Juliette would like to think Morgan didn't mean harm by his ring comment, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt any less. Moments of sleep were far and few between that night, and she's already up and ready to go at 6 AM.
Technically they have the day off unless a case comes in, so she dresses in black leggings and a matching tank top, and sets off running. Juliette's townhouse is less than a mile from the big park in Quantico, the one where military brats play sports and government events are held, so she jogs there with the intention to run around the base.
After Juliette and Griffin graduated college, they spent their free time training for marathons, having completed dozens together throughout their marriage. The last race they did together was two years after she joined the FBI, in one sponsored by the bureau. Juliette never thought she would run another marathon, but it's been five years, and her therapist would say this is healthy.
So maybe running fifteen miles isn't what most people would do on their day off, but it's what Juliette had planned. After ten miles, she had made it back to the entrance of the park, checking her phone and responding to a text from her mother. While stopped, she doesn't expect to hear a familiar voice from behind. "I didn't know you're a runner."
She finds Hotch standing five feet away, just as sweaty as she is. "I didn't know you ran, either."
"I'm training for the FBI marathon, it's my first time." He nods. "What about you?"
"So am I, although I think this will be my thirtieth." Juliette starts, but she's cut off by their phones buzzing with a text from Garcia; they have a case.
Hotch sighs, looking up from his phone. "Well, good luck."
"You, too." Juliette says, thinking back to her conversation with Rossi. "I, uh- Let me know if you need any tips."
"Will do." Hotch nods, turning towards his car. "You know the parking lot's this way, right?"
"I ran here." She calls out, already jogging away.
- - -
Hotch is the last to walk into the round table room, albeit confused how Juliette got there before him, he nods to Garcia. "Let's get started."
"Ok, Atlanta field office has a serial on their hands. Two prostitutes stabbed and staged in the last two weeks." She starts, but Spencer cuts her off.
"Atlanta's crime rate has skyrocketed over the past few years, especially after the proliferation of solicited sex and drug use in the downtown area."
"Maybe this guy thinks he's cleaning up the city." JJ says.
"Means of disposal usually reflects how the person feels towards them." Juliette counters. "It looks like he didn't think poorly of his victims, he even kept them dressed."
"Whatever he's doing with them, we need to stop it." Hotch walks towards the door. "Wheels up in thirty."
Juliette follows the team out of the room, hoping to go over the case file at her desk before they leave. However, Rossi stops her in front of his office and motions for her to enter, which she does. Confusion marks Juliette's face until he closes the door. "I heard you snapped at Morgan."
"He snitched?" Juliette shakes her head. "Did he tell you what he told me?"
"Yes, he relayed the conversation to me."
"Did you tell him?"
"No, it's not my story to tell." Rossi sighs. "Did you consider being more friendly?"
"I am! I offered Hotch running advice this morning."
He raises his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Not like that, Dave. He found me on my run."
"You're still doing marathons?"
"I- I stopped for awhile. But I think I'm going to try one again." Juliette looks to the door. "We have a case."
"Alright." Rossi sighs. "Ti amo, Juliette."
They've barley taken off when Garcia's face pops up on the screen. "I hate to be the messenger of sad things, but yet another body has been discovered by some joggers at yet another park. Her name's Rebecca Moore, and get this- a missing persons report was filed on her by a friend, Allyson Parker."
"Well, how long was she missing?" Morgan asks.
"36 hours."
"Prentiss, you and Leroux find out if Allyson has any insight on why Rebecca was targeted. Morgan and Reid, go to the disposal site. Dave, JJ, and I will set up at the field office." Hotch orders.
Juliette enjoys working with Emily. They have an unspoken understanding for politics and parts of the world that the government keeps classified. More importantly, Emily understands wanting to keep personal life separate from work, and knows to keep conversation light.
Finding Allyson wasn't hard, she's standing on the same sidewalk downtown where Rebecca was last seen. She's naturally apprehensive when the woman approach, but willing to open up when Juliette explains why they're there. "Did she have any regular customers?" Emily asks.
"We all do." Allyson responds.
"Rebecca had over $250 on her." Juliette says carefully. "What would that kind of money get a customer?"
"A lot."
"Like all night, or..."
"Nowadays, yeah."
Once Allyson's more relaxed, Juliette asks the harder questions. "We need to take you back to the last time you saw Rebecca. Where were you standing?"
Allyson steps back a few feet. "About here, facing the street."
"Great, now walk me through what you remember."
"A truck pulled up, he's one of my regulars. I was talking to him through the window when Rebecca pulled up in a silver Beemer."
"Did you recognize the car?" Emily asks.
"No, it must have been a new customer."
Juliette nods. "What did she do after that?"
"She looked back at me and started walking down the street. That's the last time I saw her." Allyson pauses. "Wait a second. There was an older gray van. I've seen it around here before, it was parked there a long time."
"A van? Where?"
Allyson points to the space next to the street, just down the block. "Right there."
"How long was it there?"
"A few hours, probably. Why?"
"It's a loading zone. Permit parking only." Juliette nods, knowing they got something useful.
- - -
The case seems to be full of twists and turns, even after the team had given the profile a day later. Although they originally thought bruises on the victims were from some sort of bondage, they now believe it was from a wheelchair. Along with that, they had profiled two similar-minded men committing the crimes, although they've now concluded it's a male and his caregiver.
Through all of these developments, another victim had been found. This led to JJ leading a press conference with a local agent. After the conference, they're brainstorming in an empty room while a tip line is being sorted through. "Everything about this most recent murder is different. It was the most violent, yet the most remorseful." Emily sighs.
"All of the bodies were disposed of in a nurturing way, but you're right. She was wrapped in plastic, it's almost too neat." Spencer nods. "Maybe the caretaker is a woman. By nature, woman prefer cleaner disposal methods."
"I don't know, that terrain was something serious." Morgan shakes his head. "I mean, no offense ladies, but Reid and I hiked up that ridge, and there's no way a woman, physically fit or not, could carry dead weight all that way."
Juliette internally scoffs, but remains professional. "So there's a third person involved. That rarely works, they would need to trust each other completely."
"So what kind of relationship involves that dynamic?" Rossi shrugs.
"What if it's parents protecting a child?" Juliette asks, staring intently at the crime scene photos. "A parent would hold themselves accountable, that explains the guilt."
Morgan furrows his brows. "But what kind of sick family pulls this off?"
"One that's probably done it before."
With this new information, they ask Garcia to look for similar unsolved murders in the area. She calls back surprisingly fast, and Hotch puts her on speaker. "Ok, the only thing I can find that's remotely similar to this is from five years ago. A coed at Georgia State was stabbed and left in a park."
"Did she have bruises on her inner thigh?" Hotch asks.
The sound of Garcia's nails against her keyboard fill the room. "Uh, ME says... Yes, she did."
"All right, check student enrollment for that year for students with campus handicap permits."
"The parents would have covered it up, and they would've pulled their son out of school after the murder." Juliette adds.
"Here we go, Jeffrey Collins. He dropped out of school weeks after the murder and has lived with his parents ever since."
"What's his story?" Asks Morgan.
"Only child of Linda and Donald Collins. He was a local athlete who become paralyzed in a car accident when he was fifteen. It says here the mother was driving, but the injuries weren't consistent with being behind the wheel." Garcia pauses. "But the father's were. Broken ribs, ruptured spleen, concussion. He's obviously the one who hit the steering wheel."
Emily nods. "Let me guess, the father was drunk."
"Yeah, twice the legal limit."
"Sounds like they switched places and she covered for him."
"But helping your husband avoid a DUI is far different from helping your son dispose of bodies." JJ counters.
"Not necessarily, the mother fixes things. She could have manipulated the husband into making up for his failure." Spencer shrugs.
"Garcia, do you have an address?" Hotch asks.
"Sending it to you now."
They're on their way to the Collins' house when they receive a call that their car had just crashed at the same spot of the accident that paralyzed their son, so the team turns around and heads to the scene. There, they find Donald having committed suicide, and a note confessing to the four murders.
With the profile, it's obvious he didn't actually kill the women, so they jump back in the SUVs and race to the Collins'. When Morgan breaks down the door yelling "FBI," Linda Collins is holding a gun to another woman's head.
"Get the hell out of my house!" She screams.
"Listen, Mrs. Collins, we need you to put down your weapon." JJ orders.
"Get my dad. He'll tell you she's crazy." Jeffrey says from the side of the room.
"Your father was killed in a car accident." Spencer states.
Jeffrey seems genuinely surprised. "What?"
"Did he tell you what he did?" Linda hisses, her grips on the gun tightening. "He killed all those girls, that sick son of a bitch."
"Linda, this is over. Jeffrey is coming with us." JJ orders again. "You need to let him take responsibility. We know that Jeffrey hurt those girls."
"You people. You think you can come in here just to take my son and lock him up like some animal." Linda yells, turning to her son. "I always told you mommy would take care of everything."
When Linda lets go of the woman and points the gun at Jeffrey, Juliette and Hotch don't hesitate to each take a shot at her torso. JJ consoles the woman, while Juliette moves to handcuff Jeffrey.
- - -
They fly back overnight, given the day off to rest unless there's an emergency. Juliette's mind is racing the entire drive home, thinking about everything but the case. As much as she hates to say it, this is probably the best team she's worked on. She enjoys working with Rossi and the other women seem sweet. She's secretly intrigued by Hotch, with his familiar personality and work ethic.
Once she's home, Juliette misses Griff. She misses the way he would engulf her in his arms after every case, his fingers methodically running through her silky hair and leaving tingles in their wake. How he always smelled of jasmine, which would come to be her favorite scent. He would listen to everything she held in while she was away and cook her favorite meal after cases involving the deaths of police officers.
Her life's become a series of what-ifs, what if Griff was here right now? What if she had never joined the FBI? Juliette knows it's not productive, but no amount of bureau therapy can stop her mind from playing through them.
She also knows that even though the sun hasn't risen yet, she's not getting any sleep today. So she changes into the same leggings and tank top, and leaves for a run.
emily's notes;
Another Taylor Swift lyric from
the song Style because this case
reminded me of the Haylor car
crash theory.
I know that there
was so much case dialogue, that
will stop in a few chapters, I
promise!!