friend. Take it and be gone with yourself."
   I gave her a small smile, stuffed the note in my pocket to open later and headed out into the Bull Pen. I didn't want to distract myself with the note so I would read it later.
   All of us agents gathered around Hotch, awaited further instruction.
   "For now, we've done all we can. We've given the profile, warned the public further and can't gather any more information until another victim turns up. We're all exhausted, so I suggest you all head home and get a good nights rest. Meet back here at eight in the morning," Hotch announced to our little group and we all nodded in agreement.
   I could have used some rest even though I wasn't really tired.
  
   JJ's POV:
Again, the car ride home with Spence was mostly quiet, aspects of the case were mentioned some but other than that we barely spoke. I was exhausted even though we didn't work that much. I hadn't been sleeping well.
   I unlocked the house and was instantly greeted by Henry's babysitter. After giving her a thanks and some money she took off. The boxes of Will's belongings blocked the stairs a little bit and a pang of guilt hit me.
   I tossed the feeling out and header up to Henry's room to kiss him goodnight even though it was late and he would already be asleep. Or at least he should have been.
   I gently opened his door to see his golden locks covering most of his face and the peaceful rise of his chest as he breathed. So peaceful, beautiful.
   I walked back downstairs, grabbed a bottle of water, a chewy bar and told Spencer that I was going to take a shower and go to bed. And that he can get something to eat if he wanted.
   I walked up the stairs and into the bathroom that extended from our-my bedroom. After eating my snack in silent, I downed the bottle of water, locked the bedroom door and stripped off my clothes.
   The water felt magical. Usually showers woke me up, and that was why I took them in the morning, but for some reason the hot water relaxed my muscles and made me even more sleepy.
   I washed my face and body, and leaned my arm on the shower wall so the warm water would run down my head and back.
   I was left with just my thoughts and the feeling of the shower water streaming down my body.
   Was I wrong for kicking out Will so soon? Should I have given him another chance or tried to help him?
  I don't know...
  I looked over at Will's blue shampoo bottle and hesitantly grabbed it. I flipped open the top and squeezed it a little bit so I could smell it.
   That smell. Untouched. What I used to smell all of the time before it was replaced by the scent of alcohol and disappointment.
   I put the bottle back where it belonged.
  Once I dried myself off and wrapped my tired body in a towel, I brushed my teeth. I saw Will's toothbrush laying beside the sink and part of my wanted to just grip it in my hands for some reason, and the other part of me wanted to throw it out the window.
   I let it sit, didn't do either of those things.  He was sick, and I dealt with sick people almost everyday. But the difference was that I was never involved in their sick games, and with him I was. It bothered me way more.
   I went into my room and changed into my night clothes; sat on the bed and looked at Will's empty drawers.
   A knock on the door made me jolt and my heart pace quicken.
  "JJ?" Spence's voice filed my ears and I eased myself.
  "You can come in."
  The door slowly opened to reveal Spencer wearing red plaid pants and a regular T-shirt. 
  "Do you need something?" I asked and he shook his head as he took a seat on the bed a few feet beside me.
   "Just came to check on you." He glanced at the dresser with empty drawers sticking out of it. "You're thinking about Will," he trailed off and nodded his head.
   "All the time.."
  We sat in silence for a minute and Spencer being the awkward man he was hesitantly looked over at me and asked if I needed a hug.
   I couldn't help but laugh. He looked like a little kid asking me to be his girlfriend and hoping he wouldn't get cooties.
   "Sure Spence. I could use a hug." I smiled and wrapped my arm around his shoulder, he followed suit as I laid my head on his shoulder. He was a good friend. "Thanks."
   "It's what friends are for, you know? Giving out hugs and asking how you are."
  I nodded my head and slowly pulled away from him. "Do you think what I'm doing is wrong: kicking him out and all that?"
   "Well," he started, "yes and no, honestly. Yes because he just needs help, and no because he hurt you and Henry and doesn't deserve you guys. I think it's okay to kick him out for your and Henry's safety but you should have told someone about him. You could've told me..."
   "Thanks, Spence. And you know I couldn't tell."
   "Yeah. I do," he smiled a half smile and stood up to walk out but before he did I asked him how he was.
  "I'm good. Thanks for asking," he nodded and started to walk out again.
  "Spence. You swear there's nothing bothering you? You've been different lately."
   "No, JJ. I'm really okay."
  "Well...okay," I said, "So who was the note from?"
   "The what?" He gave me a quizzical look and then his facial expressions lifted as he remembered. "Oh. I completely forgot about that. I should probably go open that."
   And with that, he left me. He seemed like he was just trying to avoid my curiosity of his well being, but it was okay. okay. I understood.