IT TOOK A LOT FOR US TO FEEL NORMAL AGAIN. We are all still reeling from Foyet. It wasn't easy for us to accept the ending.
Hotch was back. I couldn't help but feel like we had to walk on eggshells around him. He claims he's fine but I know he wouldn't tell us otherwise. I was just happy he's back and in charge. I love Derek, but I know him too well to communicate with him as my superior.
Emily and I were doing really well in treating this in a healthy way. One thing we do try to do is be as open as we can with each other without crossing boundaries. Sometimes I forget I'm an adult and have to handle things the right way.
We also have a lot of sex. That releases a lot of pent up aggression and anger. It's very therapeutic in a way.
Sometimes I find myself looking at her and feeling so overwhelmed by the fact she even exists. She's just...beautiful.
Now is one of those moments. We were sitting in the conference room waiting for JJ to start and I couldn't help but just stare at her. Her beauty is so overpowering.
JJ started and I was pulled out of my thoughts. A picture was on the screen of a woman dressed in very old clothing with her hair done up. The only way I could describe it was doll-like. She was found on a carousel. "Rita Stuart, 25, second victim found in Atlantic City."
"Pretty public place for a dump site." Rossi muttered.
"You know, technically, I think it would qualify more as a disposal site. You don't leave a body on a merry-go-round out of convenience." Spencer pointed out.
"He took some time with her appearance, didn't he?" Emily let out. I nodded at that.
"Yeah. Her nails were polished, her hair was cut, her clothes were brand new." JJ replied.
"Wants her to look her best when found. That's a lot of remorse." I spoke.
"Who is victim number one?" Hotch asked.
"Stacia Jackson, 29. She was found at a local playground." JJ let out and pulled up another picture of another woman. This woman was black.
"A change in victimology." Rossi pointed out.
"What's the connection between these women?" Hotch asked.
"There is none. Rita was married, Stacia was single. Rita worked at a diner, Stacia was a corporate lawyer. According to their credit cards, they never came within 10 miles of each other." JJ replied.
"Both women were taken 2 months ago?" Hotch asked.
"Yeah, they lived such completely different lives, the police didn't tie their abduction together until now." JJ replied. That's a long time to keep this women.
"Was there any evidence of sexual assault?" Spencer asked.
"There was no evidence of violence of any kind." JJ replied. That's odd. What the hell was this unsub doing with them for 2 months?
"So how did they die?" Emily asked.
"Rita had a stroke, Stacia had a brain hemorrhage." JJ replied. Well, that's different.
"Look at this, the unsub gave them a battery of drugs- atracurium, doxacurium. These are neural inhibitors. They block signals from the brain to the muscles." Spencer told us. That explains the cause of death.
"He put them in medical comas for 2 months." JJ spoke.
"Actually, they weren't in a coma. You'd need a phenobarbital to keep them unconscious, and they didn't have that." Spencer replied.
Oh my god. "So, wait a minute, these victims were paralyzed but they were still conscious?" I asked. I can't even imagine the torture they must've endured.
"They could open their eyes, hear, probably could even feel stimulation." Spencer told me.
"Physical immobility but mental awareness. This unsub wants total domination over them." Rossi spoke.
"And he turns their bodies into prisons to do it." Hotch finished. I was beside myself with this case.
—
On the jet, we went over what we had a little more.
"Keeping women in a conscious paralysis reads as sadism." Rossi said.
"Definitely dehumanizing, reducing them to objects." Derek added.
"But there's nothing else about this profile that takes us down that path." Rossi said. He's right. It's so odd.
"These women were found in excellent condition. There was no evidence of bed sores, they were well fed through an I.V." JJ said.
"If he has access to I.V.s and drugs- he almost certainly has medical training." Spencer added.
"Are we sure this is a he?" Emily asked. That's what I was thinking. A man wouldn't care about the condition these women are in.
I piggy-backed off of her. "The care this unsub shows these victims, although they are dehumanized, it profiles as female."
"What about the postmortem posing? That's a lot of dead weight for a woman to carry." Hotch asked.
"These women are petite. They're under 100 pounds." JJ replied.
"Alright, if we reconsider the gender of the profile, what changes?" Hotch then asked.
"Nothing. If anything, it fits better." Derek said.
"Men kill to fulfill a sexual compulsion. Women don't." Rossi added.
"You see this in angel of mercy killers, like Genene Jones and Amy Archer. They didn't care about race or hair color. It's men that do." Spencer pointed out.
"Damn, straight. Men do." Garcia said from the computer. She dyed her hair red. She looks amazing.
"Well, hello red. Look at you. Guys." Derek said and gestured for all of us to look at the computer.
"Wow, get it P." I smiled.
"Garcia, what did you find out about the clothing the unsub's dressing the victims in?" Hotch asked not a second after we all complimented Pen's hair.
"At first only that both garments were made from chiffon, but with the wonder twin powers of the Atlantic City police and my impeccable eye for fashion, we have also determined that these garments fit ridiculously well. They're supper flattering to each victim's exact measurements, kind of exactly like the unsub whipped them up herself."
"Maybe that's what connects the victims." Emily spoke in realization.
"How so?" Hotch asked.
"Maybe she isn't just killing petite women because they're easier to abduct and pose but because of a physical type. She wants a body type." Emily explained. She's so smart.
"Sewing clothes for a specific size of woman." Derek added.
"Please tell me she is not killing these women because she needs human models. I mean, there's gotta be more to it than that." JJ let out.
"There probably is but at least we have a start on the victimology." Rossi replied.
"Prentiss and Morgan, I want you to interview the victims' families. Talk to them about lifestyle choices. Any body image issues these women might have had. Reid and Parks, go to Rita Stuarts' autopsy. See if any drugs point to any specific medial training the unsub might have had. Dave and I will go to the disposal sites. And Garcia?"
"Sir."
"I want you to check missing person reports for the last 2 months. See if any abductions match what we know. We need to find out if the unsub's already taken another victim." Hotch finished.
Let's get started.
__
At the medical examiners office, we got started right away.
"Once I have the knees bent, I can get leverage under her. Normally, an assistant helps me. But I can do it myself if I need to." She showed us her lifting the dead woman's body. If she can do it, and she's a bit older, a woman much younger than her can too.
"I'm assuming the unsub would have this training, too. Let me ask you this- is there anything specific about it?" Spencer asked.
"No, any caregiver out there can do this- docs, nurses, orderlies."
"Where do you think she's getting the drugs that she's using? Do you think she could be manipulating a doctor to a pharmacist, maybe?" I suggested.
"He'd be criminally negligent if she was."
"But it is possible. I mean, doctors order things through residents, nurses forge signatures, prescriptions fall through cracks." I continued.
"That's a lot of drugs and a lot of cracks. She keeps these women paralyzed for 2 months." She replied. She has a point.
"Your report said both of them had hair extensions clipped in." Spencer started.
"Yes, to hide the fact that clumps of their real hair had fallen out." She replied.
"But if they were fed through I.V.s, that wasn't from malnutrition, right?"
"You see this in a lot of bedridden patients. Loss of motor function. Especially in a young women like this."
"Of course. Psychic shock. Yeah, the mental effects take a physical toll. One last question- in your professional opinion, do you think the hair extensions were clipped on before or after death?" Spencer then asked.
"Before." She said with no hesitation.
"And you seem pretty certain of that?" I asked.
"You know the old wives' tale about your hair and nails growing after death. What's really happening is that dehydration is shrinking your skin, pulling it back. Based on where she put these extensions, they were definitely still alive."
These women are living a nightmare.
—
Back at the station, Spencer and I were in a room with Hotch and Rossi.
"Now, we know this unsub is stuck in a rich fantasy, right? An incredibly detailed delusion. We don't know what the delusion is, but we know that it involves remaking these women, and it begins the moment she has them drugged." Spencer started.
"So, she has them paralyzed and she can do whatever she wants, why is she killing them?" Hotch asked. I don't think she means to. I think it just happens.
"I don't think she means to. The brain is a machine designed to respond to stimuli. If you keep the brain awake but the body immobile, it breaks down, loses its hair. After 2 months, it eventually strokes out." I paused. "Spencer taught me the first part." I smiled. Spencer let out a soft smile and nod. I could see Hotch was trying to hide his smile.
"So death isn't the unsub's goal. It's an unfortunate side effect." Rossi added.
"Exactly." I nodded.
Emily and Derek walked in now.
"What'd you find?" Hotch asked.
"Both Rita Stuart and Stacia Jackson were clothes hounds, but because they were petite women, they had a lot of their stuff altered." Derek said.
"Could be how our unsub is finding her victims. She gets her hands on their measurements." Emily added.
"But we already exhausted tailors and alteration shops. There's no overlap." Derek let out.
"The tailors might send specialty items out to third parties. Dig deep into employment records and see who they might be subcontracting to." Hotch replied.
JJ came into the room telling us that Garcia needs to talk to us. Hotch answered the phone.
"Hello, my pretties. I have finished my missing person sweep. I've got nothing on the medical vehicle, but 2 new matches on the clothes make the woman front. Cindy Admundson. She was abducted outside a thrift store, and Maxine Wynan was last seen at the Hillridge Mall."
"That sounds like our girl." Derek let out. Indeed, it does.
"Any surveillance footage at the mall?" Rossi asked.
"No, it was an outside parking lot. So sorry."
"The new abductees- what's their physical type?" Hotch asked.
"They look pretty tiny to me. I'm gonna send you pictures. Also, if it pleases the court, I would like to direct your attention to exhibit A, the calendar map."
"What about it?" I asked.
"Both of these new victims were abducted one week ago, exactly one day before the bodies of Rita Stuart and Stacia Jackson, respectively, turned up."
"She doesn't let a body go until she has a replacement." Hotch spoke.
__
In our hotel, Emily was walking around in nothing but her bra and underwear and my eyes were peeled to her. She does this on purpose. She knows the effect she has on me.
I decided to do the same thing. See what I can do to her.
Emily's favorite color on me is purple. I'm not sure why. She said it always made my green eyes pop. I threw on my light purple lace bra with a pair of lace panties. I had to get dressed for the day anyway so it wasn't completely out of the blue.
I walked out of bed into the bathroom to brush my teeth. She was in there doing her hair. As soon as she saw me, her eyes lit up and she let out a smirk.
"Whatcha doing?" She asked a little suggestively.
"Brushing my teeth." I replied, like it was obvious.
"Mmm." She hummed. She set down her straighter and stood behind me. She snaked her arms around my waist and started kissing up my neck.
"What are you doing?" I let out.
"Showing my girl how much I love her." She murmured against my neck.
I wasn't anticipating it turning out this way but I am in no way angry.
I smirked and turned my head to kiss her. She smiled into it. She steadied her hands on my hips and turned me to face her. I jumped up on the sink and opened my legs for her get closer. She was standing in between my legs and kissing me like her life depended on it.
As this was about to go a step further, my phone rang.
"You've got to be kidding me." I let out. She giggled.
"Parks." I spoke as I answered it. She kept silently kissing down my neck. She was going to be the death of me.
"It's Hotch. There was another body found. I'm sending you and Prentiss to check it out."
"Okay, we'll be there soon." I strained and quickly hung up. I looked at Emily who had the biggest grin on her face. She then pulled away with a final kiss and finished getting ready.
She was wearing an all black suit that covered her curves in all the right ways. God, I am so lucky.
At the scene, the detective met us there. "Victim is Mary Newsome. Abducted 2 months ago. She was found on this bench first thing this morning."
We inspected the body. She looks exactly like the other girls, just blonde. "Okay, well it looks like her style. It's chiffon, and it's sewn to fit." Emily let out.
"If she's disposed of this body, it means she's recently taken a new victim." I let out.
"We'll call Hotch, we'll comb through missing persons reports from the last 48 hours." Emily let out.
"I'll start pulling them." The detective replied and walked away.
I got real close to her hair and noticed this wasn't extensions.
"What?" Emily asked.
"These aren't hair extensions."
"Maybe her hair was too brittle." Emily suggested.
"Maybe, I don't know." I let out and got closer. "You know what? This is a wig. It's synthetic hair." I said and I wiggled the hair around with my pen. I pulled back to reveal blood. "Look at this." It was sewn into her scalp.
"Are those stitches?" Emily asked.
"On her scalp. She sewed this in." I let out.
This is getting more morbid by the second.
—
We found out who the missing girl was. Penny Wallace. She never came home from the dry cleaners where she stopped to pick up some clothes.
The pictures of everyone missing matched with the others. One black woman and one white woman.
This unsub is a collector. It was time to give the profile.
"The unsub we're looking for is a woman. She's a collector. It's a psychopathology similar to hoarding." Hotch started.
"So, when we say collector, we're not talking about stamps or baseball cards. It's not what your kids, or even you, might pursue as a normal hobby." Rossi continued.
"This is an attachment to objects that's become obsessive, by someone who is antisocial and extremely introverted." Hotch added.
"These people attach a part of themselves to their collection. If you try to separate them from it or take it away from them, they will react violently, even psychotically." I continued.
"They've suffered damage to their prefrontal cortex. That's the part of the brain that regulates basic freudian fantasy/reality. They can still function, like drive a car, go to work, even do their taxes." Spencer said.
"In fact, she excels at goal-oriented jobs, like the precision of sewing or the details of abduction." Derek added.
"But they've lost their ability to categorize the difference between the living and the dead, belonging and loss. That has been irreparably destroyed." Emily said.
"So, what's she collecting, women?" The detective asked.
"Actually, we think she's collecting dolls." Rossi replied.
"Technically, replacing them. We believe that she lost the originals sometime within the last three months, and this is what served as the stressor." Spencer replied.
"She searched for a replacement, and when she couldn't find them, she started abducting the closest possible surrogate." I added.
"Women of different ethnicities but of similar physicality." Emily spoke.
"The drug-induced paralysis is part of the fantasy. She puts her victims in a position where they can't talk back so she can fetishize them like the objects she's lost." Derek added.
"Uh...look, I respect your analysis, but this woman kidnapped 6 women and killed three of them. And you're telling us this is about dolls?" The detective asked.
"This unsub stitched a wig onto the scalp of her latest victim. It's a techniques used to attach hair to porcelain dolls." I said.
"And keep in mind, collectors and serial killers do share certain traits. A lot of serial killers take trophies, attaching the same significance to them that this collector does to object." Emily added.
"But this unsub's intent isn't violence. She needs the collection to be complete so she can feel in control of her life, probably to overcome some trauma she's experienced." Rossi replied.
"She really only feels that control when the collection is complete, which is why she's treating any abcuction pattern with living victims. If she loses a doll, or in this case, if she loses a woman who represents a doll, she has to replace it." Spencer let out.
"This woman works alone. We know she has medical training. Look for nurse's aides or orderlies who were fired for a lack of social graces. She can't fake a bedside manner." Hotch spoke.
"We believe she's currently working as a tailor or a seamstress, and were following those leads now. But do let us know if you notice any overlap in your suspect pools. Thank you." Emily concluded.
—
We exhausted a lot of different avenues. Collector shops, seamstresses...Nothing.
Although a collector referred us to a specific line of dolls. We figured out this unsub had to have been at this for a long time which would explain the specific pattern of sewing. It was all done by hand.
The brand the dolls were from a contest to design a doll with an essay to be featured in the next line. When it didn't go over well because of the detailed accounts of sexual and physical abuse, the essays were handed over to the police. We're assuming the unsub submitted an essay so we were combing through them now. Well, Spencer and Derek were. Emily and I were inspecting dolls and the outfits created.
JJ came over to see how we were doing.
"Hey. These dolls are all like little time capsules, only the eighties fashion wasn't so kind to them." I let out when I saw her.
"I'm surprised how many little girls knew how to make shoulder pads." Emily added.
"How's it going on your end?" Spencer asked JJ.
"I got a list of vendors the victims went to- tailors, seamstresses, that sort of thing." JJ let out.
Emily noticed one of the dolls and showed it to JJ. "You said something about a handkerchief hem, right?" Emily said and showed it to her.
"That's exactly like what she sews for her victims."
"What's the name on the entry?" Spencer asked.
"Samantha Malcom." Emily replied.
"She's on my list." JJ added.
"Wait a minute, guys. I have her essay around her somewhere." Derek said and pulled out her essay. He began to read it to us. "Sally doesn't like the room with the lightning....That can't be good."
Nope.
We got this to Garcia immeaditely and pulled up some information.
"Okay, guys, I just got Samantha Malcom's medical records, and...oh my god, she was doomed. Like Emily Bronte doomed, like Shakespeare doomed, like red-shirted ensign in "Star Trek" doomed."
"Garcia, what happened to her?" Hotch pressed.
"Well, for the first 10 years, nothing, and then she started a battery of electroshock treatments."
"At 10? Who subjected a child to ECT?" I let out.
"That would be her father, Dr. Arthur Malcom. He runs an inpatient mental health facility for troubled young people called New Lives. At first, the essay that Samantha wrote raised some flags, but her father explained that the therapy was to deal with the recent death of her mother. After that, he started her on a serious regime of anti-psychotic drugs, which he weaned her off of a few years ago."
"It explains her familiarity with medication." JJ muttered. I'd say.
"Where is she now?" Emily asked.
"Uh, her father declared her incompetent, so he's still the legal guardian. Everything is in his name. And all of her records lists New Lives as her residence."
"She couldn't keep victims in an inpatient facility. She needs privacy." Rossi replied.
"Garcia, what about real estate holdings in her father's name?" Hotch asked.
"Just his own. But New Lives has a bunch of outpatient and halfway houses all over town."
"JJ, where does she work?" Hotch asked.
"I have her places at 3 different shops around town." JJ replied.
"Okay, let's split up and cover the shops end." Hotch spoke.
"I want to go to New Lives. Whether or not she's there, I want to talk to the father. There are literally hundreds of therapies to help kids through loss. Electroshock is just not one of them." I went on. I was really bothered by this. He set her up for failure.
"Take Rossi." Hotch replied and I nodded.
I hate daddy dearests who think they know the best thing for their child.
__
Rossi and I approached the New Lives building and went straight to Arthur. When we explained why we were here, he played dumb.
"I am very confused, Agents. What does this have to do with Samantha?" He asked. How about the fact you fried her brain at the ripe age of 10 years old?
"We need to talk to her. Is she here?" Rossi asked.
"No, she's at work."
"Does she live here or did you move her into one of your halfway houses?" Rossi followed up with.
"As a matter of fact, she is in one of my houses."
"Well, we'll need the address." I stated.
"And I'll need to know what this is about." He stated. I looked to Rossi before gallivanting around the room.
"She might be tied to a series of abductions."
"That's not possible. It's not my daughter." He replied. Oh, but it is.
"Is Samantha on her own at this house? There are no other patients, right?" Rossi asked.
"She thought that it was best, and I agreed."
"Yeah, but let's face it- you're happy she's out of your hair." Rossi said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Because if you had been visiting her recently, doctor, you would know what she's been doing."
"Samantha has always been troubled." He said. That's because he made her that way. She doesn't know any better.
"3 women are dead because of her." Rossi raised his voice.
"She's not capable of that."
"Are you certain? I mean, the effects of electroshock, especially at that age, are permanent. But maybe you knew that." Rossi revealed. Here we go.
"My wife died when Samantha was 10, and she never recovered. I tried everything. Child psychiatry, pet therapy, nothing helped. She was cutting herself. She was in pain. That's the end of this meeting." He went on. I was still looking around the room. It was pretty interesting.
"Where's your daughter, doctor?" Rossi exclaimed.
"And Agent Rossi, if you try to talk to her, a mentally ill woman, without her knowing what she's doing-" He tried but he cut her off.
"Do you know about the women she's keeping?" Rossi butted in.
"And have no medical or legal counsel present, you'll have no case. Do you understand me? None." He continued.
"We'll keep the police here in case Samantha drops in for a visit. Let's go, Parks."
No, I wasn't ready.
"Hey, really fast question. Why are these toys here?" I asked and pointed at the toys behind him. I knew exactly what they were.
"I use them in my therapy."
"No, I understand that, but why are they way up on this shelf, away from where any kids can actually reach them?"
"They're reminders of patients that I've helped." Bullshit.
I grabbed a toy. "Let me ask you something. What was the name of the girl you helped with this one?"
"Jenny Larson." He said after a moment.
"Hmm. And this one? What was the name of the girl you helped with this one?" I asked and set another toy on his desk.
"Abagail Moore."
I did the same thing. "How about this one?"
"Linda Krauss."
"These girls are what, they're like 9 or 12 years old, I'm assuming?" I asked.
"My Ph.D. is on the effect of trauma on prepubescent girls. I do not appreciate what you're implying." He spoke hardly at me. Here's the thing. I've been through exactly what I'm implying.
"Oh, my bad. Let me be more forward. Based from the toys and the placement of them, I can infer you are participating in some...extracurricular activities aside from your trauma treatment. Instead, you cause more trauma for the prepubescent girls you are "certified" to work with. It started with you raping your daughter and in and effort to keep her quiet, you submitted her to electroshock treatment." I paused.
"This is outrageous."
"Oh, I'm not finished, doctor. Then out of guilt, you bought her toys, more specifically you bought her a line of dolls. Because that's what serial molesters do. They give gifts. So you continued the pattern with your other patients, and then once they left your care, you added their toys to your collection."
"I'm sorry, you can't back up your story, Agent." He sneered. Oh, but I can.
"This is why I love my job, doctor. You underestimate my abilities. You see, I am an experienced member of the FBI and well respected by judges and lawyers around the globe. Say this goes to trial, and it will if you choose not to cooperate, in jury of your peers, the D.A. will put Jenny Larson, Abagail Moore, and Linda Krauss on the stand, and I'm going to personally bring these toys in, and we're going to watch how they react." I said as I sat my ass on his desk, making sure to knock things down. The look on his face was priceless.
"Or you could tell us where your daughter is and we'll tell the D.A. you cooperated. But once we walk out this door, that deal comes off the table." Rossi finished for me. He turned to me and I gave a smirk.
We began to walk out the door before he let out, defeated, "2529 Adams Street. You'll tell them right? That I cooperated."
"You want to know how I figured you out? Those toys, you take care of them. These ones you treasured. But you know what? The collections' not complete. Where are they?" I asked.
He took the dolls his daughter has been recreating.
__
We got the dolls and headed to the location. I went in first to see three girls sitting at a table with Samantha standing near them.
"Hi. My name's Delia. I'm with the FBI. I know what your father did to you, and I want you to know that he can never hurt you again." I paused and took a look at her holding scissors to one of the girls throats. "You see, my father did some...unspeakable things to me, too. I never forgot it but I find comfort knowing he can never lay a finger on me again."
"He never touched me. He's a good father. He loves me." She said quickly.
"I know that he probably forced you to say those things, and he punished you if you got it wrong. Sent you to the room with lightning."
Her features softened. "Yeah." She whispered.
"The dolls that your father gave you after he hurt you, what would happen to them?" I asked.
"He kept them in his office with the other toys." She choked out. My heart breaks for her.
"That's where he let you play with them?" I asked.
"But when I moved out, I had to take my friends with me. I couldn't leave them behind." She said innocently.
"Of course. And so you went to get them. What did you find?" I asked. She couldn't answer. "He gave them to another girl, didn't he?"
"Mhm." She nodded.
"Do you want them back?" I asked.
"He said I couldn't. He said they were gone for good."
"He lied. He's been lying to you for a long time. Do you want to see them?" I asked.
"Can I?"
"Yeah, of course. Do you want to play with them?" I asked. She set down the scissors and left the girls alone. I gave her the suitcase of the dolls. She opened them and saw her dolls completely in perfect condition. She was thrilled.
I quickly turned around to speak into my watch. "Clear, we need medical in here."
Soon enough, everyone came in. I was looking at the girl reuniting with her dolls. Cases like these break my heart because they were so mentally ill, they didn't know they were doing anything wrong. It's like she was programmed this way.
They were about to cuff her but I stopped them for a moment. I leant down to her again.
"Hey, Samantha? Listen, you need to go with these men, but your friends can go with you, okay?"
"They won't take them away?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
"I promise no one will ever take them away again." I said to her. She kissed her dolls and put it back in the suitcase. With that, they brought her out.
Rossi approached me. "Well done, Agent Parks."
"Thanks." I let out a soft smile. I feel content knowing she's going to get the help she needs and three lives we saved. Probably many more now that the man who caused this is gone for good.
__
On the jet, Emily rested her head on my shoulder.
"Rossi was telling us earlier you handled the case really well." She whispered to me lovingly.
"I felt for her." I shrugged.
She just nuzzled into my shoulder more. "My hero." She whispered.
I kissed the top of her head before her and I drifted off into a soft, much needed nap.