"Have you ever noticed how 'What the hell' is always the right decision to make?"
― Terry Johnson
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"Vanessa Holden, age 25." Jordan informed them showing a picture of the girl on the screen "Last Friday night, she was clubbing with her sister. A stranger, a white male, roughly her age, picked her up. They left the club at 1 A. M went back to her place. He forced her on her hands and knees. And then he cut her open just below the stomach." She showed another picture of the girl this time she was dead with blood pooling around her stomach.
"Woah," Derek said.
"Yeah. Pretty rough." Rossi agreed.
"The gutting causes the intestines to spill out. You can survive for a few hours, actually even days." Spencer explained.
"Postmortem indicates that he slit her throat at 5 A. M.""So he disemboweled her but didn't kill her for 4 hours," Emily said.
"He could be a sexual sadist," Derek suggested.
"Yeah, I thought so, too, but I found two priors from a year ago-- prostitute, actually, in motel rooms."
"Ok. So keep running with it."
"Why do you think this is the same unsub?"
"In Vanessa Holden's apartment, the following were discovered-- bleach, ammonia, trash bags-- all in a triangular pattern." Jordan told them One year ago, motel rooms-- bleach, ammonia, trash bags-- Also in a triangular pattern." She showed photos of the previous crime scenes.
"He's cleaning up," Emily noted.
"Might be trying to hide his tracks," Derek suggested.
"Could be a sign of remorse," Spencer spoke.
"Apologizing for the murder by minimizing the mess," Rossi said.
"But there's one other commonality between both sets of murders." Jordan told the team "Bleach and ammonia were found under the victim's fingernails."
"He's making them clean up their own murder," Soren said.
"It's the same unsub," Hotch stated.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"This guy started with prostitutes-- a high-risk victimology." Rossi explained as they went over the case on the jet "Took a year off, came back, killed a socialite."
"No forced entry, no coercion of any kind," Derek stated.
"Exactly." Rossi said "So how does our unsub go from the loser of the year to Don Juan?" he questioned.
"Actually, as Byron interpreted him, Don Juan was an ironic reversal of sex roles." Everybody looked over to Spencer "And when-- th--that's about it." he cleared his throat looking back down to the file he had in hand.
"Something must have happened between the last prostitute and Vanessa Holden making him change his victimology," Hotch stated.
"Could the unsub have known Vanessa?"
"It's unlikely." Spencer responded "Sexual sadists attack anonymously. They have to sever a personal connection and see their victims as objects to perpetrate this level of torture."
"So, We have to build two profiles, then," Soren told them.
"One for the unsub who killed prostitutes, one for the unsub who goes to clubs," Emily said.
"We've never done that before," Rossi commented.
"Prentiss is right." Hotch told them "The victimology is so different, we'll treat them as separate unsubs and see what overlaps. Reid, work up a geographic profile and focus on the location of the murder. Prentiss, Volk, and Rossi concentrate on the prostitute. Jordan, Morgan, and I will go deal with Vanessa Holden." He ordered.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"The unsub killed the prostitutes in separate pay-by-the-hour motels in Fulton county, Right there in one of the poorer neighborhoods in the area." Spencer said walking over to the others with coffee in hand which he gave to Derek "Now, Vanessa Holden's apartment was in the Peachtree district, where there's a lot of big money. Based on the geography, he isn't just changing his victimology, he's changed his whole tax bracket." He explained.
"The high profile of Vanessa Holden bears that out." Derek said, "By killing her he was climbing the social ladder."
"If that's the case, this unsub had a long way to climb. Both prostitutes advertised here." Rossi stated putting out a few photos for the team to see "Look at their pictures."
"Subservient positioning, asking to be dominated," Hotch said.
"Promising to come to you?" Soren said "Sure cuts out the social interaction of meeting on a street corner." he commented.
"That's a long way from a self-assured unsub who hits the clubs," Derek noted.
"Except he took a year off between the murders." Hotch recalled, "Maybe he took that time to change himself."
"That's impossible," Derek said looking down at him.
"Why?"
"Well, I mean, you're talking about a total transformation here." He explained, "I mean how you talk, I mean how you dress, how you think about yourself."
"Difficult maybe." Hotch remarked, "Not impossible."
"He already started killing." Rossi spoke "There must have been a secondary trigger that motivated him to change who he was. So if you're gonna transform yourself, how would you do it?"
"A steady diet of self-help books," Emily suggested.
"Maybe Start hitting the gym?" Soren added.
"You have to learn how to read people." Spencer said "I mean, what is a pick-up? It's basically just a profile."
"Decoding cues of interest and recoding similar ones," Derek remarked.
"If you're too obvious, you turn off your target. If you're oblivious, your target moves on to a better profiler." Emily explained.
"That doesn't sound like something he could do on his own," Hotch commented.
"No." Emily agreed "He'd have to go somewhere to learn it."
"Yeah. A self-help class maybe?" Spencer suggested.
"Uh, wait a minute. Come on." Derek spoke An unsub who kills prostitutes. Is he really thinking about signing up for a Tony Robbins seminar?" he asked.
"He would if he found a class in the same place he found the prostitutes," Rossi answered looking down at a newspaper.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"So why did he pull out the cleaning supplies and then not use them?" Hotch asked as they surveilled the bottles of cleaning supplies lying on the ground.
"In all the other scenes, the bottles were arranged in a precise order." Soren remembered as he paced around the scene "Here they're just part of the mess." He commented.
"Maybe she fought back." Hotch suggested "And when Becky went over the railing, his routine had been compromised because he knew the police would respond."
"Or she could have jumped." Emily added "Her nervous system was pumping adrenaline. Her fight or flight response kicks in." She explained.
"He struck two Fridays in a row, and if his routine's been interrupted, It might compel him to strike again," Hotch stated coming to stand beside Emily with his arms crossed.
"Saturday." Soren remarked looking up the two "clubs are gonna be packed tonight."
"Take a look at the classes the unsub might have taken." Hotch ordered, "We need to generate a suspect pool as soon as possible."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Both times the unsub has gone to a club, he's had some costume, but now there's a theme-- A fedora and colored contacts, sunglasses, each time obscuring-- Are you ready, Garcia?" Spencer asked as she zoomed in on a part of the unsub's face "This area. Now, yes, maybe he's trying to draw attention to him, But maybe he's trying to draw attention away from here." He suggested.
"Something he knows is identifiable-- a birthmark or a scar maybe," Rossi suggested looking over Spencer's shoulder to see the photo.
"We need to get these out." Hotch said "Jordan, release these to the press." he instructed.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Men are put on this earth to hunt women." Viper, the man teaching the class, spoke "And even though women deny it, they want to be hunted. They need it. It's part of our biological imperative as animals. And the competition the opposite sex puts you through-- Pitting you against other guys, against your own friends even, It's all to reassure themselves that they have brought home the best possible mate." The man went on.
"It's just like you. They want someone who's gonna make their eyeballs roll back in their head. My job is to help you slash past every defense, every excuse, every, "Why don't you meet my friend" trick that they're gonna throw at you. You may not have ripped abs or afford table service, but if you're smarter and... More interesting, then you will be a better predator because this is the jungle, my friends. And your prey wants to be caught."
"Will you listen to that language?" Derek said, "He's training Serial Killers."
"Great." Emily rolled her eyes "We're dealing with a rampant narcissist and misogynist who's turned himself into a snake oil salesman."
"That's one more thing he has in common with our unsub," Hotch stated.
-ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"So you think this-- what did you call him-- unsub took my class?" Viper asked.
"he copied your "the camera adds 10 pounds" routine verbatim," Hotch informed him.
Yeah. That's a good gag." Viper laughed.
"If you could just give us your attendance lists, it might help us find him," Emily said.
"No."
"No?"
"My clients expect a certain amount of confidentiality." Viper told them "I won't compromise that."
"We can come back with a warrant," Hotch said.
"Be my guest." Viper replied, "But keep in mind, the money I make doesn't just pay for my fabulous lifestyle, It also keeps some very expensive lawyers on retainer."
"What club did you go to last night?" Emily asked.
Viper didn't answer and just looked her up and down.
"It's a legitimate question," Soren stated.
"You seem to know a lot about our investigation," Derek remarked.
"Two things to learn about me--" Viper spoke "First I outwit alpha males like you for fun and sometimes profit. How often do you have to rely on your badge to score, baldy?" He asked "Second, last night, I was at Club Aqua, And I have a stack of tax-deductible drink receipts to back up my story."
"Now, you might not want to believe that my style works." He said "And here in this harsh light, you have the advantage." he looked to Emily taking a step closer to her "But meet me on my turf... Oh, the things I could make you do." He smirked.
Soren stepped between him and Emily making the shorter man take a few steps back. Emily scoffed at Viper's actions.
"If you, um, have any questions, give us a call," Hoch said giving Viper a card.
"Please tell me we are not giving up on that guy," Emily said as they walked off.
"We're just getting started," Hotch stated.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"So how's it going?" Derek asked Spencer as he rejoined him and Soren.
"Not good." He answered "I gave the profile to one woman, she asked if I was the unsub. How are you doing?"
"Well, I gave out all my fliers," Derek said.
"How many phone numbers did you get?"
"None." Derek answered, "I'm working a case here, kid."Both Soren and Spencer looked at him not believing that.
"Ok, 4 were offered, but I didn't take any of them." he relented "All right. Look, let me school you real quick." He put his hand on Spencer's shoulder "What do you have to do with these ladies, just take control of the conversation. When you're talking, what makes you feel like an expert?" He asked.
"Uh, statistics."
"Oh god no." Soren laughed.
"No. Trust me. No. Something else." Derek said.
"Um, well, when I do magic."
"See? See, that's perfect." Derek told him "Chicks dig magic. I'm gonna give you a chance to work on it. Come here." They led Spencer over to the counter where a woman was working.
"Excuse me, sweetheart." Derek spoke to her "Whenever you get a chance."
"What can I get you?"
"We're with the FBI. We're looking for this man." Spencer showed her the sketch "Does he look at all familiar to you?" He asked.
"It's not much of a picture." She remarked.
Derek pats his shoulder and stalks off back into the crowd with Soren following after him.
-ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Fbi!" Derek shouted as they kicked down the door to the unsubs residence. The man tried to run but Derek tackled him to the ground.
"Stay there. Stay there." Derek demanded throwing the knife out of reach.
Spencer took the tape off of the girl's mouth
"Get this off. Get it off. Get it off."
"Ok. It's ok." Spencer assured her.
"I called you."
"I know." Spencer said helping her up and out of the house "I know. I know."
"Let's go," Derek ordered bringing the unsub out in handcuffs.
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WORD COUNT: 1991