safe inside, criminal minds [ 1 ]

017. angels and demons

"This again?" Blake sighs as she, Danielle, and Spencer walk out of the elevator.

"You miss another flight to see James?" Spencer asks.

"Worse. He came here." Blake says. "He's cooking and watching House Hunters without me. You know, he'd better not try to make an offer again." She says as they reach the others.

"So, we get Henry to bed, and, you know, we're about to finally have some alone time with mommy and daddy, and..." JJ rolls her eyes. "You guys know the rest."

"Ah, trying to dust off the old cobwebs." Derek teases.

"Inappropriate." Penelope punches his arm as he laughs.

"What?" He chuckles.

"Seriously, though, how long has it been?" Penelope asks.

"Too long." JJ says.

"Do we know what the case is?" Blake asks.

"Not yet. Hotch just said to drop everything and get back here." Rossi says.

"You need some private adult time." Penelope tells JJ. "I'll watch Henry. No bad guys, no kids, in that order. Go to Mexico. Or the Maldives, maybe."

"Cruz?" JJ asks.

"Yes! Exactly. A cruise would be perfect." Penelope says.

"No, no, no. Matt Cruz." JJ nods to Hotch's office, everybody looking to see Hotch and Cruz walk out.

"Let's get started." Hotch tells them.

They go into the round table room through the door closest to them, Cruz and Hotch walking in from the other door a few moments later.

"How are those ribs?" Cruz asks JJ.

"It still hurts when I laugh. You?" She asks.

"The scars impress the ladies." He says. "I hope you don't mind, Miss Garcia, but I took the liberty of having the much less talented version of you in my office load the case details." Cruz takes the remote from her.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure, no problem." Penelope sits down.

"A good friend of mine, Sheriff Peter Coleman, down in Briscoe County, Texas, reached out to me about a possible case. He's a former Texas Ranger, he's a good guy." Cruz says.

"He read about our work on The Silencer case two years ago. He asked for a consult." Hotch says.

"What do we have?" Blake asks.

"Abigail Jones. Prostitute. She was found in a dumpster last night." Cruz says.

"What's that on her wrists?" Derek asks.

"It's, uh... it's..." Cruz struggles with the moment. Danielle notices Penelope trying to resist the urge to yank it out of his hand. "Uh, would you mind?" He asks Penelope.

"Thank you, Jesus, Buddha, and Allah." Penelope stands up, snatching the remote. "I like to cover my bases. You have to squeeze it." She brings up more photos, closeups of the wrists.

"Rope burns." Rossi says.

"Which goes hand in hand with the lacerations on her back." Cruz says.

"There's also a gunshot wound to the back of her head, execution style." JJ says.

"It's a conflict in M.O. The cutting and restraints points to sexual sadism, but the gunshot wound ends the torture too quickly for a sadist." Spencer says.

"Is that the only victim?" Danielle asks. Cruz motions to Penelope and she hits the button.

"There's Hannah Kelly, another prostitute, killed 6 months ago, dumped one jurisdiction over." Cruz says.