Home (Spencer Reid)

Chapter 3

"We're going to San Diego." Hotch said, walking in.

"Not for the surfing, huh?" Morgan commented.

"They're calling him the 'Tommy killer'" JJ said.

"6 women raped and murdered in their homes in the last 3 weeks" Hotch continued. "That's a short fuse." Gideon mused. "And getting shorter, first two were 8 days apart then the next 4 in 2 weeks." Hotch replied. "Rapid escalation, do you think he's regressing to a psychopathic frenzy?" Reid asked. "No he's too controlled for that." I said, looking through the file.

"See you on the plane." Hotch got up from his seat. "Why the Tommy killer?" Morgan asked.

"you know the rock opera?" we all nodded.

"Well, this unsub glues his victim's eyes open."

I boarded the plane and sat at the table next to Morgan and across from Reid and JJ.

"Brenda Samms was found yesterday by her children when they got home from school. She had been strangled with a thin ligature, possibly a wire." Hotch said, sitting on the couch.

"No weapon left at the scene" Elle commented.

"Residue on the wrists and mouth indicate that duct tape was used and then removed." Reid said.

"Also not found at the scene." Hotch added.

"Brought it with him, took it with him." Elle said.

"He also started leaving messages at the fourth scene... this was on the mirror." Hotch held up a photo.

"Fair lady, throw those costly robes aside.

No longer may you glory in your pride.

I recognize that...

Take leave of all your carnal, vain delight-

"I've come to summon you away this night" I spoke up. Morgan looked confused and JJ raised an eyebrow.

"It's a ballad from the late 1600's, a dialogue betwixt death and a lady." I explained. Gideon smiled, he looked proud. Reid looked impressed.

"A 17th century ballad?" Elle asked.

"Yeah, essentially a woman begging death to live" Reid summarized. Morgan shook his head at us. "What kind of person knows this ballad? Are we looking for a literature professor?" Elle questioned.

"Anyone with an internet connection, actually. You should see what comes up when you type the word "death" into a search engine." Reid said. Morgan laughed. "Reid, no wonder you can't get a date" He said. I frowned and looked over at him. There was absolutely no way that boy couldn't get a date.

"Reid and Shields, you two stay on the messages, see if there's a deeper meaning." Gideon instructed.

"Look at the crime scene, there's no damage, nothing taken." Morgan pointed out. "The eyes are the signature, the behavior that isn't necessary for the murder, but for the emotional release." I said. "That's what he's there for" I finished. "There used to be a widely held belief that the eyes record a snapshot of the last thing a person sees before they die." Reid spoke up.

"That's right people used to write poems about talking to death." Morgan added. "....ballads" Reid corrected. I smiled. "Whatever" Morgan replied.

"Captain Griffith, task force commander. " He shook our hands. "I'm special agent Hotchner, this is agent Jareau, she's our liaison...."

I wandered over to the board and looked at the information they had on the victims. "Extremely high-risk victims at a high-risk time, he's confident in his ability." I said to Morgan.

I went over to where Reid and JJ were standing to examine the quotes left behind. "Creepy, huh?" JJ asked. "Actually, conversations between death and his victims was a fairly popular literary and artistic theme throughout the renaissance."Spencer said. JJ gave him a look. "Yeah, creepy" he added. She walked over to Gideon.

"Why is it that every time you say something they give you the "nerd" look?" I turned to Spencer. "Because not many people nowadays know things like that" he sighed. "They treat you like some kind of alien." I said. "Why don't you?" He looked confused and my heart broke.

"Because I know what it's like to be treated that way." I turned back to the board, but I could feel his gaze being kept on me.

Gideon and Morgan were at the previous crime scene, Hotch and Elle were headed to the most recent murder attempt, JJ was at a desk, and Reid and I were sat going over the messages. "Here's the full text." Reid handed a piece of paper to me. "He's pretty much following it to a T, at least the death side of the conversation." I pointed out.

"But why didn't he leave it at the first three murders? I mean this ballad is 10 verses long, just on the death side, he's got plenty to work with..." Spence questioned, looking at his copy.

We walked out of the room to meet Morgan and Gideon. Reid explained what we had as I continued to look through the file. Wait a second... "JJ, can you find out when the press ran the first story on this unsub?" I called over to her.

"Yeah, you got it." She replied, picking up the phone.

"What're you thinking?" Morgan asked me.

"He wasn't getting enough attention." I said, without looking up from the file.

"The police department sometimes doesn't even realize they're looking at a pattern." Reid pointed out. Morgan scoffed.

"Yeah, until somebody tells 'em."

JJ looked up from her call. "The first story was ran the morning after the 4th victim was found. "The increased patrols didn't begin until the 4th victim, either." Morgan added.

"Yeah, the police didn't realize what was happening, he writes his verse, and-"

"And everyone knows he was there." I finished.

Hotch and Elle walked in. "The offender in this new attempt is a black male." Hotch said. "Black male? That's cross racial that doesn't happen." Morgan said. "What about Herbert Mullin? He killed 14 different people of completely varying ages, races, and creeds." Reid pointed out.

"There was no sexual component to his crimes." Elle said. "And he wore a ski mask."

"This attacker wore a ski mask" She finished.

I looked over to the board, at the victim's eyes. "Tell 'em we're ready" I said.

"For a profile?" Morgan asked.

I nodded.

"We're gonna make Tommy contact us..."