Top Notch Agent ; A Criminal Minds Fanfic

Sex, Birth, Death

Y/n's POV 

"Hotch!" I call out to get my boss' attention. "I just got a frantic call from Spencer who said something about prostitutes being murdered. What's going on?"

"Reid thinks he stumbled upon a serial killer. I was just about to meet him and Gideon at the morgue. Why don't you come with me?" Hotch suggested.

I nodded. "Okay. Lets go." So Hotch and I got into a car and drove to meet up with Spencer and Gideon. It only took a few minutes, and finally, we arrived at the building.

"Hey," Hotch murmured as we entered the room.

"Vic Barnes, this is Aaron Hotchner and Y/n L/n," Gideon introduced. 

I waved politely. "Hi. So, what have we got?" 

"This is the second victim. The first one was killed 3 months ago, both in the early morning," Spencer told me. 

"And both had their hair chopped?" Hotch questioned. 

"Yeah. Uniform didn't make the connection because he was fixated on this," Vic exclaimed and pulled down the sheet covering the body to show us the victim's abdomen, which was covered in slash marks. There was also one other thing. The word HELP was carved into the woman's torso.

"The first victim didn't have anything carved on her?" Gideon asked. 

Vic shook his head. "Just a routine Jane Doe." 

"Take a look. A lot are shallow. They're hesitation marks," Gideon noted and ran his hands over the cuts. "He's not certain he wants to be killing." 

"Makes you think the message he carved is sincere," Spencer admitted. "He's asking the police to help him stop." 

"That fits with the kid seeking you out," Gideon pointed out. "Part of him wants to get caught." 

"If both murders took place in the morning, how come there were no witnesses?" Hotch quizzed. 

"The motels and alleys around the capitol are notorious. People go out of their way not to look," Vic responded.

..................................................

"The juvenile authorities are waiting for Nathan Harris," I alert Gideon, Spencer, and Derek. "Is he really our unsub? I mean, he's only a kid." 

"I don't know," Derek confessed. "He says he didn't do it. He actually seems sincere, but he's a smart kid, and part of the sexual-sadist profile is the ability to mimic honesty and sincerity." I nodded and then headed to the interrogation room where Nathan was sitting at the table. He glanced up as I entered, and for a moment our eyes met.

"The uh, the police are here for you," I state. Nathan nodded and stood up, and I led him out of the interrogation room. Just before I could hand Nathan off to the authorities, he stopped to talk to Spencer, so I stepped away to give them some privacy.

"Guys, I need everybody in the conference room," Hotch announced. "If Nathan Harris isn't our unsub, we need a working profile." Together, Spencer and I entered the conference room, and slowly, the rest of the team poured in.

"D.C. police sent us these photos of the first victim. This was the unsub's first kill. He held his urges in check for 3 months, and when he couldn't control them any more, he sent this message to the cops. We know the 'help' and the hesitation marks mean he was ambivalent about the kill. What we don't know is why he chopped the hair," Hotch explained. 

"He didn't take it with him. We know it's not a trophy," Derek said. 

"It's probably a way to minimize some of their power, robs them of their femininity," Gideon proposed.