Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 53]

Hotch's POV:

"There's already an internet connection in the house, why does he bring his own with him? Is it the upload speed?" I ask as Morgan and Emily hand me a cable.

"Fiber-Optic allows him to stream large amounts of video," Morgan explains.

"And maintain a chat room. That's dozens of computers connected to him at once. He'd need a lot of bandwidth for something like that," Emily adds.

"We've checked all the ISPs. Why didn't he turn up?" I wonder.

"I get mail, phone calls, people knock on my door all the time to see if I want to upgrade my internet," Morgan says casually.

"Yeah, I get them too. And they'll offer to come inside and demonstrate how much faster their connection is," Emily states.

"You think that's the ruse that gets him in the door?" I question.

"Well, it makes sense. During his demonstration, he would have access to his victims' computers-," Emily gets interrupted.

"On his way out, he asks for a glass of water, a distraction, something to buy enough time to plant that first camera," Morgan explains.

"We need to find out what company owns this cable," I determine.

"Detective Fordham's already hunting that down, and there's an I.D. number on it, so it shouldn't take long," Emily informs me.

"We'll have JJ and Reid follow up. I need you two to track down who was in the chat room," I order.

"Garcia finished her sweep?" Morgan asks.

"Yeah, most were international. Three were local. I bet one of them knows the unsub," I offer.

*time skip*

"Can I help you gentlemen?" The older man asks.

"Austin Chapman?" I question.

"Yeah, that's me," he says with a smile.

"FBI. We need to talk to you about a video you watched last night," Dave informs him.

"I'm sorry. What video?" He gives a gentle laugh.

"This is a warrant for all your computers in your possession. You're under arrest for accessory to murder," I tell him.

"Accessory?!" He says astonished.

"Watching a murder happen online and doing nothing about it is a felony," Dave states.

He pauses for a moment before speaking again.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What murder?" He continues with his confused expression.

*time skip*

"Lady's and Gentlemen. Meet Jack Jones," Garcia pulls up a picture.

"That isn't the I.D. We got from the phone company," Reid counters.

"That's because last year Mr. Jones had his identity stolen. The unsub took his license and his credit card, used them for two weeks and then moved on. Now, I can't tell you who the unsub is pretending to be now, but since a picture's worth a thousand databases, I can tell you who he was. Robert Johnson, three-time loser, arrested for possession of torture videos. Spent some time in a halfway house before he disappeared. I found a blog of his online. Here's a quote— "Next time you won't be able to stop me." Garcia says in one breath.

"That's his narcissism again," Reid mumbles.

"Furious that he got caught and he remakes himself as a killer," I piece together.