timeless, spencer reid [ 1 ]

023. demonology

"Thanks for coming in early." Hotch says as Bedelia, JJ, Spencer, and Rossi walk into the round table room.

"Where's Morgan and Prentiss?" JJ asks.

"They're at the morgue examining this man, Matthew Benton, a friend of Emily's." Hotch says, handing JJ a file. "She believes that his death may be connect to that man's." He hands Rossi a file.

"Thomas Valentine." Rossi spots his name. "Dehydration? Did she know him?"

"No, but Benton seemed to think that someone was after both of them." Hotch says.

"Wait, one death was a heart attack. The other one was from dehydration. What's the connection?" Spencer asks.

"I don't know if there is one." Hotch says.

"Are the police investigating?" JJ asks.

"No. Right now, we're just, uh, helping a colleague." Hotch says.

"So we talk to the families, see if there's anything suspicious." Rossi says.

"Is Emily okay?" JJ asks.

"I don't know." Hotch answers. "That's why I sent Morgan to go with her."

+++

Thomas Valentine's wife leads Rossi, Bedelia, and Spencer into the bedroom where he died.

"When I came in the house, I found him here in bed." She says.

"You two don't live together?" Spencer asks.

"I'd taken the kids to my mom's. We'd been gone a few weeks. The doctor said he must have been in bed for days."

"May I ask why you took the children somewhere else to live?" Rossi asks.

"My husband was hearing voices. He was cursing God. I needed to protect them."

"Of course." Rossi says.

"Do you believe in the soul?" She asks.

"I do." Rossi says.

"Well, I believe Tommy's is finally at peace."

+++

"We saw scuff marks on the floor underneath Thomas Valentine's bed." Rossi says. "Almost as if someone had been tied up and struggled to get free."

"We saw the exact same marks in Matthew's bedroom." JJ says.

"Has anybody been able to find any connection at all between Benton and Valentine?" Hotch asks.

"According to my snooping, both Matthew Benton and Thomas Valentine traveled to Galicia, Spain, over the same week four months ago." Penelope says.

"That mean anything to you?" Derek asks Emily.

"No." She answers.

"I did the quick guidebook thing. There's a church there, Santiago de Compostela. It's visited by over 100,000 religious pilgrims every year." Penelope says.

"Did his parents say anything about him going on a pilgrimage?" Spencer asks.

"No, the opposite, actually. His mom said his soul was possessed by evil." JJ says.

"Yeah." Emily rolls her eyes.

"What?" JJ asks.

"Matthew had a thing about challenging the church. He could push it. When we were in high school, his mom and dad consulted a priest because they were afraid he was possessed." Emily says.

"But I think in this case, she was talking about drugs." Hotch says.

"Are you sure? There's a pattern here -- the talk about evil and the soul and scuff marks on the floor." Rossi says.