The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

29. Possible lead

"Oh, he did the murders, and we'll prove it. What he remembers doesn't matter." Rossi was adamant.

"Doesn't it? I mean, if those experiences are gone forever, doesn't that sort of make him, I don't know, like...different person?" Emily considered.

"No, not at all." Rossi argued.

"It goes to core arguments about the nature of identity. There's a western philosophical concept - causal dependence - that says that a psychological connection to the past plays a key role in defining who we are." Spencer rambled, not caring that Rossi wasn't interested.

"Reid, what are you saying, that this guy shouldn't be tried?" Morgan looked at Spencer, shocked.

"I'm not saying that." Spencer shook his head.

"But one could make the argument that in his current condition he's no longer a danger to society." Cassidy spoke.

"Not until he gets his memory back." Rossi argued again.

"But it's not just about this guy being a danger. It's about making sure somebody pays for what happened to those girls." Morgan looked at Hotch, who exhaled.

"Well, it's not up to us to decide to what extent he should be punished. That's for the courts. Where are we with Matloff's mystery visitor?" Hotch asked, looking at JJ.

"Prentiss and I contacted every recorded Nina Moore within 500 miles of the hospital. 71 in total, no takers." JJ shook her head.

"Matloff's a textbook loner. No meaningful relationships, no family, no girlfriends. But anyone who would visit a coma patient-" Hotch began.

"A triple murder coma patient." Cassidy interrupted briefly.

"-we're talking about somebody who feels connected to him." Hotch shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe connected enough to know the truth." JJ sighed.

"The truth could be she's just a fan. Every serial killer's got 'em." Rossi suggested.

"Let's go back to the hospital and interview the staff. We need to build a profile and help locate this woman." Hotch instructed as the team separated, Spencer saying his goodbye to Cassidy before ending the call.

———

Once again, Hotch sat in the courtroom, watching the case play out in front of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are here to bring justice to the families of 3 beautiful young women, whose lives were cut short by a cold and calculating killer. Darci Corbett, Celeste Ferami, April Sutherland." Cece spoke as she walked around the room.

"3 women out for a run or a jog in the park when they were approached by an employee of the forestry service. An employee who used his authority to lure these women into a secluded area, where he could safely perform the act of murder." Cece was adamant.

"Was it the work of a serial killer? Perhaps. But the theory that my client is the responsible party is just that - a theory." Lester explained.

"He strangled them slowly, inflicting maximum suffering and terror, And in the process, turned the Blue Ridge parkway into his own private killing fields." Cece tried to convince the jury.

"No eyewitness, no fingerprints, no DNA, no murder weapon. Not one shred of hard evidence. The only way that they can tie my client to these crimes is through the pseudo-Science called profiling." Lester scoffed.

"At the close of evidence, you will know that Brian Matloff is the man who committed these crimes. Whether he remembers it or not." Cece clasped her hands together.

Hotch sat on the witness stand, being questioned by Cece.

"So, through this process of linkage analysis, you concluded that all 3 murders were perpetrated by one man." Cece asked.

"Yes, that's correct." He nodded.

"And you believe that man is Brian Matloff?" Cece stepped closer to Hotch.

"Yes, I do." Hotch straightened his blazer.

"Can you tell us how you came to that conclusion?" Cece requested, Hotch clearing his throat.

"Along with Dr. Reid and Agent Morgan, we began to analyse the behaviour of the unknown subject as manifested before, during, and after the commission of the murders." Hotch began, noticing Lester's change in attitude when his BlackBerry buzzed.

"Our goal was to generate a suspect pool - a list of names which we'd eventually narrow down to one person." Hotch went on to describe a conversation that he, Spencer and Morgan had 4 years ago.

"This deduction revealed to us how the killer gained satisfaction from his crimes. By burying the victims in the park, he was able to revisit the scene and relive his acts over and over." Hotch explained.

"So, I imagine there are a lot of people who work for the forest service?" Cece questioned.

"1, 718 employees." Spencer highlighted a section of text from the website.

"He won't be a new employee. He's cautious, he's organized. He leaves behind no trace evidence. Hotch looked at the screen.

"He's bordering on paranoid. He's the kind of guy who needs to know exactly what the cops know. He's probably inserted himself into the investigation already." Morgan insisted.

"And what did Technical Analyst Garcia do at that time?" Cece asked, facing the jury.

"We asked her to check names of forestry employees against a list of witnesses interviewed by the Roanoke police." Hotch answered the question.

"And were you able to find a common denominator?" Cece turned to Hotch.

"Yes, one. Brian Matloff." Hotch nodded.

———

Emily and JJ walked into Rossi's office just as he got off the phone.

"Reid says thing are good at the trial. How did it go at the hospital?" Rossi asked, leaning back in his chair as Emily and JJ sat down.

"Our interviews filled in some blanks about the woman who visited Matloff. Uh, late 40s to mid-50s with quiet, almost nervous demeanour." JJ read the notes she had written down.

"On her first visit, she didn't even make it into the room. She just stood in the doorway and watched for a few minutes and then left." Emily continued.

"And on later visits, she'd what, sit with him, talk to him?" Rossi asked, confused.

"Read to him. On more than one occasion, she asked the nurses about his condition, and they said she appeared "concerned with his pain." Emily read JJ's notes.

"That sounds almost maternal." Rossi raised an eyebrow in intrigue.

"We thought so too, but his parents effectively disowned him after the indictment." JJ shook her head.

"So we called his mother to make sure, got to talking, and guess what. She's not his mother." Emily almost chuckled.

"And his father's not his father." JJ shook her head.

"Matloff was adopted?" Rossi seemed shocked by this reveal.

"This visitor could be his birth mother. She's the right age. They may have had a relationship that no one knew about." Emily explained.

"What other physical description did you get?" Rossi questioned.

"Uh, brunette, brown eyes, dark complexion. One nurse thought Hispanic, another one said Mediterranean." JJ looked down at her notes.

"What about native American?" Rossi leaned forward, coming up with a solid suggestion.

"That would explain his interest in the culture." Emily nodded.

"He's trying to get in touch with his roots." Rossi smiled at the new possible lead.