thirty-one; gemma
Leilani and I were in the office at the BAU, eating spaghetti that Rossi had made. She sat behind my desk, with her feet on the desk itself and I stood looking at the clear dry-erase board, which had white marker all over it.
I shifted my weight from my left to my right and raised the fork that had spaghetti wrapped around it to my mouth. "What if this guy used something like a hammer?" Leilani asked eating spaghetti and I shook my head.
"No, a hammer wouldn't be able to give that much damage." I stated and she threw the file aside and sighed. "Why is this so frustrating?" She asked and I laughed, and the door to my office opened, and there stood JJ.
"We've got a case." She said and I grabbed my bowl and Leilani left hers there and stood up.
We both walked into the briefing room and I could see Adeleine out of my peripheral vision but I didn't look towards her. It had been about a week and a half since she had came to the FBI and it had also been a week and a half that I haven't talked to Spencer.
"Daniel Keller, 21. A junior at Benjamin Franklin University. He was killed last night while on spring break in South Padre Island. C.O.D. Asphyxiation." JJ said and I looked up at the TV were the man was positioned in the closet I eat some spaghetti and looked over at Leilani. "He was the second victim to be murdered there in the past three nights. the first was William Browder, also on spring break." JJ said and then looked over at me and Leilani "C.O.D. Asphyxiation, they were both sexually assaulted prior to death." I looked up from the file and towards JJ. "Any DNA found?" I asked and she nodded.
"Yeah, they had it sent to the lab, but it came back negative. I told them you and Leilani would have a look." She said and I nodded.
"Men? Were being raped and murdered on spring break? Well that's a twist." She said and Adeleine spoke. "Where did the deaths occur?" She asked and I rolled my eyes.
"So far the deaths have been localized to one hotel, The Hudson Street Hotel." She said and Derek looked at us.
"We should get a list to see who works there. There's a good chance one of them is the UnSub, or at the very least has interacted with them." Derek said and I nodded. "Am I going in as a profiler?" I asked looking at Hotch and he tilted his head. "Had-" He said but I cut him off. "C'mon. I'm in my 7th week right now." I said giving him my best puppy look and he closed his eyes and sighed.
"Fine, but if I see a limp, you're out." He said and I smiled, holding my bowl of spaghetti. I stood up and walked out of the briefing room, looking over at Spencer and then leaving to get ready to leave.
Leilani smirked, looking at all of us around the round table. "Pack some swimsuits and shorts, you are all going to South Padre Island." She said and I closed my eyes and sighed, walking out.
On the jet, I sat next to Emily and Leilani was having a conversation with Spencer and Derek. "Wait, so you were born in Hawaii?" Derek asked and she nodded. "Yeah, my last name is my step-fathers. But my first name is my mom's grandmother's name." She said and Derek raised his eyebrow.
Hotch was talking to Adeleine and Rossi, who seemed very uncomfortable and I just sat silent as I heard JJ and Emily carrying out their conversation.
"What's got you thinking over there hot stuff?" Derek asked me and I looked up at him and and I shook my head. "Nothing." I said and he chuckled. "I ran into Brody the other day at the coffee shop." He said and I laughed. "Really? Yeah, I was just with him the other day." I said lying and he smiled and nodded.
Adeleine's phone went off and she stood up and left, going to the back of the jet. I heard some of her conversation and it was her talking to a girl named Gemma, she referred to the girl as baby, and honey, and that gave me the answer I needed. It was her daughter.
Once Adeleine walked out of the back I stood up to block her from walking. "Oh, was that your daughter?" I asked and she gulped and her arms stood by her side. Everyone in the jet stopped having their conversations and looked at us.
"I hope you told her that you left your other daughter when she was only 3 months old. I'm sure she enjoyed that." I said bitterly and I walked to the back where the coffee was and I put my hands on the counter and I sighed, closing my eyes.
"Hadley?" I heard Hotch say and I turned around to see him standing there with his hands by his side.
"Nothing." I said and he tilted his head. "You're lying. And I know you lied about seeing Brody, he told me you haven't been to therapy this week." He stated and I clenched my jaw, and looked at Hotch.
"I'm fine, Hotch." I said and he nodded understanding I didn't want to talk about it, and left to go back to where he was sitting. I pulled out my phone and called Garcia.
"Hey sugar, what can I help you with?" Penelope asked in her normal eccentric tone and I spoke keeping my voice low. "What can you tell me about Adeleine's daughter? Her name is Gemma." I said and I heard her typing on her computer.
"Okay, I got it. Gemma Aria Van Der Bilt, born March 3rd 1993, she's 15. She goes to school in Houston. Carnegie Vanguard High School." Garcia said and I shook my head. She was about 5 hours away from New Orleans.
"What does her father do?" I ask and she began typing on her keyboard. "Oh my god-" Garcia said and I furrowed my eyebrows. "Penelope? What is it?" I asked and she breathe out.
"Her father- Her father is Rossi." She said and my heart dropped.
We pulled up to the Hudson Street Hotel in the black SUV. Derek, Spencer, Rossi, Adeleine and I walked into the hotel, while Leilani was with JJ, Emily and Hotch. I wore my dressy black work pants and a white tank top with my black blazer over it, my holster with my gun was on my right. My hair was in beach waves and was bouncing in the wind as I walked next to Derek.
"You must be the FBI." A woman said from our right. We all turned to look at her and Rossi walked up to her. "David Rossi. These are Agents Morgan, Reid, LaMontagne, and Van Der Bilt." He said introducing us to the very tan woman.
"Julie Riley, I'm the manager." She said shaking all of our hands, giving us warm smiles. "You were on duty when the latest body was discovered?" Derek asked and she nodded. "That's right." She said and her gaze was turned over to Adeleine.
"Did you happen to notice anyone out of the ordinary?" She asked and she shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You see so many faces during spring break season they all just start to blur." She said and I looked at Rossi as he began talking. "We need to set up interviews with the rest of your staff as soon as possible, also talk to the hotel guests." Rossi said and she nodded, complying with us. "Of course." She said and began walking with us to the main desk.
"Can you show us the room where the last body was found?" I asked and she nodded. "Of course." She said and the officer who was talking to another worker there, looked over at us and handed the team gloves, but I grabbed my own black gloves from my bag and slipped them on, along with the shoe covers he handed us.
We walked into room 319 and I walked over to the closet, where the body was found. I saw some tape marks in there and I touched the floor with my gloved hand. "Look at this." Spencer said and I looked back over to the man I was avoiding.
"Scratch marks on the foot board. the victims were bound before the struggle began." He said and Adeleine spoke.
"I guess the real question is was it consensual or coerced." She said and I looked back over at the bed, and I picked up my phone and called Leilani, who I knew was at the ME.
"Hey, what's up?" She asked and I sighed. "Have the medical examiner found any DNA on our victim?" I asked and she took a minute and spoke. "Yeah, but it was too much DNA. We can't exactly pinpoint who's it is. None of it is in the system and the victim was out partying." She said and I nodded. "Okay, my bag is downstairs. I'll get some fingerprints and send them off. " I said and she clicked off the phone and looked back at everyone. "I have to go downstairs. By bags in the car." I said and they nodded as I left the room and made my way downstairs.
I came back to room 319, with my hair in a ponytail and my forensic glasses on. I saw Derek holding a gun to the bed, as we was trying to figure out what the UnSub did.
I walked over to the foot board, which was painted white and that was round and I pulled out Mikrosil which is a casting silicone component. Since the foot board was white, I pulled out the dark colored powder, which is a carbon wettening agent. I coated my white duster with the black powder and I took the duster in my hand and I spinned it, making sure the extra powder was out.
I grabbed my light and held it in my mouth and I dusted over the round surface but no fingerprint showed up. I must have had a face because Rossi looked at me. "What's wrong?" He asked and I looked up at him, taking the light out of my mouth.
"There's no fingerprint." I said and I shut off the light and I wiped off the powder, shaking my head.