Morgan grimaced, rubbing his forehead as he mentally went over what they knew so far about the copycat. His eyes read over the autopsy reports of the victims found, his gut roiling as he thought about the evilness of their current unsub. It was always bad enough when an unsub copied the crimes of past serial killers with new victims. And it was downright horrendous when an unsub sought out the victims of another unsub and re-victimized them.
But this current unsub was even worse, first choosing James to copy, and then sending that package to Rossi, to the senior agent's home. It was evil and an attack on their team.
"Morgan." JJ approached, seeking out the other agent. "I just got off the phone with Lewis and Cam. They may have found something."
"A lead?"
"Yes and no. Apparently, Olivia Sutter's aunt came in and started claiming she knew who the unsub was." JJ paused, mulling over what the other two agents had told her.
"And? Is it a legit lead?" Morgan asked, observing his fellow team member. "Who did she say it was?"
"That's the thing. She didn't have a name to give, but she claimed the unsub who killed Olivia was the same man who assaulted and left Olivia's mother for dead, thirty-six years ago."
Morgan shook his head, sighing. "That's not..."
"Lewis and Cam thought the same thing. Until Ms. Mathers showed them an article from around that time. It...it was from a small newspaper and hadn't been digitized, neither had the police record, so..." JJ grimaced, trailing off with her arms crossed as she considered her words. Morgan gave her a look, and nearly interrupted her. "...according to Lewis, what was written in that article, what that unsub did to Olivia's mom, it was exactly like what James did to his victims."
"...what?" Morgan gave JJ a look, incredulous.
"It's only a theory, but Lewis thinks that James may have gotten his MO from this earlier crime. That he may be a copycat, and that our unsub may be the person he stole the MO from."
"What?" Morgan shook his head, thrown by the information even if it was just supposition. His eyes narrowed slightly as he thought. "But...if there's no digital record and it happened before James was even a year, how did he know? How could he copy an unsolved, only locally reported crime...?"
JJ grimaced, her whole body language changing to reflect anger rather than uncertainty. "That's what convinced Lewis and Cam of this theory. The location of the crime. The assault took place less than ten miles from Somerfield's first institute, where he later kept James."
"...what? That's..." Morgan gaped then scowled. "S...that bastard's institute? He..."
"I know." JJ gritted her teeth. "Cam is going to call Garcia about looking into Somerfield's history around that time, and Lewis is getting in touch with Hotch, to see about asking James before questioning Somerfield."
0Quantico:
-"Garcia, could you look something up? We may have a lead." Cam asked after the tech analyst answered the phone and greeted the younger agent.-
"Yeah, sure. What is it you need?" Garcia replied, her tone not at all cheery. Something the young agent picked up on quickly.
-"...um, are you all right?" Cam asked, chewing on her lip as she put off saying what she'd called about.-
"I'm fine. I..." Garcia answered, while glancing at Rossi who still seemed to be reeling from what she'd revealed just moments before answering Cam's call.
"...you said you may have a lead?" Rossi cut in, still shaken but managing to not let it overwhelm him. At least not at the moment. He briefly shook his head at Garcia when she'd seemed about to protest. "Cam?"
-"Oh! Rossi, I thought you were..." Cam started to say but trailed off mid-sentence, feeling uneasy as she recalled that the senior agent was looking into Linnet's claims. About murdering her mother.-
"I was. I am." Rossi replied, realizing what the young agent had been about to mention. "There's not much more I can do without interviewing Linnet, which can't be done until his lawyer oks it. So, I thought I'd help a bit with the current case..."
-"...all right." Cam mumbled, taking in a breath. She was tempted to ask whether it was smart for the older agent to be helping on a case he was taken off of, but bit her tongue. Having Rossi back to helping on the case relieved her, the senior agent had always reassured her. "The possible lead agent Lewis and I found is connected to a case almost four decades ago. One that may not have made it into a database yet."-
"What? But this unsub is copying Jam...how could he be connected to an old case?" Garcia blurted, her voice trailing off temporarily when she was about to mention James by name.
-"Um, it may be possible that James' himself copied another person's crimes. That he's also a copycat."-
"What?! Impossible. We would've found..."
-"Ms. Mathers, Olivia Sutters' aunt, showed Lewis and I an article from nearly thirty-five years ago. The details in it, about what the unsub did to his victim, Olivia's mother, were identical to James' MO." Cam explained, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It seemed to be from a small, local newspaper in the area. So it's possible it hasn't been digitized yet. And..." Cam grimaced, eyes narrowing. "It was less than ten miles from one of Somerfield's institutes."-
"What? Somerfield..." Rossi gaped, before his surprise quickly shifted to a scowl. His jaw tensed, eyes livid as he grasped Cam's revelation. It didn't take long for him to conclude that it was not a simple coincidence, that a near identical crime had taken place so close to the monstrous doctor. The doctor who had wanted to mold his son James into a sociopath, who'd tortured his son psychologically.
-"Yes...agent Lewis and I both think it's too much to be a coincidence. At the very least Somerfield possibly had knowledge of it, and James got it from him by chance or..."-
"It wasn't by chance." Rossi growled. "Somerfield wanted to turn James into a criminal - a killer, and with this info you and Lewis found, it's possible the bastard wanted to mold James into a specific one."
"But if that's the case, why? And how is this new copycat connected?" Garcia interrupted, glancing at Rossi, and then the phone. "Could the copycat be the original unsub instead?"
"Unlikely. Given that this unsub showed hesitance while enucleating his victim and did so after killing her, he's not the original. It's more..." Rossi rubbed his chin, mulling over a thought to distract him from what Garcia had revealed before Cam called. "Like this unsub is a copy of a copy. He had his own M.O but then added James' and targeted his victims..."
-"Yeah. But...that's strange. Because Olivia Sutters' mother was the original unsub's victim, and there's no connection between her and James. Why did the unsub go after Sutters? If he'd been following the news, he'd known James was too young to be the one behind the attack thirty-five-ish years ago."-
"That's a good question. I'm more concerned with how this new unsub knew about Olivia's mom in the first place. If it isn't in any large database, then he must have been near where it happened." Rossi paused briefly, before asking Cam where the article said the attack took place. Specifically to figure out which of Somerfield's institutes it took place near.
When Cam answered, both Rossi's and Garcia's eyes widened.
"That's...that's the one that burned down four years ago. The one James said he'd gone back to after Connell..." Garcia stammered, and her gaze shifted towards Rossi.
The senior agent pursed his lips, absorbing the information, digesting it.
0Prison:
Hotch eyed James carefully, his gaze piercing and his jaw taut. He managed to remain stoic even though the name that James had mentioned felt like a kick to the gut. "What was the name of the agent?" He repeated his question, just to make sure he had heard correctly. "James..."
"..." The thirty-six year old didn't reply though, and instead eyed Hotch back. Though the agent's expression hadn't noticeably changed, James realized that his answer had disturbed the older man. His lip twitched, and a smug smirk briefly dressed his face. "...ah so, what's important about this FBI agent? Hm?"
"James..." Hotch clenched his jaw, but in a way that was almost imperceptible. He glowered at the younger man a few moments, reminding himself that though he wanted nothing more than to interrogate James about the agent he'd just named, the current case took priority. He had to find out what, if anything, James knew about his copycat.
"James..." William Reid scowled at the thirty-six year old, his tone almost like a warning. "If you don't cooperate..."
James glared at the lawyer, and though a biting silence arose between them, it felt like the two were communicating through stares alone. It was enough that Hotch glared at William, wondering what the lawyer had discussed with James before this meeting.
"What? I'm not allowed to be curious? I don't even know who this 'Gideon' is!" James seethed, his dark eyes livid. He shifted his glare towards Hotch. "Nor do I see what the hell it's got to do with this case of yours. With this copycat you say I have."
"...that...you're right, James, this likely doesn't have to do with the copycat." Hotch replied, caught off guard by the younger man's verb tense choice after mentioning Gideon - 'is'. It drove home just how much James didn't know. He waited while James calmed down a tad and gave a curt nod of his head. "...you said the article was about a Felicia Sutters? That she was attacked and killed?"
James nodded. "It said her eyes had been gouged out, so I remember it clearly."
"She was enucleated?" Hotch asked, studying James. It felt uncanny talking about a crime that seemed almost a precursor to James'. "Like your victims?"
"If that's what you call gouging eyes, then yeah." He paused, touching his lip as he mulled over a thought. "...she was raped, as well. Though that article used the euphemism 'forced upon' rather than the word rape. Heh, I was so naive back then, I recall that Bryce had to tell me what that euphemism meant."
Hotch's eyes widened a sliver as he gauged the truthfulness of James' answer as well as his added comment. "...How old were you and your friend when you saw the article?"
"Thirteen. Bryce almost fourteen." James mumbled, his dark umber eyes staring at his hands as he thought. His lips twitched into a frown briefly before his gaze locked on Hotch. "...if you're looking for someone copying me, you might want to focus on Bryce."
"...why is that?" Hotch replied, curious but viewing the advisement with suspicion. "Why do you think Bryce is our copycat?"
"He always loved pissing me off." James replied cryptically. "Besides, he's the only one I know who saw that article about Sutters. If my copycat was just a recent fan, he'd just go after my reported victims, right?"
