The unsub killed Matt, beat Kristin, and kidnapped Ellie. When Bedelia, Spencer, and JJ get to the house, the medics are driving away.
"How many cops are there in L.A.?" JJ asks.
"City or county?" Spencer asks.
"You actually know the answer?" JJ asks.
"I know both answers." Spencer says.
"It's white and extremely dirty. A very old RV." They see a cop talking to the press. "With a male, white, in his fifties." The three go inside where Derek, Hotch, and Rossi are. Derek is injured and he groans as he stands up.
"Derek." JJ says.
"I'm all right." He says.
"You don't look all right." Spencer says.
"Reid, drop it." Derek orders.
"Sorry." Spencer mumbles.
"The local bureau office found us these satellite phones." JJ says, handing them out. "It should bypass an outage problems on the ground."
"Good." Hotch says.
"Any word on Ellie?" JJ asks. She watches Derek get his jacket, an angry look on his face and he leaves. "I was just--"
"It's not you." Hotch tells her, following Derek outside.
+++
"All right, what we have is an unsub in complete behavioral chaos." Hotch says.
"Meaning?" Kurzbard asks.
"Serial offenders, especially long term, successful ones, don't just suddenly change what they do or how they do it." Rossi says.
"Going after a high risk target like a police detective and then all of a sudden abducting a child is fairly unhear of." Spencer says.
"Fairly?" Kurzbard asks.
"Sometimes they devolve as they know we're getting closer to them and their time's running out." Hotch says.
"But this unsub doesn't appear to be devolving. Devolution generally means loss of control. They find it harder and harder to keep the outside world from noticing them." Derek says.
"I think he's becoming more controlled. He spent a lifetime murdering seemingly random victims, then out of nowhere sought out Spicer, recreated his parents' murder, lured him into a trap, killed him and took his daughter." Spencer says. "The behavioral spectrum is alarmingly different."
Derek's satellite phone rings and he answers it.
"Yeah, Garcia." He says. "Sorry's not helping anybody. I need results." He says angrily before hanging up. "Garcia's got nothing on the partial plate."
"Maybe Kristin's wrong." Rossi says. "It's not surprising considering her situation at the time."
"So how the hell are we supposed to find this guy?" Derek questions.
"We can contact him." Emily states, walking in. "Kristen remembered in the ambulance that the unsub listens to news radio incessantly. He would even stop assaulting her if the broadcaster said anything about The Prince of Darkness."
"Makes sense for a narcissist." Rossi says.
"Oh, no." JJ says.
"What is it?" Hotch asks.
"The LAPD just put all the information they have out to the press." JJ states.
"What do you mean?" Derek asks.
"A spokesperson at the crime scene was talking about the RV and about Ellie." Spencer says.
"So this guy knows exactly what we know." Derek says.
"That might force him to dump the RV." Rossi says.
"Or kill--" Bedelia starts but her gaze lands on Derek and she shuts her mouth, averting her gaze from him.
"No, I don't think so." Rossi argues.
"Why not, Rossi?" Derek asks.
"Well, he could have killed you and the sister. He didn't. He kept you alive. He can't be surprised that we know what he's driving and that he has a hostage." Rossi says.
"But how many news radio stations are there in Los Angeles?" Spencer asks.
"I don't know, about 20 or so." Karzbard says.
"We can't just guess which one he listens to." Hotch says.
"What about the emergency alert system?" JJ asks. "It would be away to communicate over all the stations simultaneously."
"How do we do that?" Emily asks.
"I don't really know. How hard could it be to work out?" JJ questions, walking off.
+++
The unsub did ditch his trailer and kill somebody else, the team there now.
"He cut her hair." Spencer notes, seeing all the hair on the floor.
"I swear to God, when I get my hands on this son of a--" Derek says.
"That actually might be good." Spencer says, cutting the end of Derek's threat off. "Why disguise somebody you're gonna kill?" Derek looks through the cabinets.
"Here's how he stays awake all night." Derek says.
"Look at this article on Spicer." Spencer says.
"We already know he was obsessed with all the attention Spicer was getting." Derek says as Spencer hands him the paper.
"Yeah, but look what's underlined 3 times." Spencer says.
""8 year old, Ellie, bright, happy child."" Derek reads. ""I don't normally take to kids, but this one's just special.""
"What?" Bedelia asks.
"That's what he said back at the house. Ellie was his target all along, not Spicer." Derek says.
+++
"Dr. Reid, you're on your own cellular." Penelope comments as she answers the phone.
"Yeah. The power came back here a few minutes ago." Spencer says. He and Bedelia are standing in the hallway.
"How's my main man doing?" Penelope asks.
"On the completely safe assumption that you're not talking about me, let's just say I wouldn't want to be this unsub when Morgan finally gets his hands on him." Spencer says.
"That bad, huh?" Penelope asks.
"Has he ever yelled at you before?" Spencer asks.
"Touche." Penelope says, laughing. "And, also, sweet cheeks, you for sure know whose main man you are." She says.
"What?" Spencer frowns. "I'm not-- who?"
"You know who." Penelope says.
"I-- I really don't. What are you--"
"Okay, I don't know if you're playing dumb or actually clueless, but open your freaking eyes, boy wonder." Penelope tells him making Spencer frown. His gaze flickers to Bedelia for a moment.
"Garcia--" He starts.
"How can I be of service?" Penelope asks, knocking Spencer out of his thoughts and making him look away from the brunette.
"How far back can you go with your records, Garcia?" Spencer asks.
"How far back you talkin'?" Penelope asks.
"Uh, a murder investigation from 1968." Spencer says.
+++
"Already?" Spencer asks Penelope. "Yeah, I'll put you speaker." He does so, putting his phone on the island.
"Okay. Let me preface this by saying that a 40 year old murder in a suburb of Los Angeles is an absurdly impossible request. Having said that, yours truly happens to know that the Pollack Library at Cal State--"
"Garcia." Hotch cuts her off.
"Yes, sir, sorry, uh... anyway, this murder was quite the scandal." Penelope says.
"For southern California in the '60s, that's saying something." Kurzbard says.
"Okay, I don't know who was talking right then, but... word." Penelope says. "So, Nora Flynn was a prostitute and a drug addict living in a desert community just outside of Los Angeles. It appears bikers were her stock in trade, rough bikers, and one fateful day, she and her client were murdered by her 13 year old son, Billy. Shot to death."
"The customer, ironically named John, was able to tell the police before he died that Billy made him beg for his life and then shot him anyway."
"That's him." Derek says.
"He was convicted, but..." Penelope trails off.
"He's a juvenile." Rossi says.
"Right." Penelope says. "So at 18, he was released in 1973, never heard from again."
"Oh, he was heard from." Emily comments.
"And he never released a statement as to why he killed them, although it does appear his childhood was horrific. I'm sending you a picture of him on the day he was released to your PDAs."
"Make sure you send the files to JJ." Hotch says.
"Of course, my liege." She goes to hang up.
"Garcia, wait a minute." Derek calls. He picks up Spencer's phone and walks out of earshot from the others.
~ ~ ~
They have the radio on and are waiting around for when JJ starts.
"Billy?" Her voice comes through. "Billy Flynn? Mr. Flynn, I-- I don't know for sure that you can hear me, but-- my name-- my name is Jennifer Jareau. I-- I work for the FBI as a communications liaison for the-- the behavioral, um... okay, Mr. Flynn, I... I-I want to talk to you about letting Ellie Spicer go. I mean, I want to ask you to."
"Uh, see, I'm not a hostage negotiator, uh, I've never done anything like this at all ever, but, um, sometimes circumstances, it's..." She stops. "Look... you can tell I'm not a hostage negotiator. But I am a mother. And I... I know what your mother did to you when you were little. What she was, what she made you watch, what she let men do to you, and it makes me so... it's just not fair."
"And no one-- no one can make that better. I wish I could. I do. But... if I-- if I could somehow go back there and, you know, make what was happening to you stop, if I could just... you know, pick you up and just tell you that it'll all be okay. That's what moms are supposed to do. They're not supposed to be the cause of your pain, they're supposed to make it go away."
"They're supposed to hold you and tell you everything is gonna be all right. They're supposed to tell you that thunder is angels bowling and that it's okay to be afraid of the dark and that it's not silly to think there might be monsters in your closet and that it's okay that if you want to climb in bed with them just this once, cause it's scary in the room all alone. They're supposed to say it's okay to be afraid, and not be the thing you're afraid of."
"But most importantly, they're supposed to love you no matter what. What happened to you isn't fair, it's not right, but, um... I'm supposed to empathize with you. Sympathize. Understand. But I can't. That-- that would be a lie. The truth is, I don't understand what you've done. I don't sympathize with you killing people all these years. And I especially don't understand you taking Ellie."
"What I can do is tell you what a mother should tell you, that you can't take away your pain by hurting someone else. That it doesn't make all the nights you went to be scared and alone any better if you scare someone else the way you're scaring Ellie. What happened to you, it isn't fair. But what you're doing to her isn't fair either. And if anyone should understand what that feels like, it's you."
"You have the power, you can do what you want to do. But for once, you can choose to use that power to do for Ellie what should have been done for you. You can choose letting her go. You can choose teaching her that, yes, there are monsters, and it's okay to be afraid of them. But it's not okay to let them win. And it's not okay to be one."
Emily answers her phone after it rings.
"Agent Prentiss. Yes, hello, doctor." She greets. "Yes, sir. Thank you." She hangs up and turns to Derek with a sad look. "Both of Kristin's lungs collapsed. She died a few minutes ago."
"Ellie's got no one now." Derek says.
"Kurzbard." He answers his phone. "He let her go." He tells the team. "Where?" He asks the person who called him. He hangs up. "He got out of the car and, uh, and he just let her go. She's in a house about 6 blocks from here."
"Where is he now?" Derek asks.
"Uh, he's in another house, up the street." Kurzbard says, the group leaving.
~ ~ ~
They pull up outside the house that Billy is in.
"We have SWAT on the way, Kurz." A cop informs.
"And an HPT team." Kurzbard says.
"Yeah, but they'll be a while." The cop says.
"We had a phone sent in with a direct line to this one, but so far--" The cop's cut off as the phone rings.
"He's watching us." Hotch says. Kurzbard answers the call.
"This is Detective Kurzbard, LAPD." He says. After a moment, he holds the phone out to Derek. "He wants to talk to you." Derek takes the phone.
"What?" Derek hangs up after a moment, giving Kurzbard the phone. "He wants me to come in." He starts to walk to the house.
"Morgan." Hotch stops him.
"I know this guy, Hotch. He didn't kill me before, he's not gonna kill me this time."
"No."
"I believe in my original profile. He will not hurt me unless I show him fear."
"Listen--"
"When you needed us, we were there for you. This one is mine."
"You sure?"
"As I've ever been."
Hotch nods and Derek heads for the house.
They all wait outside and after a little bit, hear multiple gunshots. None of them move until Derek walks out of the house, unharmed.
Spencer, Bedelia, and Emily go inside with a couple of cops while Derek is able to reunite with Ellie.