ROSIE WAS GETTING ALONG WITH THE TEAM SO WELL. It made Emily and I feel so much better that she had other people here who love her. She's not used to a support system like this. I'm just thrilled we could provide her with what she never had.
Tara was back from her research. Emily and I walked into the office and saw her.
"Delia! Emily! It's so nice to see you guys again!" She exclaimed happily. That woman is so smart. I love working with her.
"It's good to see you!"
"Are you guys back for good?" She asked us. That was still to be determined. I kinda miss our life back in London but I do have to say, it's more eventful here.
"Right now, it's still temporary." Emily replied. Tara nodded.
"Well, either way, it's a pleasure to work with you guys again." She paused. "And you're going to have to tell me all about Rosie."
"Oh, you're gonna love her." I smiled.
We had to put this conversation on pause and move into the conference room. There's a case.
Rosie has been doing well with Emily and I not being home all the time. JJ gave Will the rundown and he's on standby if she needs anything. And of course, Penelope. She's said multiple times that Rosie can come chill in her office while we're away on a case. Rosie is a self-sufficient girl. Despite everything she's gone through, she has a good head on her shoulders.
Rossi walked into the conference room. "Hotch is still away on TDY but he's available for consulting if we need it."
I miss Hotch. It's not the same without him here.
"Okay, for those of us who kvetch about our AM commute, this will put it in perspective. This AM, a Virginia state trooper discovered a bag of dismembered body parts. They were with a homeless man's belongings. That homeless man then fled into the mountains." Garcia said and pulled up a map.
At first I was happy the case was local. Then, I saw just how "local" in the map.
"The Appalachian trail." I muttered.
And then, it felt familiar because we had a case in that area 6 years ago. It was not pretty. Spencer, JJ, Rossi, Emily and I all shared a look.
"Am I missing something?" Luke asked.
"We had a case in the same general area 6 years ago. The unsub was never caught." Spencer replied.
"That guy was a pedophile. Do the body parts in Virginia belong to a child?" Rossi asked.
"They do not." Garcia replied. That's a plus.
"If there's a silver lining in this, that would qualify." JJ muttered.
"The trail does have some history. In the early 1980's, Randall Lee Smith killed two hikers there. He served 15 years, got released, then went back to the exact same spot and tried to kill 2 more people." Spencer explained.
"Maybe there's something in the water." Rossi let out. I'd say.
"Saving body parts is like collecting souvenirs, right?" Luke asked.
"That's one possibility. It could also be a forensic countermeasure." Emily replied.
"Or he's keeping them as trophies." JJ added.
"Well, homeless people often suffer from crippling mental illness. I mean, is it possible he stumbled across the body and then collected the limbs?" Tara suggested.
"You mean like a hoarder." Rossi spoke.
"Yeah, maybe." Tara replied.
"Compulsive irrational gathering of objects is a common psychosis among the long-term homeless." Spencer added.
"Flushing people out of terrain like this is tough. I mean like really tough. We all know that Eric Rudolph evaded capture in this same wilderness for over 5 years." Luke said.
Rossi got a message on his phone. "Preliminary M.E. report. The body parts came from at least 5 different victims."
"Well, that settles that. The unsub didn't stumble upon anything. He's serial." I let out and rubbed my head.
"This happened less than 90 miles away. It'll be quicker to drive." Emily spoke.
"Our local M.E. isn't equipped to handle all this, so the body parts are being sent to the coroner here. Prentiss and Parks, head out there. The rest of us will set up at the crime scene." Rossi instructed. We nodded and went on our way.
—
The coroner's office was a mess of various decomposing body parts.
"5 victims. 4 male, 1 female, all Caucasian." The doctor started.
"It makes sense his victim pool would skew male. Men are more likely to go into a remote area alone." Emily spoke.
"The fact that he also killed a woman suggests the unsub doesn't have a preference at all. These are victims of opportunity. Any estimates on their ages?" I went on.
"Well, the men are 40 to 50. Female was younger. Early to mid 20s." The doctor replied. That makes this so much harder.
"We'll run DNA, see if we get any hits. It's a long shot, but we might get lucky." Emily said.
I leaned in closer to the dismembered body parts. It was messy. "The limbs don't appear to be removed with any skill or precision."
"They weren't. It was a hatchet job, literally." The doctor replied.
"What about cause of death? I mean, granted, being hacked into pieces would do the trick, but..." Emily trailed off.
"You know, without the full corpse it's almost impossible to tell. And the tox screen on the female showed no drugs or poison in her system." The doctor replied.
"Do we know how long ago they were killed?" I asked.
"Difficult to pinpoint given the exposure to the elements. But one set of limbs was a lot older than the others. Almost a year, year and a half. Best guess on the other 3 males, 8 months, 5 months, 2 months. Female remains were the freshest. Recent as a week." She explained and went down the line of the remains.
"So he killed one victim and then fell dormant for a while." I let out.
"But he's back to it with a vengeance. His rate of kills is accelerating." Emily spoke.
So, we have a devolving serial killer who fancies a hatchet. What more could a girl ask for?
—
Well, they sent out the dogs and found more remains.
Emily and I stayed back at the BAU in case we got any word there was a discovery close to here. We went in Garcia's office.
Her machines were moving slower than I'd like. Emily and I were growing inpatient.
"Can this go any faster?" Emily exclaimed. We were trying to get the ID's on the victims.
"No. I've got the RPMs going at full tilt." Garcia replied as she ate her ice cream.
I sighed. "All this hardware to track down a guy living in the woods." I muttered.
"You ever wonder what it would be like to be out there in nature all by yourself, you curious?" Garcia asked. Not really.
"No, I'm a city girl. Taxi rides and martinis." Emily replied.
"What she said." I replied as I stuck a spoon into Garcia's ice cream.
"Yeah, me too, but think about it. Out there all alone, dark, peaceful, just zone out. Must be what a tanning bed is like. Not that I know what a tanning bed is like, but-" Garcia started to say but her computer beeped. "That's it."
"What's it?" I asked frantically and looked at her screens. Please tell me we got something.
"Uh, Kylie Fleming, 24 years old, Corvallis, Oregon. That's what the K.F. on the backpack must have been." Garcia spoke as she pulled up more information. Some of the body parts were found in a backpack with K.F. on it. "Her parents reported her missing to the National Parks Department six days ago."
"The M.E. said the female remains were about a week old." Emily let out.
"She had a cellphone on her. She texted her parents saying she accidentally saw something scary on the trail and she was getting off as soon as she could. But that's the last they heard from her." Garcia said as she showed us the text message.
"Well, are there any other specifics or location or what it is was she saw?" I asked.
"No, there aren't. Oh, this is scary. Thank god we cleared all the other hikers out the area." Garcia let out.
"Don't break out the confetti just yet. We damned the river, but the unsub won't stop fishing. He'll just look for victims somewhere else." Emily muttered.
—
When we got the call that they got the unsub in custody, I was surprised. They brought him here for processing and a psych eval. He's not speaking anything coherent.
Rossi told us he got one more victim before we got to him. We needed to get something out of him.
Tara was in interrogation with him. Emily and I walked into the room outside the interrogation to look through the window. Luke was already there.
"What's the word?" I asked.
"Two words, actually. 'Lost dog'. That's why he was stealing the food. He was trying to lure his pet back." Luke replied.
Tara came out to join us. "Brick wall. I mean, the guy's name is Todd. That's all I was able to get out of him. He's too fixated on that dog."
"Rossi says he managed to get one more victim before we got him. And we don't know if he's dead or alive. We gotta get this guy to talk. Quick." Tara muttered.
"Let me take a shot." I let out. Tara nodded.
I walked into the interrogation room and sat down across him. This man was a ball of anxiety. He was tapping his foot and he looked like he was about to explode.
"Hello, Todd. My name is Delia. Delia Parks." I spoke.
"He'll starve out there all alone. Dogs can't take care of themself. They're not like other animals. They depend on us." Todd spoke.
"I don't know, dogs are pretty resourceful." I said, trying to ease his mind.
"Something could kill him. Something wild up in them mountains." Todd said, looking anywhere but my eyes.
"Have you seen things being killed up in the mountains?" I asked.
He didn't answer that. Probably because he's the one doing the killing. "He needs food and water. You need to let me go. If I'm not there, he'll starve."
"What's your dog's name?" I asked.
"Cormac." He answered hesitantly. That's...a name, alright.
"That's an unusual name for a pet. Did you name him that?" I asked.
"No."
"Who did?"
"Always been Cormac." Was all he said.
"So tell me more. Is Cormac big or small?" I asked.
"Small first, then big."
"Not a puppy then." I said.
He shook his head. "No. I mean, uh...I don't know. Younger than me." He replied. I took a deep sigh.
"You had some things in your bag, Todd. I think you know what I'm talking about. Can you tell me about that?" I went on.
He shook his head frantically. "I left food out for him. I put it on a plate. Without food and water, he'll die."
He's just going to keep repeating the same things about the dog.
We went back and forth a little while longer before Luke peeked his head in.
"I'm sorry, Todd. I'll be right back." I said before walking out.
When I walked out, I saw Luke with a dog.
"Oh, what's this?" I asked and shared eyes with him and Emily.
"This is my dog Roxy. Our guy's looking for a dog, right? Well, here you go. Let's see if Roxy can break up this logjam." He spoke. Why not? What do we have left to lose?
I watched Luke go in there with his dog while Emily and I stood outside.
Todd tensed up right away. "It's not Cormac."
"Are you sure? Come on, take a close look. See if that's your dog." Luke replied.
"It's not Cormac!" Todd yelled. Okay, then.
"Okay, Todd. Alright, I believe you. I just thought maybe it was, that's all. Does that dog look like Cormac?" Luke asked softer.
"No."
"Alright, well don't worry. We found this one. We'll find Cormac." Luke assured. Roxy put his head on Todd's lap. "It's a good looking dog, though, right?"
Todd turned his whole body away from the dog. Luke and Roxy came out of the room. I bent down and pet her head. I've always wanted a dog.
"Did you guys notice his body language with the dog?" Luke asked.
"Hard to miss. He didn't want that dog anywhere near him." Emily replied.
"I don't know why. This dog is so cute." I said in my puppy voice and played with Roxy. She was a beautiful dog.
"Did we check the leash he had for canine DNA?" Luke asked.
"I don't think so." Emily replied.
"We'd better. 100 bucks says there's nothing on it." Luke replied. I'm just so confused about it. I don't think this has to do with a dog.
"I know. This whole dog business is in his head. It's a delusion. But I still think Cormac is real. Think about what Todd said. He was small, then big. Younger than him. Named by somebody else." I went on.
"He's talking about a person." Luke spoke. I nodded.
"Probably someone he grew up with." Emily added.
"A family member could elicit that level of devotion, huh? A little brother, maybe." Luke suggested.
"Okay, sit tight. I'm gonna get Garcia on this." Emily said and walked out. I stayed petting Roxy.
Garcia confirmed Cormac is Todd's little brother. Not a dog. Their mother basically drank herself to death and their father regularly beat both of the boys. He died about a year ago from a heart attack.
Cormac was last seen 14 months ago, when the first John Doe was killed. Come to find out, Cormac could be Todd's first victim.
—
Emily and I were sitting at our desks with a cup of coffee. I did not miss staying awake for all of these hours. Emily texted Rosie to tell her we wouldn't be home till later and she could come to the office if she didn't want to be alone. Rossi offered her the couch in his office. She declined but said she would next time.
Rossi told us about Spencer's mom. I guess she was found wandering a casino in Vegas near the facility she stays in. She didn't know how she got there or who she was. Spencer was leaving for Vegas tomorrow.
Spencer came by our desks and dropped off an evidence bag.
"I heard about your mom. Spencer, I'm so sorry." I said sincerely.
"That's okay. Luckily, this clinical trial at John Hopkins is happening right in time." Spencer replied. That's right, his mom got accepted as a participant. He was thrilled about that. I'm happy for him.
Luke stopped into the office. "I'm headed to the crime scene, alright? He's all yours." He said to us. Lovely. Just how I wanted to spend my night. Interrogating a homeless serial killer named Todd. Luke then turned his attention to Spencer. "We're thinking of Todd doing that to Cormac?"
"Timeline works out." Spencer replied.
"Brother against brother. That's tough." Luke let out.
"Well, according to the Bible, fratricide was the first type of murder ever committed." Spencer explained.
Luke's face tuned up. "That's interesting. Um, anywhow, he's as clear-headed as he's been. I'd jump on it." He said to us.
I sighed and nodded.
Emily stood up and brought Spencer in for a hug. I did the same.
"We'll talk later, okay?" Emily assured before her and I went back to Todd's interrogation room.
Some days, I just want to forcibly shake these people and demand they talk. It's exhausting sitting there and talking in circles.
I walked in with the evidence bag and sat down across from him again. He was facing the side wall.
"What do you say? Let's find Cormac together." I spoke.
"I don't want to talk about him anymore." Todd said. That's all he wanted to talk about earlier.
"Why not? Are you angry with him?" I asked.
"No."
"It's okay if you are." I let out.
"Well, I'm not." He raised his voice.
"Did Cormac bite you? Is that why you're angry?" I asked. He didn't reply.
I reached into the evidence bag and pulled out a muzzle he used on the victims.
"We found this among your things." I said and pushed it toward him. Something in Todd changed. He started crying. His mind went somewhere else for a moment. "Okay, alright, what's going on? Where did you go just now?" I asked.
"He made us live like pigs. In mud." Todd choked out. Here we go.
"Who did?" I asked.
"Daddy." He sneered.
"How long?" I asked.
"All night. Till it was time for the slaughter." He revealed. He was still crying. I was finally getting somewhere with him.
"Todd, help me understand. What did you mean when you said the slaughter?" I asked him.
"Pigs. He killed them. All of them. And we were next." He let out. He was reliving this in his brain. He started yelling incoherently. I made out a "No!" And "Stop!".
"Who killed them? Your father?" I asked, trying to keep him on track. Why does it have to be pigs? I've had enough of pigs.
Todd was sobbing. He then shut off all of his emotions and snapped his head to me. "Where's my dog? They said I was coming here to see my dog."
God dammnit.
I huffed. "Okay. Let's talk about your dog. When did you first get it?" I asked. We're back tracking now.
"I don't know. It wasn't mine."
"Whose was it?" I asked. He just kept staring at me. "Did the dog belong to your brother?"
He nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Daddy didn't like the dog, though. He took the dog and made me go with him"
So there was a dog.
"Todd, what happened to the dog?" I asked him.
"We drove the dog up in the hills." He let out.
"And then what?" I urged.
"We pulled over to the side of the road and let him out. Never saw him again."
"And your brother?" I asked.
He began to cry again. He shook his head. "He was...he was different. Like something broke in his head."
I stepped out of the room and shared a look with Emily. Todd didn't do this. It was Cormac.
He was trying to protect Cormac by cutting up the bodies. He feels like he failed his brother in childhood. He didn't want to fail him again.
We were looking for a slaughterhouse. Garcia was digging.
"Find anything?" I asked as I marched into her office.
"No, there aren't any slaughterhouses or anything porcine related within 100 mile radius of Dillon. The vegetarian in me approves, but it doesn't help you at all."
I sighed. "Okay, it could be a meat or butcher shop or a small farm."
"Okay, seriously, do you know many mom and pop farms there are in this area?" Garcia muttered.
"Okay, then use the father at the jumping-off point. Friends or relatives of Curtis Burton." I said.
She got a hit.
"You know what? That London fog didn't cloud your brain one bit, Delia Parks. Rance Kerley, cousin of Curtis, two acres of land outside of Dillon which he raised and sold pigs to local markets." Garcia replied. I love this woman.
"Is the farm still operational?" I asked.
"Oh, no. Rance was arrested for aggravated assault a few years ago and the place went completely bankrupt."
"Okay, send the address to JJ and Alvez." I told her. We got him now.
"Already sent."
"Of course you did." I let out and kissed her head.
I went out to tell Emily the news.
Soon enough, we got the call that they got Cormac and saved his abductee. I went in to tell Todd.
"I have some good news, Todd. We found Cormac. He's not lost anymore."
"He isn't?" Todd asked and picked up his head.
"He's safe. Safe and happy." I replied and went to walk out of the room.
Before I could, Todd spoke again. "How'd you find him?"
I wracked my brain with how to answer this.
"It was the food you left out. You saved his life, Todd. He's safe because of you." I assured.
That was the first glimpse of a real smile I've seen on Todd's face.
"I saved him. I saved him." He smiled.
And well, we saved one life. But one is better than nothing.