A/N: Hey guys! This is the next instalment of my Smile at Each Other's Welcoming series, the other parts are all listed on my profile if you are interested. It would probably help if you read those before embarking on this fic. This takes place about two weeks after the last scene in Inevitable Destinations, if you want to place it in the timeline. Furthermore, this series is also available on Archive Of Our Own, and I'd recommend reading over there for bonus images, links, and a generally better reading experience. I have finished writing this fic, and will be posting the chapters relatively quickly. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

In which the team gets a new case in Cambridge, MA, a body is found and yet another person goes missing.

The team were all sat in the round table room. Garcia came in with a couple of files, passing one to Reid as everyone else looked at the case files on their tablets.

"Last night, Cambridge Police found an arm and a leg which they believe to belong to missing student Lucy Gable." Garcia clicked a button and pictures of the limbs as well as a photo of the girl appeared on the screen. "Lucy was twenty-two year old and went missing a month ago. There are five other missing persons who vanished under similar circumstances to Lucy." Their pictures appear on the screen. "The disappearances started eight months ago, and the most recent vanished only last week. The case was passed on to the Massachusetts' State Troopers, who have called us in."

"No one put these disappearances together sooner?" JJ asked.

"They'd been tentatively linked," Hotch explained. "Now that we have a confirmed death, the Troopers would like this contained before mass panic spreads to the colleges."

"Do we have a time of death?" Reid said.

"The M.E. is currently attempting to tie that down but preliminary examination at the scene indicates about a week," Garcia replied.

"The real question though," Rossi started, "is where is the rest of her?"

"Wheels up in twenty," Hotch added.

The team all got up, gathered their things and moved to go and get their go-bags, making sure there wasn't anything outstanding on their desks.

Reid neatened up the stack of files, putting what was finished in his outbox and the rest into the drawer. He washed up his mug from his morning cup of coffee, whilst Emily quickly finished off the coffee pot, then went out to the corridor to make a call.

"Spencer?"

"Hey Zack," Reid replied. Zack had obviously seen the caller id. "We've got a case in Cambridge, disarticulated female remains have been found."

"Any idea how-" Zack started rapidly, before reigning himself in. "Do you know how long you'll be gone?" He finished more calmly.

"Not a clue, sorry. There are missing person cases that the locals think might be connected and if they are we've got a trail of bodies to find," Reid answered. JJ came out the BAU bullpen at that moment, clutching her go bag and calling the elevator. "Look after yourself, alright?" he said, as he nodded to JJ.

"Only if you do," Zack replied. "I mean it Spencer, please be careful."

"I always am," Reid said. "I'll call you later."

"Goodbye." Zack reluctantly hung up the phone. There was no guarantee of anything on a BAU case.

-x-

The flight over was relatively short. The case currently was as much as a bafflement to them as it was to the Massachusetts' State Troopers. They couldn't find much consistency within the victimology; four women, two men, five white, one mixed race, ranging in age from 18-30. All were affiliated with colleges in the area, but considering the local demographics, that was hardly unusual.

"Could he have taken the latest victim," Morgan looked down at his tablet to get her name, "Alex Craven, to replace Lucy?"

"It's possible," Rossi agreed.

"Without time of death on any of the other victims it's difficult to tell," Emily said.

"Do we even know if the others are dead?" JJ asked.

"It's unlikely that the unsub would have kept them alive, trying to hide five college aged students in a city as densely populated as Cambridge would have been difficult," Reid suggested. "The state of Lucy's remains indicates he doesn't take any care with his victims."

"Do we know if she was dismembered pre or post mortem?" Emily asked.

Reid looked back at the photos. "It's difficult to tell, the M.E. can probably say definitively, but I'd say post."

"He's not a sadist. Whatever he's doing with his victims, it's something else," Hotch added.

It was decided that Reid and Rossi would go to the M.E., that Morgan and Prentiss would check out the crime scene, and Hotch and JJ would go down to the station, where maybe the locals could shed some light on victimology.

-x-

Reid and Rossi stood in the Medical Examiners office. What little of Lucy Gable's body they had was covered by a white sheet. Reid was flipping through the report whilst Rossi peered under the sheet.

"You've revised the time of death," Reid queried.

"Yes," the medical examiner replied, slightly exasperated. They were obviously not used to FBI agents barging into their lab. "Her body was frozen making it difficult to identify a time of death accurately. My best approximation would be around four weeks ago, but it could be a week either way."

"So she died soon after she was missing," Rossi commented, laying the sheet down over the body again. "There goes the theory about the unsub taking each new victim as a replacement."

"Hmm," Reid agreed, looking at the report again, trying to find something which would help them give a profile. "Why was the original approximation a week?" He asked.

"Her body was unfrozen a week ago. Or these parts were at least."

"Was her body disarticulated before she was frozen?" Rossi asked.

"Impossible to tell," came the reply.

"These are defensive wounds." Reid lifted the sheet and pointed to a bruise which had developed on her arm, as well as a couple of scratches on her fingers. "And ligature marks on both her wrists and ankles. She was restrained."

"She received that bruise approximately twelve hours before she died," the medical examiner added, looking at their notes this time.

"Which means the unsub held her for at least twelve hours before killing her," Rossi said. "Is there a cause of death?"

"Not yet. I'm running toxicology, but not expecting anything. Your guess is as good as mine."

-x-

Morgan and Emily didn't have much more luck at the crime scene. They were met by the Massachusetts' State Trooper who had been assigned to the case, a Detective James Mandridge, as well as the police officers who had discovered the body.

They both ducked under the yellow crime scene tape to look at the scene. There wasn't much going on. The space was open, not ideal to dump a body but perfectly adequate.

Morgan held his tablet, flicking through the photos Garcia had sent earlier. "So you found her over there," Emily said, pointing to the crime-scene markers on the ground.

"Yes," one of the police officers answered.

Morgan and Emily both looked over at the garbage bins which lined the other side of the road, a couple of metres down. Morgan looked back at Emily; they were both wondering the same thing. "Why not the bins?" Morgan asked.

"You have searched them?" Emily asked.

"Of course," the other police officer answered. "Nothing out of the ordinary, no identification, nothing of Lucy Gable's."

"And you're sure it's her?"

"Tattoo on her arm and there was the bracelet her roommate confirmed she was wearing when she went missing," Mandridge said.

"So why?" Morgan asked. "There's no attempt to hide the body. She was easily identifiable even though we only have pieces of her. Why dump her here?"

"There's not much traffic around, but you couldn't guarantee it being quiet," Mandridge said. "Even at that time of night, it would be risky."

"There's no care, no attempt at forensic counter measures," Emily commented. "It's completely out of character for an unsub who has previously managed to hide his disposal sites."

"So what caused a change in his behaviour?" Morgan asked, as he looked around.

-x-

JJ and Hotch set up shop in the local police station. The locals had done an fair job of piecing together evidence boards and had gathered as much information on each of the missing persons as they could.

However, that didn't mean they were getting anywhere. Apart from a preference towards younger victims (but not underage, which would have almost been easier to understand), there wasn't much there. They had Garcia running down frequent haunts, wondering if any of them had crossed paths. If they could find a common location between them it might indicate that the victims were specially chosen, since at the moment they all seemed to be victims of opportunity.

Emily and Morgan were first back, but the little they'd found at the crime scene didn't really add to the profile.

"You guys got anything?" JJ asked as Reid and Rossi walked into the station.

"The victim was frozen after she died," Reid said.

The profilers looked around at each other, while Detective Mandridge looked puzzled. "What's the significance?" he asked.

"Freezing the victims usually indicates a desire to preserve them," Hotch started.

"But given the nature of the disposal site and the state of the remains, it is unlikely that we're looking for an unsub concerned with preserving their beauty or youth," Morgan added.

"We have seen this before though," Reid said as he thought back to an old case. "In Florida, when a cannibal froze his victims to preserve their flesh longer."

"But there aren't any signs of cannibalism on the body," JJ said.

"This is true," Reid replied. "But we barely have half of that body. We have no idea what happened to the rest of her."

"There are five other victims who we have found no trace of either," Rossi added. "The M.E. believes that she was restrained by the unsub for at least twelve hours before she died. But given that her time of death lines up with approximately when she went missing, I don't think she was held for much longer."

"Which means Alex Craven is probably dead," Emily said.

"Privately, I agree," Hotch said. "But I think we should operate on the assumption that she may still be alive, especially to the press."

The profilers all nodded.

-x-

The BAU stopped momentarily to put a coffee pot on, before diving back into victimology. If they could find a connection, it would bring them one step closer to solving the case. And given how well it was going, a break was sorely needed.

Luckily, they were all rewarded with a call from Garcia.

"I've got one thing, which is that Lucy Gable and Victor Morales both frequented the same coffee shop," Garcia said, in her usual chipper tone. Victor had been the third missing person. "But it's fairly popular amongst the student crowd, if it was a hunting ground I think we'd see a lot more missing college students.

"I'm still running down their credit cards, but none of them share classes, friendship groups, anything. The moment I know anything you will, my fine friends."

"Thanks Baby Girl," Morgan said. He moved to hang up on Garcia, but Reid got there first.

"Wait," Reid said. "I think I've got something." He put down the file he was reading and spread the papers across the table. "All of them are the children of single mothers."

"What significance could that possibly have?" Poor Mandridge was very clearly out of his depth.

"Maybe the unsub identifies with them?" JJ suggested.

"Or is righting some perceived wrong in a mother-child relationship?" Prentiss said.

Reid stayed silent, remembering another case where the victims had all been the children of single mothers. He looked up, and found Hotch watching him. "If he's picking them specifically for these qualities, it means the victims aren't as random as we thought," Rossi said, saving Reid from the awkward question. "He could be stalking them."

"They aren't victims of opportunity," Morgan said. "He's picking them specifically, so he must be finding them somewhere."

"We find the link, we find the unsub," Hotch said.

-x-

"Lucy Gable's roommate said she'd recently been referred to the university counselling services," Morgan said, as he came back into the room from an interview. The family and friends of the six missing people had begun descending on the station.

"Ellie Sparks's parents said a similar thing; her mother remembers a prescription coming through on their insurance for anti-depressants. They had no idea that she was in therapy, but it's likely she was," Emily said.

"The first victim, Madeline Agrassi had just finished a stint of therapy, it's in the missing person report file, her friends said she was getting her life back on track," Reid said as he remembered what he had read earlier.

"That's three out of six, should we be looking to see if the others were also seeking help perhaps under the radar?" JJ asked.

"I'll speak to Garcia, see if she can find anything along those lines," Morgan said, and got up to make that call.

Det. Mandridge, who also was sitting round the table, looked up from the file he was reading. "What does them being in therapy have to do with their disappearances?"

"It might explain how the unsub is finding his victims. If they are undergoing counselling they are likely more vulnerable, easier to target," Rossi said.

"We may have another victim." The agents all turned to look at Hotch, who had just entered the room. "Joseph Lewis, a PhD student at Harvard was just reported missing after he missed two teaching classes this morning. His supervisor says this was uncharacteristic behaviour, and his roommate confirmed he hasn't been seen since last night."

"Do we know where he was last seen?" Reid asked.

"The roommate saw him leave their apartment at 10:00, says he was heading to campus. We've yet to confirm if he got there," Hotch replied. "Emily, Rossi, interview the roommate, investigate his room. JJ, with me, we'll go to the campus and talk to the supervisor. Reid, can you start a geographic profile?"

"Of course," was Reid's reply, and he stood up and went to find a map.

"I'll take Detective Mandridge and see if we can find an abduction site between campus and the apartment." Morgan, who was just off the phone with Garcia, signalled to the detective, who quickly got up. Reid was left behind, happy with his sharpie and map, pouring over the geographical data.

-x-

"Professor Denison, can you think of anyone who would want to target Mr. Lewis?" Hotch asked.

The older woman, who looked quite frail behind her desk, shook her head. "No, I can't. Some of our students are very competitive, but Joseph's work was so specialised he didn't have much in the way of competition. I've never had a single complaint about his teaching."

"What about his mental health?" JJ asked, remembering the common link between all the victims they'd found earlier. "Was there any concern there?"

Professor Denison considered this for a moment. "Now that you mention it, I believe he mentioned that he was seeking help for a long standing anxiety problem. It had never affected his work here though, so I didn't pay much attention. We may have a record of it somewhere."

"We'll have someone double check," JJ said. "Did you notice him display any odd behaviour in the last few weeks?"

"Not at all," she said.

"We'll need to take a look at his workplace," Hotch said.

"Of course, it's just down the hall," she replied.

"If you can remember anything else, please don't hesitate to contact us," Hotch said, handing her a card. He and JJ stepped outside.

"That's four out of the seven victims linked," JJ said. "Garcia's still running down the others."

"We still need to see if there is anyone who has links to all the treatment facilities," Hotch said. "Have we confirmed if all of the students were referred to the same facility?"

"No," JJ said. "We don't know where they were referred. We need their medical records opened."

"A judge may grant us just cause; it could help us find Joseph Lewis." JJ nodded as Hotch went to make the call.

-x-

"This is the route he'd most likely have taken?" Morgan looked to the local detective, and then up and down the street.

"Any other way would be longer, and out of his way," Mandridge replied. "The roommate said this was the route that they usually walked to campus together."

Morgan glanced up and down the street. They'd walked the entire way from the apartment where Lewis lived to campus, and there was nowhere obvious to make an abduction. "Even at night, there's not much cover. I imagine quite a lot of students are still on the streets?"

"Everyone walks pretty much everywhere here," was the reply. "It wouldn't be empty."

"So the unsub somehow manages to take our victim without anyone noticing," Morgan said. "Which either means he's socially competent, or is very experienced in it."

Mandridge noticed the doubt in Morgan's voice. "So if he's socially competent he'd be able to lure them off the street with no problem?"

Morgan nodded. "Only that doesn't line up with the defensive wounds found on Lucy Gable. None of the victims engage in high-risk behaviour, which would make them easier to abduct."

"Could Gable just have been a fluke?"

"Perhaps," Morgan admitted. "It's difficult to tell what happened to her given what little we have, and we know nothing about what happened to any of the others."

Morgan spotted an alleyway, just off to the side about twenty metres down the street. He walked towards it, wondering if there was anything there; it was much more covered than the rest of the street. He'd favour it as an unsub.

Mandridge followed him.

"If I waited here, there would be more of an element of surprise," Morgan said. "There's just enough space to park, and you wouldn't notice a car unless you were looking for it."

"Someone would still hear the noise of someone being pushed into a car though," Mandridge replied.

"Students are known for being oblivious," Morgan replied. He walked over, looking at a garbage can located in the alleyway. "Hey Mandridge, help me move this thing will you?"

Mandridge obliged. He wasn't prepared for the horrible squelch sound which followed. He looked down to see what it was. "Oh god."

Morgan grimaced, and pulled out his phone. "Hotch, I think you ought to see this." Mandridge was still in shock.

"I think we might have found one of the earlier victims."