"Since when are you a doctor? Last I remember, you were no better than a tabloid journalist."
Tatum Katz had a rough start with the BAU. Her papparazzi-adjacent photographer being a suspect in one of their cases wasn't exactly a great first impress...
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forty || "brothers hotchner" season 8, episode 23
On the way into the office that morning, Tate sighed at the name that popped up on her screen. "Hotch, you are on vacation and we are doing just fine. You don't need to check in," she assured as soon as she answered the phone.
"You don't think I trust you?" he replied, a little sarcasm in his tone.
"Was that a joke from the ever-stoic Agent Hotchner?"
She could practically hear him roll his eyes. "I'm not just checking in. I've got a case down here." Tate gathered Strauss and Rossi in the conference room so he could continue. "And the M.E. reports showed three other victims bleeding out over the last week."
"Yeah, one in Harlem, two in the village," Tate said. "All five have been categorized as ecstasy overdoses."
"And one of the victims may have been drugged without her knowledge," Hotch added. This addition accounted for his brother's girlfriend who died, but Sean claimed she was not using at the time.
"Ecstasy is frequently used as a date rape drug, but I've never seen it cause bleeding like this," Rossi said.
Tate sighed. "Well, uh, according to the M.E, the victims had so much MDMA in their systems that it caused their internal body temperature to go out of control... They boiled from the inside out."
"That's not typical of overdose victims, either," Rossi said. "This could be a case of product tampering similar to the tylenol cyanide poisoning in '86."
"And the working theory in that case was that the unsub targeted a specific victim but dosed mass quantities to cover his tracks," Hotch continued.
"So you're telling me these deaths could be the start," Strauss interpreted.
"Yes, ma'am. I'd like the team to join me in New York as soon as possible."
"We're on our way, Hotch," Tate said.
"Thanks."
"You're coming, aren't you?" Rossi directed to Strauss.
"Just as a precaution," she said. "This team tends to go rogue when loved ones are involved."
"Have either of you met Hotch's brother?" Tate questioned.
"A few times," Rossi replied with a sigh. "He's a force to be reckoned with, just like Hotch. But they're different in the ways that matter. They don't get along well. Haven't for a long time... Sean didn't come to Hailey's funeral a few years ago. He hasn't seen Hotch or Jack in something like four years."
Tate's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "But Sean trusted him enough to call when there was trouble?"
Strauss nodded. "He knows Aaron would drop anything if there were people who needed help."
