❛ 𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑫 𝑨𝑺 𝑰𝑪𝑬 ❜
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•☽.⭒✻❙ 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 ❙✻⭒.☾•
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒖 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏
❝ 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐝. ❞
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
𝑶𝑷𝑯𝑬𝑳𝑰𝑨
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒔
❛ heaven help the fool who falls in love ❜
𝐼𝑁 𝑂𝑅𝐷𝐸𝑅 𝑇𝑂 𝐶𝑂𝑃𝐸 with being an FBI profiler, one must have some sort of sense of humour or be able to see the positivity in what they're doing. There are horrible things that this profiling team has to encounter and see on a daily basis that any regular citizen wouldn't be able to handle. There are times where they're able to go out for drinks later or joke around with each other, but some days, they had no chance to warm up to the horrific sights. Sometimes, the BAU team just has to start immediately with their work.
In the briefing room, the BAU team was watching a video that was sent to them of a father being interviewed by a detective. He was talking about hurting his son and he couldn't seem to remember anything. They didn't have much context with this, but Hotch was there to elaborate, "This happened two days ago in Beachwood, New Jersey. Mr. Fisher had ingested LSD one afternoon and didn't come down until eighteen hours later."
"The hospital reported six other patients who ingested LSD in the last twenty-four hours. The hospital called the CDC. The CDC called us." JJ elaborated further, but this still wasn't seeming like much for the BAU. They always got bigger cases, this was more of a local issue. That was what Valentina was curious about, "So, a bunch of people got spiked. What makes it a BAU case?"
"They each received ten to twenty times the normal dose." Hotch explained, which made Valentina's eyebrows raise in shock while Reid raised concern, "That's enough to kill a small child."
"Or cause a grown man to kill him with a tire iron." Elle referred to what may have happened in the case. A little boy was dead because of this, the possibility was that his father killed him unwillingly.
"Of the seven victims, there was one death and one coma. This is from the hospital security footage the same night Fisher lost it." JJ explained as she pulled up a video on the television of someone being wheeled into a hospital on a gurney, but they were convulsing and twitching like crazy. It was honestly a rough sight to see, but Gideon was able to deduct quite an important piece of information, "These people didn't get spiked. These people were poisoned."
"So, Gail Norman was the only death, correct?" Valentina questioned, looking through her case file, earning confirmation from JJ, "Yes, she was seventy-eight. She ran out in the middle of the road and was hit by a car. She was DOA."
"The other potentially fatal case is nine year old, Britney Cannon. She fell out of a tree house and fractured her skull. She's in a coma and the doctors don't know if she's going to come out of it." Valentina closed her case file once Hotch informed them of this. This wasn't a kidnapping, but any cases that involved kids always hit her.
"How do you want to handle the press?" Gideon turned to JJ, who was already ahead of the game. "We still don't know how these people got dosed. I think it would be irresponsible to issue a warning without specifics. It'll just cause panic. I did notify the local P.D. though, to be discreet."
"How is it possible that none of these people knew how they got poisoned?" Morgan pondered out loud, still trying to wrap his head around the specifics of this case. Luckily, Hotch was already familiarized well, "None of them remembers anything about the day it happened."
"And these people were so messed up it's made it difficult for local P.D. to retrace the victim's steps." JJ added on, which got Gideon on the right track as to how to consider this case next. "So, we need to go on precedent. We know there are four types of poisoners who target multiple victims."
"There's the True Believer, who are political terrorists slash religious cults. Or the Extortionist. Product tamperer who would hold a business hostage in exchange for money." Valentina began, she and Spencer knowing the more textbook things. Valentina because she's decently intelligent and has been reading up on this stuff since she was saved, and Spencer because...well, he's Spencer. "There's the Prankster. Usually a young offender who doesn't mean any harm and it's basically just a big practical joke. And the Avenger, someone with a personal vendetta who chooses poison as their weapon."
"So, we need to find out as quickly as possible which type he is because with the exception of the Prankster, all these types commonly test their poison on a small scale before carrying out a larger attack." Gideon brought out the horrific truth to this, Morgan proceeding to say what the entire team was thinking, "Let's hope this was just a prank."
"I would suggest we split up the victims and see if there's a pattern to the victimology." Gideon ordered, Hotch already having a plan, "Most of them are still at the hospital. I'll call local P.D. to meet us there."
"I'll check the lab report. Maybe there's a clue to the unsub's motive in the specific nature of the poison he used." Spencer volunteered, which Hotch was perfectly fine with. "That's good, Reid. Valentina, I want you to be the one to speak with Mr. Fisher directly. You'll know how to handle the situation better than anyone."
"Will do."
"I can't imagine anybody could want this to happen."
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The whole BAU team had arrived at the hospital, but everyone had separate jobs they were on before they split up to cover more ground in this investigation. Gideon, Hotch, and Valentina were all meeting with the local detective that was working this case. They were outside of the room where Mr. Fisher was being held and the detective had just joined them. "Detective Hanover, Beachwood P.D."
"Agent Hotchner. This is Agent Gideon and Dr. Barnes." Hotch introduced the two for them, everyone shaking the detective's hand. They didn't waste any time with the small talk, they just wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of the case so that they could solve this as quickly and accurately as possible. "Thanks for coming down on such short notice. Doctors said he may have permanent brain damage. I've never seen anything like this."
"Well, let's hope we can help." Hotch spoke optimistically before a productive question was posed by Detective Hanover, "Have you had the chance to review the victim's files?"
"We're more interested in talking to the boy's father." Valentina informed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, Hotch elaborating more on their plans going forward, "We'd like to get a sense of why he turned violent while the lab analyses the specific nature of the LSD he was dosed with, we'd like to get our own sense. Was it the dug itself or was it something else going on? And hopefully, that can give us a little bit of a window into the motive of the offender."
"Well, he's in the psych ward." Detective Hanover pointed out, to which Valentina reassured, "I'll keep it short."
With that Valentina walked into the room where Mr. Fisher was sitting behind a table. It made sense she'd be the one to speak with him since she's an expert in human behavior and is remarkable under pressure. Interrogating and questioning is right up her alley. "Mr. Fisher? My name's Valentina Barnes, I was hoping to speak with you."
"Are you a shrink or cop?"
"Both, I suppose. I'm an FBI profiler. I just...I can't imagine what you've been through. Would you be okay to answer some questions?" Valentina was trying to be as non-threatening and calm as possible as to not make him feel alienated or under interrogation, which she did successfully. Mr. Fisher motioned for her to sit down, to which she obliged and sat down across from him. "I understand you recently divorced your wife? Can you tell me why?"
"What do you want to know? Was I angry about the divorce? I mean, was I...Was I so angry that I wanted to hurt my son to get back at her? Is that what you want to know?" Mr. Fisher ranted, already seeing where this was going to turn to; against him. Valentina shrugged and motioned for him to elaborate as she asked, "Were you?"
"Let me tell you something about my wife, okay? About what she did. In my house. In my bed. With the investment banker next door, but you want to know what the worst part is? My son, Eric, he's angry with me. She's the cheater and he's angry at me. Me!"
"Did you want to hurt her?" Valentina questioned, earning a passionate response, "Of course."
"And the kid? I mean, it's hers and he took her side. Do you want to hurt him too? Shut his obnoxious mouth for good?" Valentina implied what the unsub may say in this situation, but Mr. Fisher shook his head. "No. No, he doesn't understand."
"Why's that? He took her side, I'm sure it's not the first time he's done that." Valentina was starting to push it, but she really had to. Mr. Fisher put his head in his hands and began to plead for his son. "No, no, Eric. Why did this happen to you? Why did this have to happen to you?"
Distressed by what had happened to his son, Mr. Fisher began to hit his head against the wall, hoping to end this horrific nightmare. Two doctors that were observing had rushed into the room and helped Valentina physically stop him from hitting his head. The doctors had ushered Valentina out so that they could sedate him and they could continue with the investigation. Valentina had joined Gideon and Hotch back out in the hallway, disappointed that she couldn't get much else, but she tried her best. "He's broken and pissed off, which is not a good combination, but he didn't do it."
"At least not consciously." Hotch argued, but there was more Valentina noticed, "The rage was real, but I kinda get it. I mean, his kid is dead. And he never apologized. When he lost control, he didn't say he was sorry, he asked why this was happening. He never even confessed to hurting the kid."
"So, the drugs tapped into the rage, but didn't cause it." Hotch explained, which was when Morgan, Elle, and Spencer had all regrouped with them. Spencer had just gotten off the phone and since he had caught the last part of that conversation, he was able to add onto it with important information, "That's consistent with information we just received from the lab tox screens. They didn't find any trace of PCP or any other drug indicating the unsub was intentionally trying to make people violent, but they did find traces of Rohypnol in all the victims."
"That's a central nervous system depressant. It's close to Valium, but ten times more potent. It's better known as a roofie or a date rape drug." Valentina elaborated, having educated herself on this a long time ago. Spencer was right on board with her, "Right, and one of its side effects is amnesia, which explains why none of the victims remember how they were poisoned."
"We compared notes on the victims we talked to. So far, there doesn't seem to be any pattern as to who got hit. Maybe the drugs themselves can explain what type of offender we're dealing with. A lot of kids are using LSD and Rohypnol these days. Fisher's a high school teacher." Morgan explained the work he and Elle had finished up, which helped Gideon make a deduction. "So, it may be a prank after all."
"Yeah, one that went horribly wrong." Hotch commented, Elle having a new task she found could be useful. "You know, I'm going to get a list of students from Fisher. See you guys later."
"See you, Elle. Reid, Valentina, why don't you two head back to the station and see if you can find any similarities between the victims." Hotch ordered the two. At the beginning of Valentina's job with the BAU, Hotch would pair her with different people to see how well she worked with everyone and he found that she and Spencer were gold. The two of them had a deep understanding of what they were talking about and were the same age that they naturally got along well. Valentina works well with everyone.
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Whilst Spencer and Valentina were working, Elle had come back with a suspect. It was a teenage girl's boyfriend, who Elle suspected was abusive. Naturally, Elle brought in the only other woman who has jurisdiction to interrogate a suspect, Valentina, and it helped that she had the ability to change her personality based on who she was talking to. Valentina just decided to be angry.
As Valentina walked into the room, joining Elle who was sat across from the suspect, Danny, Valentina already looked pissed off. Elle began the interrogation, "This isn't what you had in mind when you skipped school today, right, Danny? You want to tell us about Saturday night?"
"I didn't do anything. Samantha doesn't know what she's talking about." Danny defended himself, but Valentina wasn't taking that. "A lot of people saw you together at the café on Saturday night, so don't even try to lie to me. I just wanted to know what your process here was. Dose the common milk so no one would know that you wanted to roofie your girlfriend?"
"That's not true." Danny argued, but Elle was quick with her retort, "Sex was an issue in your relationship. She told me about it. She wasn't prepared to give it up so you decided to take it. She had bruises all over her body, Danny. You hit her."
"Well, I didn't mean to. She was freaking out, punching me. She was on something and I was just trying to help her. I was trying to hold her down." Danny explained, trying to make a case for himself, but Valentina was struggling to see how this was still justified. "She was hitting you, but you still had sex with her?"
"No."
"Then what happened?"
"It was after, after we did it. We fell asleep, but when she woke up, she was seeing things." This all was now starting to fall under the realm of what happened with the boy and his father, which Elle wanted to clarify, "What things?"
"Look, she was on something and if it was acid or whatever, I've taken that. You give that to someone without telling them. It doesn't exactly set the mood." Meanwhile, Morgan, Hotch, Spencer, and Gideon were watching from behind the double sided glass and Morgan did see some validity in what Danny was saying, "The kid is right about that. If he wanted to slip a girl a date-rape drug, why did he give her LSD too?"
"This boy seems too scared not to be telling us the truth." Spencer pointed out, Hotch adding on, "So Samantha was just the eighth victim and the boyfriend working at the café was just a coincidence."
"But even so, there may be an explanation of why the two drugs. LSD to hallucinate and Rohypnol to forget." Gideon guessed, but Morgan was slightly confused. "Forget what? What they were hallucinating?"
"No. How they got dosed."
"And the unsub's covering his tracks. That's much too organized for a high school prank." Hotch explained, which was helping Morgan come around. "And there still hasn't been any kind of ransom demand."
"Which rules out the Extortionist or any invisible political group or cult in the area, which rules out the True Believer." Spencer brought the more analytical point to this argument.
"And leaves us with the Avengers. We can give them a profile."
The BAU gathered everyone on the team and anyone in the station. They were all in the bullpen where the BAU could reach everyone better and ensure that all officers would be able to get a good understanding of the unsub they were looking for.
Valentina started off with the profile, "We believe that whoever is poisoning these people is motivated by revenge. The victimology is random. Average people in an average sized town, all of these point to a local resident. And we know that people who poison for the purposes of revenge primarily act alone."
"However, he may have manipulated someone close to him to assist him. The unsub usually disposes of these accomplices when they are of no further use to him." Hotch explained, Elle adding in an important piece of information, "The unsub is likely a cautious, deliberate, and highly functioning male between the ages of thirty-five and fifty."
"He chose LSD for a reason. LSD is about altering perception. We think that this unsub is striking out because he feels that he's been inaccurately perceived by the community or a subset of it." Hotch explained the multitude of layers that this case and unsub seemed to have.
"He feels that these attacks will affect and alter a reality that he is caught in that he perceives to be unjust. he's so self-centred he believes his victims will know the reason for the attack and who did it." Morgan elaborated in more simple terms just to reiterate and make sure that everyone would understand what they were looking for. Spencer having more to add, "This individual was savvy enough to use Rohypnol or obstruct our investigation, erasing the memories of the victims of how they were poisoned."
"Hold on, if this guy believes that his victims know who he is, why is he covering his tracks?" One of the officers curiously asked, Gideon having the answer, "Because these victims aren't his primary targets."
"We know from precedent that he's an Avenger, which is a kind of offender. He tests his weapons first. This attack was a test run." Valentina elaborated.
"A test run for what?" Another officer queried, Hotch giving it to them straight, "We don't know yet. What we do know is this is not the first time he's aired his grievances. While it's not likely that he has a criminal record, it is possible that he has filed criminal charges or pursued a civil action against his perceived adversaries. And now to measure the results of his test, he's watching."
"And he wants us to see the results of his test. Once he has them, all those years of pent-up rage will be unleashed in the form of a larger attack. Profile indicated a lot of people could die." Gideon explained.
Just then, JJ had walked into the room and informed the team, "We had a leak."
JJ brought the BAU team and the lead detective where a television was set up with the news, showing them all the information that got out. "That's right, Steve, neighbours became aware something was wrong when a local Beachwood restaurant closed early. From inside sources, we learnt that representatives of the CDC began testing food inside the restaurant this morning."
"If you're going to report the story, name the restaurant." Gideon muttered, hoping to stop panic that may occur.
"Though unconfirmed, we were told that some of the food had apparently been tainted with hallucinogenic drugs."
"Name the restaurant." Gideon repeated.
"Before we do confirm all of this, we will not release the name of the restaurant, well only say it's a Beachwood area favourite. This is Suzanne Whang reporting live from Beachwood. Back to you, Steve." JJ turned off the television and reiterated, "They didn't name the restaurant."
The BAU all shared knowing looks with each other. They all got the gist of what was happening. Anyone who had seen this news story would have seen that they could be next, therefore, panic would arise and would only make their job harder. Paranoia is never helpful in a federal investigation. The detective obviously wasn't cluing in, so when he saw some of the BAU members move away from the conversation to reroute phones or figure out how they could calm everyone, the detective questioned, "What is it?"
"Call the local hospital and make sure they know what's coming. Where do your 911 calls get routed?" Hotch asked, the detective still unaware of what the rush was. "There's a county phone bank. They contact first responders, the fire department."
"Alert them too. They're going to need additional personnel and any other backup you've got. You're going to have to call them." Hotch ordered.
"But why?"
"Because we're going to have a heck of a time just calming people down. And we really don't need the confusion to interfere with our investigation." Hotch continued to rush through, not really having time to explain the complexity of what was happening when they needed to stop everything quickly. The detective didn't understand that. "Tell me what this is all about!"
All of a sudden, all the phone lines began to ring. All anyone could hear was phones ringing and chaos, which perfectly answered his question.
"Panic."
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They were all in the bullpen, seeing all of the officers at their desks, trying to calm people down over the phone. They weren't allowed to give any new information since it may jeopardise the case. JJ had just gotten off the phone and turned to the BAU team. "I just got off the phone with the hospital. They're swamped with over fifty potential poisonings from local restaurants, but no hallucinations."
"It has to be just hysteria and paranoia." Valentina pointed out considering there were no hallucinations and this story had just been leaked to the public. They all knew that people would lose their minds and exaggerate every small thing in their life all because they were afraid. It did the FBI no good.
"We've looked into any civil or criminal complaints from employees, ex-employees, suppliers, regulars of the café. Not one good lead." The detective informed, but there had to be more to this, which Gideon pointed out. "There's got to be somebody connected to that café who'll pop as a suspect."
"Morgan, you want to go back there? See if we can find another angle?" Elle asked, earning a nod from the man himself while Hotch had ordered two other agents to handle a different part of this case. "Valentina, you and Reid go to the hospital. See if any of the poisonings seem legit."
"Let's get to it, pretty boy." Valentina very charmingly spoke as she linked their arms. Spencer was just sort of forced to walk with her, but they were both heading to the hospital anyways. Both Spencer and Valentina would most likely be able to understand the medical aspect of this case better than anyone considering Valentina's brother is a surgeon and she's an expert in her field, and Spencer seems to just know everything.
When they arrived at the hospital, they were speaking to one of the nurses behind the front desk, who really didn't seem interested to talk to two FBI agents. "I can't really talk right now. We just got hammered."
"Look, most of these food poisonings are probably psychosomatic." Valentina tried to ease her mind with the truth, but the nurse was wary of that claim, "What makes you think that?"
"A local restaurant poisoning was just reported on by the news. Now, it would be a huge coincidence if there was another poisoning right after that aired. Almost impossible." Valentina explained. The nurse put down the paper work in her hand and leaned on the desk. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Help us figure out which cases, if any, are real." Spencer explained. The nurse took a moment, debating on whether to help, but she saw no reason not to. "People are coming in with all kinds of complaints, but there's at least one case that isn't psychosomatic. She's barely breathing."
"Can you take us to the doctor that's treating that patient?" Spencer asked, to which the nurse nodded her head. She brought the two FBI agents to one of the medical rooms where the doctor already was. She quickly told him about why the FBI agents were here and he wasted no time getting right to it. If this meant he could help people, he would've done it. "When the patient got here, she couldn't remember anything about her day and her speech was so slurred I could barely understand her."
"Sounds like Rohypnol. Did you test her?" Spencer asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. The doctor nodded his head. "She was positive for Rohypnol, negative for LSD. But we're running more tests because Rohypnol alone doesn't explain her symptoms. She presented with nausea, difficulty swallowing, and laboured breathing. She was also having trouble moving her legs."
"How long has she been sick?" Valentina questioned as she looked over at the sick and coughing woman. "She didn't know. I could barely understand her when she first got here. Now, she can't speak at all."
"Do you know of biological agents that have similar symptoms?" Spencer wondered, Valentina being more specific, "Maybe ricin or sarin gas."
"Do you guys think this is a biological attack?"
"We can't rule anything out." Spencer pointed out.
"I'll order a few more tests." The doctor reassured before walking out of the room to do just that. Spencer and Valentina stepped out of the room as well, but they were simply awaiting the doctor or for new information on the case.
Valentina's phone suddenly rang, but Spencer didn't see who it was. He assumed it pertained to the case, but wasn't too sure when Valentina began speaking. "Hey...No, I'm at the hospital right now...I'm not really sure, we haven't had a huge breakthrough or anything...yeah, I'll let you know...Bye."
"Who was that?" Spencer asked as Valentina hung up the phone and put it in her back pocket. "Just Lance. He was checking up on the case."
Spencer cleared his throat, mostly trying to stop himself from stuttering due to the sharp pain he felt in his heart, an emotional pain. He proceeded to ask her something while looking down at the ground and scratching the back of his neck. "Does he usually do that?"
"No, but we have plans to meet his parents when the case is done." Valentina explained as she leaned against the wall behind her, moving her blazer slightly to put her hands in her pockets.
"Wow. That's, uh...that's a big step." Spencer pointed out, having to clear his throat again mid-sentence.
"Yeah, I know..." Valentina paused a moment, a lot on her mind, before she fully turned to Spencer, which made his heart skip a beat. "Do you think it's too much of a step? 'Cause we've only been dating two months and that's like a serious relationship type thing. Our relationship isn't serious, we only have one date night a week, he sleeps over a lot and vice versa, and we hang out all the time, but it's not serious."
"I think you're describing a decently serious relationship." Spencer argued with a small laugh, finding the irony in what she was saying amusing. "But I don't want it to be serious."
"Why not?"
"'Cause of...reasons I'm not aware of yet. I don't know...I just don't feel...the thing." Valentina tried to articulate, but she couldn't find the words. Of course, that loss of detail confused Spencer. "What do you mean?"
"You know...just...Okay, it's that feeling you get when that one person walks into a room, your day just gets better. No matter what happened before, you're just happy. Or when they smile, you just feel lost in that beauty. I don't feel anything like that when I look at Lance. I mean, it's like looking at Morgan. You know, he's hot and I wouldn't mind a little...you know...but I would never date him."
"What you're saying is you would never date your boyfriend." Spencer realized and pointed out, which actually made perfect sense to her. "...I mean...I guess so."
"You should break up with him if you don't like him." Spencer had some ulterior motives here since he personally wouldn't mind Valentina being single, if anything, he'd prefer it, but it wasn't like he'd ever have the strength or bravery to ask her out. Spencer knew he'd always be a silent admirer.
"That's easier said than done." Valentina explained as she leaned her back against the wall again.
"Well, the sooner you break up with the guy you don't like, the sooner you could be with a guy you actually do like and who appreciates you and your mind and thinks you're beautiful." Spencer pointed out, but Valentina only got one thing from that. She looked over at Spencer with that signature cocky smirk of hers. "It sounds like you're hitting on me, Spence."
"Yeah, you'd love that." Spencer teased with a small laugh. "I really would."
"You're proving my point more by flirting with me."
"Oh, but you're just irresistible-" Valentina suddenly cut herself off when she heard a struggled mutter from the other room. She peaked back into the hospital room and saw the poisoned woman struggling to speak. "Spence, I think she's trying to say something."
The two rushed back into the room to find the woman hooked up to life support attempting to mumble a message, "The en..."
"The end?"
"She may be incoherent from lack of oxygen." Spencer explained as the woman kept mumbling that unfinished sentence. Valentina stepped out to get the doctor since this woman began coughing again, so then him and three other medical officials rushed inside.
Valentina and Spencer waited outside of the hospital room and had called Hotch so he could get down here and speak with the doctor. It didn't take long since he was only at the local police station, but there was some devastating news waiting for him. Once he arrived, Hotch, Spencer, and Valentina spoke with the main doctor outside of the hospital room. "So, what are the chances that she's not poisoned? That maybe she just got some bad food?"
"Highly improbable. Chances are basically nil." He explained, but Valentina wanted something more concrete. "What's the rate of survival?"
"At this dose? Without antitoxin? Zero." The doctor went back into the room to tend to his patient, but there was this look Spencer had on his face. A look of realization and horror. "What is it, Spence?"
"Botulism. The test run is over."
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The trio had met the rest of the team back at the police station where they could regroup and reassess all the information they had. Everyone had something new to bring to light, and they all hoped it may connect.
"Lynn Dempsey was an executive assistant. She has no expertise with chemicals. She doesn't fit the profile of the unsub." Gideon explained. Lynn Dempsey is the woman that Spencer and Valentina had seen coughing in the hospital, the one with no chance of survival. Elle and Morgan believed that she could have been the unsub despite herself being poisoned. "But the CDC found both LSD and Rohypnol in the candies she was replacing at the bank."
"She must have been an accomplice. And when the unsub finished using her to further his attack, he killed her botulism." Hotch connected the two, which still left a question Valentina had unanswered. "So what do that tell us about the unsub?"
"He's far more sophisticated than we realized." Spencer began. "Botulinum toxin in the deadliest substance known to man. It blocks acetylocholine receptors, paralysing its victims until basically chocking you to death. Without antitoxin, a lethal dose will kill you in thirty-six hours."
"How many people have access to this stuff?" Elle wondered, and not shockingly, Spencer knew, "In New Jersey, quite a few. It's the pharmaceutical and chemical capital of the U.S. The toxin can be ordered in the form of BOTOX through any chemical or biological lab or BOTOX clinic. It has to be purified, but any chemist or lab assistant has that capability."
"So, we're looking for chemists and sophisticated lab assistants?" Valentina understood the gist of it, earning a nod from Spencer. Although, there was more at hand that Morgan felt they weren't considering. "Okay, wait a minute. If the unsub is a chemist with access to the toxin, what did he need Dempsey for?"
"Well, we don't know yet. But she worked for a company called...Where'd it go?" Gideon began to riffle through his pile of paperwork before finding what he was looking for. "Hichcock Pharmaceuticals. I think there's a good chance the unsub worked there too."
"Well, let's start with people who fit the profile who've had a recent stress." On that queue, Valentina called Garcia since they knew that this would be a good chance to use her strengths. As soon as she picked up the phone, Garcia had to use her charm. "My lovely and dearest friend, Valentina Barnes, how may I assist you today?"
"Can you find a list of people that were fired from Hichcock Pharmaceuticals in the past six months, Garcia?" She asked, having Garcia on speaker so that everyone could hear this and she wouldn't have to reexplain everything. They could hear the clicking of the keyboard just before she responded, "Hichcock's a giant company. There were over a hundred people fired just this past year."
"And none of them fit the profile?" Morgan asked, knowing Garcia had been briefed earlier. "No, but I do have thirty names of people who were downsized and shunted off to other lame companies with a cut in pay and benefits."
"Alright, Garcia. Then send us the names so we can cross reference them with civil and criminal complaints filed with local P.D. But I want you to keep digging and while you're at it, look for any connection to the First New Jersey Federal Bank." Valentina requested. "I'm on it, darling."
Garcia hung up and Valentina put her phone back in her pocket before Hotch pointed out, "Our guy's acting like a workplace mass murderer. He'd stay close, seething, and he'd plan his revenge."
"If he's a workplace killer, what else does that tell us about him?" Elle wondered, more so getting a conversation started so they could figure this out together. Valentina, beginning, seeing as how this was textbook for her. "Well, they don't give themselves up. He's lost his empathy, his moral compass. He's capable of anything. So all those innocent people at the bank meant nothing to him. He'll take out anybody for the sake of moving his cause forward."
"Just like Dempsey and eventually himself. But not until he finishes taking out his primary targets though. We don't have any idea where he's going to strike next. So, for all we know, he could poison a local reservoir." Morgan pointed out the harsh realities of the situation they were in. Hotch had more to add on, "Well, local cops haven't gotten any leads out of Dempsey. Why don't you go to Hichcock, see if you have any lucky?"
Elle and JJ were the two being addressed, so they stood up and went off on their mission. The rest of the BAU team stayed behind, going to look through the list Garcia had sent them.
In the conference room they were offered, Spencer and Valentina were going through records of past employees. It was all put into a file so that they could organise their work better, but Valentina got distracted decently easily. She looked up at Spencer and saw him skim his finger down the page quickly and flip to the next page. Valentina watched him do this for about thirty seconds and even rested her chin in her hand. She finally decided to ask, "How do you do that?"
"Do what?" Spencer asked without looking up from his work, continuing to flip through the pages quickly. Valentina assumed it was obvious, so she added some snark, "Read like the Flash."
"I can read twenty thousand words a minute." Spencer explained, still never looking up at her. Valentina's eyebrows raised slightly before she dropped her arm and just shook her head. "You amaze me, Spencer Reid."
Spencer kept his head down, but he had stopped reading. The faintest smile appeared on his lips, that compliment sending butterflies through his stomach. Valentina affected him in such a way that he couldn't even focus on work. Spencer may know a lot, but he had no clue what to call that.
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
Morgan had found a man, late forties, head of his department, and working at Hichcock who was recently laid off. They had arrested him and brought him to the police station where they all had to assess how to handle this situation before going into an interrogation. Morgan did find something off with the arresting process that he had to bring to light with the team, "He let us take him. He didn't kill himself. That doesn't fit the profile of a workplace killer."
"Sometimes we miss the mark. Let's be glad we did. He's our best chance at stopping the next attack." Gideon pointed out, choosing to see the positive in the possible mistake they had made. Hotch agreed with him. "He's our best chance at stopping the next attack. Hill's lab had traces of botulinum toxin, but no clues as to what he's up to next. Our only chance is to make him tell us."
"You think he will?" The lead detective asked, which Spencer explained, "Once caught, these types usually do. They want the whole world to know about their brilliant plan to destroy their enemies."
"Arrogant white man? That's my wheelhouse." Valentina spoke up, knowing she was most likely going to be thrown into that interrogation room, so she might as well volunteer. Gideon did have a piece of advice for her, "In case he doesn't give it up, you should play every angle. We need to re-examine everything we know about this guy."
"I'll check witness reports, forensic evidence, anything that might be a clue to this guy's plan." Spencer volunteered, Gideon reiterating, "A lot of lives could be at stake."
Hotch and Valentina were the two that were going into the interrogation room, which was actually a good match for this kind of unsub. This man is arrogant, full of himself, and wants to show those he hates that he was underestimated. Being in the room with a natural leader and person who can make anyone feel small with just a glance and a woman who can manipulate anyone she meets would intimidate him greatly.
"You were romantically involved with Lynn Dempsey, Mr. Hill." Hotch told the man in front of him, both him and Valentina sitting across from him. He already had a smug look on his face. "Is that what she said?"
"It's what her sister said. What happened to her?" Hotch questioned, and the man let out a breath before responding, "The fact is Lynn was already dead. That company killed her years ago."
"Did they kill you too?" Valentina asked, starting to get under his skin. He glared at her for a moment before answering, "Well, they might as well have. They took everything from me. Fruits of my labour. Best years of my life. They took my family. And when there was nothing left to take, they took two thirds of my salary and my health insurance."
"You have the opportunity to treat people with the mercy that they never showed you." Hotch explained, hoping to set Valentina up here. "I can't even tell you how little that means to me."
"What would it mean to your children?" This hit a nerve. Valentina didn't have the natural cadence and look of authority that Hotch has, but having her ask the more intimidating questions was working well. She continued on, "Listen, you worked hard. You played by the rules your whole life. Is this really how you want to go out? If you do, you stoop to their level. There are things we can do for you, there's ways to help you if you'll let us."
"What can you do for me?" He scoffed, but Hotch knew that there was actually a way they could help, "We're FBI. We have influence with justice. If you have a legitimate claim, and I believe you do, we can see to it that you get fair compensation and credit. That's all you wanted, right? A fair deal?"
"That's all I ever wanted."
"You really don't think the company knows they screwed you? You don't think everything they do, every little move they make, isn't designed to screw over people like you?" Valentina was adding more to the manipulation, which he was starting to buy. "You could really get me those things?"
Hotch handed the man a card from his wallet, which was legitimate. "Ed, this is my ABA card. I'm a lawyer and I'm offering to take your case. If you accept, I have to do what you say. This whole thing is being videotaped, I can't lie about that."
He looked down at the card he got from Hotch and really started to consider things. "I would like my sons to know that their dad created something. I created something good."
"Then tell us, Ed. What did you do?" Valentina asked the hard hitting question, which, with hesitation, got them where they wanted to get to, "There's a party this afternoon in the executive building. All the departments get together. There's a punch bowl..."
Hotch and Valentina shared a knowing look before they got up from their seats and left the interrogation room. They stepped just into the other room so that they could still see Ed, but speak to each other. It was pretty convenient since they got a call from JJ, informing them, "The punch tested positive for botulinum toxin. About a dozen of the partygoers reported symptoms, but they've all been given the antitoxin."
"Alright, thank you, JJ." Hotch thanked before hanging up the phone. He looked up to find Valentina pacing and fidgeting with her hands, a habit she had when she was worked up over something. "What is it?"
"It doesn't make sense. I mean, why didn't he take his own life when we had him surrounded? The profile indicates that he would have." Valentina thought out loud before Spencer came rushing into the room. "Guys, I think we have a problem. I've been looking over the victim reports. One of the victims that was originally dosed was severely diabetic?"
"So?"
"He wouldn't have taken the candy from the candy bowl at the bank. All the victims were there. We know that, but how are they poisoned? I started looking at the security footage." Spencer walked towards them more with a printed picture that he showed them of a security camera in the bank. "We know Lynn Dempsey replaced some candy from the bowl, but look how close that jar is to the deposit envelopes. And see that? Her hand is directly in the stack of envelopes."
"Oh my god, Spence, you're right. The envelopes had to be poisoned to since Lynn Dempsey kept saying something like 'the end' when she was dying. She must have been saying 'the envelopes.' Hill wasn't testing the Rohypnol or the LSD. He was testing the delivery system." Valentine began to piece part of it together, which Spencer was glad she was on board with. "Exactly. Botulinum toxin and LSD are the only two substances in the world toxic enough to be effective in doses as small as one thousandths of a gram. Small enough to fit on the glue strip of an envelope."
"But the CDC didn't find any evidence of poison on the envelopes." Hotch pointed out, but Spencer had thought everything out. "They wouldn't have. The envelopes were destroyed after the checks were deposited and processed."
"So, like the Rohypnol, Hill was using the candy to throw us off. To cover his tracks. To distract us from the fact that he was testing the envelopes." Hotch was now starting to get what these two were getting at, which was a good thing for their brainstorming since there was one bit that Spencer couldn't quite crack, "What I can't figure out is, why would he test the envelopes to poison the punch?"
"Because the punch is a decoy just like the candy. He's not finished." Hotch realized just before they heard the interrogation door open. The two saw Valentina rush into the room and Ed Hill was in the midst of trying to choke himself to death. He had fallen back while Hotch and Spencer ran in as well. They tried to pry his hands away, anything they could to keep this man alive, but the lights had gone out in his eyes and he was lifeless. "He's dead. He killed himself before we even got to him."
Valentina let out a breath as they stepped away from the man and out into the other room. Spencer quickly grabbed some other officers to get the body out as Hotch got a call from Morgan. He put it on speaker when it was only he, Valentina, and Spencer in the room. "Morgan, what is it?"
"I've been looking at these victims from Hichcock and this doesn't add up. All of these people are low level, regular office workers. If this guy was trying to get back at the people who screwed him, none of them are here." Morgan explained, which was a concerning thing to learn, so Valentina asked, "What do you mean?"
"The entire upper management staff is away on a corporate retreat. I know that the office manager mentioned to Elle that Dempsey was organising a retreat. So then Hill wasn't using Dempsey for access to the office party." Morgan voiced his hunch, Hotch having more to add, "No, he used her for access to the retreat. Where are the executives? Can they be reached?"
"No, no. Not until tomorrow. They're out in the middle of the woods somewhere. It's one of those no-cell-phones-allowed type of things."
"And what are they doing there?" Spencer asked, wanting to know if it was anything odd, but it was the usual. "You know, bonding exercises, they play games, that kind of stuff."
"Could they have envelopes for some kind of raffle?" Valentina wondered. "Yeah, I guess."
"Morgan, get down there as fast as you can. Bring a medic with you."
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
The BAU was back on the plane. Morgan and Gideon had gotten down to the retreat with medics and ambulances and they were able to save the executives before anything horrific happened. The BAU had another case closed and a few more people saved. It was why they'd do this.
Valentina was getting a head-start on some of her paperwork, so she moved herself away from everyone on the plane. She was in the back corner, immersed in her work when Hotch suddenly sat down in front of her. "Valentina."
"Hey, Hotch." Valentina greeted with a small smile as she put her pen down, not wanting to be rude when someone she respected greatly was speaking to her. "I just wanted to say that you did a wonderful job today with Mr. Fisher."
"Really? I mean, he started hitting his head against the wall." Valentina saw that more as a failure, more so, the worst part of this case for her work specifically, so she had no clue why she was getting a compliment on it. "Yes, but that had to happen. It showed that he could only feel grief, not remorse because he didn't do it. You're good at your job."
A genuine smile made its way to her lips, not realizing that she needed that compliment. "Thanks, Hotch. I appreciate that."
"May I ask, why did you take this job? You told me you had universities and cooperation offering you jobs and more money than we are. You had to interview at the BAU as well, it wasn't certain." Hotch observed. He was very thankful to have her on the team since she is an asset, but it was a mystery to him as to why Valentina would turn down these better opportunities for this job.
"I just...well, you know what happened to me. I just want to help people in my situation. My goal is to make sure that I'm the last kid that will be stuck in one place for four years. I'm not letting what happened to me happen to anyone else." This was a very sweet sentiment from Valentina, but Hotch knew the reality. "You can't save everyone."
"I can try."
"You're very unique, Valentina."
"Your face is unique." She insulted, which caused Hotch's eyebrows to raise, but Valentina immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, regretting what she said. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I have brothers, unnecessary rude comments are just an impulse sometimes."
❝ 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧. ❞
- 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒖𝒔
❘ ❙ ❚ ❚ ❙ ❘