JJ seed thoughtful. "The first four victims of Barnes weren't abused, right?"
"No." Reid shook his head. "He's a typical power-gratification predator. In the testimonies of the first four victims, he only asked questions like 'Was it comfortable?' and 'Was it big?' during the assault."
"So you suspect there's another killer?" Jack roughly understood; this was the normal investigative process for most cases.
Multiple leads proceeded simultaneously, even corroborating each other during the investigation. When manpower and resources were sufficient, saturation-style investigation was the key.
The sa applied to solving this case. The BAU team had ample resources; he even dared to guess that even if neither he nor Reid made progress, the cri lab should have so results. They just needed ti.
However, this might an an additional couple of victims.
Reid, unaware of Jack's thoughts, continued recounting their previous findings.
"Garcia matched the na Floyd Henson in the Barnes case files. He was the owner of the hilltop motel and was one of the suspects at the ti."
"Then we discovered that his biological mother died when he was two years old due to alcoholism. His father then married a woman in the sex industry and died six months ago. Floyd Henson inherited the motel."
Sheriff Bruner, standing nearby, felt these BAU guys were simply amazing. Their psychological profile of the killer was almost identical to the actual situation. His excitent and admiration were palpable.
JJ nodded, reviewed all the clues in her mind, and continued.
"The tiline matches perfectly. He was released from prison a year ago, behaved himself for the first few months, then his inner beast gradually beca uncontrollable. He murdered a woman, cleverly found a scapegoat, and escaped punishnt."
"After his father's death, he gained a hidden cri scene, absolute control, and the opportunity to choose his victims at will."
"Alright, let's see what the officers have found. Hopefully, the evidence here is sufficient."
Rossi greeted Hotchner and Emily as they got out of the car.
He looked unwell, clearly from staying up all night. The old man was over 60, quite wealthy, and still risking his life with the young people; there must be a special reason.
Jack often saw him holding a bracelet, lost in thought, guessing it might be related to so unsolved case, which was probably one of the reasons he was pushing so hard to form the task force.
The officers found a large amount of evidence in Floyd Henson's room and the secret room behind it: female victims' underwear, videos of the assaults, valuables, and so on.
To avoid attracting attention, Floyd Henson didn't install miniature caras in the specially modified cabin, as he had better options.
After subduing his victims, he would tie the husbands to chairs fixed to the floor, facing the large bed — the very spot where he assaulted the female victims.
A tripod and cara would be placed on the other side, capturing both the chair and the bed within the filming range. Clearly, enjoying the husbands' agonizing expressions afterward was one of Floyd Henson's perverse fetishes.
"I'm definitely adding roadside motels to my list," Emily said, looking disgusted after glancing at a few tapes.
Seeing Reid's bewildered expression, Emily raised an eyebrow and added, "A list of things I'll never do in my life?"
"There's such a list?" Reid asked curiously, as if hearing it for the first ti.
"Don't you have one?" Jack nudged him with his elbow, while Rossi laughed beside him.
"Rember to hand over the hidden recording devices you're carrying. I need to organize the recordings into evidence," Reid said seriously to Jack and JJ, completely oblivious to the joke.
"Ah, there's sothing, Dr. Reid. I need to discuss sothing with you. Garcia did the most this ti, and I'd like to make her cookies. Since you also contributed a lot, I wonder if chocolate would suit your taste?"
Seeing Jack drape an arm over the bewildered Reid's shoulder and lead him aside, seemingly discussing sothing important, Emily walked over to JJ and secretly winked at her. The two girls began to whisper.
Rossi smiled as he watched these energetic young people, his weariness seemingly fading.
"The scenery here is actually quite beautiful, isn't it?" Hotchner walked over to him, and the two stood side by side.
Rossi nodded. "I hope it stays this beautiful forever."
"You had Reid assign the most likely location to Jack because you thought he could easily handle the killer? You know, I was in SWAT too." Hotchner's tone was very calm, as if stating sothing unrelated to himself.
"You didn't object at the ti, did you?" Rossi smiled happily, as if he had expected Hotchner to figure it out himself.
Sure enough, the last trace of resentnt on Hotchner's face faded, replaced by a self-deprecating expression.
"He made trust him, saying he only needed a second. The instant I fired, I regretted it, thinking I was going to die."
"But then… I don't know how he did it, he just stood up so easily, like he was shooting at a target, almost without even aiming."
"Just like that, with a pistol, at 40 yards, he fired a bullet into a viewing window less than two inches wide, and then he did it like nothing out of the ordinary, picked up his coffee, and took another sip."
"I admit, I was jealous. Even when I was younger, I couldn't have done what he did."
Hotchner revealed his inner thoughts to Rossi with a wry smile.
"Welco back to being human, Hotchner." Rossi's smile widened.
"They are all outstanding young people, not just Jack and Reid, but Emily and JJ as well. And there may be even more outstanding young people joining in the future."
"I chose you to lead this team because I hope you can work with to create a space for them, a space where they can fully utilize their talents, unaffected by political manipulation and red tape."
This conversation between Rossi and Hotchner was confined to the two of them; the young people they were referring to were completely unaware, each lost in their own thoughts.
After completing the case and enjoying a good night's rest in Nevada, the group drove back to Los Angeles. There was still much work to be done; besides a mountain of paperwork, the lengthy trial process could potentially last for years.
It was foreseeable that as the team solved more cases, their daily work would beco increasingly busy.
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