Enjoying Your Company //

chapter twenty eight

Vanessa's POV:

I fell asleep last night faster than I ever have before. Exhausted, weighted, from the introduction to the new side this job requires. Spence and I walk into the station the next morning, seven sharp, straight into a nightmare.  The entire police force was flooded with commotion. We exchange a troublesome look and speed to the conference room.

"Hotch, what's going on?"

"A thirteen year old boy was kidnapped last night." He said seriously, forcing my heart to my feet.

"Alex Garner." JJ informed us.

"What time?" I inquire.

"Four hours ago."

"What about his female victims?" Spence asked

"No reports of a female abduction yet."

"The rest of the team is on their way." Just as Hotch spoke, sheriff Alden walked in.

"They found another body."

"Just one?" JJ asked, the tone in her voice spoke all of us.

"Just one." He left the room, leaving is in distress.

"You three go down there. I'll have Prentiss and Morgan cover the parents, and Sheriff Alden take reporters." We all share a confirming glance, rushing into action.

•••

JJ, Spencer, and I arrived at the new dump site. Greenfield and Dorcher, directly under a street lamp. The Grandview Cemetery, just four blocks over. We walk onto the scene, where a local officer was waiting on stand by.

"Alex Gardner, thirteen years old." The female officer sighed as I made my way to the victim. "How can he keep doing this? Taking children in the night."

"He's incredibly meticulous, and fast. He's most likely been stalking this family since he got here." JJ referred. I knelt down next to the boy.

"Same MO here as Sean and Danny. Same dissection, server dehydration. Probably a full stomach. It's like, a copy and paste replica." I say, perplexed with his ability to do such exact repetitive dissection thought his declining mental state.

"Do you have a time of death?" Spencer asked.

"I'd say less than two hours." I look up at him. I start to stand but stop. I use a new glove, removing a torn piece of blood soaked cloth from Alex's pocket. I pull a plastic bag from my kit, dropping in the evidence. "What's this look like to you?" I quizzed, holding it toward JJ and Spence to see.

"Is that?"

"Piece of Lock's clothes. With blood." I say

"Was there anything like this found on or near the other crime scenes?" asked JJ.

"Nothing that I was able to find." I handed the bag to CSI. "Get this to the lab, have them rush the sample." They nod, walking off.

•••

I stood in the coroners office over Alex, finishing up his chest sutures when Dave and Morgan entered.

"Just in time." I chirp, removing a glove and handing Rossi my report. "I found no evidence of sexual assault with Alex, but I did find traces of semen on Gina." I explain walking beside her exam table.

"Had he sexually assaulted his first four female victims?" Morgan asked.

"Original autopsies did confirm evidence of sexual assault." I clarify. "Now, look at this." I raised Alex's wrist. "Both these wounds are identical, down to the last detail. Opened at the same angle, the same dissection, on the same arm. It's a mirror image. I'm running a comparison between the wound on Alex with the wounds on Sean and Danny now."