"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth" - African proverb
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Emily, Derek, and Soren are all sitting at their respective desks working. He glances up and notices Spencer behind Derek. The genius is wearing a mask and carrying a plastic pumpkin basket with a face on it. He watches in amusement as Spencer leans closer to Derek.
"I'm waiting for you!" he tells Derek in a funny voice. Derek jumps and flinches away from him.
Derek sits back and tries to pretend like he had not been scared by Spencer. "Reid..."
"Happy All Hallows' Eve, folks!" Spencer tells them, walking to his desk. He pushes the mask up so his face can be seen and wears it like a hat, which makes Soren smile under his mask. "To paraphrase from Celtic mythology, tomorrow night all order is suspended, and the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily remooooved!" he says, drawing out the final word to sound like a ghost as he dangles a fake head in front of Emily, who laughs.
"See, that right there is why Halloween creeps me out," Derek says.
"Wait, you're afraid of Halloween?" Soren tilts his head.
"Hey! I didn't say I was scared, I said I was creeped out," Derek defends. "There's a difference there, youngster. You should look it up," he says, even though Soren is pretty sure the two words mean the same thing.
"Well then, what creeps you out about it?" Soren asks Derek.
"Don't know. People wearing masks," Derek answers. "I don't like folks in disguises."
"That's the best thing about Halloween! You can be anyone you want to be," Spencer tells him.
"Nah, I'm pretty good just being me."
Emily laughs. "Yeah, why is it that neither of those points of view surprise me?" she ponders.
"You know what, though? On the flip side, it does provide a pretty good reason to cozy up with a scary flick and a little Halloween honey," Derek comments, winking at Emily.
"Halloween honey..?" Soren repeats, confused.
"Guys, he's here," Spencer mutters.
They look up to see Strauss leading David Rossi to Hotch's office. Spencer takes off his mask and gives his normal awkward smile.
Spencer quickly removes his mask while Derek and Emily stand up once Rossi and Hotch approach them. Soren remains seated with his feet propped up on his desk.
"SSA David Rossi, this is SSA Emily Prentiss," Hotch introduces her.
Emily shakes hands with Rossi. "Sir."
Hotch gestures to Soren. "SSA Soren Volk," he introduces him. Soren simply lifts his hand to greet Rossi.
"SSA Derek Morgan," Hotch introduces him.
"It's an honor, Agent Rossi," Derek tells him, also shaking his hand.
"Please, just Dave," Rossi requests.
Hotch gets to Spencer last. "And Dr. Spencer Reid." Of course, Spencer being who he is, immediately begins his rambling. "Sir, if I could talk to you later about your work with the Scarsdale Skinner. Psycho-linguistics is an incredibly dynamic field, and the fact that your profile of his reading habits ultimately led to his capture is something I find so incredibly intriguing--"
"Reid, slow down," Hotch interrupts. "He'll be here for a while. You can catch up with him later," he informs.
"Sorry," Spencer apologizes and awkwardly smiles.
"No problem, Doctor," Rossi tells him.
"Maybe you guys can talk on the jet," Hotch suggests.
"Oh, yeah, that'd be great!" Spencer agrees.
"The jet?" Rossi echoes, turning to face Hotch.
"We have a jet now," Hotch tells him.
"Are you serious?" Rossi asks.
"Yeah. It comes in pretty handy," Hotch confirms. "Come on. J.J.'s waiting."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Carrollton, Texas, is a suburb just outside of Dallas," JJ told them as the team sat around the round table. "Four days ago, Michelle Colucci found this flyer on her front door."
They were shown a picture of a missing person's flyer with the woman's face on it. In red, the words "Have you seen me?" were printed on the flyer.
"She found it?" Derek asked.
Soren tilted his head. "So she wasn't actually missing?" he questioned.
"Not yet," JJ said. "She took the flyer to a friend's husband, Detective Yarbrough, at the Carrollton P.D., who told her it was probably just a Halloween prank and sent her home."
"Well, I don't blame him. Halloween brings out the fool in everyone," Derek remarked.
"Still, he stopped by Michelle's house later to check on her," JJ continued. "The door was open, and when he went inside, he found this. He still thought maybe it could be some kind of prank, until yesterday. Michelle was found floating in a small creek just outside of Carrollton."
JJ showed a picture of the woman's body.
"She had been sexually assaulted," she informed before switching the photo to what Soren thought was just a lot of blood and meat but soon his eyes widened as he realized it was the remains of the victim's face. "And her face had been removed," JJ concluded.
"Gottverdammt," Soren remarked quietly to himself.
"Removed?" Rossi echoed. "It wasn't animals or fish?" he asked JJ.
The Dallas County M.E. says that the edges of the wounds were smooth, not torn. A very sharp instrument had been used. He also found water in her lungs.
"Oh, my God!" Garcia exclaimed. Soren turned to see her covering her face with a manila folder that prevented her from seeing the picture. "What is that?" she questioned.
"Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, this is SSA David Rossi," Hotch introduced the two.
"Is it gone, JJ?" Garcia asked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she switched the photo of the victim's body to one of a sink that was presumably in the victim's house. "You're safe," JJ reassured her as she sat down.
"OK. Just to, um... Carrollton, Texas, has nearly 117,000 residents, a diverse population with... it's all in there," Garcia stammered. "I'm sorry. Very happy to meet you, sir." She shook hands with Rossi. "I'll be in my office," she told him before leaving and making sure to close the door behind her.
"She's different," Rossi remarked.
"You have no idea," Hotch replied.
"Uh, so, the unsub tells her she's going to go missing to psychologically torture her, then tortures her physically," Emily explained. "Textbook sadist," she said.
"A sophisticated one," Hotch commented.
"Number one," Derek read aloud, looking at the white mask. On it, "One" was written on the forehead.
"That particular mask is known as a false face," Spencer told them. "It's most commonly worn during Halloween and Mardi Gras."
Derek dropped the photo on the table. "Creepy," he insisted. "I rest my case."
"False face," Hotch pointed out.
"Her face-- he mocks it, then destroys it," Emily spoke.
"Oh, and, Hotch-- local media has the story. It broke big," JJ informed him.
"Tell Carrollton we'll be there first thing in the morning. Let's stop this one at one," Hotch instructed. "If you want to take some time to get situated, maybe start on the next case?" he suggested to Rossi.
"I'm not back to get situated, Hotch, I'm here to work," Rossi refused.
"All right," Hotch said. "Everybody get your things together. We're going to Texas."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Let's go over victimology. Would you like to join us, Dave?" Hotch inquired. Rossi got up from his chair and joined them.
"Reid, what have you got?"
"Michelle Colucci was single, lived alone, had no boyfriend and no ex-husband," Spencer told them.
"Was she dating?" Soren asked.
"There's nothing in the reports," Derek told him.
"She was an architect," JJ informed them. "Friends and co-workers say she was a classic workaholic. Basically a loner who rarely went out of the house."
"So she's extremely low risk," Emily commented.
Soren looked up at her. "Well, if it wasn't someone she knew, maybe a stalker?" he suggested.
"Interesting," Rossi murmured to himself.
Soren looked at him. "What?"
"Oh, I'm just thinking out loud," Rossi replied.
Hotch looked up from his file. "Something to add?" he asked.
"No," Rossi denied. "Sorry to interrupt," he apologized.
"Well, she's pretty," Derek commented. "It could be that the unsub met her casually and... made her part of some kind of fantasy?" he suggested.
"And he tries to act on it, and she rejects him?" Hotch proposed.
"So he tortures her out of anger?" Emily questioned.
"Masks often represent a state of mind," Spencer said. "This one's blank, expressionless. It doesn't really coincide with anger," he noted.
Derek held up the picture of the victim's face, or what was left of it at least. "Reid, it's hard to imagine he did this out of anything less than rage."
"Hey, guys!" Garcia spoke over a video call.
"What's up?" Derek asked. "You got something for us?"
"A list of Michelle Colucci's clients," Garcia told them. "She designed office space, mostly big corporate remodeling plans," she explained.
"No private clients, one-on-one contact?" Hotch inquired.
She shook her head. "Doesn't look like it, no."
"Thanks, baby girl," Derek thanked her before ending the call.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Soren stepped out of the car, as did Emily and Derek. He looked around the neighborhood, having been tasked by Hotch to take a look around.
Derek looked around. "These houses sure are close together," he commented.
"Yeah," Emily agreed. "So how do I get a woman out of her house without anyone seeing me?" she pondered.
"Well, he must have been watching her for a long time and knew that it was safe," Derek suggested.
Soren glanced around, taking note of how open this location was. "Not a lot of cover here for a person to be sneaking around," he pointed out.
"I have a vehicle," Derek stated. "Big enough so I can watch without being seen. But not so big as to draw attention to itself," Derek continued.
"No," Emily argued. "Neighbors will notice a strange vehicle parked in front of their house day after day, night after night," she told him.
"It's human nature," Derek claimed. "You would notice something out of place in your own neighborhood."
"And you would definitely notice a man repeatedly standing on your street," Emily added.
"Yeah. It just doesn't make any sense," Derek stated.
"He must have watched from somewhere else," Soren suggested.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Derek called out from his hiding spot in the bushes, "This is where I'd wait."
"Yeah," Emily agreed. "I'd never be able to see you from the house," she pointed out.
Soren looked down at the ground, noticing a spot where the imprint of footprints was in the dirt. "Morgan, Prentiss," he called their names for their attention. "He was watching from here for a while," he pointed out the footprints.
"Watching everything she did," Emily said.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"He's a white male," Derek began. "His shoe prints have been examined and put him at about 5'11, 165."
"So we've narrowed it down to anyone of average weight and height," Yarbrough remarked.
"Exactly," Derek affirmed.
"There's a sophistication and patience in what this unsub does that suggests a level of maturity. We believe this puts his age in the mid-30s to 40s range," Emily explained.
"Michelle Colucci was taken from the primary crime scene and disposed of at the tertiary crime scene 4 days later," Spencer began, using animated hand movements to accompany his words. "That means she was held somewhere for at least 3 days. You can't really just hold a victim anywhere for days on end, so he most likely has access to a house of some kind."
"And he's also fairly tech-savvy. The flyers were made on a computer. And it's probable that he used a device to intercept Enid White's phone call," Derek informed. "Witnesses in Enid White's neighborhood say they may have seen a white man putting up flyers, but none of them could describe him, even with all the media attention this case has received."
One of the detectives sighed. "Great..."
"Actually, what that tells us is that there is absolutely nothing remarkable about this man," Emily said. "He is exceedingly average."
"As you said, Detective Yarbrough, average height, average build," Derek repeated to him.
"It extends to his professional life as well. He most likely works in a field where he doesn't stand out, doesn't really make a mark," Spencer chimed in. "His lack of distinction is part of his psychopathy. We have hundreds of interactions with people every day. Most of those involve someone overlooking someone else. Most of us don't pay any attention to being ignored, but to this kind of unsub, each oversight is intentional."
"Especially when it comes from his object of sexual desire," Spencer stressed. "He begins to obsess over her until she's all he can think about. And the rage builds until he has to attack that person."
"So he's pissed off that nobody notices him?" Yarbrough remarked.
"'Have you seen me?'" Soren repeated the words of the flyer. "The masks are about the women, number one, number two. The flyers probably refer to him," he explained. "Removing his victims' faces takes his feelings of being ignored and turns it into a mission, and that gives him feelings of power."
"And the power can make him arrogant, but it doesn't make him notable," Hotch commented.
"So how the hell do we catch an invisible man?" Yarbough questioned.
Hotch answered the man's question. "I'm pretty sure we can get him to contact you."
"What?"
"Well, the crime scenes show he wants to deliver his message to the police," Emily said. "He isn't going public."
"Hopefully, by playing on his anger..." Hotch trailed off, his eyes going to the TV as the news showcased the white masks. Soren followed his gaze to the TV, his eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses as he stared at it.
"JJ," he spoke. "How the hell did they get that?" he questioned.
JJ looked up at the TV as well. "Not from me. I-- Hotch, I called all the local police departments and stressed withholding the mask," she insisted.
"I called them," Soren turned to the sound of Rossi's voice, as did Hotch and JJ.
"What?" asked Hotch.
"I said the FBI thinks the masks mean he's impotent," Rossi informed him.
"Can I speak to you for a second?" Hotch requested before walking off with Rossi.
"First case and already in trouble," Soren said quietly to Emily.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Garcia, talk to us," Derek said, putting the phone on speaker so the entire team could hear Garcia speak.
"So," she began, "Michelle Colucci recently drew up the plans for a remodel of 3 floors of a company called TechCo Communications. It's a high-tech communications company in downtown Dallas."
"And Enid White?" Hotch inquired.
"Worked there until 2 months ago!" Garcia told them.
Soren looked up and away from the phone, recognizing Yarbrough's footsteps as he approached them. "He's on line 2," he told them.
"The unsub?" Hotch asked.
Yarbrough nodded. "Demanded to speak to the FBI," he said.
Rossi put the unsub on the line to speak with him.
"This is FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi," he answered.
"You called me impotent," the unsub accused bitterly.
"Did I?"
"I'm not impotent," the unsub whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Rossi asked but received no answer from the unsub.
"You lied. You lied," the unsub repeated.
"Is someone around you?" Rossi asked. "Are you at work?"
"You have to tell the news the truth," the unsub demanded.
"I'll get you on the news, then you can correct me yourself," Rossi informed.
"No, you, you, you correct it."
"By the way, I was, um, looking at the police security tapes for the day Michelle Colucci went missing."
"What?"
"You watched her long enough to know she didn't have visitors. She was a loner. Yet you knew that Detective Yarbrough was coming over," Rossi stated. "You must have been right here in this station when he told her. Now, your face is gonna be on one of those tapes, and when I find it, I'm gonna paper this city with it, just like you did with those women."
"Everyone will see it. They won't be able to ignore you now. But you won't inspire fear, you'll inspire hatred and ridicule, because the only power someone like you has is a mask, and once that mask is removed, you'll be as insignificant as you've always been-- a loser!"
There was a brief pause before the unsub spoke again. "You just signed Enid White's death warrant," he said before hanging up on Rossi.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Is the building sealed?" Hotch asked Yarbrough.
"Top to bottom," he assured him.
"Yarbrough, make sure it stays that way," Hotch instructed. "Garcia, which floors did Michelle Carlucci remodel?" he asked.
"Got it--7, 8, 9," he said.
"Morgan, take 7. We're looking for a rank-and-file employee who made a scene in the last 20 minutes or was here and gone. Prentiss and Volk, 8. Reid, 9," he ordered.
"Don't approach him. Just... try to get a name, maybe a picture," Hotch instructed.
Soren and Emily went up to the 8th floor and found nothing. However, Reid found someone, and they found that the unsub was a man by the name of Max Pool.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Night had fallen by the time they found Enid and Max Pool's address. The woman was now on a gurney that the medics had wheeled her out on. Soren stood a bit away, watching the team. JJ was handling the press. He watched as Spencer, Derek, and Emily all handed out candy to the children from the neighborhood who were crowding around the crime scene tape.
The night was mostly silent except for the sound of the ambulance and the kids' chatter and laughs as his teammates gave out candy. Soren couldn't help but smile as he watched the children. He didn't quite understand Halloween since he had never really been allowed to celebrate, but the holiday seemed to bring the children joy.
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Word Count: 2848