[𝟐] 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 - 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨

𝐀 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐇𝐔𝐒𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃

Never a dull moment here.

—

As soon as we got into the office, Penelope had a case for us.

Spencer was supposed to be back today. His mom was supposed to be in a clinical trial for Alzheimers but he pulled her out of it. She's now living with him at his apartment.

Emily, Rossi and I were making our way to the conference room.

"Isn't Spencer supposed to back today?" Rossi asked us.

"He's adjusting to having his mom around, but, yeah, he should be here by now." Emily replied.

I let out a sigh. "Let's do this."

The team sat down while Emily and I stood around the table.  We waited for Penelope to get started. This case is a rough one. Aren't they all?

"Palm Springs, California. Playground to Hollywood, currently a horror scene. Enter one male torso, unidentifiable. If it wasn't for a woman who had some car trouble, no one would have ever even found the body. And the coroner on site said the dismemberment probably happened postmortem." Penelope started.

"Now, the 2004 torso murders here in DC are still unsolved." Emily spoke.

"We profiled the unsub in that case, removed the body parts as a forensic countermeasure to prevent I.D.ing the victims. We figure he must have gotten locked up on another case." Rossi added.

"Now he may be back and taunting us. Any potential victims on the local missing persons lists?" JJ asked.

"So far there's been no reports of a missing male there in the last month." Pen replied.

"So, no missing persons and a chopped up body we can't identify. Is Robert Durst in town?" Tara asked.

In walks Spencer with an answer. "Nope, he's serving seven years on a weapons charge. Sorry, I'm late guys. Traffic was bad." He said. I smiled and nodded at him.

"Any I.D. on the torso victim?" Emily asked.

"Uh, they don't have enough of him to do a query with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Database." Pen replied. Of course not.

"He made a real effort to pull off permanent concealment." JJ added.

"Well, that could indicate a known link between the unsub and the victim." Tara said.

"Or he hoped to hide the fact that a killer had just arrived in town." Stephen spoke.

"It strikes me that he must be familiar with the area. I mean, you don't murder someone out in the desert and then bring the body back into a populated area." I said and pulled up the map.

"So the unsub was skilled enough to hunt, kill, dismember, and dispose of his victims all within city limits." Spencer spoke.

"And escape without being seen." Luke added.

"And his tradecraft was on point, too. He brought an effective cutting tool and had a secure location of vehicle to do the deed." Stephen said.

"That kind of planning could indicate he's been fantasizing about something like this for quite a while." Tara continued.

"And if the reality didn't live up to the fantasy, he'll keep at it until he gets it right. Wheels up in 30." Emily said.

Everyone packed up their things and went to their desks. I went to go talk to Spencer as he was making coffee.

"Hey, is everything good?" I asked sincerely.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm a little frazzled." He replied honestly.