After what happened tonight, we go home at dawn, get escorted by local police troops to Quantico, spend a couple of hours in the car, and then drive back to our respective homes.
I sleep late, it's almost 10am but I think that after all the others deserve to sleep too after all that has happened.
I open my eyes to see what time it is, and as I reach for the phone it rings. It's Hotch.
"Hi, it's me again, I know it's been a bad night for you and for all of us, but we have a case, an old unsolved case, meet me in the conference room in 10 minutes. I'll tell the others" he says.
"ok Hotch I'll be right there as soon as I can" I hang up.
it took me 10 minutes to get ready and 5 to get out of bed. I arrive at the office with two bags under my eyes and a cup of coffee to keep me awake.
"hey Frankenstein did you sleep well?" Morgan asks from his desk.
"How do you cheer me up even if I'm not in the mood?" I joke.
"oh come on I always cheer everyone up" Morgan says as he's laughing.
I roll my eyes and give him a small smile.
Hotch leaves the room and motions us to go to the conference room to see what the case is.
Morgan and I enter the room, there are only Prentiss, Reid, Garcia and Hotch here. She explains that JJ took two days off to be with her family and that Rossi had to go to Washington for a funeral.
"today it's just us, Garcia give us a summary of this case." Hotch says as he mentions Garcia to present the case.
"ok, you all remember the case we had on Christmas Eve last year, right? Well, we know the unsub's name is Joseph Busher, and he killed 3 white men in their 60s last Christmas Eve. Even though it's April, he's decided to start killing again, and the coroner is sure it's him because these two victims' bodies have been carved with his initials: JB." says Garcia as she shows us the photos on the big screen.
"I remember it well but why not start again this December? why in April?" asks Emily.
"maybe he wants to exterminate these white men before December, last year we said in the profile that they resembled the fantasy figure of Santa Claus. All these men had more or less long beards, they were between 60 and 70 years old and he never chose them younger or older, we also said that it's like he hates this legend and therefore it's like he wants to exterminate all men similar to Santa, maybe he had a trauma as a child." I say looking at the old profile we write down in a file.
"That's right, the latest homicide took place in Denver, Colorado. And that's where we're going today, wheels up in 30"
We go to the jet, Garcia will remain as always at the BAU in his computer lair, that's where he will provide us with the right information to capture him this year, before he spoils Christmas for many families.
"The latest victim, George Hill, was killed last night, Morgan and I will go talk to the family, Emily, Reid and you will go to the coroner." says Hotch.
as soon as we land we separate: I go by car with Emily and Reid while Hotch goes with Morgan to the police station to meet the sheriff of the city of Denver. on the way out we remember what happened last Christmas, we couldn't catch him, he had shot Morgan in the shoulder and ran off into the woods, then until now Colorado hasn't seen his trail.
"we know that his goal is to kill all the sixty-year-olds men from Denver that he finds around, even in the past years he has done it but the case was not yet ours, only in 2009 we were entrusted with the case" reminds us Prentiss.
"Do we know how many people he killed before the case fell to us?" I ask.
"if I'm not mistaken more than 30 but I think it started before December, in a month more than 30 sixty year olds men who remind you of Santa Claus are hard to find, I call Garcia for more information." says Reid as he calls Garcia.
"ask me anything beauties" Garcia exclaims from the other end of the phone.
"Garcia can you tell us exactly how many people Joseph killed before the case became ours?" Reid asks to Garcia.
"mhh, let me see" I feel her fingers tapping random keys on the keyboard, it's amazing how fast she can find informations.
"found. since 2007 Joseph started killing 3 victims every Christmas Eve, from there the city was shocked, in 2009 however he left in April with his research, but the 32 men he kidnapped are said to have killed them all on Christmas Eve, so they couldn't bring presents to the children." Garcia reads the article she has just found.
"thanks Garcia we will call you later if we need something else."
"here is the oracle of Quantico, over and out" She hangs up.
we go to the coroner where we analyze George's body.
as Garcia said, the initials JB were also engraved on the chest.
We didn't find out anything new from the coroner, just that the wounds were made post-mortem like all the other victims, which was to be expected.
And same M.O. for both victims.
We call Hotch, who in the meantime has finished talking to George Hill's family, and tell him what we learned from Garcia. Then we go to the police station to present the profile to the press.
"we are looking for a white man in his thirties some people who have seen his face in recent years say he looks like this portrait of this man" Hotch shows the press a drawing made by a person in charge of drawing the unsubs according to the descriptions of the witnesses.
"George's wife has seen his face but we know that this man only kidnaps grown men, who may be in their 60s or 70s, as he always has." Morgan says.
"we think that every two years he starts killing men similar to Santa Claus first, he kidnaps them and on Christmas night he kills them." Reid says as he points to photos of the victims' bodies on the transparent board.
"we also think that this man had a trauma on the legend of Santa Claus as a child, for this he kills people physically similar to Santa Claus, so as not to make children suffer." I say.
"this man is very dangerous and we advise all families to stay at home as much as possible until we find him" Prentiss concludes.
at the end of the conference the sheriff arrives running and announces that there has been a third kidnapping, it is Lucas Montgomery, his wife has just reported him missing, she says she saw him enter the house and drag him into her car, she taken the northern ring road and believes he is headed towards the Wyoming border.
Hotch exits the police station and we take two different SUVs. He is with me and Morgan while Reid is with Prentiss and the sheriff, behind us are two police patrols and we called 20 SWAT men for safety.
while Hotch drives Garcia calls us.
"Guys i just tracked lucas pickup they are going off road you need to move you are very close to it." Garcia exclaims.
"Garcia lead us, you have our position, tell us when to go off the road" Hotch is quite nervous I can understand it by his voice and the way he's holding the steering wheel.
I'm in the back seat, Hotch drives like Morgan, its curves make me want to vomit but Hotch goes even faster and even if we don't have the windows open we have sirens and I feel the wind in my hair, even if maybe it's the air conditioning.
"Now!" yells Garcia and Hotch takes one of his magical turns off the road, I turn around and see Prentiss behind him doing the same and so do the police and SWAT troops.
"guys i see them let's surround them we are very close" Morgan alerts the other patrols via earphones.
Prentiss passes us, I don't know how their SUV can go so fast through the rice fields, despite the water and mud.
She stops in front of the car, we get to the back and the others surround them on the sides. Joseph comes out pointing a gun at Lucas, this poor man raises his hands, in fact he had white hair and a long beard and wasn't as thin as the other men. He is in his early 60s, but still an innocent man. We get out of the SUV and all aim at Joseph. Hotch yells at him to put the gun down, but he doesn't, he says something about Christmas, how his parents ruined him as a kid. Then Morgan intervenes, the two of them have an outstanding account, seen last year as a Christmas present he did an operation on his left shoulder.
Morgan convinces him to come with us, tells him that Santa Claus exists, only that he's never met him, Joseph hesitates a couple of times then lets go of Lucas and Morgan runs to handcuff him.
on the return journey I congratulate Morgan, he said some nice words a few hours ago.
"you know, even though it's April the Christmas mood came back to me randomly." he says looking up daydreaming and smiling.
"we can go to that restaurant where we always celebrate on Christmas Eve" Hotch turns from the seat in front of me.
"it's a good idea" Emily exclaims.
this day ends with an impromptu dinner at Garcia's house, we order some Chinese food, since that restaurant is closed. as I walk home I realize that in my coat pocket I still have the letter Reid wrote that the doctor gave me.
I should never have opened it.