I Will Never Let You Go (A Maxcer Fanfic)

Hidden In Plain Sight.

"This case is local. There have been three dead women found in the past month: Sandra Johnson, thirty five; Margaret Woods, thirty four; and Kayla Nichols, thirty nine. All of them were found on a curb within a ten mile radius; they appear to have been dead for a few hours before sunrise when DC PD found them." Garcia explained.
"It says they were stabbed through the heart multiple times." Luke said, which made Garcia shudder.
"They're all white, but other than that they show no resemblance of each other. Did you look into their backgrounds?" Spencer asked Garcia.
"Yes, they were all married. Sandra was a veterinarian, Margaret was a waitress, and Kayla was an accountant."
"Did any of them have children?" Matt asked.
"Sandra had two twin boys, Margaret had a daughter and Kayla had two sons and a daughter."
"And these pictures, what are they?" JJ asked, holding up photos in plastic evidence sleeves.
"One was left at each dump site. If you look, you'll see that each one shows the dump site before...well...it became a dump site."
"It's almost like he planned where he was going to dump them." Rossi surmised, flipping through the three photos.
"Alright, Matt and Luke go check out each of the dump sites. See if there's any clue to where the unsub may have killed them or why he chose to dump them there. Reid and Tara, go see the bodies. Rossi, JJ, and I will go talk to the families at the DC police station." Emily ordered, making everyone rise from their seats.

Tara/Spencer

"These wounds aren't very precise, although you can tell what he was aiming for." Tara murmured, looking over Sandra's wounds on her chest.
"He stabbed them probably in quite succession due to his rage which made his aim off. It seems like there must have been a woman in his life that really messed with his head." Spencer surmised.

Matt/Luke

"Okay so Sandra was dumped in front of a pharmacy, Margaret was dumped here in front of a coffee shop, and Kayla was dumped in front of a supermarket. They all live in this area so they all have probably been to these places before; do you think this where they met the unsub?" Matt said, his hands on his hips as he looked around the area. They were currently in front of the coffee shop, where the second body was found.
"It's possible. He left those photos with the bodies, but our victims don't seem to be present in any of them." Luke said.
"There are some people though, maybe Garcia can identify them; see if they saw someone taking pictures."

Emily/JJ/Rossi

"So your wife was a vet. When she wasn't working, where was she usually?" Emily asked Sandra's husband.
"She was always out of the house. She would be running errands or going out with her girlfriends."
"And your boys, Hayden and Bryce; they both play soccer. I'd assume they'd have games and practices. Was Sandra ever late to them?" Emily questioned. Mr Johnson sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Yes. She'd always apologize, say she got caught up in something for work or something."
"You don't sound like you believe her." Emily pointed out.
"This has been going on for the past couple months and to be honest I didn't really notice until my boys said something to me."
"What'd they say?"
"Sandra was supposed to drive them to practice one day but was on a phone call right when they were supposed to leave. Bryce overheard her talking and she said something like 'sorry baby not tonight.' She doesn't talk to anyone like that."
"And did you talk to her about it?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, and said she was talking to a friend; mimicking them."
"But you don't believe that."
"I don't know."
"Have you ever thought that she was cheating on you?" Emily said tentatively. Mr Johnson sighed and put his head in his hands. Tears started to form in his eyes but he wiped them away before they could reach his cheeks.
"Cheating was just something she wouldn't do."
"But do you ever find yourself thinking she may have been?"
He went silent again, staring Emily down for a few moments.
"I'm not trying to make your wife out to be a bad person, but we need to know everything about her behavior in order to figure out who may have done this."
Mr Johnson took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them he said "It had crossed my mind. But if she was, I honestly don't want to know. For my boys' sakes."
Emily nodded and led Mr Johnson out of the room. Rossi and JJ had both finished their interviews and were discussing quietly by the evidence board. "So what did you guys get out of the husbands?" Emily asked.
"According to Mr Nichols, his oldest son brought up that Kayla might have been cheating on him. He talked with her about it only last week and she confessed that it was true. They were filing for divorce." JJ said.
"Mr Woods had suspected the same thing himself, but never brought it up to Margaret." Rossi claimed.
"That seems to be a pattern with all these women; they all were suspected to be cheating on their husbands."

Giving The Profile

"We are looking for a white male in his thirties, who most likely lives or works in the immediate area of the dump sites. He is targeting women of a similar age, who he believes are cheating on their husbands." Emily began.
"All these women were married with children, so it's quite possible that this unsub is or was too. His violent stabs to the heart symbolize that he feels betrayed, and these women need to be punished." JJ said.
"Now he probably has a job where he works among the public, so he is able to weed out who he thinks may be married and cheating, while he wears this facade of being friendly and harmless. Once he does that, it's possible he stalks the women for a short time, before seeing the proof for himself. Once he has it, he will take them at his earliest convenience." Spencer continued.
After the police dispersed, the chief walked up to Emily. "There's another body."

"Andrea Riggins, thirty five. Married with two girls. Same stab wounds, but this time he left the body in an alley. It looks like he killed her here too." Tara said, crouching next to the body to examine the wounds. "What'd he do-- kill her, place the picture then leave? Someone had to have seen this guy." Luke said. He glanced around, looking up to see if there were any cameras set by store fronts. There didn't seem to be any, so they were out of luck there.
"He left another photo. Although it's not exactly where he left the body. This shows the front of Ernie's bar, but the body was left in the alley next to it." Spencer said, walking around the bar and to the alley with the picture in his hands. "Seems like he was in a hurry; he had time to do what he normally would, but maybe he didn't have the time to move her. Do you think she met the unsub in the bar?" JJ asked. Just then, Spencer's phone rang with Garcia's name lighting up the screen.
"Yeah?"
"Uhh so I have good news and concerning news; the good news is that I found another common variable between the victims. They all frequented Ernie's bar, which is actually where our last victim was left next to. They all were also there the night before they were found." Spencer listened as he looked at the sign to the bar.
"Now here's the concerning thing: as I normally would I scanned the pictures our unsub left and Matt asked me to try and identify anyone in the photos so maybe they could ask if they remember seeing a strange person taking pictures."
"And were you able to identify anyone?" Spencer asked.
"Yes, a few. But there's one particular person that is in all of them hidden in plain sight. And if you see it again in whatever photo he left this time, I will start getting antsy."
"Who?"
"Mrs Doctor Spencer Reid. She seems far away but I can identify her."
Spencer's eyes widened. He looked closely at the photo, squinting his eyes. Then he saw her; Max walking by with Willow's stroller. She was wearing her light blue sweater and grey capris, her hair in a loose ponytail. Spencer remembered her looking like that three days ago.
"She's in here Garcia."
"Oh no, I'm antsy now."