No Other You

Chapter Three

“And there’s no way it could be a coincidence?” Morgan asked as the team assembled in a private room to discuss the tattoo and its connection to Ellery’s own ink.

“I grew up with the tattoo artist; we were kids together on the base. He designed this for my eighteenth when I spoke about wanting a tattoo and then I added the words to it and picked out the colours.” Ellery said, refusing to sit down. If she stood, then she had a reason to remain calm, but once she sat down, she knew she might not be able to get up again.

“Hers is less detailed than yours and looks messier.” Reid said, studying the pictures of the two tattoos that now hung on one of the boards.

“He probably did it himself.” Morgan said, flicking his eyes between the two doctors.

“And Cooper is the only connection between the murders in Chicago and this one now.” Rossi said, his eyes fixed on the board.

“Which means he’s following your moves.” Morgan looked at Ellery, his eyes full of confusion. No one on their first day expected to find themselves with a case so personal and especially not one that dragged them straight into the centre of it.

“But how? No one but the agents knew about my transfer.”

“Family? Friends?”

“My dad and brother knew, but they’re not even on U.S soil right now. My brother is a marine and my dad is a commanding officer with the navy.” Ellery answered, remembering the last time she had spoken with either of them. “I barely give them the details of this job. All they knew was that I was moving here on a transfer, they don’t even know that I’m in the BAU, I don’t think.” She was starting to ramble as she searched through her thoughts for anything that could prove fruitful right now.

“The profile wouldn’t fit an agent.” Hotch said, rubbing his temples. “It would’ve been obvious to you or anyone else on the team.”

“I’ll have Garcia check all transfers, just in case.” JJ said, stepping from the room as she pulled out her cell phone to call the technician they had left in her usually darkened room of technology.

“You were a field agent before you came to us though, right?” Morgan asked and Ellery nodded her head in confirmation.

“Then maybe he saw you on canvasses.” Reid suggested. “A field agent would be the perfect way to see where the FBI was focusing their investigation next. He would know how to avoid the locations and know the best way to taunt them.”

“And Ellery was probably the youngest one out there and female; someone he wouldn’t feel threatened by.” Rossi said, the pieces slowly sliding together.

“But to see that tattoo, he’d have to be closer to me than just when I was working.” Ellery said and her nerves shook as the slow realisation dawned on her. “He’s been watching everything that I’ve been doing.”

“You were never injured on a scene? Anything that might make that tattoo visible to someone?” Hotch asked, looking at Ellery.

“No. The only injury I ever had was a twisted ankle when I misjudged a landing back when I was running down a suspect, but that wasn’t on this case. The only times that even I see that tattoo is if I’m in the shower or getting changed. I haven’t even been to a beach in years.” She ruled out the possibility of bikinis and folded her arms across her chest. “He has to have been watching me.”

“Where were you in your career when the murders ceased in Chicago?” Reid asked, sitting up straighter as an idea came to him.

“I was starting work on my PhD in psychology and at the same time I was considering transferring to a different office. It was when I was beginning to work closer with the profilers than with the field agents.”