Fic: The Barbie Murders - Part III
Title: The Barbie Murders - Part III
Author: steppenwolf_20
Fandom: CSI:Miami/Criminal Minds
Pairing: Calleigh Duquesne/Jennifer Jareau (with some Cal/Nat, JJ/Em, JJ/Nat along the way)
Disclaimer: None of the beautiful ladies is mine. No infringement intended.
The song is “Isolated” from Chiasm; the drug I borrowed from the Movie “Anatomy”
Rating: NC-17 (I mean it)
Warnings: chose one, there's plenty... angst, smut, mentioning of violence, abuse, rape (but nothing graphic), it's a BAU case after all, what did you expect. No smut in this part. But I gotta warn you! There's plot!!
Setting: uhm, screw timelines. I guess somewhere end of season six CSI:M and end of season two CM
Spoiler: I don't think so
A/N: written for the “Cliché Challenge 2008”. Sadly I wasn't able to finish it on time. Real life in form of work (buuuh) and my niece (yay) got in the way.
Cliché used: trapped together in a cave/shack/turbolift
A/N 2: This story kinda developed a mind of its own. I guess it will be the first story in a loose series.
Archive: women_in_kevlar , femslash_smut
Thanks to my awesome beta sofia_lindsay for beta-ing and being really patient.
In case someone needs to refresh their minds:
Part 1
Part 2
Click image for full size
The brunette turned the knob and gave the door a hard push. JJ moved forward, quickly but cautious, scanning the room for possible threats. As soon as she entered she heard a female voice, calm but with a heavy southern accent, from where the bed had to be.
“Miami PD. Hold your fire.”
She turned towards the voice and the sight that greeted her made her smile and flooded her with relief.
Calleigh Duquesne was standing at the bed, hand stretched to her sides to show that she posed no threat. Her long blonde hair was tousled and her clothes wrinkled, like she had slept in them. Her green shirt accentuating the color of her eyes and the black slacks hugging her hips nicely. 'Wow. She's hot. The picture didn't give her enough credit.'
“Detective Duquesne?” And only after an affirmative nod did she finally lower her gun and put it away. “I'm sorry we stormed in like this. We knocked but there was no answer.”
A blinding smile was her reward. 'Hell! How can she become more beautiful with every second?'
“You must be the FBI. Welcome to Miami!”
JJ heard herself responding automatically.
“This is Special Agent Emily Prentiss.” She saw the two women briefly taxing each other and shaking hands, the gun miraculously vanished from Emily's hands back in its holster.
“And I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau.” She looked into Calleigh's eyes and took her hand. Electricity shot through her body and she got momentarily lost in jade green eyes.
When the detective let go of her hand and took a step backwards she snapped back into the here and now. Just to find herself appraised by those green eyes, wandering slowly over her body. She felt herself flush with embarrassment but felt oddly disappointed when those eyes stopped their journey.
“Perfect. If I were the killer I'd totally go for you.”
JJ felt herself flush again. “Thanks. I guess.”
“You're welcome.”
“Yeah well, if you two hot blondes are done starring at each other, we could maybe start and actually catch the unsub eventually.”
Emily's dry sarcasm was like someone had poured an ice bucket over her head. Okay, she had been staring at the detective, but that was just professional analysis. Right?
“Let's go to our room, we've all the files there.”
While Emily had been taken a shower JJ had organized the case. Pictures and other details on the victims were pinned to one wall, while pictures and files of the suspects were on another. Everything they knew was up there on the two walls. And while there were a lot of pictures JJ knew that they were missing some crucial parts of the puzzle. She just hoped that Detective Duquesne knew something that would help them with the profile, even if she wasn’t aware that she knew, yet.
Miami, 1400, June 02, The Four Seasons
Calleigh entered the other room and stopped dead in her tracks when she became aware of all the pictures, files, handwritten notes and reports on the walls. She took a deep breath and took her time letting it all sink in. She knew all the crime scene photos. Hell! She had taken most of them herself, but what caught her momentarily of guard where the pictures and files of her co-workers and friends pinned to the second wall. She knew that one of them had to be a killer. But seeing it on display like that was like a blow to the stomach. She closed her eyes for a second and tried to fight down the nausea. 'Oh my God. Eric, Ryan, Jake, Stetler, Cooper, Horatio, Natalia. There's even a picture of Alexx.'
“Where's my picture?” Her voice sounded flat and toneless in her own ears. She was surprised that the agent's caught her question at all.
“Detective Duquesne? Let's sit down. I know this must be hard for you. When I imagine ... being in your place must be horrible.”
The soft voice of Agent Jareau and the sincerity in her baby blues made Calleigh calm down a notch.
They sat down and the blonde agent continued. Calleigh was fully aware of the brunette agent observing her every move.
“Calleigh... Detective. I really don't wanna be in your shoes right now. To know one of those people is a killer? People you trust with your life on a daily basis. You've probably known most of them for years, worked with them for years. Trusting them, confiding in them, protecting them. But Calleigh, we need you in this. We don't know these people. Sure, we know the personal files, their background, everything that's written down somewhere, but you know them. We can't do it without you. I know you want to catch him as badly as we do.”
Calleigh felt herself sink deeper and deeper into those blue eyes in front of her.
'She's so young. How can she do this on a daily basis? Where does she get her strength? How can nothing of this horror be edged in her skin?'
“Where's my picture? My file?”
“I didn't put it up, because we already eliminated you as a suspect.”
“On what grounds?”
“You were under surveillance when the latest three victims were abducted.”
Calleigh closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them again, they were sparkling with suppressed frustration and determination.
“I want to catch him so badly. He's tainting everything I believe in and work for. He's killing innocent women and destroying my team along the way. Please Jennifer, tell me what you need me to do.”
“Call me JJ.”
Miami, 1800, June 02, The Four Seasons
They had worked for hours, talking about every victim, every crime scene, and every detail. JJ noticed that Calleigh was confident and professional during the presentation of the case. She seemed at ease and JJ could tell that she was a damn good CSI.
'If she's this good with DNA and trace, how incredible does she have to be in her specialty? If they're all this good, no wonder there was no evidence left behind. I wish I could make this any easier for her.' Those and similar thoughts were shooting through JJ's mind while listening to Calleigh pointing out some minor details that could have been missed easily.
After wrapping up the case Emily started questioning Calleigh about her teammates.
One by one Emily took them apart, dissecting every flaw, every mistake, every error of judgment.
The blonde detective kept her answers professional, but when Emily started asking questions about CSI Boa Vista, JJ felt the emotional effect this was having on her. She noticed the detective's eyes darken in frustration and anger, the emotions finally getting the better of her, but never loosing the grip on her control.
'If Emily was grilling me like this I had at least yelled at her by now. Detective Duquesne, you're an incredible woman.'
“I guess we should take a break now.” Emily suggested after finishing her questions on Natalia Boa Vista. “Let's get something to eat. I'm starving.” The low rumble in JJ's stomach accentuated her words even more. “Room service?”
Emily ordered for all of them while Calleigh excused herself to take a shower. JJ skimmed through her notes, adding some of her observations on Calleigh's reactions to the different people and comparing her notes with Emily's.
Room service delivered after half an hour and JJ started to worry because Calleigh hadn't come back yet.
“I'll go get her.” JJ was up and into the other room before Emily could object.
Calleigh's room
Calleigh was exhausted. Agent Prentiss had asked all kind of questions about her friends and she was forced to see them as suspects; and not let her emotions for them cloud her judgment. It had been draining and really frustrating. She really needed a moment for herself away from those agents. Sure, they were nice enough and they were here to help, but Calleigh just wished Natalia could be here. She desperately needed a friend right now. Someone to hold her and give her some strength back; someone to tell her, that she could do this.
She undressed on the way to the bathroom, turned on the hot water and stepped under the spray. She simply stood there for a while, just letting the water wash over her, trying to ease at least some of the tension. She didn't really know for how long she just stood there, trying to think of nothing but finally she started washing herself.
When she stepped out of the shower, one towel around her body using a second to dry her hair, she realized that she hadn't brought a change of clothes into the bathroom. She got back into the main room and was about to drop the towel, when a very concerned looking JJ entered through the other door.
Calleigh could see the worry in the agent's eyes transform into surprise; and into something entirely different. She felt a shiver down her spine, seeing JJ's blue eyes take a quick sweep over her sparsely covered body.
“I'm sorry. I just wanted to ... dinner's ready. And I wanted to see if you're ok. Why don't you come over when you're ready?”
“No wait!” Calleigh wasn't sure why, but she dreaded the thought of the other woman leaving. “Please stay. Maybe you could just turn around until I'm decent?”
“Sure.”
As soon as JJ was facing the door Calleigh dropped the towel and grabbed some underwear. “So, JJ. Would you mind telling me how you became a profiler? No offense, but you seem pretty young to be one.” Calleigh really wanted to get her mind off the case, if only for a while. She just hoped the younger woman wouldn't take her question the wrong way. The agent had really grown on her during the last hours. Always offering silent support with her gentle blue eyes during all those questions.
“No, you can ask any question you like. I'm not a profiler. I am the team's media liaison.”
The answer surprised Calleigh and she pondered about it while she continued dressing.
“I wouldn't have guessed. You seemed really confident with your gun storming into my room earlier.”
“Well, I AM a trained FBI agent. I'm pretty good with a gun. Probably not as good as you are, but I'm a better shot then most of my teammates.”
Calleigh slipped into a well-worn pair of jeans, she usually wore at home, and pulled on a Tulane sweater. Comfort clothing.
“Well what is your job in the BAU if you're not a profiler? Oh you can turn around.”
Calleigh sat down on the edge of her bed and motioned for JJ to join her.
The agent joined her on the bed, leaving her personal space undisturbed.
“Usually I work as the link from the team to the outside world. I handle the press conferences, talk to the families and authorities, gather information from different sources and I choose the cases we handle.”
Calleigh was stunned. “You choose the cases? So it was your decision to come here?”
“Yes. It was my decision that our team takes the case. Hotch, SSA Hotchner, our team leader, wanted to send some other agents, but I insisted on coming. I know I'm the perfect bait. It's out best chance to get him without someone else getting hurt.”
Calleigh didn't know what to make of this woman beside her. On the outside she was an all American girl, everybody's darling. A sweetheart, really. With a lot of compassion for others. In her eyes Calleigh could see a big heart and a gentle, fragile soul. Everything in the detective screamed to protect this woman from all the evil in the world so she wouldn't get tainted. But this woman had seen the worst mankind had to offer. She had seen into the souls of the predators and into the broken eyes of the victims.
“You know that you can get yourself killed easily in this one, don't you.”
“This unsub has always been a step ahead, we need to take some risk to get him. I trust you and Emily to protect me. He might be good, but we are better. And he doesn't know the FBI's working his case now, we have the element of surprise; we'll get this son of a bitch!” JJ's eyes were gleaming dangerously and Calleigh was real glad, that she was playing for her team.
“Come on, let's get something to eat. I bet Emily has a profile waiting for us.”
JJ took one of Calleigh's hands and pulled her to her feet. “Listen. I'm not sure you gonna like what you gonna hear, but remember: We're here to help you catch this killer. Okay?”
Calleigh nodded, not sure where JJ was going with this, and hand in hand they entered the other room.
Emily and JJ's room
Dinner was actually a quite relaxed affair. The three women were talking about nothing in particular and where soon engaged in a rather heated discussion about guns, Emily and JJ preferring the Glock but Calleigh doing her best to persuade them of her S&W. But it really wasn't more than a friendly banter to keep their minds of the case.
After dinner Emily became serious again.
“We'd like to give you a profile, maybe someone will stand out for you.”
“Sure, let's try this.”
Emily started. “Usually in cases of abduction, murder and rape we would assume that the unsub is male and due to the victims Caucasian. But in this particular case we can't rule out women or other ethnic groups. It seems the killer is fixated on you and it could be anyone of your co-workers.”
JJ observed Calleigh closely and saw how all color drained from her face, while Emily continued.
“We believe the unsub is a CSI because of his or her extensive knowledge how to keep a crime scene clean or at least destroy all the evidence. But we can say that he is very organized. He is very good at his job and rarely makes a mistake. He probably feels he should have been promoted a long time ago and thinks that he is way better than you are and therefore he should be your superior. During work there would be nothing to indicate his believes, you probably enjoy working with him, because he seems to look up to you and your knowledge. He's well liked and always willing to help out.”
JJ chimed in at this point. “He probably suffered some kind of abuse, either from a woman or a woman failed to protect him. Or her. He was not able to establish a working relationship for some time now; most probably he has a lot of one-night stands with various partners. He's handsome and has good communication skills. People trust him.”
“But something changed. Something set him off and after that the sex wasn't enough; he wanted to possess these women. Maybe he became impotent, or has always been so he needed another way of dominating them. It is possible that it's a woman because penetration was accomplished with a blunt object. He most possibly used a dildo to keep appearances up.”
“For some reason he holds you, at least partially, responsible for his impotence. It could be someone you blew off recently, someone you broke up with, or someone who has feelings for you and you just wouldn't or couldn't reciprocate.”
“Any ideas?”
“Well, I broke up with Jake a while ago because of his drinking. Eric asked me out some times now, but he's just a good friend, more like a brother than anything else. I could never ... It would feel just wrong. Cooper: I got him suspended and he was really angry with me; his revenge nearly got me killed. But I think we're good now. He helped to save me in the end. Stetler: he's a son of a bitch and has it for the whole team for a while now, but he doesn't have the guts to pull off something like this. And Natalia, well she had an abusive husband but that was before she came to Miami, I really don't see a connection to me. And she's definitely straight, she dated Eric and Ryan for a while.”
“What about Ryan and Alexx?”
“I don't know that much about Ryan's private life. He got suspended for a while but joined back up. And Alexx? She retired because she wanted to spend more time with her kids. She didn't do this.”
Emily skimmed through the files again.
“Yeah, I guess we can rule her out. She has alibis for the last abductions.”
“But we all have alibis.”
“No, that's not true. You were all on the case; that means while you were under surveillance your teammates weren't. Alexx has a valid alibi, because she was with her family every time. Let's call her in tomorrow, maybe she can tell us some more about this Promidal.”