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

Plain Sight [5]

"We have an undercover car for each of your teams, and the entire damn department out there, too." The officer explained to the BAU.

"Remember, a truck. Maybe a work truck, in excellent condition." Gideon said.

"Everyone knows,"

"All right, he might make a mistake today." Hotchner claimed "He's angry, and he probably hasn't done the kind of surveillance he'd like,"

"Yeah, well, neither have we," Morgan reminded as he patted Samarra on the back "Let's go, Sam, Reid,"

"I'll bring the car around." Elle sighed as she held out her hand to get the keys from Gideon.

"We'll find him," Hotchner assured Gideon.

***

"That's the last place he watched." Gideon noted as he and Elle sat in the car "That house,"

"Morgan said the family hasn't moved back in," Elle said.

Gideon nodded "Probably never will." he shook his head "It's the eyes,"

"Excuse me?"

"It's the eyes, Elle. Just something not right about the eyes,"

"If you mean what he does to them, yeah, I agree,"

"No. It's almost a classic move for an exploitative rapist to force a victim to watch,"

"But?"

Gideon turned to look at her "We're missing something about it,"

***

Samarra couldn't help but smirk as Morgan became agitated from sitting in the car. She stopped when Morgan positioned the rearview mirror so he was looking at her.

"It's 10:30 already." Morgan sighed.

"All he said was tomorrow," Sam reminded him. "He didn't...specify morning,"

"Sam, this guy's gotta spend a lot of time in that house. A lot. He needs it to be morning,"

Reid moved his head to look around "Are we sure this is a good spot?"

"3 of the victims lived within a block of this street. It's the main artery through the neighborhood,"

"True, but 3 victims in the same block could mean he's done with the area,"

"Or that he's just really familiar with it,"

"And comfortable in it," Samarra reasoned. "But then, on the other hand, the other victims lived more than a mile in either direction,"

"Right,"

Sam quickly turned to Morgan as he hit the steering wheel.

"God, I hate not having a plan," Morgan fumed "We're looking for a needle in a haystack here,"

"Actually, it's more like we're looking for a needle in a pile of needles," Reid claimed.

Samarra looked at Reid in confusion as she shook her head "What?"

"A needle would stand out in a haystack."

Morgan looked back at Sam "I thought you were supposed to be teaching him figure of speech,"

Samarra crossed her arms in defense "You work with him too, you can understand how it's not that easy of a task when he corrects you every time,"

Morgan laughed "Ok,"

Sam sat up "but Reid's on to something. We're not looking for someone who stands out,"

"No. We're looking for a particular needle in a pile of needles,"

"Yeah and once we find that needle I'm gonna poke you with it for correcting me," Samarra huffed.

Morgan shook his head as he watched the two's antics.

***

A police car drove up to where Elle and Gideon were parked. "Can I help you folks with something?"

"FBI," Gideon informed as he showed the officer his badge.

The officer nodded his head "Oh, sorry," he drove off.

"After the fourth killing, P.D. Doubled the patrol in these neighborhoods, then doubled them again after their fifth and sixth,"

"Yet our unsub still watched the houses." Elle pointed out.

"How could he not have been seen?"

Elle looked up at the power lines at a bird "Is that an Oriole?"

Gideon looked up at the bird "No. A black-headed Grosbeak,"

"Grosbeak?"

"Grosbeak, too." Gideon pointed out as another bird joined on the power line "Female. Huh. Olson Welles said all the birds who belong to our sex have prettier feathers, 'cause males have got to try to justify their existence. We spend all our time screaming, 'Look at me. Look at me.',"

Elle's cellphone rang as Gideon continued.

"'Mommy, mommy. Look at me.',"

"Yeah?" Elle answered.

Gideon looked up at the power line in realization.

"25?"

"Look at me," Gideon repeated.

"Ok," Elle hung up her phone, "Garcia says Samarra couldn't get a fix on the call because it was routed through 25 different substations,"

"25 substations." Gideon got out of the car "He wanted them to see him,"

"We established that," Elle said as she followed him down the street.

Gideon unlocked the previous victim's house and walked inside, heading for the bedroom. "He's meticulous. Nothing is an accident. He vacuumed. Seeing is about domination...his creation. He positioned everything exactly the way he wanted it,"

"And?"

Gideon laid on the bed "If the eyes were so they could watch the attack, why are they all facing away from it? In that position, they couldn't see him during. He wanted them to see him afterward,"

Elle looked outside and noticed the power line box.

***

"Office of unfettered omniscience." Garcia greeted as she answered her headset. "Penelope Garcia is in. Speak, oh fortunate one,"

"Garcia, it's Elle. Can you get into the phone repair records in San Diego?"

"Sunshine...I can run Centcom from here and still participate in simultaneous Tetris tournaments," Garcia praised as she rolled herself over to her other array of computers.

"I'm looking for repairmen cross-referenced with the murders in San Diego. It could be as much as four or five days prior. See if there are any common names,"

"Total cake. Stay on the line," Garcia said as she typed away on the computer.

***

Hotchner's cellphone rang as he sat in his SUV "What you got?"

"He's a phone technician, Hotch." Gideon explained "Police are looking for someone walking around the neighborhood in broad daylight. Who notices a phone guy up on a pole?"

"He can watch for husbands leaving for work, watch for police patrols, know when the neighborhood's quiet,"

"He knows when he'll have plenty of time. He can even tap into a phone line to make sure someone's home. How about routing a call through 25 substations? Backyard? Hey, he's just looking for a pole. Got tape? Of course, he does. Wire? He's a repairman,"

"Sounds right, Jason,"

"It is right, and we have his name,"