Fic: A Girl Needs a Gun These Days {Criminal Minds - Elle/Emily} 4/?
Title: A Girl Needs a Gun These Days 4/?
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Elle/Emily
Summary: The current BAU team is brought to Brooklyn when a series of murdered rapists looks to be the work of a vigilante. Previous chapters.
Warning: Deals with rape.
Rating: R
Notes: A huge thanks to serialbathera for all her amazing advice as my beta.
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. No profit made, no infringement intended.
--------------- Chapter 4: The Beast You've Made of Me
"Garcia, what have you got?" Hotch asks as the remainder of the team gathers around the video call.
"Katharine Garret, 25, was born in upstate New York. Her father was a lawyer, her mother a homemaker. Mother died when she was 5. Father had a hunting license, and when she was 15 he got one for her too," Garcia begins.
"That explains how she learned to shoot so well," Rossi breaks in.
"Not only that, but Katharine won several prizes for her shooting skill in her teens. She was an A and B student all through school, never in any trouble, not even a speeding ticket. From all accounts she was a very bright, talented young woman. It all changes 5 months ago, when she was raped. She starts spending large amounts of money on security- locks, lights, and alarms. She gets herself a gun, the 9mm, a month later," Garcia continues.
"A preoccupation with security and defense isn't that unusual after a sexual assault. Is there anything besides attending Brooklyn Rape Crisis and owning a 9mm that ties her to the crimes?" Morgan asks.
"Patience hot-stuff, I'm getting there. These records indicate her behaviour became increasingly erratic and volatile. She has what looks to be impulse spending, where she racks up massive bills in a single day, and then she goes days without spending a cent. She stops paying her bills, and starts racking up massive bar taps that go well into the early morning hours," Garcia replies.
"You're right, those do sound like more extreme behaviors than one would normally expect from a victim of assault," Rossi agrees.
"Oh God," Garcia gasps, her normally perky features twisting into shock.
"Baby girl, what is it?" Morgan asks concerned.
"I was cross referencing the financials of Katharine and Elle with our dead guys, hoping to find a location where they might have crossed. You know, if either of them were stalking the guys, or even just randomly saw them and that caused…" Garcia rambles, her face flushed with anxiety.
"Garcia, what did you find?" Hotch asks sternly, a silent request to get to the point.
"Katharine and Ricky both drank at the same bar a week before he was murdered. This bar wasn't one of her regular haunts, it's a bar and grill in Carroll Gardens," Garcia responds, her voice stronger, her thoughts more focused.
"So, okay, then she was stalking him," JJ concludes.
"No, no, it's- The bills show they both ordered drinks at the bar, and then Ricky orders drinks two at a time from the restaurant, and Katharine stops buying any," Garcia says in a rush.
"You think-," Reid starts incredulously.
"-That they were on a date?" Emily finishes for him, disgust evident in her voice.
"So we're thinking she went on a date with this guy, knowing what he did? That's a whole different level of risk-taking, self-destructive behaviour," Morgan finishes the thought.
Garcia can only nod from BAU Headquarters, her face stricken.
"Extreme risk-taking evolving into murder?" Reid asks.
"We've seen it before," Rossi counters.
"But if she was drinking that heavily, how was she able to keep her crime scenes so controlled?" Reid presses.
"Maybe the murder was a substitute for the drinking," Morgan suggests.
"So she gets pleasure from the murders? There's nothing in these crime scenes to indicate sadism or even euphoria. She doesn't keep trophies, and the notes aren't boasting," Reid argues.
"It's not about pleasure, Reid. She starts out feeling angry, guilty, ashamed. She tries to harm herself, hoping that punishment will be enough to ease the guilt, but it isn't. So instead she turns to the anger, and tries hurting someone else. It doesn't make her pain go away, but it offers just enough relief that she keeps doing it. It's like a drug, and the control in her crime scenes is her version of hiding the drug use. She knows if gets caught she'll have to stop, and she can't stop. The notes are an attempt to lessen the guilt, to put the blame on someone else. That's the other reason she can't get caught: she needs this vengeance to redirect the blame," Morgan explains, seeming to understand a little too well how the UnSub's mind might work, but no one articulates that.
"Control. Elle kept saying after her rape the main thing she wanted was control," Prentiss thinks aloud. The rest of the team averts their eyes from Prentiss, unable to accept the reality of Elle's assault so soon.
"For Elle, control was focusing on her job to the exclusion of anything else, and not allowing anyone else to see any of the ramifications of her shooting, or have any sense of her emotions. For our UnSub, control is annihilating anyone she sees as a threat to herself or others, all the while doing so in such an organized and skilled fashion that she evades detection. I wouldn't be surprised if she was working up to killing her rapist, and we could expect that crime scene to show more anger and less control. She wouldn't care about getting caught once she'd finally killed the man that started everything," Prentiss continues.
"Elle drank, but remained high functioning," Reid says softly, a tinge of guilt still present in his voice despite the many years that have passed.
"Not your fault, kid," Morgan mutters under his breath, resting his hand on Reid's arm.
"We have a very strong profile and supporting evidence for Katharine Garret, and I want her in our custody asap. Garcia, put out an APB and start using every resource you've got to track her down. Morgan and Reid, I want you to go through the other women in that support group. We've got to narrow down which man she might be going after next. See if you can figure out how she choose the order of her victims. JJ, you facilitate with the locals, make sure we've got plenty of cops looking for her. Prentiss, Rossi, we're going to get a search warrant for her apartment," Hotch orders, calling his team to action.
----------------
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Elle/Emily
Summary: The current BAU team is brought to Brooklyn when a series of murdered rapists looks to be the work of a vigilante. Previous chapters.
Warning: Deals with rape.
Rating: R
Notes: A huge thanks to serialbathera for all her amazing advice as my beta.
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. No profit made, no infringement intended.
--------------- Chapter 4: The Beast You've Made of Me
"Garcia, what have you got?" Hotch asks as the remainder of the team gathers around the video call.
"Katharine Garret, 25, was born in upstate New York. Her father was a lawyer, her mother a homemaker. Mother died when she was 5. Father had a hunting license, and when she was 15 he got one for her too," Garcia begins.
"That explains how she learned to shoot so well," Rossi breaks in.
"Not only that, but Katharine won several prizes for her shooting skill in her teens. She was an A and B student all through school, never in any trouble, not even a speeding ticket. From all accounts she was a very bright, talented young woman. It all changes 5 months ago, when she was raped. She starts spending large amounts of money on security- locks, lights, and alarms. She gets herself a gun, the 9mm, a month later," Garcia continues.
"A preoccupation with security and defense isn't that unusual after a sexual assault. Is there anything besides attending Brooklyn Rape Crisis and owning a 9mm that ties her to the crimes?" Morgan asks.
"Patience hot-stuff, I'm getting there. These records indicate her behaviour became increasingly erratic and volatile. She has what looks to be impulse spending, where she racks up massive bills in a single day, and then she goes days without spending a cent. She stops paying her bills, and starts racking up massive bar taps that go well into the early morning hours," Garcia replies.
"You're right, those do sound like more extreme behaviors than one would normally expect from a victim of assault," Rossi agrees.
"Oh God," Garcia gasps, her normally perky features twisting into shock.
"Baby girl, what is it?" Morgan asks concerned.
"I was cross referencing the financials of Katharine and Elle with our dead guys, hoping to find a location where they might have crossed. You know, if either of them were stalking the guys, or even just randomly saw them and that caused…" Garcia rambles, her face flushed with anxiety.
"Garcia, what did you find?" Hotch asks sternly, a silent request to get to the point.
"Katharine and Ricky both drank at the same bar a week before he was murdered. This bar wasn't one of her regular haunts, it's a bar and grill in Carroll Gardens," Garcia responds, her voice stronger, her thoughts more focused.
"So, okay, then she was stalking him," JJ concludes.
"No, no, it's- The bills show they both ordered drinks at the bar, and then Ricky orders drinks two at a time from the restaurant, and Katharine stops buying any," Garcia says in a rush.
"You think-," Reid starts incredulously.
"-That they were on a date?" Emily finishes for him, disgust evident in her voice.
"So we're thinking she went on a date with this guy, knowing what he did? That's a whole different level of risk-taking, self-destructive behaviour," Morgan finishes the thought.
Garcia can only nod from BAU Headquarters, her face stricken.
"Extreme risk-taking evolving into murder?" Reid asks.
"We've seen it before," Rossi counters.
"But if she was drinking that heavily, how was she able to keep her crime scenes so controlled?" Reid presses.
"Maybe the murder was a substitute for the drinking," Morgan suggests.
"So she gets pleasure from the murders? There's nothing in these crime scenes to indicate sadism or even euphoria. She doesn't keep trophies, and the notes aren't boasting," Reid argues.
"It's not about pleasure, Reid. She starts out feeling angry, guilty, ashamed. She tries to harm herself, hoping that punishment will be enough to ease the guilt, but it isn't. So instead she turns to the anger, and tries hurting someone else. It doesn't make her pain go away, but it offers just enough relief that she keeps doing it. It's like a drug, and the control in her crime scenes is her version of hiding the drug use. She knows if gets caught she'll have to stop, and she can't stop. The notes are an attempt to lessen the guilt, to put the blame on someone else. That's the other reason she can't get caught: she needs this vengeance to redirect the blame," Morgan explains, seeming to understand a little too well how the UnSub's mind might work, but no one articulates that.
"Control. Elle kept saying after her rape the main thing she wanted was control," Prentiss thinks aloud. The rest of the team averts their eyes from Prentiss, unable to accept the reality of Elle's assault so soon.
"For Elle, control was focusing on her job to the exclusion of anything else, and not allowing anyone else to see any of the ramifications of her shooting, or have any sense of her emotions. For our UnSub, control is annihilating anyone she sees as a threat to herself or others, all the while doing so in such an organized and skilled fashion that she evades detection. I wouldn't be surprised if she was working up to killing her rapist, and we could expect that crime scene to show more anger and less control. She wouldn't care about getting caught once she'd finally killed the man that started everything," Prentiss continues.
"Elle drank, but remained high functioning," Reid says softly, a tinge of guilt still present in his voice despite the many years that have passed.
"Not your fault, kid," Morgan mutters under his breath, resting his hand on Reid's arm.
"We have a very strong profile and supporting evidence for Katharine Garret, and I want her in our custody asap. Garcia, put out an APB and start using every resource you've got to track her down. Morgan and Reid, I want you to go through the other women in that support group. We've got to narrow down which man she might be going after next. See if you can figure out how she choose the order of her victims. JJ, you facilitate with the locals, make sure we've got plenty of cops looking for her. Prentiss, Rossi, we're going to get a search warrant for her apartment," Hotch orders, calling his team to action.
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