The Profile
The BAU reconvened at the local PD to present the profile, having Garcia send a live feed of the presentation to all of the other Police Departments in the general DC area, after all, the hunting ground was anomalously large.
"These crimes were committed by a team; a pair consisting of two males, a dominant and a submissive, both aged between 18 and 30" began Agent Hotchner
"This would match up with the descriptions of two suspicious males seen around the crime scene, as reported by several local eye witnesses, both to the FBI and to local PDs, such as yourselves" Continued Morgan. "One was tall with black hair, glasses and green eyes, and the other as slightly shorter, with dirty blonde hair, and no glasses"
"Both men were reported to be wearing strange robe-type garments, so it is highly unlikely you would be able to tell if they were armed, should you run into them. It is for this reason, and the nature of the brutal torture and as-of-yet undetermined kill-method that we ask you to exercise extreme caution if you come across anybody matching this description." explained Emily, keeping her voice firm, so as to communicate her message effectively, but not cause panic among the officers.
"Our unsubs, or unidentified subjects, are killing within an unusually large area, taking up large parts of Virginia and Maryland, but it seems as though with each kill they are getting closer to DC. This is both useful and concerning; useful because we can predict the area where they are likely to kill next, but incredibly worrying, as this pattern suggests that DC is their main target, and they likely have an even more sinister plan that they intend to enact once they arrive there." Spencer added, a raised eyebrow from Hotch stopping him from rambling.
"I'll admit I've never seen murders with a COD like these in all my years of profiling, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't tell us something" said Rossi, hopefully. "The fact that they're circling the capital means that the unsubs likely have a vendetta against someone or something there, maybe even against the government or the US itself"
"I have alerted the DC police to be hyper vigilant for the next few weeks, until we have apprehended these men, I have also warned the immediately surrounding areas to do the same, as it is highly likely that this is where they will strike next" finished JJ, attempting to put their company at ease.
"Aha, Neville!" declared Auror Potter Triumphantly. "I think I may have found something at last!"
The two Aurors were back working again, after a three hour power-nap, which quite frankly should not have refreshed them as much as it did, a fact that their respective wives frequently commented upon.
"What?" demanded Neville, rushing over in anticipation (and almost tripping over in the process).
"It's not one person, it's two!" At his friend's incredulous look, Harry continued, "It's the hesitation you pointed out that led me to it, the person that actually killed them wasn't a dark wizard, not yet anyway. He was either being coerced, or encouraged, by another person.
"But why couldn't the other person do it themself if they wanted it so badly?" Neville queried, quite reasonably.
"I don't know" admitted Harry "Presumably they couldn't for some reason, because they were expelled or prosecuted at some point, and had their wand snapped, or… or.. Neville, is it just me, or did you get a sense that rage was what drove the murders, instead of a message about blood supremacy?"
"Well, yes, but I thought we had already established that it wasn't for a political cause?"
"We did, but.. Hear me out; what if jealousy fuelled the rage? Like he was jealous of muggle-borns having magic, like he was jealous of something he didn't have? What if, oh I think this is it, it all makes sense, take that Snape, I'm not a complete dunderhead!"
"Harry, focus"
"Sorry, you know I just want to stop the killings, but just think, Neville, it would make everything fit. What if the instigator had to find a pawn to actually "do the deeds" because he physically cannot? We both know that there are back-alley wand shops that sell to ex-cons. It would be easy enough for a criminal to do it themselves, but if you go back to the very basics, what is the one thing you absolutely, non-negotiably need to have in order to cast the killing curse?"
"Magic" Neville sighed, finally cottoning on to what his under-rested and subsequently hyper colleague was getting at, "So, you think the person behind this is a muggle?"
"Yes! Maybe? No, they wouldn't know of magic, and if they were related to a witch or wizard and that made them jealous, they would likely use a muggle weapon to harm them. Neville, I think it's a Squib"
"Oh!" Neville breathed, his eyes lighting up with vigour as, at long last, he realised they were making progress. "That would make sense, it's why the muggle-borns were tortured! He believes that they stole his magic. That narrows it down too, he must be from an all-magic family".
And with that, the two young Aurors immediately flood to MACUSA Auror Headquarters, to tell them of their theory, and retrieve a list of every witch known to have birthed a squib in the last 40 years. This gave them a list of 13 women, 7 with sons, and 6 with daughters. After a short deliberation, they both agreed that a woman was unlikely to be this brutal, so they disregarded the daughters. That left 7 people, and their mysterious second killer.
Back at Quantico, the team sat around the round table, trying to decide what on earth to do next. Yes, they had detailed descriptions of two people who clearly at least knew something about the situation, and were quite possibly behind it, but that didn't seem to be making it any easier to find them. Even with the odd dress sense, nobody appeared to have noticed them anywhere aside from the crime scenes themselves, it truly seemed as if they had vanished. Garcia had even looked at the available camera footage from around the crime scenes, but got nothing. The team were excited to find that there was a camera facing the Slimm house, only to become even more confused when the feed showed nothing other than static from about 30 minutes before the local cops showed up, to when the BAU returned to their cars after chasing the suspects. It made absolutely no sense. Garcia nearly cried at this point, stating that she wasn't even sure how the unsub could have confused the cameras so greatly, without actually turning them off.
"I think we'll have to add that one, if not both of them, is incredibly skilled with computers," stated Hotch.
"They must be, if even Garcia couldn't work out how they had done it" added Morgan.
JJ ran back into the room, having just stepped out to take a phone call,
"Guys, two people matching the description of our suspects have been seen entering a house on Crescent Street, Fort Belvoir"
"That's about 40 minutes away, let's go" commanded Hotch. "It's 21:08, they could be with their next victims".