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The Journey to Love: Seaching For A Soulmate	By : sissouthernink1994 Category: 1 through F > Criminal Minds Views: 2088 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I don't own Criminal Minds or CSI: NY. I'm not getting paid for this. This is all for fun.

Chapter List
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This is my first try at a Criminal Minds/CSI: NY type crime scene. I’ve watched the show long enough to catch some words and other things. So if nothing else, I hope it all sounds realistic.

Chapter 5: And the hunt begins

                Sheldon woke up about 45 minutes before the BAU plane landed in Washington State. He thought that maybe he should take a trip to the bathroom before they landed and went straight to work. The BAU team seemed to be preparing themselves. Hotch and J.J. were checking for new updates on the case.
“Ok, everybody. The locals are waiting on some reports that won’t be ready until we almost get there. The only update we have right now is that they think it was a ritualistic killing. No clue as to what kind of group or anything yet. We’ll be landing in a smaller airport near between Seattle and the Gray Harbor County area. The city where the crimes occurred is Cosmopolis. I think we’re in for some gruesome crime photos. And Dr. Hawkes, turns out having you with us will be a huge help. They have a small police department but the cities in the surrounding area share the crime lab and right now, they are overwhelmed with evidence. They’re trying to get a few CSIs on loan from Seattle but not having much luck.” Hotch stated.
“Well, I will certainly do what I can.”
“Once we see the crime scene photos, we can begin to narrow down the type of killings these could be. This is gonna be a tough case; crime in this area is nearly non-existent. There’s been a total of three murders in the last five years. There are only about three registered sex offenders, maybe six in the whole area of Gray’s Harbor. The towns are shocked and at a loss. I know we’ll all do the best we can.” Hotch said and sat down for the plane’s descent.
                Upon de-boarding the plane, the team began to realize how small the area really was. There were two twelve-passenger vans waiting for them. They were greeted by Police Chief Fredrick Grant and Assistant Chief Carla Glass.
“Evening everyone. I’m so glad you were able to come and help us out. We’re in over our heads here.” Chief Grant said.
“I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner. We’re glad we could be here to help. Let me introduce you to the team.” He turned to introduce everyone. “Lastly this is CSI Dr. Sheldon Hawkes from New York. He’s attending our profiler training conference but we decided to bring him with us to assist.”
“Thanks for coming Dr. Hawkes. We probably don’t have all the fancy equipment you’re used to but you’re welcome to what we do have.”
“I’m glad to help Chief Grant and I may have some of the most important stuff with me. And I can always have samples shipped to Seattle if need be.”
“Maybe they will be more receptive to you than to us. We did request some CSI help, but haven’t had much luck. Would you like to view the crime scene first while there’s still a little light or go to the station and view what reports we do have?”
“I think the crime scene first. We can get some first impressions and then start fresh in the morning.” Rossi suggested. Everyone got their luggage from the plane, placed it in the vans, and got ready to view the crime scene.

The Scene
                The building almost looked like a house. More like an MTV style mini-crib than a club. Almost out of place. With cities this small, it seemed like they shared everything. Most necessities are between five and twelve miles of each other, in different cities. Such a large crime for a small city. The smell of death still lingered heavily in the air, an obvious indication of the gravity of the crime. The sun was just setting and some of the surrounding businesses were closing for the evening. Chief Grant led them into the club. Upon entering, the odor of decay and rotting blood hit everyone’s nose with the force of a hurricane. The air was saturated with the horrible scent. It was disturbing and nothing any human should ever be used to smelling. There were no windows in the club, no patrons coming in and out, no ventilation coming from the kitchen to possibly draw out the smell. Garcia’s stomach let her know immediately that she might not be able to handle going any further. She retched and leaned forward. Derek came to her aid.
“Baby girl, try and breathe from your mouth, not your nose.” Sheldon put down his kit, opened it and handed out masks that he sprayed with peppermint oil to anyone who needed it. The peppermint had a soothing quality to the stomach and helped the person to breath a little easier. He had smelled this before but not quite of this magnitude. He was able to handle it so far. Garcia took the mask and nodded with thanks, for fear that if she opened her mouth she really would vomit. J.J. took one as well. Being the communications liaison, she didn’t have to smell things like this often.
Chief Grant led them to the largest room of the club, which was in the center of the building. It was dubbed the “Inner Sanctum” by club patrons. There were too many rumors as to why. Some say only the VIP were only allowed there. Some say it was because the best music was played in that part of the club. There were three levels, each with two clubs or rooms. Many nights there would be private parties, fundraisers, general club patronage. So many activities going on with people from the surrounding cities, counties and even people from Lakewood (about eighty miles away) and even Seattle (about sixty miles away).
There was a beautiful crystal chandelier in the center of the ceiling. And the first thing that everyone saw was the humongous circle of blood in the center of the room, right under the chandelier. There were voids in it where one could imagine where the bodies were. The bloody circle had to be about thirteen to fifteen feet across. However, the blood spatter was a different story. Sheldon’s CSI gears began to shift and he grabbed his flashlight and camera from his kit to help him investigate. Then questions began to flow.
“How many people were found in the circle?”
“There were nine people found, four male and five female. Ages ranged from seventeen to twenty-five.”
“And how were they found?”
“According to operating hours the club was closed and the cleaning crew who has a key found them.” Assistant Chief replied.
“I mean were they found face up, down, feet in, feet out. That kind of thing.”
“Oh sorry. There were all facing inward towards the center and face down. Their arms seemed to be intertwined. It’s as if they were standing facing each other, arms intertwined and they all fell forward.” Reid was searching his memory for any familiar rituals fitting this but was coming up empty. Sheldon was walking around, looking at the walls and floor as if he were watching the Williams sisters play tennis. He paused at one angle, walked and changed his vision angle. The blood spatter was so unusual. Reid began his questions.
“They were found clothed, yes?”
“Yes. Except for shoes and socks.”
“Hmm. Not uncommon in rituals. Any markings on the bodies just in plain view?”
“No sir, just the strange way they were intertwined.” Hotch was watching Sheldon very closely and he could tell he was seeing something.
“Sheldon, what are you seeing?” he asked.
“This blood spatter is so unusual. So shaped. Were the murder weapons found?”
“Unfortunately no. At first glance, they look like hacks made with an ax. For the most part the bodies were intact. These young people were slaughtered, no doubt about it. But it almost like it there was mercy taken on them. If that makes sense.” The chief said. Sheldon slowly nodded and continued to look puzzled. Derek got the same feeling that Hotch was getting, Sheldon was definitely seeing something. But what? Sheldon had now completely walked around the whole circle of blood and seemed to be getting an aha moment. He stepped back and took a picture of the area from where he first stood when he came in the room. And then it hit him.
“Hotch, can you stand here?” he asked pointing to the spot about two feet to his left. “Morgan, can you stand here?” He pointed to the spot about two feet to his right. The men confused, moved to the spots. He walked around to the circle’s halfway point. “Reid, can you stand here and Emily stand directly across from him?” They moved. Reid was trying to figure out what Sheldon saw. “David, can you stand here?” Sheldon was now pointing to the spot halfway between Reid and Emily, that could be seen as the top of the circle. He asked the Chief to stand between Hotch and Reid, but back towards the wall. He asked the Assistant Chief to stand between Morgan and Emily, J.J. between Reid and Rossi and Garcia between Rossi and Emily, each closer to the wall than the circle. He took more pictures of the walls behind each of them and then went back to stand between Hotch and Morgan.
“What do you think Dr. Hawkes?” the chief asked.
“I think we should be looking for more people.” Everyone was shocked.
“More bodies? How is that?” Reid asked. Sheldon paused and began to explain.
“You may not exactly see it from where you are standing but your positions have created a pentagram. Five points, with four spaces in between. You represent each person found in the circle.”
“So far that matches.” Emily said.
“Yes, but the blood pattern doesn’t; there’s too much blood for just nine people. If you at the points can look behind you, there is a void on the wall. That suggests that someone was struck in front of the person standing at the point.” The team turned to look. “The point person would have been covered in blood. The pattern on the wall could even suggest that the point person held the weapon. Now the four inner points are closer to the wall. There’s no spatter behind them, but there is wax on the floor. They were probably candle holders.” No one noticed the wax until Sheldon mentioned it. “So that's five people who weren’t in the circle. Now, if I go back about two feet from where I’m standing, there are two more spots with wax, suggesting two more people. There are also scuff marks here,” he pointed to his feet. “I think there was a desk or table and chair here. Whoever was in charge sat here, giving orders. The two on the side may have been helpers, readers, whatever. That’s brings our total number of people in this room to at least twenty-one so far.” Sheldon paused and let the shock soak in that there could be five more victims.
“So far? You think there could be more?” Asst. Chief Glass asked.
“Yes. If you look back at the circle, and I know the pictures of the actually bodies will show this better, but I can see, for lack of a better word, a reverse void, but too much in certain places.” He walked back to the circle. “See here? The nine you found were on the bottom and bleeding. Look at the darker spots. That’s an indication of more blood, falling, dripping blood instead of blood flowing flush against the floor. I see at least four dark spots.”
“So possible four more victims?” The chief asked. Sheldon nodded. “My God. I wish there were someway we could analyze all this blood. Could we find out how many people were in the circle? Suppose there were more than you just discovered.” Sheldon thought, trying to remember all the things he and his team used to try and catch killers.
“There is. I’ve never done it on this big of a scale though. There is a chemical we use to preserve the blood. It’s usually sprayed on after we wipe the blood up with a cotton swab or cloth. Once in a murder/animal cruelty case we used brand new white t-shirts. The bloody spot was only about three feet by six feet. There was so much blood and we couldn’t tell what was human or animal. So we poured the chemical on the floor and soaked it and the blood into the shirts. We preserved them in zip type bags until we could get them back to the lab and then we had to hand squeeze the liquid into the vials to run the tests. It took a little longer to separate the DNA but it was the best thing we had.”
“Is it possible to do here? And how long would it need to soak?”
“It’s possible. With the size of the circle and the length of time the blood has been there, it would need to soak at least two hours. It’s something I could start off doing first thing in the morning.” The Chief agreed.
“You’ll have what you need. Anything else we can do to get a head start in the morning?”
“I would start a missing persons search and including Seattle and Lakewood residents. College and high school students especially. The numbers in this ritual are puzzling me. We have a pentagram, slaughtering of some type and the shedding of blood, but the numbers don’t suggest anything Satanic or Luciferian yet.” Reid commented. “We could possibly be looking for a cult. Our unsub would be the leader who was sitting at the table. I need to sleep on it and see what else I can find.”
“Is there any way I can view the crime scene photos before tomorrow? It might help to process the scene better.” Sheldon asked.
“I can have Sam meet us at the hotel with the flash drive.” Glass said and she stepped away to call the station.
“Well, your rooms are ready the diner will still be open so you can eat. Start time 8 a.m.?”
“Sounds good.” Rossi said. They all turned to leave and head to the motel.
                On the way there, Sheldon was a bit concerned about who he would room with. It would just be too awkward if he had to room with Derek. Too awkward. Sheldon would soon find out that he had a room to himself, but it had a Jack-n-Jill bathroom to be shared with the three women. Oh well. Garcia was happy. At least she could get to know him better so she could help Derek understand that he needed to take a chance on Sheldon. Sam met them in the lobby with a copy flash drive of the crime scene photos. After entering his room and sitting on the bed, Sheldon realized how much the day had taken from him, not to mention jet lag was probably setting in. He let the ladies freshen up in the bathroom first and he decided to take a quick shower. He didn’t want to be caught with no bathroom time the next morning. He took his contacts out and let his eyes breathe. The eye drops cooled his tired eyes. He holstered up, grabbed his badge and hotel key and went down to the diner. Most of the team was already there, waiting to order.
“Sexy in and out of glasses.” Garcia whispered to Derek. He cut her a cut-it-out look. She just smiled. Sheldon sat down at the table and was handed a menu. Hotch and Rossi were interested in how he thought things went.
“Very interesting. I’ve never seen a scene like that.”
“How did you see the pentagram?” Reid asked
“The blood spatter. It just wasn’t adding up.” He placed his order with the waitress and poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe on the table, adding one spoonful of sugar. Garcia and Em seemed to be thinking the same thing- hot, strong, black and a little bit of sugar. They stifled a little giggle.
“Can we not talk blood spatter right now?” J.J. asked as the waitress set down her strawberry soda she ordered.
“Sure. So tell us how you came to be a CSI.” Derek said. Garcia smiled at him as if to say good move.
“Well, I finished med school at age twenty-four and I became a surgeon right away.” Finished Med school at twenty-four? Great another genius to possibly fall in love with, Derek thought. “And I was good. I enjoyed it. Then I lost two patients back to back. There was a lot of controversy about it through out the hospital. Neither was my fault, but I had to take a huge chunk of the blame. And it shook my confidence. I couldn’t work with live patients so I worked in the ME’s office and the morgue. I started meeting the CSIs on calls, giving them TOD (time of death) and COD (cause of death). It began to interest me how what I knew medically could help them find a killer. After a few years I looked into the CSI training and here I am.”
“Do you enjoy it more than surgery?” Em asked.
He took another sip of his coffee. “Depends on the day. I always had an adrenaline rush in surgery. Being that close to God will do that to you. But now, when I get the info that leads to a killer, it has the same effect.” Several waitresses brought the group’s food to the table. Finally food! All in all dinner wasn’t a bad experience for Sheldon. He got a glimpse of the people he would be working with on this case and learning from once back in Quantico. It was good for Derek as well. He was able to focus on Sheldon, learn his story. Decide if a date was in their future. It was; he just didn’t know it.
                                                                -------------------------------------------------------
                Back in his room, Sheldon unpacked and got comfortable by putting on his pajamas. He wasn’t going anywhere else tonight. His computer was on and he was determined to get a good look at the photos. There was a knock on the door to the bathroom. He got up to open it and there was Garcia.
“Hey I just came to check on you. See how things are really going.”
“I’m good. Getting tired but I really want to look at the photos before I go to sleep.”
“Mind if I join you?” She asked. He pulled the chair out for her at the table. Just then, J.J. and Em came to the door.
“So what do you think of Derek?” J.J. asked. It was obvious she found out.
“Very handsome.” He replied smiling.
“That’s all?” Em asked.
“Well, I’m still looking and learning. Ask me in a few days and I’ll probably have a different answer.”
“I think he is very interested in you. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you at dinner.” Em commented.
“Oh yeah, I saw the way he looked at you when you were leaving too. His eyes were glued to you.” J.J. said.
“Really?” They all nodded. He sighed, blushing a little. Then turned to the photos. J.J. winced.
“Ah, I can’t take anymore tonight, I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.”
“Night.” Em stood behind Garcia but she moved over so they could share the chair. Sheldon began looking at the photos. The first one was of the ring of bodies.
“Do you see what I was talking about with the reverse void?” he asked pointing to the screen. They both nodded. He then pointed out several other things in that photo and others. Soon Garcia couldn’t take anymore. She said goodnight and went to bed. Em was interested in his point of view, but sleep was creeping in on her too. She soon left and Sheldon locked the bathroom door behind her. He went back to the photos, making notes on a pad when there was a knock on the hallway door. Who could that be? He wondered. He opened the door to find Derek there.
“Hey, I just want to make sure you were settling in ok.”
“Yes, I am. Thanks. I’ve already had a pow-pow with the ladies.”
“Pow-pow?”
“Yes, we share a bathroom and they all came to see me before going to bed. I’m just looking at the crime scene photos. Would you like to take a look?” Derek thought about it. The chance to get a little closer. He was starting to feel a little chemistry between them. He felt his ears get warm, trying not to show the blushing on his cheeks.
“Nah, I’ll leave you to it and get the report in the morning.”
“You sure?” Sheldon didn’t intend for that to sound so yearning.
“I’m sure. Sleep well. I’m just across the hall if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” They stood there, staring at each other. Each one felt that there was something else to be said, something else that should be said. Neither man could think of anything to say. Derek did something unexpected; even he didn’t know he’d done it until it was done. He took his right hand, cupped Sheldon’s left jaw and gently stroked it with his thumb.
“Good night” he said barely above a whisper.
“Night,” was Sheldon’s reply, barely. Derek walked across the hall to his room. Sheldon stood frozen for a moment, not believing what just happened. A yawn came through and reminded him to shut the door, turn off the computer and to go to bed. So he did, remembering to set his alarm and definitely dreaming of how beautiful Derek’s caress felt.
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The Journey to Love: Seaching For A Soulmate