The Stone Wall and His Weakness [A.H.]

XVIII

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We had spent the entire night at the office. It started out as a way to get ahead on paperwork, but then JJ told us we had a case. That's how the next two months went, back to back cases.

One night, on the flight home, the plane was quieter than usual. I was stretched out on the couch, while JJ, Reid, and Rossi sat at the table across from me. Aaron was at a table at the back of the plain.

"You ever gonna turn that page?" JJ asked Reid.

"I haven't finished it yet." His arm was resting on the windowsill, cheek pressed against his fist.

"You miss him, huh?" He nods, "Yeah, me too."

"Me three."

"Me four."

Ever since Derek left, it was like there was something missing. Aaron had to start interviewing replacements, but he was putting it off for as long as possible. I glanced back at him as he talked quietly to his phone. He hung up and walked over to us, hesitating before sitting beside Rossi.

"I'm sorry guys, but we've got a new case."

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By sunrise, we had been caught up. Emily Prentiss, the agent I had taken over for, had been chasing a copycat serial killer around the world. He was copying infamous murders in the cities they killed in.

"What makes us so sure it's all the same guy?" Rossi asked. We were all hesitant to believe that the same guy had committed all these crimes, but no one seemed to want to question Prentiss.

"Well, Emily believes it's how precisely he's mimicking each crime." Garcia popped onto the laptop that was sat against the wall, "Go head, Garcia."

"Okay, this is all streaming to your tablets, feel free to follow along." We all picked up our tablets while Reid watched Garcia, "I give you Andrei Chikatilo. His first victim was in nineteen seventy-eight. It was a nine year old girl whose body was discovered in the Russian city of Rostov. She was sexually assaulted, strangled, and mutilated."

"He also took eyeballs as trophies and ate some of his victims' organs."

"Gross."

"Ugh. I now give you ten year old Natasha Dudechenko. Her body was discovered two years ago, also in Rostov, roughly a mile away from where the original body was found, and tragically in much the same condition."

"Russian police apparently spotted a suspect near the crime scene, but he eluded capture in a crowded train station."

"But Chikatilo actually confessed to fifty-six murders committed between seventy-eight and ninety."

"Well, the timeline and the body count probably don't matter as much as geography and the copying of the M.O. It was the same last year in London."

"It was, indeed. Three women were discovered in Whitechapel, which is a district in East London, all within a month, and all eviscerated a la Mr. Ripper."