EMILY AND I HAVE SLOWLY BEGUN TO FALL INTO A ROUTINE. Well, as much of one as we can with our job. We're at the office until ungodly hours half the time but, unless we're on a case, we can usually sleep in our own bed at home. That is something I've come to value.
Rosie and Penelope have their "mandatory" sleepover every Wednesday night. Those two are literally best friends. It makes me so happy to see two of my favorite people get along so well. At the end of the day, Emily and I are still Rosie's "mom" so there's some things she doesn't want to talk about with us. I mean, that's to be expected.
I just feel bad because she doesn't get a lot of interaction with kids her own age but she doesn't want to go to a public or private school. She chooses to do online school, which she'll be done with shortly. Then, we have to have a different conversation.
College. But, we still have some time before that.
Emily and I were able to sneak out of the office by 10 PM. I'll take it.
Emily has been off today. I can't place it. She's been quiet and when I look over to her, she quickly looks away. I don't know what's going through her head.
We walked in the door to our apartment and shut off the alarm. I set my stuff down on the table next to the door and she walked into the kitchen.
"Is everything okay?" I asked her a bit timidly.
She stopped dead in her tracks and picked her head up. Her back was still to me.
"Emily?"
I saw her shoulders rise and fall before she turned around and backed me up into the wall.
"I have watched you bite your lip and cross your legs all damn day and the only thought going through my head was how badly I wanted to bend you over my desk and make the entire office hear everything I did to you."
Oh.
Not what I was expecting, but I am never opposed to where these situations go.
"What was stopping you?" I teased.
She chuckled lowly and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear with her finger. "Nothing was stopping me. That's the problem. I would not have given a fuck if they watched or heard everything."
The pool in my panties is embarrassing.
Emily is taller than me. Not by much but enough for me too look up at her through my eyelashes. I matched her daring eyes.
The tension building right now is thick.
"What are you gonna do about it?" I pressed.
A smirk spread across her face instantly.
"You have no idea." She mused as she slowly ran the tips of her fingers across my cheek. She brought them down to rest on the base of my neck. She leaned in closely to my ear. "No idea." She whispered.
She ran her tongue across the side of my ear and nibbled at the top.
Oh my god.
Before I could comprehend, her lips were on mine and we staggeredly walked to the bedroom. Our lips didn't break contact once. She unbuttoned my shirt and I tossed it off onto the floor.
She gave me a light push on the bed where I sat propped on my elbow. She took her top off and immediately straddled me on the bed. She pressed her hand on my chest for me to lay down.
She moved herself down and pulled my dress pants off of me and onto the floor to join the other discarded clothes.
"I'm going old school tonight. No toys. Just us." She spoke up, her voice just as suggestive as her actions. "I want to feel you." She added as she ran her hands over my body.
I couldn't say anything. I just moaned with all of the contact. That was all she needed to know I am perfectly fine with it.
She left chaste kisses on every inch of my body. My neck down my chest. From my boobs to my torso. From my hips to down my thighs. She left not one spot open.
She slowly slid my panties down. She ran one finger through my folds before burying her head in between my legs. I wasn't prepared for that change in contact and my body showed it. I felt her smirk.
As her tongue swirled around, my eyes rolled back into my head.
"Eyes open, Lia. You know this." She stopped to say. I took a deep breath before looking down at her. She was a grin stretched from ear to ear.
I have never met a woman like Emily Prentiss.
"Emily..." I let out. I couldn't help the string of moans that came flooding out of my mouths.
When she added fingers into the mix, I was done. A goner. That was all it took. My orgasm came crashing into me before I even had a moment to prepare.
"You're such a good girl for me." She whispered as she rode me out through it.
As soon as I was finished and breathing rapidly, she laid down right next to me. It always gets me how dominant she can be in the bed but how much she values after care. I think it's adorable.
She stroked her hand across my face before laying a sweet kiss on my head. We spent the rest of the night cuddled into each other.
—
At the office the next day, a case came through. Everyone was in the bullpen, so Emily and I alerted them of the case.
Everyone sat in the conference room and we started right away. This case is local.
"Virginia State Police have asked for our help. It seems three young women have gone missing under similar circumstances in the last 5 years." Emily started.
"And why are we just hearing about this now?" Matt asked.
"Our field office in Richmond was called in to consult, but they haven't been able to crack it, and last night, a fourth woman went missing." I replied.
"Yeah, that would be Allie Leighton, 29 years old, she disappeared on her way home from work. Her car was found in a nearby parking garage by the restaurant where she's head chef." Penelope explained.
"What time was this?" Matt asked.
"Just after midnight." Luke answered.
"Robbery doesn't seem to be a motive. Her bag was still there with her wallet and phone inside." Rossi spoke.
"The same could be said for the disappearance of Dr. Roberta Childs, an obstetrician in 2012." Penelope replied.
"Yeah, she was last seen leaving work after the night shift. Her car and personal belongings were found outside the hospital parking garage." JJ added.
"Two different garages, but they could be the unsubs' preferred hunting grounds." Rossi spoke.
"Yeah, but it looks like the victim taken after Dr. Childs was abducted during a home invasion." Tara pointed out.
"Yes, Diane Pearl, 26. School teacher." Penelope said and put her picture on the board.
"In 2013, a side door was jimmied setting off her home alarm at 11:52 PM. Nothing was taken." Matt read.
"Nothing but Diane." Rossi muttered.
"In 2015, a dentist, Elise Waterston, she disappeared from her office after working late one night." Luke continued.
"She ordered a ride share, the driver waited, but she was a no-show." JJ added.
"So, 4 young women go missing, late at night, in the same geographical area." Emily stated.
"There's been no ATM. No cellphone, no credit card activity." Spencer pointed out.
"And no ransom demands. These weren't kidnappings." Matt added.
"The bodies have never been found. The unsub could be holding them." Luke said.
"Or he's good at permanent concealment." I spoke.
Abductions cases are always the hardest.
We had all of the women's pictures up and began to see if there were any physical connections. There weren't.
"None of the victims look alike. This unsub is not hunting a specific type." Matt pointed out.
"Okay, let's look at what they do have in common. They are all young, single, educated professionals." Emily spoke.
"A doctor, teacher, dentist, and a chef. Sounds like the start of a bad joke." Rossi let out.
"Well, the unsub could hold a grudge against accomplished women, especially if he feels inferior." JJ suggested. The women haters are the reason the BAU is an organization at this rate.
"You know, the unemployment rate in Virginia is only 3.7% but if he's out of work, he might resent them for being better educated to making more money." Spencer explained.
"And you also need to throw the mix of rejection into the mix. This guy could be a jilted lover or feel frustrated by the type of woman he thinks he can't get." Tara added.
"Garcia, any luck finding a connection between these women?" I asked.
"Nothing on social media."
"Were any of them dating or in a relationship?" Rossi then asked.
"Not that I can see. They haven't posted, you know, any typical romantic pics with a boyfriend or girlfriend." Garcia replied.
"Assuming the women are still alive, the unsub would need a place to hold them. A warehouse, abandoned building." Luke spoke. Some place that's concealed from the world. They wouldn't be able to risk any outside exposure.
"He could be keeping them at multiple locations, in which case he mostly likely has a large truck or van." Spencer added.
"He appears to be a night owl. All of the abductions took place around midnight." JJ pointed out.
"Could do shift work, maybe that's the time he gets off from his job." Matt spoke.
"Matt, Dave, go check out the latest crime scene. Tara, Luke, talk to Allie's coworkers at the restaurant. Captain Skinner from the state police is on his way in. We will work the case from here." Emily told them all.
—
Captain Skinner arrived and Emily and I sat him down in our office. JJ was in there with us.
"Without any bodies turning up over the years, we debated if the 3 women just decided to up and leave their lives. It happens, but now with that chef gone missing..." He trailed off.
"Well, we're happy to help." I assured.
"I should warn you, the media's been reporting that the BAU's been called in on this. Before I got here, the relative of a woman who went missing years ago came in demanding to talk to you." He replied.
"News stories often bring all kinds of people out of the woodwork." JJ spoke.
"This one's different." He spoke.
"How so?" JJ asked.
"Her name is Joanna Miller and her sister Chrissy vanished 5 years ago. Anytime there's a missing person case or a woman's body is found, Joanna shows up." He told us. Yeah, sounds about right.
"But you don't think Chrissy's case is related to the recent abductions." Emily stated.
"She was 16 and in all sorts of trouble. Drinking, drugs, chronic runaway. My heart goes out to the family but, no I don't." He replied honestly.
JJ looked at Emily and I. "I can talk to her."
"Let's bring her in." I told him. In my experience, no lead is a bad lead.
—
After JJ talked to Joanna, we thought there could be a connection after all. Chrissy was cleaning up her act and she wasn't taken far from where the latest abduction was.
Emily, JJ and I went into Garcia's lair. She found something.
"What is it, Garcia?" Emily asked as we walked in.
"Oh, yes, I looked into the disappearance of Chrissy Miller and I found something significant. That same week that Chrissy disappeared, another teen, Kylie Pritchard, also went missing." She said and pulled up the file on her laptop.
"18 and pregnant. Like Chrissy, the police checked off the troubled runaway box." JJ spoke. I hate when police do that.
"And this will also wet your mystery whistle. Days after Kylie and Chrissy went missing, Dr. Roberta Childs vanished." Garcia added. Oh, that's a connection.
"So, if this is the same unsub, he probably started with high risk victims, like runaways, and then graduated to high-profile ones." I spoke.
"What if Joanna Miller was right and her sister's disappearance is connected to the abduction of the professional women from 5 years ago?" JJ asked.
"Garcia, expand your search for-" Emily started but Garcia was already one step ahead.
"Missing women in Virginia and the Metro DC area. I can read your voices and your minds. In the last 5 years, there have been two dozen missing person cases, mostly runaways and young females." Penelope spoke as she pulled up the list. I think we figured out where a lot of them went.
"So we have two waves of abductions- teen runaways and accomplished women. Dr. Childs was an obstetrician. What if some of the other runaways were pregnant?" I asked. It would make sense why they moved on from high to low risk.
"Joanna said Chrissy was cleaning up her act before she disappeared. What if she was pregnant, too?" JJ asked.
Garcia began to look it up. HIPAA has nothing on the BAU.
"Yeah, here's a medical chart from a downtown free clinic. Chrissy was pregnant. Two months to be exact." Penelope said. So now we're talking double the amount taken.
"Okay, I get the unsub taking teen runaways. He probably figured fewer people would be looking for them. But why go out of their way to abduct pregnant ones?" JJ muttered.
"And what happened to the babies?" Emily added.
This is all beginning to to make weird sense. A doctor, a teacher, a dentist, a chef. It's all people the unsub would need to take care of a large group of teen runaways and their children.
—
We got a call from the police. There was a body found. Emily, Luke and I went and met Skinner on the scene.
"Local walking his dog noticed the body. Doesn't look like she's been here very long." Skinner spoke.
I pulled the rubber gloves on and went to the body with a blanket on top of her.
"The disposal site's inside the unsub's abduction zone. Probably knows the area, feels comfortable here." Luke added.
I removed the blanket off the head to reveal Dr. Roberta Childs. "This changes things." I let out.
"Dr. Roberta Childs. 5 years older, but it's definitely her." Emily added. I wasn't expecting this.
"They didn't try to conceal the body. I mean, they could have hidden her in the bushes over there." Luke said.
"Maybe he didn't have the time." Skinner spoke.
The captain was pulled away and left the three of us to go over this.
"He could be devolving. Wrapping the body suggests the unsub cared about her comfort. Even at the end of her life." I said.
"She wasn't starved. Muscle tone's good which you wouldn't see in someone who's been restrained for so many years." Luke added. She looks to be completely healthy and taken care of.
"Her hair has been washed recently and her clothes are clean. I think the unsub staged this to look like a suicide?" Emily said. There were bandages veering her wrists.
"It's unlikely this was her first attempt." Luke pointed out and revealed more scars. Poor woman.
"So the bandages were someone else's attempt to save her." I added.
"She's been alive all of this time. And that fact bodes well for the other missing women." Luke continued. This is one weird case.
"Assuming they're still alive, the suicide of a long-term captive could cause dissent among the group." Emily added before her phone rang.
It was Garcia saying another woman has been taken.
We stormed back to the BAU and saw Matt, Rossi and Spencer already looking at a map.
"What do we know?" I asked.
"The unsub struck again. This time in the open in a busy parking lot." Matt said and put on pictures of surveillance.
"JJ and Tara are still there. They found an eye witness that caught the whole event on a cellphone."
We watched a woman loading her trunk and a man opening doors to a black van. He wrapped something around her mouth and then shoved her in the van.
"He took a lot of risk abducting her in broad daylight like that." Matt let out.
"He looked at something before he took the woman. It made him hesitate. Matt, take it back." Rossi spoke.
Matt did as he was told and we watched the man look at the building in the background.
"That building in the background. It's a digital clock. 11:57 and 30 seconds. He waited until that precise moment before he grabbed her." Rossi pointed out. That's weird.
"Yeah, but that was during the day. All the other abductions took place close to 12:00 midnight." Matt spoke.
"Clocks strike 12:00 twice a day. Maybe it's not AM or PM that matters." Luke added.
"The numbers 11:57 30 might mean something to him." Emily said. Yeah, but what?
"It could be an address, a code, it might even have a religious significance." Spencer replied.
Garcia walked in with a grim look on her face. "Police I.D.ed the latest victim. Paige Burrell." She handed me the paper.
"Paige is 35, single." I started but then I saw it. Shit. "Guys, she's a pediatrician." I informed them.
"The unsub's lost a doctor, so he took a doctor. One for one swap." Rossi let out. This case is all kinds of odd.
"But he still needs a doctor's specific skill set." Matt added.
"Which means that our missing women and their children are still alive." Luke spoke. That's a good thing. We can save them.
—
Spencer rounded us all up. He has an idea on what is going on here.
"We said the timing of the unsub's abductions may be important to him." Spencer started.
"Why is that?" Skinner asked.
"Victim number 1, Dr. Roberta Childs. She signed out of the hospital at 11:50 PM. Now, victim number 2, Diane Pearl, her home alarm system was tripped at 11:52 PM. Victim 3, Elise Waterson, she was a no-show for an 11:55 PM pickup from her dental office. Cellphone records show that Allie Leighton, the 4th victim ended her phone call at 11:57 PM, and lastly, Paige Burrell, the digital clock where she was abducted read 11:57 and 30 seconds." Spencer explained.
"Okay, so based on your timeline, our unsubs' counting up to 12:00." Tara spoke.
"No, he's counting down." Spencer corrected.
"Counting down to what?" Skinner asked.
"I think the unsub's abducting women based on the doomsday clock." Spencer replied. Jesus Christ.
"And what's that?" Skinner deadpanned.
"The symbolic clock that warns the world how close we are to total destruction." Rossi replied.
"Midnight on the clock represents a hypothetical global catastrophe, like a nuclear war. The number of minutes to midnight stand for how soon that could happen." Matt clarified.
"Since 1947 when a group of atomic scientists created the clock, the minute hand has been reset many times." JJ added.
"For the last 5 years, the clock has been consistently ticking down. It was last set at 2 1/2 minutes to midnight." Spencer said. Nothing like some wackjobs for a nice Thursday afternoon.
"And the closest it ever was to 2 minutes in 1953 when the U.S. and Russia tested the first H-bomb." I let out.
"We could be looking at a doomsday cult." JJ muttered. Lovely.
"So, he's like one of these survivalists who lives in the woods and wears tinfoil hats." Skinner let out. He's in way over his head for this one.
"Actually, the idea of preparing for the end is moving from the fringes of society into mainstream culture." Luke spoke.
"Yeah, they call themselves preppers. They're trying to retain a certain standard of living for themselves and others while riding out the apocalypse. Be it nuclear or civil unrest." Matt continued.
"The wealthy are jumping on board. They're hoarding cryptocurrency by buying custom survival shelters." Rossi added.
"And the super rich are taking it to another level. They're buying private islands, land in New Zealand, their private jets are always gassed up ready to whisk them away on a moment's notice." Matt said. This is bigger than I thought.
"So, the victims are part of the unsub's prep to repopulate a new civilization in a post apocalyptic world." Emily stated.
"And the clock's starting to tick steadily down. 5 years ago was the trigger." Tara added.
"And with it being so close to midnight and us breathing down his neck, he may decide that it's time to cut all ties with the outside world." Matt spoke. We can't let that happen.
"We need to find him before that happens." I muttered.
I have never seen anything like this. I've seen cults and other weird communities. This is a first for me.
—
We needed to research doomsday.
"The unsub's probably been stockpiling provisions, weapons and other supplies for years." Rossi let out.
"That would take a lot of research and planning. Garcia, what kind of online presence do preppers have?" I asked.
She did some typing before a webpage popped up. "They're a bunch of chatty Cathy's. There's a plethora of chatrooms, podcasts, websites." She explained.
"What do they talk about?" Luke asked.
"Everything from food storage tips, to basic first aid, best place to get a gas mask, places to live that won't be affected by climate change." She paused and did more typing. "Website here that tells preppers they could get corrective eye surgery."
Jesus.
"That makes sense. If you were to lose or break your glasses when the earth is laid rare, something tells me it'd be hard to find a Lenscrafters." Rossi muttered. I let out a chuckle.
"It's like the episode in "The Twilight Zone."" Garcia spoke.
"Garcia, do a search of the metro DC area for men who fall into both survivalist and prepper camps." Emily said.
"Okay, preppers love their firewalls, but it's no match for moi. 110 names." She spoke. That number is way too high.
"What about the ones that live in Virginia?" Luke asked.
"70. Next player."
"Do any of them own a black van?" I asked.
"Negative."
Fuck.
"Well, technical people usually view risk mathematically. Garcia, filter the list for accountants, engineers, math teachers and computer techs." Matt suggested.
"20 names."
That's better.
"So for the past 5 years, this guys's been amassing food, water, medical supplies, air filtration materials, weapons and ammo." Emily spoke.
Garcia did typing. "Oh, that's like all of them."
Then a picture popped up.
"I found a civil engineer, Lawernce Coleman. He's bought all of those things but also chloroform is on his shopping list." Garcia explained.
"Does he show any interest in the doomsday clock?" Rossi asked.
"Obsessed is more like it." Garcia deadpanned. This is our guy.
Garcia got us home, work, and storage locations in his name. We didn't hesitate to go right away.
—
The storage units came up completely empty. Coleman quit his job months ago. We had nothing.
We were on a group call with everyone. Emily, Luke and Matt were at the storage units. Rossi, Tara and I were at his old place of work and JJ and Spencer were at the home address.
"Hey, guys, Coleman's not here." JJ answered with. Where the hell is he?
"We've all hit dead ends." I let out.
"We know he has a willing partner driving the van. She's one of the early victims who bought into his paranoia. She may be the key." Rossi suggested.
"Garcia, check for women who communicated with Coleman online. Look for anyone who shared his fervor about the end of days." Emily instructed. She's hot when she's smart.
Bad time?
"Fervor. Female. Doomsday. Got it. Looks like there's a lid for every pot. Even the crackpots. Coleman had beaucoup prepper ladies who were willing to share more than their canned meat with him."
"Was one as obsessed as Coleman?" I asked. She'd be the one.
"That would be....Irene Jacobs. She lives in Culpeper, Virginia. She works as a substance abuse counselor at New Dawn Outreach Center. And she drives a black van." Garcia spoke. There she is.
"Joanna Miller mentioned her sister was seeing a counselor." JJ spoke.
"Yeah, Chrissy Miller was one of her patients." Garcia confirmed. Oh, we have her now.
"Which was how Coleman found out she was pregnant. What about Kylie Pritchard and some of the other missing teens?" JJ then asked.
"Jinkies, it's like Irene was spoon-feeding Coleman his victims." Garcia exclaimed.
"They trusted her and she betrayed them. We need addresses." I said and went for the car.
"Oh, Irene owns acres of land just outside of Culpeper. Reid and JJ are the closest." Garcia spoke.
"Alright, we'll meet you over there." JJ said.
With that, we went to the car and drove to Culpeper.
—
We got to the land which was just a big open field. JJ and Spencer weren't answering. Emily, Matt, and Luke were already there.
What the hell did Spencer and JJ walk into?
Soon enough, Spencer and JJ came crawling up a ladder with all of the hostages behind them.
All of them including the kids.
Irene and Lawrence were put in separate police cars on multiple counts of kidnap and child endangerment.
We watched as Chrissy and Joanna reunited. Chrissy introduced her son, Joe, named after her sister to her. It's times like these that make this job worthwhile.
—
We made our way back to the BAU and got ready to head home.
"I gotta say, Coleman's bunker was pretty impressive." Matt said. Impressive, yes. Morbid, absolutely. It was huge.
"Yeah, but not where I want to spend my last day on earth." Emily muttered.
"Yeah, where would you?" Matt then asked.
"Never thought about it. I don't care where as long as I'm with Delia and Rosie." She shrugged.
I looked at her and smiled.
"You are whipped." Luke mused. We both flipped him off.
"You're just jealous you don't have someone you'd want to spend your last day with." I snapped back. He just laughed.
"I don't want to think about it." Garcia muttered.
"I would definitely be on a beach." Tara spoke.
"I think I'd prefer the mountains." Luke let out.
"I'd be with my family." Matt spoke.
"Same. Spence?" JJ asked.
See? It's not just Emily and I that are whipped.
"Paris with my mom. She liked Paris." Spencer replied. That's cute.
"You know, something tells me Dave has this all planned out." Tara let out. Oh, I agree.
"Don't you know it. When he end comes, you'll find me at home enjoying a meal of carbonara alla Rossi, and if there's still time, I will adjourn to my patio to partake in a double jack and a vintage Don Carlos." He spoke. None of that surprises me.
"That sounds great." Luke let out.
"Mind if we join you?" I asked.
He just smiled and nodded.
Another weird case in the books. Now, to go home and eat pizza with my family.