Philophobia

Sixteen; New Mexico

May 24th, 2010
9:01 am
The bullpen of the Behavioral Analysis Unit
Quantico, Virginia

Everyone was sitting at their desks when Derek Morgan sauntered into the room. He sat at his desk, before turning around in his chair to face Reid. "Guess what I did this weekend?"

"Let me guess," Blake said turning to face him. "Went to a club, found a beautifully stupid woman, and took her home?"

"Oh Blake, you know me so well!" Morgan put his hand on his heart dramatically. "What's up with Boy Genius?"

"He was pretty talkative this morning, been quiet for the past half hour."

"Funnily enough, I'm actually doing work. Eliza dropped off new cases for each of us this morning." Reid spoke without looking up.

"Right, you're little girlfriend," Morgan clarified.

"Shut up Morgan," Reid retorted.

"Speak of the devil," Blake interrupted the two as Eliza entered the bullpen. She was moving as fast as her pencil skirt and heels would let her.

"Good morning Agent Doyle!" Morgan said sugar sweet. She didn't even look at him instead, dropping some files in his lap, and heading up to Hotch's office with one file left. "That's not good."

"Day one and you've already pissed off the new girl," Blake snorted.

"I didn't even do anything!" Morgan protested.

"New case," Hotch said sternly. The agents scrambled out of their chairs, to follow Eliza and Hotch to the circle table room.

"Alright, victims name is Grace Hackett, she's fifty years old, and two days ago she was found naked in the New Mexican desert," Eliza informed the group.

"C.O.D.?" Rossi asked, scrolling through photos of the crime scene on the iPads that Garcia had recently gotten for them.

"Snake venom."

"Why are we investigating a woman in the middle of the desert who dies of snake venom?" Blake asked. "There's got to be a ton of rattlesnakes out there."

"I've got to agree with Blake on this one. Who's to say it wasn't an acid trip gone wrong?" Morgan added.

"A number of things. First, the part of the desert isn't accessible by foot, especially if you were naked with no supplies. It's more than fifty miles from the nearest road. The only reason local law enforcement found her was because a flight student called it in. He was flying low overhead practicing what he calls 'simulated desert crash landings'" Eliza stopped for a moment, changing the TV screen.

"The M.E. Found no evidence of a snake bite on her body," Reid looked up from his file. For obvious reasons, he had denied the iPad.

"But they did dint trace amounts in the victim's mouth and throat," Hotch finished the thought.

"Wait, Morgan interrupted, "you said there were a number of reasons for us to take this case."

"Ms. Hackett was found wearing only leg warmers. They covered the phrase 'Dies Irae' which was written on both her calves," Eliza shook her head in disagreement as she spoke.

"Dies Irae is Latin. Translation the Day of Wrath," Reid spoke up.

"Religious motive?" Rossi asked.

"What makes this a federal case?" Blake wondered.

"Almost a year ago, the same desert almost ten miles away from this new site, they found ten bodies in the desert in a mass grave. One of the bodies had the same phrase on her calves. The Unsub recently sent a letter to local law enforcement taking responsibility for all eleven murders. They demanded the police not catch them until the ritual was complete and all ten were killed."  Eliza again didn't seem to like the information she was communicating.