The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

50. "Single" for a night

CASSIDY
When I stepped foot into the BAU office, I was bombarded with hugs and lots of warm welcome from the team. I even handed Hotch a letter from my doctor explaining that I was allowed to be back at work, and even back in the field.

I missed being back in the conference room, even if it meant that I missed solving serial killer cases. I sat at the round table, my engagement ring wrapped around my finger for all to see. I had gotten to work earlier than Spencer this morning, seeing as he was still trying to catch up on missed sleep.

"Vanessa Holden, age 25. Last Friday night, she was clubbing with her sister. A stranger, white male, roughly her age, picked her up." Penelope began as she put photos up on the screen. The entire team seemed incredibly focused on the victim.

"They left the club at 1 AM, went back to her place. He forced her on her hands and knees. And then he cut her open just below the stomach." Penelope desperately tried to avoid looking at the screen that was littered in images of a bloody and gory body.

"Yeah. Pretty rough." I rolled my eyes, trying not to gag.

"The gutting causes the intestines to spill out. You can survive for a few hours, actually even days." Spencer explained. I loved Spencer, but his extensive knowledge of violent crimes and different ways for people to die always freaked me out.

"Post-mortem indicates that he slit her throat at 5 AM." Penelope added.

"So he disembowelled her but didn't kill her for 4 hours?" Morgan asked, confused by the images in the file and on screen.

"He could be a sexual sadist." Emily shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, I thought so, too, but I found two priors from a year ago- prostitutes, actually, in motel rooms." Penelope shook her head, pulling up the other two reports.

"Okay. So keep running with it. Why do you think this is the same unsub?" Hotch asked, looking at each of us.

"In Vanessa Holden's apartment, the following were discovered- bleach, ammonia, trash bags. All in a triangular pattern. One year ago, motel rooms- bleach, ammonia, trash bags. Also in a triangular pattern." JJ explained, comparing the crime scene photos.

"He's cleaning up. Might be trying to hide his tracks." Morgan raised his eyebrows, giving a solid suggestion.

"Could be a sign of remorse. Apologising for the murder by minimizing the mess." Spencer suggested, looking up at the screen.

"But there's one other commonality between both sets of murder. Bleach and ammonia were found under the victim's fingernails. He's making them clean up their own murder." I mentioned, everyone nodding in agreement.

"It's the same unsub." Rossi scoffed.

———

The BAU team sat on the jet, case files in their hands as they all tried to come up with tangible theories. Spencer and I sat together, his hand on my lap as we both looked at our case files.

"So if the unsub changed the victimology, does that make him organized or disorganised?" Morgan asked.

"Well, the prostitute point one way, the club goes another." Emily shrugged her shoulders.

"The triangular arrangement of the cleaning supplies is interesting." Spencer tilted his head, interested in the crime scene photos.

"Obsessive-compulsive?" JJ questioned.

"Might have been institutionalized." Emily suggested.

"We're missing the forest for the trees here. This guy started with prostitute- a high-risk victimology. Took a year off, came back, killed a socialite. No forced entry, no coercion of any kind." Rossi started.