❛ 𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑫 𝑨𝑺 𝑰𝑪𝑬 ❜
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•☽.⭒✻❙ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 ❙✻⭒.☾•
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒗𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓
❝ 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬? ❞
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𝑨𝑷𝑶𝑪𝑨𝑳𝒀𝑷𝑺𝑬
𝒄𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒙
❛ kisses on the foreheads of the lovers wrapped in your arms ❜
𝑉𝐴𝐿𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐼𝑁𝐴 𝐻𝐴𝐷 𝐽𝑈𝑆𝑇 𝑀𝐴𝐷𝐸 coffee for Spencer, even though he insisted on the fact that he wasn't tired. Valentina had gone to bed a little earlier last night, but she did wake up around midnight. She was confused to not find Spencer next to her, but when Valentina went out into the living room, she saw Spencer asleep on the couch with Vincent laying on his chest. Spencer still denied loving the cat, but Valentina knew the truth.
Valentina was walking back to her desk where Spencer was, but before she could get there, a girl she had never seen before stopped her. This girl had a cardboard box with her belongings in it as she asked, "Hey, um, do you know where Agent Hotchner's office is?"
"It's just at the top of those stairs there." Valentina motioned with her hand, pointing to Hotch's office, but before the girl could actually leave, Valentina wondered, "Are you a new agent?"
"Yeah, I'm Agent Emily Prentiss." She introduced herself, going to put her hand out for a handshake, but realizing that both of their hands were full. Valentina sent her a small smile, trying to make a good first impression as she greeted, "Doctor Valentina Barnes. Question: Do you see money as president trading cards?"
Emily thought about it for a split second and even averted her gaze as Valentina waited patiently for her answer. She was honestly shocked that Emily was genuinely thinking about this. "...Oh my god, now I do."
"Thank you! I'm trying to win an argument against my boyfriend, but Benjamin Franklin was never president, according to him." Valentina explained, but Emily shrugged her shoulders. "He was a white man in power in the 1700s. What's the difference?"
"That's what I said!" Emily smiled and let out a small laugh. "I like you already."
"Thanks. I look forward to working with you." Emily spoke kindly, Valentina nodding in agreement, "Yeah, me too."
Valentina let Emily meet Hotch in his office. Now that Elle had left, Valentina was now the only newest member of the team. Valentina and Elle had joined the same day, but Elle already had experience in the FBI, Valentina was completely new. Now, even if Emily did have experience, she was the new agent. Valentina didn't have to feel so out of place.
When she and the rest of the BAU team were on the plane, she couldn't help but notice the fact that Emily wasn't on the plane with them. She simply assumed that Emily was starting on another day and only got the job today, but Valentina was slightly disappointed. She wanted to get to know Emily.
They hadn't briefed at the Bureau, they wanted to get on the plane to St. Louis as soon as possible. JJ was just explaining the case on the way, but Hotch and Gideon had been briefed earlier. Only Spencer, Valentina, and Morgan had to learn, but they had the case files with them.
"St. Louis is really in trouble. They've got two serial killers." Hotch informed before Gideon added on, "This killer abducts his victims from public places, dumps them in the woods. They consulted us months ago after the third murder."
There was some new information that had come to light that Gideon and Hotch weren't aware of yet. JJ is always the first person to figure it out what's going on with cases before they get there since she's the one the local officers reach out to. "Well, now it might be up to six. Ellen Carroll's been missing since yesterday. The first two victims were found near Mill Creek in Mark Twain National Forest."
"No wonder it takes days to find the bodies. The forest is one-point-five million acres, and seventy-eight thousand of that's wilderness." Spencer explained. Valentina raised her eyebrows, the shock of realizing that Spencer just seems to know everything still being apparent. She did, however, move back to the victims. "What's the story with these women?"
"Eight victims. All prostitutes. Latest is Marci Mitchell. She was killed last night with a .44 Magnum. All are tied to a serial shooter, claiming responsibility. He's contacted Jim Meyers, a reporter at the Missouri Herald." JJ explained, which helped Hotch draw a conclusion, "So, he's not getting the attention he thinks he deserves. He signs it the 'Hollow Man,' names himself for the press."
"Why the Hollow Man? What, does he feel empty inside or something?" Morgan wondered about the name specifically. To be honest, Morgan thinks all serial killers named in the press is a negative aspect of the job considering the names such as The Killer Clown-- John Wayne Gacy, The Milwaukee Cannibal-- Jeffrey Dahmer, Son of Sam-- David Berkowitz, and The Zodiac Killer. All devils in disguise.
"He uses hollow point bullets. No one even knew this guy existed until he sent this letter." JJ explained as she put her case file on the table between she and Valentina, who was sat next to Hotch. Valentina was too engulfed in her own file because she was still focused on the victims, "Well, he has killed more victims, but look at who he's choosing, it's people below the poverty line and prostitutes. Hundreds of victims go unnoticed because they're social outcasts who never make the front page."
"When Mill Creek kills, the Hollow Man shoots another prostitute." Spencer simplified it just before Morgan guessed, "So one doesn't want to be outdone by the other. Sounds like sibling rivalry to me."
"If this were sibling rivalry, the Mill Creek Killer would've probably killed a prostitute to get back at the Hollow Man." Valentina suggested, but Morgan was sceptical. "Why do you say that?"
"I steal my brother, Marco's, favourite things all the time. It's funny to watch him get pissed off." Valentina pointed out, probably being the most well-versed in sibling dynamics. There were other agents there that had siblings, but Valentina has had a twin and three other brothers, all who have treated her very differently. She knows what it's like to grow up with different levels of siblings.
"Well, they've been killing independently of each other for a year now." Hotch pointed out with Gideon adding on, "With each killer learned something from the other."
"You know, even though there are roughly thirty serial killers at large in the US at any given time, it's an incredibly rare occurrence to have them operating in the same city." Spencer explained, but Valentina wanted to know, "How many times has that happened?"
"To my knowledge, three time. There was a guy killing at the same time as the Son of Sam, again in New Orleans, and most recently with the Phoenix murders." Spencer responded, but there was more to this case that Hotch needed to bring to light, "Serial shooters are typically loners and this guy likes to kill at night. His victims are prostitutes, so he may lack confidence with women or have poor social skills."
"There's no rape, he could be impotent. Or a wannabe tough guy. I mean, it's not really hard to be tough holding a .44." Valentina acknowledged, Spencer agreeing with her, "The gun gives him power and lets him maintain distance from the kill. This guy doesn't want to touch the bodies with his hands."
"The Mill Creek Killer hunts during the day and targets educated, middle-class women. He'd have to look and act like they do." Gideon assumed, which was perfectly justified, but there was something contradicting about the two killers that Spencer pointed out, "The women died form blunt force head traumas. This guy wants to be close. He wants to feel the life leave their bodies. These guys are polar opposites."
"Just like their victims. They live in the same city, but they're worlds apart. I'm going to see if the shooter's victims have any families I can talk to." Hotch informed, ready to give everyone a job, but Gideon volunteered himself for one first. "That's a good idea. I'm already familiar with the Mill Creek case."
"Reid, Valentina, can you take a look at the letter for handwriting analysis and psycholinguistics?" Hotch asked the two, but Valentina answered for them, "Is Dave Grohl the greatest drummer of all time?"
Hotch only stared at her, not knowing the answer whatsoever, so Valentina simplified, "Yes. The answer's yes."
"Actually, according to-" Spencer began, but this was one thing that Valentina was very passionate about. She didn't want actual fact to correct her opinion on Dave Grohl, so she just put her hand over Spencer's mouth to keep him from talking.
"I'll go have a talk with Ellen Carroll's husband." Morgan offered and JJ doing the same, "I'm meeting Jim Meyers, the reporter from the Missouri Herald."
"Well, tell him not to write about the Hollow Man. We want to draw the shooter out. The best way to do that is to act like he doesn't exist."
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Hotch had brought Spencer and Valentina along with him to one of the victim's homes. They needed to speak with Marci's mother in hopes to learn more about Marci as an individual that they could hopefully connect to the case that they were looking at, possibly bringing together the Hollow Man and Mill Creek Killer.
Hotch knocked on the door and an older woman opened it, but there was a chain keeping her from fully opining it. Hotch introduced them. "Agents Hotchner, Reid, and Barnes. FBI."
"What do you want?"
"We'd like to talk." The woman motioned for Hotch to show his credentials, which he did. They were used to people being sceptical, especially if its family members of transients or high risk victims. They never thought the FBI cared whatsoever. Seeing as how they were actual FBI agents and his woman could somewhat trust them, she opened the door to let them in. There were kids running around and Spencer closed the door behind them as the woman assumed, "I guess you're here to talk about Marci. I'm her mom."
"We're sorry for your loss, Ms. Mitchell." Valentina spoke for them, but before she could express her indifference towards their condolences, one of this children had looked up at the FBI agents in awe as he asked, "Who are they? Is this about mom?"
"Take your brother to your rooms. They're here for me." She ordered her grandchildren. They complied quickly, rushing off to their rooms. The FBI agents all felt slightly out of place in the home, but that was because this woman wasn't exactly being the most welcoming. Especially since once the children were gone, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at them all, "You going to judge me or ask questions?"
"Is there anyone that can help you with the kids?" Spencer wondered, seeing as how their mother was dead now and there didn't seem to be any other adults in the house. Ms. Mitchell scoffed and shook her head. "Is that what you came here for?"
"Ma'am, we've just been assigned your daughter's case. We're in the process of gathering information, but so far, no witnesses have come forward." Hotch informed, but Ms. Mitchell only waved them off. "Well, around here, guns go off like those damn car alarms, every fifteen minutes. Nobody's stupid enough to talk. Nobody cares."
"We do." Spencer acknowledged.
"You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for them." Ms. Mitchell motioned to the newspaper on the table that had an article about the other victims. "'Heinous crimes against upstanding members of the community.' Nobody writes about prostitutes being shot, 'cause they won't admit they think they're cleaning up the place."
"You're right, ma'am. So many cases just like your daughter's go unsolved because people aren't looking for them. No one knows they're missing. Part of Marci's job is to stay below the radar, but that doesn't mean she was any less important." Valentina defended Marci. She, and the rest of the BAU, were always of the opinion that it doesn't matter what background a victim had, where they came from, or who they were. What mattered was that people were suffering and they wanted to put an end to it.
"She made bad choices, but she was a good person. She loved her sons. Whoever shot her should pay for what they did. So don't come in here and say you're sorry. Just do something about it."
"We will."
Unfortunately, those are not promises that the BAU can keep. In a matter of an hour, two more prostitutes had been murdered by this unsub. They were found in an alleyway, shot by a dumpster while a newspaper that read 'Mill Creek Strikes Again' laid between the two girls. Hotch, Spencer, and Valentina went down to the crime scene since they were done speaking with Marci's mother and were the closest to it. There were a few techs with them to take care of the bodies and see if there was any DNA left at the scene.
As Valentina looked around the vicinity, Spencer had pointed out, "Two victims at once. That's a first for him. Do you think he went out looking to kill more than one woman or is it just happenstance?"
"Well, he chose a different hunting ground. Yes, we're in an alley, but we're behind an expensive hotel in a nice neighbourhood. You get a different class of prostitute. Ones that don't walk the street alone." Hotch noticed, which helped Spencer draw the conclusion, "He was looking for a challenge."
"The question is, what gave him the confidence to stray out of his comfort zone?" Hotch wondered as Valentina was helping the tech get the newspaper into an evidence bag. "Remember to run that for fingerprints."
Valentina stood back up and took off her plastic gloves as she pointed out, "This unsub put the newspaper between them. He took the time when he could've just tossed it aside."
"It's deliberate. He wants us to know he's angry."
"Yeah, angry enough to change his MO."
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Spencer and Valentina had actually been given the opportunity to analyse the letter that was sent to one of the victims. Valentina is an academic expert when it comes to profiling, she could most likely handle anything from analyzing handwriting, to geographical, to profiling a crime scene. Spencer has expertise in literally everything, but Valentina was a little more skilled when it came to textbook theories around profiling.
They had given the newspaper to the lab and while Valentina was finishing up her analysis, JJ had walked into the conference room with new information. "So, we couldn't trace any prints from the newspaper, so hopefully you guys have something."
"Well, my fine and beautiful friend, you're in luck." Valentina turned on the projector so that JJ and Spencer could see the letter. "The unsub only sent this letter to one person, which tells us that he isn't confident enough to contact the press or police or just a second person. Emotional indicators are shown through slants in the letters. The shooter has a vertical, narrow-lettered writing, which is a sign of repression. And this pressure along the curves of the letters are excessively heavy, which shows he's uptight and can easily overreact."
"You got all that from his handwriting?" JJ was genuinely shocked that Valentina could tell so much from the way someone wrote, but she was genuinely interested in human behaviour and habits, not to mention her three PhD's in human behaviour, behavioural psychology, and behavioural science.
"I mean, I did get a 100% on my handwriting analysis assignment in year 2, so...yeah. I'm basically a genius. But seriously, graphology's a very reliable indicator of personality and behaviour. For example, you know Garcia. She dots her 'I's with hearts, makes total sense." Valentina pointed out, which JJ nodded at before she commented, "My writing's always different."
"That's because you write based on emotion. It's kind of like your facial expressions. They're parallel to the way you feel when you speak." Valentina explained and with this new information, for JJ at least, she was able to make her own observations in terms of who this person could be. "I'm surprised this guy writes in cursive. His message is so clear, I would've thought he'd print everything."
"Actually, his connected writing shows that he deals with problems in a practical and direct manner." Spencer pointed out, which was really helping JJ catch on. "Like shooting someone?"
"Exactly."
When Morgan and Gideon had returned to the station with their own information from the crime scenes they had visited, the team was collectively ready to give the profile. They had enough to go off to help out the local police, so they were going to get as many officers on this as they could. Valentina was the one that started out with a description for the Hollow Man since that was what she had been specialising in during this case.
"The Hollow Man uses really simple statements that are all in first person. For example, 'I won't be ignored.' He's tired of feeling ignored, which tells us that it's likely he has a job in solitude or one that dehumanises him. He might wear a uniform or something that shows no individuality, but it is also a possibility that he's just overqualified for his menial job and he doesn't get the respect that he thinks he deserves."
"But today, he's killed two women, which tells us he's growing confidence. This makes him unpredictable and dangerous. And because he has no physical contact with his victims, it's going to make him that much harder to catch." Hotch explained before he sent it off to Morgan and Gideon, who were far more in tuned with the Mill Creek Killer case. "We have more information on the Mill Creek Killer because he spends a lot of time with his victims before and after his kills."
"Because his victims willingly follow him in broad daylight, he appears harmless. He's most likely handsome." Gideon pointed out, but the lead detective was skeptical of that. "Handsome?"
Valentina was able to answer that curiosity just based off of textbook profiling. "Yeah, these women wouldn't just follow any guy. There had to be something about him."
"He's handsome and he's got the social skills to trick his victims. Those who know him well, they'd be shocked to learn that he's the man that we're after." Morgan informed, which was usually the most important part of this case. They needed to know to look for people who were shifty or someone they might never expect it to be. Gideon continued Morgan's thought, "He's been able to get his victims away from family and friends. Obviously this makes him feel powerful."
"If this guy is so smart, why would he risk driving his victims from the abduction site to the woods?" The detective, Sheridan, asked. Spencer now, with his base knowledge on profiling, was able to respond, "Because of the ritual. It's become the most important thing to him. It dominates his thoughts. The woods provide the privacy he needs."
"The Hollow Man is motivated by external pressures. This is a guy who simply wants attention. The Mill Creek Killer, on the other hand, he's driven by internal forces. He's a sexually motivated offender. Now, this makes him a lot more predictable, but don't think for a second it makes him any easier to catch. Thank you." Gideon ended the profile.
Gideon and Morgan were going to head back out to see if they could catch the Mill Creek Killer in the act since they heard light of a new victim. Hotch, Valentina, and Spencer were going to stay at the station with JJ, but as the three went back into the conference room, Valentina noticed that Spencer had stepped outside for a moment. She was a little worried about him, so she followed him outside. Valentina saw Spencer beginning to call someone, but she interrupted before he could. "Spence? You okay?"
He looked up at his girlfriend, who had just closed the door behind her. He nodded his head, so Valentina sent him a small smile. "Okay, just wanted to make sure. And hey, when we get back, you should come over. I have a little something for you."
"Val, we've been dating long enough that you can just say you want to sleep with-" Spencer began, but once he got far enough in, Valentina realized what he meant, so she quickly corrected him, "No, Spence! Get your mind out of the gutter. It's an actual present."
"Did you buy another costume for the cat?" Spencer guessed. Valentina froze for a minute, quite upset that Spencer actually guessed what she had done, so instead Valentina tried to avoid the question. "No comment."
Spencer smiled as he watched his girlfriend walk back inside. He had been noticing recently that Valentina was becoming much more affectionate what with buying costumes for Vincent, she's been making him breakfast a lot, and even just getting Vincent. Valentina didn't have her brothers to interact with anymore and to talk to. Valentina's main focus was Spencer.
It wasn't that he didn't love seeing her constantly, he loved all the time they spent together, but Valentina needed her brothers. Spencer had stepped out so that he could call them and hopefully get them to speak with Valentina again. Despite her moving away from them and constantly reassuring that she doesn't like her family, Valentina misses her family-- her brothers specifically.
Meanwhile, Gideon and Morgan were working on their plan to catch the Mill Creek Killer. They waited patiently for the input as to what happened, which came in in no time. When Gideon and Morgan had returned with the information, Spencer had too finally come inside after calling six members of Valentina's family-- Maxwell, Maverick, Marco, Marshall, Melanie, and Florence.
"So, our plan to catch the Mill Creek Killer was ruined by the Hollow Man?" Spencer needed to clarify. The Hollow Man had somehow found out that the body the FBI had found was in the same spot and told a reporter he had been communicating with. The Hollow Man's knowledge was parallel to the FBI's.
"And now the Hollow Man's on a high. He hasn't pulled the trigger since he took two victims yesterday. Is he satisfied or is he just getting started?" Hotch wondered, which JJ spoke optimistically as she entered the room with a new newspaper, handing it to Valentina, "We'll find out."
Valentina read out the headline out loud, "Hollow Man helps FBI find the Mill Creek Killer's victim."
"Nice, he's alerted the media and injected himself into the investigation." Morgan spoke sarcastically, not fond of the media implying-- nay, flat out saying that a serial killer was helping the FBI with an investigation. Valentina added onto Morgan's sarcasm with a genuine comment, "And he's getting the attention he's been wanting."
"But if the shooter really wants to get the other guy arrested, he would've called us and not the media." Hotch contradicted and made quite a good point, which brought Morgan to a conclusion, "He must know the Mill Creek Killer needs to revisit the body."
"If he can't defile the woman again, the need will become so strong it could push him into a frenzy. And if that happens, this guy's just a time bomb waiting to explode." A rather unfortunate part of this job is knowing exactly what will happen, but will never know when. They can guess the exact behaviour and what crime these unsubs may commit, but it's a matter of getting there in time.
Unfortunately, they weren't able to get to one of the victims in time. Luckily, she wasn't harmed, just scared. She was able to frighten the Mill Creek Killer and he ran off, but she was a bit shaken up. Morgan and Gideon had gone down to talk to her and get her in front of a sketch artist, but they did call Hotch just so that the rest of the team was filled in.
Hotch had to relay the information to Spencer and Valentina, who were in the conference room with him. Spencer was laser focused on reading the newspaper while Valentina was sitting next to him. "Morgan and Gideon say that the witness got a good look at the Mill Creek Killer. You know, if it's the Hollow Man's intention to force him into a frenzy, he's getting what he wants. He knew exactly where to find Meredith Dale's body. He figured out the route to the dump site the same way we did."
"Serial killers do make the best profilers. Takes one to know one." Valentina pointed out, but Hotch was still dead set on figuring out how this guy knew where the victim would be. "Yeah, but this guy's dead on. Yes, the headline doesn't mention the shooter at all. We talked to Jim Meyers, the reporter, and asked him not to respond to the letter. He doesn't and then the guy goes out and shoots two more women."
"But they were from a better part of town. It's not the same kind of prostitutes." Valentina argued, still trying to help Hotch connect dots, "Yeah, what gives him this confidence? And what's the significance of the paper at the scene? We know he wants to be newsworthy. He could've just tossed it aside. Instead he displayed it. There's something he wants us to look at. There's definitely something in the paper."
"Hey, I figured it out." Spencer suddenly exclaimed. Valentina turned to him and Hotch moved over as Spencer explained, "They're talking in the classifieds."
"I'll call Morgan so he and Gideon can get down here." Valentina offered, dialling Morgan's number. It didn't take long for them to get back to the station since they were already on their way, and when they heard about Spencer's breakthrough, they rushed back. When they got back along with detective Sheridan, Spencer had told them about the classifieds, but Sheridan was skeptical. "Classifieds? Code names? This feels like an old spy movie."
"It's lo-tech, simple, but very effective. They've been doing this for months and nobody ever knew it." Morgan explained, seeing where Spencer was coming from. Speaking of which, Spencer showed them the newspapers with parts highlighted and numbered so they could follow along. "This is the first one that I found. The references are what made me suspicious. 'Sunny: Are you an artist, too? I'd love to see your work sometime. Holden.'"
"Sunny? Holden?" Sheridan was confused, but Valentina knew what this was from, "Sunny and Holden are characters from Catcher in the Rye. It's a a very popular and loved book amongst sociopaths. Mark David Chapman quoted it after killing John Lennon. Deranged minds identify with Holden's alienation and detachment."
"I found the initial contact. It ran in the paper, unchanged, for months. 'We have different tastes, but I can appreciate your art. Sunny.'" Spencer quoted the response to Holden. Hotch, who had already had this explained to him, explained, "Sunny is the Hollow Man. He initiated contact."
"What's he getting out of it?" Sheridan wondered. Gideon, who had been quiet this whole time, was trying to piece this all together, so he already had time to make a hypothesis. "A mentor. Offered admiration and respect. In return, he gains encouragement and confidence."
"But when the Hollow Man remained unnoticed by the press, he resented his mentor and turned it into a rivalry." Hotch pointed out, Morgan being able to follow along, "Hollow Man became jealous. They're both killers, but they weren't seen on the same playing field. What else did you find?"
"'An overwhelming area and you ever get lost?' Then the answer to this question, 'I do my research. It's not so random when you know the area.' 'I like Cotton Wood in SGC.'" Spencer recited, but that short-form caught Morgan's attention, "SGC? He's talking about Saltgrass Cove. He told him where to find Meredith Dale."
"He's teaching his student a lesson. If we know their relationship, we should use it against them." Valentina suggested, which immediately gave Hotch an idea. "We should replicate a message. Get a message out to the Mill Creek Killer so that we can catch him in the act."
At the end of Hotch's expression of idea, he looked over to Valentina. Everyone else's eyes darted over to her since they needed to replicate behaviour, which she had a keen skill for. Valentina was wondering why all eyes were on her, but that's when it suddenly hit her. She let out a breath and grabbed the notepad that was on the table and a pen. "I need silence and leaf juice. Get to it, tea bitch."
Spencer immediately stood up from the table and went to leave, but considering everyone else was confused by her comment and understandably so, Spencer felt the need to explain for her, "She thinks tea is leaf juice and she only likes the tea I make, so I'm her...what she said."
Spencer left the room to go make her tea while Morgan had gotten a hold of Garcia. They let Valentina work and create the perfect message that could be perceived as the Hollow Man. Valentina never really gets to use her ability to replicate behaviour. In the blink of an eye, Valentina could replicate the natural behaviour of everyone from Ted Bundy to Marilyn Monroe. It isn't a skill that a profiler would need, but she learned how to do it to survive.
One of her abductors had multiple personality disorder, so she learned how to act differently to appease whoever she was talking to. Valentina became so good at it that she just learned how to replicate behaviour in general. And in cases like these, Valentina's skill was incredibly valuable.
When Morgan had returned to the conference room, he found Spencer taking a sip of Valentina's tea, who was still hard at work. "Garcia says they covered their tracks. Can't trace the newspapers. How's it going in here?"
"Val's still imitating the Hollow Man's language patterns to send a message to the Mill Creek Killer. He's offering condolences on losing Meredith Dale." Spencer explained, to which Morgan warned, "Well, if he can't get to Meredith Dale, he's going to need a body and he's going to need it real soon."
"You guys worried that the Hollow Man's going to ruin our plan again?" Sheridan wondered, to which Gideon nodded his head. "He wants the Mill Creek Killer to get caught. The pupil's trying to kill the teacher."
"Well, we're in luck because I'm done the message, so hopefully, no one else has to die. 'Dear Holden. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Since you were almost in harm's way, I thought I'd share some art. Should make you feel better. Here's my gift to you. Sunny.' Am I a fucking poet or what?"
"Valentina, language." Hotch scolded, to which she taunted, "Sorry, dad."
"Just for that, I think you're going to be our subject for the next phase of our plan." Hotch voluntold Valentina. She was pretty out of it while everyone else was coming up with their next course of action. Hotch went on to explain, "We need to give the Mill Creek Killer a body so we can catch him in the act, but of course, we're not going to use an actual victim, so..."
Hotch tried to insinuate what she had to do, and to his luck, Valentina caught on pretty quickly. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Let's just get it over with."
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JJ had helped Valentina with some makeup to make her skin more pale and her features more lifeless. The plan was to put Valentina under the pile of leaves in the designated dumping site so that the Mill Creek Killer could find her and they could catch him in the act.
Valentina was currently underneath all the leaves and Gideon and Hotch were there to comfort her. She was going to have to be face to face with a serial killer that derives pleasure from seeing women in the state that Valentina was going to resemble. It's an incredibly uncomfortable and terrifying situation.
As she was sitting in the leaves, Gideon informed her, "You're going to be surrounded. We're going to be around the perimeter, but just out of sight."
"You just need to relax as best you can. He's going to want to get close to you and examine you." Hotch explained, to which Valentina made a guess that she was not happy about. "He's going to want to touch me, isn't he?"
"Since you're a gift and not a marked victim, he might try to make you his own, but I'm not going to let him get that far. We just need him to get close to confirm he's the killer." Hotch answered her question. Valentina nodded her head and let out a breath before she expressed, "You know, you could've just put me in time out for swearing."
"I was going to ask you to do this anyway. JJ technically isn't allowed to." Hotch informed, to which Valentina nodded her head. "Yeah, I get it. Let's just do this so that guy can rot in jail for the rest of his life."
Valentina laid down in the leaves and she took a deep breath before Hotch covered her completely. Hotch, Gideon, and the SWAT team with them all retreated back into the woods to stay hidden from the Mill Creek Killer while Valentina had to lay completely and totally still. They only waited a few minutes before a middle aged man had walked into the vicinity.
Valentina did everything in her power not to flinch when the leaves over her face were moved off. She felt someone push her hair back to get a better look at her face. Valentina wasn't sure what was happening, not until she heard yelling and guns loading. At the sound of Hotch's voice, Valentina quickly got up and moved away from where she was laying. She saw the Mill Creek Killer being arrested while she got chills down her spine. It was horrifying that a serial killer just touched her hair.
On the car ride back to the station with the Mill Creek Killer in the back, Valentina had gotten the makeup off her face so she didn't look dead anymore. They really struggled upon arriving at the station since there was a hoard of people hoping to hurt and heckle the Mill Creek Killer. They were screaming at him, insulting him, throwing trash. While it was all deserved, it didn't help the FBI.
They got local police to put him in one of the conference rooms so that Gideon could interrogate him, but first, the BAU had to consult each other first. JJ informed, "I've alerted all news outlets that we'll be holding a press conference in ten minutes and I have the script you guys made me."
"Be sure to say exactly those words. The wording's important, JJ." Morgan reminded her, but JJ was not worried in the slightest, "Relax. It's not my first party, boys."
"We don't have much on the Mill Creek Killer, especially if he says he stumbled onto the body." Valentina pointed out since she did realize what kind of legal argument they had. Gideon agreed with her, knowing he'd have to be very particular about this. "Best thing I can do is just...my job."
They let Gideon go into the conference room the Mill Creek Killer was being held in and all the rest of the team could do was wait. Valentina and Spencer moved off to the side where they'd be listening to the conference anyway. Valentina noticed that her boyfriend was checking his phone quite often and a bit, so she nudged his arm. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I just called someone a bit ago and it ended on kind of a bad note. I'm just hoping they call back with, you know, their mind changed, but knowing them, I'm not too hopeful."
"Oh. Well, do you want me to use aggressive negotiations to get them to change their mind?" Valentina offered, but the premise itself was confusion enough for Spencer. "Aggressive negotiations? What's that?"
"Negotiations with a lightsaber." Spencer let out a small laugh before he kissed her temple. "You're such a dork."
"Says you." Valentina nudged his arm teasingly.
As moments passed, Gideon had finished his talk with the Mill Creek Killer and the news station's reporters had all arrived, so JJ was able to get started with the press conference. "After a long year, the Mill Creek Killer is in custody. This man is highly intelligent and he uses a sophisticated ruse when luring these women in public places. The Mil Creek Killer is someone the BAU will want to study as one of the most complex criminals we've dealt with in years. Questions?"
Dozens of reporters raised their hands, but JJ only pointed to one, who asked, "What's the FBI doing about the other serial killer?"
"We have new information about that case. We no longer believe the shootings are related." JJ explained before she pointed to another reporter. They were just trying to get out as many questions as they could. "What's the new information?"
"We believe they're isolated incidents and we're looking into the possibility that the last two were copycats." Jim Meyers, who was the reporter being contacted by one of the killers, was one of the reporters that raised his hand with a question. Since he was pretty important to this case, JJ let him ask his question, which was, "Are you referring to the killer who calls himself the Hollow Man?"
"We believe the person who wrote that letter is nothing but a street thug. We have evidence that indicates that the letter was just a prank to throw us off the investigation of the Mill Creek Killer. This is no longer a BAU case. It lacks a certain sophistication, class. There's just nothing elegant about it."
"But Agent Jareau-" Jim Meyers began to speak, but JJ interrupted him. "That's all the questions we'll take for now. Thank you."
All of a sudden, there were some sounds of struggle. The BAU all perked up at the sounds since they have sort of a sixth sense. They suddenly saw a man walking in with an officer held hostage by holding up a gun to his head. The reporters panicked a little while the other officers pointed their guns at him. "Where is he? I want to see him, right now. You tell him the Hollow Man-"
Both Morgan and Valentina are quite courageous and idiotic. Neither of these agents wanted this guy to have a spotlight, so in the large group of reporters, agents, and officers within the police station, Morgan and Valentina moved through them. The Hollow Man was clearly overwhelmed by all the people and not prepared for this kind of public appearance. So before he had the time to introduce himself and make a name for himself, Morgan had pulled him off of the officer. He pushed the Hollow Man against a table and Valentina handcuffed him before they handed him off to a capable officer.
All this man wanted was the spotlight, much like how the Mill Creek Killer had. He was a deliberate copycat, despite what he wanted everyone to believe. The BAU was not going to let some sociopath who wanted to get famous off of tragedy have his moment in the spotlight. He could rot in a prison cell and drown in the millions of cases within the FBI, him to be forgotten about, but his victims to be remembered, memorialised, and respected.
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
Valentina and Spencer were finishing up their paperwork for this and some prior cases. They were going to head back to Valentina's place since that's where Vincent was currently. Valentina had just closed her last case when suddenly her phone rang. She checked the name to see it was her brother, Marco, which was odd considering her family wasn't speaking to her.
Overjoyed, but trying to appear nonchalant, Valentina answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, Valentine. You have time to talk or are you on a case?" Marco wondered. Valentina was trying to keep herself from smiling, just happy to hear her brother's voice. She was trying not to start crying tears of joy. She missed her family, especially her brothers, more than words could describe. "No, um, we landed an hour ago. I can talk."
"Look, I just, uh...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. And before you say it's fine so we can just sweep this under the rug, it's not fine. I shouldn't have just let you take care of Victor by yourself. He was my brother too and I ignored his addiction. I mean, you were dealing with so much and then Victor on top of that. It's just...god, I can't imagine what you must have been through and I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help. I was a shit brother to both of you and I want to be there for you, Valentine, but...Well, I actually don't have any excuses. I'm sorry."
Valentina had to wipe away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. It wasn't negative or in despair in any sense. Valentina loves her brothers, every single one of them, more than words could describe.
Maverick was insanely cocky about being a surgeon, while also being the oldest. He's always underestimated Valentina and thought less of her because she was so much younger, but he has great respect for her when she proves herself. Maverick makes her a hard worker.
Maxwell had always been accepting and loving. Him being the gay brother, as he's constantly labelled as, he was alienated for some time because their parents had to get used to who he was. Valentina always loved him for who he was, which Maxwell always reciprocated.
Now, Marco and Valentina were closest in age, excluding Victor. They both had conflicting jobs-- Marco defends the people Valentina arrests. They don't get along very well because even their opinions conflict a lot, but when it comes down to it, Marco and Valentina are always the ones to turn to each other first. When Marco's relationship with his wife was falling apart, he turned to Valentina and she helped him fix it. When Valentina was struggling with dealing with her trauma as a kid, she always turned to Marco, who would never turn her away. This was a first.
"Thanks, Marco. I forgive you. I just want us to talk again." Valentina admitted, but Marco did correct her, aware of what their relationship was like, "More like arguing."
"True, true."
"Actually, you should really thank your boyfriend for this. Spencer called me, Mav, Max, mom, dad, Florence. He called everyone and kind of told us off. That's why I'm calling. He convinced me and made me realize that I was being kind of a shithead." Marco said face, but of course, because it's how they are, Valentina taunted, "Not kind of."
"Alright, touché." Marco laughed. "But really. Even if mom doesn't really like him, especially after he told her off, Spencer's a good guy. I'd hold onto him."
"I intend to." Valentina responded as she looked up at her boyfriend with a small smile playing on her lips.
"Good. Well, I do have to go pick up my wife at the airport, but I'll talk to you later?" Marco hoped. Even if he couldn't see, Valentina nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll talk to you later...assface."
"Douchebag." Most people wouldn't hang up on those words, but insults were how these two siblings always greeted each other and bid their farewells. Valentina and Marco did care about each other and had a natural instinct to protect each other, but no one would made that deduction upon first meeting them.
Valentina put her phone in her bag and looked back to Spencer, who had just finished his paperwork. Valentina smiled as she spoke up, "Thank you."
"For what?" Spencer was playing dumb. He heard Valentina say Marco's name and knew that his reaching out to her family had worked, at least in some capacity. Spencer was hoping for all of them to call Valentina back to speak with her, but he was happy with at least one of her brothers coming around.
"You know what." Spencer only shrugged his shoulders as he stood up and grabbed his back from off the back of his chair. "I'm serious, Spence, that was really sweet."
Spencer walked just next to her desk and smiled down at the girl as he held out his hand for her to take. Valentina looked up at him with the utmost admiration as she too grabbed her bag and took Spencer's hand. The couple made their way out of the BAU since they were done all their work and were going to head home to continue their wonderful, joyous lives together.
As soon as they got in the elevator and the doors were closed, Valentina grabbed Spencer's tie and pulled him towards her. She crashed her lips onto his, desperately trying to show her affection for the selfless and sweet act he did for her. Spencer cupped her jaw with his hands and smiled into the kiss. It was ethereal.
When they pulled away, Valentina smiled up at him, "You're the greatest guy I could ever ask for."
And in that moment, all Spencer wanted to say in return was 'I love you.'
❝ 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬. ❞
- 𝒎𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒊
❘ ❙ ❚ ❚ ❙ ❘
a/n
i created the second book to this series and it's up on my profile now! it doesn't have any chapters or anything yet, but it is there, so you can see a small preview if you'd like. it is called Love You So