Killer Instinct [Elle Greenaway]

☠︎︎Chapter One☠︎︎

"Today we have a local case, everyone, so listen up." Penelope Garcia stood in front of her team, the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI. They had just received a new case, and Penelope was briefing them. She pointed her remote at the TV behind her without looking at it, and images of pale bodies and gunshot wounds filled the screen. "Three men, all found in alleyways behind local bars. All with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, point blank range." Garcia winced. "This is an execution," Spencer Reid remarked, staring thoughtfully at the gruesome pictures in his file. "Righty-o," Garcia replied.
"We could be dealing with a vigilante," Emily Prentiss suggested. "Just judging on how they were killed. It appears no torture was present." Hotch nodded slowly. "You could be right."
"These were all done in a two week timespan," Garcia informed them. "The most recent one was found this morning."
"Alright, well, let's go catch us a criminal," David Rossi said, standing up from his chair. "Meet in the SUVs in 5 minutes," Hotch instructed, getting up and striding out the door.

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15 minutes later, the BAU was gathered in Quantico's police station. Spencer had wasted no time in starting to set up a geographic profile, trying to find out where the unsub's comfort zone was. "Emily, I want you to come with me to see the medical examiner. We need to look at the body of the first victim, Victor Marcos," Hotch said.

When the two of them entered the autopsy suite, they were greeted warmly by the medical examiner.
"Hello, agents, what can I do for you?" the ME asked. "We're here to see the body of Victor Marcos," Emily told her. The ME nodded and walked over to the coolers where bodies were kept, and smoothly pulled out the metal slab on which Victor lay. "C.O.D. was a single gunshot wound to the base of the skull," she informed them. Emily waved a hand. "We knew that, anything else that would be important? Anything show up in the tox report?"
The ME looked down at the clipboard in her hand. "Nothing there, but he was inebriated when he died."
Hotch nodded and peeled back the thin white sheet that was shielding Victor from the harsh light of the cold room. He gently picked up his wrist and studied it. "No ligature marks. The alley was the crime scene, not just a dump site," he remarked.

Hotch also scanned the cuts and bruises on the man's forearms. "He put up a fight. Our unsub must be strong and skilled to subdue someone big like this," he noted. Emily looked at him. "But if the unsub was going to shoot him anyways, why not just do it? Why waste effort fighting?" Hotch shook his head. "I don't know. Anger, perhaps?"
"There is one curious bruise on his side..." the ME chimed in. She peeled back the sheet more to reveal a large, roughly oval shaped bruise just under his ribs. Emily traced it delicately with her fingertip. "It looks like a... shoe print," she observed. "Do you have a tape measure?" Hotch asked the ME. She nodded, walked over to a cabinet, and pulled out a yellow tape measure. She handed it to Hotch, and he held it up to the bruise and snapped some pictures, sending them immediately to Garcia. "If this is a shoe print, it can help narrow down the unsub by the shoe size," he explained.
"Any sign of sexual assault?" Emily asked. The ME shook her head. "Alrighty then. I think we're done here," Emily said.
"You've been a great help," she told the ME as she and Hotch walked out the door. She waved and smiled. "Happy to be of service."

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"Stabbed to death. That's a new one." David Rossi put the tarp covering the bloodied body back in place. He and Derek Morgan were checking out the latest crime scene. "Are we sure this is the same unsub?" Derek asked, always the skeptic. "I think so. Same victim type, same type of location, just a different MO," Rossi answered. Derek shrugged. "I'm still not convinced. Could be a copycat."
"I suppose you could be right," Rossi admitted, and started pacing around the narrow, dirty alleyway.
"But this is a lot more aggressive. Shooting someone, that's less personal, especially in the back of the head where you don't have to see their face. But this... this is angry. There's quite a few stab wounds here. Maybe this guy meant something to the unsub," Rossi commented, crouching down once again by the body. "Or maybe it's a completely different killer," Derek insisted. "Maybe," Rossi said, shrugging. "But I don't think so."

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JJ had rounded up the families of the victims and was interviewing them to try and find a possible motive for the murders. She was sitting down with the second victim, Mark Keane's, mother as she sobbed. "Mark was a good son," she said through her tears. "Got good grades, was star of the football team in high school, you know. He didn't deserve this." JJ placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. "Ms. Keane," she said gently. "Is there any reason you could possibly think of that someone would want to do this to Mark? Did he ever get in trouble with the law, or make someone angry?" she asked. Ms. Keane recoiled like she'd been shocked. "No ma'am!" she exclaimed. "My Mark is-was a good man. He never did anything wrong. Never!"
"Ok, ok. Please calm down. It's ok, I believe you," JJ told her. "You'll have to excuse me for a second," she said, getting up from her chair and exiting the room.

The team was waiting for her. "She definitely has something she's not telling us," JJ huffed. "Did you see the way she got overly defensive when I asked if Mark had done anything wrong? She's overcompensating."
"Let me try," Emily offered. JJ gestured to the door. "She's all yours."

Emily walked into the interviewing room. "Hey there, Ms. Keane," she said softly. "I am so, so sorry for your loss. This all must be so hard for you." Ms. Keane nodded. "It is. Thank you," she sniffled pitifully. Emily eased herself slowly into the metal chair across from where the weeping mother sat. "Now I know my friend agent Jareau already asked you this, but I'm going to ask again, and I want you to be perfectly honest. Was there anything that Mark may have done that would cause someone to do something like this?" she asked steadily. Ms. Keane's lip trembled. "No. Maybe. I don't know." She took a deep breath. "My Mark liked to... party. He would go to his buddy's house and... and get drunk and high. But that was him having fun, surely not anything for anyone to get upset about," she said defiantly. Emily ruminated the thought in her mind. "Yes... yes, you're right," she said slowly. "Thank you for your compliance."

Emily got up and left the room. "She said Mark liked to go to parties and get drunk and high. I don't think it was the fact that he was doing that that made someone angry, but maybe what he did while he was in that state," she reported to the team. "Makes sense. Victor had alcohol in his system when he died," Hotch said. "We might have a vigilante on our hands after all."