WAKING UP AND SEEING EMILY ALREADY AWAKE SURPRISES ME EVERY TIME. I thought I woke up early but she takes early to a new level. When I ask why she's always up she says it's her internal alarm clock.
As soon as I rolled over to face her, she pressed an eager kiss to my lips. I never complain when it comes to her kisses.
"What was that for?" I asked, innocently.
"I just love you." She paused. "I had a dream about you getting hurt on a case and it scared me for a second."
My heart.
I kissed her again. "I love you more." I smiled into the kiss.
The kisses turned steamy in the matter of seconds. I rolled on top of her and kissed down her body.
These were my favorite kind of mornings.
My hands roamed her body to the waistband of her underwear. I slid them down and took one look at her. She was already so wet for me.
"How are you already so wet? I didn't even do anything." I smiled. She blushed and looked up.
"Leave me alone." She said sarcastically.
"No can do." I replied and kissed her inner thighs. I left soft purple marks leading up to her pretty pink pussy. I slowly slid my fingers through her core. She was squirming already.
Her and I take turns of being on top. She usually initiates it. She's more of a top than I am but I never mind. I love taking care of her. I would be content with my life if I could only take care of her.
I moved on from my fingers to my mouth. I swirled my tongue around her core. I took my time and was gentle. In the morning, she's the most sensitive. I made circles with my tongue and picked up my pace. It didn't take long for her this morning.
"L-Lia." She breathed heavily as she released straight into my mouth. I cleaned up every last bit.
She finished just in time, really, because right after we got a call from Hotch saying we needed to meet him in Dallas.
We have a female serial killer on our hands.
__
On the jet, we went over what we knew. Derek, Rossi, Spencer, JJ, Emily and I were talking with Hotch on the phone. He was already there for a consult.
"Female serial killers are a fascinating field. We don't have much information on them, but what we do know involves throwing the rules completely out the window. They don't torture or take trophies." Spencer started.
"Because there's no sexual gratification when a woman kills." Derek added.
"Exactly. Murder is the goal. They don't have to do anything extra." Spencer replied. Female serial killers are my favorite.
"So, basically women are more efficient at killing." I let out with a small smile.
"Historically, they have had body counts in the hundreds." Spencer added. Women are better than men in all aspects, even murder.
"So, assuming that the job is the stressor, what are some of the reasons prostitutes kill their customers?" Hotch asked.
"Money, drugs, post traumatic stress disorder." Derek replied.
"At some point, every call girl, no matter how well paid, gets coerced into an activity she didn't consent to." Rossi said.
"Aileen Wuornos used to purposely stage paid sexual encounters as an excuse to murder men she thought would rape her." Emily told us.
"But Wuornos was psychotic and disorganized. I think this girls' poisoning them before she has sex with them." Hotch said.
"She's using tetra-methylene-disulfotetramine. It's a popular rat poison in China, easily soluble in alcohol." Spencer said.
"Poison is the perfect MO. Quiet, quick, and the victims never see it coming because they think they're going to get lucky. Does that mean something to you?" I asked Hotch.
"Well, at $10,000 a night, these men are paying for discretion as well as sex." He replied.
"She has a history with them. They see her repeatedly." Rossi said.
"She didn't decide to kill them in the moment. She walks in with the intent to kill them and she's doing it before she sleeps with them." Hotch replied.
"So she's not just organized. She's also methodical." Spencer said.
"She decided early which one of her clients are worth killing and which aren't and she plans accordingly." Derek said.
"Maybe the victims all share the same fetish." Emily suggested.
"Both victims were in their 50's. Highly visible. Careful about their image. I mean, if they were kinky in the same way, they'd go to great lengths to hide it." Derek replied. I believe it. The men she's killed are all rich out of their minds.
"And we're facing a corporate culture that'll do everything it can to keep us out." Hotch huffed. With rich men, we have good lawyers. Good for them, pain in the ass for us.
"Actually, I had some luck there. Hoyt Ashford's wife isn't too happy with how he died." JJ told us.
"She's agreed to talk to us?" Hotch asked. That's a first.
"Yeah, but because every silver lining has a dark cloud, the hedge fund released a statement." JJ said before reading it to us, "Ashford died peacefully in his home, according to lawyer David Madison." She paused. "They're already trying to close ranks."
"Does that language sound familiar to anyone else?" Spencer asked before digging through the files. "The press release from the first victim, "According to company lawyer, Stanton died peacefully in his home."" Spencer read to us.
"Prentiss and Parks, see if you can get the wife to open up. JJ, call the lawyers and tell them I want to meet with both of them." Hotch said.
"You want to play them off each other?" Rossi asked.
"I think one of them wrote both press releases. Let's see which one calls us back."
Here we go.
__
Emily and I went to Mrs. Ashfords house to speak about her husband.
"Female serial killers are my favorite type of cases." I let out.
"Mine too, but why?" Emily wondered.
"There's so few of them. I'm sick of dealing with stupid men constantly. This shakes things up, you know?" I let out. God, I'm such a nerd.
"I never realized how stupid some men were until this job." Emily said. I nodded.
We arrived to the house and went in.
"Mrs. Ashford, we're very sorry to hear about your husband." Emily started.
"I've been getting nothing but condolences all day. I feel like a hypocrite for accepting them, knowing how he died." She replied. Yeah, I can't imagine how she must feel.
"We think your husband might have been targeted because of something...sexual he did with this girl." I said softly. She didn't reply. She just looked up. "We know this is hard, but is there anything you can tell us about what he liked?" I asked.
"In bed? I can sum it up in one word. Younger."
Not what I was expecting.
"How much younger?" Emily asked.
"24. 25. It's...that was when I met him." She told us.
"So, your age difference was part of the attraction?" I asked.
"Are you kidding? It was the whole relationship." She replied. This poor woman.
"Mrs. Ashford, no offense, but your husband spent a lot of money on this woman. Was there anything else at all that he liked from a younger woman besides the ego boost?" Emily asked.
"There's a certain kind of man, Agent, from whom the only kind of sex that matters is the ego boost. But in a marriage like ours, after a few years, it doesn't come voluntarily anymore. You have to work at it. Or in my husbands case....pay for it." She let out. She was not happy at all. I wouldn't be either.
When we walked out of the house, Hotch gave me a call.
"I need you and Prentiss to meet a madam at a house."
"Send the address." Was all I said.
"Okay. Also, come get Reid."
"On our way."
He hung up and sent the address. We went to the station to grab Reid and go to the place.
We were led to a house and saw a for sale sign in the yard.
"I don't understand. I thought Hotch said we were going to meet a madam here." Emily let out.
"Actually, there's a lot of overlap between real estate and sex work. Property is a safe and inspection free investment for large sums of cash. Your brownstone used to be owned by a gigolo." Spencer went on. How does he know these things?
A woman came outside and greeted us. "Well, hello you guys! Isn't this neighborhood fabulous and you're gonna love the house." She said and brought us inside. When we made it inside she looked at us all, "It's blatantly obvious the two women are together and the skinny guy is just tagging along."
My eyes widened. Emily took the lead on this one.
"I just want to be clear, you are a madam, right? You arrange dates for escorts?" Emily asked.
"All I arrange are meetings. What happens between two consenting adults when that meeting is over is something I'm not liable for. Now, who wants a scone?"
Spencer and I nodded and Emily cocked her head. She brought us through the house and we explained why we were here.
"Oh yes, we all know about this woman. She's terrible for business." The woman told us after we said what was happening.
"I guess there's only so many men that can, uh, afford the service you provide." Spencer said awkwardly.
"Well, that's certainly true. But they way she's behaving, she's only hurting herself."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"An escort's client list is the most important investment she has. It's her daily income and her retirement package when she sells the list."
"So she isn't working with a service, is she?" Emily asked. She shook her head. "No madam would allow an escort to kill off the clientele."
"What about the um, type of work your employees do? We're sort of under the assumption that this escort is, um, killing men who make her perform a...specific sexual act." Spencer stammered. I will curse Hotch out for making us bring Spencer. I love him to pieces but this is not the place for him.
"What did you have in mind, sweetie?"
"I don't even...I don't know."
"If I may, I think you're looking at this all wrong. Start with this question- why would a man pay a woman 5 figures?"
"It's not for sex, is it?" I asked.
"Of course you've got to be good in bed to be successful. But that's the easy part."
"What's the difficult part?" Emily asked.
"What men want more than no-strings-attacked sex is a therapist. Someone who will absorb the worst parts of their personalities."
"Their fears and their insecurities." Spencer started.
"Everything they can't take home to their wife." I added.
"That's what I groom my girls to do- how to talk to these men and how to listen. Don't get me wrong, deviancy comes with the territory. I can't tell you how many men need to be submissive as an outlet from their extremely stressful jobs. I can tell you, that if sex was the reason she was killing these men, she would have broken long before she charged $10,000."
She's on to something.
"So it isn't how these men act in bed, it's how they act out of it." Spencer concluded.
__
There was another murder. She left a signature this time. Lipstick on the eyes.
I don't know how Hotch convinced the lawyer to give us everything on the latest victim but he did. We were able to look at everything.
"18 cars, 6 houses, and 3 boats. Can you even boat in Dallas?" I muttered as I read his assets.
"You know, when you're talking about that much money, 10 grand for a call girl is like deciding where to go for dinner." Emily muttered.
"I have half a million over here for something called the bat cave. And here's a picture of him as fetish batman. That is wrong." JJ let out.
"God, I hate men." I said as I was looking through the records.
"Is there anything this guy didn't like to spend money on?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, his ex-wives. Fielding was married 4 times. He didn't have prenups the first two, but he did everything he could to cut off his ex-wives." Hotch told us.
"Are there children involved?" Emily asked.
"Yes, with 3 of the wives. Hoyt Ashford was married a few times too, wasn't he?" Hotch asked.
Garcia was on the phone and spoke up. "You know, considering that when Kevin takes me to dinner and a movie, he defaults on his student loans, this amount of money is sick."
"What did you find?" I asked. I don't think I want to know.
"Well, all three of our dearly departed rich guys were embroiled in bitter court battles over how much to pay in alimony and child support, and even when the court ruled in the wife's favor, which was almost always, these 3 charmers just, you know, decided not to pay."
Of course they didn't.
"So why would a prominent business man who could easily pay child support refuse to?" Hotch asked.
"Because they're scumbags." I muttered.
"For this type of overachieving personality, paying money after the marriage ends probably offends him." Spencer replied.
"They're spending tens of thousands on an escort, but they won't drop a dime on their wife and kids? That's cold." JJ let out.
"Narcissistic, self-absorbed, a pathological avoidance of paternal responsibilities." Hotch said.
"Meanwhile, most prostitutes come from broken homes. She's listening to pillow talk. Could serve as some sort of trigger." I added.
"How their ex-wives are cheating them out of money, how their kids are nagging them." Emily continued.
"Everything that these men take for granted and that she never had." Hotch said.
—
We were trying to figure out who to give the profile too. It won't help the police. They're in a completely different headspace than her. Same with the public. Hotch made the decision to tell the lawyers. The only reason this may work is because she's putting them at risk, too.
And so, we gave the profile to the lawyers and prepared for the worst.
"We're looking for a white woman between the ages of 25 and 30. She's paid between 10 and $15,000 per session, and she's very well versed in the world of money and privilege." Hotch started.
"Even though she's a call girl, she doesn't look like one. She could pass as a businesswoman or a co-worker. You've probably written up her personal expenses as losses. Shoes, jewelry, clothing." JJ continued.
"Your bosses pay her in cash. But they may also be paying her in other ways- taking care of her, a new car, paying for her medical bills." Spencer said.
"She probably did not grow up with a father figure, and she is now turning that rage toward clients who walk out on their families." I said after.
"What's going to happen once this woman is caught?" One asked.
"She'll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Hotch replied.
"What about the other men she's sleeping with, the ones she doesn't kill?" The same person asked.
"What about them?" Emily questioned.
"Will they be prosecuted?"
"Right now we're concentrating on stopping her from killing again." Hotch said.
"That's all well and good. But our employers are going to ask us about the risks involved in cooperating with an FBI investigation." Someone else said.
"Tell your employers that the risk is not only a physical one. She's compromising privileged information as well." Hotch added.
"After she sleeps with these men, they talk to her. It's part of the release they get in seeing her." Spencer said.
"All that dirty laundry you've worked so hard to cover up- she knows it." Emily stated.
"As long as she's out there, it's not just your clients that are vulnerable. Your firms are, too." I said after.
Someone from the back spoke up. "I'm Alison Barnes. I'm a lawyer at Webster Industries where Joseph Fieding worked."
"This is really not the time." Someone told her.
"We'd like to hear what she has to say." I said to them man who stopped her. I won't tolerate that.
"A while back, I looked at some paperwork that Mr. Fielding filed about a penthouse downtown. I asked what he was using it for. He just kind of chuckled and said it was for a friend. Is that the kind of information you're looking for?" She asked. Yes is it.
We got an address to that and went right away. She wasn't home. We all looked through the penthouse. It definitely belonged to her but we couldn't find anything incriminating. We couldn't even find a name.
"Find anything?" I asked Emily.
"No. She seems too smart to leave a receipt hanging around."
"Ruins the mystique. She's gotta be whatever the customer wants." Derek spoke as he walked in.
We found something interesting in her room. A purity ring.
I was walking out of the room but Derek stopped me. "Hey, Parks." He then held a leather suit up to me. "Got a whip?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Not for you." Emily spoke up. Derek thought that was funny.
All of the sudden, her phone rang. We got Garcia to run a trap and trace. We didn't answer. We let it go to voicemail.
"Aaron. I know you're up there. Pick up."
What the hell.
We all shared a look. How the hell does she know Hotch?
"Aaron Hotchner."
Hotch made a look before picking up the phone.
We didn't know what she was saying but we could fill in the blanks by what he was saying.
"Hello? I'm at a disadvantage here. You seem to know my name, but I don't know yours. Can we start there?...Who says you can't?...No, it's flattering to be noticed by a woman like you...But I've disappointed you, haven't I? Just like all the other men in your life who walked out on their families, who deserve to be punished...No, my wife left me...I have a son...I try to see him every week...No, I don't get there as often as I want...How am I a whore?...But I'm just frustrating you, aren't I?...Well, you want to show the world all these bad men and my investigation is just getting in your way...Truthfully, I'm only interested in finding you. You've been betrayed so many times. You don't know who to trust, and that's why that first murder felt so good. But each one since has been less and less satisfying. You know that's going to continue. Am I right?...Come to me and turn yourself in. I will make sure that you get the help you need. I won't let you disappear."
Then we all heard a gunshot over the phone. He didn't have to be on speaker for us to hear that. She killed someone.
Garcia got us an address and we stormed over. She had to have called the news because they beat us there.
__
Back at the station, we heard what she had to say.
"Don't compare yourself to the men I see. You're just another whore."
Spencer paused it. "Her use of the word whore is interesting. It suggests she's trying to disassociate herself from her actions."
"But she's become more personal with the murders. She's changed her MO from poison to a gun." Emily let out.
"And she changed her victimology. Trent Rabner was faithful to his wife until she died. They didn't have kids." JJ added. Why change now?
"Her whole justification for who's worth killing and who isn't is gone." Rossi added.
"She's obviously devolving. This is gonna be ugly. She's the type who could go on a spree and take out anyone she sees as a target." Derek said.
"Could we go to the end just before she pulls the trigger?" Hotch asked.
"Well, you want to show the world all these bad men and my investigation is just getting in your way."
"No, Aaron. You're not doing your job! You don't want to arrest me. You don't want me in custody because you're in their pocket. You just want me to disappear just like they do!" She cried.
"Who's they?" Hotch asked as he stopped it.
"The people she sleeps with I'm assuming." Spencer suggested.
"No, it's bigger than that now. She's lumping Hotch in with the lawyers." I said.
"So maybe it's anyone in a position of power who could cover this up. Cover her up." Emily added.
"The purity ring you found- you said it was tiny?" Rossi asked.
"Only a little girl could wear it." Derek replied.
"She wouldn't buy that for herself. It was a gift. Maybe she's talking about her father." Rossi said back.
"Well, if her father is anything like these men, he probably walked out on her, too." I said.
"Okay, so, you're rich, you decide to start sleeping with men who are like your father to get back at them. How do you go about finding clients?" Emily asked.
"Could she have started with the service?" JJ asked.
"She wouldn't need to. The madam says that she trains these girls how to act around these men. This unsub already knows how to do that." Spencer said.
"She said something else, too. She said that your client list was like your 401K. You sell it when you retire. So maybe our unsub bought her client list from another call girl." Emily suggested.
We knew where to look now.
—
Hotch went back to the woman that told him about the madam. She gave us a woman named Katherine. Megan Kane bought her list. Her father was one of her regulars.
We dug up everything we could on Megan Kane and it all made sense. Her parents divorced because of Katherine and the only reason Megan bought it was because she wanted no one else to.
Andrew Kane, her father, booked a room at a hotel to talk to his daughter. We went undercover in the lobby. Emily and I sat down at a table together to have a drink while Rossi sat at the bar.
We didn't see anyone at all come through the hotel.
The room he booked was a lie. They could be anywhere now.
We stormed out of the hotel and figured out the one they're actually at.
After a while of looking, we found her.
She was very sweet to Hotch. She took the poison she gave her clinets and killed herself. I normally don't feel bad for unsubs, but she always got the short end of the stick. I felt for her.
These cases are exhausting.