𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟎𝟏

"𝙶𝚒𝚊 𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚜"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ

"WE HAVE A NEW CASE. Briefing in five minutes," JJ announces to the team as she rushes to the briefing room.

"What do we got?" Hotch asks as he and the rest of the team join JJ.

JJ begins by having a series of photographs uploaded to the TV screen for her team to see. "A series of murders in Seattle. Beth Bray, Lily Henry, Emma Holland, and Amy Vaughn. The latest one is Gia Collins. All the women are mothers, and they were all found dead under a bridge a couple of miles from all of their homes. The one that stood out was Gia Collins. The first four mothers were killed by asphyxiation, but Gia was stabbed multiple times," she explains, and pulls up individual photographs of Gia's condition. "She's a single mother to two kids, and Seattle PD said that the neighbors saw the youngest walk home from school the day after Gia was killed."

Derek furrows his brows as questions start to arise in the team's heads. "How long until she was found?"

"Time of death shows that all of the women died the night before they were found," JJ answers.

"And the youngest didn't say anything?" Emily questions.

"Uh, no, but she was definitely at school," JJ confirms.

"What about the oldest?" Hotch asks.

"He was present at all of his classes at college," JJ states, thanks to Garcia being able to look up the school's attendance.

"Show us the kids," Hotch demands.

JJ clicks a button on the remote to pull up more images. "The oldest is Nick Collins. He's nineteen and a student at South Seattle Community College. The younger is Noah, she's fifteen and in the tenth grade."

The boy has curly blonde hair, hazel eyes, and you can tell he's tall and quite strongly built. But the girl is different. She has a beautifully unique bone structure, long black hair that goes beyond the photo, and icy blue eyes. She's a bit younger than fifteen in the photo, but you can still see a hardness behind her smile.

"Woah, a mini Prentiss," Penelope notes as she enters the room and sees the photo of the girl.

"Oh, c'mon, we look nothing alike," Emily contends, knowing Garcia only thinks so because of their hair.

"So, the police have no leads?" Derek asks.

"They didn't wanna say it, but I don't think so," JJ replies and gazes at Hotch, waiting for his go-ahead.

Hotch takes a glance at the reports in front of him. He thinks about it for a moment, but stands to collect his things from his office. "Wheels up in 30."

—
𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘦𝘵

"I still don't understand how the youngest didn't say anything about her mother being missing," Emily wonders out loud.

"Maybe that happened often?" Derek suggests.

"We won't know until we talk to someone," Rossi adds.

"A social worker has visited the house a couple of times. Should I get in contact with her?" JJ asks as she reads through some additional documents Garcia had sent through.