Think Again

It took me a minute to register exactly what I was looking at. But the moment I did, I couldn't help my reaction, "Oh my.... God." I covered my mouth with my hand as I gaped in horror.

"The body has been identified as, twenty four year old, Harmony Smyth, who was reported missing from her home in Hope, Arkansas last week. Just yesterday, twenty two year old, Betty Stark, was reported missing after her shift at the local diner ended. The body of Harmony was found just outside city limits in the woods by a pair of hikers."

JJ clicked a button on the remote she had, and two pictures appeared over the victim. Both were incredibly beautiful girls, one - Harmony - had black hair and brilliant green eyes; while the other - Betty - was a brunette with hazel. They both looked like they could do anything with their lives, which they could being so young.

My eyes went from the picture of Harmony before to the picture of her after she was killed. The body in the picture had been skinned, no inch of it left. The UnSub had removed her eyes, the eye sockets just deep holes. My stomach churned at the sight of them, and I looked away. Spencer sat across from me and I gave him a weak smile as I glanced past him to turn to Hotch.

"Well, what are we waiting for," he asked, "Lets go."

Getting up we packed the files under our arms and moved out of the room. Garcia got to me before anyone else and tucked me under her wing, "So... Morgan tells me you and Reid went on a little lunch date."

"Yes... why? Is that wrong?"

She laughed, "No, no, it's fine. I just want all of the juicy details. What did you wear? Where did you go? What did you talk about? So on and so on."

I smiled, "Are you coming with us?"

She frowned, "Sadly I will not be joining you. No, I will be staying in my cave this time."

"When we get back I'll tell you over dinner or something."

She smiled and we said good bye as I grabbed what I needed from my desk and left.

~

Getting on the plane, I took a seat at the table, setting my bag on the floor. Spencer came and took the seat next to me, or shoulders touching. A feeling in the pit of my stomach came, and I was suddenly very aware of him. Thankfully Derek came and sat across from me and smiled.

"Have fun yesterday," he asked us.

Spencer looked at him with one glance before saying, "Yeah. We did."

Derek looked at me, and I nodded with a small smile. He gave me a small look then asked, "What did you do?"

"Had lunch." I smiled.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Spencer smirk at my response as he continued to look at his copy of the case.

Derek frowned, then tried again, "Come on, you've got to give me more than that."

"The food was good," I said.

"The weather was nice," added Spencer.

Derek sighed, "Alright, fine, be that way."

I smiled at Derek and settled in for take off. Once in the air Hotch, JJ, and Rossi moved to our group. We went over the case, dividing our tasks. JJ was going to the station to tackle media coverage. Hotch was going to talk to the family of the recently abducted girl, Rossi and Derek were going to the dump sight, while Spencer and I were going to the morgue.

We landed after an hour in the air and left right away. Spencer and I arrived at the town morgue and met Ron Moore. Ron lead us into the examining room where the body of Harmony Smyth still lay on one of the slabs covered with a sheet. Ron gave us a file with his detailed report on the body before leaving the room.

"I'm sorry," he said, "But I can't be here."

I looked at Spencer as the door closed, then said, "Well that's comforting."

Spencer nodded as we walked to the table and pulled back the sheet. I cringed a little at the sight of the body, feeling sick. Spencer watched me for a moment before saying, "If you're going to vomit, there's a trash can by the door."

I nodded, then said, "I'll keep this in mind."

Leaning into the body I fought to ignore the smell as I examined the tissue... or what use to be the tissue. The cuts were smooth, almost surgical... but something caught my eye - a tear. I found more as my eyes traveled down Harmony's body, then realized what it was. Standing up, I let out a shaky breath, trying very hard not to lose it.

"What's wrong," asked Spencer.

I swallowed a few times, took in a few more breaths, then asked, "What does that report say about the cut marks?"

"That they were surgical in some places, hesitant in others."

"I don't think our UnSub was hesitant."

Spencer frowned, "What do you mean?"

I motioned him over to me and I pointed at the tear, "That doesn't look like hesitation marks to me.... That looks like what happens when you peel a sticker away and the sticky part stays on the surface... or when you're peeling dead skin off of your thumb."

Spencer continued to frown, "But why?"

"Spencer... I think... Harmony was still alive when this happened to her."

~ Spencer's POV ~

We drove to the police station with the windows down. Kelsie wasn't feeling well after the morgue, and I couldn't exactly blame her.... The skin was removed so that the muscular system could be viewed perfectly. All parts of her body could be seen, from the fatty composites of her breasts, to the delicate folds of her pelvic region. Now, adding the idea that the victim might have been alive while all of that happened to her... it was too terrible to think of. To have a victim like that be your first in-the-field experience was rough, I'm sure.

We entered the station and were directed to the room that was to be "ours" while we were here. Morgan, Rossi, and JJ were here, Hotch either still talking to the family or in transit. Kelsie walked in the room on jell-o knees and sat down before she fell down.

"Are you alright," asked Rossi, looking at me he added, "What happened?"

"We have reason to believe that Harmony may have been alive when our UnSub skinned her."

JJ's jaw dropped as well as Morgan's. Rossi sighed, "What makes you think that?"

Kelsie cleared her throat and answered, "The cut marks were surgical for the majority of the body, but near the feet there were small tears. Our theory is that the UnSub started at the feel then worked his way up."

"About half way up the stomach the tear marks stop." I said.

"So she either died or passed out." guessed Morgan.

"What about the eyes," asked Rossi, "When were they removed?"

"Antemortem." I replied.

"Those cuts looked to be the oldest," Keslie added.

JJ let out a long breath of air, "So... if you two are right about this...."

"Betty's eyes are already gone." I finished her thought, looking at the board of pictures. Betty Stark smiled at me from her snap shot and I felt a twinge of hate towards the UnSub. The idea that he could take someone so beautiful, so innocent....

Hotch came thirty minutes after us, saying that nothing unusual was happening in Betty's life that her family knew of that would have put her at risk of being taken. She was taking on line classes while she worked to save up money to actually go to college. Everyone at the diner - both employees and customers - were deeply saddened to hear of her death.

We all took a seat and sighed.

This was going to be a long night.