SSA Aaron Hotchner is stepping down from his Unit Chief position for a 6-month period due to an assignment in overseas. To his temporary replacement comes SSA Alexandra Barnes, Chief of the Child Abductions Unit. Both Hotchner and Barnes have their...
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Today's case is about is about adults. I feel bad for being thankful but at the same time I know how bad it can get. I think we all do.
A couple stumbled across what appeared to be human bones on a walking trail in Yellow River Forest, Iowa yesterday morning. The authorities opened an investigation and they found two more so far. All three belong to women, ages 20-35. The decomposition was different on each body. Only one of them was identified and that was the less decomposed one.
We believe that there are more victims buried out there and whoever is doing this must be at it for a long time.
Agent Hotchner paired and sent the others to the coroner, to the walking trail, to talk to the couple that found the bones or to the identified victim's parents while he and I headed to the station.
On our ride there, at first, I couldn't stop looking at Hotchner's hands on the steering wheel. Why does he make diving hot? I'm so unprofessional right now.
To distract myself, I opened one of the case files and pretended to read for a white. "Everything good so far?" he asks me while he drives
"If you mean despite the three dead women and more that we are waiting to come up, then yes" I answer and I swear that he almost smiles
"Yes. I meant with the team. I noticed you and JJ chatting almost the whole flight here"
"Honestly, I was admiring her patience. I can not deal with press and people in general some times; I think I prefer doing more paperwork"
"Yeah, tell me about it" he chuckles. Wow, I didn't know he smiled.
"But of course, they all seem nice and I can't wait to work with them and pick up their pace"
"That's great to hear".
When we arrived at the station, everyone looked at us like we were aliens. I can already tell that this isn't going to be easy.
A tall man around late 40's comes out of his office and approaches us. "Detective Bennett" he says
"Hello detective. I'm SSA Hotchner. This is SSA Barnes" he replies as they shake hands.
The detective takes a moment to look at me, head to toe before he continues. But he doesn't shake my hand. "Just you two?" he asks, still looking at me
"The rest of the team is at the other locations. Is there a place we can settle in?" I ask
"Sure". He almost rolls his eyes. He starts walking and we follow behind him.
"Oh boy..." I whisper as I walk.
We settled in the conference room and by the times the rest of the team was back, three more bodies were discovered. Again, decompositions were at a different level with each one. Now the earliest victim died 3 years ago and the latest 7 months.
