VIOLENT DELIGHTS, aaron hotchner

i tried so hard

Spencer's first morning back at the BAU goes better than anyone expected. He's practically his normal self, answering questions with long-winded explanations and reading every free chance he can get.

Juliette knows better than to take this for face value, though, keeping an eye on him throughout the morning. Maybe this is why she's the only one who notices when he reads the same book over and over again, or when he puts double his usual amount of sugar in his coffee.

Nevertheless, it's nothing out of the ordinary, so Juliette allows herself to focus on work when Garcia scurries into the bullpen with a case.

"Last night, Michelle Bradley went missing from a friend's bachelorette party in Austin, Texas, the third in a series of abductions this week. Both prior victims, one male and one female, had been stripped and beaten with a blunt object."

"Each victim was at a social gathering the night they were abducted, witness reports say that they were there one minute and gone the next." Hotch adds. "This UnSub knows who he wants and how to get them, that shows organization and sophistication."

"He had Craig and Heather for less that 12 hours before he killed them. We could already be out of time to save Michelle." Spencer says looking up from his file.

Juliette nods. "What troubles me is the variation in victimology and overkill. He's clearly angry, but about what?"

"These are good ideas, wheels up in thirty." The boss nods, leaving ahead of the team.

x

As always, more victims lead the team closer to the UnSub. Michelle was found deceased just as they were landing, but it took a fourth victim for them to notice a pattern. Each person was found wearing a watch they hadn't owned previous to being abducted, and Spencer was the one who discovered each watch was set to 6:22 by the UnSub.

With two male and two female victims, the team told police they're looking for a homosexual white male who is suffering from an identity crisis. The man is unable to accept his sexuality, likely reinforced by some form of bigotry in his life.

After this, they retreat back the conference room to bounce theories off of one another. Almost immediately, Garcia calls the landline. "Getting the 4-1-1 on a 6-2-2 is not easy. I am looking up that date, and June 22 is quite eventful in recent history. On this day in 1992, the Supreme Court ruled Minnesota hate crime laws violated free speech. The defendant burned a cross on the front yard of an African-American family's house who lived next door."

"Nothing in the profile suggests racial motivation." Spencer says. "Maybe the cross has something to do with it."

Juliette drops her file onto the table. "That's it. He's not saying 6:22, he's saying 18:22. As in Leviticus 18:22 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, for it is an abomination.'"

"Maybe the UnSub suffered abuse at the hands of someone siting God's will that he should change." Morgan adds.

Blake doesn't seem convinced. "Ok, but if you wanted to change someone's sexual orientation, how could you do it? I mean, you're not gonna guilt somebody into that."

"Conversion therapy?" Juliette suggests, and Hotch seems to agree.

"Garcia, are there any conversion camps in the area?"

For a moment, all they can hear is the sound of Garcia's typing. "I've got a hit. Camp Willing operates just outside of Austin, and guess which biblical passage is on their home page."

Hotch sends Juliette and JJ to talk with the owner of the camp. Conner's friendly, the kind of friendly that tells the women he's over compensating. But they use this to their advantage, taking up his offer to tour the site.