𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐲 𝐀𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | hotchniss

It's gets colder and colder

Chapter 60!!!
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Another woman was reported missing, and a body was discovered the next day. The team had already spent four tiring days working on this case, and the lead Ed gave them was a dead end since the man had relocated a month ago.

They were in the investigation room, with Morgan and Dave interviewing the family of the last victim - Cali, who was 34 and a divorcee living alone. Once again, they couldn't find anything that connected her to the other victims.

Reid and Emily also looked into the victims' personal lives, relationships, and social circles. After a thorough background investigation, they realized there was nothing connecting the victims, but they finally reached a turning point thanks to Emily.

"Hey..." Emily said, trying to catch everyone's attention. "Look at this" she said, picking up the picture of their newest victim. She drew their attention to the fact that in the photo, the victim appeared to be not wearing any earrings, but in the crime scene photos, she did.

"Couldn't she have pierced her ears recently?" JJ suggested.
"I don't think so" Emily shook her head, watching as the picture was passed from Morgan to Hotch. "These earrings... they look expensive, too expensive for her background" Emily pointed out. She had some knowledge about jewelry and could identify one that looked expensive, but it just didn't seem like something the victim would have spent money on, especially when she lived alone and, according to Garcia and her family members, had some bills to pay.

"You're right" Reid supported her claim.
"If our unsub put this on her, we need to check Abigail's and Candice's too. It must be symbolic," Hotch declared. If they looked into the MO, they had one day before another woman goes missing.

"I can't believe we missed that" Officer Cassidy said disappointedly, looking at her partner, who seemed just as embarrassed as she was.
"It's not your fault. You didn't have a way to know until this victim" Hotch said, trying to make her feel less guilty. Candice was independent, lived alone, and her mother probably didn't recognize that the jewelry didn't belong to her daughter. However, it was still unclear if it was the case with Ed's wife, Abigail, too.

Emily wouldn't mind his reassurances, but she was frustrated with how Officer Cassidy reacted to it, and again, Hotch seemed like he didn't care or notice.

"That's sweet of you, but I still should've noticed that" Emily stared at her incredulously.
"Maybe you would if you weren't so busy throwing yourself at our boss" she remarked quietly, sitting back down and unintentionally making everyone stare at her with open mouths.

"Did I do something to upset you, Agent Prentiss?" Officer Cassidy asked sweetly, with a smile that made Emily feel like she had figured it all out, like she knew the reason for her behavior.

"Why would you think that?" Emily replied, not acknowledging the warning look Hotch was sending her. "I just thought you said something."
"Me? No," she said innocently, pouting her lips and shrugging, adding to her act.

"Good, you know... you can share your feelings. I wouldn't want you to bottle it all up"

Emily was about to answer back, but Detective Gillies stopped her from doing that and aggravating the situation. "I can find which store the jewelry was from" he said to Hotch.

"Good. Once you've found it, Prentiss, I want you to go with Dave and visit that shop" he requested, not even looking at her. All Emily did was stare at him with anger.
"Yes, sir" she said and walked out of the room, his other orders to the rest of the team flying past her. She was so incredibly angry that she didn't even realize Dave was right behind her, probably sent by Hotch with an unspoken request.