Alive. [Emily Prentiss fan fic]

Chapter Four.

tw: death, murder.

Emily and I walk into the bullpen minutes later and as we enter the glass doors she pinches my ass. I turn around quick and laugh, she smirks in response. We make our way into the round table room, immediately greeted by a sad group of people. We sit down quietly, next to each other. "Hey guys." I mutter.

"Team, this is Tara Lewis, because we are short handed she'll be assisting us on this case." A black woman with short hair walks in the room. "I'm so sorry for your loss." She says with a sympathetic smile and sits down.

"Garcia." Hotch deadpans.

Her bright face pops up on the screen. "Right sir, sorry. I figure i'll stay in my office incase there are any more developments. The case details are in-front of you all, but something strange was found at the crime scene in New York about 15 minutes ago. There was a note, addressed to you in the back pocket of Gideon's pants." Garcia tells Hotch.

Hotch clears his throat. "What does it say?"

She scrunches her face up. "Erm, okay.. 'Aaron Hotchner made a mistake letting me go.'" She reads off.

"An ex partner?" Tara asks.

"Or it could just be someone he's fired lately." Reid interjects.

Prentiss nods. "That's more likely. Hotch hasn't dated anyone in like 6 years. Have you let someone go in a harsh way lately?" She asks. Why would Emily know anything about Hotch's love life? "It probably would've been in the last year or so." Spencer Reid adds on.

Hotch shakes his head. "Garcia can you gather a list of everyone the B.A.U has had to let go of in the last year?" He asks.

Penelope groans. "That's gonna take some digging, I'll get back to you when i've got your answer." She says and her screen goes black.

"I uh, personally of course, still think Hotch should also make a list of ex girlfriends." Prentiss suggests.

I nod in agreement. "One of them could've saw you and your family out in public, on social media, even just you on the news and it could've triggered them to lash out."

Hotch pulls a pen and note pad out of his pocket. "Ive only dated 3 other women and this sounds like none of them but it's a good place to start." He writes down the 3 names. Mary Goodland, Carrie Mars, and Beth Clemmons.

"That's great Hotch. This will be the easiest place to start." I say.

"I'll take this list to Penelope and have her call them all in for interrogating." Prentiss volunteers.

"Tara and Reid you go to Strauss' crime scene. Pierce, you and Prentiss go to Elle's. I'll go to Frank's and the five of us can meet there. From there Reid, Pierce, and Tara come back and interrogate the 3 women. Prentiss joins me at the morgue. We will discuss theories, rule in, and rule out people afterwards. Am I clear?" Hotch lays out a firm plan.