The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

36. The Reaper's identity

"Morgan, you're alive. You know why?" Emily smiled.

"It doesn't really matter. I'm sitting here because I was knocked out cold. He couldn't torture me. He likes to interact with his victims, to tell them he's going to kill them before he does or by letting them know he could have." Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Hotch is right. He's just trying to get into your head." Emily nodded, holding Morgan's free hand.

"Right or wrong, he had me." Morgan scoffed.

"O'Mara was clearly killed outside. This was someone else. There's signs of a struggle and a lot of blood." Spencer looked down at the copious amount of blood on the floor.

"But no body." Hotch shook his head.

"Just the drag marks. The human body holds 5 quarts of blood. I'd say there's a little more than half that here. Whoever the bleeder was, they lost too much to survive." Spencer exhaled.

"Foyet? It was his worst fear, that the Reaper would come back and finish the job." Rossi shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

"We offered him protection. He refused. It was his choice." Hotch exhaled as he exited the house.

———

Hotch and the team sat back at the precinct, Spencer walking around, looking up at the board.

"Why is he so focused on Foyet? What's so special about him?" Hotch asked, looking at the team.

"He was his only surviving victim, the only one he couldn't defeat." JJ suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

"But he's not a threat. Defeating him would be no great accomplishment. There's something there that we're missing." Hotch exhaled.

"What about the girlfriend, Amanda Bertrand? What do we know about her?" JJ picked up a photo of the girl.

"19. A freshman. She came her from Michigan to go to school. Foyet was a teacher's assistant in one of Amanda's courses." Emily explained Amanda's life.

"Michigan. Where the Reaper had Shaunessy post the personal ad." Hotch furrowed his eyebrows.

"That can't be a coincidence." JJ rolled her eyes.

"He told us she was the love of his life, that he was gonna propose." Rossi remembered something that Foyet had mentioned.

"But she just got here from Michigan. They only met when the class started." Morgan shook his head, reading a file.

"How long had she been in the class?" Hotch looked around, Emily scoffing.

"4 weeks." Emily leaned back, shocked.

"So it was either love at first sight or what?" JJ asked, confused.

"Foyet was lying?" Morgan shrugged his shoulders.

"He's a 28-year-old teacher's assistant in freshman classes." Hotch started.

"That gives him plenty of access to young girls." Rossi nodded.

"Garcia, Cassidy." Hotch called them.

"We're here." Cassidy spoke.

"What are Foyet's aliases?" Hotch asked as Rossi handed him a piece of paper.

"I want you to look up in Boston city records Kevin Baskin, Miles Holden, and William Parker. Try the Department of Education." Hotch asked, Garcia starting to type.

"Well played, sir. They all work for the Department of Education, they're all substitute teachers, and they all teach computer Science." Garcia spoke.

"High school?" Hotch guessed.