Strange Encounter - a Criminal Minds fic

Chapter 2

They had been in Philly for two days and had painted more detailed pictures of the women but still had no solid leads. Spencer had interviewed the women's friends, and JJ and Emily their parents. All four had no recent changes in their day to day lives, thanks to the COVID pandemic.

Marleena Galvez and Anna Sinclair, the younger of the two victims, both lived at home with their parents. One was in college virtually, the other maintained an online internship. The only time they had left their houses in the past four months was to see the same few friends that lived nearby. Lany Tannen, 26, had lived alone in an apartment in the heart of Center City. She was working from home, but started going to outdoor dining and happy hours with friends and coworkers the second the city had allowed. The last victim, Kendra Adams, was 29 and lived with her fiancé in the suburbs. Similar to the other victims, Kendra had been working at home, and not going out much recently unless it was with friends and family nearby.

Spencer had been pouring over the details of the crime scenes. It would've been easier had he seen them, been able to study them and have the details seared into his memory, but he was still gathering a lot of information about the women's lives from the evident traits he picked up in the photos of their rooms, pantry shelves, closets.

He noticed they all had a questionable amount of shoes, all were the types to enjoy putting on makeup although he thought none of them needed it, and they had the type of organization Spencer would call tidy. Tidy to him was mostly neat and everything in it's place, but being in its place might've been a stack of books piled up next to a bed instead of the bookshelf or a cluster of hair care products on top of a dresser instead of the bathroom. These women all seemed extremely... normal.

Their work spaces varied from kitchen counters to desks to couches, but all of them seemed relatively organized. As he'd expect, they all had laptops and all seemed open at the times the bodies were found. That didn't seem to stand out to Spencer. Between working, studying, watching movies, their laptops were probably open more than they were closed. 

Emily threw open the door just as Spencer felt something familiar staring back at him while looking at a photo of Kendra's desk. "Guys, we've got another body."

Spencer grimaced, closing the file in front of him after one last look. The team swiftly got ready and headed to the waiting SUVs.

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"Kelley Amada, 25. Her father found her.." the Philadelphia officer struggled to get out. "Sorry, I've seen some stuff but this one's a bit much. My daughter's the same age, that father.. I can't imagine",

"It's okay, we've got it from here. Why don't you go get some air, call that daughter of yours?" Rossi patted the man on the shoulder as he walked past him into the bedroom.

"Well, this is the fifth victim. And not much of a cool down period. We have to assume that this woman somehow is fitting the unsubs fantasy more-so than the first four, but how?" Rossi pondered to Spencer and JJ, who were taking in the details of Kelley's room. They looked at the young women's body laid out on her bed. Brown curly hair covered her neck, covering the strangulation marks the team already knew were there. 

"Hm, the way her arms are crossed.. remorse" Spencer mused, feeling a pang of sadness looking at the young woman's body on display to the agents and cops in the home. 

"According to her dad, and what I can tell from this room, Kelley was really starting to settle into her post-grad life. She'd had a stable job for about 6 months, was starting to look at apartments so she could move out. She recently redid this room with all of her free time at the beginning of the pandemic, started seeing her friends more while social distancing.." JJ trailed off. "Spencer, I know that look. What's up, why are you staring at her desk like that?"