memento vivere - supernatural & criminal minds

chapter 18

Chapter 18
Do No Harm

Scott McCarty was dead at the hands of their unsub, as proven by the bullet hole clean between his eyes, and they still had no leads.

Jude wove between the desks in the police briefing room to work out the jittery feeling that still coursed through her body. It seemed like the shift back to work from hunting was harder than she’d thought it would be. Hotch’s little tests were beginning to make more sense. He saw her unrest, too. She hoped he was the only one.

“How did McCarty end up playing the unsub?” JJ asked, sidestepping so Jude could continue her loop.

Calvin sighed from atop a desk. “Weigart punished McCarty for mouthing off during the profile briefing by making him the unsub and sticking him in the trunk of a car all afternoon.”

JJ frowned, “Wait, then how did the unsub find out about the reenactment?”

“Come on, cops talk,” Morgan shrugged. “Pissed-off cops talk loud.” Considering he used to be a cop, he would know. Jude forced herself to stop pacing and settled by the window with Spencer. He flashed his eyes to her just long enough for her to nod in reassurance.

“So, what do we know?” Gideon posed. “Our unsub went from wounding civilians to executing a police officer, so he’s escalated. He’s not staying on script.”

“Sometimes it’s what they don’t do,” Hotch pointed out.

“He didn’t pick McCarty at random.”

“He didn’t take the gut shot.”

“Why?” Hotch’s focus turned slowly and deliberately to Jude. Thankfully, this was all she’d thought about on the drive back to the station.

“He didn’t want McCarty alive,” she said, holding his gaze. “It’s a message, nobody takes credit for my work.” Hotch nodded and that familiar rush of relief swept through her. She could still do this job. Pushing herself further, Jude considered their second pressing question - why he only wounded his victims. He needed contact with them somehow, but he hadn’t reached out to the media. They could now safely rule out that he was a cop.

Morgan joined them in the room, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “Garcia nailed down the geographic profile. The crime scenes are centered on two separate locations.”

Jude’s head snapped up. “The hospitals.”

***

Jude and Spencer flanked Hotch as they wove through the labyrinthian hospital to the ER. Their prime suspect was the same surgeon who’d removed the intact bullet, Dr. Landman. He had an alibi for the last shooting and the three of them were searching for Dr. Pate, who could corroborate that Landman was in his office at the time.

While Hotch sent a nurse to collect Dr. Pate, Jude leaned back against the reception desk to study the general hubbub. She’d always hated hospitals. It was something about the smell of antiseptic and knowing what it was covering up. 

“The motivations for hero homicide are excitement, power, and respect, and even though Landman's not a star, he still gets respect,” Hotch said as he and Spencer formed a triangle with Jude. “Racing against the clock to save someone's life is exciting.”

“But maybe it’s not exciting enough, that’s why he shoots three people at a time,” Spencer pointed out.

Jude shook her head. “But he can still only operate on one victim at a time, that doesn’t increase the excitement at all.”