The New Girl

Chapter 17- City of Angels

author's note: hey everyone. i know, it's been like WAYYY too long since i've updated. i'm really sorry. i was busy with finals and then i kind of completely forgot i was writing this story lmao. BUT i'm back with a chapter and i will be updating more frequently again. i hope you all had a happy holiday, no matter what you celebrate. enjoy the chapter. <3

We were both woken up at 6:00am the next morning by a text from Garcia saying we have a new case.

I followed Emily out of bed and watched as she walked into the bathroom in her bra and underwear. I smile to myself and shake my head.

After we had quickly gotten dressed, we got into our separate cars and drove to the FBI headquarters.

Walking into the bullpen, I saw that everyone had already arrived. I plopped down at my desk, drawing attention from Morgan.

"Late night?" he asks with an eyebrow raised at me. Reid eyes me from under his book. "Just didn't sleep well, I guess," I reply casually.

"I hear that," Morgan says, sighing. I look over and see Emily talking to JJ. She may be tired, but she looks as beautiful as ever.

JJ walks over to us after handing Emily a file and passes a copy around to all of us. "Conference room in 5," she says before walking past us back up the steps.

I follow Morgan and Reid into the conference room and take a seat between them. I open up the file JJ had given us and look up to the screen where JJ begins presenting our case.

"Seven victims have been found in the past two months in Los Angeles, California. All male in their early 20's to late 30's," JJ says before I interrupt.

"Seven victims? Why are they just now calling us in?" I question. "LAPD believed the cause of death to be suicide," JJ says clicking through pictures of the victims face down on pavement.

"But then, with the seventh victim, they found this," JJ clicks to a new picture and the group groans a little. The picture shows a man stoned with a writing in Arabic on the wall:

"عبد الله ابن عباس‎."

"Abd Allah ibn Abbas," Emily translates. "It's the name of one of the prophet Muhammed's cousins," Emily continues. "So this is religiously motivated? Possibly terrorism?" Morgan comments.

"Pretty ineffective terrorism," I say. "If it is religiously motivated, what is the significance of that name and of this victimology?" Rossi questions.

"Well, three of the men were openly gay. It's possible that these are hate crimes backed by somebody's twisted view of Islam," I say reading through the reports.

"We need to find out if the rest of the men were gay. I'll have Garcia get on that. In the meantime, wheels up in thirty," Hotch says, standing up from his seat.

***

On the jet, I sit across from Reid and Hotch with Rossi on my right.

"So, if the unsub is targeting gay men, where is he finding them? Some of these victims weren't out. How could the unsub have known they were gay?" I question.

"It's possible he's finding his victims online. In a chat room or something?" Morgan brainstorms. "But to find their identity would be difficult. Chat rooms are typically anonymous and especially, if I'm a closeted gay man, I'm not giving up my name," JJ counters.

"What if he's meeting them in person somewhere? Like a club or a gay bar," Emily suggests. "Gay nightlife is pretty booming in LA," I mention, immediately regretting my comment as I see the team give me a look.