SSA Scottley - A collection - S.R.

Last gasp

"You know what? Even if everything does go right and we do catch our unsub, I mean, the same thing could happen." JJ said.

"Right." Matt agreed. "Barnes would try to spin it, label the BAU a rogue unit that needs to be shut down."

"Right." Emily said. "So if anyone has doubts, no shame, no judgment."

"Well, I'm already out of a job, so..." Lily shrugged, as JJ sent her a sorrowful look and placed a hand on her knee.

"The BAU started in a room just like this one." Rossi said. "If this is how it goes out, so be it."

"We're all in?" Emily asked, smiling a little when everyone nodded. "Lily?"

"Ok." Lily stood up then to take Emily's place and start presenting the case as she used to do. "Let's talk victimology."

After presenting all of the pictures Penelope had sent her on her TV, Lily allowed the team to exchange their ideas.

"Since we don't have any leads on our victims' identities, Garcia's been drilling down on the e-mails that contain the photo attachments." Emily said, as Penelope nodded.

"Right, so, this is the darknet, so they're encrypted, but the digital files had time stamps." She explained. "I was able to narrow down their point of origin to the greater D.C. area."

"So we're gonna have to focus our profiling on the photos." JJ said, looking over at the pictures still displayed on the TV. "The first 3 are of the same woman. They appear to be a complete 3-part series, depicting her in 3 different states... Before, in captivity, and postmortem."

"The before picture is a candid photo, which suggests the women were comfortable with the unsub." Lily pointed out.

"We have only one captivity photo." Rossi said. "It was taken over 48 hours later."

"But it's in a different location." Tara added. "It's a darker, enclosed space. The victim is disheveled and appears disoriented and traumatized. Now she's only wearing this white satin negligee."

"The third photo's posed and appears to be postmortem." Spencer said. "In this case, the fatal wound, a single bullet to the chest, is clearly featured. It's also been cleaned up a little bit. There's no extraneous blood, and it's almost pretty."

"So he's displaying his work for those who will appreciate it, the people our Dropbox owner Adam Jeffries were selling to." Emily said.

"Ok, and then there's the fourth photo, it's of a different woman." JJ said. "It's the first in a new series, the new victim."

"The fourth photo appears to be taken 72 hours ago." Luke said. "If the unsub's pattern holds, it means she's about to die."

"JJ, Luke, Tara, dig into the before photos." Emily decided, already taking back her role of unit chief every easily. "Garcia already ran them through the Bureau's hotel database."

"Based on background details, it's extremely likely that they were taken at a high-end hotel in the area." Penelope said.

"We'll map them out and start canvassing first thing in the morning." JJ said.

"Good." Emily nodded. "Dave, Matt, head out to the prison and see what Adam Jeffries can tell you about how these ended up on his Dropbox."

***

"Ok. I have news." Penelope said, as she walked inside Lily's living room where she, JJ and Emily had been going through some files to try and find anything else that could help them with the case. "I have... I have copious... Copious news. First the backstory. That Dropbox that I first found those 4 photos on. I kept it active because I thought maybe we'd get lucky. I also fashioned it with every tool and trap I know for capturing IP addresses."