Eye to eye, heart to heart

Chapter 2: The Case

Apart from Hotch, I was the first in the round table room. I walked around the table and sat two seats away from Hotch waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. He was staring at his work in complete seriousness but he rubbed his leg up against mine quickly before Reid and Morgan walked in and greeted us. I gave Hotch a quick smile, he smiled back for a second then his face turned completely serious again. Once Prentiss, Rossi and Garcia were seated and we had all said our good mornings, I presented the case.

" three women, all stabbed, then left.....

" where?" Morgan asked confused as to why I had stopped explaining.

" at the police station." I continued. They all stared at me blankly, completely shocked.

"Well he's brave" Rossi added.

"And confident that he won't get caught," Hotch stated.

I continued once my voice would allow me,

" first victim Michelle Graves, 28 year old teacher, found in a dumpster behind the police station. Second was Regina Coswell, 26 year old personal trainer, found in an alley across the road from the police station and last was Kate Shunter, 27 year old caterer found in a garbage bag at the side of the police station. They were all stabbed and sexually assaulted...multiple times." I frowned making sure not to make eye contact with Hotch so he wouldn't try to comfort me with a smile. We all looked over the case files and photos not really sure what to think. We all paused for a second, our minds racing through the possible motives and connections. Hotch started speaking,

" his cooling off period is decreasing and with every kill he's becoming more confident and precise. Local law enforcement want us there right away, wheels up in 30." He darted out of the room before anyone else was even out of their seats.

-

We were all settled in on the plane. Rossi and Prentiss sitting across from each other, Reid in the other Isle, Morgan standing against the vacant chair and Hotch siting next to me. I knew he purposely did that but I wasn't even going to attempt secretly showing affection because I was in a plane full of profilers, if I wasn't discreet they would know what was going on in less than a heartbeat. Garcia popped up on the laptop screen wearing a pink cardigan over a yellow t-shirt and a blue headband.

" I've run every possible connection between these three women, it looks like they never even drove on the same streets. But they were all living on around the same salary, they were all single so they only had one income, theirs were all similar."

" check if they used any of the same companies, electrical, computer, renovation, gardening anything," Prentiss announced from across the jet.

Hotch looked stumped,

" if they don't run in the same circles, how is he finding them?" Hotch was irritated at how professional this unsub was and how he couldn't just profile him straight away.

" sexual sadist?" Reid suggested. Hotch nodded while devising a plan of action.

" let's hit the ground running. Morgan you go with Prentiss to the first crime scene, Rossi take Reid to the bodies and check anything unusual in their systems. JJ and I will go to the latest victims house." He frowned at the thought. Hotch is tough but it hits everyone really hard when having to talk to the families, in the back of my mind I was thrilled that Hotch paired me with him, under the table I squeezed his knee subtly letting him know it was ok to let some emotion show. He looked down to smile for a second.

-

When getting off the plane Hotch and I let everyone else off first, then he let me off first, the gentleman that he is. As I was walking down the steps he put one hand on my waist and made me want to turn around push him to the ground kissing him but I didn't I just threw him a cheeky grin instead.