Stronger in the Storm (Sequel to We Found Love In A Darker Place)

Chapter 12 - Expectations

J.J. walked back into the room with a piece of paper in a plastic bag in her hand. "Here it is." She said, holding it up for all us to see.

My stomach did a little flip and I had a bad feeling of what that piece of poison had written on it. "Go ahead and read it J.J." I said, holding my stomach.

"So glad you could join me in my little game. Such a pitty one of your players had to die though, she was a real card. Hoping to get a checkmate with the next one. See you soon. Sighed Chess Piece."

"Not another game of Chess!" I said to myself. Everyone turned to look at me and that is when I noticed I had said that aloud.

"Life is a game of Chess, my dear. You just have to keep your Queen safe at all times." Spencer said, putting his arm around my waist, closing the gap that was between us.

"Well I hate Chess." Derek said, leaning back in his chair. "What happened to McConnell? Is he not our guy?" He asked.

"He seemed way to freaked out when we told him what happened to Clarity. Amy, on the other hand, was way to calm." Rossi said.

"Like she already knew what happened and was just worried about being found out." Spencer said.

"She doesn't seem like someone to actually kill. I think she is just the help. She is to disorganized to pull off all of these murders by herself." I asked, looking at the board with all the pictures from the scenes on it.

"I think you got a point there. But here is an idea. What if McConnell was lying. What if he is killing these people to get back at his dad?" Derek said, pointing to the picture of the newspaper report.

"If he is under his dad's shadow, he could want to kill his dad's clients to make it look like he did it. Daddy is gone, who's going to fill his shoes?" Rossi said, smiling right at me.

"The only one in that firm who also has a size 13 shoe." I asked, smiling right back.

"Well, what if it's not that at all?" Spencer said from behind me, startling me.

"What did you have in mind, Pretty Boy?" Derek said, leaning forward in his chair.

"What if it was a past client who lost in a big case? I love Victor McConnell for the UnSub as much as you guys, but I get a feeling like he is just as confused as we are. He might be mad that he is, as you said "still under his dad's shadow", but he loves his dad. He wouldn't kill anyone and risk ruining all of his father's hard work." Spencer continued.

"I'll check and see if there was any big cases that went south under Donovan McConnell's name." Penelope said, opening her laptop and, as she would say, "whipped the keys".

We all watched as she worked away, and then after about five minutes, she usually smiling face, went pale and her smile dropped to the floor.

I rushed over to her and looked at the screen to see what scared the color right out of her. "I think we might have a problem on our hands." I said, turning the computer to the rest of the team. One by one they all turned away from the screen.

"How could someone do something so sickening with such ease?" J.J. asked outloud.

"Ask the people we deal with everyday." Hotch said.

I turned the screen back to face me. What I stood there and stared at made my stomach turn upside down five times. A family had been totally slaughtered. The wife, and three children, two boys and a little girl who looked to be about three or four.

"What did you search to bring up this case file" I asked Penelope.

"Donovan McConnell case files. It brought up the person who was also accused of this as well, Michael Moore. The husband and father to the deceased family. He had no alibi." Penelope continued.

"He still in prison?" I asked her.

"That's the scary thing. Michael Moore died by lethal injection." Penelope said, bringing up his death certificate.

"Are we dealing with a ghost?" Derek asked.

"It very well seems that way." I said.