Page 92 of Girl Betrayed

“Eleven? That’s a number we can work with,” Hartwell said, sounding reenergized. “Hell, I’ll put ‘em in lock up for the next four days if it’ll stop this thing.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Dana replied.

Hartwell crossed his arms. “Why not?”

“Interrupting the pattern could cause the Unsub to deviate from plans and cause unpredictability,” Richter said, echoing Dana’s thoughts exactly.

Hartwell’s face reddened. “I know you’re not suggesting we let this monster keep slashing innocent citizens.”

“No,” Richter answered. “But we have more factors to explore. We need to dial in every angle to get a clear picture of the Unsub’s motives if we’re going to stop them.”

“That sounds like it’s going to take time we don’t have,” Hartwell muttered.

“Trust the process,” Richter answered.

Hartwell looked to Dana, who nodded her agreement. Shaking his head, he said, “Then let’s get to it,” before walking away to refill his coffee.

For the next two hours Dana and the BAU team explored every possible factor of the three known victims. Age, gender, religion, birthdate, family history, illness, hospitalizations, education. Nothing matched.

When they got to the presidential and first lady nicknames assigned at Passages, it spawned a lengthy debate about whether the Reaper was killing them in the order of Presidency, which then spiraled off into tangents of conspiracy theories involving everything from the Freemasons to Watergate to the Illuminati.

Dana led the discussion back to occult matters when they still hadn’t managed to find any connecting threads. She hoped delving deeper into the Grim Reaper’s modern-day interpretation would be able to shed light on something they were missing.

The BAU team eagerly debated the significance of the dark hooded cloak and wielding a scythe. They argued the minute religious differences between cultural messengers of Death. The Grim Reaper, angels, demons, ravens, crows and so on.

It made Dana miss Jake’s skepticism. Anything she suggested, the BAU team ran with without question. It was making the spectrum broader instead of narrowing it down. She and Jake worked because he challenged her, and that forced Dana to reevaluate and reapply her knowledge to the present problem.

That’s what she needed to do here, because Hartwell was right, time wasn’t on their side.

Dana pulled Hartwell aside. “I know BAU still has a lot to sort through to build their profile, but I can’t shake the feeling that Dr. Dvita is behind this. Do you know he told his patients that he’s been acting as a police liaison during the investigation?”

“He isn’t.”

“I know. I think he was just trying to get everyone to go to him with information rather than the police. Something just feels off. I want a warrant so we can access his files, particularly his hypnosis recordings.”

Hartwell shook his head. “You got anything besides your gut? Because that’s not enough evidence to execute a warrant.”

“No, but I know he’s involved in this. I saw him hypnotize Claire. It was powerful.”

“Powerful enough to persuade his patients to kill?” Richter asked, joining the discussion.

Dana swallowed the fear that statement evoked. “He’s hosting a group meeting for all his patients from Passages at St. Ann’s tomorrow. Come with me and see for yourself.”

“By tomorrow we’ll have another victim,” Hartwell argued.

“All the murders have taken place under cover of darkness,” Dana reminded him.

Hartwell scoffed. “Oh good, that’s a comforting tip I can announce at the press conference. I can see the headlines now. D.C.’s afraid of the dark!”

“When is the press conference?” Dana asked.

“Today at noon,” Hartwell confirmed.

“Maybe we can use it to our advantage,” Richter suggested.

“You wanna drop some breadcrumbs?” Hartwell asked.

“Dvita’s too smart for that,” Dana argued.

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