Elysian [Book 1]

twenty-nine

twenty-nine; warm comfort

"I won't lie. It-It happens in the industry and we put a stop to it when it does." The mortician said putting hand sanitizer on his hands.

"You don't report it to the police?" Hotch asked and I looked at the older man. "Well, we like to keep that sorta thing quiet." He said and I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Sir, a killer is dressing up his dead victims and violating them. Maybe quiet isn't the best way to go." I said and he looked up at us. 

"He dresses them up?" He asked and I nodded."Does that mean something to you?" Hotch asked and the man nodded. "We hired an apprentice a while back. Odd guy. Even for this buisness. I didn't like the attention he paid to the female cadavers. I come to find out, he liked to do their makeup and put a wig on them and such." He said and Hotch looked down at me.

"Can you describe the wig for us?" He asked and the man nodded. "I can show it to you." He said and he walked to the back and pulled out a box.

"We cleaned out his locker after his termination, and there she is." He said staring down at the wig. Hotch pulled out a pen from the inside of his coat. He pulled out the wig with the pen and looked at me then at the man. "I need this man's name." He said and the man nodded going to get the man's name.

I stood at the station and Leilani came in holding doughnuts and coffee. I looked up to her as she handed me my own box, I smiled and sat down eating the doughnuts and reading a cold case file. Morgan and Leilani were talking and Spencer pulled up a chair next to me.

"A new cold case?" He asked and I nodded. "Yeah. It's an unidentified cold case from 1987. Susan Adams was found floating in the water on the Potomac. But it doesn't really strike me as a cold case, ya know?" I said and he nodded, looking at it briefly.

"I don't know, it's just not really screaming cold case to me. " I said and Spencer smiled at me. I looked at him, giving me a toothy smile and I put the file down. "What?" I asked and he shurgged. 

"Nothing, you're just beautiful when you're focused." He said and I blushed, and then a question came to my mind.

"What would you think if the BAU had their own forensics floor? Like were DNA machines and our own fingerprinting machine was?" I asked and he nodded. "It would be a good idea. I know Hotch was talking about having more interning go on, since you have the PhD." He said and I sighed, raising my eyebrows. 

"I guess. I'm not a teacher. And with Leilani here I just- I don't know." I said and he tilted his head looking at me.

"What is it?" He asked and I shook my head. "Nothing, I'm just being weird. Doughnut?"I asked shoving the box towards him and he grabbed a glazed one.

I heard Hotch's voice and I turned in the swivel chair to face Hotch. "So what do we think? Why is the UnSub keeping Brooke alive?" He asked looking at all of us. "Maybe he needs them alive to effect their transformation. On the phone she sounded like she was drugged and being locked up. These are control mechanisms in cases of sexual slavery, mind control." He said and my phone rang, and I groaned, looking at everyone.