[Criminal Minds] years before love

Yet just hours later, Hotch was on his way to the crime scene.

He knew that Gideon had something to talk to him about, but this small town with a population of less than 500 people and only a hundred households found the fourth body in two months in the morning, and the local police chose to call for help in desperation.

Hotch was almost grateful for that.He knew exactly what Gideon wanted to talk about, but he wasn't ready.At one point he thought he was very clear about his expectations in the relationship, the physical needs, the occasional relaxation, and the negligible sense of security.

He is definitely not looking forward to any real romantic relationship.

Rossi, however, seems to be clearly disagreeing with his point.

And Hotch couldn't see a reason to say no.

Gideon does want to talk to Hotch, it's very clear that things are getting out of hand, and he doesn't want the BAU's most important agent at the moment, and perhaps the most important agent in the future, to ruin each other.

But before going out to work is definitely not the right time.Seriously understaffed, Rossi, himself, and other experienced detectives have cases to deal with. Considering that the crime took place in a relatively closed town, the way the corpses are handled is basically in line with the pattern of most ordinary serial killers. Gideon postponed the conversation , referred the case to Hotch.

The small plane landed tremblingly at the nearest airport, and the police detective Rogers who came to pick him up was in his forties, still immersed in shock and sadness.

"Alisa, Edith, Maria... Now it's Janet again, everyone is freaking out." Rogers punched the steering wheel, the town is halfway up the mountain, and they still have a way to go, "What the hell is going on? You know Well, Detective, I've been here almost my entire life, never locked the door at night, left things in the backyard - the worst case we've had in the last year was when kids stole their parents' car trying to get into town."

"I understand." Hotch can roughly understand his feelings. In such a stable town, these murders are undoubtedly devastating to everything, and he really can't comfort him.

Looking at the photos of several victims, Hotch found it difficult to say how much similarity there was in appearance between these victims except that they were all white. Their hair lengths and clothing styles were different, but they were all middle-aged women. There are traces of sexual assault and violence, strangulation, and abandoned corpses on the side of the main road of the town, and they appeared in a relatively closed environment. They are definitely serial killers.

"Are the victims close?"

"Here, who isn't?"

"Do you have any suspects?"

"Any suspects?" Rogers smiled mockingly. "Two months of no progress and we're on the verge of having an entire town of adult males as suspects."

"stranger?"

"No one noticed a stranger in town. Believe me, if there was such a stranger, we would have caught him."

"Some strangers don't attract attention. Cleaners, postmen...we're used to their existence." Hotch didn't completely rule out this possibility, but this town is halfway up the mountain, and it's definitely easy to find a better place to dump the body.The perpetrator doesn't care if the body is found, maybe he doesn't belong here so he has no fear, or maybe he needs the body to be found.

While Hotch leans towards the latter, it's not a good place to commit crimes for someone who wants attention, and outsiders don't need to instill fear in the town, and if he can do it quietly, then he can do it properly Dispose of the body, unless he's seriously insane, and those weird behaviors deserve attention.

"But I agree that the perpetrator is local. And whoever did it, he hates it here."

"What? Why?" The detective turned his head to look at the photo in his hand in confusion, and immediately looked away. "This is a good place, no, I mean, this is a peaceful town, although the neighbors occasionally There were arguments, but generally everyone was on good terms."

"It's not about a quarrel between neighbors." Hotch shook his head, and he looked out the window overlooking the looming village, "His target is the person who best represents this town, forty-something, stay-at-home housewife, and I don't Think they've offended him. What he's trying to destroy is what you call a peaceful town, though I don't know what you've done to him... Did anything out of the ordinary happen in town 2 months ago? "

"Nothing special." Rogers thought about it carefully, and finally shook his head, "Living here, it seems that every day is the same, there are no accidents, nothing unusual."

"Obviously not to him." Hotch glanced at him. "Any DNA or fingerprints?"

"There is no trace of sex."

Hotch was a little surprised. He could see anger and hatred from the photos at the scene. The suspect was on the verge of collapse and was not too mature. It is unlikely that he would know and take care of hiding his traces.Especially for the general public, DNA technology is not very popular.

Hotch said it seemed more likely that there was something wrong with the assailant.

"Is he still doing it?" Rogers asked after a while.

"Unfortunately, he will," Hotch concluded, staring at the photo in his hand.