"Every day is Halloween isn't it? Well, for some of us"
-Tim Burton-
"What do you mean he's not going? Every kid loves trick-or-treating" Garcia states. At Quantico, JJ, Garcia, Maya and Rossi are talking about how JJ's son is scared of Halloween because he thinks monsters are real and they blend in on the one day of the year. "I mean, that's true- they can but it's unlikely" Maya states and JJ chuckles softly.
"You did tell him it wasn't true, right?" Garcia asks to which JJ nods her head. "Of course, I did but he's convinced" JJ argues and Garcia sighs defeatedly. "I don't know why. I love Halloween" Maya states and JJ tilts her head, narrowing her eyes at Maya, "That's because you can scare children and people in general" JJ states.
"She already does that when it's not Halloween" Garcia adds, Maya smiling proudly at their comments.
"Childhood fears are resistant to adult logic. Sometimes you just have to wait it out" Rossi declares and JJ leans forward in her seat with a tired look on her, "For how long?" She asks.
"Well, if he's in his 50's and still scared of Halloween, I would look into that" Maya states, making JJ laugh at her banter but now it was time to break down the case.
Men are disappearing from a small Oregon town. In six weeks, four of them have driven off, never to be seen again. "Forensic evidence point us anywhere?" JJ asks but there is no evidence, at least for the first 3 victims.
"That's... odd" Maya declares, knitting her eyebrows in confusion as she looks down at the case file in front of her with all the information she needs inside of it.
"No forensics, no witnesses, no ransom demands. Maybe these guys just voluntarily decided to hit the road" Derek shrugs but Maya and Rossi shake their heads in unison, "That town is small- this isn't about seeking greener pastures" Rossi declares.
"And based on last known sightings, we're dealing with a size bale geographic area" Hotch informs and Maya hums slightly, "He's efficient and well organized" Maya states. "Yeah, it's not easy to make 4 people vanish and stay vanished" Derek adds until Reid states the impossible but making it possible.
"It has been done before, though. Political kidnappings frequently require holding multiple adults simultaneously" Reid states, nodding his head as if he just states the obvious. "Or they're already dead and we just haven't found them" Maya sighs, leaning back in her chair comfortably.
"But assuming they are alive, how is the unsub controlling them?" Alex wonders, "And for what purpose?" JJ adds.
_____
On the plane, it's revealed that Terry, the recent victim, stands out from the other victims because his past is shady, and he lives in a cabin in the woods without electricity or running water. Which is weird, because if he's not participating in society and just moved to town, how did the killer even target him?
Hotch, as always, decide to split up the team to cover more ground and check with the victims' families, the creepy cabin Terry lives in, and the doctor who's analyzing the vomit that was found at Terry's abduction site.
"What?" Derek asks as he grabs two cups of coffee for him and Ms. Deaver, one person from
the victims' families. "I don't talk to people. I interrogate them" Maya declares as she looks to Ms. Deaver, analyzing her, noticing how nervous she is to be in a police station and get questioned about her husband that's been gone for a while now.
"You talk to me" Derek states and Maya scoffs, locking eyes with Derek as her face hardens into a confused one. "It's not the same. I have to be meaningful when I do stuff like this and it's hard, not because I don't care but because I don't like sounding vulnerable" Maya states before she grabs one of the coffees out Derek's hand and chugs some of it, thinking it'll help her nerves.
"Okay!" Derek shrieks before taking the cup from Maya's hand, setting it down and making a new cup of coffee since Maya just drank the second one. "I promise it's not as hard as you think it is. You just have to understand what they're going through" Derek shrugs as if that's the easiest job in the world.
"But I don't so then I look like a bitch" Maya states and Derek sighs, lifting his eyebrows obviously, Maya noticing.
"Don't even comment" Maya states, pointing at Derek who places a lid on the coffee cup before holding both of them in his hands. "Trust me, I won't" Derek says as him and Maya start to walk towards the family member.
"Listen, you stand behind me and I'll do the talking" Derek decides and Maya sighs, shaking her head, "Then it seems like I'm eavesdropping and being no help" Maya states and Derek stops in his tracks, looking at Maya in disbelief.
"Just come on" Derek demands and Maya sighs, crossing her arms over her chest but immediately thinking it seems rude, so she places her arms to the side of her but starts wondering what to do with her hands. Derek sets the coffees down in front of him and Ms. Deaver before turning around and looking to Maya practically wave her arms around.
"Calm down" Derek suggests, placing his warm hands onto Maya's, stopping her from moving her arms around to seem perfect in front of the family member of one of the victims. "Okay, yeah" Maya states, nodding her head before her hands slipped away from Derek's, filling a void as their hands separated.
Derek starts interviewing the wife of one of the victims but as she talks, she doesn't seem to give any valid information that could help the team with the case which was a huge bust.
_____
At the police station, Maya, Hotch, Derek and Alex look over a map charting the roots that the various victims took on the day of their disappearances. "All this tells you what?" The sheriff on the case asks and Maya sighs, "It's more about what it doesn't tell us like... none of the lines intersect which means the victims never crossed paths, not even on the road" Maya declares, pointing to every place each victim's vehicle was found.
Rossi then enters the room after interviewing Terry Rodgers, the recent victim, personal trainer. "She said he never talked about his private life" Rossi states and Maya crosses her arms over her chest, finding that situation quite unbelievable. "This guy is shelling out for a personal trainer. This is a guy with no indoor plumbing, how'd he gets a trainer?" Derek asks, wondering how he could afford one.
"His trainer says he was dedicated. Not in great shape but dedicated" Rossi concludes and Maya and Derek lock eyes, finding that quite strange.
Later, Garcia called in with more information. She's found one of the other victims as cars. Apparently, it was towed three weeks earlier from a rural road that the victim had no reason to be on and has been sitting in the city impound lot.
Terry Rodgers body then shows up in a River outside of town, so Hotch, Maya, Derek and Rossi rush over to check it out. Taking a cursory glance at the half-clothed figure lying on a stretcher. They decide he hasn't been tortured, and therefore a woman must be their culprit.
_____
After checking out the body, the team tries to figure out how all the victims could be linked in some way. "They we're all athletic" Rossi states and Maya agrees, "Yeah, Ellard teaches track and field, uh, Deaver has a martial arts studio. Paul Hicks had tendonitis from playing competitive tennis" Maya states as she reads off a piece of paper, stating the victims' strengths.
"But Rodgers trainer said that he was out of shape" Hotch remembers and Maya shrugs before Garcia calls to report that she hasn't found out what Terry was doing between leaving Rhode Island five months earlier and turning up in Oregon. She does mention that he was behind on his child support payments, which could have given him a good motive to flee the state.
"Owes child support. That's a good reason to vanish for 5 months" Maya states as Hotch hangs up the phone with Garcia. "And why he lived off the grid. Hard to find" Rossi adds. "That's what links him to the other victims. They all fathered children" Hotch concludes, ready to give the profile.
The team lines up the police department to let them know their killers a woman between 30 and 40 years of age, who, because she's only abducted men who had children, is probably doing this to find a breeder, and weeding out unfit specimens as they fail her insane standards.
After the profile, Reid notices a number of items on Terry's grocery list are used to boost the immune system. Both baby food marijuana is commonly used by chemotherapy patients to help avoid stomach distress, so perhaps Terry was recovering from chemotherapy.
Which would also explain why there's no trace of him in America over the past five months, he could've been doing it out of the country.
_____
"I heard you've been going to therapy" Hotch states, talking to Maya who is the only other person in the room since Derek was gathering information on Terry Rodgers. Maya knitted her eyebrows in confusion before looking around the room, "Don't worry, Derek didn't tell me. I got a call from the building, and they let me know how you were doing" Hotch states and Maya shakes her head in disbelief.
"I thought therapy was supposed to be private, confidential. That's what they tell you before you even say anything" Maya states, starting to get defensive about it all. "It is but you have a job that can be really emotionally damaging and if something is seriously wrong me and the board need to know" Hotch informs and Maya sighs as she adjusts herself in her seat.
"But I don't know what you talk about with your therapist. I advised them not to send over that information and just tell me how you were doing" Hotch states and Maya tilts her head, looking to Hotch and for a moment she felt his tough demeanor die down while having a normal conversation.
"Why?" Maya wonders, knowing anyone would want to know what goes on in her head, especially after working with her and barley getting any information out of her on a daily.
"Because I know that you like to keep to yourself and I prefer not to know what you and Derek do in private" Hotch says, looking down at his cellphone before Derek enters the room into awakes silence. "Uh, back in June, Rodgers checked himself into an experimental clinic in Mexico" Derek informs Hotch and Maya.
"Cancer" Maya declares which Derek agrees. "That's why the unsub disposed of him so quickly" Hotch states before the three of them exited the conference room at the station and getting a call from Reid that the ME reveals that Terry was drugged with a weirdly natural form of sedative, which suggests the killer might be into holistic medicine, since it's really not that hard to buy drugs that would make people drowsy.
Derek even points out that using this herb cocktail would be super unreliable, but the only conclusion they draw from this is that the killer might have had health issues of her own.
They also learn for medical examiner that Terry had cancer and was kept in a place that had pine sawdust all around. Meanwhile, the killer kidnaps a pregnant lady on her way home from a baby shower.
"Ugh, this case is a mess" Maya groans, dropping the case file out of her hands and pushing her hair back stressfully. "All cases are like that" Derek states and Maya sighs, turning her attention on him, "You know, I'm trying to confide in you" Maya says as she removes her leather jacket jokingly making Derek whip his head back in laughter.
"Are you quoting me?" Derek asks and Maya smiles proudly before slipping her jacket back over her shoulders, "No, please... continue" Derek urges, leaning back in his chair before Maya hits his shoulder gently and takes a seat on the table in front of him.
"Let's get your mind off things for just a second" Derek says, patting the sides of Maya's thighs before standing to his feet. "What? That's not how this job works" Maya sighs as she becomes eye level with Derek.
"Hotch didn't give us an assignment and I see your stress level is way too high" Derek states and Maya narrows her eyes at Derek before she leans to the side, tilting her slightly and encouraging him to go on.
"What would you say, or do, if you and me could go anywhere in the world?" Derek asks and Maya scoffs, turning on her heels. Before she can leave the room Derek steps in front of her, getting a little to close in Maya's personal space but Maya didn't mind not one bit.
"Are you trying to flirt with me?" Maya asks, crossing her arms over her chest, raising her head up high as she looks Derek in his dark brown eyes that dart from her mouth to her eyes, wanting to close the close proximity between the two of them.
"Trying? No, I am" Derek confesses and Maya shakes her head in disbelief before titling her hair, a smirk forming on her lips. "I suggest we work on the case; Agent Morgan" Maya says as she backs away, Derek taking a step forward until Maya's leg bumped into the conference table. Maya grabbed onto the table before she could fall and keeping the intense eye contact with Derek. Maya swallows a large lump down her throat before she and Derek someone clearing their throat in the doorway.
"Reid!" Maya shrieks, pushing Derek away. Derek groans, rubbing his eyes awkwardly as the three create a silence between them. "I wanted to let you know that the mother that was kidnapped, her baby and her are okay" Reid informs, leaning side to side while Maya covers her mouth in shock before scratching the back of her neck nervously.
"Goodbye". "Reid-". Maya tries to call out, "I saw nothing!" Reid shouts as he exits the room. Maya looks over to Derek who's trying so hard to cover up his laughter. "It got your mind off the case, right?" Derek asks and a smile slowly forms on Maya's lips as she shakes her head in disbelief, exiting the room with Derek.
"I hate you. I literally hate you" Maya jokes, Derek shaking his head in laughter as him and Maya walk side by side.
_____
Later, the team gathers around when Rossi gets a call from the hospital and reveals that the pregnant lady's placenta was missing. "Oh, gosh" Maya cringes as she scrunches her face up in disgust while Reid points out that their animals that eat placental is in the wild, because they're rich in nutrients. Naturally, this is what they think the killer is doing, and she believes that accomplishing this task it helps her cure something.
The team finally manages to find a connection between two of the abductions. They were both near a farmer's market which sets up across the street one day out of the week. This gives them a supposedly plausible sequence of events to track victim shows up, killer decides he's demographically suitable for whatever the hell it is she wants, cells him of vegetable smoothie full of knockout drugs, problem solved.
_____
Derek and Maya go to the farmers market together. They had spilt up for a moment but when they came back together Maya noticed Derek eating a chocolate bar.
"How could you eat after hearing what that woman is doing with that women's placenta?" Maya asks, her hands resting in her back pocket.
"What? It was like $2.00" Derek defends, taking a bite out of his bar before offering Maya a bite. "Ew, no" Maya states, pushing Derek's hand away from her, making him laugh slightly.
"Anyways, a lot of people work at this market. So, it's not like everybody else knows every sky else" Maya states as her and Derek look around at their surroundings at the happy faces in the market.
"I'll get a list of vendors and launch Garcia anyway. Anything's better than nothing" Derek declares before there's more information from the ME report. It turns out that she's feeding her victims soil additives so that their bodies will be full of the nutrients necessary to help plants grow which means she's mulching the people to turn them into fertilizer for her crops.
Back at the station, Hotch asks the sheriff a question- is there something like a farmer's market near the intersection point of the other two victims? Turns out that yes, there's a food co-op nearby.
Now it's just a question of comparing two lists of names, which shouldn't take too long. They receive the list and only one name is on both lists, Emma Kerrigan.
In the meantime, Emma is burying her daughter alive, convinced that the flesh-enriched soil will heal her but there's one victim she hasn't killed yet, but will the team get there in time to rescue him?
_____
They race out to the murder barn and then find her in the nearby tomato patch, draining the last guy's blood into the dirt next to her daughter. "Put down the knife!" Maya shouts as her, Alex, Hotch and multiple police officers run up towards the commotion.
"My daughter will be dead by then" Emma declares and Maya sighs before Alex steps in front of her. "I believe you, Emma. I can see how sick she is" Alex states, trying to show Emma she understands what she's going through.
Alex continues to talk down Emma and surprisingly it works as Alex hands Emma a bag of Emma's husbands "ashes", allowing her to pour it over the soil her daughter is underneath. "Not bad, Blake" Derek compliments.
"Not bad but stupid" Maya states, hitting her shoulder against Alex's before bending down next to JJ and helping her retrieve the little girl from the dirt.
_____
Back at Quantico, the team gets ready to go home for Halloween before JJ walks in, announcing her son, Henry has decided to go trick or treating. "What changed his mind?" Rossi asks and JJ motions around the room, "The BAU did" she answers, and Maya knits her eyebrows in confusion.
"I told him to go out and try to see which monsters real and which ones are not" JJ explains and Maya nods her head.
"A profiler" Derek states and JJ corrects him, "His favorite profiler" JJ adds and Henry walks in with Garcia wearing clothes that match Reid. "You look great, Henry!" Reid cheers as he hands him his name tag with his ID on it and puts it onto his shirt as Garcia whispers in Henry's ear, telling him to say something.
"E equals MC squared" Henry states and everyone cheers happily, clapping while Maya fake smiles, looking around the room. "Come on, that was cute" Derek states, clapping Maya's hands together.
"Okay, it was kind of cute but not enough to cheer over" Maya confesses before leaning over her desk and grabbing her jacket and duffel bag.
"What? Kids are cute" Derek states as he walks out with Maya. "Kids are okay" Maya states and Derek laughs before wrapping his arm around her shoulder, pressing the button for the elevator.
"There is magic in the night when pumpkins glow by moonlight"
-Unknown-