lullabies through the window

Two: Fairly Local

JJ picked up the slideshow remote and began the briefing.

"Six men were murdered in the past seven days, starting on Tuesday, and the last victim went missing yesterday on Monday and was found today. One murder on every week day. None over the weekend. Tuesday's victim, and the first one, was a Brian Simmons," she flipped to a picture of a smiling young man with dark brown eyes and curly brown hair. "He was 24. Wednesday was 27 year old Steven David," She flipped to another picture of a man with curly brown hair and happy brown eyes,"Thursday was a 25 year old, Derek Clark..." She went through five men in their twenties with brown hair and brown eyes. 

"So the unsub has a type." Morgan said, leaning forward. 

"Not unsub, unsubs." JJ opened a file. "Every night, not only would the police get a call from one of these young men, but each of the victims' family or friends got text messages or calls the night of their disappearance, saying that there were people outside their house. Three of these men said the people outside were women, the other three didn't mention. Each of the men lived alone, some even on the second floor of an apartment complex. They all mentioned one person at the door, and two at different windows."

"So the victim feels trapped..." Hotch inserted.

"The unsubs are also physically able if they're able to climb up to his apartment windows." Morgan added.

"Yes, but that's not all. All six men reported the unsubs humming or singing softly from outside, the texts mentioned lullabies, things of that sort. The men were said to be terrified, something about how they looked and sounded. Like they knew they were going to die. The families of the men were also  frantic, trying to convince him that help was almost there, but every time when cops showed up-"

"The man and the unsubs would be gone." Emily concluded, nodding solemnly.

"Exactly. They left behind pictures of the victim dating back at least a week, photos of them just doing everyday things, so we know that they were being stalked, and that these definitely aren't unplanned murders or whims. There's some motive."

"You said murders when you started the briefing. Did they find all the bodies or are they just assuming  all of them are dead?" Rossi asked.

"They - they found the bodies." JJ sighed and picked up the remote and began to flip through multiple scarlet tinted photos. Garcia looked down at her lap, avoiding the bloody figures. "Each man had many signs of torture. Water in their lungs, stab wounds, cuts, burns, bruises, broken bones, and finally, a gunshot wound in the stomach. Also..." JJ paused. "They're eyes had been gouged out. Those weren't found, so we can take an educated guess, and assume they kept those as trophies and souvenirs." 

There was a pause.

"That's... a lot." Emily said. "How do they do that every night? Do they torture them that much in one day, then move on to the next victim that night?"

"It's a very fast process, but the coroner's report linked with the day they were found makes us  pretty sure that the first victim was kept for that whole time and died the day he was found, shortly before. That's when he was shot. The others were killed the day after they were abducted, and found on the same day. The gunshot was postmortem, they died from the torture. So the first victim actually lasted the longest and was found last." 

"So they torture the men until their victims can't react anymore." Morgan deduced. "It sounds like they're doing it for pleasure; killing them isn't enough." 

"They cause disruption outside, sing to their victims, wait. They give their victims time to try to get help, and to cause panic for multiple people." Rossi added.

"They want their victims and the victims' friends and families to be scared. They don't just want to hurt the men, but the people closest to them, too." Hotch said gravely. "Probably some form of trauma as the driving source. Maybe something happened to them involving a man with brown hair and eyes, and they're getting as close to revenge as they can."

"Makes sense. Is that all, JJ?" Emily asked.

"For now, but the local law enforcement is worried that another will go missing tonight. It always starts around nine or ten, so we won't know until tonight if the unsubs keep to their pattern." JJ added.

"Wheels up when?" Morgan asked Hotch.

"We don't need the jet this time." He answered, standing up. 

"Where is this happening?" Spencer asked, speaking up for the first time that briefing.

JJ turned to him. "Uh- Quantico and its surrounding areas. The unsubs could be locals."

"Great. A group of unsubs confident enough to commit murders on the FBI's doorstep." Rossi muttered.

As the team filed out, Garcia handed each agent a case file. Finally, it was just her and Morgan left. 

"Hey, what's wrong, sweetness?" Morgan smiled sadly at his friend.

Penelope looked sadly at the file as she handed it to him, and then frowned as she looked him in the eyes. She gave in and weakly said, "Spencer matches every single description of the victims. Brown hair, brown eyes, lives alone... everything seems to happen to him, I just-- I feel like something can't not happen to him..."

Morgan furrowed his eyebrows, thinking. "I noticed that, too." He said slowly. He paused, then continued reassuringly, " We aren't gonna let anything happen to him. We've already let him get hurt enough. We aren't letting it happen again." 

Penelope nodded, and the two went to join the rest of the team.

Comments/ commentary appreciated :)