Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season One

Unfinished Business: Final Part

A little while later, you have hospital records from way back when, and it's tough to go through all of them. You have a lot to go through, so there has to be some way to narrow this down.

"Something debilitating enough to lose strength permanently, I'm still thinking stroke," Hotch says.

"You know Ryan's profile puts the unsub in his late 20's. Isn't that too young for a massive stroke?" Derek wonders.

"Technically you're never too young for a stroke. Eighty percent of strokes are ischemic, the other twenty are hemorrhagic, which usually result in death," Spencer says.

"Ischemic strokes occur when plaque builds up in the arteries, causing restricted vessels to be blocked by a blood clot," you add.

"We don't need another Reid," Derek groans playfully.

"What's wrong with that?" you grin and wink at Spencer.

"Okay, but doesn't it take years for that type of plaque to build up?"

"Typically."

"Well then like I said, he was too young."

"Did you know that stroke victims that play virtual reality games show significant advances in recovery than those who don't?" Spencer asks.

"I do know that, actually," you grin.

"Now, here's somebody," Hotch says and holds up the file in his hands and begins to read from it. "In 1987, he was thirty, single, and had a dishonorable discharge."

"It's a good start. What was the injury?" you ask.

"Broken neck. Intensive skull therapy for nine years."

"What's he been doing since?"

"The guy moved to the Florida Keys where he is a scuba instructor. He's got the right idea."

"It's not him," you shake your head.

"Come on. There's got to be something in here," Derek sighs.

"Elle's running down injuries on college campuses. The guy's well-read so he may have been a professor," Gideon suggests.

"There are just too many hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities that we'd be sifting through records for weeks."

Usually, you'd be able to look at the files and determine who might be an unsub based on the energy their files give off, but there are too many here, and the lines blur together. There has to be a way to narrow this search.

"We ruled out a stroke, but half these hospitals don't even say how the accident occurred."

"Accidents? In America, someone's involved in a car accident once every ten seconds."

"He's onto something. Car accidents with injuries would all be reported by the police," you point out. "If he was involved in a serious accident, he would be in the database."

"Alright, so how about I get Garcia to check Philly PD records for accidents involving American-made sedans in serious injury?"

"It's a long shot," Max sighs.

"Have some faith, Max. It's a start. We should start with 1988. If it was an accident, it stopped him in his tracks."

You pick up your phone and quickly call Penelope, and she answers cheerfully.

"Speak!" she grins.

"I need a list, Pen."

"Ahh, sugar, you're in luck. Lists are my specialty. Go."