Strings That Tie Us Together

Morgan parked the black SUV in the parking lot of the local Philly police station where they had been asked to come after the jet landed, he was ready to jump into this case before another college girl was taken and murdered. Climbing out from the drivers seat, he opened the boot of the SUV and handed Rossi and Reid their weekend bag that were always packed for times like this. Penelope had given Hotch the files before telling the team they needed to fly out straight away, locking the car he followed Hotch and Dawson who were leading them into the station. Seeing the sheriff introduce himself to the team, Morgan gave the older man a light nod as they were taken into a room where they could set up and work.

"When can we start? The sooner we start, the sooner we can catch this creep" He had wanted to go through the files on the plane, however Hotch had told the team that a new Agent was going to join them. He wasn't excited about change as he had only just started putting his complete trust in Eleanor, though she had settled in with them quickly and proved to him that she was the right fit to take over from JJ. Setting his bag off to the side of the room, he turned to look over the white board that had been placed in the room. Head shots of the three young beautiful girls were taped to the board,this was the only part of his job that he hated. He wished that no one was hurt but he knew that was wishful thinking, because the world would never be that way.

---

Eleanor set her overnight bag down as her arm was wrapped around the files, she had already talked with the sheriff over the phone before they arrived in Philly. Sometimes she really wondered why she was part of the FBI because she put herself through this every single day, but she wouldn't have it any other way because she did enjoy saving and helping innocent people while putting criminals behind bars. "As soon as Agent Arlow arrives, she should be here any minute now so you can wait a little longer" She told Morgan knowing the team just wanted to begin, although she wasn't going to repeat herself just because Morgan didn't like waiting.

So while she was waiting for Valarie, she set the files down onto the table. In the spots where the chairs were, she'd still make the team sit down while she told them what crimes were committed before she made little groups so they could split off. Once she talked with a few more people in the station, she'd write out a report that she'd give to the media in the next few hours. Especially since this unsub had taken three college students from the same college, she'd even go to Temple college and hold a meeting with all the students if it meant the young girls would be safer on the campus.

@ sugarplum.

Reid sat with his weekend bag on the grind beside him as he surveyed the photos of the girls, they were the standard school identification card photos which only made the usual ache within him dull a little. It was always harder the. The photos they had were of the victims when they were happily posed for the camera rather than unhappily posed for school IDs. "Did you know that even children enrolled in homeschooling programs can get school ID cards?"

"Yeah, that's really interesting, Reid," mumbled Hotch as he looked over the basic information. "Where is the new Agent coming from again, El?" Hotch looked up from the minimal paperwork to Eleanor.

"She grew up in Bucks County, her mother is a hairstylist, her father is out of the picture and she has two brothers. She's from the a Bucks County Area and knows the Philly area and served as the New York and Pennsylvania FBI coroner for a couple years before she was transferred to us."

Hotchner chuckled, "That's all great, Reid, but where is she coming from right now?"

---

The train ride from New York City was long and full of strange people but when Val finally pulled up in the standard black SUV of the FBI she sighed in relief. It was strange to be so close, yet so far from home but as she stood in the doorway of the Philadelphia Police Station hearing facts about her personal life rattled off she wasn't impressed. "I came from the NYPD, but I'm here now so you can stop talking about my life story." Valarie's tone was flat and showed that she was clearly irritated.

"S-sorry," mumbled Reid as he sunk down in his chair a little.

Valarie rolled her eyes, "Yeah." Val took a chair at the end of the table so she would have to sit only next to one other person. "I read the file you sent me, there wasn't much in it so I hope you've got more?"

Eleanor couldn't stop herself from smiling when Reid rattled off facts about Valarie, right before she walked into the room. "Of course I do Agent Arlow, I'm certain that you could introduce yourself to the team later on." She spoke waiting for the team to take a seat at the table, "In your files there is more information about the bodies that have been found. First was Leah Patterson who we think was kidnapped on the walk from Temple campus to her off campus apartment, she attended her last class but never made it home. The story is the same for Hannah Martin and Lilly Stewart, as you can all see this unsub seems to only prefer young girls with dark features and caucasian skin" She pointed to the school photos of the three girls, they looked similar which would hopefully make things easier for them to find the unsub.

"Each one has been missing for three days before the bodies have been found with severe post-mortem stab wounds to the genital area, however the deaths were caused by asphyxiation with signs of sexual trauma." She explained feeling sadness flow through her body, she couldn't even imagine what these girls went through before they were murdered.

"We have police officers waiting at the latest crime scene. Morgan and Rossi go see what you can find and take Agent Arlow, Hotch, myself and Reid will stay here" She announced knowing Valarie would be better working out on the field.

---

Morgan nodded taking the file with him in case he needed it, picking the car keys into his hand he walked out with Rossi and the new agent. "Agents Rossi and Morgan, welcome to the team" Rossi looked over at Valarie as the three of them walked outside and over to the FBI black SUV, as they climbed in Morgan pressed the address of the crime scene into the GPS so they wouldn't get lost.

"Don't worry about Reid knowing those things about you, he does it to everyone and you'll get used to him" He chuckled softly as he pulled out of the car spot and begin the drive, "This unsub seems to be kidnapping girls at a steady rate. We need to find him before another girl falls prey to him" Morgan spoke as he drove, he would find this bastard and make him pay.

"Sadly this isn't a great first day, but I'm certain that you'll fit right in with us" Rossi turned lightly in the passenger seat and gave Valarie a kind smile, he remembered his first day with the team and it was taunting. They were already close and trusted each other, he had to build that with each member of the team and it took some time.

@ sugarplum.
(I'm so sorry this is so short, did I give you enough to work with?)

Reid sighed once Morgan and Rossi left with the new Agent and turned slightly annoyed eyes to his remaining team mates, "You guys could have warned me she was in the doorway." Hotch only chuckled in response to Reid's comment before he began to look at the new bits of information they had on the three girls' cases. Reid began to read over the papers too, "So they're headed to Lilly Stewart's crime scene now... It's at least nice that they each had their school IDs on them."

Hotchner nodded in complete agreement, "They had to have been far enough from the main Temple University campus when they were taken, otherwise the campus security would have heard them try to fight the unsub off."

Reid was currently on the autopsy report pages so he spoke out loud along with Hotch, "And their bodies were fully dressed in the clothes they were last seen in, but the wounds..." Reid voice trailed off as he tried to think it through while he spoke, "The clothes had no tears in them and no blood soaked into them so the girls had to have been unconscious or had to know the unsub, for them to take the clothes off so easily. The bodies must have been washed before the unsub put the clothes back on too."

Hotch nodded, "Call Rossi and tell them to look for that on Lilly's body."

---

"Alright, we're almost there but when we arrive we'll check for that first to ensure it's the same MO," Rossi promptly hung up his phone and relayed the information to Morgan and Arlow.

"They were washed off and redressed?" Val replied once Rossi was finished regurgitating the information. "That's personal, too personal to have the the unsub..." Her voice trailed off as Valarie tapped into the training she'd had as a Profiler and the training she'd had as a Coroner. "The unsub must be a male then, even though there was no semen found in the other two girls, the profile fits a male but he be anywhere from age eighteen to in his late twenties because of the wide range of students enrolled at Temple." Valarie chewed her lip as they continued driving, "How far away are we?"

(It's not short at all)

"We'll arrive in a few minutes" Morgan spoke following the directions that the GPS was giving him, he was already thinking about this unsub as they needed to catch him soon before he finds another girl. It took them about five more minutes before Morgan had parked the SUV and they were climbing out, Rossi shook the hand of the officer that greeted them and took them over to where Lilly's body was.

Morgan took out a plastic glove and carefully pulled the tarp up, "Her clothes are fine. No blood or tears" He stood up again and took in the surrounding area, "He spends time with them and doesn't just dump them. He has to care about these girls to some extent, otherwise why keep them for three days?" He glanced over to Rossi and Arlow, the area they were in was easy to access so it was easy to find the bodies.

He answered a call from Garcia who had ran the girls classes to check if they were connected in anyway, all she had found was nothing. The girls didn't have classes together, weren't in the same friends group, weren't studying together, nothing. "Thanks babygirl" Morgan said hanging up, "If the unsub is a student at the college. Finding him could be like finding a needle in a haystack, they'd be hundreds of people we'd have to go through" Looking over he noticed that Rossi was asking the police officer a few questions, leaving him standing there with the new agent.

---

Eleanor smiled at Reid's comment about how they could have told him that Valarie had arrived, "And where is the fun in that?" She looked at him with her green eyes before she turned to look at the board and the girls photos, "If they did know the unsub than it could have been easier for him to kidnap them. They could have trusted him or just knew him from college... they didn't know what was coming" She sighed sadly as three innocent lives had been taken far too soon and he was getting away with it.

She turned the board around to look at the map, she grabbed a pen and wrote each girls name in the spots that they had been found. "Each body has been placed within a five mile radius from the main Temple campus, but why take these girls? They have to remind him of someone" She spoke aloud as her right index finger tapped against her pant covered thigh, it was a habit she did when she was thinking.

@ sugarplum.
(Omg I'm watching the show on live tv now and it just revealed that Morgan was molested as a child while involved in a football team.)

Reid nodded along to Agent Dawson's words, "Maybe he's got deeply rooted maternal issues. In the 1960s and into the 70s there was a serial necrophiliac by the name of Ed Kemper. Kemper would find female hitch hikers and try to have sex with them. It when he failed to perform he would kill them and perform necrophilia." Reid quickly began to shift through his papers to find the autopsy page. "It says here that the sexual trauma was most likely post mortem." Reid slowly set down the papers, "We may have another Ed Kemper on our hands. Kemper didn't stop killing until he killed his mother and turned himself in. Judging by his rage with the multiple stab wounds I'm going to say his mother is no longer around."

Hotch caught on and in a desperate voice he spoke, "Which means this unsub isn't going to stop."

---

Valarie instantly caught notice of Agent Morgan's use do an intimate nickname to Agent Garcia and it made her very curious but she diverted her attention to the scene before her. "Well, he wouldn't have many friends, so we can eliminate any male students with any kind of major that would lead them to a job that works with people." Val sighed and crouched down to look at Lilly's face, the bodies always had a story to tell but it was in a different language and Val was fluent. "There's no bruising in her face, just the marks on her neck from a some sort of cord like the others," Val wished she could be the coroner at times like this but that wasn't her job anymore. "We've got to be missing something."

(Oh yes, I hated that episode. Who could hurt little Derek like that)

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose, "He takes these girls to have sex with them. Why does he keep them for three days? Why doesn't he do what he wants and then be finished, he keeps them for a reason. Does he think they could be together, does he work his way up to the sex" Morgan trailed off his thoughts, mostly to himself but it was still out aloud but that was how he worked best.

"So he strangles the girls for a reason, stabs them and than cleans them up. But why?" He murmured stepping around the body of Lilly, "And why put the bodies around here? So close to the campus" He sighed softly through his nose.

"What could we be missing?" He asked watching Agent Arlow as she too looked at the body, though she actually knew what she was looking for unlike him.

---

Eleanor couldn't help but make a face at what Reid said, "That's disturbing" And this is a reason why her parents didn't like the career that she had chosen for herself, "He won't stop until we find him. He could realise after kidnapping the girls that they don't in fact like him, he could become angry and kills them. He won't need to worry about them or what they think of him when he abuses them, if he's already killed them" She hated talking like that but she didn't to try and see why this unsub was doing this to these innocent girls.

"He could threatened them or be keeping them somewhere secure so they can't escape" She was pretty sure if these girls had the chance to escape then they'd try.

@ sugarplum.

The lack of vital information but the need solve the case made his head spin. "I don't know if he killed them out if anger towards them..." Reid stood and walked to the photos of the girls, it was like he was searching for the missing piece within the brown eyes on the photos of the girls. "What if it was anger toward himself? What if he was unable to perform and killed them out of embarrassment?"

"That would explain why he took care to wash them off and redress the girls rather than to just put them wherever. He felt regret for what he did to them after it was over." Hotch spoke up from his spot at the long table. "The initial attack is not about the girls themselves, but whoever or whatever they symbolize for the unsub. The disposal of the bodies is about the girls he took and that's why he takes care to clean and redress them."

---

"Maybe so that someone would find them," spoke Val softly as she turned sad eyes to Agent Morgan and stood from her crouched stance. "Look at how she's placed," the body if Lilly Stewart was laid down on the pavement but her legs and arms weren't sprawled out like the unsub just dropped her and fled. Lilly's arms were down by her sides and her legs were straight, her hair was tucked behind her ears and she was hidden away but not so much that someone wouldn't see. "The unsub positioned her like this for a reason. He might have regretted his actions..." Without another word Val took out her FBI issued phone and dialed the preprogrammed number of Agent Garcia and out it on speaker. "Hello, Agent Garcia, it's Agent Arlow would you mind telling me the body positions of the other two bodies?"

Garcia's voice peeped out from the phone, "Sure thing." The sound of keys clicking could be heard faintly as a silence filled the air. "They were both laid down with their arms by their sides and the legs relatively straight with the hair tucked behind both ears. Also, welcome to the team."

Morgan listened to what Penelope said, "We should head back to the station and let Lilly be taken from here" He said wanting to get back to the station to see if Hotch and Reid had found anything out, he also didn't want Lilly's body laying outside any longer than it needed to be. He still respected the victims of crime because the people hurting them didn't, what he didn't understand was if this guy regretted what he did. Why would he continue taking these girls and doing the same to them? He'd never understand what went on in criminals minds, he didn't want to understand what criminals thought because he would never get that low.

"The police don't know much about what's going on or who is doing, so we're on our own" Rossi spoke as he made his way back over to the two agents, he hadn't been expecting to get much help from the local police that were taking care of these crimes. It's a reason why the team was called in to help, because they all knew this guy wouldn't stop until they stopped him.

---

Eleanor turned to look at Hotch, "So he's killing a certain someone in his life but then regrets it? And he does this over and over again, he's not going to stop. The girls at Temple college need to know about this" She said as she felt strongly about female safety, no one had the right to make anyone feel scared and no one had the right to hurt another being.

She didn't remember much of when she was younger but she did somewhat remember a point in her life when she was terrified, her parents split way before she was born but they fought all the time. One day her father was so angry with her mom that he just took her from the house, Eleanor was only seven and didn't understand why her father was taking her away. They drove for three days before the police finally caught up to them, her father was taken to jail as he was already on parole.

"I'd be happy to go to the college and talk to the girls friends, maybe they know someone that we could look into or speak with" She suggested to Hotch wanting to get his opinion even though she knew they needed to visit the college.

@ sugarplum.
(Sorry it's shorter than usual, I'm on my phone.)

Reid continued to study the photographs along with the autopsy notes, there had to be something missing, but this guy was good. He left no trace of his DNA on any of the girls nor did he leave any trace of where they had been killed.

Hotch, however, had turned his eyes from the papers and photographs to look to Eleanor. "We can't afford to let too much information out and cause a panick but a general safety and call for information might help without causing too much hysteria within Temple's student body."

---

Val sighed in sadness before she bowed her head and gently put her palms together before her in a standard form of prayer. "Please, let Lilly find rest and please let us find who did this to her and bring justice. Thank you." Val's hands fell back down to her sides and she turned to face Rossi and Morgan.

"I didn't take you as a woman of faith," Rossi spoke with soft playfulness to his tone.

Valarie let a small smile cross her lips, "I don't care if it's God, the universe, multiple Gods or Mother Earth who hear my prayers as long as it gets answered." Rossi let a soft chuckle escape him before the three Agents gave parting glances to Lilly's cold, pale body and let the official coroner take over. Val climbed into what seemed to be Her Seat in the back of the black SUV given to them by the government and waited for the others to pile in before she spoke. "I feel like something is missing from this case but I honestly don't know what."

(No that's fine)

Morgan placed the seat belt across his body but glanced at Valeria over his shoulder, "Missing from the girls?" He asked trying to help the Agent out with whatever she was thinking, something felt off to him as well but he had no way of knowing what it was from or how to explain it. "What it is, we'll find this bastard and soon" He said knowing he had to stay positive about finding this guy, they needed to before he found other young woman to make his victim.

"We'll get the answers that we need" He said as he pulled out onto the street and started driving back towards the police station, he was hoping that Reid and Hotch had found something for them to all work on. Otherwise he'd call Garcia again and ask if there is anything she could do to help them with the case, all they needed was for this guy to make a single little mistake and they'd find him.

It was a matter of time, though in that time he could kidnap another one. The drive didn't take him long and he was soon enough parking the black SUV again, he climbed out and locked the doors before heading into the station. He held open the front glass door for both Valerie and Rossi.

---

Eleanor nodded her head, "As long as this won't cause him to hide? If he goes to Trinity college and that's how he finds the girls, then seeing me could either freak him out or make him take another girl" She wasn't going to do anything that would stuff up the case or cause another dead body to turn up, however she still thought that the girls on the campus needed to know.

They needed to be extra careful after late classes and walking home, they also needed to stick around other people as much as they could so they weren't alone and easy to grab without anyone else noticing. "Did you find anything with Lilly?" She asked when Morgan and Rossi walked in with Agent Arlow with them.

@ sugarplum.
(Sorry this is so sort again)

Reid sighed and ran a hand loosely through his hair as he listened to Agent Dawson think out loud. He mentally piggybacked his hight process off of hers, if there were to be some kind of conference held at Temple, which there needed to be soon, what was said would be crucial in not only the investigation but also in the killer's cooling off time. If the killer were to be at the conference, get spooked and go into hiding then the team would never find him. Spencer's thought process was interrupted by the footsteps and voices of Morgan, Rossi and Arlow returning.

"All of the bodies were found in the same positioning..." Rossi relayed all of the information that the three if them had gotten while away at the crime scene.

"I really think we're missing something," Val cleared her throat before somewhat timidly speaking up. "I'm not sure what, and I can't really explain it but I have this feeling that we're looking right past something really important."

(No its fine, mine will probably be short too. I'm on my phone)

Eleanor listened to Rossi and Arlow, "What if you went to see the coroner and spent more time with Lilly?" She offered not knowing fully how Valerie liked to work or how she worked best, however she did know that Valerie would be the best when it came to looking at the dead bodies of the victims. She never had much to do with the bodies, although in the month she had been there she had seen one person die right in front of her. Of course the unsub deserved it but it stuck with Eleanor.

"We could get Garcia to search through the students and check to see if any have been acting up or have changed lately" Eleanor glanced over at Hotch, she'd have to work out what she'd say to the students. She wouldn't say anything about how it could be another student in case the unsub was listening to her, she did feel strange knowing the unsub could be that close to her yet she'd have no idea.

---

Morgan gave a small nod of his head, "You aren't going to the campus alone either El" He was protective over the team, especially the younger ones like Reid and Eleanor. He loved the team and would do anything for them, "We should speak with the girls friends in case they know anything that could help us" He said knowing that Agent Dawson would be the best for it.

"I could go with Agent Arlow, we could check out the off campus living areas that the girls had. There could be something there that has been missed" He suggested knowing fresh eyes never hurt in cases like this.

@ sugarplum.
(Oh my gosh I am so sorry this took me so long. I forgot my mom was leaving for a shoe weekend vacation and so did she, so I was helping her cram pack and I'm sorry this is so short)

Reid nodded along with the other Agents' conversation but in his mind there was a whole other dialogue going on as his eyes jumped from Agent Arlow to the photos of the victims. "This unsub is targeting girls of average build with dark hair and eyes," he suddenly spoke up.

Rossi looked at Reid with confuse eyes, "That's right, what are you thinking Reid?"

Spencer shook his head and pointed to Valarie. "She can't go to the assembly for the students."

Valarie instantly tensed and glared at Reid, this guy had a lot of nerve. "Look," she said with anger I her voice as she squared herself to stand tall. "Just because I just got here, doesn't mean you have the right-"

"No, no, no," interrupted Reid as soon as he heard and saw the intense anger radiating from the new agent. "You can't be a face for this operation. Agent Arloe, you're a match for his M.O., you've got the dark hair, dark eyes and with the proper clothing, you could look like a Temple student."

(No it's fine, sorry for the crappy post.)

Eleanor quickly realized that Reid was right, like he always was. She just hadn't thought about how much Valeria was the unsub's type, "Right well I'll take you or Hotch with me" She said not thinking it was a big deal in who she took with her, Reid wasn't really good or comfortable in schools from his past experiences.

"Maybe Agent Arlow should stay low for now, we don't know what this unsub is fully capable of. He could change for all we know and decide that he wants her" Morgan commented not wanting or willing to put her in any danger, she may have been new and just started but she was still part of the team and they looked after each other at all times.

"I agree, Valarie soon stay here as much as possible. At least stay away from the campus for now" Hotch said looking at the new Agent, he didn't even care how she felt about that as this was for her safety.

"Morgan can take you to the morgue, sadly I agree with keeping you safe. But that doesn't mean you can't make more process on the case" Eleanor nodded her head lightly.

@ sugarplum.

Reid nodded along completely agreeing with his fellow agents points of view, "I'm going to call in the parents, maybe what we're missing they know and haven't told us yet." Mostly, he wanted to just get out of there before things got ugly.

"Wait, just hold on a second," Valarie suddenly blurted and stepped forward. "You're seriously going to keep me off the fieldwork and in the offices?"

Hotch sighed and turned his dark eyes onto the new agent, "Yes. I really am. We can't risk you getting mistaken for a student, or a target in the darkness and we can't risk scaring the unsub. This isn't a negotiation, Agent Arlow."

Reid watched as the scene unfolded before him, the new agent in particular looked like she could explode but rather than do exactly that Reid was surprised to see the rage fade from the Agent's eyes as she slowly blinked. "Agent Morgan," the woman spoke with closed eyes. "Please, let's go."

Morgan watched intently as the scene unfolded before him, swallowing he turned silently and held open the door for Valarie to exit before him, glancing back he gave Hotch a look of 'I'll handle it'. Hotch never liked to act like the boss with the boos but there were times when he needed to, for everyone's safety. Stepping out of the station he unlocked the black SUV and climbed inside, starting the engine he pulled out of the parking spot and drove to the morgue.

"You have to understand that Hotch is only trying to protect you, if this unsub was kidnapping blondes with green eyes than Eleanor wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the campus" He explained knowing Agent Arlow couldn't have joined the team at a worse time, he would have been pissed if Hotch told him to sit out and only stay in the office.

"The next case will be different and you can spend all your time out on the field" He told her with a small smile as he drove, he wanted her to feel welcome and be as comfortable as she possibly could within the team. He had a feeling that she was going to be around for a long time with them, so she needed to fit in and feel like she was apart of the team.

"Besides if the unsub did find you, then we'd have to work harder to find you" He chuckled softly to himself as he was only joking with her, they were already working as hard as they could with the information they had.

---

Eleanor watched as Agent Arlow left with Morgan yet again, she had been expecting Valarie to argue with Hotch to let her keep working the field. But she was surprised when the new agent stayed calm, "We could always ask the parents of the girls to come here for a chat? Agent Arlow could speak here with the parents" She offered knowing there wouldn't be much work for Valarie to do here at the station.

She glanced at the tree men who were standing in the room with her, they all understood that Hotch was only making sure that nothing happened to Valarie.

"We need to make sure that she can still work the case from here, trust me you don't want to deal with her when she's angry" She told them remembering one time when Valarie was pissed off, it was a sight to see that's for sure. "That's right, you've worked with her before" Rossi nodded remembering that Agent Dawson had mentioned that when they were told about Agent Arlow joining their team.

@ sugarplum.
(Hey sorry I didn't reply sooner, I was prepping for school. I have my first day of college classes tomorrow!(: )

Reid frowned, "If she usually explodes when she's angry, why didn't she this time?"

Rossi chuckled before he pat the younger agent on the shoulder as he passed by, "Profile the unsub, Reid, not the newbie."

Reid sighed before he looked down at the paperwork he held withholding the information on the parents. Something, something big, was missing from the puzzle. So far they had he basics of victimology and barely anything in terms of identifying the unsub. They knew the unsub was a male because there wasn't any way a woman would have been able to take the victims without drugging them or having them be intoxicated and the toxicology report showed no signs of either. Other than that, they had nothing. No height, no race. Nothing, and nothing bothered Spencer more than having nearly nothing to work with.

---

"Yeah." Valarie settled in her seat in the passenger side of the car and listened to the sound of Agent Morgan's voice as he spoke but all she heard were excuses to why she was just about chained inside. "That's assuming I get put on this closed off team long term."

Valarie honestly wanted to lash out and just be furious with all of them, well except Eleanor because Val already knew El's way of working and what to expect. Valarie just felt to defeated, she was jet lagged from the nonstop brainwork from her departure from her last case-- a serial rapist and murdererof elderly widows-- and her immediate jump into this case, she was hurt from her unwarm welcome curtesy of her new teammates and she was frustrated that she was now stuck off of the field.

(That's fine, how exciting!)

Eleanor couldn't help but smile at Reid's comment about Valarie, it was just the way he was and nothing was going to change him. She knew this was going to be a very long day, she'd have to call the college and set up a time though that would likely have to happen tomorrow. So hopefully the unsub doesn't take another victim tonight, though he seems to have a number of weeks between each victim.

"He has time between each victim, maybe he needs to earn enough trust or at least get them to notice him. He'd have to know their classes or be in class with them, but these three girls didn't share anything" She thought out aloud as her eyes were focused on the whiteboard that had the girl's school ID pictures taped up,

"They have a little bruising so they were tied up, but he still has to get them off campus and to wherever he keeps them. How does no one see or hear anything?" She sighed as she wasn't getting anywhere, she rubbed circles on her temples with her fingertips.

---

It was obvious to Morgan that Valarie wasn't taking this well, he didn't blame her but she also didn't know Hotch like the rest of the team did. There have been a few times when he's had to stay back from a case and he hated it, it made him feel useless and powerless.

"El will find you something to do so you can still help, it's just for this one case" He knew he was making excuses, but she'd just have to deal with it for as long as this case went on. The rest of the car ride was pretty silent and it wasn't comfortable, he quickly parked the SUV and turned the engine off.

Climbing out he made his way morgue and showed the man at the front counter his badge, they followed him into a room before a tray was pulled out. He stood back somewhat and let Valarie take control over this, he saw enough dead bodies through work but now he was surrounded by them and he didn't feel good about it.