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Criminal Minds: Dead Like Them (randomname/Madam Mim)

Madam Mim

Madam Mim

One Big Modern Mess
Joined
May 30, 2013
SSA Hotchner stared into his coffee. His eyes felt so heavy. He hadn't slept much on the plane and though it was 6 am back home here in Seattle the clocks all read 3, which only made him want to crawl back into bed all the more. Most of the rest of the team looked similarly tired and downtrodden, but without complaint JJ pulled the files from her bag and spread them on the table. They were summarily ignored in favor of the menus.

"Banana Bonanza sounds good," JJ commented, pointing to the picture before looking over to Brennan. "Wanna split it with me? It looks too rich to eat on my own."

"Eggs and toast, man," Morgan mumbled groggily. "Too early for that sugary crap."

Across the diner, a girl called George was leaning against the wall of the booth, nursing a cup of coffee and a plate of sausages. Poor Kiffany had looked exhausted to be at work at three in the morning, and George could sympathize. She lifted her head, however, when the bell above the door tinkled and Rube walked in. She sat up as he joined her at the booth.

"You couldn't sleep either?" she asked tiredly. "Daisy keeps hogging the bed. She sleeps spread eagle! We really have to find her somewhere else to live. Two years, Rube. I haven't had a good night's sleep in two years." George started to continue her rant, but the look on Rube's face quickly quieted her.

"What?" she asked, concerned and curious. "What's happened?"
 
A light breeze brushed across Brennan's skin. The table where the team sat was dangerously close to the front door. Every time the door opened, the breeze rushed across his exposed skin on his arms and made him shiver. The rain was padding outside along with a gentle wind to give a calming feeling when there was a vicious killer on the loose. It was nice to eat together as a team, though. They often had to pull up chairs around a few chains of tables but this nice diner had some round table for them all to crowd into booths.

Brennan's stomach grumbled when JJ pointed out the Banana Bonanza to him and waited for his response. A light laugh left his lips when Morgan gave a recommendation of his own.

"Sure, let's split it. I don't know why but it sounds like some weird game show where the contestants fight with bananas." It was a strange name indeed but it looked delicious.

Across the table, Dr. Spencer Reid was sitting as his eyes glanced around his team. Dr. Reid decided on Morgan's recommendation for Brennan, ordering just a couple scrambled eggs and toast. Unbeknownst to him, his plate would cost more because eggs had a sudden skyrocket in price but it was too early to worry about the money. Even on their worst days in office, Dr. Reid was normally asleep at this time, they all were.

He was rather quiet though, not giving any quirky comments or statistics or rants about anything like he normally would. As stated before, he was exhausted. The only thing interesting seemed to be some girl on the other side of the diner. Words couldn't explain it though because it was a bittersweet attraction. On one hand, his imagination quivered, wanting to speak with her. On the other hand, he felt an awful dread accompanied with that booth, though didn't think anything about it.

After placing orders, Brennan kept one hand on JJ's knee, gently stroking her through the material of her pants. His fingers opened the files presented from his wife to start looking. The married couple were most awake of all the team, primarily because it's been years since they had sleep, even when they were off.
 
JJ smiled at the visual her husband's description had conjured up. "I'm sure there's some sort of Japanese gameshow where that happens," she laughed, putting her hand over Brennan's on her knee. "Banana Bonanza it is."

"Hey pretty boy," Morgan yawned. "You asleep too? No trivia about genetically modified bananas or something?" Hotch raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "What? I pay attention!"

Once Kiffany had brought Rube his usual, she left to go take the order of the only other table. His face was obscured by a decorative fern, even as he leaned forward on the table. With a glint in his eye that was hard to read, a combination of excitement, fear, worry, and elation, he pushed forward a plain envelope to the middle of the table. "This is it for me, Peanut," he said quietly. "My last one.”

“Your last reap? Your Lights?” Georgia Lass sounded both excited and sad. Of course she wanted Rube to get his Lights. He deserved them. But he'd become a father figure to her the past few years, and while she wanted him to be happy...she didn't want him to go. As she had lost touch more and more with her own family, the Reapers had become her family, and Rube was like a father to her.

“My Lights,” he confirmed quietly with a small smile. “The name's in this envelope.”

“Have you looked at it?” Rube almost laughed at how much George sounded like a child on Christmas waiting to open presents. “Open it!”

The patriarch of the undead little family chuckled. He had wanted to open it alone...but for some reason, he felt even better about opening it around only George. He didn't want a lot of pomp and circumstance, opening it around everyone, but he was okay with this. He could share this moment with George. If he were honest with himself, he'd been more lenient with her than the others over the years—especially in the beginning—and she had probably needed an ass whooping once or twice that he hadn't given her. Maybe he spoiled her a little because he reminded him so much of his own daughter, his little Peanut.

“Here goes,” he said with a nervous chuckle, sliding his finger over the envelope seal and glancing up at her in anticipation. Taking slow, deep breaths Rube slid his finger beneath the flap, causing tiny tears here and there. Inside wasn't a sticky note but an index card with a single name. Rube stared at the name for several long, very long moments. His heartbeat raced and he had trouble swallowing.

“What is it?” George asked, noticing something in his face. She took the index card from him and had just enough time to read S. Reid. Pioneer Park, Mercer Island. E.T.D. August 23rd, 1:57 am. before he snatched it back from her. “What's wrong? It's your last reap!”

“I uh...this isn't possible. There's been some mistake.”

“Upper management doesn't make mistakes, do they?”

“I dunno, but they have on this one. This...this isn't possible. It's not even geographically possible. I uh...I have to go. I have to clear this up. It's got to be a misunderstanding.” Rube's hands shook, but George still had time to see the neat writing on the index card before it disappeared into the envelope. She frowned. The name meant nothing to her, but it clearly did to him. The address had definitely been in-town, though. Georgia Lass couldn't think of a reason why it was geographically impossible that S. Reid could be in Seattle.

Rube glanced at the other table, just for a split second, before walking out. His heart froze. No! Acting as though he hadn't seen, as though he didn't know, he continued out the door and walked hurriedly through the rain. He didn't want to wake her, but he didn't know where else to go.
 
"Ugh." The young doctor grumbled. "The British soldiers in World War II were the first noted group that developed a method for staying up for long periods of time. Thirty-six hours... they would get visors that were bright and it simulated the sun rising. That kept them awake for such a long time in the war... maybe we should do the same." After giving this useless statistic, Spencer dropped back into his half-slumber as they waited. Not only was it too early in the morning, but the service was painfully slow. Five minutes and it seemed the toast wasn't even ready. There were no more than three tables occupied in the entire diner but the workers seemed to just stand around, putting everyone to sleep. The faint noises of a car passing by outside every so often could be heard along with quiet murmurs around them, but nothing more than this could be heard.

After hearing Spencer's comment, Morgan simply shook his head. "The Boy Wonder never fails, does he? Not even with lack of sleep. I would hate to see you when following that method. What kind of statistic could you give again?" Morgan inquired and continue to shake his his head in amusement.

While the two men across the table had their conversation, Brennan was in his own little world with JJ. While his eyes were glancing through the case facts and evidence, his hand still rubbed up and down her knee. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. A serial killer was mutilating bodies and hanging the at the crime scenes as some sort of show it seemed. He didn't need to see the visuals before his Banana Bonanza arrived. He preferred that visual instead.

Closing the manila folder, he shifted his focus to his wife. "How do you continue to look so gorgeous after only a few hours of sleep?" He whispered, a coy smile spreading on his face. He never failed to show her affection and love in public or in private. A gentle kiss was pressed to her cheek and he exhaled a happy little breath.

Prentiss and Rossi just exchanged glances and grinned. The team was used to these actions now because it had been seven years that they were married. Their work performance never suffered and it was nice to see happiness early in the morning like this. It seemed to be one of the only relationships that had success within the members of their line of work, but it really was reassuring to see.
 
JJ couldn't help but smile when Reid rattled of his useless fact. He really never did fail. Her smile grew wider as Brennan whispered in her ear and she leaned her head against his. In truth she was incredibly tired, but with the way he made her feel it didn't really matter as much. She flipped her own folder shut, tired of looking at the pictures and wondering why it had taken four bodies for somebody to call them in.

"Same way you do, I--" JJ cut herself off and snapped her head up. Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly for a few moments before she scooted her way out of the booth and to the door. "Gideon?" She jogged a few steps in the rain as Gideon glanced over his shoulder before picking up the pace. She wanted to call after him...but he was gone. Already disappeared into the early morning. Frowning and damp, she trudged back into the diner and slid into her seat. She looked around at the others with a significant look, confused and hurt. "Guys...I think I just saw Gideon."

~*~

There was a pounding at the door. It's just a dream. More pounding. Then the doorbell. The alarm clock on the nightstand read 3:27 am. Why? Groaning, she rolled out of bed and pulled on a nightgown before answering the door. She could barely lift her groggy expression into a surprised one.

"Rube?" Evangeline blinked at him blearily.

"I gotta talk." Rube pushed his way past her and made himself comfortable in her living room, kicking off his shoes at the door.

"Come on in," she mumbled before closing the door. "Tea?"

"No thanks." He looked up at her through the kitchen passthrough as she shuffled around, making some for herself. "I got my last name."

This was enough to startle her out of her sleepy stupor for a moment. "Your last name? Your lights? That's wonderful news!"

"No it isn't."

"It isn't?"

"S. Reid."

Her expression fell. "S. Reid? That S. Reid, the one from Quanitco?" Rube nodded. She sat down as the kettle warmed up. "I'm so sorry, Rube. But why are you here?"

"See how it happens! Use your Gift! Tell me a way to stop it!"

Evangeline sighed and shook her head. "You know that's not how it works, Rube. I can't just do it like that."

"Well at least use it to protect him?"

~*~

It was a very long morning for everyone. In the night there had been another murder, to which Morgan and Reid had been sent. The officer on scene had briefed them while civilians looked on behind the police tape. Morgan glanced up several times, frowning each time.

"Hey Pretty Boy, looks like you got a fan there," he pointed out quietly, nodding slightly. "Been staring at you for about twenty minutes now."
 
When JJ snapped her head up and just ran out the diner, Brennan was quick to follow her. Just as always, he tried to keep her in the sights. After reading what this new case was about, he didn't want her running out on the streets alone at three-thirty in the morning. "Gideon?" He asked while he followed behind of her through the rain. It started to become heavier by the moment and the sound of the rain hitting the ground. "Where? I didn't see him..." He asked quietly and just shook his head, leading her back inside to the diner.

---


While Derek Morgan and Dr. Spencer Reid were on the crime scene, the remainder of the team was settling in at the local police station where the lead investigator that called them in, Alex Whitlow, was talking to them. The man was short and stocky with a deep, gruff voice. He spoke very little and only said what he had to say. His assistant, Tina, showed the BAU team the conference room that was cleared for them. It was a room that was presented with four white walls that were very bland and non decorative. Outside, the hustling and bustling of the officers were unruly and loud, trying to gather whatever information they can. Whomever this unknown subject was, he or she did not discriminate.

With the five victims, there was no consistency of race, gender, or location. There seemed to be no connections between the victims but there had to be some. Victimology was the most important thing in the early part of an investigation. As always, a few officers were disgruntled that the team was here, railroading the investigation as they said, though that wasn't true. However, the officers that were happy for their assistance, were upset that this team full of expectations were sitting in an office talking.

Minutes passed and while no connections were made, the team was split up. Prentiss and Hotch would be going to visit the family of the third victim to talk and see if they can gather any information. Rossi was going to visit a couple of the crime scenes while Brennan and JJ would visit the parents of the fourth victim, a white woman aged twenty-eight, Lisa Craig.

The address was about twenty minutes away and every second was important, so they were all quickly on the way to do their duty. Like always, Brennan and JJ received some strange glances, seeing the agents holding hands as they walked. No one understood, but no one needed to understand.

At the crime scene, Dr. Reid was more focused on the crime scene than anything else. The smell was gut-wrenching as body parts were hanging from the front porch. It made him sick to smell and see it, and it made him feel even worse that civilians would be there watching. When Morgan commented on a fan, he glanced over and made eye contact with her for a brief moment.

"Well, we have a job to do. Not sure why anyone would be a fan though. Maybe she's really looking at you. We're right beside of each other and it all depends on your perspective." He rambled, slowly approaching the porch, not giving the woman another thought for the moment, though that would surely change later.
 
JJ sighed in the passenger's seat as they drove to the address they'd been given. "So we've got Lisa, white, female, twenty-eight; Morris, black, male, fifty-two; Rachel, Hispanic, female, fourteen; Tom, white, male, thirty-seven; and now Mary, Asian, female, sixty. It's like this unsub is varying their victimology on purpose." She scowled and looked over at Brennan. "What sort of a person is conscious of that? Law enforcement maybe?"

It made no sense and honestly made her nauseated. She hated looking at these pictures and she was dreading talking to Lisa Craig's parents. This whole case just didn't feel right, and then with Gideon showing up then running from her...she didn't like it. Not at all. She ran her fingers through her hair as she thought over the facts of the case again. There had to be some connection. There just had to.

"Mrs. Craig, did your daughter know any of these people?" JJ handed over pictures of the other victims--while they were alive--to Lisa's mother. The older woman was still crying, held by her husband, and shook her head when she looked at the pictures.

"No, not that I know of," she squeaked out before handing the pictures to Mr. Craig, who also shook his head. "Why? Are they dead, too?"

~*~

"No, she's definitely watching you," Morgan answered with a sly smirk.

Derek had to distract himself with things like this, especially with crimes this grisly. The intestines had been wrapped around the handrail on the porch like a garland; he had to use something to take his mind off of the sort of sicko who would do something like this. He glanced up occasionally and the woman's eyes never wavered from Spencer. He glanced up once more, however, and she wasn't watching the scene but instead talking in low tones with...

"Gideon?" Morgan straightened up from what he was doing, but he wasn't fast enough. Gideon had already disappeared into the crowd. Scowling, he strode up to the police line and stood squarely in front of the onlooker. "Where did Gideon go?" he demanded, folding his arms across his chest.

"My friend is free to come and go as he pleases, Agent Morgan," she answered calmly, looking him in the eyes. It was unsettling, really.

"I'm sorry, what was your name?" He pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, ready to have her arrested for obstruction of justice if need be. He didn't get a good feeling from her.

"Evangeline Tannen, that's Tannen with two n's and an e," Evangeline replied calmly. "My number is 206-555-3847 and I live at 14 Oakhurst Lane. Do you need my social security number, too, or is that enough to run a background check?" She looked up at him as he wrote everything down and even smiled a little. "I could let you copy down my driver's license number?" she offered as an afterthought.

"That'll be fine Miss Tannen, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Now." Morgan glared down at her, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect. Evangeline just shrugged.

"Alright then. I'll see you later, Agent Morgan."

"Is that a threat?"

Evangeline had started to turn on her heel but stopped halfway and looked over her shoulder. "Think of it more as an appointment," she said with a small smile. "Have a good day, Agent."

With that she disappeared out of the crowd, leaving Morgan scowling after her until he went to continue processing the scene. "Think maybe our unsub is a woman?" he posed grumpily.
 
During the drive towards the latest victim's parents' house, Brennan thought about the case carefully. Perhaps the killer did change the victimology on purpose. Law Enforcement did sound reasonable but he didn't know. How many branches of law enforcement or any kind of knowledge with the term of victimology? He didn't have any clue at all but that would require research. He didn't know if was law enforcement or not, it was simply a theory.

Brennan apologized to the family for the loss of their child though there was no way he could make anything better. The way their daughter was killed was just terrible and he doesn't know how they can cope with it. Parents shouldn't bury their children, it's just not right.

After talking with the parents about Lisa, JJ and Brennan found out that she was a writer for a local newspaper. She handled the section for cooking and recipes. It was hard to fathom someone killing her about recipes. So far the victims seemed random but killings like this had to have a connection, he assumed. A few more questions about her daughter's life and JJ and Brennan were done. They were back on the road, going to the local police station again. All the other interviews turned out the same results and they were nowhere.

---

Spencer noticed the sudden change in Morgan's voice when he spoke about Gideon. He raised his eyebrow and looked at the crowd and didn't see him. It was crazy how calm this woman seemed when questioned by Morgan. Spencer couldn't have done this. Hell, he could barely talk to a woman that looked so pretty. Plus, she had been eyeing him, just like Morgan told him. "An appointment?" He murmured and looked down at her as she walked away. Shaking his head, he sighed as they returned to the crime scene.

"I don't know if this is a woman or not. Do you think it's her? She's not really implanting herself in the investigation... though maybe she could be admiring her work? I don't know." He murmured and threw his hands up in the air.

Inspecting the scene, he saw the four limbs, hanging from each post on the front porch. It was totally disgusting and sick. Truly, Spencer needed something to distract himself too so he started to talk. "Well, maybe if she is our unsub, we can take her in and I can interrogate her... find out why she is such a big fan." he said with a little chuckle, hoping it would ease his mood too.

"God... how could anyone be possible of this?" He finally murmured while taking a look. It all continued inside the house as well, blood all over the walls and other intestines and guts decorated everywhere. However... there was a small problem.

"Morgan... where's the head?" He whispered, realizing that was the only missing body part.
 
"Think maybe they could be connected to the newspaper somehow?" JJ posed as they drove back to the station. She shook her head. "Never mind. We'll have to get there before we can do the research on it. But we can try that; the newspaper, or culinary arts, or maybe even just writing in general." She sighed and shook her head again. "This is just so frustrating! There's absolutely nothing we can gain traction with. All we know is the MO."

Back at the station JJ felt like they might be of a bit more help. They were able to go through the victim files, put pictures up on the board, break out the map. It felt like getting visuals up helped, but ultimately she still felt like they were spinning their wheels. Late in the afternoon the police chief poked his head into their war room.

"Any ideas, agents?" he asked hopefully, looking at the spread they'd put out on the boards.

~*~

"Nah she's not inserting herself yet," Morgan admitted. "But admiring her handiwork is a distinct possibility." At the suggestion that they have Reid interrogate her, however, he looked sideways and raised an eyebrow. "You know that's not a bad idea," he admitted. "If we have probable cause we can bring her in."

Morgan followed Reid inside, looking around and trying to ignore his roiling stomach. He checked every nook and cranny and almost every square inch of the place had a speck of blood or entrails. Several times he had to cover his mouth and take a few deep breaths to keep himself from vomiting. Then he heard it. He'd known something felt off and he looked around at Spencer.

"The head?" he repeated. He thought back and couldn't remember finding a head either. Without another word he strode out and pulled aside the lead local investigator. "Was anything taken off the crime scene?"

"Uuhh..."

"Anything at all, so much as a shoelace?" Morgan was starting to lose his patience.

"No, not that I'm aware of."

"And you didn't catalogue a head?"

The officer looked bewildered. "N-no..."

Walking back in but wishing he didn't have to, Morgan carefully made his way through the house to find Reid again. "Reid, you've looked through the case files. Were there any other missing body parts from the other scenes?"
 
The sound of fidgeting agents bouncing ideas back and forth against one another filled the small conference room where the BAU team was organized. Brennan adjusted his shirt sleeve and tapped his finger on the glass table, trying to think of something. The longer they worked on this case, it seemed the less ground was made. Absolutely no connections would be found. Brennan felt so frustrated and confused on how the killings were random. All the killings were so personal and in the victim's house. Maybe the unsub just needed to kill and mutilate to feel complete. Maybe sexual release? He had no idea what else it could be.

"So, if these killings are truly random, what are we supposed to warn people about? I don't think we can find too much on victimology on this case. Let's look at our unsub, about the personality. What about gender? I don't know what we can do with gender or race because the victims are so diverse. We have nothing and the killer is still at large!" Rossi exclaimed, clearly disgruntled along with everyone else about the entire situation.

---


When Morgan asked Spencer about missing body parts, the boy genius began to think hard. "The first two victims were missing a legeach. The third and fourth victim were missing an arm each... this fifth victim is missing their head. Oh god, what's next? The torso? God... this unsub is sick." Spencer murmured and shook his head in frustration and disgust before running to the side door and vomiting. It finally hit him. The smell, the visual images. It was nasty.

Morgan approached Spencer to check on him and nearly lost it himself. "Let's get back to the station and see if anyone else figured out anything. I'm not sure what else we can do here. Maybe the missing body parts can help in some way." He shrugged, touching his arm to lead him away from the crime scene and under the tape.

"Do you think we really need to take her in?" Spencer whispered, looking at Evangeline for a brief moment as they walked towards the SUV. Maybe it would indeed be a good idea.
 
"We don't have probably cause...yet," Morgan admitted. "Being a creepy bastard at a crime scene isn't illegal so long as you're behind the tape." Still, just in case he raised his phone and snapped a picture just in time to catch her smiling and waving as she watched them walk to the SUV.

The ride back to the police station was quiet. Morgan had worked very hard to keep from vomiting himself while back at the scene, and he kept mulling over the evidence in his head. The more he thought about it, the more that seemed to be where this was heading. But why? And why the display like that? It made his gut churn just thinking about the reasons this sicko would have to do what he (or she) was doing. He was so lost in his own thoughts he didn't speak to Reid until they were back at the station.

"Anyone see what these things have in common? Or rather, what they don't?" Morgan slid each of the autopsy pictures onto the table. Each body was assembled in roughly the shape a normal body would, sans limbs, with entrails in a bowl beside them. It was always somehow less disturbing on an autopsy table than it was out in the field.

"They're each missing limbs," Hotchner mused, his eyebrows furrowing as he leaned forward on the table. "I presume the head is missing off of the latest victim?"

"You presume right," Morgan confirmed. "So the unsub is...building a body." Saying it aloud made him even queasier. "It's not much, but it's a start to a profile. And we've got a suspect." He slid his phone to the middle of the table too, so everyone could see the picture he'd taken. "Evangeline Tannen. Technically we can't bring her in yet, but she was way too interested in what we were doing out there. Plus she gives me the creeps."
 
Dr. Reid was confident that the unsub's need to build a body had to have some kind of connection. While he was in deep thought, he thought he figured something out. "I might have an idea...." He mused and added. "Our unsub is a woman." Just as he expected, this got him some strange looks. A woman torturing and mutilating these people? That has to be absurd! So he explained. "All autopsies showed trace amounts of three different drugs. Singled out, they don't make an impression but combined they make for a good knock out punch. I believe she sneaks up in her victim's homes that only have one person living there and is a low risk house with no lights, no guard dogs, and no security system sign. That has been consistent. I think the fact that she mutilates them may be some form of her revenge. I believe she was heavily abused as a child, maybe both parents. Maybe not physically by them both, but emotionally by many people. She has to be smart to combine these drugs. Maybe a pharmacist or family doctor. She may not seem like a threat at first, maybe shes' petite and she is good at hiding emotions. They building a body is important. Maybe she believes she can build the perfect protector for her since she never had a figure to love in her life. She will probably be single and have no contact with anyone."

After Spencer said this, everonye looked around. It did make sense and a woman serial killer was odd to see, but when they were around, the killings usually were brutal and based off past events and tragedies. "Maybe we have enough for a good start on a profile. Get Garcia to run a search on women that live in the area, and are either a pharmacist or family doctor that had a big tragedy in their life." Hotch spoke up while Morgan called her, getting her to run the search.
 
"Hey Baby Girl."

"Oh you know how much I love to hear from my Chocolate Adonis." Garcia's grin was audible even over the phone. "What can I do for you, my sweet?"

"We think we may have a lead. I need you to run a background check on single women in Seattle. Narrow it down to pharmacists and family doctors who suffered loss or abuse," Morgan instructed. "Oh and uh...take a look at this chick. Evangeline Tannen." He listed off her address and it only took a few seconds for Garcia to pull her up.

"Nothing. She's clean."

"What? Nothing at all?"

"Not even an overdue library book or parking ticket." Garcia shook her head, looking through her files. "Lives alone, never married...oh. Her official occupation is as a medium." She sounded rather skeptical at that. "But hey, she pays her taxes and bills like every other law-abiding citizen. Nothing inherently hinky about her. Why? Got a hunch?"

Morgan sighed. "She was just being creepy as shit at a crime scene today was all. Anyway, get those other names back to us asap please?"

"Your wish is my command!"

"Thanks Baby Girl." Morgan hung up and looked back to the team, unsure what to do from here until Garcia got those names to them. "That creepy lady...think we oughta bring her in?"

"The woman you took a picture of on your phone?" JJ asked, looking through a window. "She's already here."

Indeed, Evangeline was outside talking with the police chief, smiling and talking with her hands animatedly. The chief looked relieved, but also defeated and a bit embarrassed. Then she was pointed in the direction of the war room.
 
Spencer felt a chill run up and back down his spine when he heard that Evangeline Tannen was already here at the station. What was it about this woman that bugged him? "I really don't like her... she kept eyeing Reid today at the crime scene. Not looking at him in an admiration way, it was a creepy way like I said." Morgan added while Spencer turned to look at her. Before she began walking towards the room, Spencer cleared his throat. "I'll go speak to her and see what she will say." After making the quiet announcement, he slipped away, out of the war room and met her before she could arrive.

"Can I help you, Miss Tannen?" Spencer questioned with a curious look on his face. His tone was just as questioning as the facial expression. Emotions of confusion, frustration, and misunderstanding were running through his body. They had a serious case here, a deranged woman that was killing and slicing up the victim's bodies. He didn't have time for this and neither did the BAU team.

While Spencer was trying to understand this woman, Derek Morgan stood up and slipped out of the door as well. Morgan was just as curious to see what she had to say as Spencer was. Perhaps they would really take her into interrogation.

Garcia called back and Prentiss answered, setting her on speaker phone for everyone to hear. About one dozen women fit the profile and it would take some investigating and digging, but perhaps they could narrow it down further.

"What's our next step?" Hotch asked, no one in particular. "Should we all split up and talk to all of these women? What else can we profile about our unsub that can help us narrow it down? Let's all look through these profiles of these women." Everyone was handed a print out of the profiles of women for everyone to keep searching for more information.
 
Evangeline wasn't phased. Her gaze shifted serenely from Spencer to Morgan, then back to Spencer. She'd have been surprised if she'd been met with anything other than hostility and mistrust, but the negative energy was really bringing down her mood. Instead she smiled, sending positive energy their way in an attempt to put them more at ease.

"Yes, you can share the case details with me," she said simply. "Chief Wuornos called me in. He said that even the feds are spinning their wheels, so they need all the help they can get. As a medium I can be as low-profile as you need me to be. And Chief isn't happy to have me on this case either, so don't think any less of him." This was added mostly to Morgan. "Oh, and call me Evangeline."

She stepped past the profilers, but sensed an increase in hostility from Agent Morgan and turned on her heel again. "Interrogate me first if you want, Agent," Evangeline offered. "But our mutual friend is concerned and also wants me on this." There was a meaningful look in her eyes as she waited for Morgan to either drag her into the interrogation room or allow her to continue to help them.
 
None of this was making any sense to either Morgan or Reid. Well, maybe it made a little bit of sense when she was at the crime scene. However, that was contradicted with the fact of her just staring right at Reid the entire time. Reid couldn't piece the pieces of the puzzle together and it bothered him. When she asked about interrogation, Morgan opened his mouth to speak but no words left his lips. Turning his head, he looked at the chief whom just threw his hands up to show he didn't like it, but it was a fact that she'd be on this case.

"Go on in..." Agent Morgan grumbled and let her step inside. Everyone immediately stopped speaking when they watched this blonde girl walk into the war room. Everyone had a shocked and surprised looked, unsure of what was going on. "Everyone, meet Evangeline Tannen... the local police force is giving us a medium to help us solve this case... apparently we can't do this job without magic." he muttered, clearly upset with the idea.

Spencer approached his chair but noticed that it was the only seat. So instead, he turned to this woman that made his stomach twist in knots while making his heart skip a few beats all in the same minute and offered her the chair. "You can sit here, I'll stand." He informed her and stepped away, refusing to take no for an answer. No one knew what to say now and all eyes were on Evangeline, waiting as if she were about to explain herself or owed them something about her presence on this case.
 
"Thank you." Evangeline smiled graciously and stepped in. The fact that everyone was staring at her didn't go unnoticed, neither did Morgan's comment about magic. She looked surprised but thanked Spencer as she took the chair, feeling a little guilty that she'd taken the last one. She couldn't keep glancing over at him every now and then, having a hard time believing that he would be dead in a week.

Still the staring didn't stop. Evangeline sighed and addressed them all. "Look, I know you don't want me here. The cops don't want me here. I know some of you think I'm a straight-up fraud," she looked pointedly at Rossi, "or that I'm here because the locals don't think you're doing your job. I'm sincerely just here to help. I'm not here for profit or fame or any of that; I've asked my name be left out wherever it possibly can. But there's a murderer in my city and I want it to stop. I can help. I'm not asking you to like me, I'm just asking you to keep an open mind and not dig your heels in just for the sake of trying to prove me wrong." There was another pointed look at Rossi. What she hadn't picked up from Seeing and his aura she'd heard from Rube, and she knew he was likely to be stubborn and unwilling to believe in her abilities.

"If nothing else, I'm another set of hands and eyes. May I see that, please?" she pointed to one of the papers JJ was holding.

"Uh...sure..." With a dubious look at Brennan, she handed over the list they had just gotten of possible unsubs.

"She's not any of these," she said, setting aside the paper after a few moments. Rossi scoffed and Evangeline just looked over at him calmly. "Go through all the files manually if you want. I'm telling you that none of these women are murderers. Well, this one is." She pointed to a name on the list. "But I personally find that woman beaters and wife rapists tend to deserve it." Shrugging, she handed that list to Rossi, knowing he'd want to go through it.
 
Spencer Reid incredulously listened to Evangeline give her claims about being a medium. Just as she thought, Rossi was very unbelieving of this and already started to voice his opinion. "So, let me get this straight please. You don't want us to say your name unless we have to... you can just look at those profiles and make a magic determination that none of them are our unsub. Can you just go ahead and communicate with the dead or whatever the hell that a medium does? Go ahead, do something and tell us where to find our unsub. I don't have time for this shit. We have a murder, a serial killer on the loose. Do you realize what she is doing to these victims? How do we know it's not you? This kind of killer likes to put themselves in the middle of an investigation and I heard you were hanging out around the crime scene today. You don't work for the police, you have no place here. Who even hired you to do this? if the cops don't want you hear, I don't know how the hell you got here." After finishing up his rant Rossi huffed loudly and stormed out, probably to go speak to a superior. Out of the entire team Ross was definitely the least believing.

After he stormed out, Spencer just sighed to himself and Morgan started speaking now. "She has some connection to Gideon. JJ, you said that you saw Gideon this morning at the diner and now I saw him at the crime scene. What are you not telling us Evangeline? Forgive us for acting so hostile but you are expecting us to believe a medium is going to walk up in hear and do our jobs? What the hell are you expecting? You better tell us anything and everything you know. You're right, we don't have to like you and we won't like you. But we do have to trust you. So why should we trust you? What about your line of work can be any reason for trusting?"

Brennan figured that a good point was brought up by Morgan. She had to validate their trust in her, to figure out why they should put their lives on the line to apprehend someone based on her judgment. They were all rational and all skeptical.
 
Evangeline opened her mouth several times to answer Rossi's questions, but it was clear he didn't want them answered. She opened her mouth again to speak once he'd left, but then was cut off by Morgan. It was obvious they thought she was a fraud at best, and the energy in the room was enough to have been overwhelming had she been less experienced with such hostility. As it was she kept her mouth shut and watched Morgan as he piled on to Rossi's ranting. Sitting back in her chair she folded her arms across her chest.

"Are we done berating me now?" she asked testily, a little bit of the calm slipping from her voice. "I've worked with this department before, which is why the Chief brought me in on this one. The difference is the last time I worked with them it was a missing persons case. This is...quite different." She leaned her elbows on the table, looking around at all of them. "Yes, I do have a connection to our mutual friend. He's concerned. That's why he encouraged me to check out this case. I don't think I can do your jobs, in fact I'm quite certain I couldn't. I admire what you do and I'm not here to undermine that. I'm here to look through what you have and maybe sense things that you wouldn't be able to know from looking at all this." She gestured to the wall of pictures and maps without looking at it. The pictures alone made her queasy. "If I find I can't be of help to you, I'll excuse myself from this case. However, I've been Seeing things for months, although it's difficult sometimes to differentiate between Seeing and dreaming. I don't claim to have any sort of magic powers." She looked at Morgan. "I'm not special. I'm not anything anyone else couldn't be; I just happen to be more receptive to the Universe at large than most, so it speaks to me. How else would I know that she's building a body? Coming in cold onto this case, how would I know that her birthday is this month, though I can't pinpoint when, and that she suffered a horrible trauma at the hands of someone who was supposed to protect her? She had an older sibling--brother or sister, I don't know--who I haven't Seen in quite a while. I dunno if they're dead or just not in her life anymore, but all of that to me sounds like a lot of different...What do you call them? Triggers."

Evangeline's tone became a little terse as she looked around at them, particularly Morgan. "So yes, I can confidently say that those women on that list are not her. There's twelve of them: based on the sibling factor alone there are five only children, six eldest, and one middle child. That middle child happens to be the one who killed her husband, though like I said she was a battered woman and honestly I don't blame her in the least." She shrugged and leaned back, her tone light. "So you can all remain skeptical and mean and let me sit here twiddling my thumbs, you can fact check those women and still decide to be hostile because I somehow had all of their information memorized before you even had this list, or you can cut the hostile work environment and let me help. It's entirely up to you. My concern is for this team and for the civilians out there getting brutally murdered. Is your collective pride more important than that?"

JJ exchanged a look with Brennan. She honestly didn't know what to thing. She wanted to believe Evangeline...but everything in her experience had told her otherwise. How was this woman wrapped in scarves and beads supposed to help with anything except maybe giving grieving relatives closure with some phony seance?
 
Dr. Reid couldn't help but feel a bit sad about this entire situation. His eyes were watching Evangeline the entire time and he saw her wanting to answer the questions but Rossi and Morgan kept hammering away. As much as he felt the urge to speak up and just get his team to back off, he kept quiet. It just wasn't like him to interject in the middle of a conversation unless he got very angry, which honestly didn't happen that often. All he did now was stand in his little corner and wait for the ranting and raving of his colleagues to subside. To be honest, they really didn't give the woman a chance to speak and that was so incredibly rude, but everyone was just so stressed about this case. Honestly, they don't have too much information right now so Spencer didn't think it could do that much damage to hear her out. Now... only if he could voice his opinion, but he was way too soft-spoken and timid to talk in the middle of a heated battle.

When the blonde woman spoke, he knew she was loosing her patience. "Alright then. Tell the universe to speak to you and find our killer. What do you expect me to tell the families, huh? That we have a psychic woman working on the case to catch who killed your son, daughter, brother... you don't understand. People don't accept this. Maybe you have your own way of solving things and maybe you could be of help in some odd way but I don't believe in any supernatural powers. In my opinion, you are a fraud. I'm not sure why the Chief allowed you here. This doesn't make any sense. You-"

"Enough!" All heads turned to the sudden outburst. To everyone's surprise, it was in fact the doctor himself interjecting. Never before had he been so bold. Sometimes he would do this but never doing something while a team member was speaking and pissed off. It got even worse after the incident with Maeve. He became quiet and dreary as he was on the first day when he didn't know anyone on the team. Needless to say, all eyes were on him now. "Just leave her alone and let her speak. She brings up good points, okay? Face it, we are nowhere. Let's just get Garcia to run the fact check on these women like she said. While Garcia does that, let Evangeline work with us and give her input. A fresh set of eyes never hurts and there has been scientific proof that her kind exist. No one person is ever the same, especially when it comes to the brain. The mind is a crazy thing so who are we to say she's a fraud? We don't have any proof that she's a fraud. Let's give her some space to work."

Even though Spencer was very calm and rational about explaining things, Morgan just huffed and rolled his eyes. "Fine." He muttered and walked towards Evangeline, looking into her eyes. "But the minute I think you are sabotaging this investigation with some horse shit magic dreaming of yours, I'm taking you out. I don't care what the chief says or what your boyfriend says, you're gone." Of course, he knew Spencer and Evangeline weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, it just felt appropriate to say. After that, he was out of the room too.

It was all awkward and quiet in the meeting room now and Spencer just sighed. "Sorry about that... he's a hot heat sometimes..." Spencer told her and then turned to JJ. "Okay, can you go ahead and present the files on the projector so she can look at it?" He asked before taking the handheld pictures and writing that she could compare too and sliding it beside of her. "There you go..." he said softly, even offering her a gentle smile before taking one of the vacant seats while everyone tried to shift their focus back to the case.
 
Evangeline felt her temper rising as Morgan started in on her once more. What bothered her even more was that Spencer wanted to say something, she could feel it, but he appeared to lack the courage. She opened her mouth to argue back, but was caught just as off-guard as everyone else when Reid's voice cut through the air. She looked around, startled. Still, it was nice to have someone on her side, even if he didn't believe in the supernatural. At least he was treating her with the same amount of respect he'd show any other human being. She could understand why Morgan and Rossi had taken such an instant dislike to her, but to attack her like that really was unnecessary.

"Thank you, Doctor Reid," she put in when he told Morgan to back off. "Oh, I learned that from the internet by the way. Not the Universe," she added snidely to Morgan. Evangeline met his gaze defiantly as he threatened her, not backing down because she frankly only had one thing to hide...that she knew one of them would be dead soon. A light flush rose to her cheeks as he called Reid her boyfriend. The awkward silence stretched once he left. Spencer apologized and she shook her head.

"I've met plenty of people who think I'm a fraud," Evangeline insisted with a dismissive wave. "If I let everyone who told me so convince me that I was, I would have closed myself off to the Universe anyway."

JJ nodded. "Yeah, sure Spence." She was still stunned by both Morgan and Rossi's rudeness and Spencer's outburst. She noticed the way Spencer took a softer tone with Evangeline and his general body language and exchanged a look with Brennan. "So we've got five victims now, all of different race, age, gender, and economic background. Nothing in their lives ties them together; work, social life, nothing. Any ideas?"

Evangeline smiled at Spencer as he handed her the files before looking through them. Immediately she felt her gorge rise and closed the file again, covering her mouth with her hand. "She's building a protector," she pointed out once she could speak again. "Race, age, none of that matter. The parts she took...they were all for different reasons." She gestured to the teenager's file. "This one was on the track team; strong legs, fast runner. Then you have a muscular younger guy...and a mother," she slid out the respective files. "One arm each: a strong one to hurt, a softer one to nurture." She turned her eyes first to Spencer, then the rest of the team. "Enough of an idea for you?"
 
Obviously, Spencer knew that she must have been met with much hostility wherever she went no matter what. It wasn't too often that someone would take to lightly with the idea of someone being a medium. All Spencer's faith in any supernatural forces all went away after Maeve's death. It was like this universe laughed in his face, not giving him any chance. Little did he know that his time was nearing an end within a week.

When JJ spoke about the case, Spencer was so relieved that she went ahead to tell her about the case. Spencer nodded when Evangeline gave her reasoning and her method behind what everything meant. "Yes, that's what we were thinking so it's safe to say she's building some protector. I wonder if she's actually trying to put this body together somehow. But we don't know. Do you have an idea what kind of tragedy might have caused this though? What kind of trigger? Any family is different so not all protectors are the same though commonly, the woman's protector is a father or brother or a male figure. Perhaps it was one of these two main figures. What do you think?" He asked, sitting back and shaking his head while he thought. It was clear that she really wasn't their unsub. How could she do something like this when she nearly got sick with the pictures? He knew Rossi and Morgan would still think it's her though, not understanding how she could tell this from the Universe.

While they kept looking, Brennan was in his own world and trying to think. "I think that maybe the separate body parts mean something. She could just have easily done something to kidnap or kill a person to fit the protector she wanted, but she chose to take only body parts. Maybe she wants to build the perfect protector or maybe it's something else? What do you guys think?" Brennan asked to no one in general, eyes darting around as he tried to make sense of it. If they could understand why she did this, they would be that much closer to catching her.
 
Evangeline closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath. She frowned slightly, trying to recall the details she'd seen. Many of them had been while she was asleep, so she'd dismissed it as a dream until Rube had shown up at her door. There was a clown...the smell of cheap candles...then pain. Unimaginable pain. A belt. Shaking her head she opened her eyes again.

"Something to do with her birthday," she said with a hopeless shrug. "That's all I can patch together right now. I'd have to look back at my journal entries for the details...but it was a traumatic day for her. She was very young...there was a clown. A really creepy one." Evangeline pulled a face. "I imagine she may have taken the abuse for the older sibling...that's generally the reverse of how things work, isn't it?"

"She's definitely building the perfect protector," JJ agreed when Brennan voiced his opinion. "But it could be guarding something else. Religious delusions maybe?"

"If she was particularly religious and is undergoing a psychotic break that could be likely," Hotch agreed. He still wasn't entirely certain what to do with this unexpected new team member.
 
Just after Hotch spoke, Garcia called. "Listen up my pretties... I ran a background check on all those women and none of these will be your unsub. A few have jobs and some have moved on out of state so it's unlikely that this will be your woman."

"Thanks Garcia, we'll contact you later with more information." Hotch added and clicked off.

"You know, there are some pagan rituals that say if one would collect body parts and sew them together, that they body would come to live during a full moon... and the next full moon is in a week. With that being said, if this was religious then she might be striking again but I don't know how we can assure that she is using this ritual." Spencer mused and scratched his head.

It was a surprise to everyone that Evangeline was right. It did well to earn her the trust at least a little bit from the members in the room with her that witnessed it first hand. "Okay... can you go and get your journal? We need specific details." Prentiss spoke and looked at the blonde medium. If she was right with these women, then perhaps if she found her journal, they could narrow down the specifics of what this woman went through and could help their search become easier and more efficient.
 
Evangeline chewed on her lip a little when Spencer suggested it could be a Pagan ritual. She'd had to try very hard not to look smug when the voice on the other side of the phone proved her right. "Maybe. I mean, I've heard of rituals like that but I've never heard of them actually working. I've never really known anyone to try it either, though." There was something nagging at the back of her brain...just out of reach.

And her thought process was interrupted by Prentiss. She looked up, frustrated at the loss in concentration, and nodded. "Yeah, sure I can go get it. Um...someone wanna give me a ride, though?" Evangeline looked around the room, attempting not to look at Reid any longer than anyone else. "I walked here, and I'm sure you all have a sense of urgency."
 
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