Special Agent Angel (Criminal Minds fanfiction) [Season 1]

Plain Sight [2]

"Brenda Samms was found yesterday by her children when they got home from school." Agent Hotchner explained to the team once they were seated on the plane. "She had been strangled with a thin ligature, possibly a wire,"

"No weapon left at the scene," Samarra noted as she continued sketching.

"Residue on the wrist and mouth indicate that duct tape was used and then removed," Reid said.

"Also not found at the scene," Agent Hotchner said.

"Brought it with him, took it with him," Elle said.

"He also started leaving messages in the fourth scene." Agent Hotchner showed Elle a picture "This was on the mirrors. 'Fair lady, throw those costly robes aside. No longer may you glory in your pride. Take leave of all your carnal, vain delight.',"

"'I've come to summon you away this night.'," Reid finished "It's a ballad from the late 1600s. A dialogue betwixt death and a lady,"

Morgan gave Samarra a look, who only shrugged in response.

"A 17th-century ballad?" Elle asked.

"Yeah, essentially, a woman begging death to live," Reid explained.

"What kind of person knows this ballad? Are we looking for a literature professor?"

"Anyone with an internet connection, actually,"

"You should see what comes in when you type the word 'death' into a search engine," Sam muttered.

Morgan looked at Samarra "Do we need to have a chat?"

"Reid, you stay on the messages." Gideon ordered "See if there's a deeper meaning,"

"Well, it definitely looks like he ransacked the crime scene pretty well," Morgan noted as he looked over the photographs.

"A lot of damage, nothing taken," Agent Hotchner claimed.

"The eyes are the thing, the signature," Gideon proclaimed. "The behavior that isn't necessary for the murder, but necessary for the emotional release. That's what he's there for,"

"There used to be a widely held belief that the eyes record a snapshot of the last thing a person sees before they die," Reid explained.

"Yeah, that's right." Sam admitted "People used to write poems about talking to death,"

"Ballads," Reid corrected.

"I'm on your side," Samarra huffed.

"You think they'll ever run out of new things to do to their victims?" Elle wondered.

"Well, finding new ways to hurt each other is what we're good at," Gideon said.

***

~Task Force Headquareters~
~San Diego Police Department~

"Captain Griffith, Task Force Commander," The Captain greeted after watching Samarra brush past him.

"Sorry, we all get tunnel vision." Agent Hotchner explained to him "I'm Special Agent Hotchner. This is Agent Jareau, our liason,"

"Hi," JJ greeted.

"I appreciate you coming out," Captain Griffith said.

"Thanks, hope we can help," Agent Hotchner said.

Gideon was already at the board overlooking the photographs of the victims.

"'My name is death. Have you not heard of me?'" Reid read over the quotes from the crime scene "' You may as well be mute...'"

"Creepy, huh?" JJ asked Reid.

"Actually, conversations between death and his victims were a fairly popular literary and artistic theme throughout the renaissance." Reid noticed JJ's look "Yeah, creepy,"

"He strikes during the day in upper-middle-class neighborhoods," Morgan noted.

"Extremely high-risk victims at a high-risk time," Gideon said "He's confident in his ability,"

"Looks to be about a 5-square mile radius," Samarra pointed out.

"So he probably has a vehicle,"

"You wanna see that crime scene?" A detective asked Morgan "It's still taped off. The husband won't go back inside,"

Sam looked up at Gideon.

"Let's go,"

"All right so we need answers to these questions." Hotchner told Elle "What does the evidence tell you about the sexual aspect? What kind of rapist is he independent of the homicides?"

"I'm on it," Elle said.

"It looks like what he's written at the scenes are most of the first 3 verses of the same ballad," Reid reported.

"Most of?" Agent Hotchner asked.

"Yeah, it's only one part of the conversation. Ther's no 'betwixt',"

Agent Hotchner and Elle looked at Reid in confusion.

"Death speaks, but the lady never answers," Sammara simplified as she grabbed her bag.

"Maybe he feels like their bodies are answer enough," Elle claimed.

***

"This profiling really works?" The Detective asked as he drove Morgan, Gideon, and Samarra to the scene.

"It's a tool," Morgan admitted.

"You can tell all about a guy from looking at the scene?"

"Well, the scene's only part of it. We also use victimology, precedent. We can usually get a fairly clear picture of the guy,"

"Our guys went over it pretty well,"

"I'm sure they did,"

"Local officers aren't trained to look for the things we look for," Sam explained.

"What's that?"

"Hate, insecurity, fear, anger." Gideon listed off.

"That's all at the scene?"

"It's all in his behavior," Morgan said.

"You know anything about our guy yet?"

"Yeah." Samarra sighed as she looked out the window "He isn't gonna stop until he's caught,"