CASSIDY
"Time to confess, Cassidy Marlow." He looked down at me. I didn't say anything, feeling the tears form in my eyes.
The moment the wooden log hit the bottom of my foot, I winced in pain. My entire face scrunched up and I could feel the tears streaming down my face.
"Confess." His manner didn't change. He didn't seem at all phased by the fact that he was inflicting pain onto another human being.
"I...I don't have anything to confess." I gritted my teeth, trying to resist the very bad pain that started in my foot, but moved all over my body.
I winced again when he slapped the wooden log against my foot.
My eyes shot open, my heart racing as my body lifted from the bed, my hand going to my chest. I removed the blanket from my legs and looked down at my feet, seeing the large bruises still on my feet. It's been 2 weeks since I was kidnapped and the bruises have only gotten worse. There was really no signs of them going away. I felt Spencer moving. He sat up, his hand going to my lower back as my head rested on his shoulder.
"You're okay, Cassidy. I'm right here." He cooed, kissing my head.
"It still feels so real. Even after 2 weeks, I still can't get his stupid face out of my head!" I complained.
"The psychologist did say that it would take you a while to adjust. Everything is going to be okay. It just...it takes time." Spencer smiled before we both rolled our eyes when his phone went off.
I was forced to spend a month on leave, but I was getting paid, of course.
"Duty calls." He smiled.
"Hotch got another case?" I asked.
"Nope. I think it's just another paperwork day." Spencer chuckled.
"Maybe, just maybe, if you plead with Hotch, he'll let you bring your paperwork home? He knows that I can't exactly get around by myself." I pointed to the wheelchair that sat next to my side of the bed.
"I'll try." Spencer kissed me before getting changed and heading to work.
GENERAL
Spencer walked into the BAU bullpen, watching as Emily and Penelope talked. Hotch exited his office, Emily questioning why he was on the phone for so long. Morgan walked into the bullpen.
"What was that about?" Emily asked as Hotch walked down the stairs, joining Spencer, Morgan, and Penelope.
"Brian Matloff." Hotch's eyebrow raised, scoffing.
"Who?" Emily looked between the group, seeming very confused.
"Uh, the Blue Ridge Strangler." Spencer exhaled, Emily still confused.
"Oh, right. That was, like, 4 years ago. 3 victims in the Blue Ridge parkway." Morgan shook his head, rolling his eyes.
"Allegedly. He was never convicted." Penelope reminded Morgan, who looked at her with confusion.
"He slipped into a coma before he could be tried." Spencer nodded.
"Looks like they're finally gonna get their chance. He just woke up." Hotch announced.
Hotch left the bullpen, explaining that he needed to talk to an old friend of his that worked on the case.
Spencer called Cassidy with the group, putting the call on speaker.
"A case from 4 years ago? Why is it being brought up now?" Cassidy asked.
"Because he was in a coma and he just woke up." Morgan spoke.
"Hold up. Hotch just messaged me." Emily read the text, everyone wanting to know what was going on.
"You have got to be kidding! Brian Matloff lost his memory." Emily groaned as everyone looked at her, dumbfounded.
"I'll let you guys focus on this mystery of a case. Love you, Spencer." Cassidy spoke.
"Okay, love you too. Bye." Spencer spoke before hanging up the call, everyone briefly forgetting about the case to admire Spencer's relationship with Cassidy.
"Ahem. We have a case?" Spencer reminded the group. All of them getting back to the issue at hand, JJ joining them once she got a call from Hotch, explaining the situation.
———
Cece Hillenbrand sat with Rossi and Hotch in her office, the case file for Brian Matloff strewn all over the table near her desk.
"He had a type. Brunette, young. They were jogging?" Rossi asked as Hotch looked through the files.
"Alone, early in the morning. Easy prey." Hotch nodded.
"Well, that's about the worst news I could have gotten. Marvin Leopold, our only key witness, died 2 years ago." Cece put her phone away, rolling her eyes.
"He OD'd?" Hotch asked, Cece nodding.
"How'd you know?" She questioned, everyone looking at him.
"I remember he had a heroin problem." Hotch exhaled.
"Your best witness was a junkie?" Rossi scoffed, confused.
"It was solid. He put Matloff at the park with Darci Corbett, victim number 3. The warrant and the indictment were made largely on the witness. Everything else was circumstantial." Hotch explained.
"I could name a dozen killers we got convicted with less." Rossi chuckled.
———
The team - minus Cassidy - sat at the round table in the conference room, rehashing the case from 4 years ago.
"After the raid on Matloff's apartment, we discovered he had another area of interest. Native american mythology. We realized our profile wasn't complete." Morgan informed the team as he sat down.
"There's a native American belief that says burying a body facedown traps the soul and prevents it from haunting the killer." Spencer rambled, really wishing Cassidy was with them right now. He found cases to be a lot easier to handle when his girlfriend - the love of his life - was there to help him.
"That's why he buried them like this?" Emily asked.
"That was the theory." Spencer nodded, looking down at the case file.
"3 women in shallow graves. I don't see any progression. There's no learning curve." Emily put her file down in confusion.
"Do you think there could have been more earlier victims when he was honing his skill?" JJ questioned, her eyebrows furrowed.
"We considered it a possibility. It turned out Matloff worked in Blue Ridge Parkway for the forest service. He had free reign over the entire park." Morgan fidgeted with the pen in his hand.
"It says here he was raised polish catholic. Any idea what led him to identify with native American culture?" JJ asked, confused.
"We didn't get that far." Morgan exhaled.
"Another thing we never got was any physical evidence at his apartment tying him to the crimes." Spencer added, leaning back in his chair.
"What about the jewellery he took, the souvenirs?" Emily asked.
"No trace." Morgan shook his head.
"So what did he do with them?" JJ looked more at the case file.
"Well, if we didn't need the answer to that before, we do now. It turns out our star witness has been dead for 2 years." Hotch announced, everyone looking at each other with shocked looks on their faces.
"He was the only one who could put Matloff at the scene." Morgan shook his head.
"There might be another way." Spencer suggested, intriguing the rest of the team.