Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season Three

Identity: Final Part

Will and his officers head over to the rose bushes with shovels and dig them up, finding four more victims. Each of them is in different decomposition stages much like the flowers. The body that decomposed the most has the flowers that developed the longest. Francis or his partner would plant roses when he'd bury the bodies. You look up and see the other three women mist away as well, finding peace like the women before them.

Will's team leaves the house, announcing it's safe to go in, and they head over to the rose bushes to examine each body. Will's team has this to do, so your team heads inside the house. You're the last one inside, and a tear slips out at all the trauma associated with this house.

"They didn't find any explosives and nothing is rigged, but be careful," Will warns as he leaves.

"Hotch? These tapes have the names of the missing women," Rossi says, holding up a box of tapes. "They've all been unspooled."

"We need to get these to Garcia immediately."

You head into the kitchen where Spencer and Emily are, and when Spencer sees you in distress, he drops whatever he is holding and walks over to you.

"Are you okay?"

"No," you whisper.

Emily holds up a list she found on the refrigerator, reading it out loud.

"One, all actions must serve to please the master. Two, insubordination will result in punishment... This is his new manifesto."

"Notice the 'master' is singular and capitalized, emphasizing there's only one dominant partner."

"So, his partner is more of a servant or a serf, always watching the house and helping him abduct women."

"Okay, so if his partner is a serf, what are the female slaves for?" Emily asks, setting down the piece of paper.

"Oh, I think I can answer that," Rossi butts in, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

You walk into the back bedroom where the bed is flipped on its side so that you can see the underside of the mattress. On it are torture devices that Francis would use to hold the women so they couldn't fight back. It hurts to see this, so you have to turn away to protect your own heart.

"Now we know why the victims were taken so far apart. They tortured them. It took time for them to die."

A tear slips out of your eyes at Spencer's words.

"Homemade torture tools. They covered the floor in something. The bodies are probably wrapped in whatever it was. They must have kept these women for months. Judging by these tools, there will be a considerable amount of mutilation. We need to do what we can to help their families give a proper burial."

You know enough about Francis' partner to give a proper profile, so you opted to do that right away so you can get out of this hellhole. From what you found, you concluded that Goehring's partner is early to mid-twenties, 5'8", and has a slight build. He's shy and retiring, but groomed by a separatist armed with assault weaponry.

Like Goehring, he's unlikely to surrender if he's cornered. His obsession with cleanliness and order is deeply ingrained. This will be reflected in his home and his vehicle. You've located hair samples in the cabin you believe are his, which are medium-short length and blonde. He's the submissive partner, but having just lost Goehring, the man he was dedicated to and heavily dependent upon, he's in crisis.

Penelope didn't get anything off the videos either, and you could tell she was hurt by seeing them. You really wish things could be better for her. She hates seeing victims helpless as they are tortured, but she has to watch them in case something is embedded in the video or if she can spot something no one else would see.