"Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it"
-Tom Lehrer-
*tw: this case is about rape. if you don't feel comfortable reading something this, i suggest skipping this chapter*
Garcia lays out the case - a serial rapist, The Piano Man, in Houston that they consulted on six months ago has upped his game, and they're needed on the ground to work the case. "12 victims over 5 years. He crossed racial and social lines, ages too" Hotch informs.
"Power assertive?" Emily asks.
"Knocks them out with a date rape drug and binds them with piano wire" Rossi adds. "They... wake up with no memory of the assault or how they got the permanent scar the wire leaves" Maya states as she reads those words off the case file.
"So, he's branding his victims. How does he dose them?" Emily wonders.
"Houston PD still isn't sure cause, you know, date rape drugs metabolize quickly, and he's keeping them for 12 hours" Garcia explains, "So why call us in now?" Maya asks as she closes the case file shut. "Because of these most recent attacks. This piece of work has elevated sick and twisted to a whole new dimension" Garcia state as she shows women on the screen. Brittany Anderson.
Brittany filed a report after she woke up outside the restaurant she was abducted from, and recently, Vanessa Campbell was just reported missing. "Those were victims 2 and 5, weren't they?" Reid wonders to which Garcia nods her head. "He's going back and attacking survivors a second time" Garcia informs and Maya scoffs as she shakes her head.
"Wait, was Vanessa grabbed from her house?" JJ asks and Garcia nods her head. "That's a change in M.O." Maya adds. "Yeah, he's upping his game" JJ declares. "Well, we know he stalks them. But public venue abduction, he has the power. Home invasion? he's on their turf" Derek explains.
"He must think he can gain control before they get to something like a phone or a gun, if they have one" Maya adds on to Derek's statement. "The question is why? What is he getting from revisiting old victims?" Rossi wonders as he looks around at the team with confusion.
Emily looks through the crime scene photos and leans over to Maya, showing her the photos. Maya's face turns into one of cringe as she notices something on the ground of Vanessa's floor. "What is that? On the floor?" Maya asks as she and Emily look to the screen.
"Oh god, that is the contents of Vanessa Campbells stomach, which she threw up" Garcia answers. "And in the glass?" Emily asks. "According to the police report, it is salt and water" Garcia states and Maya looks over to Emily, "Homemade Emetic" Maya and Emily say in unison.
"E-What What?" Garcia asks.
"It's like a... quick and dirty cocktail that induces vomiting" Maya explains. "Vanessa Campbell and her husband move to a new address. They've put locks on the doors. They took precautions. She even knew what to do if she was dosed again, and it still wasn't enough" Emily rants and Maya starts to understand that that's what the unsub wants. That's what he gets out of it.
"Their fear. He wants them to know that no matter what, he can still get to them" Hotch concludes.
Hotch and Rossi meet with the Houston police and discover that the drugs weren't in the wine - there was no trace of it in the vomit left on the floor.
This means that he somehow got the drugs into the cigarette she smoked right before her vision fuzzed out. Is that how he's drugging all of them?
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Interviewing all the re-raped women, Emily and JJ notice that they're all smokers. All the victims being smokers is common enough that it wouldn't have seemed like a worthwhile commonality, but now that they're searching for alternate ways that people can be drugged.
Reid, Maya and Derek have already taken the revelation on board and interview the latest victim's husband about her smoking. "Yes, Vanessa smokes. What does that matter?" The husband questions. "It could be how the unsub is drugging the women he's assaulting" Maya answers as she looks around the home, analyzing it.
"The media has done a very good job of warning people to watch their drinks so that bars are no long a fertile hunting ground, but cigarette smokers aren't as careful since they could ask a strange for a cigarette, or have their pack swapped out if their purse when they out it down" Reid rants, explaining to the husband how this could've happened to his wife.
"She hid them in her purse. She didn't think I knew" The husband informs as Derek walks over and stands next to Maya. "She cracked the windows so I wouldn't smell it when I got home" The husband adds before Maya and Derek look back at the window the husband is pointing too.
"If the unsub stalked her from the backyard, he'd have a good view when she lit up" Reid explains. "Yeah, he also took out the window with something like a center punch" Derek state.
"What's that?" The husband wonders. "It's a spring-loaded device used to punch divots into metal, but it also breaks glass" Maya answers and looks over to Derek who smiles slightly, surprised she knew that.
"What? I know things" Maya jokes as she nudges Derek's arm and walks over to Reid who checks Vanessa's purse.
"No cigarettes. He must have taken them with him to hide the evidence" Reid says and Maya shakes her head. "You know, it might not be all he's trying to hide" Derek says as he walks up to an entertainment system by the television.
Maya knits her eyebrows in confusion as she walks over to Derek and sees the system is still on. Maya then asks the husband if it was like that when he got home, and it was.
The recent playing history has been deleted, but Garcia is able to recover the song in question. Which raises an interesting point. This guy doesn't leave any evidence of his presence, stealing drugged cigarettes from purses and the like, but he left the entertainment system on?
"He specifically took the time to stand at the console deleting his song and the playlist history" Maya declares with slight concern.
Garcia continues to work her magic and plays the last song that was ever played on the MP3. The songs plays and it's oddly specific. "That's another reason to call this guy the piano man" Derek declares as the song continues to play.
"Turn it off" The husband demands nicely. "Does this song mean something? To you or your wife?" Maya asks as she crosses her arms over her chest while Derek cuts the music off.
"Vanessa hates it" The husband declares, and Maya looks to the husband with confusion. "How come?" Derek wonders but it seems the husband doesn't know. "But every-time it came on the radio, she'd burst into tears" The husband explains, and Maya and Reid look to each other... that's weird.
"So, the unsub just happened to play it the night he came after her" Derek concludes which raises even more suspicion than before.
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Over at the police station Emily has gotten some of the victims back in to discuss songs that trigger painful memories, and she got a few songs and presents them to the team. JJ reads the songs off and Maya shakes her head, "Each victim has her own piano ballad" Maya states.
"You know, considering the survivors lose consciousness during the assault, we think this functions as the unsubs signature" Reid rants, "He most likely plays the songs repeatedly during the assault, resulting in a pavlova response when they hear it later" Reid concludes.
"The night of Vanessa Campbells abduction, that signature became part of his torture" Rossi states and Maya just can't wrap her head around it. "But- why these songs? What do they say about the unsub himself?" Maya wonders as she points to the songs written under each victim's name.
Suddenly, Hotch gets a phone call and it's Derek. Vanessa Campbells body has just been found.
"How long has she been dead?" Hotch asks as he puts the phone on speaker. "Maybe, 5 hours" Derek answers. "What? He's never killed before. Are we sure the piano man did this?" Maya asks as she looks around at the team in confusion. "He used a piano wire as a garrote" Derek concludes which answers Maya's question. This is definitely our unsub, but what made him kill now?
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Over at the morgue Reid and Hotch find a clue - the victim managed to bite her attacker, leaving her with a piece of non-latex disposable glove in her throat. But the only reason to wear more expensive non-latex gloves is because of an allergy. Another way to narrow down the suspect list.
Later, Garcia found a link to the gloves. But it was hard because none of the survivors saw the same two healthcare professionals or went to the same hospitals. Garcia then decided to widen her search after she couldn't find anything in her short list. She found an orderly named Herman Scobie, and he rotated shifts at 3 different hospitals, and they are the same hospitals the victims go to.
One of the victims, Diana, then drops by the office to ask if she's in danger, what with another victim being killed. Obviously, she is, and securing everyone else really should be their top priority. Diana lets them know that the cigarette trick didn't fully work, and she was mostly conscious for her attack, which involved no music, but instead some talking, and smashed her head into the floor of his truck when he was done.
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At the same time Derek, Rossi, and Maya arrive at the suspects house, Herman Scobie. "Out the back!" Rossi shouts and Maya quickly runs to the back and stops in front of the suspect with her gun pointed towards him.
"Don't even think about it" Maya mumbles as the man breathes heavily, looking around for another way out.
"Screw you, bitch!" The man shouts and Maya walks up to him and punches him across the face, making him hit the floor. "Okay! Okay! What the hell is this anyway?" Herman asks as he coughs harshly, holding his bloody nose as Maya places her foot on his chest. "I ask the questions here" Maya says as Derek rushes to the backyard and helps Maya raise the guy to his feet.
"Now, tell me why you were running?" Maya asks as she puts her gun in holster but keeps her hand near it. Rossi then comes to the back and checks the van that is parked outside. "Why do you come to my house waving guns around?" Herman asks.
"How did you break your nose?" Maya asks and the guy furrows his eyebrows in confusions. "What? I didn't break my-". Before he could finish his sentence Maya punched him straight in the nose and groaned softly in pain. "Ah! Oh my god!" Herman cries out as blood pours out from his nose.
"We're looking for a rapist and a killer. That sound like someone you know?" Maya states as Derek holds Herman's hands behind his back. "Not me" Herman answers and Maya scoffs.
"Check it out" Rossi calls out as he shows a box full of gloves like the ones used by the killer.
"Oh, so it is you" Derek states as he starts to drag him off of the property.
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Over in an interrogation room the orderly is waiting for his interview to start. Emily comes to talk to him about the case, and he asks where his lawyer is. She says he's on his way, then tricks him into a conversation. "I should go in there" Maya declares and Derek chuckles softly as he rests his hand on her shoulder, "I think you did enough by literally breaking his nose" Derek says as he points to the suspect who has a patch on his nose.
Emily tries to flirt the guy into chatting more about the case, and he repeats something that the van/beating victim heard him say - she claims that she can identify his voice, and that it's definitely him. Hotch announces that even though they've got the guy they should stick around to help lock up the evidence.
Job one: find out why those songs are important to him. Job two: get all the victims in to see if they can identify their rapist.
Reid and JJ join the search of Herman Scobie's home. "Evanescence. Linkin Park and Nickelback" JJ says as she reads off all the songs Herman has in his collection. "So, Herman's into that nu-metal goth stuff" Derek declares as him and Maya take a look around the house, trying to find more evidence on him.
"His tramp stamp probably spells out Massengill. This guy doesn't even have any rage against the machine" JJ chuckles and Maya looks to JJ with concern. "That's what you listened to you?" Maya asks and JJ starts to stammer over her words, "I rock" JJ declares as Maya shakes her head.
"We would have not been friends in high school" Maya mumbles before noticing Reid's concerned look.
"How old we're you when you started listening to that band?" Reid asks, looking to JJ. "Uh, I was probably a teenager. Why?" JJ wonders confusingly. Reid claims that it's an established fact that people generate their musical tastes around 14, and since all the songs that Herman loves are from the early 80s, the orderly is too young to be the villain.
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The team has gathered at the station to parse out the details of this baffling case. They know orderly raped that one woman. She was able to identify him, after all. But all the other victims were definitely attacked by the original-including Vanessa Campbell, since a copycat couldn't have known about the music. The coroner offers further evidence.
The glove had no acid on it, so it was likely placed in her mouth post-mortem. She didn't bite the victim at all. This leads them to a bizarre conclusion: the orderly is a copycat and is re-raping all the victims.
Emily and Hotch go to talk to the orderly and his lawyer, offering to not charge him with that pesky murder so long as he directs them to the real rapist. The orderly explains that he never met the original piano man, he just found out about the M.O. by reading the medical charts. Which didn't contain any information about them being drugged with tainted cigarettes. That was information that the team figured out because they had a corpse whose throat hadn't had time to recover from the inflammation - that's why Dutch keeps them so long so all evidence will disappear.
Herman then offers some useful information such as, he'd picked out which two he was going after next, the dead woman and then the waitress. The piano man got to Vanessa Campbell first, so now he must be after the waitress. Regina Lampert.
Garcia has figured out what's going on by checking the CCTV from the waitress' restaurant. The team watches the footage and see a man playing a piano, taunting her and she knows it. Garcia then fast forward to closing time and Regina has started to warm up to the man all the way to the point where she was able to leave with him. Him being Hamilton Bartholomew.
Garcia stops the footage and zooms in on her face. Regina set herself up as bait, she wanted everything that happened to happen.
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BAM!
A shot is heard coming from Regina Lamperts home as the FBI shows up. Maya and the team grab their guns and proceeds to rush towards the house. "FBI!" Hotch shouts before Maya kicks down the door and her and Emily enter the home after Hotch and see Regina pointing a gun at Hamilton.
"I got him! I caught him!" Regina shouts as the FBI and some other swat members swarm her home. "This is the piano man" Regina declares. "No, I'm not. This woman's crazy" Hamilton cries out as he lays on the floor helpless. "Regina, how about you put the gun down, okay?" Maya asks and Regina shakes her head hesitantly and continues to hold her gun.
"Look, look" Maya calls out as she slowly puts her gun in her holster, trying to form a trust with Regina. "Please don't let her kill me" Hamilton begs as he looks up at Maya and Emily. Maya looks down at Hamilton and lets out a stressful sight before looking back up at Regina.
"I have waited 5 years for this" Regina states. "We ran the rape kit, Regina. The fingerprint the police got off your glasses. Do you remember? We compared it to Hamiltons" Emily informs and Maya can see the fear starting to creep up on Regina's face.
"They- They didn't match" Maya stammers and Regina widens her eyes as she looks to Maya with shock.
"That's impossible" Regina says as she looks down at Hamilton. Maya places her hand back on her gun but she doesn't take it out.
"Regina, you don't want to do this. You don't want to kill an- innocent man" Maya pleads. "Drop the gun" Emily begs and Regina doesn't believe them, but she slowly drops her gun anyway.
"It's okay" Maya says softly as Hotch helps Hamilton to his feet and Emily places on handcuffs on Regina for both of their safety.
The team starts to exit the house and once they are outside, Hotch pushes Hamilton up against the car. "Hamilton Bartholomew, you're under arrest for the rapes of 12 women and the murder of Vanessa Campbell" Hotch states as he places handcuffs on the wrist of Hamilton. The real piano man.
"You lied to me?" Regina asks as she looks to Maya. "I rather him rot then take the easy way out" Maya states before leaving Regina with Emily and walking away as she cried out. "You should've let me kill him!" Regina screams as Maya starts walking towards the SUV.
"Maya- hey" Derek calls out but Maya waves him off and gets in the SUV, slamming the door shut. Maya wanted him to die because he deserved it but it's her job to find and arrest the bad guys even if she does want to kill them for the pain they've caused so many people. She wanted justice for these women and maybe Hamilton dying would've given them that but there's nothing she can do now.
Case Closed...
"Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself"
-Leigh Bardugo-