Past and Present

Chapter 22

Okay, okay. Breathe Jo. I'm sure it's just a false alarm. I mean, you guys are always safe, there is no way you could be pregnant.

Pregnant. Thinking about that word made me anxious. If I was pregnant, it would change everything. I mean, Reid and I had talked about wanting to have children one day in general, but if I was pregnant, it would be different. I would never want Reid to think he was stuck with me, or that he had to marry me because I got pregnant. I just wanted everything to go as it's supposed to. God, why does nothing in my life ever go as planned??

But, I knew I had to shake this feeling off. Without a pregnancy test, I didn't know if I was pregnant yet anyways. I just needed to focus on this case.

As I exited the bathroom a little shook up, I took a few deep breaths to try and calm down my nerves. Being in a room of profilers while hiding something like this was not going to be easy. But I am a profiler too, I could do it.

"You okay?" Emily asked as I entered the conference room.

"Yeah," I started, "I think I ate something that didn't agree with me last night."

"You really should listen to me more Jo," Reid began to ramble, "I've told you numerous times that when you eat super fast it can upset your stomach and cause a lot more pain that one is to expect."

I sighed, if only he knew what was going through my head right now.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry Doctor."

Just then, Rossi entered the room with a look of distress on his face.

"Anything?" I asked.

"I honestly am not sure. When I was at the M.E. there was something off about the victim's body. Yes, there were obvious signs of drowning and it IS the cause of death, but when we took a closer look, both of her knee caps were dislocated and she had bruises everywhere on her body."

"Well I mean we knew this guy went straight for the killing, what's so odd about that?" Emily asked.

"Typically when the clear motive is to seek revenge by killing others, they get right to the point. Initially, that's what we thought was happening with these victims, the hit on the head and allowing them to wake up so the unsub can see them suffer. But clearly there is something else we are missing that goes on in between the initial attack and the drowning." Reid said, moving his hands wildly.

"If he IS punishing them, it is probably out of pure anger right?" Emily asked.

"I think we should deliver the profile," I said bluntly.

***

"Our unsub is a caucasion male in his mid to late 30s. He is most likely from the area due to where he placed Sarah. Those woods are extremely large and complicated which means someone who is familiar with the area has to have placed her there," Hotch began.

"Due to the specificity of our victim, along with the missing girls," Reid continued, "we also believe that they are a surrogate for someone who may have wronged our unsub in his life, or may even possibly represent a loved one he lost, like a mother or wife."

"This guy enjoys keeping his victims," Morgan continued, " watching them suffer is the part of the killing this guy enjoys, but for him it isn't sexual at all. We are dealing with a pure psychopath who feels the need to kill in order to seek revenge on someone or something."

"Yeah, and while we originally thought he was just killing his victims with pure rage, it was shown through the autopsy reports that he keeps them for a few days, possibly weeks, and then dumps the body." Emily added.