CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: ROSSI STRONGLY DISLIKES PSYCHICS !

4x14
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CASEY WALKED INTO THE BAU WITH HER COFFEE IN HER HANDS AND THE FIRST THING SHE NOTICED WAS PENELOPE AND KEVIN, LOOKING DOWN AT A NEWSPAPER. "Whatcha guys looking at?" Casey asked, peeking over Garcia's shoulder.

"Horoscopes for today." Kevin informed. "Come on, guys, you don't think there's actually anything to that stuff, do you?" Casey looked over at Morgan. "You'd be surprised." Kevin said.

       "It's gibberish." Emily scoffed.
       "Thank you." Morgan nodded.
       "Oh, you are just jealous because you don't have the magic ingredient." Garcia said.
        "I have the magic ingredient. It's called splenda." Emily told.

         "All right, skeptic, what's your sign?" Kevin asked and Casey raised her eyebrows towards Prentiss. "No." Emily said. "No-- is that in April?" Garcia asked.

          Reid had walked in the room and Garcia looks towards him. "Reid, we need a DOB on Prentiss." She tells. "Ah, 7:12 a.m., October 12, 19--" Emily whips her head towards Reid, stopping him. "Hey!" She shouts. Casey snickers as Garcia looks down at the newspaper. "Libra-- I should have known." She comments.

        "'A romantic opportunity may experience a slight hitch thanks to the pesky lunar influence, which could have you dipping into a rather chilly mood. If being demonstrative and warm is difficult, then neutralize this temporary cold front with a simple but affectionate gesture.'" Garcia read.

         Emily drops her spoon in her mug. "I have a simple gesture." She then proceeds to flip the group off and Casey laughs. She looks over at Garcia. "Do me. Capricorn." She says.

       "Capricorn... Capricorn... ah!" Garcia examines and then reads on, "'You're likely to be hungry for an escape from the norm and you may find yourself dreaming up greener pastures on the job front. Lean into your need to drift off into the deep recesses of your mind and see what feelings are looking for acknowledgement.'" Casey furrows her eyebrows, "The heck does that mean?"

        "Complete gibberish," Emily told. "That's what it means." Garcia looks at the girl. "Well, since it mentions your job, maybe you're looking forward to having the job of your dreams and maybe you're looking for acknowledgment for the job, since you're so passionate." She stated and Casey shrugs, "Maybe."

         "Hey!" Casey looks over and sees JJ walking towards the group. "JJ, you're back!" Casey smiles, giving the woman a small hug. "Yup. You guys ready to gather?" JJ asks.

          "Well, look at you, miss thing. First day back and you're all business." Morgan comments. "Well, it's either dive right in or confront my separation anxiety." JJ admits.

          "It's tough being away from him, huh?" Garcia asks, looking up at her and JJ nodded, "Yeah."

          "How is my godson, by the way?" Casey asked. "He's okay, he's just dealing with his own separation anxiety away from me. But... over time, it will get better. I just gotta believe that." JJ tells.

          Garcia grabbed onto JJ's hand and noticed the ring on her finger. "Oh, hey, that's new, isn't it?" Garcia asked. "Hello!" Casey says, looking down at her hand, as well. "Yeah, citrine," JJ says. "It's Henry's birthstone. Will and I both got one." JJ informs. "Oh, that's sweet." Garcia smiles. "You done with this?" JJ asks, noting towards the newspaper. "All yours." Garcia hands the newspaper over to JJ, smirking at Emily and Emily rolls her eyes.

             The team heads up to the round table and Casey takes a spot in between Hotch and Emily. "There's been a string of abductions in Olympia, Washington, going back nine months. Four women in all, blond, blue-eyed, early 20s. This morning they found one." JJ explained, putting the pictures up on the projector. "When were they taken?" Hotch asked.

            "Nine months ago." JJ informed.
            "So she was the first?" Emily asked. JJ nods, "Yeah."

             JJ presses a button on the remote and a body being uncovered shows onscreen. "Looks almost mummified." Rossi states. "Uh, not exactly." JJ said. "Frozen?" Casey guesses. "Embalmed." JJ corrected.

           "That's different." Emily said. "Yeah," JJ said. "So, the time of death is a bit of a question mark right now."
           "Where did they find her?" Rossi asked. "In a state park just East of Olympia. Seasonal hiking area. The body was jarred loose during a mudslide. That, plus the abnormal decomp makes it difficult to know how long she was there." JJ explains.

           "It says the victims were abducted about three months apart." Reid says, looking down at the file. "He's rotating his victims out."

           "There are gonna be more bodies out there." Hotch told.

           With that, the team headed onto the jet and flew down to Washington, all while debriefing over the case. "So, if I wanted to embalm a body, what would be the process?" Casey began.

          "Start with some nose plugs." Morgan told. "The blood is drained through the jugular vein And replaced with embalming fluid through one of the two major arteries. It usually takes a few hours." Reid informed. "Then you'd need special equipment, training." Rossi added. "Knowledge of the human vascular system would also be a plus." Reid stated. "A doctor, maybe?" JJ asked. "A nurse, technician, somebody with a background in mortuary sciences." Hotch spoke.

         "Now, there's a major they didn't offer at my school." Morgan said. "Personally, the whole thing just seems weird to me. Embalming, I mean." Emily spoke. "Some people like to look good for their funeral." Morgan shrugged. "But it's not them. It's just a shell, polished and painted. I just want to be cremated." Emily told. Casey nods, "Me, too."

        "The question is why somebody would embalm the body of someone they just murdered." Hotch voiced and Rossi continued on, "He wants to hold on to them. It's a possession issue."

         "This way they can never leave," Morgan stated. "Maybe fear of abandonment speaks to his history."

          "But eventually even an embalmed body will decay and he finds himself in need of new victims." Reid said. "That explains the abduction cycle-- a new victim every 3 months." Hotch says. "Which means at least two of the remaining women are already dead." Casey spoke.

           "And the third?" JJ asked.
           "Brooke Lombardini," Hotch spoke. "It's been 4 days since she, uh, disappeared following her shift at a local restaurant. We know the odds."

            "Ninety percent of all abduction victims are killed within the first 36 hours." Reid states the obvious and Casey sighs.

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         The team had gone down to the police department and Casey had stayed with Rossi and JJ and Morgan and Reid had just gotten back and they had discovered that Brooke Lombardini's mother had been working with a psychic and he had persuaded her to go on TV and make contact with her abductor.

       "I know Brooke is still alive. It's not too late for you to do the right thing. Let her come home to me. She turns twenty-seven on Wednesday." The mother explained.

      "Wish she would have waited until we had a chance to coach her." Rossi spoke as they watched. "I don't know, she seems to be doing a pretty good job." JJ told. "Good enough to make the unsub think twice about killing Brooke." Morgan told.
"If he hasn't already." Rossi said. "Chances are this is all too late."

      "It's her daughter," JJ told. "She has to have hope, right?" Rossi looks towards the woman. "Hope's one thing. False hope is something else."

      "I'm guessing you've worked with psychics before?" Casey asked. "Yeah," Rossi nods, "Not by choice."

       "You know, there are cases where people believe they've helped." JJ told. "When people are vulnerable, they'll believe a lot of things." Rossi walks away and Casey keeps her mouth shut. Obviously, Rossi had some experience with a psychic that did not end well.

        JJ and Rossi headed down to the Lombardini home and JJ had discovered that there had been another body and so, Reid, Morgan and Casey went down to the morgue to examine the body.

      "Annette Hagen, Erin Bonham, and Melissa St. Claire, all embalmed." Reid read from the file. "That's the first three, that leaves the Lombardini girl still out there." Morgan stated. "Did you figure out cause of death?" Casey asked the coroner.

     "Blood loss." The woman said. "Blood loss?" Reid asked. "They were alive when they were embalmed?"

     "Looks that way," The woman said. "Tox screens show significant levels of barbiturate. They were sedated, maybe unconscious."

    "Reid, look at this. They all have the same haircut." Morgan said as Reid pulled out the recent photos. "These two had much longer hair at the time of their abduction." Reid said. "So the unsub cut it." Casey guessed.

     "Something else he may have done," The coroner said. "Their ears have all been double-pierced."

      "Were they sexually assaulted?" Morgan asked. "Not exactly." The coroner shook her head. "There was no tearing or bruising that would normally suggest it. But I did find trace amounts of semen."

       "You're saying it may have been consensual?"Reid asked and the coroner shook her head. "No." Casey looks down at the bodies. "She's saying they were dead." She looked up at Reid that had a disgusted look on his face.

         The team had given the profile to the department and Casey had watched the team as they did so, jotting down notes in her notepad as they had given the profile to them. They had gone down to cemeteries and they had discovered an apprentice in the name of Ivan Bakunas, a blonde wig being abandoned in his locker. They had gone to his home and he had refused to give a DNA sample, closing the door in Hotch's and Prentiss's faces. There had soon been a 911 distress call from someone claiming to be Brooke Lombardini.

        Her mother had identified the voice and was certain that it had been her. "That's her. That's Brooke." She said. "You're certain?" Hotch asked. "She's barely audible," Rossi said. "Any surveillance expert will tell you it's almost impossible to positively identify a whisper." Casey looks over at Rossi.

       "You think I don't know my own daughter's voice?" Brooke's mother looked at Rossi. "Why would someone who was not Brooke call 911 and say they were?" The main detective on the scene asked. "Sometimes people get off injecting themselves into the story. You've been on TV now and that could bring out a lot of sick individuals."

        "Stanley said she was alive," Brooke's mother said, mentioning the psychic that Rossi was currently butting heads with. "This proves it."

        "Stanley Usher has a vested interest in telling you that your daughter is alive." Rossi argued.
"And do you have a vested interest in telling me that she's not?" Brooke's mother flared over at Rossi's way. "He has a record, ma'am." Rossi said. "I had a colleague look into it. Usher was charged with fraud in Oregon... before he pulled up stakes and moved here." Of course, Rossi had Garcia dig up on his personal life to figure out who this guy truly was but Brooke's mother didn't want to buy it and closed a file of the picture of his mugshot.

        Brooke's mother had tears steaming down her face and she spoke softly. "I need my baby to be alive." With that, she walked out and JJ stood up from her chair, looking at Rossi. "All she has right now is hope. Why would you take that from her?"

After the tension unleashed, everyone headed back over to the board. Emily and Hotch had been talking when they approached Morgan, Casey and Reid. "Garcia tried to ping the phone, but it was already dead. The unsub probably turned it off when he found her with it."

"You mean if he found her." Rossi said and Casey sighed. "Dave, I agree with you about psychics, but the fact is Sandra Lombardini positively identified her daughter's voice. We have to assume that that call was genuine." Rossi nodded at his words. "So what do we think? Why is the unsub keeping Brooke alive? And how long do we think she has until he kills her?"

Hotch looks over at Casey, who looks like she's deep in thought. "Willows, you have the freshest eyes. What do you think?" He asks.

Casey looks around and sees that the team has all eyes on her and thinks once more. "Well, what I was thinking was that... maybe he needs them alive to effect the transformation."

Morgan nods, "Willows is right. The change in the hair, the makeup, piercing the ears-- that would only take a few hours."
"He's had her for almost five days." Rossi nods. "Okay, so maybe it's about something more than just appearance. Maybe it's something deeper."

"On the phone she made it sound li she was being locked up, and she sounded drugged. These are control mechanisms used in cases of sexual slavery, mind control--" Reid says before being interrupted by Morgan. "It's brainwashing."

"And he's trying to break her down, make her surrender her identity." Casey tells. "That's what he's waiting for."

"That's the version of them he wants to hold onto." Rossi says. "The longer she holds out, the longer she stays alive." Morgan tells. "And as soon as she accepts her new role, her fate is sealed." Hotch stated.

             So the police department decided to bring in Ivan Bakunas in for questioning, even though they had a hunch that it wasn't him responsible for abducting the women.

           "Why don't you tell me about that?" Detective Fullwood asked, placing the wig in front of Bakunas. "Looks like a wig." Bakunas stated the obvious. "That is a magic wig. It changes the identity of the dead." Emily stated. They were both currently in the room while Reid and Casey were watching from outside.

          "What?" Bakunas questioned.
          "Well, I thought that's why you were putting it on the bodies at the morgue. It makes the fantasy more real." Emily told. "Ivan... who were you trying to turn them into?"

          "I have worked some sick cases-- rapists, pederasts--"
          "I hope you're not grouping me with those people."
         "You may be the sickest of them all."
         "Well, sick or no, many would argue it's a victimless crime."
          "What's victimless about Lynette Hagen?"   
          "Who?"
          "Or Melissa St. Claire."
          "I don't know these women, okay? You have the wrong--"
          "The wrong necrophile?"

          "What, you think I'm the only guy in town who likes to crack open a cold one?" The man's words shocked Casey and her and Reid exchange a look.

           "Where is Brooke Lombardini?" Fullwood asks. "I don't know who that is. I don't kill people." Emily and Fullwood exchange a look. "These, uh, profilers say our killer is trying to turn these girls into a loved one. Like a wife or a mom. Is your, uh, mother a blonde, Ivan?"
           "That's disgusting," Ivan says. "The wig isn't even the important part. For me, it's--it's the shoes."
           "So you put shoes on them, too." Emily says. "They're a very special pair." Ivan tells. "What's special about them?"

          "The woman walked in them. Sunny Raines." Ivan tells. "The weather girl?" Fullwood asks. "She was a local celebrity killed in a car accident a couple of years ago." Fullwood informs to Emily. "A friend of mine was working when she came in on a slab. He knew I was a fan." Ivan states.

          "Oh, so... he stole her shoes for you." Emily says. "The wig, it just completed the look, but the shoes... genuine article. That's what makes it real."

           "Genuine article." Reid mutters under his breath before walking away, causing Casey to follow after him.

           She walks and follows after him as he goes through his bag and takes a notepad out. "Reid." Casey began. "I took a report of a grave robbery." He said. "I thought you said it was just a simple theft." Morgan spoke. "Yeah, but listen to what was taken. A dress, a pair of diamond earrings and a pair of pearl earrings." Reid told.

         Hotch had been listening in and he spoke, "Two pair. If our unsub is like Bakunas, then he needs the genuine articles from the true object of his affection to complete the fantasy."
         "Exactly," Reid said. "This grave could belong to that woman. Let's see." He turns the page. "Abigail Hansen."

          The team contacts Garcia so she could give them info on Abigail Hansen. "Okay, so I got her obit from The Olympian. 'Abigail Reina Hansen died suddenly at 26 from myocarditis, a heart defect.' Sending her passport photo now."

          The woman looked exactly like the victims that were killed. "Well, she certainly looks the part." Morgan said. "Garcia, what else can you tell us about her?" Hotch asks. "I can tell you that she was born in Amsterdam, she never married and her employment records show her working for Patrick and Leona Gless from 1985 to her death in 1992." Garcia informed.

          "Can you get us an address for the gless family? They might be the only ones who can tell us who Abigail was." Hotch said and Garcia gave the team the address.

           So, Hotch and Rossi went to the Gless home and discovered that their son, Roderick and Abigail had a tight bond. Roderick had been there when Abigail had died and she had been dead for three days and Roderick had left the home when he turned 21, liquidated his trust fund and dropped out of medical school and he sent a letter about a year ago to his parents.

          After that, they headed back to the station and contacted Garcia for info. "It's exactly how they said. Roderick's trust was emptied in March of '04. Half a million bucks."

         "Where is he now?" Rossi asked. "Sir, the thing is, he's gotta be using straight cash, 'cause there's no paper trail on him for the last four years. Nothing from the IRS, from the DMV. There's no property or utilities in his name." Garcia told.

         "You can't find him?" Rossi asked. 
         "I'm sorry." Garcia apologized.

         Garcia hung up and Casey crossed her arms. "This guy is covering his tracks well." She commented. "You know, a half a million isn't what it used to be. And the way this unsub is accustomed to living, after four years he would need to supplement his income." Morgan told.

        "Anything between the lines, Reid?" Rossi asked, walking towards Reid, who sat cross-legged on a table and he was examining the letter. "Nothing that points to a specific location. He's basically saying he's happy. That should be enough for her. It's essentially a goodbye letter."

         "Enough for her?" Morgan asked.
         "It's only addressed to Leona." Reid read from the envelope. "Why not his dad?" Casey asked. "Maybe they didn't get along." JJ figured. "No, that's not right." Rossi said and he grabbed his phone and dialed Garcia's number again for her to check something.

         Casey looks over at Reid. "So, basically we got nothing." She stated. Reid nods in defeat and JJ asks to see the envelope and takes a look at Morgan, Reid and Casey and walks away with the envelope.

         JJ had been gone for at least an hour when she had come back telling Hotch that she had gone to visit the psychic, Stanley Usher and all he said was one word, which was:

       "Water." Hotch said. "That's what he said." JJ told. "Roderick is near water." Reid looked ahead over at the two. "It's not very specific. The earth is two-thirds water."

       JJ looked over at Reid. "He specified a rocky shoreline you could see." Hotch looks at the woman. "JJ, this man is not exactly a reliable source of information." JJ walked towards a desk, trying to make sure her claim wasn't refuted and she had backup behind it. "Okay, this photo from the Gless house--" She shows the picture that had been given to them by the Glesses. "It was taken at their house on Mercer Island."

        "Waterfront property." Fullwood said.
        "No one's lived there for 10 years. It's abandoned. I checked. This could be where he's holding Brooke." JJ stated.

         "He's sending him money." Rossi walked in the room. "Sorry?" Casey asked. "Roderick's dad. It's the reason Roderick never said goodbye to him in the letter. They never lost contact. That supplemental income you were asking about?" Rossi looks over at Morgan. "This is it. Every 6 months, a $50,000 wire."

         "This is Western Union, though. There's no way to tell he's on the receiving end." JJ told.
"I'm telling you, he's sending it to Roderick. If you'd seen his father, you'd know." Rossi persuaded them to his theory. "It's true," Hotch agreed. "Deep down, he was very guilty about neglecting him."

          "He's submissive in the marriage. He's probably doing it behind her back." Rossi told.
"You don't think his dad knew?" Morgan asked.

          "No, I think he's a sad man trying to buy his kid's love." Rossi said. Don't we all know that guy? Casey thought in her head, looking over at Reid.

         Fullwood looked over at the map. "This is where Brooke's 911 call originated. This Western Union is within the circle. Mercer Island isn't."

          So, the team had gone down the Gless house and received a location from the father, heading to the place with the FBI trailing. Turns out, Stanley was right and Brooke was saved and back with her mother and Roderick was arrested.

hey, lovelies!
i apologize for my writing being total ✨shit✨
i only did this episode because reid looked hot🤭 anyways
thank you for reading!
our next episode is — omnivore
and we all know what that means😁
our bestie foyet will be joining us ☺️
LMAOOOOOOOO
anyways thank you for reading!
ily
-mya <3