nina cried power [SPENCER REID]

one.

"Worked," Hotch says, almost invisibly, his hands clasped under his chin, jaw leaning on his knuckles. He let's Spencer continue.

"And.. Middle is Luca Bianchi, an Italian diplomat. Head of the Pope's security team."

"The Pope has a security team?" Emily asks, furrowing her brow and looking over her shoulder at him.

"An extensive one," Spencer replies lightly. "And the last is Maria Bianchi, his wife."

The team look at Hotch and JJ for confirmation, and they both nod (Spencer, as usual, feels a little thrill that he got it right, but he keeps his face mute for fear of seeming grim), before JJ continues, "Lebenov died two months ago, March 24, while here in the US. Killed in his hotel room. Luca Bianchi and his wife were murdered three nights ago in Prague. An attack after a garden party with family -- we assume she got in by looking like a visitor."

"She?" Derek repeats keenly. "You know who this is?"

"Hotel footage," says Hotch, and after clicking another button, grainy, black and white elevator footage appears on the screen.

Spencer leans forward and squints, watching carefully as a brunette woman -- tall, in heels, her hair shirt and curly, pretty (her features are sharp, nose pointed, cheekbones high, French, aristocratic) -- steps on and turns to face the doors. The doorman, in a red uniform, obediently presses the button, and there's no movement as, off camera, the doors close. Then, almost invisible due to the grainy image, the woman tilts her head by a fraction of an inch, and winks at the camera. She holds eye-contact, the doors open, and she steps off.

"Before or after the kill?" Derek asks, but Spencer hardly hears him. The footage repeats itself, and he can barely keep his eyes off her. The straight back, the high chin...confidence -- she gleamed with it.

"After," JJ answers, and the air in Spencer's throat turns to cold glass. "We have no idea how she got into that hotel room."

"Fire escape," suggests Emily.

"Not on that side of the building. Plus, how on earth she evades security, we don't know."

"She's killing diplomats," says Hotch, "and she's very good at it."

"How's she doing it?" asks Spencer, finally looking away from the reel of film but only once JJ has clicked back to the screen of victims.

"Lebenov's throat was cut, as was Luca Bianchi's. His wife was poisoned," Hotch explains. "We guess she was collateral damage."

"Women normally use poison," says Derek, idly, as if he doesn't know he's speaking.

"Why?" Emily stresses, acting clearly as if Derek hasn't spoken. "Clearly, she doesn't care about who sees her." She gestures vaguely to the screen. "Even if Maria was a witness, it wouldn't matter." She's right. The stones would connect the crimes, and they already have the unsub's face --

Then Spencer's mind flashes with an idea.

"Are they contract killings?" he asks, looking at Hotch, who looks at JJ. Spencer sees his adam's apple bob with reluctance.

"They believe so, yes," Hotch says quietly, looking back at the team.

They. The mysterious they again. Spencer makes a note to ask later, but for now: "The only reason Maria Bianchi would have had to die is if she knew something," he says. In the corner of his eye, he can see Emily, looking confused, and he scrambles to explain himself. "Why are a husband and wife, murdered in the same room, by the same person, killed in different ways? Why would somebody do that?" But he knows. He knows why. The questions are rhetorical.