𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘆 || 𝗗𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗸 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻

𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆

"𝗙𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀"
- 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝘆𝗮

-----

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 - 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗟𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁

Valentina was on her way to work when Penelope's contact came up on the hands free which was weird because she didn't usually call her in the morning.

"Hey, everything okay?" She asked in concern but also curiosity.

"Everything is okay because I just met someone!"

"Someone as in you met a guy?" Valentina couldn't help but smile.

"Yes and Val let me tell you, he was so cute and he even asked me to lunch sometime and then I gave him my number"

"Wait backup, you gave a stranger your number?" Valentina didn't want to ruin the mood but the cases they've been on involving things like that. She had a right to be concerned.

"Val if you had seen how smoking hot he was you would've too!"

Valentina laughed "Okay Pen I believe you" They talked for a few more minutes before hanging up as Valentina was just pulling into the office.

Walking into the bullpen she saw Morgan and Garcia talking when JJ came rushing in with case files in her hand "Hey, we caught a bad one"

"How bad?" Valentina asked.

"Florida"

She groaned as did Derek before they made their way to the conference room where JJ was waiting for them "Bridgewater, Florida. Local girl, Abbey Kelton, 19, left her parents' home to go to the local junior college. She never came home. Three days later joggers found her, -part of her, in a nearby park"

JJ was right, this was a bad case. Half the girls' body was missing and what wasn't had been mutilated.

"What did that to her?" Emily asked.

"Bridgewater is off of 1-75, which is often referred to as Alligator Alley, for reasons that are now apparent. Everything below the waist has been eaten"

"Ah, the circle of life" Rossi commented.

"Suddenly, I don't feel so guilty about my alligator wallet" Emily added.

"Alligators didn't cut off her fingers, slit her throat or carve this into her chest" Hotch said, sliding a picture over to Morgan and Valentina.

"An inverted pentagram" Valentina pointed out.

"The locals believe the killing was committed by a satanic cult" JJ told them.

"I'd say" Val muttered.

"Some things never changed" Rossi mused.

"Killer satanic cults don't exist" Emily told Rossi "They were debunked as a suburban myth"

Rossi nodded as he looked at her while Hotch looked down at the case file with a smile "What?"