All Of The Wrong Reasons

Chapter Three: Closing the Case

They'd been on the case for nearly a week and was still no closer to catching the UNSUB. They had worked and reworked their profile, but it still wasn't quite right. There was something missing. Something about this UNSUB was different and that made pinning a profile to him exceedingly difficult. But what was it? What set this UNSUB apart?

Spencer stood in front of the board containing pinned up pictures of the victims and crime scenes, as well as a map containing even more pins for the geographic profile. They'd managed to narrow down the UNSUB's hunting ground based on abduction and dump-sites. But that was pretty much all they had. Spencer studied the board.

There was four victims of different ages, gender, race, and sexuality. No connection had been found between them no matter how deep Garcia dug. It was aggravating. It was like the UNSUB was completely indiscriminate, like he had no preference at all. Except, he had to have a preference. There had to be something tying the victims together...but what was it.

Spencer looked carefully at the victim board.

Four victims, two male, two female. The youngest was ten years old. The oldest was twenty-two. Each were abducted while doing normal, every day things like going to work, home, or shopping. They were all killed the same night they were abducted. All were smothered. All were gutted, except for victim four.

Spencer frowned. That was a big question right now. Why wasn't Julie Summers gutted like the rest of the victims? They were still waiting to hear back from the Medical Examiner. His frown deepened. For some reason, he was absolutely positive that whatever the ME found out would be the final clue, the final piece of the puzzle.

"JJ," Spencer called out, "Have you heard from the ME yet?"

"Actually, yes, a deputy just brought in a report from her. I haven't gotten the chance to look at it yet, but..."

Spencer grabbed the file from her hands and opened it, scanning his eyes across the pages quickly. Cause of death also asphyxiation. Likely smothered with a pillow. No signs of sexual assault. Few defensive wounds. All of that was the same as with the other victims. He skipped ahead, looking for something that stood out. There had to be...

"Oh," Spencer, dropping the file and ignoring how all the papers scattered across the floor. He rushed back over to the drawing board and looked over the information again.

Victim one, Megan Sparx was a college student who lived on campus, but at the time of her death she was staying with her parents. She'd been with them for a week and had missed all her classes during that week. Apparently this was something that happened every so often, but her professors were forgiving because she had a good reason. No one had said what that reason was.

Victim two, Nathan Miles had just arranged some time off of work. He'd made reservations at a local hotel for a week. His friends said that he often planned little getaways for himself, but this time he'd been extra excited because it would be the first time his boyfriend joined him on one such getaway.

Victim three, Jordan Rodriguez had missed school for a week, just like Megan Sparx. His parent's had said he was ill, but they hadn't said what that illness was nor had they taken him to see a doctor.

"Oh," Spencer said again, wanting to slap himself. How had they missed this? Probably because the dates didn't overlap and all the victims had done or planned different things but it was still an obvious connection and they had overlooked it repeatedly.

But now it had all come together thanks to the Medical Examiner's report. It all made sense now. Even the little things that Spencer had disregarded made sense now! A certain scent lingering in the air. The burning in his nose and the sneezing. The way Megan Sparx's parents swore her boyfriend would never hurt her even though Prentiss had mentioned he'd shown some hostility towards Derek. Derek was an alpha encroaching on his territory in a time of grieving. Another alpha couldn't help but feel hostile in such a situation. Spencer would bet anything that Megan Sparx was an omega, and he would make that same bet for Jordan Rodriguez and the other victims. It all came together because of one little detail.