Chapter 105

A numbness settledover Dana as she stared at the empty board in front of her. She was back at the FBI lab, helping the BAU create a new profile on the D.C. Reaper.

Behind her was the old board. The one with Dvita at the center. She knew if she turned around, she'd see a large X over his photograph. But it hurt too much to look at. Not because she mourned him, but because she mourned the loss of her confidence.

She'd never been so wrong before.

"Scene's been wiped clean," Richter was saying. "What does that tell us?"

"No fingerprints?" Officer Lennox asked. "That doesn't make sense. Dvita saw patients there. It should be littered with prints."

"Exactly," Richter replied. "Something our Unsub knew and took the time to eliminate. What else does that tell us?"

Agent Garcia spoke up. "No DNA or prints at the scene suggests good hygiene. Our Unsub is organized, intelligent. Only leaves evidence he wants us to find."

"Good," Richter said. "What else?"

Annoyance flashed through Dana as she was reminded of her university lecture days. She hated how calm everyone was. This was a murder investigation, not a classroom. Where was the sense of urgency? They had five dead bodies and if they didn't figure out who was behind the murders, two more were inevitable.

"What about the orderly, Max Durnin?" Dana interjected. "Of the three passages patients we identified he's the only one without an alibi during Dvita's murder."

Richter shook his head. "That's a leap, Dr. Gray. For all we know Max Durnin isn't even alive. Besides this exercise requires us to ignore our previous suspect list until we've come up with an accurate profile. We have to start from scratch if we're to remain unbiased."

"But we're not starting from scratch," she argued. "We know this is the same killer. We don't have time to throw away all the research we've already collected."

"Then what would you suggest?"

"We need to go back through our original profile. See where we went wrong. Look for the subtle differences."

"This kill deviates from the original pattern," Lennox offered. "All the others were outdoors, mostly in isolated areas. This one was in Dvita's home. More brazen and staged differently, too. Like the Unsub is gaining confidence."

"Or just becoming more unpredictable," Walsh said.

"Or it's been multiple Unsubs all along," Dana added.

Richter disagreed. "This is what happens once the established pattern is broken," he explained. "It doesn't necessarily mean more than one killer. Now that the Unsub has deviated from his MO, he's more dangerous than ever. We have to assume the murders will escalate."

"Which is why we need to put the remaining patients in protective custody," Dana implored.

"I agree with Dr. Gray," Hartwell said.

Dana turned to find him standing near the doorway and wondered how long he'd been there.

"We have a mountain of evidence from Dvita's and not enough time to go through it. Without any tangible leads, a safe house is our best option."

"It's certainly something to consider, but there's more we can do here to dial in our profile."

"We're out of time." Hartwell walked into the center of the room. "I've already contacted the US Marshals. They're setting it up as we speak."

"Who's on the protective custody list?" Dana asked.

Hartwell handed her a folder. The first page inside held a list of names. Richter read it over her shoulder, his mouth pressing into a thin line. "For all we know we could be locking the Unsub up with these people."

"Or this will lure him out," Hartwell added. "Either way, we'll be there to catch the son of a bitch and end this once and for all."

The mood in the room was tense as Hartwell gave marching orders to Richter and his team. It was obvious Richter still believed there was more profiling to be done, but Hartwell's move had set a new plan in motion. One Dana wasn't looking forward to sharing with Jake and Claire.