The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

34. Old enemy returns

Strauss basically forced Cassidy to work at her desk. She was allowed to work cases that the team received, but she wasn't allowed to leave the BAU office.

"You wanted to know immediately about any unusual Boston homicides?" JJ asked as she handed Hotch a file.

"We're going to Boston." Hotch announced.

"Well- Shouldn't we wait for the official request? We haven't been invited-" JJ questioned, confused.

"We will be." Hotch insisted as he grabbed his go bag and walked through the bullpen.

"Well, it looks like we're going to Boston." JJ exhaled as she met up with the team, all of whom were confused.

"I'll call you when we need you. Love you." Spencer kissed Cassidy before she watched him and the team follow Hotch out of the BAU bullpen.

———

The team sat on the jet, each of them looking at the file on the Boston Reaper.

"The Reaper is driven by a need to dominate, control, and manipulate." Hotch read the contents of the file that JJ had given him.

"So then why would he offer a deal that would stop him from doing that?" Emily asked, extremely confused.

"Well, killing gave him power, but after so many, the payoff began to diminish. So he decided to switch tactics. Offering the deal gave him the ultimate power, better even than killing. He manipulated the police into voluntarily surrendering." Hotch explained, everyone hanging off his every word.

"He even got it in writing." Spencer nodded, shocked.

"He won. Why start killing again?" JJ asked, confused.

"Well, because the only person who knew he'd won, the person he made the deal with, just died." Morgan reminded JJ, who nodded, understanding.

"Narcissistic killers need other people to recognize their power. That's why they contact the media." Rossi mentioned.

"So how did he stop for 10 years?" Emily questioned.

"In 'Night of the Reaper', the author suggests he had been arrested for an unrelated crime or died. Perhaps he's trying to correct that misconception." Spencer suggested.

"What has he been doing all this time?" JJ asked.

"Planning what he would do if he started killing again." Hotch exhaled, still reading over the file.

"So from '95 to '98, He shoots, stabs, and bludgeons 21 victims. Men, women, all ages, all types. No specific victimology or M.O. How did you build a profile from that?" Morgan looked at Hotch, confused.

"We didn't. Shaunessy sent us home before we had a chance. BTK, the Zodiac, and the Reaper all have similarities. They're all highly intelligent, disciplined, sadistic killers who name themselves in the press." Hotch explained, looking at each and every member of the team.

"Highly intelligent may be a bit of an understatement. The Reaper and the Zodiac killer have never been arrested and the BTK killer was only caught after 25 years because he went to the press to counter a book that said he'd died, moved away, or been locked up, just like this one." Spencer informed the team.

"Speaking of the media, when this gets out, it's going to be a frenzy. If they get wind of this...they're going to be all over the Boston police." JJ scoffed, holding up a letter that Hotch had received from Shaunessy before he died.

"The longer we can float the copycat story, the better chance we'll have of catching him. Rossi, Prentiss, and Morgan, go to the field office, set up shop, go through everything there. JJ and Reid, we'll go to the crime scene." Hotch instructed.