Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 60]

Hotch's POV:

"Quinn Parker," the detective reaches for my hand.

"Agent Hotchner. This is Agent Prentiss," her last name in my mouth seems so foreign, "where would you like for us to set up?"

"This way. Another body was discovered this morning, hidden in a lifeguard tower in Manhattan Beach," The detective says while walking.

"He changed his dumpsite. He knows the other one's been discovered," I reply.

"We've been sweeping all the towers since the first discovery. This body was dumped sometime between 4:00 and 6:00," he adds.

"Increase the patrols to every hour, but vary the search. It's likely he's following the investigation and he's adapting," I request.

"This body was left exposed like Sean Taylor's," Emily notices.

"Joseph Kraus. 42, San Fernando Valley Native, works downtown. Not sure what he was doing in the South Bay," Parker identifies.

"Have the families arrived?" Emily asks.

"Yeah, Kraus's wife just got here the others are flying in," he responds.

"I'll speak to Mrs. Kraus, and I'll reroute Morgan and Dave to the new dump site," I turn to Emily.

"I'll take to the other families," Emily says with a nod.

*time skip*

"Mrs. Kraus, I'm Agent Hotchner. I'm very sorry for your loss," I take the seat across from her.

"It's just so hard to believe he's gone," she sighs.

"Had Joseph given any indication as to where he was going when he disappeared?" I ask.

"Oh, Joe, please. Only his mother called him Joseph. He—he just said he needed some fresh air. I didn't question it," she wipes her nose.

"He was found in Manhattan Beach. Does that mean anything to you?" I keep my voice soft.

"We went to LMU for college, in freshman year his dad died... and he used to go to the beach at night to collect his thoughts," she begins crying.

I give her a minute before questioning her further.

"Was there anything in particular that prompted his departure?"

"Uh, he lost his job," she squeezes her eyes shut, trying to prevent further tears.

"And was worried about finances?" I suggest.

"We both were," she answers.

*time skip*

"Did you get anything?" Emily approaches me when I leave the room.

"Joe Kraus lost his job yesterday," I offer.

"That fits. I've got one victim that just defaulted on a mortgage, another victim who served divorce papers the day before flying to Los Angeles," she shows me the board.

"They've each suffered a loss. The unsub probably has too," I infer.

"Alright, so what am I looking for? A sexually ambiguous male of indiscriminate ethnicity who may or may not have lost a job, wife, or loved one?" The detective looks at us like we're crazy.

"No. There's only one gay victim. So you are most likely looking for a heterosexual male, who somehow learned all of those things about his victims in a very short time," Emily clears up the confusion.

"Someone who knows the South Bay and targets men unfamiliar with the area who won't be quickly missed," I add.

"This means he's sociable, but he doesn't stick out. These are probably not his first kills," Emily continues.