Bedelia jogs over to the door when there's a knock on it, the woman expecting take out. She opens the door, freezing when she finds Spencer.
"Spence. Hey. Wha--"
"I'm sorry. I just... I couldn't..." He sniffles. "Could I spend the night?"
"Ye-yeah. Yeah, of course." Bedelia instantly nods. Spencer trudges into the apartment, dropping his satchel on the floor. Bedelia shuts the door, turning, only to be engulfed in a tight hug.
Bedelia freezes for a moment before hugging him back, one hand resting on his head. She ignores the pain in her chest as she hears him start to cry.
+++
They're in the round table room and Penelope made cupcakes to celebrate Ashley's graduation from the academy.
"Congratulations, Agent Seaver." Hotch tells her.
"Thank you." She says, shaking his hand.
"Who made the cupcakes?" Rossi asks, fist bumping Ashley.
"I did." Penelope says.
"Thank you all for coming to my graduation. It meant a lot." Ashley says as everybody sits down.
"Let's get started." Hotch says.
"Okay. We're going to Portland, Oregon, and it's not for a Dead Moon concert." Penelope says. "So, Jay Johnson, a DJ, was cutting through an alley on his way home after leaving a club when he was bludgeoned by a pipe and then stabbed 31 times. His watch, his cell, and his computer were stolen. That was 2 days ago."
"Now, early this morning, Karen Heywood, a 30 year old nurse, she died during a home invasion. She was stabbed 40 times, but first she was bludgeoned with weapons of opportunity."
"8 different ones, to be exact." Derek says.
"That's too many weapons for one person." Rossi says.
"There was a left and a right handed killer according to the M.E. report." Penelope says.
"Yeah, but 8 different weapons." Rossi says.
"So we're looking for a group." Derek says.
"It seems that way. And the left handed wounds were deeper than the right." Hotch says.
"Maybe a woman was involved?" Spencer suggests.
"Or a weak man." Ashley adds.
"Anything taken from the house?" Hotch asks.
"According to a neighbor, just some random stuff -- a computer, some jewelry, a framed picture of a lily." Penelope says.
"And pawnable items. What do we have, serial killing crooks?" Derek asks.
"Sounds like a musical." Rossi comments.
"Similar victimology -- young professionals killed 3 miles apart." Hotch says.
"Is there a gang situation in Portland?" Ashley asks.
"Minimal. This seems more like desperate people in need of quick cash." Spencer says.
"Why kill them if it's just for money?" Ashley asks.
"That's what we have to find out." Rossi says.
"And we've got 8 hours till nightfall. Let's go." Hotch says.
+++
"So Mr. Johnson exits the nightclub through the back door to get to his car." Spencer says.
"Maybe one unsub can watch from over there and the other from back there." Ashley says.
"Then when he gets here, another unsub hits him with a pipe and it's game on." Bedelia says.
"Look at the vials." Ashley points out. "This is a drug corridor."
"That would explain why there's so much overkill." Spencer says. "Maybe they were on something."
"On the jet I did some researching into the club. A year ago, someone O.D.'d inside. Since then, new management's clamped down on the partying." Ashley says.
"Which means the unsubs most likely fit in to this area." Spencer says.
"Can't party inside, you come out here. They're probably all the same age." Bedelia says.
+++
"We believe our unsub is a white male paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from hallucinations." Hotch says. "Since schizophrenic breaks usually occur in your early 20s, we believe he's around this age and that he lives nearby."
Bedelia glances back at Spencer as he appears to be out of it and fidgets a little.
"We think this unsub is hypervigilant, and in this condition, he's unable to travel very far from his home." Hotch says.
"He kills at night and is extremely violent. During the day, he's most likely a loner. Someone in this state probably can't keep a job. We believe something happened to our unsub in his childhood. Childhood voices telling him to kill, or he's misinterpreting them as doing so." Rossi says.
Bedelia looks back at Spencer again, noticing him mess with his fingers.
"Our unsub has probably been coping until now, but a recent stressor brought him back to that childhood incident and is causing him to act out." Ashley says.
"Our unsub spends his days wandering, trying to fight the desire to kill, yet he feels trapped by his hallucinations." Derek says. "No matter what he does or tries to do, the hallucination's power is greater than his own."
"Because of his limited social circle as a child, it is our belief that the incident involved close friends or family. Now, once we figure out what happened when he was a kid and the stressor that recently triggered a relapse, we'll be that much closer to narrowing down the killer's identity." Bedelia says.
"Reid." Hotch calls.
"We need you all to start searching in this are." Spencer gives a detective a map. "Based on previous kills, we know that he strikes at night and will not retreat until we find him."
After they finish, Spencer walks off, Bedelia watching him disappear into the bathroom. She goes back to where the team has all their stuff and starts going through it when Derek walks up to her.
"How's he holding up?" Derek asks.
"How do you think he is?" Bedelia retorts.
"Yeah." Derek mumbles. "How you holding up?" Bedelia stills for a moment, swallowing down the urge to say anything.
"I'm fine." She says.
"B..." Derek starts.
"Really. I don't wanna talk about it." She quietly says.
Derek gently squeezes her arm before walking away only making her guilt worsen.
+++
"You know, at the grocery store where Karen Heywood was shopping the night she was murdered, the clerk said the unsub was buying water and a lot of salt." Spencer says.
"Saltwater could be used to torture his victims." Rossi says.
"Well, there's no evidence of that." Derek says.
"It could also be used to remove victims' blood from clothing." Ashley says.
"Think about this, though, the visions that schizophrenics have can be interpreted as demons. What do some people do when they think they have demons inside of them?" Spencer questions.
"They could get an exorcism." Derek says.
"Holy water is used in exorcisms." Rossi says.
"What about the salt?" Ashley asks.
"Salt is used in exorcisms and a variety of religious healings." Spencer says.
"What are you looking for?" Bedelia asks.
"The number of churches in the comfort zone. 3." Spencer says.
"All right, let's see if any of them keep their doors open late." Hotch says.
+++
"Okay, here we go. I looked at that list of schizophrenics that have been recently arrested in that 40 mile radius." Penelope says. "I cross-checked it with ones that have gone to local pharmacies to get schizophrenia medication like Thorazine or Prolixin."
"Any of them have prescriptions filled for sleeping medication as well?" Hotch asks.
"Yes, one. Ben Foster, he has a prescription for Thorazine and Ambien." Penelope says.
"It's likely he uses the money from the stolen items to buy the pills." Ashley says.
"What's his background, baby girl?" Derek asks.
"He moved to Portland 3 years ago. A month ago he was in an apartment fire, after which he got a sleeping pill medication because his insomnia began again. Oh, my. When he was 10, he was questioned during an investigation about a fire that killed 3 people."
"It could be part of the homicidal triad." Rossi says.
"I'm looking at the police report right now. It turns out 2 months before, his mom had a local minister perform an exorcism on him, and the three people who were killed in the fire helped perform that exorcism." Penelope says.
"Was Ben charged?" Rossi asks.
"No. He was acquitted in juvie court." Penelope says.
"You got an address?" Hotch asks.
"Uh, 2627 Halden Way." Penelope states.
+++
They get to the address and get out of the cars. Hotch and Rossi go in through the front door while the others go around back.
"He's out back!" They hear Derek shout.
They walk around the neighborhood as they try to find Ben.
Hotch, Bedelia, and Spencer are walking around and have holstered their guns. They stop and look around, Madelyn looks at the house they're in front of, watching a young boy close the curtains on one of the windows. The three share looks.
"I think we've got something at 2218." Hotch says, the three going to the back.
They quietly get into the house after the others get there.
"Ben, drop the knife." Hotch orders.
"Shoot me." Ben says.
"Ben, we're not gonna shoot you." Spencer says. "But we do need you to put down that knife, okay?" He holsters his gun. Bedelia tenses up a little, keeping her eye on Ben. "All right, where are the other people in this room, Ben?"
"Right there. You see him?" Ben asks.
"Right here?" Spencer asks. "Were they there for the exorcism?"
"Mm-hmm." Ben nods. "I didn't kill them, though. I didn't do it." He says. "And I'm not lying!"
"Ben, they're dead and they can't hurt you anymore." Hotch says.
"They can't?" He asks.
"No, Ben. Your mind is playing tricks on you." Derek says. "Once you get help, it'll all stop."
"Yes, you are." Ben says, looking behind Spencer. "Okay. All right, I killed you, I set the fire."
"Ben, listen to us. It's okay." Bedelia tells him. "Were gonna get you a doctor's help. I promise."
"No. The-- the only way that you can help me is if you do it -- if you kill me." Ben says, crying, holding onto the two kids.
"Ben, that's not true. Listen, the only way we can help you is if you put the knife down and let us get you help." Spencer says.
"Are you sure that'll work?" Ben asks.
"Oh, I'm absolutely sure of it. Put that knife down, okay?" Spencer tells him.
"Okay." He nods, letting go of the kids. They run off, Ashley taking them outside. "Okay." Ben lunges at Spencer with the knife and Bedelia doesn't waste a second to shoot him, making him fall to the floor.
"We need an ambulance." Spencer says into the ear piece.
+++
Spencer and Bedelia are at her apartment and he's lying on the couch, watching the random show she put on TV. Bedelia walks into the room, putting the cup of tea on the coffee table.
"You have a headache?" She asks.
"Yeah." He mumbles. "But I, uh, I found somebody who I think can help get rid of them. Just hope it works."
"Me, too." Bedelia says.
Spencer sniffles, rubbing his face, his hands running over the drying tear stains.
"I'm sorry." He tells her.
"For what?" She frowns, sitting by his feet. Spencer sits up, crossing his legs.
"Expecting you to comfort me all the time. You're grieving, too." Spencer says. Bedelia rolls her lips into her mouth.
"It's okay. I don't mind comforting you." Bedelia says.
"I can comfort you, too." Spencer says.
"And you do. There's nothing to worry about." Bedelia tells him.
"You sure?" He asks.
Bedelia hesitates, the woman losing the ability to breathe for a moment.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure." She smiles.