Hotch's Niece | Criminal Minds

Renting

On the Jet:

"Ok, JJ, what've we got?" Hotch asks the second we are all settled on the jet and we've taken off.

"Radcliffe, Kentucky. Three women found with their throats slashed over the course of the past two weeks. Rebecca Ashford last Tuesday, Jackie Rowland the Wednesday before that, and Sophia Mendes, the last body was found an hour and a half ago," JJ says as she passes out folders. My stomach churns at the sight of the dead bodies, but I don't let it show.

"Look at what the women are wearing," Dr. Reid says. "Each one is dressed in party clothes, they might have gone home with our Unsub." He's right. Each woman has a dress on, specifically a party dress... wait, are those tags?

"Hey, Uncle Hotch, look at each woman's dress. They were 'renting' them!" I exclaim, air quotes around the word renting. At the men's confused looks, I explain, although both JJ and Prentiss look like they could've as well. "When you have a really fancy outing to go to, and you want a dress that's way out of your price range, you buy it, leave the tags on, and return it the next day,"

"So why kill women who are renting dresses?" Rossi asks, clearly not seeing my point.

"Our Unsub isn't killing women who rent dresses, he's killing women who are trying to fit into a higher section of society than they can afford. You see Jackie's nails? Those were done by her, they're too sloppy to have been done by a professional, and anyone who could actually afford that dress would never do their own nails. It's not that the women don't want to spend the money, it's that they don't actually have the money," I say. "Call Garcia," I say, with a burst of confidence, remembering the technical analyst JJ had mentioned earlier.

"Why?" Hotch asks.

"It's really hard to find a good dress boutique that actually lets you return dresses, there couldn't be that many in Kentucky." JJ catches on. I smile, nodding.

"What do you want to bet our three vics went to the same boutique?" I finish.

Even Uncle Hotch looked impressed as Morgan leaned forward to open a video chat on the computer open in front of us. He was sitting directly across from me, JJ next to him. I sat next to Uncle Hotch, who'd taken a window seat, and Dr. Reid, Rossi, and Prentiss sat adjacent to us on the couch. Because Morgan sat across from me, I couldn't see the screen just yet.

"Speak or be spoken to, my fine furry friends!" A bright, overly peppy voice blared into the quiet plane.

"Hey baby girl, we need you to check where the women shopped the day before they were killed. Look for anything in common, perhaps a cafe, or a boutique that they all shopped at. Somewhere that they could have made contact with the Unsub." Morgan says. I raise an eyebrow at JJ when Morgan calls the woman, presumably Garcia, baby girl. JJ just smiles and motions for me to continue listening.

"Anything for you, you hot bundle of chocolate se-" Garcia says, and my eyes almost bug out of my head, and probably would've if Morgan hadn't cut her off. JJ and Prentiss giggled softly in the background.

"Garcia! We have a new member, try not to chase her off on her first day," the dark-skinned agent reasons. A gasp sound echoes through the speakers.

"A new member? Point me, point me!" Morgan rolls his eyes, but allows for an adoring smile to make its way onto his features as he turns the computer screen to face me. A brilliantly colored woman smiles widely at me. "Oh, she's just a kid! Hi, I'm Penelope Garcia, what's your name?" Garcia is all but cooing over me, and the rest of the team finds it absolutely hilarious. JJ and Morgan are in hysterics, Prentiss, Reid, and Rossi are sharing a quiet, subdued laugh, and even Uncle Hotch has cracked a smile.

"Hi, um, I'm Avery Hotchner, and I'm not a kid, I'm 18," I mumble sheepishly.

"She's shy... we'll have to fix that," Garcia says dramatically, "WAIT DID YOU SAY HOTCHNER? AS IN TALL, SERIOUS, AND HANDSOME? HOTCHNER??" she shrieks as the rest of my introduction sinks in. The rest of the team is full on cackling at this point.

"Yeah, he's my uncle," I confirm.

"And you're only eighteen! Sorry, Reid, looks like you've been bumped to second-youngest," Garcia has already moved on to some new drama by the time I've told her that Hotch is indeed my uncle. I like her already.

"Garcia. The women," Hotch says, all business. Although in his defense he did smile, and he also allowed my complete and utter humiliation at the hands of Penelope Garcia.

"Right, sir. I've already got the results. All of the women shopped at... Tiana's Boutique, within 24 hours of being killed," Garcia announced.

"Thanks, baby girl!" Morgan says, before turning the screen back to him and ending the call.

"Anyone else think that's a coincidence?" Rossi asked.

"Okay, I can safely say that neither JJ or I would've picked that up, and you guys didn't even know what renting was. Avery Hotchner, I've known you for less than an hour, and I can already say that you are going to fit in quite well here," Prentiss smiles warmly at me.

I blush, not really knowing how to respond. "Thank you, Agent Prentiss,"

"Oh please, call me Emily, especially if I'm gonna be calling you Avery. Having two Hotchs or Hotchners would just be way too confusing, and he's my boss so technically I really shouldn't call him Aaron," Prenti--Emily said.

"Yeah, she's good." Dr. Reid acknowledged.

The plane fell silent for a little while, and I took the time to mull over motive for our Unsub. Well, there are several reasons a man would kill women, a few being revenge, sexual release, the victim resembling someone close to him, being denied something, but why women who rent dresses? I mean yeah, it's technically illegal, but not motive for murder... unless you were a woman, who had less than those who our victims were trying to impersonate... and them acting like the women who had more than you and looked down on you would certainly make you angry! I thought to myself.

"That's it you guys!" I exclaim, startling JJ and waking a dosing Morgan. He glares at me, while she laughs it off. I ignore it. "The Unsub is a woman!"

"Are you sure, Avery?" Uncle Hotch questions.

I nod. "What reason would a man have for killing three women linked only by the fact that they "rented" dresses? I mean, that was the only connection Garcia had found, and two are blonde, one is brunette, and none of them are similar in size. And renting isn't insanely popular, so don't try to tell me it's a coincidence! But a woman, maybe one who was not very well off money-wise... maybe one who has been looked down on by the women our vics were trying to impersonate, well that's a kiddie pool of motive. Pick one," I say, and JJ gives me an odd look at the use of "kiddie pool", but I shrug.

"Damn kid's gonna be better than us all by the end of the week," Morgan mutters, and I can't help glowing with pride when JJ and Rossi both say something along the lines of "Amen to that".

Maybe I will fit in here after all.

Okay, so this is the last update until probably next weekend, as school is a real thing that I have to deal with, and lately I've had quite the occupied social calendar. Anyways, read, vote, comment, follow me, and just have fun in general. Okay. Bye.

-Leah