The Story of Us

Chapter 15- Solved

The next morning, everybody gathers in the lobby to head over to the station. They are about to leave when Hotch notices Amanda is missing. "Where's Amanda?" He questions. Everyone looks around confused before Emily speaks up.

"I saw her last night. She said that she couldn't sleep because she forgot to refill her medicine so she was going to work until she passed out."

"Medicine?"

"Amanda suffers from chronic insomnia. The doctors said that her hyperthymesia paired with a most likely high IQ makes it difficult for her brain to settle down and therefore sleep," Spencer answers helpfully. "She's had a prescription for Melatonin since she was 14."

"I thought you said you weren't friends with my sister in college," Hotch counters.

"No, you said that. I didn't say anything because the Tommy Killer called the station." Hotch makes a face before nodding and saying they should head to the station. When they arrive, they are approached by officer Macklin.

"Pardon me but which one of you is Agent Hotchner?"

"I am," Hotch says, stepping forward. Macklin hands him a file.

"Your sister was giving me things to give to you while she worked. Things she figured out, I reckon. She said she would be asleep when you got here. I hadn't seen her in a while around three in the morning so I went to check on her and she was fast asleep on the couch. I gave her a blanket and my jacket to use as a pillow but I'm not sure if she found anything else," he informs him, and Hotch thanks him before the team heads to the conference room.

They take one look at the table before Morgan lets out a low whistle. "She definitely was working on something."

"Yes, but what?" Gideon wonders trying to make sense of all of Amanda's scribblings.

"Well, it seems that she found our victim zero," Hotch states. "A Sarah Keen was found dead in an alley. They interviewed her husband and he told them that she had a heroin problem but she was trying to get clean. When they ran a tox-screen on her, however, they found that she had died after injecting herself with paint thinner."

"Maybe she got rid of the heroin to get clean but then the craving became too much and she used what she had on hand," Emily offers. "People huff paint all the time, maybe she meant to inject herself with the paint but got paint thinner instead."

"That's a good theory, Prentiss," Hotch compliments and she has to hold back a smile as Hotch turns to ask Spencer if he can decipher Amanda's notes only to see him sitting on the couch next to her whispering in her ear. He watches in awe knowing full well that Amanda loathes being woken up and tends to attack those that do so with almost deadly force. As he watches them, he begins to wonder if they were more than friends in college when Amanda sits up with a yawn.

"I'm pretty sure it's the husband," she begins, drawing everyone's attention. "Since it was so early, I did my own digital research and he was a chemist for a big corporation before his wife developed a taste for heroin. He quit to help her get clean but after she died, he never went back. He came from a wealthy family before they moved to Idaho to settle down so he didn't need to work. He probably does it to see what his wife went through. She injected herself with a lot but the M.E. charted that he didn't think it was the first time she had injected herself with paint thinner."

"Did you get an address?" Gideon asks and Amanda walks over to the table and looks through her notes before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to her brother.

"I should probably stay here and get some coffee. I'm not really in working order right now," she states and he nods before thanking her for the work she had done and leading the team to the SUVs. They end up getting the suspect easily and he had another victim in his basement. Morgan called for a medic as Hotch and Prentiss lead the unsub out of the house and into a police car.