Chapter Text
“This can’t be happening.” Garcia spoke with a shaky, panicked voice over the microphone.
“I know, baby girl, but right now we have to stay calm and focus.” Morgan tried to reassure her over the phone.
“No! I know my baby genius and my baby genius wouldn’t do this!” Garcia near pleaded back at him.
—--
One week earlier.
Spencer yawned for the third time that hour in the conference room, only to take another sip of his over sweetened coffee. “Pretty boy?” Morgan asked teasingly, “Did you get enough sleep last night?”
“Technically speaking, yes I went to bed around eleven pm last night and managed to get at least six hours of sleep.”
“That leaves another hour or two sleepless, what kept you up?” Rossi joined the conversation.
Reid thought back to last night’s dream- no, nightmare.
“-Kid can’t shoot his way out of a wet paper bag.” he could hear a gunshot that reverberated around the voided space.
“FBI? You’re not serious. You look like a pipe cleaner with eyes.” the echoed voices told him.
“You think you know everything?” another shot.
“Point, shoot and follow through! It's so simple! A dalmatian could do it!”
“I could snap you like a twig.”
“Boys can sort this kind of thing out themselves.” two more gunshots. He turned around to see three bodies consecutively drop lifeless to the floor.
“You ever talk to someone who wants to continuously show you he's smarter than you?” “Every day.”
“What, are you a genius or something?” A scream could be heard distantly. He turned around in the forest to see five dead bodies lying on the ground.
“Where’d you find this kid?” Bang. Eight bodies lay in front of him.
The voices continued, getting louder and louder, overwhelming to the point where it felt like it swelled in his mind but quieted just as suddenly as his ears focused on the sound of a steady tapping. He turned in every direction trying to find the source before zeroing in on the puddles of blood across the dead leaves, the steady tap as more dripped into them, disturbing the smooth reflective surface of the puddles. The voices were back. Instead of all saying different phrases they all repeated the same as if they were all trying to interrupt each other “save them” they whispered. He saw something sway in the reflection of a puddle as he looked up to see thirteen bodies hung from the tree branches.
Then he woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air.
“I don’t exactly remember.” He finally said. He knew he was lying, and so did everyone else at the table but no one pressed any further.
“Sorry I’m late, what have we got?” Emily Prentiss asked as she sat down in their team’s conference room.
“Keep your listening ears on friends, this one has a lot of strings to connect the dots.” Garcia started, pulling up pictures of each crime scene. “There have been four cases of families being murdered around the U.S. over the past month-”
Martha and Johnathan Watson were shot execution style in their home in Spokane, Washington.
Zoey Morris was shot to death in Springfield, Illinois along with her mother in-law. Dodge City, Kansas, Nora Lee was found stabbed to death in her apartment along with her boyfriend, Ethan Cooper, who was murdered the same way in his apartment two blocks away. And finally, Mason Turner was found stabbed to death in his home in Watertown, South Dakota.” Garcia stopped to take a deep breath.
“Three different MOs, four different states. If they’re connected this sounds more like organized crime.” Morgan noted, skimming through the file. “What is the connection?” JJ asked curiously.
“Ah see, that's where this gets interesting.” Garcia continued, “Harrisburg, Pennsylvania police found four dead bodies in their area in alleyways and when they were finally identified they tried to call the families only to find out that not only were their families in completely different states but that they were also dead.”
Here's the kicker, each victim had been reported missing anywhere from two weeks up to over a month before their bodies were found in Harrisburg. Each victim’s death was caused by suffocation, and each one had electrocution burns and small amounts of water in their lungs.” Garcia finally finished. The team, already prepared with their own observations about the case, started firing them off ready to discuss.
“ME reports state the victims found in Harrisburg were killed just after their families were murdered in their hometowns.” started Reid, already flipped through the many files connected to this case.
“Going missing on one side of the country and showing up dead on the other and their families being murdered before they even die. That can’t be a coincidence.” Morgan brought up.
“So our unsub is kidnapping people, taking them all the way to Harrisburg, keeping them and then having their families murdered before killing them himself. Why?” Asked Rossi. “Maybe it has to do with a human trafficking ring?” JJ suggested.
“Two women, two men all with very different physical appearances. If it was human trafficking they would all have matching physical descriptions.” Prentiss answered. She was right, Victim 4, Dr. Alice Brown was a white, petite woman with dark brown hair, Victim 1 Dr. Noah Watson was white, tall, average build and blonde, Victim 2 Adeline Morris was black, average height and curves, and Victim 3, Isaiah Carter, was latino, tall and muscular. “None of the victims have evidence of sexual assault either so we know our unsub isn’t in it for that kind of release.” Morgan stated.
“Hey, if most of the victims are from different states, where are we working the case from?” Prentiss brought up, confused.
Hotch nodded to his team “Harrisburg Police Department called us in, they realized the vast scope of this is way out of their hands. They have a serial killer, and kidnapper. That and seeing as the victims are from different states means we have to get involved anyways. Garcia, while we’re in the air I want you to run background checks on all the victims, we should get started on victimology as soon as we can, it might be the key to predicting our unsub’s next move.” he stated getting up out of his seat.
“Aye, aye cap’n.” Garcia added playfully.
“Wheels up in thirty.” he added before walking out of the room.
—--
“The way the bodies were discarded seems like a contradiction.” Reid started. Each of the victims that were found in Harrisburg were found in dumpsters and alleys with a white sheet covering their bodies. Dr. Noah Watson was placed in the dumpster with his arms crossed over his chest. Adeline Morris was left sitting up against the wall of the alley. Isaiah Carter was placed off to the side of the alley, laying down with arms crossed over his chest, and Dr. Alice Brown was placed the same as Dr. Watson.
“What do you mean?” JJ asked Reid curiously.
“The bodies were dumped in dumpsters or alleys next to garbage,”
“The unsub’s way of saying they were garbage, dehumanizing, a sign of disrespect almost.” Rossi filled in.
“Right, but the way they were posed contradicts that. Arms crossed over their chests, leaned against a wall, white sheets covering their bodies… it suggests remorse.” Reid continued, shaking his head in thought trying to piece together everything.
“Could be the amount of time he spent with them? He got to know them, liked them, but he ended up seeing them as garbage.” Emily suggested.
“But why these four people and why their families too?” JJ questioned.
“Different physical appearance, so his attraction to them isn’t sexual, and they don’t seem to be surrogates for someone else. Could it be wrong place, wrong time sort of thing?” Morgan suggested.
“If all four victims were on a trip to Harrisburg that could be the case and explain why their home addresses were all spread out.” Hotch chimed in. “There would be records of that sort of thing.”
“He could be killing them for his own gain.” Emily added.
A chime on the laptop told them Garcia was starting a video call with the team. “The information superhighway has a delivery for my favorite agents!” She announced.
“Garcia, what do you have?” Hotch asked from his seat on the plane.
“Well, Dr. Noah Watson was reported missing on September 5th. Phd graduate from University of Washington, single, lives alone, squeaky clean criminal record. Adeline Morris, went missing October 25th, graduate from Harvard, has a wife and kid, clean record. Isaiah Carter, went missing August 23rd, he worked as a security guard for five years after getting trained at Wichita State University, had two partners, poly romance sort of thing, clean record except for a few fights he got into in his teen years. Dr. Alice Brown, was reported missing September 18th, also had a Phd, again squeaky clean record.” Garcia reported.
Rossi nodded thoughtfully, “Our unsub isn’t kidnapping one person, then once exceeding their use he tortures and kills them. He's keeping them for indefinite periods of time. He had Carter the longest but got rid of him after two other people, he didn't have Morris that long either.”
“Garcia,” Hotch started, ready to give the tech wizard a new task, “Were any of the victims planning a trip to Harrisburg?” The familiar sound of keys clacking against a keyboard in quick succession followed his question before Garcia responded. “Uh, that would be a no. No plane tickets, train tickets or cabs were paid for by any of them. Dr. Brown had actually just gotten back from a vacation to Alaska with her fiancé about five days before she went missing.”
The profilers looked at each other for a moment before Morgan spoke what was on their minds. “That still begs the question, why these people specifically and why their family?”
“All four victims were highly educated, maybe that has something to do with it?” JJ suggested off the top of her head.
“Garcia, can you see if there are any more missing persons cases reported by families for people with high education?” Rossi asked, following JJ’s thought process.
“Of course I can, but do you have anything else to help narrow down the search?” Garcia responded, the clacking of her keyboard still heard as she talked, typing being second nature to her. “Look for people that were reported missing between July of this year and now.” Reid suggested.
“Got it, boy wonder.” Garcia responded cheerfully. A soft smile could be seen on Reid’s face at the nickname.
“Dive into the victim’s online presence as well and see if there is anyone of interest in common with all four, check phone records etcetera.” Hotch added.
“My fingers will move at the speed of sound, Penelope out!” She responded before the screen went back to the screen saver.
“You think our unsub has more victims waiting in the wings?” Morgan looked at Rossi who simply shrugged in response, “It would make sense if he did. Maybe he is using them for something, “Do what I say and I won’t hurt you or your family.” Except they finally snapped and rebelled against him. Called his bluff, then once the family was killed he lets them sit in guilt for two days, lets them think about the mistake they made and finally kills them.”
“The victims in Harrisburg’s bodies were treated with remorse that isn’t present at their families' murders. Could we be looking at multiple unsubs? There's no way someone can drive from Pennsylvania to Washington with a sniper rifle, murder a family and drive all the way back then go to Illinois to pick up Morris three days later.” Emily brought up.
“Technically,” Reid started “It would be possible by plane or jet but that would mean our unsub is wealthy enough to afford two way plane tickets or wealthy enough to afford to own transportation like that himself, in which case he’d need to hire a pilot. He would want to pick up victims and bring them back as fast as possible, having to take them by car would mean being away from his current victims for long periods of time, risking their escape.” Reid cut himself off before he started to ramble.
“If he has more victims he would need somewhere to house them. Carter was with the unsub for nearly three months. He either stayed strong or was kept pretty comfortable.” JJ thought out loud.
Their brainstorming was interrupted by the pilot’s signal of touch down in Pennsylvania.
“Morgan and Rossi I want you two over at the first crime scene, see what you can find. Prentiss and Reid, head to the medical examiner. JJ you’re with me we’ll head down to the station and set up.” Hotch ordered.
—---
At the police station officers seemed to scramble about. Hotch walked up to the woman who was barking orders at everyone as they prepared themselves with bullet proof vests and weapons.
“Captain Allen?” He started, reaching his hand out to shake hers as he introduced himself. “I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner, this is SSA Jennifer Jareau. We’re from the FBI’s BAU.” she took his hand, giving a quick but firm shake.
“Agent Hotchner, apologies for the chaotic state of things.” she said with a huff.
“What's going on?” JJ asked.
“There’s another bank robbery going down, it's the third one in the past two months.” Captain Allen stated with stress clear in her voice and body language as she was handed a vest by a passing officer, she put it on and she walked to the parking lot, Hotch and JJ following behind her. “Three bank robberies in two months? Mind if we tag along? We can lend you a hand.” Hotch offered. Captain Allen nodded “Sure, why not. Since my guys can’t seem to catch these robbers.”
JJ and Hotch shared a look before JJ raised her phone in her hand, silently asking him if he wanted to involve the rest of the team or not.
“Let them know but I don’t deem it necessary for all of us to lose focus on the case we were called in for. They should steer clear unless this lasts most of the day.” He told her.
—---
By the time they got there it seemed the excitement of the bank robbery was already over. Cops wandered about the scene taking statements from witnesses.
“T-there were four of them. They all wore black and- and they all had face masks on, I didn’t get a good look at their faces.” Hotch and JJ overheard when they stepped out of the SUV. Captain Allen walked right up to one of her detectives and asked the obvious question.
“Detective Walker, what happened?” She demanded.
The detective sighed, being just as fed-up with this case as everyone else seemed to be. “Same as the last two times. Four people wearing all black and face coverings walked in, took $30,000 in cash and then managed to get out of the building without being seen by a single officer. It’s like they just vanished, Allen.”
“Was anyone injured?” JJ asked the detective, who shook his head. “There has only been two innocents injured from these robberies, at the second robbery one witness claims to have hit a robber in the head with a stapler causing him to bleed but forensics never found a match.”
“How the hell does four people walk into a bank and walk out barely being seen by anybody and without killing anyone?” Allen asked rhetorically.
“What about security cameras?” Hotch suggested, again only to be met with head shakes from the captain and detective. “We’ve tried but the footage is just static during the times of robbery. These guys are so quick we’ve barely been able to get officers down here in time.” Allen said almost hopelessly.
“I could ask our tech analyst to see if she can find the source of the disruption for you?” Hotch asked the Captain. “No, for now I just want you guys to catch the murderer. These robbers need to be caught but they don’t seem to want to hurt any bystanders or witnesses.”
“I understand.” Hotch nodded.
—----
Rossi and Morgan walked behind the bar looking at the crime scene before them. Which, truth be told, didn’t seem like much of a crime scene. No blood was scattered about, the dumpster was just that, a regular dumpster, filled with trash. It was disheartening knowing this was where Dr. Brown’s body ended up after she was murdered.
“Dr. Brown wasn’t murdered here, there are no signs of struggle. Whoever did this had intention by putting her here of all places.” Rossi stated.
“What intention is that?” Morgan asked.
“ That I’m not too sure of.” Rossi shook his head in frustration. “Like Reid said, he dumps the bodies like they belong in the garbage behind bars and clubs, insinuating that he thinks they deserve it. However, the bodies are placed with remorse, hands crossed over their chests, eyes closed, sheets covering their bodies like how they would be placed in their casket.”
“Maybe we have two unsubs?”
“Seems unlikely.” the older agent shook his head.
“You think the unsub knew the victims?”
“That is much more likely. It's almost as if the unsub had a bond with the victims. Kidnapped them specifically, held them for a period of time, got to know them over the course of their time, then something happened that made him think of them as garbage.”
“That might fit why Morris and Carter were placed differently.”
“How so?”
“The Doctors were placed in the dumpster, the unsub is strong enough to lift the bodies into the dumpster and place them gently on top of the garbage. He had Morris the shortest amount of time, didn’t know her as well, and left her sitting up against the dumpster.”
“But Carter was placed across the alley, away from a dumpster. On the ground, almost like he was special. The unsub knew him the longest.”
Morgan looked around the alley before noticing two security cameras above the backdoor of the bar, one pointed directly down to watch the door and the other pointed down the alley at the dumpster. “Did we get security footage from the bar owners?” he asked Rossi.
“Officers said they tried but the camera coincidentally malfunctioned at the same time the body was dumped. They said it was like that at all the other crime scenes.”
“That's not suspicious at all.” Morgan said with a huff, sarcasm lacing his tone of voice. He pulled out his phone and called his friend on speed dial.
“Lair of beauty, this is cutie! What can I do for your hot booty?” Garcia chirped over the phone, a smile present in her voice.
“Hi, dollface, you’re on speaker with me and Rossi, are you busy right now?” Morgan asked after giving a laugh at her greeting.
“Never too busy for you! Whatchya need hot stuff?”
“Are you able to hack into the security cameras in the alleys the victims’ bodies were found in?”
“Uh, yeah. Gimme something harder.”
“The footage from when the bodies were dumped was somehow lost or tampered with. Is there anything you can do to get it?”
“That might be a little bit tricky…” She started, her fingers flying across the keyboard. “But I have found the footage file and the good news is, it looks like it was tampered with but if you give me a few minutes I can unscramble it for you.”
“Can you do that for the other crime scenes?”
“You bet your sweet chocolate ass I can.” Rossi gave a reminder she was on speaker. Morgan ignored him.
“Great. Did you narrow down that missing person’s list and look at the victim’s social histories?”
“Yep, and we still have a very long list of missing persons, over a hundred. Also, I was not able to find a single link between any of our victims. These guys did not know the same people and none of them have ever even been to Pennsylvania before.”
“Did you cross check with the missing persons list?”
“Yessir I did and I did find that Adeline Morris’s roommate from college was reported missing from her home in Muncie, Indiana. The two seemed to be good friends and were both pretty successful at their school.” Rossi and Morgan shared a look at that. Trying to piece together the new information.
“Who was her roommate?” Rossi asked
“Her name is Jade Bailey. She has a degree in computer science.”
“Just like Dr. Watson.”
“Yep. However Dr. Watson had a PHD. I can keep digging after I unscramble that footage for you?”
“That would be great. You’re amazing.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” She said before hanging up.
“So we know another one of our unsubs hostages. That's good.” Rossi told Morgan before they got back into the SUV.
—----
“The COD was suffocation by a plastic bag.” The ME, Dr. Price told the agents.
“What are these burn marks from?” Emily asked, gesturing to the marks on Dr. Brown’s torso.
“I’d say they're from a taser, the kind people buy for self defense.” she said.
“Something that's easily available.” Reid concluded.
Dr. Price nodded. “The marks appear on all four of the bodies in various stages of healing. Morris had the most, ranging from two weeks old to right before she was killed. Carter, however, had marks that were completely healed but left a minor scar, and marks that were only a few days old. They tasered on their torsos, namely sides closer to their ribs and a few on the necks occasionally.”
“The unsub most likely had their shirt removed so he could cause as much pain as possible.” Emily concluded, receiving a nod from the examiner.
“The report says there was water in some of the victims’ lungs, but they didn’t drown?” Reid asked.
“Yes. There was a bit of water in all of their lungs, but no other evidence suggests they were submerged in water antemortem.”
“Could it be from waterboarding?” Emily suggested.
“That does seem possible, we did find fibers from two different types of fabric on Carter and Morris’s faces, only one type of fiber on Brown and Watson’s.”
Reid and Emily looked at each other trying to piece together the new information. Reid looked down at Brown’s body once more. “These are ligature marks,” he observed. “Do you know what they're from?”
“Leather straps, we found traces of it on their skin.”
“They were strapped down during their torture.” Emily stated.
Reid tilted his head in thought, “Right, but if they were strapped down for their entire time being held captive, the ligature marks would be much more pronounced.”
“Morris’s body had the most pronounced ligature marks, I’d say she was strapped down for over a week.” Dr. Price added in.
“Were the bodies malnourished at all? Dehydrated?” Emily brought up. Price shook her head. “No, other than the torture evidence they were well taken care of when they were alive. Well fed, hydrated. Except for Morris, they all seemed pretty well rested. Even their clothes and hair were relatively clean.” Reid tilted his head looking like a confused puppy at that. “Dr. Watson had asthma and there was even evidence of inhaler usage.”
“Was there anything else you were able to observe?” Prentis asked.
“No, that's pretty much it.” The examiner replied.
“Thank you for your time. Feel free to call us if you find anything else.” she told her, handing her a card with her name and phone number on it. Dr. Price nodded to the agents as they walked out of the building in silence.
They had made it to the steps outside of the building before Emily turned to Reid. “Alright, what's going on in that big brain of yours?” Spencer was a step down before stopping and turned around to look at her with a confused gaze. “I could hear the gears in your head turning since before we left the office.” she chuckled. “What's got you thinking?”
“The clothes.” he stated.
“I’m sorry?”
“The ME said that even their clothes were relatively clean.’ That suggests that the unsub changed their clothes or gave them clothes to wear. Most often with missing persons when they are found they are still wearing the clothes they were taken in. If held for long periods of time the clothes are covered in sweat, stained and dirty.” he said as he turned around walking towards the car, deciding to continue this conversation on their way to the precinct.
“But if these victims’ clothes were clean the unsub would have changed their clothes, that's not out of the ordinary.” She followed his logic.
“Yes but in most cases the clothes are connected to the unsub’s attraction to the victim. That and it's likely obvious the clothes were changed. Like the costume they were put in by the unsub being drastically different to what they would normally wear for their occupation or hobbies.”
“Like dressing a sex worker in a tea length lolita dress.” Prentiss hopped into the driver's seat, Reid in the passenger side, she started the car.
“Exactly, but we’ve already ruled out physical attraction. These victims…” Reid thought back to the crime scene photos for confirmation, using his eidetic memory to its full advantage, “They were all wearing black. Different fashion styles but all black.”
“Do you think that does something for the unsub?” She asked curiously as she pulled onto the main road.
“I’m not sure. Maybe it has something to do with the color psychologically. See, historically black was only worn during morning periods until the 1920s-”
“-Right, Coco Chanel’s little black dress.” Emily stated, leaving room for him to continue but he looked at her and tilted his head in confusion. “What? I’m allowed to know obscure facts too, especially when it comes to fashion.”
“No, I actually didn’t know that. Is that really what changed people wearing black?” Emily looked floored for a moment, baffled, she looked at his face quickly to double check he wasn’t joking that she was able to teach him a historical fact, before nodding.
“Interesting. We’re getting off topic, tell me more later,” He continued, Emily shook her head in amusement, already excited about getting to teach Reid something and subconsciously making plans with Garcia and JJ to teach him everything they knew about fashion history. “Black can either help people blend in or stand out depending on surrounding contrast, but it is often associated with mystery, authority, sophistication, and individuality. Black is usually seen as the color for subcultures that see themselves as operating outside of societal norms. It's seen as the ‘color of rebellion’ per say. I’m wondering if this unsub really does have a bigger operation than what we normally see on the surface. If he sees himself and his captives as rebels against society, forming his own sort of cult.”
Prentiss nodded, considering his theory. Deciding its sound enough to bring back to the team.
—----
The wide windowless room had computer screens lined up against one of the walls. Four desks with at least two monitors each. One person sat at each desk, the clacking of keyboards filled most of the noise in the room. The fingers on one of the keyboards stopped suddenly, using her mouse to click back and enhance the image before speaking hesitantly.
“Sir?” She caught the attention of another man in the room who was surveying the many people from the platform railing. He came down the stairs and walked over to her desk.
“What do you have Bailey?” he spoke with a gruff urgent tone.
“The FBI was called over for the murder cases.” she timidly stated, gesturing to her monitors where she had security footage from behind a bar downtown and outside the bank.
The man smiled at the pictures on the screen. “The Behavioral Analysis Unit, perfect timing. If these agents are here, the one we need is surely here too.”
He grinned openly at the picture of the genius before turning away from the computer. “Oh, good job Bailey, I’ll be sure not to forget this.” he praised as he walked away.
Jade Bailey nodded at the man before turning back to her monitors, a grim knot settled in her stomach thinking about what was in store for them. She gave a silent prayer for Dr. Spencer Reid.