Philophobia

Forty-One; Ritual Union

November 24th, 2010
9:58 am
The Briefing Room of The Behavioral Analysis Unit
Quantico, Virginia

Reid entered the briefing room, sunglasses on his face. He took his seat next to Eliza, opening the case file hastily. He thought it was weird that Garcia was presenting the case, but he didn't question it.

"Hey, you okay?" Eliza asked quietly.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied, looking at the case file more intensely.

"You're never late," she pressed.

"Have we started the briefing yet?"

"No," Eliza was hesitant in her reply.

"Than I'm not late. Why is Garcia giving the presentation?"

"I'm not sure, Hotch arranged it," Eliza replied. She looked back at the file, and Reid could tell she was upset with him. He did nothing to fix the problem though.

"Attention, intrepid BAU adventurers. The land of Bermuda shorts, white leisure suits, and Sansabelt slack requests your presence!" Garcia chirped.

"Arizona?" Rossi guessed.

"Vegas?" Morgan offered.

"Palm Springs?" Eliza theorized.

"Please." Hotch looked at the team coldly.

"I was going to say Miami, but point well made about the dizzying number of locales with unfortunate fashion tendencies," Garcia said. "Here we go." She used the remote to move through a slideshow of crime scene photos.

"Shells in the eyes and mouth. You don't see that every day," Eliza noted, despite her lack of profiling skills.

"Not even in Miami," Rossi joked.

"Three victims. The last one found with a-"

"Decapitated cat?" Morgan asked, looking up at Garcia who was making a sick face.

"All were found within a mile of each other in a mostly Latino neighborhood in Miami called Allapattah," Hotch read.

"Eduardo Guzman, homeless. He was shot to death seven days ago. Varina Espinal, prostitute, bludgeoned to death three days ago. And then Victor Cabrera. He was an unemployed janitor. He was slashed with a machete yesterday, as was his cat." Garcia grimaced at the screen.

"Considering the homeless man lived in that alley, all of the victims essentially were killed in their homes," Morgan noted. "This took some time. In the open."

"You know, cowrie shells in ritual offerings are common to a number Afro-Carribaen religions," Reid informed the group.

"But the upside-down cross looks like Satanism," Eliza said.

"The first two victims had fingers missing, but on this one, he took both hands," said Morgan as he pointed towards one of the photos on the screen.

"All of this could have been religious?" Garcia asked, her eyes wide.

"This could have specific religious meaning, or it could just be part of the unsub's signature," Reid informed her.

"Either way, his timetable's accelerating. We have a day, maybe two, before Miami P.D. has another body on its hands," Hotch said grimly.

November 24th, 2010
10:25 am
The Behavioral Analysis Unit's Private Jet
United States Air Space

Hotch sat on the arm of a chair, waiting for his team to settle. "The first victim was frail and an easy target, and yet the unsub shot him from behind and at a distance," Hotch said, attempting to wrangle the team. They were still floating about the jet, though most had sat down.