Bella Snow was the light in Spencer Reid's dark world. Spencer Reid was the beauty Bella Snow tried so desperately to find in this cruel world. Together they held each other up, attempting to hold together the crumbling Earth.
To be in lo...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Oh my heart shies from the sorrow"
* * *
Penelope slapped down a file in front of Bella, thick with photos and papers. Opening it up inside, Bella cringed at the photos. They were all young girls, no older than 15, brutally murdered.
"The police station in Meredith, New Hampshire is desperate for our help," Penelope began. "It's a small town and already 5 girls have been murdered in the past 8 months. The first girl, 11 year old Ella Smalls, was found dead from 87 stab wounds. The second girl, 12 year old Jamie Osgood, was found dead from 76 stab wounds. The third girl, 11 year old Stella Olson, was found dead from 49 stab wounds. The fourth girl, 13 year old Rebecca Blanchard, was found dead from 65 stab wounds. And our latest victim, 14 year old Priscilla Florence, was found dead from 34 stab wounds."
"Jesus," JJ muttered from next to Bella.
"There's more," Penelope continued. "All of these girls were sexually assaulted before they were murdered. The last time they were seen was either walking home from school or walking home from a club they were involved in. These murders are also eerily similar to the murder of 2 12 year old girls, 3 years ago, in Maryland. The only lead police have is footage from a trail cam of a man in a dark black coat near the woods where Priscilla was found. They still don't know who that man is because his face wasn't shown."
"An obvious pedophile," Emily said as she looked down at the file. "He likes to get these girls isolated so he is probably luring them with something. That might be with candy or a gift of some kind."
"He has to come across as trusting," Rossi said. "He probably told these girls that he knew their parents or was a family friend, therefore gaining their trust so they would go with him. He knows what he's doing because he has been doing it for a long time."
"He'll come across as the nice guy next door," Spencer said. "He won't be a registered sex offender because he murders his victims. Neighbors will trust him because he's friendly. He's most likely single and lives alone because he likes to perfect his crime. He needs privacy. He's rare though, only about 1% of kidnappings are committed by a stranger."
"He stalks these girls," Bella said, closing up her file. "He watches them long enough to study their routine. He knows when they go to school, what friends they like to hang out with, when they go outside to play, and who is part of their family. He needs to know when they are alone so he can approach them without anyone getting in the way. He will study their interests so he can use that to lure them away."
With a nod, Hotch closed his file and stood up, "We don't want this guy finding another girl. He's confident with his actions so he will stay in the area, so it's ok to alert the town of a murderer in their area. People need to know to keep their daughters closer. Garcia, you're coming with us. Wheels up in 20."
