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“-and then she said ‘Damn, I almost wish I was marrying you, you’re way hotter than my fiancé’,” said Morgan, pitching up his voice just slightly.
“Oh, I call bullshit! She did not say that!” said Elle emphatically.
“It’s the honest-to-God truth, I swear,” said Morgan with humor in his voice.
Spencer, Elle, and Morgan were huddled around the coffee machine in the breakroom. Spencer was stirring spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee as Morgan took the opportunity to regale Elle and her (mostly Elle, to be honest) with his adventures from his last weekend clubbing, which included some pretty dirty dancing with this woman on her bachelorette party, if Morgan was to be believed anyway.
“So then alarm sirens went off in your mind at the mention of commitment and you bolted, right?” said Elle, smirking.
“That did not happen,” said Morgan. “I don’t know why you’re taking shots at me like this. Are you hearing this, Reid?”
With Morgan and Elle now looking at her, Spencer paused and pondered her reply. At last, she said, “I have been listening to all of this, but honestly, I’m still trying to figure out what about this particular story made you think it would go over well with Elle and I.”
Elle laughed as Morgan looked at her like he felt betrayed. “You too, Pretty Girl? Aren’t you usually a goodie-two-shoes?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” said Spencer. “If you wanted sugary sweet, you should have been talking to Garcia.”
“Why are the only other guys in the department the bosses?” Morgan muttered as Elle and Spencer giggled.
There was a knock on the side of the wall, and they looked up to see Garcia leaning in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt, beautiful people, but JJ’s got a case to present.”
“Thanks, Babygirl,” said Morgan.
“Of course, my sweet,” said Garcia before turning away.
“Are you going to take your coffee?” Elle asked, looking down at her half-drank cup.
“They can pry this mug from my cold dead hands,” said Spencer matter-of-factly.
Morgan gave her a surprised look. “Damn, Pretty Girl, did you not sleep last night or something?”
Spencer shrugged, not really wanting to answer the question, and Morgan muttered something about coffee addicts as the three of them left the breakroom - with their coffees - and went up the stairs to the conference room.
They were the last ones in, as Hotch entered the room just before them, Gideon and Garcia were already sitting at the table, and JJ was already standing at the front with the projector turned on.
As they sat around the table, JJ began by saying, “Good news is, you won’t have to fly, but you’ll still likely be staying overnight as this case is in Richmond.”
“Hopefully it’s a short one and we won’t,” said Elle. Morgan nodded in agreement from next to her.
“Four women are dead over the course of four weeks, all killed in the same way,” said JJ, pulling up pictures of the women’s faces and of the bodies. “The first is Holly Danvers, 27. She was last seen at a bar with friends for her bachelorette party, and was found the next morning left at the front door of the bar. Next we have Christine Hodges, 24, who was found in front of a bridal shop. The third victim was Katya Danilova, 30, who was found in her car outside of a formal restaurant. And then two days ago, they found the body of Mikayla Veneto, 28, at the front door of a bakery, which happens to do wedding cakes along with their other products.”
“Somebody has a thing for blondes,” said Morgan.
“There seems to be a few connections to weddings and marriage,” said Elle.
“They were all also engaged to be married and their wedding dates were within a month of their deaths,” JJ added.
“Surrogates for a woman who refused a proposal or left him at the altar,” Gideon guessed. “Why do they need us?”
“They don’t know who he is or how he picks his targets,” said JJ. “If he just went after blonde women he saw on the street wearing rings, in all likelihood, there would be married women and students with high school or college rings also dead, but he’s specifically targeted engaged women.”
“So he’s organized enough to have a specific victim type,” said Morgan.
“If the UNSUB keeps up with his current pace, there will be another dead woman within days,” said Spencer.
“Which is why the Captain of Richmond PD wants our team there now, so hopefully the team can catch this guy before there’s another body,” said JJ.
“Alright, we’ll be taking two SUVs,” said Hotch. “Gideon, I’d like you to take one SUV and take Morgan and Greenaway with you and drive straight to the last crime scene, see what you can figure out there. I’ll take the other SUV with the rest of us. JJ, you’ll get us set up at the station, I’ll talk to the Captain, and then Reid, you and I will go down to the morgue to see what they can tell us about the bodies.”
Spencer nodded, not surprised by this assignment.
“Garcia, I’d like you to come with us,” Hotch added.
“Sir?” said Garcia in surprise.
“This is a semi-local case and I suspect that your research skills will be helpful to have as immediately accessible as possible.” Hotch softened a little as he continued, “This UNSUB is unlikely to go anywhere near the station, and you do not fit the victimology. You’ll be perfectly safe at the precinct.”
Garcia nodded, straightening up. “Anything you need from me, sir!”
Nodding back, Hotch stood up from the table. “Wheel up - wheels out in 30,” said Hotch, correcting himself with a wry smile.
The rest of the team members also stood up, and they all filed out of the room. They gathered their things, and the three coffee mugs were out in the sink to be washed later, and they all made their way out to the garage. Spencer waved at Gideon, Morgan, and Elle as they got into their own SUV and drove off. JJ beat Spencer to shotgun, so Spencer helped Garcia load all of her bags into the trunk before climbing into the backseat with her. And then Hotch drove off after them.
Hotch, Garcia, and JJ were talking, but Spencer wasn’t listening to what they were saying. She was staring out the window without truly seeing. Her hand had crept up to her throat and collarbone area, fingering the chain that held a ring that probably looked similar to the ones that the victims were wearing. Perhaps if things had been different for Spencer, she’d still be wearing it, or perhaps a different ring.
She remembered when Ethan had asked her. It was three years ago. He had always been one for big gestures, dramatics and pizazz and showmanship. So, of course, it was more public than Spencer would have chosen or requested, had they talked about getting engaged or had she seen it coming. But Spencer had had no idea that Ethan had been serious enough to consider marriage. She had been sure he loved her, but hadn’t thought he had been ready to make a commitment.
They’d been out with friends. It was one of those restaurants that had a piano on the patio, and as soon as they’d gotten a table on the patio, their friends had started ribbing Ethan about always being drawn in by a piano. Spencer had gleefully joined in, citing statistics about how often they went somewhere because there was a piano or how often he got distracted by a piano. In hindsight, Spencer always wondered how many of them knew it was coming. At the very least, Ethan had talked to Jarred and told him something, because he’d had a camera and filmed the whole thing.
Right after they’d both finished eating, Ethan had dragged her over to the piano. “Come on, sit with me, I’ll play you something,” he’d begged.
“I can hear you from the table,” said Spencer. She’d been having an excellent conversation with Miguel about the computer animation techniques in the films they’d rented for the group’s last movie night.
“Come on, Spencey, we’ll look so cute up there,” Ethan insisted, and because she loved him, she let him drag her off to share the bench with him.
He made a show of it, playing and singing a mix of songs from the jazz repertoire that he had and some of the modern love songs he would sing along with to the radio when they were driving in the car, stuff that came out while they were in college, in the 90’s up until last year, in 2000.
And then after another song, he stood up from the bench. “Dr. Spencer Wendy Reid, you are the one true love of my life.”
But she hadn’t seen the proposal coming, so she’d said, “You know you don’t need to serenade me for me to know that.”
“But you deserve it, every day. I should be shouting it from the rooftops everyday about how I love you, because I am so lucky to love you, and I am the luckiest person in the world to have your love,” said Ethan.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I think our neighbors would have a problem with that,” Spencer quipped.
Ethan snickered, but it was short-lived, as he looked at her with round, open eyes. “I’m surprised you haven’t guessed yet. Spencer, I want to spend the rest of my life laughing with you and doing things for you so you know how much I love you.”
Spencer’s brain ground to a halt as Ethan knelt in front of her. “Like a river flows, surely to the sea. Darling, so it goes - some things are meant to be. Take my hand, take my whole life too,” Ethan sang quietly and sweetly as he pulled out a small velvet box with a ring inside with a shockingly large gem. Then he spoke. “Spencer, I thought I was everything and I had everything. And then I met you, and you were a more brilliant star than I was ever going to be and everyone knew it, including me. There is no one else like you in this whole world. Our friendship was a gift, but it was only when I had you as my lover that I really had everything. Because you are my everything. But recently, I realized that I don’t really have everything yet, because I don’t have you as my wife. Spencer, it was fate that we met, and it was fate that I fell in love with you, and you with me. I believe that it’s fate that we share a life together. So, Dr. Spencer Wendy Reid, will you marry me?”
Spencer had gone silent with surprise. So many responses had appeared in her brain, but they faded like morning mist almost immediately.
Jarred, who apparently was filming the whole thing, said loudly with shock, “I can’t believe it, are we witnessing the one and only time someone has managed to make the great Spencer Reid speechless?”
Their friends laughed, which spread to the others on the patio, and eventually Spencer and Ethan. Spencer’s face was red with a blush as she giggled. But as the giggles faded, Ethan looked more expectant and nervous.
Spencer cleared her throat. “Dr. Ethan Stewart… yes, I will be your wife.”
Ethan grinned, and surged up to kiss her as people around them applauded and their friends wolf-whistled. Then he slid the ring on her finger. “I can’t wait for our life together,” he said.
Four months later, he’d disappeared from her life with everything he owned without even a note.
-
They arrived at the Richmond Police Department precinct that had called them in at around 2:30 PM. They jumped out of the SUV and helped Garcia unpack her technology, before all four of them walked into the precinct, the women following after Hotch.
Fortunately, Hotch located the captain fairly quickly. He appeared to be in his fifties, with a full head of white hair and a surprisingly strong musculature for a captain. “Sir? I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner from the BAU.”
The man shook Hotch’s hand. “Captain George Edwards of the 54th precinct. Thanks for coming so quickly and bringing your team, Agent Hotchner.”
Hotch nodded. “SSAs Gideon, Morgan, and Greenaway are meeting with Detective Norris at the newest crime scene. This is another agent, Dr. Spencer Reid, and this is our Media Liaison, Jennifer Jareau, and our Technical Analyst, Penelope Garcia. Do you have a place where we can set up?”
“Yeah, this way,” said Captain Edwards. “We cleared out a conference room for you.”
“We appreciate it, Captain,” said Hotch as the four BAU agents
“You all can set up in here,” said Captain Edwards as he held open the door.
As they proceeded inside the room and started setting things down, Hotch asked, “Are copies of all of the information you have so far available?”
“Yes, I’ll make sure they’re delivered here,” said Captain Edwards.
Hotch turned to his other three agents. “Garcia, get set up in here. JJ, help her to the best of your ability and if we don’t have something we need, fetch it please.” Hotch then turned to Captain Edwards. “I’d like to take Dr. Reid and go see the bodies. Is your Coroner or Medical Examiner in today?”
“Yes, I expected that would likely be on your agenda,” said Captain Edwards, before he directed them to the morgue.
-
Gideon, Morgan, and Elle had arrived at the precinct and were in the conference room when Hotch and Spencer returned from the morgue. “Did you find anything at the crime scene?” Hotch asked as the two of them entered the room.
“She was found a few days ago, so there wasn’t much left of it when we arrived,” said Gideon.
“The bakery is located on a busy street with a lot of other businesses nearby, mostly shops and restaurants. Plus, the bakery’s employees arrive much earlier than the actual opening of the store in order to bake before customers arrive. It’s a risky place to dump a body. The UNSUB has to either be confident in his ability to not be noticed or he had to leave Mikayla Veneto’s body there because of some sort of advantage, maybe when he knew no one would be there,” said Morgan.
“Something has to make it worth the risk,” said Elle. “Maybe the bakery is meaningful to either the UNSUB or Mikayla, or maybe he wanted to send a message to someone or simply scare the bakery employees.”
“Our UNSUB’s certainly a risk taker, he’s left all of the victims in public places, not just Mikayla Veneto,” said Gideon. “What did you and Reid find at the morgue?”
“All of the victims had several stab wounds, but died of a gunshot wound to the heart, and none of their faces or hair were damaged,” said Spencer, speaking up in place of Hotch. “The gunshot would have been the last wound, so it seems as though the UNSUB wants them to feel pain, but he also wants them to die quickly, and he doesn’t seem to have an interest in disfiguring them.”
“How many stab wounds did each of them have?” Gideon asked.
“The first victim, Holly Danvers, only had six stab wounds, which was much less than everyone else. His second victim, Christine Hodges, had eleven stab wounds, and then Katya Danilova had eighteen stab wounds and Mikayla Veneto had seventeen stab wounds. He’s not exact, but they have increased in the first three victims,” said Spencer.
“So Holly was his first victim, and likely his first kill ever,” said Morgan. “He probably wanted to kill her relatively quickly, might not have planned how he would kill her, she may have even been an opportunity kill before he refined his victimology. Then he kills Christine Hodges, and he’s a little more confident, and he stabs her a little more, maybe because he didn’t get the same satisfaction when he got to six. And then the same thing happens with Katya Danilova. But whatever happened with Katya Danilova made him satisfied with his technique, so he repeated it with Mikayla Veneto without escalating.”
“If he wants them to feel pain, then he doesn’t kill them quickly to be merciful,” said Elle. “Maybe he gets tired of stabbing and watching them isn’t as satisfying, or he’s worried about them escaping or calling for help. Or maybe he feels as though he’s on a time crunch.”
“All of the victims were found the morning after they disappeared, and they all were last seen at night, so he doesn’t keep them for very long. He kills them and then dumps them in a matter of hours,” said Hotch. “This speed might be a forensic countermeasure, which would make sense as to why they die quickly even though he wants them to feel pain. Several stab wounds for maximum pain and a bullet wound to the heart specifically is a quick and guaranteed death, especially given that all four women had hours to bleed out before they were found. He’s efficient while also satisfying his need.”
“Satisfying his need for what?” said Detective Norris, a blond man in his 30s with striking green eyes, who had been sitting in the room listening at least since Spencer and Hotch had arrived, along with Captain Edwards.
Spencer turned to him. “Well, serial killers who stab people, in particular women, most of the time are profiled as sexual sadists, meaning they find pleasure and even sexual release in stabbing people, often to death, especially when their victims are women, because stabbing is penetrative and personal. This UNSUB - unknown subject - specifically targets blonde women, probably blonde women that he’s attracted to, so it’s very likely that he’s a sexual sadist. He probably didn’t realize it was satisfying until he killed Holly Danvers, though, which might be part of why he escalated, chasing that pleasure. The need could also be simply his need to kill - he’s got a reason for doing this. It’s probably not a sane reason and it’s absolutely not a justifiable reason, but there’s some sort of need he has that killing satisfies. Since all of the women he’s killed so far have been engaged women, one of the possible theories so far is that he’s doing this out of revenge and he may have had a blonde fiancée or been rejected by a blonde woman.”
Detective Norris looked at her in surprise. “I’m surprised you can talk about this so casually.”
Spencer shrugged. “I’ve been an agent for a few years now, Detective. As far as killing methods go, the UNSUB here isn’t exactly creative or original. This is pretty standard stuff.”
“So you’ve got a theory that this… UNSUB is killing these women because he lost his fiancée?” said Captain Edwards.
“It’s the most compelling theory we have so far, given that he kills specifically engaged women in a certain age range that have a certain appearance, and especially if we consider that his M.O. suggests that he’s a sexual sadist, it’s plausible that he’s killing women who resemble his ex-fiancée,” Gideon explained.
“But it is just a theory, and if more evidence points in a different direction, we’ll explore that lead as well,” said Hotch. “As of now, we’ve been learning about his behaviors and his victims, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about our UNSUB.”
“I know y’all haven’t been out here that long, but what can we determine?” Detective Norris asked.
“His killing methods mark him as a sexual sadist, and he pretty much has to be a man given he’s strong enough to overpower women in their prime and stab them as many times as he does,” Gideon began. “He’s also fast, efficient, and hunts and kills at night, as Hotch said.”
“If these women are surrogates for someone that rejected him or left him at the altar and that event is the trigger, then it’s likely that our UNSUB is around the same age as his victims,” said Morgan.
“Trigger?” Captain Edwards repeated.
“The thing that made him decide to start killing,” said Elle.
“So an able-bodied man in his mid 20s to 30s who’s active at night,” said Detective Norris.
“That doesn’t narrow down a lot,” said Captain Edwards.
“The two major obstacles that we have right now is that the crime scenes are so public that they’ve been cleaned up before we can get much off of them, and so far we haven’t found any clues or mistakes that might point us towards his identity,” said Hotch. “This tells us that he’s likely either very smart and methodological with his kills, or maybe he’s killed before, but that doesn’t line up with the way he’s escalated or the hesitation we saw with Holly Danvers.”
“Well, you can go see Katya Danilova’s car if you want,” Detective Norris said, shrugging.
The whole team turned to look at him. “What?”
“We had to move the car out of the lot because the restaurant was still operating as a business, but we’re keeping it as evidence out back if you want to take a look at it for yourselves,” said Captain Edwards.
The team exchanged a look. “Yes, we do,” said Hotch. “Garcia, JJ, Reid, you three stay here. I want you to go through all of the case files from the department, see if you can find anything that might help narrow the profile. The rest of us are going to go take a look at the car.”
Captain Edwards and Detective Norris both stood up. “We have duties to attend to, but Detective Yang is here, and she’s the one who investigated the Danilova crime scene, so I’ll have her show you where the car is.” Captain Edwards turned to the three women still sitting. “Agents, if you need anything or have questions, feel free to ask around. Our serial killer might not be particularly creative as you put it, Dr. Reid, but he’s terrorizing my city and ending women’s lives and ruining the lives of their fiancés and loved ones, and I want him caught as fast as possible.”
“Thank you, Captain Edwards, we’ll do our best,” said JJ.
“Thank you all, again, for coming,” said Captain Edwards, before he and Detective Norris stepped out of the room. “Detective Yang! Can you show these FBI agents Danilova’s car?”
Detective Yang nodded, her long black braid bouncing with the motion. “Will do, Captain.”
Hotch nodded at his team and they split up.
-
“Spencer,” said someone insistently, shaking her shoulder.
Spencer blinked her eyes open. Gideon was squatting in front of her. Embarrassingly, Spencer realized that she had fallen asleep on the floor curled up in a ball, surrounded by the files she’d been going over.
“Oh, Gideon, you’re back,” said Spencer, rolling upwards to sit on the floor. “Shit, did I fall asleep?”
“Only a little, thirty minutes maybe,” said Garcia. “It was very cute.”
“Ugh, this is embarrassing,” said Spencer, putting her head in her hands.
“What are you doing on the floor?” Morgan asked, clearly trying to hide his laughter but amusement danced in his eyes.
“I couldn’t spread out the way I wanted to on the conference room table, not with JJ and Garcia there,” Spencer muttered.
“Oh yeah, you looked really spread out down there,” Morgan teased.
“People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t be throwing stones at other people’s windows,” said Elle, coming to Spencer’s defense. “After all, last case, in New York-”
“Everyone, sit down and refocus,” Hotch ordered.
They gathered at the table, serious again.
Hotch began by laying out what they’d found at the car, which wasn’t much. He’d had to have broken into the car, so he probably did that when Danilova returned to the restaurant, and threatened her into driving somewhere where he could murder her without witnesses. Then he’d waited until after the restaurant was empty to drive the car back to the restaurant. Or, he’d threatened her into driving around, maybe acted like he’d let her go if she did what he’d told, wasting time until he finally directed her to drive back to the restaurant where he’d killed her. He didn’t leave any fingerprints or his murder weapons so he’d probably worn gloves and was organized. They hadn’t found hair, but apparently a crime scene tech team was still working on the car and it was possible they’d find one. It was also possible he’d worn a mask, toque, or skull cap to prevent losing a strand of hair in the car. There just wasn’t much new information, and additionally, Katya Danilova’s murder was a bit of a fluke in and of itself given that it was much different than the other three murders.
“JJ, Garcia, Reid, what can you tell us?” Hotch asked.
“Other than appearance and being engaged, so far I can’t find anything that connects the victims,” said Garcia.
“But that’s normal for most of our cases, the victims might live in the same city, but didn’t necessarily know each other,” Spencer chimed in.
“All of the victims seemed like nice people, upstanding citizens, healthy, happy to be engaged,” said JJ.
“I read through the case reports looking for behaviors in passerby and other people involved that might be key, like someone inserting themselves into the investigation, or going to the crime scenes, people avoiding talking to the police or showing signs of lying or guilt, but nothing panned out,” said Spencer.
They debated more on the case, even ordering in food for dinner, going over the various information, but unfortunately, the more they talked, the clearer it became that they were just talking in circles and debating things they couldn’t necessarily prove.
“It’s late,” said Hotch. “Tomorrow, we’ll focus on the people and places involved. We’ll be up early and hit the ground running, trying to get as much done as possible. But we’re done for tonight. Let’s get to the hotel.”
The team all nodded, none of them willing to disagree with the idea of sleep. Hotch went to let Captain Edwards know they’d be back in the morning but to call them immediately if there was another body, while the rest of the team packed up what they’d need to take to the hotel. Then, they filtered back out to the SUVs. Hotch, Gideon, and Elle climbed into one while Morgan, Spencer, Garcia, and JJ climbed into the other. Soon, they were off.
Garcia, who was in shotgun, turned on the radio almost immediately, so the car wasn’t very quiet as Morgan drove them to the hotel. But, there wasn’t much conversation either, not at first, anyway.
“The department seems pretty cooperative,” said JJ, the first to speak.
“They always should be, they call you in! I don’t know why you guys end up having to be surprised when they treat you well!” said Garcia.
“Four dead in four weeks is a pretty active serial killer, and we’ll be likely to have another body on our hands later this week if we don’t catch him within a few days. They seem eager to catch this guy and I don’t blame them,” said Morgan.
“It’s probably economic as well,” said Spencer. “People might be nervous visiting the local businesses, since the bodies are being left in front of them, so it wouldn’t surprise me if businesses are hurting, especially those four. Plus, the wedding industry is a million dollar industry in the US and a billion dollar industry worldwide, the businesses attached to these weddings that are no longer happening have lost a lot of money, potentially the families of the victims as well.”
It was silent except for the music in the car for a moment as the others took that in.
“Wow. That was - that was a bleak view of weddings, Spencer,” said JJ.
“Never knew many happy marriages until Hotch and Haley,” said Spencer, before she continued, “Weddings are probably fun, I guess, but the wedding industry charges way too much for basically a party that celebrates a marriage that might not even last. Approximately half of all marriages will end in divorce and last year in 2004 there were approximately 879,000 divorces, although it’s probably higher because not every state was included in that data.”
Garcia gasped. “That’s so unromantic!”
“And Greenaway mocks me for being anti-commitment,” Morgan muttered. “I see the economic point, though. The city won’t want their people being afraid to go out in public or support local businesses.”
“Well, I definitely started seeing the appeal of eloping after I saw the prices of some of the things my cousin was paying for when she got married,” said JJ.
“I suppose eloping is romantic too,” Garcia conceded. “What about you Reid, would you elope rather than have a wedding?”
Spencer remembered she and Ethan had considered it, at one point quite seriously, but eventually Ethan had decided they better not, claiming to fear his mother’s wrath. Spencer had always suspected it was more that he wanted a wedding because he liked being the center of attention.
“Most likely, but I don’t think I’m the marrying type,” said Spencer at last.
“Oh, come on Girl Wonder! Someday you’re gonna meet your genius soul mate and get married and have cute little genius babies,” said Garcia.
“Hey, hey, or she can choose not to and that’s a very valid choice, it’s her life,” said Morgan.
“Spence is 24, still pretty young, she’s got plenty of time to figure out what she wants,” said JJ.
“And she’s still sitting right here,” said Spencer, a bit annoyed.
“You’re right, we’re sorry,” said JJ.
She then turned the topic away from marriage completely, and they spent the rest of the drive to the hotel debating the merits of cases like these where they didn’t have to fly out but they still couldn’t go home and joking around about how good or bad the hotel was going to be.
Hotch, Gideon, and Elle had arrived at the hotel first, so they were waiting for the other four when they arrived. Hotch had already checked them into the hotel and had keys at the ready when the group reunited.
“There’s two queens in each room,” said Hotch. “Morgan, here. You lucked out on the room to yourself,” he began, handing Morgan a key.
“Nice,” said Morgan, accepting his key with a smirk.
“Gideon is with me. The reservation has Reid with JJ and Greenaway with Garcia,” Hotch finished, passing keys to the four women.
“It’s a sleepover!” Garcia said, grinning and nudging Elle.
Not wanting to linger, they all headed up to their rooms.
JJ smiled wryly as she closed the door, leaving her and Spencer alone in their hotel room. “I’m kind of glad I didn’t get roomed with Penelope,” JJ admitted. “Not that there’s anything wrong with rooming with Penelope. It’s just that - I know I’m not a perfect fit for the victimology, but I like the idea of being in the same room as someone who wields a gun.”
Spencer snorted. “I think you’d have probably been better off with Elle.”
“Elle is skilled, but I know you could keep me safe too,” said JJ.
“Well, you don’t have anything to worry about,” said Spencer.
JJ nodded. “I know.”
They set to preparing for bed. Spencer washed her face, brushed her teeth, changed into her pajamas, and stuck her plugin nightlight into the wall closest to her, because she’d be able to see it but it was less likely to bother JJ. She knew some of her teammates weren’t fans of sharing a room with Spencer because of her fear of the dark and the way she combated that by having a light on somewhere. Without many more words shared, they both went to bed.
Spencer wished she had fallen asleep almost immediately like JJ had, but she was frustratingly still awake, thinking about Ethan. It was frustrating, thinking about Ethan. Depressing, too. The thing about Ethan and the way everything had ended was that it always left her asking questions she didn’t have the answers to, and probably never would. How long were they engaged before he decided he didn’t love her, or he didn’t love her enough to stay with her? Did the difference matter? Had he listened to her excitement about the first day of the Academy and known then that he wasn’t going to be joining her, or did he make that decision at the last minute when they woke up in the morning? Why the deception? Why didn’t he leave a note? Why did he disconnect his phone number? Did he really care so little or resent her so much that he wanted to run away from her too? Or did he just not consider that he should leave her some sort of explanation? But really, the worst part was that she could go days and weeks and months without thinking about it, and sometimes even thought she could be over Ethan and what he did, but then something would come up, like a case with engagements and marriage right at the center of it like this case, and then she’d be right back here, silently sobbing into her pillowcase to sleep because she didn’t want to wake JJ.
-
A knock on the door woke them. “Let’s get up and going,” Spencer and JJ heard Hotch say loud enough for them to hear.
Spencer and JJ got out of bed, Spencer a lot more sluggish and grumpy than JJ, who was somehow a morning person, and they took turns freshening up in the bathroom and getting dressed and geared for the day.
They met the rest of the team downstairs. Gideon was as calm and stone-faced as ever, though he gave Spencer a nod in greeting. Hotch was attempting patience but they could see the way the impatience crept in the cracks. Morgan, Garcia, and Elle were far closer to Spencer’s attitude towards the morning than JJ’s.
When the whole team was gathered, they split up into the SUVs again and rolled out. However, Hotch did allow them to pick up coffee and breakfast through a drive-through on their way to the precinct. It was clear that he meant what he said that night though, that he wanted them to hit the ground running today.
They arrived at the precinct and headed straight for their conference room. Luckily, nothing in the conference room had been disturbed, although there was no new information on their case. They reviewed what they knew again while they took the time to actually eat their breakfast.
“JJ, Gideon, and I will be talking to the fiancés, families, and friends of the victims,” said Hotch. “Morgan and Greenaway, I want you to go to all of the crime scenes and see if you can find anything suspicious or anything that might be a clue as to how our UNSUB found his victims or who he is. Garcia, I want you to find out everything you can about the victims, see if there’s anything they have in common or any places in common. And Reid, start on a geographical profile. Include where the victims lived as well as where they were last seen and where their bodies were found. Get any of this information that’s not in the files from Garcia if you need to. It’s unlikely that it will inform us where the UNSUB lives, but we may be able to find out where he hunts.”
A chorus of “yes sir”s went around the group, and they split up.
-
Several hours passed as they all worked on their separate tasks. Spencer had actually been spooked when a young rookie cop showed up in the conference room, having been tasked by the captain with bringing her lunch from the diner across the street. A grilled cheese sandwich and fries wasn’t the healthiest meal, but it wasn’t too messy and it was still hot and it was free, so Spencer smiled and thanked the rookie gratefully and ate her free lunch without complaint. But several hours passed like this, the team split up on different tasks.
It was late afternoon when JJ, Hotch, and Gideon entered the conference room after all of the interviews, and only a few minutes later, Morgan and Elle returned from their mini-road trip around Richmond.
“How did it go with the interviews?” Elle asked.
“None of the victims knew each other or appeared to have anything in common,” said JJ.
“Holly Danvers’ fiancé was the only fiancé that would make sense to be the killer, if he’d killed Holly and then continued killing because it didn’t satisfy his rage, but he didn’t do it,” said Gideon. “All of the fiancés were far too distraught, and didn’t know anyone who could have been the killer.”
“Most of them had alibis anyway,” said Hotch. “The families couldn’t think of anyone either. Morgan, Greenaway, what did you get from the crime scenes?”
“Katya Danilova was the only one who could have actually been killed at the disposal site, but all four women had been recently seen at the locations they were found at,” said Morgan. “And it was all in connection to their wedding. We already knew Holly Danvers was at the bar for her bachelorette party, but Christine Hodges had visited the bridal shop earlier that day for a final fitting of her wedding dress and to arrange pick-up of all of her bridal party’s dresses. Katya Danilova had eaten at that restaurant to start off her bachelorette party, and had returned later that night because she’d left a jacket there at dinner. And Mikayla Veneto was finalizing the delivery time of her wedding cake at the bakery that afternoon.”
“The bar where Holly Danvers was found was the only business that had security cameras,” said Elle. “They did pick up Holly Danvers’ body being dropped, at about 3:30 AM, which was an hour and a half after the bar closed and an hour after the employees left for the night. But the UNSUB was able to stand in just the right spot that he was mostly obscured. None of the employees we spoke to saw anyone weird or suspicious. Mikayla Veneto was already outside the bakery when the opening shift arrived to start baking at 4:00 AM. The bridal shop closed at 10:00 PM, the closing shift left at 10:30 PM, and Christine Hodges’ body was discovered when the opening shift arrived at 7:00 AM the next morning. Katya Danilova’s car was not there when the closing shift at the restaurant left at midnight.”
“The car wasn’t there?” Gideon repeated.
“No, it wasn’t,” said Morgan. “But she had to have been killed in her car, we saw the crime scene photos and the car itself yesterday, and there are droplets of blood around the space. We’ve got an UNSUB who’s very functional early in the morning and is familiar with the area, because he dumps the bodies in the wee hours of the morning where there’s unlikely to be a lot of people around and no one at the businesses to stop him or alert the authorities.”
“Garcia, have you found any connections between the victims?” Hotch asked.
“I’m not finished, these women had a lot of presence, but everything so far indicates that they didn’t know each other, like the interviews. None of them even went to the same high school,” said Garcia.
“Keep looking, and let us know as soon as you find something,” said Hotch. “Reid, what did you get from the geographical profile?” Hotch asked.
“All of the victims lived and spent time within the area of the 54th precinct,” said Spencer. “Only Christine Hodges worked in the area, the others were employed elsewhere in Richmond, but they knew the community and considered it familiar and safe territory. Likely, so does the UNSUB. With exception of the bridal shop, the businesses were popular local businesses that serve a varied clientele and it’s probable that the UNSUB has visited those businesses before, as a customer. The employees wouldn’t have noticed anyone unusual because he’s not a newcomer or a stranger, he’s a familiar face, even if he might not necessarily be a regular.”
“All of these locations meant something to the victims, and furthermore were specifically tied to their weddings. This can’t be a coincidence, this has to be about engagement or marriage, maybe the one he didn’t get to have,” said Elle.
“Jealousy and rage,” said Spencer. “He was engaged, she was his fiancée, they were supposed to get married and belong to each other, have a life. But then it ended, and it still leaves him angry. At the situation and at her. And then he sees these young blonde engaged women, who looked so happy and excited to be engaged and getting married, and it sends him into a rage. His ex-fiancée hurt him, so he wants these women who look so much like her that hurt like he does. But he’s still hurting, and once they’re dead they aren’t hurting anymore, so he needs to keep killing. For whatever reason, he can’t punish the woman he’s really mad at so he’s punishing these other women who are having what he can’t have, because they look like his ex-fiancée.”
The others were looking at her. She dropped eye contact, staring at her geographical profile.
“I think Reid’s onto something,” said Gideon at last. “A lot of men are possessive or protective over their romantic partners, especially if they’re fiancées or wives as opposed to girlfriends. Feeling like his ex-fiancée betrayed him would easily lead to rage.”
“You know, we might not know of a man like that, but I bet someone in Richmond does,” said JJ.
Hotch looked consideringly at JJ, then he nodded.
“I think it’s time to deliver the profile.”
-
The team (minus Garcia) was gathered in the front of the room, all in a straight horizontal line. They were facing LEOs and journalists, all waiting to hear the profile, some with notepads and pens or recording devices out, ready to take notes.
“We’re looking for a white male in his mid-twenties to thirties,” Hotch said, beginning the profile.
“The UNSUB likely had a relatively normal childhood and may seem typical, but with two exceptions: he likely had possessive or protective relationships with women in his youth, perhaps a single mother or a younger sister he was protective over, and behind a calm facade he is very angry, even raging,” said Gideon.
“We believe this man was engaged and about to be married when either his fiancée ended the relationship before the wedding or left him at the altar,” Morgan continued. “We believe this would have happened recently and he was deeply hurt and angered by this, which triggered him into acts of violence.”
“The women he’s killed are substitutes for his former fiancée,” said Spencer. “It’s possible that he’s building up to when he’s ready to kill his former fiancée, but it’s just as likely if not more likely that she’s inaccessible to him in some way or he feels he can’t take out his vengeance on his former fiancée so he’s killing women who remind him of her and punishing them for his former fiancée’s decision not to marry him. He may even believe that he’s saving his victims’ fiancés from heartbreak.”
“Either way, our UNSUB shows no signs of slowing down and there is no hesitation in the way he kills, which means that he is very dangerous and it is imperative that we apprehend him as soon as possible,” said Elle, picking up after Spencer. “He’s familiar with the area and he’s likely a part of the community. He stalks his victims for at least the day that he chooses to act on, and then at night either goes after the victim when they’re alone or uses a pretense to get his victims alone, kills them, and then leaves the bodies outside a public place associated with their engagement or upcoming wedding between the hours of 12 AM and 4 AM. His current pattern indicates he finds, kills, and then disposes of a victim’s body once a week, so we believe there will be a new victim very soon if we don’t stop him.”
“We recommend that engaged women who choose to go out in public at this time, whether on bachelorette parties or just in their day to day lives, should be aware of their surroundings,” said JJ. “We recommend staying close to the people you are with and staying in well-lit and occupied areas. Engaged women who are blonde should be extra cautious at this time. If you are blonde but not engaged, it would be a good idea to avoid wearing expensive rings like college or high school rings just in case. We also recommend avoiding going out alone, especially at night, and avoiding extended interactions with men you don’t normally talk to, as well as accepting any drinks or food. And if you do see anyone suspicious or know someone who fits the profile, do not hesitate to call the hotline.”
“Thank you for your time. We’ll be able to answer your questions if you have them,” said Hotch, ending the profile delivery.
Several officers left, whether it was for the day or to return to their duties, but a few people hung back to clarify parts of the profile. The team answered as many questions as they could, and then it was really over.
And what they were left with was one of the worst periods of a case - the point where you waited for a lead or a body, because that was all you could do.
-
“Hotch, sir! I think I found out how the UNSUB is selecting his victims!” said Garcia, bursting into the room.
“What do you have, Garcia?” said Hotch, giving her his full attention immediately.
“Well, sir, I don’t know if you and Haley did this, but it’s common that people will put engagement announcements in the newspapers, you know, as a sort of ‘hey, we got engaged’ celebratory sort of thing, and to spread the news to people you might not necessarily call,” said Garcia. “Anyway, all four of our victims had an engagement announcement in the Richmond Daily News, and as is common, included an engagement photo,” she continued, showing them each of the announcements.
“So, our UNSUB reads the paper, sees the happy smiling blonde woman and the engagement announcement, registers that she resembles his former fiancée, gets angry, finds out what he can about her, and kills her,” said Gideon.
“If we’re right about him being quick to anger, he may not necessarily be actively planning to kill someone every week, but then he reads the paper, finds another engagement announcement, and decides to kill her,” said Spencer.
“It may have started out that way, but four bodies down the line, and he may actually be actively hunting by now,” said Morgan.
“Good job finding a connection between the victims and possibly how he sellects his victims,” said Hotch. “However, we still need to figure out how to determine who he’s going after next, or how to catch him.”
“There are far too many blonde engaged women in the city to determine who he’s going to go after next, even with Garcia’s discovery. He may read more than one newspaper, or maybe if he’s out at night and notices a blonde woman having a bachelorette party or otherwise indicating that she’s engaged, he may take that as an opportunity,” said Greenaway.
“That right there might have even been what happened to Holly Danvers - maybe he didn’t see her in the paper but rather was in the bar when he noticed Danvers, or he did see Danvers in the paper but didn’t decide to kill her until he was in the same place as her that night,” said Morgan.
“So, what can we do?” Hotch prompted.
“We need to lure him out,” said Gideon.
“How do you suggest we do that?” Hotch asked.
“We pick a bar or club right inside the UNSUB’s comfort zone, send JJ, Reid, and Greenaway in undercover with JJ as a pretend fiancée having a bachelorette party, and surround them with plainclothes officers and the rest of us except for Garcia, and when the UNSUB tries to get JJ alone, take him down,” said Gideon.
“That plan will only work if there’s a guarantee the UNSUB will be there,” said Morgan.
“Garcia, would it be possible to put a fake engagement announcement with JJ’s photo in the Richmond Daily News?” Hotch asked.
“Yeah, I could throw one together fairly quickly, but it wouldn’t be in the physical paper until tomorrow,” said Garcia.
Hotch turned to JJ. “JJ, you aren’t cleared to carry a firearm in the field. It is perfectly natural and understandable if you choose to say no to this. But if you did, Greenaway and Reid would both be armed and you would be surrounded by the rest of the team except Garcia and as many officers as Richmond PD would spare us, all armed. If you choose not to do this, we can see if there’s a blonde officer with Richmond PD or go with a completely different plan. Is this something you would be willing to do?”
JJ took a deep breath. “If you really think this will work and we can get this guy with this plan, then I’ll do it.”
Hotch nodded. “Thank you, JJ. We appreciate you doing this. Gideon and I are going to propose this plan to the Captain. Garcia, start putting together the fake announcement, but wait for confirmation from me before you send it out. Don’t use JJ’s real name. The rest of you, take a snack break and look up some places that might be ideal for our trap.”
“Can I have a snack break too, sir?” Garcia asked.
Hotch gave her a small smile, which was clearly demonstrative of how relieved he was to have a plan. “As long as you can still get the announcement done, I don’t see why not.”
“Oh, absolutely, sir!” Garcia answered with a grin.
“Why don’t you bring it into the office when you’re finished with it so the three of us can approve of it and then you can send it out?” Gideon suggested.
Hotch nodded. “That’s a good idea. Can you do that?”
“Yes sir,” said Garcia with a nod.
Hotch nodded back, and with a wave of his hand, Gideon joined him and they sought out Captain Edwards.
Greenaway surveyed the rest of the team. “So, are we going with Police Station Brew or Vending Machine Soda?”
-
The younger members of the team ended up gathered around the conference room table, letting off steam and joking around with each other. Garcia left partway through, and then a while after they watched her disappear into the Captain’s office, where the three older men were having their war room meeting.
Several minutes later, the four of them left the room. Garcia went immediately to her workspace and submitted the fake engagement announcement. The three men came into the conference room, and the four resting agents all straightened to attention.
“We’ll be going with the plan to lure out the UNSUB,” said Hotch. “We’ll pick a local business for JJ, Reid, and Greenaway to go undercover on a bachelorette party, and we’ll have the rest of the BAU field agents on the scene undercover as well as Captain Edwards’ force , and our three undercover agents wiLl identIfy the UNSUB and then Reid and Greenaway will act as backup while JJ lures the UNSUB to an arrest point.”
Captain Edwards looked at JJ assessingly. “She’s the right age range and has the right appearance. And Agent Garcia has the fake announcement. What about the engagement ring?”
“I didn’t even think of the ring,” said JJ.
“None of my rings look like an engagement ring, and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t fit anyway,” said Garcia waving her fingers around.
“Would one of the local businesses be willing to help us?” Hotch asked.
“Maybe,” said Captain Edwards. “We can also check evidence and inventory, see if there’s something we picked up for a different case.”
Spencer knew what she had to do, even if it meant she had to reveal something she really didn’t want to. “Everyone, it’s fine, I have a ring JJ can use,” said Spencer, and she reached into her shirt collar and pulled out a chain with a ring on it that certainly looked expensive. “I doubt he’ll know the difference, but it’s real, anyway, so you’ll be fine.”
“Thank you, Reid,” said Hotch with some surprise.
“Of course,” said Spencer, unlatching the chain and letting the ring fall into her hand. “If it helps us catch this guy, then whatever it takes.”
“Spencer, I thought you haven’t been in a relationship since the Academy,” said Gideon.
“I haven’t,” Spencer said with a shrug and a sad smile. “Ethan asked me to marry him.”
Gideon’s face fell as he connected the dots. “Oh, Spencer.”
“It’s fine. Twenty-one was probably a little young to be getting engaged or getting married anyway,” said Spencer, trying to play it cool. Glancing to JJ, who looked concerned, Spencer smiled and said, “Really, it’s fine. You can use it. It’s been off for years, I haven’t seen him since things ended and he never asked for the ring back, I keep it around for - well, for reasons that don’t necessarily have to do with him.”
“Are you sure?” said JJ. At this point, everyone seemed to catch onto the fact that Spencer wasn’t wearing the ring, and not for safekeeping reasons, but rather that she might have been engaged at one point but she wasn’t engaged anymore.
Spencer missed the looks her teammates were trading, focused on JJ. “Yes, I’m sure. No one else can bait him like you can, and we need to do this if we’re going to catch this guy and keep anyone else from becoming a potential victim.”
Hotch broke the ensuing silence by saying, “You should probably wear that unless we have you talking to the public for the next few days to keep up the pretense, just in case he sees you in public.”
“Understood, sir,” said JJ.
“Is there anything else you need?” Hotch asked.
JJ frowned. “I didn’t bring anything I’d wear for a night out for a bachelorette party, and I doubt Spence and Elle did either.”
Spencer shook her head in agreement, and so did Elle.
Hotch looked at the three of them. “Then tomorrow, you’ll go out and get something appropriate. It’ll double as undercover work, being out in public. Don’t break the FBI’s banks or your own.”
“Thank you, Hotch,” said JJ, briefly glancing at Spencer and Elle with hidden excitement.
“Morgan, Garcia, we’ll talk about what you’ll be doing tomorrow. Gideon and I will be working on the plan with the captain, but the rest of you have done all you can for today. You’re done for the day.”
There were a chorus of acknowledgements and goodnights, and then the younger five members of the team gathered their things and headed out to the SUVs. They all piled into one SUV, with Morgan behind the wheel, so Hotch and Gideon could take the other SUV back to the hotel when they were ready.
They weren’t on the road long when Elle said, “So I don’t know if it’s the same for anyone else, but I had no idea you used to be engaged, Reid.”
“I didn’t tell anyone, it happened before I was with the FBI,” said Spencer. “Gideon knew that I had a boyfriend, but I didn’t tell him that he proposed, or that it got broken off when I started at the Academy. No one else knew him or knew I’d been engaged, so I didn’t think it mattered.”
“Wait, who broke it off?” Morgan asked.
“Did he break it off because you joined the FBI Academy?” JJ asked.
“He broke it off at that time, but it was more complicated than that,” said Spencer vaguely, not wanting to get into it.
“So, Ethan was his name?” said Elle.
“You caught that, did you?” said Spencer.
“Does he happen to have a last name? Perhaps an address that someone can visit and non-violently ask him what the fuck he was thinking,” Elle continued.
“I’d go with that someone,” said Morgan, briefly taking his eyes off the road to make eye contact with Elle.
JJ and Garcia nodded agreeingly, and Spencer was biting back a smile as she said, “Seriously?”
“Seriously! You are one in a million - no, one in a billion-” said Elle, correcting herself, “-and he was dumb enough to break up with you?”
Spencer shrugged. “He’s close to as smart as I am, and I’m not exactly the belle of the ball. He can probably do better.”
The car was completely silent for a moment.
“Okay, I don’t know who told you that bullshit, but that is utter bullshit!” said Garcia. “I don’t call you Girl Wonder and my chocolate hunk doesn’t call you Pretty Girl for the laughs! There is no one else like you on this entire earth and his dumb decision to leave you is on him, it has no bearing on you.”
“She’s right,” said Morgan.
“Okay, can we not talk about this anymore?” said Spencer.
There was a careful silence again.
“Yeah, sure,” said Elle. “You know, Morgan, you could let someone else drive for once.”
“Oh yeah, like who?” said Morgan. “I do not ride as a passenger when Reid or Garcia is behind the wheel. I love you both, but no. JJ’s a decent driver, but I would like to make it back to the hotel sometime in the next year. And frankly, I’m not sure if I should worry that you want to drive.”
This, of course, led to raised voices as the other women, aside from Spencer, jumped to defend their driving skills or critique Morgan’s driving. Spencer closed her eyes and fell back against her seat, pretending that she was fading into nothing.
She was the first out of the car when they arrived at the hotel so she missed the looks exchanged behind her back. Instead, she headed right for her room.
She managed to join Hotch and Gideon in the elevator before it closed. “Are you alright?” Gideon asked, voice even and not betraying everything.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Spencer a little too lightly. “Ready for bed.”
Gideon nodded. “Okay. Get some good rest tonight. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”
“I plan to,” said Spencer.
The elevator let them off on their floor, and Spencer parted ways from the two men as she went into her own room.
Finally alone, Spencer grasped the empty necklace chain and screwed her eyes shut. She only had a few minutes alone, so she couldn’t cry or show any signs of having cried, even if it was just losing a few tears, because then JJ would notice. She just - she didn’t want to see his face, or think of him, or have to deal with any of this.
She heard the key in the door, and Spencer opened her eyes and let go of the chain, moving instead to stand at the window as if she’d been looking out the whole time.
“Hey,” said JJ as she entered.
“Hey,” Spencer said back without turning.
A few minutes passed like this: Spencer pretending to look out the window and JJ doing whatever she was doing.
“So, why did he break it off?” JJ asked not long after they made it back to their room.
Why, indeed? “That is the question, isn’t it? I wish I had an answer,” said Spencer tiredly.
JJ frowned. “No, seriously, why? I get that you said it was complicated, but I just don’t understand. Why did Ethan break off the engagement, Spencer?”
Spencer turned around. “I’m trying to tell you, I really don’t know, JJ, I mean, I can make some guesses, but he didn’t even officially break it off,” said Spencer.
JJ blinked. “Wait, what? You mean one day he just up and left?”
You mean one day he just up and left?
Spencer was walking down the hall, it was eerily quiet, she was walking to the door, it was locked, wasn’t Ethan going to leave it open for her, she was struggling with the lock, she got the door open, it was empty the apartment where were all of their things -
Spencer shook her head violently. “If I confirm it was something like that, will you leave it alone?”
“What?” JJ said hollowly. Then she looked angry. “What? You were engaged! And he just up and left? He just left you one day without any warning, without even a note to explain? One day you were happy together and the next he was gone?”
JJ didn’t know it, but her words had triggered Spencer, and suddenly, Spencer wasn’t in their hotel room.
-
Spencer was on the train, heading home to the apartment like she’d promised Ethan she would. It had been the first day of her training at the FBI Academy, and technically she was supposed to stay there during the week and only do visitations on the weekend, but she wanted to tell Ethan all about the first day and also check on him. She’d explained to everyone that Ethan had been ill when he woke up that morning but he was still planning on attending the training, just in a day or a few when he was feeling better. They hadn’t been that pleased that he hadn’t called in himself, but Spencer was sure that Ethan would charm his way into their good graces as soon as he could.
Then she was at their apartment, and going up the elevator to their apartment. Should she save the best stories for last, or should she tell him about the day in chronological order?
Every time Spencer would think of this in hindsight, she’d note to herself that she should have known something was off by the eerie silence. She couldn’t hear any piano, but at the time, she just talked it up to the idea that maybe he hadn’t gotten better over the course of the day, and may feel just as bad or even worse. Very little kept him away from the keyboard or piano if he was well.
Spencer tried to open the door and frowned. Ethan had insisted on leaving the door unlocked, both for in case he ordered food, which was more likely than Ethan feeling sick and cooking, and so Spencer could get in later and bring him copies of the work and talk to him about her day at the Academy. Maybe he’d locked the door after he got lunch delivered and forgotten about it? Or maybe he’d left and gone to the doctor or the pharmacy or the hospital and he hadn’t wanted to leave an empty apartment unlocked?
She dug around in her bag for her keys. Spencer stuck her key in the lock, but her hands were trembling. It took a few tries to get the door open.
It was silent in the apartment.
Maybe he was sleeping?
Spencer checked the sofa and the bedroom, but he wasn’t there.
Maybe he’d gone out.
But the longer she looked around, the more things seemed off. The apartment didn’t look right. It was their apartment. What was wrong with it?
Wait. Things didn’t seem off . Things were gone .
The furniture was still there, but several books were missing from the shelves, some whole shelves were entirely clear. Some of the dishes and kitchenware were missing. Nothing of hers so far, but definitely things from Ethan’s apartment and dorm days. She went back to the closet and the drawers in the bedroom, and his clothes were gone, minus what she’d stolen from him. And most damning of all, Ethan’s keyboard was gone.
Ethan’s keyboard was gone.
Where was Ethan? They hadn’t discussed moving, and even if he did decide to move or put things in storage, why only his things? If he had just gone to the hospital, he might take some clothes but not all of them, and he wouldn’t take his keyboard.
Had Ethan ever been sick at all?
Spencer picked up her phone and dialed his number. The number was disconnected.
Disconnected?
Had he left? Had he just up and left her without explanation? There had to be a reasonable explanation for this. He wouldn’t have just left. He knew about her father, there was no way Ethan would be so thoughtless and cruel as to leave her without a note or a phone call or an explanation or - anything -
Not sure what else she could do, Spencer picked up the phone again and called their doctor, Dr. Patterson, directly, just to see if he’d gone in. “Hello?”
“Hi Spencer, how are you today?” she answered pleasantly.
“Hey, have you seen Ethan today?” Spencer asked, trying not to sound worried.
“No, I haven’t. Spencer, what’s going on?”
“Spencer, what’s going on?”
-
“Spencer, what’s going on?”
Spencer snapped suddenly back into her body to find she was frozen still, and her head was hurting, and her lungs were huffing. “JJ, stop,” Spencer got out roughly.
“Spence, I just want to help-”
“I SAID LEAVE IT ALONE, JENNIFER!” Spencer screamed, before storming off to the bathroom and locking herself in.
It was quiet on the other side of the door, but Spencer wasn’t really paying attention. Her head was pounding and blood felt like it was rushing in her ears. She climbed into the bathtub, sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, pressed her forehead to her knees, and-
-
Spencer came to with her body in the same position, except her body was shaking and she was breathing like she couldn’t quite get enough air and Gideon’s voice was coming in quietly through the door.
-”you’ve got to remember, Spencer, you have plenty of air. The bathroom is about 26 or 30 square feet, and there’s about 500 litres of air per square foot, so you’ve got approximately 1500 litres of air in the room with you. The typical person needs somewhere between 10 and 50 of those litres per hour. For you, probably on the lower end of that scale. Plus, the air in the room isn’t decreasing, because it’s constantly cycling through the air ventilation system, which is still functioning. There is plenty of air to breathe. You’re struggling to breathe because your lungs think they aren’t taking in air fast enough because you’re in a panic which has caused a fight or flight response,” Gideon was saying.
He used to not know these things. This was all information that Spencer had taught him, in rambles mostly. But it was information that he retained, because it became useful information.
“Alright, I’m going to try this again, Spencer, knock or stomp on something if you can hear me,” said Gideon.
If this wasn’t the first time, how many times had he asked previously while she was out? How much time did she lose? It was why she rapped twice loudly on the tile wall, despite being reluctant to communicate with anyone and still not feeling like she could breathe.
She heard a few relieved sighs from the other side of the door.
“Welcome back, Spencer. Let’s do a breathing exercise to remind your lungs how to be lungs, okay? Remember the good one? In for four, hold for seven, out for eight, right? Let’s do it together,” said Gideon, and then she heard him start breathing, so she tried to follow him.
“One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,” Hotch counted just loud enough for her to hear, but the unexpected voice made her jump and her breathing pick up again.
“It’s alright, it’s just you, me, and Hotch here, we kicked everyone else out, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” said Gideon soothingly. “Breathe with me again. You can do this, Spencer.”
Gideon started the breathing technique and Spencer hurried to catch up again.
When Hotch started counting again, they were breathing in sync. “One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.”
They repeated that two more times before Spencer was breathing normally on her own.
“Good job, Spencer,” said Gideon. “Knock once if you can hear me, knock twice if you can hear me and you feel like you can talk back.”
Spencer knocked once.
“That’s okay, Spencer. We’ll work your way to normal so you can get some sleep. Knock once if you want my help, knock twice if you want someone else.”
Spencer knocked once.
“Alright, I’ll stay,” said Gideon. “Knock once if it’s fine for Hotch to stay, knock twice if you would like me to politely ask Hotch to leave, and knock three times if you would like me to kick Hotch out without courtesy into the hall like we did the others.”
“Kick me out without courtesy?” Hotch muttered.
“Sometimes invoking humor helps with Spencer’s responsiveness,” Gideon explained.
Spencer huffed a breath of laughter before she knocked twice.
But apparently, both Gideon and Hotch caught the huff of laughter.
“I see what you mean,” said Hotch quietly.
“Okay, Spencer. Hotch, we’d appreciate it if you could give us a moment alone please. You should send Morgan to bed and tell the others Spencer will be fine,” said Gideon.
“Just Morgan to bed?” Hotch asked.
“Spencer may feel more comfortable not sharing a room with JJ,” said Gideon.
“Okay, I’ll talk to them,” said Hotch. “Spencer, I understand this case must be stressful. We’re going to catch this guy tomorrow, okay? Then it’ll all be over and you can forget about it. And I’ll speak to the others about not prying. You can come to me if you need anything, okay? Have a good night’s sleep, Spencer.” And the Hotch left the room.
After a moment, Gideon said, “I’m still here. Hotch has left. Knock once if you can hear me and you’re ready to talk, knock twice if you can hear me and you need a few moments to gather your words, and knock three times if you can hear me but you’re not ready to talk.”
Spencer considered, then knocked twice.
“Okay, Spencer, I’m going to be right here on the other side of the door when you’re ready,” said Gideon.
Spencer knocked once as an acknowledgement.
And then as her thoughts started making coherent sentences again, she felt guilty. JJ had been annoying her, but she had screamed at JJ. That wasn’t an equivalent response, was it? And then she proceeded to have a panic attack that disturbed everyone’s night. And she still didn’t know how long she’d been in here. The fact that she’d blacked out for any length of time was honestly frightening. All because she’d - what, relived the night she came home to Ethan and everything he owned gone?
“How long?” Spencer asked quietly.
Gideon hummed. “Your panic attack was about ten minutes long. You’ve been in the bathroom for close to an hour now. Did you have a blackout and lose time?”
“Yes,” Spencer admitted.
Gideon sighed. “I suspected it might have happened. How long?”
“From right after I got in here to ‘you’ve got to remember, Spencer, you have plenty of air. The bathroom is about 26 or 30 square feet, and there’s about 500 litres of air per square foot, so you’ve got approximately 1500 litres of air in the room with you’,” said Spencer, quoting his words back at him.
Gideon sighed deeper. “That’s not great, Spencer. But you’ll be okay. Tomorrow we’ll do our best to get this guy, and like Hotch said, if we do, you won’t have to continue thinking about any of this. I know you won’t forget, but you can put it behind you.”
Spencer didn’t know what to say. “I screamed at JJ.”
“Yes, I heard,” said Gideon. “But she was very worried about you. I’m sure if you apologize, she will forgive you.”
“Worried?” said Spencer.
“We all were,” said Gideon. “I’ve seen multiple panic attacks, but this might only be the second or third one you’ve had around the rest of the team. They were all very concerned about you. Hotch and I really did have to kick them out.”
“I’m sorry,” said Spencer.
“Spencer, your panic attacks are a physical and psychological response outside of your control, you don’t have to apologize,” said Gideon. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” said Spencer.
“That’s understandable, you’ve worked hard, and panic attacks tire you out,” said Gideon. “Do you think you’re ready to go to bed?”
Spencer considered. “I can try.”
“Okay. I’ll plug in your wall nightlight. Knock once if you are good if JJ stays and knock twice if you want someone else.”
Spencer knocked twice.
“Okay, knock once for Greenaway, knock twice for Garcia, and knock three times if you want someone else,” said Gideon.
Spencer considered the options. She didn’t want Garcia’s fussiness or the protectiveness of any of the men. She knocked once, for Elle.
“Alright, I’ll let them know. Stay here and get ready for bed as much as you can, okay?” said Gideon.
“Okay,” said Spencer.
She heard Gideon stand and walk out of the room. It was only then that Spencer climbed out of the tub and then carefully stood. When she felt solid on her feet, she crossed to the sink. She washed her face and brushed her teeth without looking at herself in the mirror.
Eventually, there was another knock on the door. “Spencer, it’s just you, me, and Elle now, everyone else is in bed. Knock once if you need anything else, knock twice if it’s okay for me to leave.”
“Thank you, but get some rest, Gideon,” said Spencer quietly.
The sigh that came from Gideon was relieved. “Okay, Spencer. You wanna come out of there first?”
Spencer wasn’t entirely surprised that Gideon wanted to lay eyes on her before he could sleep. She slowly crossed to the door and unlocked it, before slowly opening the door.
It was just Elle and Gideon. Elle was watching silently from her position on the bed JJ had previously occupied. Gideon was closer to the door, his face full of concern. He looked Spencer up and down as soon as he saw her, then relaxed minutely. “You’re going to be okay, Spencer.”
“Thank you, Gideon,” said Spencer quietly.
“I’m here for you, Spencer. We all are. Please try to get some rest,” said Gideon. “Goodnight, both of you,” he said before leaving the room.
“Is it okay if I wash up in there?” Elle asked when he was gone.
“Yeah, go ahead,” Spencer said quietly, stepping away from the bathroom.
Elle nodded her thanks and went into the bathroom. Spencer changed into her pajamas and got into bed while Elle was in the other room, noting that Gideon did indeed plug in her wall nightlight.
When Elle came out of the bathroom, she perched carefully on the edge of Spencer’s bed. “I know you don’t want to talk about it. Do you want a hug or do you want to be left alone?”
Spencer considered. She wasn’t normally one for touch, but she could use it. “Can I have a hug?”
Elle leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. It was surprisingly gentle, and Elle pet Spencer’s hair as she silently sobbed without tears into Elle’s shoulder.
When she had enough, Spencer pulled back. “Thank you,” said Spencer.
“You’re welcome. Now lie down, I’m tucking you in,” Elle ordered.
“Tucking me in?” Spencer asked, even as she laid down.
“Mmhmm,” said Elle, as she wrapped the blankets around Spencer. “Tell anyone and you’ll regret it for life.”
Spencer snorted. “Yeah, like I’m going to tell anyone I got tucked into bed by a co-worker because I had a panic attack over nothing.”
“Not over nothing,” said Elle. “Now go to sleep. You need it.”
Without waiting for a response, Elle crossed over to her bed, turned out the lights, and promptly went to bed herself.
Spencer thought she would be awake for hours, but fell asleep almost immediately.
-
It wasn’t the light or the alarm that woke Spencer, but rather a gentle shake of her shoulder. “Hey, come on, we gotta go undercover shopping, and Morgan’s pacing out in the hall like an annoyingly overprotective big brother,” said Elle.
Spencer frowned. “Why would he - oh. Oh yeah. I had a panic attack last night.”
Elle frowned. “Gideon told us last night that you lost time and he suspected it was likely you wouldn’t remember much.”
Spencer nodded. “Apparently I lost approximately an hour.”
“Shit, kid,” said Elle, sounding enough like Morgan that Spencer snorted. Elle saw the amused light in Spencer’s eyes, guessed what Spencer had thought, and rolled her eyes in response.
Then Spencer sighed. “Hotch will probably want a word too.”
“I think it’s likely,” Elle agreed. “He at least has the sense not to be stomping around outside our door like certain people.”
“Didn’t you just tell him I was still asleep?” Spencer asked.
“I did. He was pretty insistent on waiting,” said Elle, rolling her eyes again.
Spencer sighed as she sat up. “If I jump in the shower now, you can tell him I’ll talk to him after I get ready, and it might be nice if he’d grab me a coffee.”
“I’ll tell him, but the coffee part might be pushing your luck,” said Elle amusedy. “But I’m not really worried about Morgan or Hotch. My concern is if you’re going to be able to handle being around JJ today.”
It was a valid concern. But Spencer was tough. “I’m an FBI agent, Elle. I’ve shot someone before and I saved you and a half dozen other people on a train with a magic trick. I can handle this.”
Elle looked at her for a minute. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her. “Okay, Reid. Go take a shower. I’ll talk to Sir Stompsalot in the hall.” She stood up, then paused. “I’m going to tell him he woke you up with his pacing. Maybe he’ll calm the fuck down.”
Spencer snickered and got out of bed. She walked off to the bathroom, and Elle walked to the door.
Spencer lost herself in the motions of washing her face, brushing her teeth, and taking a shower, but not in the way she lost time. It was more like just existing in her body and letting her brain fog like the mirrors in the bathroom.
Spencer traded places with Elle and got dressed, going a little more dressed down than usual as she was going to be out undercover shopping with Elle and JJ. She shoved her identification deep into the pockets of her slightly oversized jackets and hesitated before leaving her weapon.
She was messing with her hair when she heard the knock at the door, and sighed silently when she determined it was most likely either Morgan or JJ.
It was, in fact, Morgan out in the hall. He was looking at her with concern in his eyes. He relaxed only minutely when he saw her. “Hey, Reid. How are you?”
“Well, I was sleeping pretty heavily until someone started wearing a hole in the ground out here,” said Spencer with a slight tease in her voice.
Morgan looked sheepish. “I - will you take a walk with me? I’ll buy you a coffee.”
This wasn’t how Spencer expected this to go, but she’d go with it. “Okay,” said Spencer. She grabbed her bag and stepped out of the hotel room, locking it behind her.
They didn’t really talk as they walked down the hall towards the elevator. Spencer didn’t know what exactly he wanted to say, but knew Morgan had to have something he wanted to say to her. If this was about her venting to him, he’d have gone about it differently. So, she waited for him to get out whatever was on his mind.
They went down the elevator in silence as well. It was only when they were exiting the hotel that Morgan said, “I woke up at five AM and couldn’t get back to sleep this morning so I went down to the hotel gym and did some weightlifting and ran on the treadmill.”
“And you’re still wound up?” Spencer asked in surprise.
“I’m worried about you, kid,” said Morgan.
“Worried about me?” said Spencer.
“I know you like to keep your private life private, we all like our privacy,” Morgan began. “But I’ve only ever heard of you having a panic attack like that once. And Gideon said you blacked out and lost an hour of time. That scares me. I’m sure it scares you worse, but I don’t really know how you’re feeling. I guess I just - I’m scared for you, Pretty Girl, and I’d like to know if this is going to be a common issue, and what I can do to help you, because I don’t like to see you hurting, Pretty Girl.”
Spencer sighed. “It’s rare, especially blacking out and losing time. I usually have it under control. I thought I was over it all, honestly. But this case…”
“It’s bringing back old pains,” said Morgan.
“Yeah, something like that,” said Spencer.
“Seriously, though - I want to help you, Spencer. But I don’t know how to do that if you don’t talk to me.”
Spencer sighed again. “I don’t know what you want me to say. The panic attacks really are rare, and I can count blackouts on two hands but I wouldn’t need all of my fingers. I had a lot to panic about growing up, so occasionally I have panic attacks, usually triggered by stress. I deal with a lot of stress without having them. But this - it’s the stress of the case, it’s the memories, and it’s the way that everyone acts like they have a right to some sort of explanation, that they won’t let it go when I ask, that it matters when we have a deadly serial killer running around-”
Morgan pulled her into his arms and Spencer froze and fell silent. She wasn’t sure how to answer or react, so she just let him hold her. She wasn’t fond of the surprise, but it was admittedly nice.
“You don’t owe anyone shit,” said Morgan finally. “Not them, not even me, not even this asshole who decided to break your heart. We’ve got a job to do here, but we don’t have a right to anything you need to keep private. Just - promise me you’ll let me - us - in when you’re hurting and let us help. I can’t watch one of my closest friends break and be unable to help them, okay?”
“Okay,” said Spencer.
After the hug, Morgan ruffled her hair. “Come on, Pretty Girl, let’s get you a coffee before your caffeine addiction rears its ugly head.”
“I’m not the only caffeine addict on the team,” said Spencer, rolling her eyes and nudging him, which made Morgan laugh.
They continued walking and trading barbs at each other until they made it to the coffeeshop. They pushed their way in and headed straight to the counter.
“Let’s start with whatever monstrosity this one wants and then we’ll get back to me,” said Morgan charmingly, winking at the barista.
Spencer rolled her eyes at Morgan, but was polite to the barista when she placed her order.
Then Morgan placed his and paid, ignoring Spencer’s protests about being able to buy her own, and they settled in to wait.
It was there, sitting at a too-small table in a coffeeshop, that Spencer felt inclined to share just a little, and so she sketched a rough outline of her life with Ethan: that they’d met in college, that he was a genius but not as smart as her and a little older, that they’d gotten together a few years in when they had a doctorate each under their belts, that he’d proposed when she was 21, and they had four wonderful months of engaged life before she went to the first day of the FBI Academy alone thinking he was taking a sick day only to go home to check on him and find no trace of him.
Morgan listened to all of it with gravity, even when he picked up their order. At last he said, “Well, if he ever comes crawling back to you, I’ll be happy to kick his ass, because you deserve far better-”
Morgan was interrupted by a phonecall. Morgan rolled his eyes before pulling it out and answering it. “Morgan. Hey Elle. Yeah, she’s with me. Already? You’re lucky we just got our order, or you’d have a sad and grumpy Pretty Girl on our hands. We’ll get there as soon as possible. Morgan out.” He hung up the phone, shaking his head.
“What did she say?” Spencer asked.
“Hotch needs us all at the station. Time to start the day,” said Morgan. “They left one of the SUVs at the hotel for us.”
Spencer took a deep breath. Time to go to work. “Let’s go.”
They left the coffeeshop and walked back down the street to the hotel while finishing their coffee. Their cups were empty when they arrived at the hotel, and Spencer and Morgan threw out their cups as Morgan got in the car and Spencer took shotgun. The drive to the precinct was mostly silent, but once they were on the road, Morgan reached over with one hand and held hers, thumb dragging over Spencer’s knuckles comfortingly. Spencer took another deep breath.
They were the last of the team to enter the conference room before Hotch entered from wherever he had been.
“Good, you’re all here,” said Hotch. “Gideon and I are going to be working with Captain Edwards today to make sure everything is in place. However, if there’s something important, feel free to call either of us, at any time.” His eyes swept over them briefly before he continued, “JJ, Greenaway, Reid - your job today is equipment acquisition and undercover publicity. Get what you need and be seen. The fake announcement was in the paper this morning, so as long as the UNSUB read it, you’ll be on his radar. Or JJ will be. You want to be noticed, you don’t want to break your covers. It’s a delicate balance, but you’ll do fine.”
“I’ll keep us safe,” said Elle, nodding.
Hotch nodded back at her. “Garcia, Morgan, while JJ, Reid, and Greenaway are out, I want you two to look through the local newspapers for engagement announcements in the last few months. Pay special attention to those that feature a blond woman. See if any of the men fit the profile and come up with a list,” said Hotch.
“Will do, sir,” said Garcia. Morgan looked less than enthused at a research assignment, but agreed.
“And Agents, be back by four, we’ll be going over the plan at 4:30 sharp,” said Hotch.
“Yes sir,” the three women echoed, and they left the precinct.
-
The shopping trip mostly passed in a blur for Spencer. She knew the important bits, of course - JJ apologized, Spencer gave her something like acceptance, they found clothes, her friends rolled their eyes but indulged every bookshop Spencer got distracted by, even if only for a few minutes, they had a presence in the city. But to be honest, Spencer liked shopping sometimes, but she wasn’t really in the shopping mood. And she wasn’t really looking for something she wanted, but rather something for a case.
And by four o’clock, they walked into the precinct with shopping bags, having taken a longer route to make sure they shook off any tails. It wouldn’t be a good idea to be out in public and be noticed only to give up the game by being followed back to the police station. Elle had quite a bit of fun shaking off any possible tails, maybe a little too much fun given her grin.
By four-thirty sharp, the BAU, Captain Edwards, and several cops and detectives had gathered in the bullpen to hear the plan.
Captain Edwards began. “The plan is to set an ambush for the serial killer. My brother-in-law has agreed to let us use his bar, Haven. Haven is a mostly open area bar, with one exception - there is a narrow hallway that has the bathrooms and at the end of the hall, a door that leads to an outdoor deck patio. This patio lets directly into the parking lot area behind the bar. One team, fully armored and weaponed, will arrive covertly at the bar and be ready and waiting on the patio. Another team of officers will be a plainclothes team with concealed weapons that will be in place in case anything goes wrong and will follow the lure out to the patio. If anything goes wrong, the inside team should prioritize protecting the civilians. Both teams will be armed and alert, but the FBI BAU team on the inside will be doing the hard work.”
Hotch took up the briefing after Captain Edwards paused. “Last night, Technical Analyst Garcia put out a fake engagement announcement in the same paper that the UNSUB uses to choose his targets, and it featured Agent Jareau’s picture under an alias. It was in today’s paper, coinciding with the UNSUB’s timeline. Agents Jareau, Reid, and Greenaway performed undercover scouting work today, and they will go into the bar Haven tonight. Agent Jareau is undercover as a potential victim to lure our UNSUB to the bar and into our ambush. Reid and Greenaway are undercover as friends but they are also acting as her last line of defense. Agent Gideon, Agent Morgan, and myself will also be plainclothes but carrying, and we’ll be scouting the bar and doing whatever we can to act as Agent Jareau’s back up. Agent Garcia will be over the comm system working the technology and providing any information she can. Once we’ve identified our UNSUB, Agent Jareau’s job is to lure him out to the patio under any means necessary, where he will be received and arrested by the armored team. Are there any questions?”
There was absolute silence in the room.
“Okay, men and women, let’s get this son of a bitch,” said Captain Edwards.
-
That evening found JJ, Spencer, and Elle dressed up and entering Captain Edwards’ brother-in-law’s bar, Haven.
It was already lively, plenty of people inside, but luckily not too crowded. It meant that all of their undercover agents would probably blend in, but on the other hand, it might make their UNSUB more difficult to find.
JJ was wearing a white, summery, knee-length cocktail dress with strappy flat sandals. Her hair was more dressed up than she’d usually do for a case, but still hid her ear piece and wires, and she wore makeup that accentuated and emphasized her blue eyes.
Elle was wearing skinny black slacks, a white button up, bright blue Converse shoes and a deep blue blazer with an inside pocket where she stashed her gun and identification. Her hair was pulled back enough from her face for good shooting but still hid her ear piece and wiring. She had some makeup, but no more than usual.
Spencer herself was wearing a slim, high-necked, forest green maxi dress with high slits, which made the gun strapped to her thigh hidden but accessible, as well as a different pair of strappy flat sandals. Spencer’s hair was less slicked back to hide her ear piece and wiring, but she countered less hair gel by wearing a pretty metal headband with a rhinestone flower on the side to help hold her hair back for good shooting. She had consented to mascara and a bit of eyeliner, but otherwise wore no makeup as usual.
They kept an eye out for suspicious characters as they approached the bar counter, but no one caught their attention. They did notice the plainclothes officers that were already there and the ones trickling in, as well as the men of the team. Garcia was where she should be, safe at the precinct, although she was connected to their comms. Of course, they didn’t really suspect that the UNSUB would look suspicious, they’d said as much in their discussions of the case and when they delivered the profile.
They ordered their drinks, all using the code phrase “sunglasses special”, which Captain Edwards said his brother-in-law had informed his staff meant that they needed to make the drink non-alcoholic but pretend it was a regular alcoholic drink so the FBI agents and cops didn’t get drugged and stayed sober to do their jobs. Nd apparently the message had been taken seriously, because the bartender they spoke to nodded seriously and made all three drinks herself, and none of them were alcoholic.
Drinks in hand, they found a table, one that was strategically positioned enough that they could have a good view of almost the entire bar.
The three women made small talk and whispered about the case as they scouted out for their guy. Morgan was drifting around the bar’s dancefloor, getting some dances in but also keeping an eye out for their guy. Gideon was sat at the bar, watching people as they came and went from the bar. Hotch was positioned at a small table by himself near the door, observing people as they entered and left the bar.
“Brave heroes and heroines, if I could have your attention-” said Garcia over the comms suddenly.
Morgan walked to the edge of the dancefloor before raising his phone to his ear, and then he said into the comms, “Garcia, we’re in the middle of something.”
“No, I know, but it’s important, I think I found our guy’s identity!” Garcia insisted.
Spencer, Elle, and JJ all shared a look.
“Oh, that’s great! Give me the good news, Babygirl,” said Morgan, still pretending he was on a phone call.
“His name is Nicholas Sanderson, he’s 29 years old, and he fits our profile to a tee. He grew up in Richmond. His father Keith Sanderson was a soldier who died in the line of duty when he was 7. He was raised by a single mom, Janet Sanderson, and he has a sister three years younger than him, Claire Sanderson, and he apparently got into multiple fights senior year of high school defending her from bullies. Nicky went to Virginia State and got average grades, but it was also there that he met Brenda Keller, now 29, and Sanderson’s and Keller’s engagement announcement was in the Richmond Daily News two months ago. And she is blonde-haired and blue-eyed and strikingly like the victims.”
“But?” Morgan prompted.
“But, social media tells us that Sanderson and Keller had a falling out and Keller broke off the engagement. Keller’s side of the story is that they disagreed over life decisions - reading between the lines, it seems like Sanderson might have been a bit controlling and wanted Keller to stay home and have kids after the wedding, even though she had just recently gotten a promotion and pay raise at work. Keller’s social media also says she left the state after the break up, she went to the Pittsburgh area where she’s from to stay with her parents originally but it appears she’s just recently gotten her own apartment in Pittsburgh itself. Sanderson’s side of the story is much angrier in tone, he talks about feeling betrayed and not knowing if she ever really wanted a life with him or to marry him, feels like she wasn’t loyal to them as a couple and speculates if she was cheating, and it’s littered with casual misogyny,” said Garcia.
“When was this?” asked Morgan.
“The breakup was a week before the first murder, and she moved two days after the breakup,” said Garcia.
Spencer could see it. Nicholas Sanderson lost his father at a young age, which may have been the source of his anger, as well as the source of his protectiveness and possessiveness of the women in his life. He grew up with both of those remaining as character traits, and when Brenda Keller rejected the protectiveness and possessiveness, it triggered his anger. And then he read the paper and saw an engagement announcement with a beautiful blonde woman that looked like his former fiancée and his anger turned to rage and he decided to get revenge.
“So, what’s he look like anyway?” Morgan asked.
Spencer, Elle, and JJ all covertly scanned the bar as Garcia replied.
“Brown hair, blue eyes, white, 6 foot. Square jaw, average-sized nose, average build. I guess attractive in the bland conventional actor way? I wish this guy had some unique feature or something, but he’s frustratingly normal looking. Apparently he works in tech which explains his ability to be awake in the wee hours of the morning,” said Garcia.
Spencer wasn’t seeing anyone - wait. The jacket. What did it say? She waited for the man to turn, and-
Spencer pretended to make a call and raised her own phone to her ear and asked into the comms, “Hey, Penelope, what was the name of that tech company he works for again?”
“Theseus Technologies. What’s up, Girl Wonder?” said Garcia.
“Thanks, Penelope,” Spencer said before hanging up her pretend call. “Think I found him,” she murmured. “My two o’clock, Jayje, your 8 o’clock, Elle, to your right. Looks like 6 feet from here, brown hair, I think blue eyes but hard to tell from here, he’s wearing a Theseus Technologies jacket and has glanced over here a few times now.”
“I see him,” Elle murmured.
JJ made a show of glancing around the bar before she laid eyes on the man Spencer pointed out. He just so happened to glance over at them, so JJ gave a flirtatious smile before turning back to the table and murmured, “I saw him and he saw me.”
“I clocked that,” Morgan said quietly into the comms. “Hotch?”
“Good work, Reid,” Hotch praised quietly. “JJ, don’t go immediately, but soon, get up and go to the bar. Make sure there’s enough room for him to come up next to you if he follows you and initiates a conversation, and make sure you’re far enough from Gideon that he can’t hear Gideon’s comm but you’re still in Gideon’s eyesight.”
“And then start the conversation to verify his identity and try to get him to the capture point?” JJ asked quietly, clarifying.
“That’s right,” said Hotch quietly. “Gideon’s right at the bar and Morgan’s on the dancefloor, both will be able to get to you quickly if something goes wrong. There’s also me, Reid and Greenaway, and seven officers scattered around the bar. Everything will be fine.”
“Okay,” JJ whispered. She finished off her fake alcoholic drink, and then leaned forward. “Wish me luck. Pretend I’ve said something funny.”
“Good luck,” Spencer breathed, even as Elle started giggling, and she joined in right after.
JJ stood up with an amused grin on her face and sauntered off to the bar, in a way that made it seem like she wanted to be noticed. And she was, by their suspect, their teams, and a bunch of other people, including several men. JJ approached the counter and leaned towards the bar and gave a code drink order.
After a few moments, the suspect got up and approached her. “Brenda?” he asked.
JJ turned towards him. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not Brenda, my name’s Valerie, Valerie Roberts. Who’s Brenda?”
They heard the suspect say, “Oh, sorry. Brenda’s a friend of mine, I thought you were her.”
JJ laughed. “That happens to me a lot. What’s your name?”
“Nicholas Sanderson, but you can call me Nick,” said the suspect.
“It’s nice to meet you, Nick,” said JJ. “Nicholas Sanderson, huh? That’s quite a mouthful.”
“My mom must have thought so too, because my little sister got to be Claire,” said Sanderson amusedly. “Are you here by yourself?”
“Oh, no. In fact, I have a little sister too, Hannah, I’m here with Hannah and my best friend Irene. We’re celebrating my engagement,” JJ said cheerfully.
Sanderson’s eyes went to the ring, then looked back up at JJ. “Oh, congratulations. Actually, I wonder if any of you have seen my friend Brenda. We were meeting up here, but I haven’t seen her yet. Do you remember seeing a blonde woman with blue eyes, around your height, late twenties?”
JJ pretended to consider. “I can’t say I have, but you know, it’s pretty crowded in here tonight, she might have gone out for some air to the patio out back by the restrooms. I could go back there with you and help you look, maybe we’ll see her on the way tere or coming out of the restroom.”
It was apparently the right thing to say. “That sounds great. You could be right, Valerie Roberts. Thank you.”
“Of course!” said JJ. “I would hate to think of another girl being hurt or something bad happening to Brenda. All of those blonde girls getting murdered has made me a little nervous.”
A flicker of something passed over Sanderson’s face. “It’s a shame, isn’t it? But you’re with me.”
“That’s right,” said JJ, and she started walking toward the patio, where they had officers waiting. Sanderson followed after her.
When they were far enough, Hotch said, “Greenaway, Reid, extract yourselves and go after her. Gideon, get up in ten seconds and follow after they do. Morgan, fifteen. I’ll be right behind you.”
Elle nodded. “Well, I’m going to the bathroom. Come with me?” she said for the benefit of the people around them.
Spencer nodded back. “Yeah, let’s go.” She stood up and she and Elle followed after the disappearing pair. Elle kept her hand close to her jacket where her gun was hidden in the inside pocket, and Spencer kept her hand close to her thigh, ready to reach into the slit of her maxi dress and pull out her revolver. Once they made it into the back hall with the restrooms and the door at the end that led out to the patio, both women drew their guns.
As JJ and Sanderson stepped out onto the patio, Sanderson was surprised to see only five police officers on the patio, not other people.
“Nicholas Sanderson?”
“What is this?”
“Mr. Sanderson, you’re under arrest for the murder of Holly Danvers, Christine Hodges, Katya Danilova, and Mikayla Veneto,” said JJ, stepping away from him.
“You little bitch!” Sanderson snapped. He suddenly reached out and grabbed JJ by the hair, yanking her close.
Spencer snuck through the door and up behind Sanderson, pressing her revolver to the back of Sanderson’s head. “Let her go, Sanderson, it’s over.”
“Lower your guns, I can still kill your little friend,” said Sanderson.
“Can you?” said Spencer with a barely forced calm. “Are you willing to bet your life that you can pull the trigger on your gun and harm or kill a federal agent before I pull my trigger and turn your head into a Jackson Pollock painting? Because you’re dead if you do take that bet. Or, you can stop resisting arrest, and live, and maybe even get a chance to see your mother and Claire again. It’s your choice. Which will it be?”
While Spencer was talking and keeping Sanderson distracted, Elle, Morgan, Hotch, and Gideon had all found their way out to the patio and surrounded them with guns drawn.
Sanderson looked around as the plainclothes officers from the bar also came out onto the patio with their guns ready.
And then, reluctantly, he let JJ go and lowered his gun to his side. JJ immediately left his side and went for the safety of the LEOs, who let her through their ranks and behind her. Spencer gave a sigh of relief but didn’t lower her gun, though she did take the finger off the trigger.
Two large hands grabbed Sanderson. “I’ve got him from here, Dr. Reid. Good work, Agent,” said Captain Edwards, both surprise and respect in his face and tone.
As Captain Edwards started cuffing Sanderson and reading his rights, Spencer lowered her gun and melted backwards, everything catching up with her suddenly. JJ almost died. Spencer could have been killed once Sanderson let JJ go, if he’d done something quick enough.
Spencer backed into someone, and she panicked at first, but then dark skinned hands came up to steady her comfortingly, and she relaxed, knowing whose hands those were. “I’ve got you,” said Morgan softly. Then she could hear the grin in his voice as he said, “You, Dr. Reid, were a little badass.”
“Is everyone alright? JJ are you hurt?” Garcia asked urgently over the comms.
“A little headache, but otherwise I’m just fine, Garcia,” said JJ over the comms.
Spencer could feel a collective sigh from the BAU.
“Spence saved my life,” JJ added, and suddenly with all of the moving people, Spencer could see JJ on the other side of the patio, looking at Spencer warmly.
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Spencer modestly.
“Reid, JJ, you did well, both of you,” said Hotch. “Garcia, start packing up what equipment you can but make sure you still have easy access to the evidence for the team. Morgan, Reid, Greenaway, JJ, I want you to head back to the hotel after JJ gets checked out by the medic. Gideon and I will wrap up the case and come back to the hotel after.”
“Yes, sir,” the team chorused, JJ and Spencer both having positive notes in their voices in response to the praise.
And then they were all moving.
The four younger agents all met up with each other in the middle. JJ hugged Spencer as soon as she was close enough. “Thank you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” said Spencer. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
“I’m not hurt, just a little pain from where he pulled my hair,” said JJ, letting Spencer go.
“Irene?” said Elle in joking distaste.
“It was the first name I thought of after Hannah,” said JJ defensively.
“Oh, Spencer is so not a Hannah either,” said Elle, laughing.
Morgan laughed too, the kind of relieved laughter that spoke to the near miss they’d had. “I don’t think I could imagine Spencer with a feminine name.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t know my middle name then,” said Spencer.
“Oh? What’s your middle name?” Morgan asked.
“Did you really think I was about to tell you?” said Spencer, and the four of them turned towards the stairs that led from the patio into the parking lot.
“It was worth a try,” said Morgan. “Will you tell us if I guess it right?”
“You won’t, but you know what, sure,” said Spencer as they walked down the stairs, figuring it might make for a good distraction.
“Hmm,” said Morgan. “Victoria?”
“Nope,” said Spencer.
“What about Adelaide?” said Elle.
“Also wrong,” said Spencer.
Morgan and Elle kept guessing incorrectly as the four of them walked to a SUV. Morgan and Elle ended up in front, with JJ and Spencer falling in behind them.
JJ nudged Spencer’s shoulder, and Spencer turned towards her shorter friend, distracted from the guessing game momentarily.
“Here,” said JJ, offering the ring in her palm.
Spencer blinked. “Oh. Thanks.” Spencer gently took the ring from JJ, slid it back onto the necklace chain, dropped the necklace around her neck, and tucked it inside her shirt.
Morgan watched Spencer do this but didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he waited until Spencer made eye contact with him again, and then he said, “What about Geraldine?”
Spencer made a disgusted expression. “Geraldine? Really?”
They all burst into laughter, and for a moment, everything felt lighter.
-
Morgan, JJ, Elle, and Spencer got into one SUV, bound for their hotel, while Hotch and Gideon went off in the other SUV, going to help process the UNSUB, and pick up Garcia and her equipment which were still at the precinct.
It was a quiet ride, as they were all tired. But then Morgan locked eyes with Spencer through the side mirror.
“You can tell me to fuck off if it’s too personal, but why do you keep the ring?” Morgan asked as he drove. JJ opened her eyes and watched them from the backseat. Elle had already been watching.
Spencer warred with herself before giving in, if only to her three best friends. “Multiple reasons, really. One of the practical ones is as a failsafe - if I ever need money quick, I can sell it or gamble it. I can also use it as a distraction to get out of a dangerous situation if need be. But it’s also a reminder of happier times. There haven’t been many periods of my life I would consider happy, but Ethan and I were happy. And…” Spencer’s voice trailed off. The last reason she could give was the most important, but it showed her vulnerabilities more than anything. In a quieter voice, she finished, “It’s a reminder that it’s possible to love me, that I am a being who is capable of being loved.”
“Oh Spence,” said JJ sadly.
“Before Ethan, no one ever loved me, except my mom and maybe my dad, but… love wasn’t enough, not in my household, not with my particular brand of troubled youth. I suppose love never has been enough to keep someone around, not in my life.”
Damn. Morgan hadn’t had any guesses as to what Reid’s reasons would be beyond some form of sentimentality, but despite knowing little of her history, he knew enough about her personality and the way she handled personal relationships that he should have known it would be something horribly sad like this.
“Shit, kid,” said Morgan.
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
Then Morgan said, “I hope that you know that we all love you, Spencer. Maybe not romantically, like Ethan, but we love you. You’re our friend and you’re family. And I’m not just saying this to placate you or to make you feel better. I mean it. It’s a privilege to know you and to love you.”
“He’s right, Spencer,” said JJ. “You mean a lot to all of us. Especially Gideon, and you know that. He hasn’t said anything, but wouldn’t surprise me if that man considers you like a daughter or a niece. Maybe that ring reminds you that you can be loved, and that’s okay. But you should also know that you’re loved every day of your life, and I’ll be happy to remind you of that when you need it, I’m sure others will be too. Ethan’s not the last person to love you, and he won’t be the last man to fall in love with you.”
“Thanks, guys,” said Spencer, quietly but genuinely.
“Of course, Pretty Girl,” said Morgan.
They drove back to the hotel in silence, this one much more comfortable.
-
The rest of the team returned to the hotel only a couple of hours after Spencer, Derek, Elle, and JJ arrived, and they all went to bed almost immediately.
They left Richmond early in the morning after breakfast (which of course included coffee). Morgan drove one SUV with Elle, JJ, and Garcia, and Spencer rode in the backseat of the other SUV, with Hotch driving and Gideon riding shotgun. Mercifully, neither Hotch nor Gideon were interested in prying into her relationship with Ethan, though she wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them checked in on her later privately, so it was a peaceful ride. Spencer alternated between reading and watching out the window, since her focus on her book was less than optimal.
The drive was approximately an hour and a half, so they were back in the BAU office in Quantic by eleven in the morning. No one seemed particularly enthused about going straight back to work, even if it was just a paperwork day. With Hotch and Gideon in their offices, the team members in the bullpen mostly pretended to work until they could take off for lunch.
But they also didn’t feel like going anywhere, so Garcia ordered a couple pizzas and they ate them in her office. Spencer missed most of the conversations happening around her, being caught up inside her head, but she enjoyed the company regardless.
They overstayed their lunch, and it took a look from Hotch to send them all to their desks.
However, it wasn’t long after Spencer actually started working that she felt a presence beside her and she looked up to find Morgan perched on her desk, as he often did.
“Hey, Reid, the other girls and I are going out tonight. You should go out with us!” said Morgan cajolingly.
“Go where, exactly?” Spencer asked.
“There’s a new bar on West and 17th,” said Morgan. “We wanna go check it out, and this was a rough case for you, you deserve a chance to cut loose.”
“And what, watch you dance with every pretty girl in the room and drink until I don’t remember his name?” Spencer asked.
Morgan grinned. “If that’s what works for you.”
Spencer shook her head. “I tried that, drinking to forget his name. It didn’t work with my memory, and just made me wary of alcohol.”
“Well, then maybe binge drinking won’t work, but maybe some other part of a fun night out will make you feel better, like food and alcohol, or the dancing, or conversation, or the company - whether that’s a few good friends or maybe a handsome stranger that wants to take you home,” Morgan said, leering at the end.
Spencer blushed. “Morgan, I think you’ve got me confused with someone else, I’m not the one who picks up or gets picked up.”
Morgan smirked. “There’s a first time for everything. I’ll wingman you, Pretty Girl. If you come out with us and you decide you don’t want to go home alone, just say the word.”
“I - look, I’ll think about it, okay?”
“Okay, Pretty Girl, but there’s not much of the day left, and we’re going out after work,” said Morgan.
“Thanks for the invite,” said Spencer. Even though this might not be something she actually wanted to do, she appreciated her friends trying to include her or make her feel better.
“Of course, Pretty Girl,” said Morgan, who then walked off in the direction of Garcia’s office.
With Morgan gone, Spencer refocused on the report, wanting to get it done by the end of the day.
It was quiet in the office, the team members lazy and slow with having come off a case but still working.
As the day ended, Spencer stood up from her desk. “I’m taking my report to turn into Hotch, anyone want me to take theirs?”
“Yeah, thanks Reid,” said Elle, passing her report.
“Oh, would you? I’ve got to run this downstairs,” said JJ, armed with a box of already verified files that had to go to the archives.
Morgan slid his onto the growing stack with a grin and a “Thanks, Pretty Girl”.
And so Spencer climbed the stairs with the team’s reports to Hotch’s office.
She knocked on the door of Hotch’s office. “Enter,” she heard Hotch say, and she pushed into the office.
“Hotch, I’ve got the team’s reports for this last case,” said Spencer, walking towards his desk.
“Thanks, Spencer, I’ll take them,” said Hotch, holding out a hand.
Spencer passed over the reports, and Hotch took them and set them on his desk.
“If there’s nothing else you need from me, it’s the end of your day,” said Hotch.
“Thanks Hotch, I’ll see you on Monday,” said Spencer, turning toward the door.
“Spencer,” said Hotch.
Spencer turned to him. “Yes?”
“Somebody, someday, is going to consider himself the luckiest man in the world because he gets to be your husband. And you’re twenty-four, that’s still very young, you’ve got plenty of time to find him,” said Hotch, looking at her seriously but not unkindly.
Spencer hadn’t known she’d wanted or needed to hear something like that, but her heart warmed nonetheless. “That’s kind of you to say. Thank you, Hotch.”
“You’re welcome,” said Hotch. “Now go ask Morgan for a ride to the bar.”
Spencer blinked. “What?”
Hotch raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’re going out with Morgan and the girls, right?”
Spencer shuffled her feet. “Well, the offer’s on the table, but-”
“You should take it. Go have fun, enjoy your youth. Maybe meet someone new. We never know how many opportunities for moments like these we’re going to get before you lose someone, or someone gets married, or has kids,” said Hotch, smiling wryly.
“Hotch,” said Spencer sympathetically.
“Reid, I know you’re thinking of going, it’s in your body language and eyes, you’re just scared. It’s okay to be scared, but they’re your friends and they’re a part of your team and they love you and want to spend time with you. Even if you’re scared, you shouldn’t let that get in the way of having fun and being happy,” Hotch said, his normally stern voice softened.
Spencer sighed, but there was a smile playing at her lips. “Alright, I’ll go.”
“Good, have fun, don’t drive drunk or let the others drive drunk,” said Hotch with his Dad Voice, as Spencer shook her head and walked out the door.
Spencer noticed the others gathering and heading to the elevator. She quickly grabbed her bag and ran to join them. “Hey! Does that offer come with a ride?”
Morgan gave her a dazzling smile. “It sure can. You coming, Pretty Girl?”
“Sure, it’s a nice night to go out,” said Spencer.
“Yes!” said Garcia, throwing her arms around Spencer, JJ and Elle grinning behind her. “We’re going to have so much fun!”