timeless, spencer reid [ 1 ]

052. middle man

"Whoa." Emily comments as Penelope gives her a tablet.

"Welcome to the 21st century." Penelope says, handing out tablets. "Yay, technology. Behold. Everyone has a new tablet."

"We've gone paperless?" Spencer frowns.

"Fear not, doctor of the dark ages. I went old school for your anti-technology quirk." Penelope says, handing him a paper file. "Paper files, hard copy photos. But the abacus is your responsibility."

"Garcia, not that I don't appreciate your efforts, but exactly where did the funding for these come from?" Hotch asks.

"I did a thing." She says.

"A thing?" Hotch asks.

"Best not talk about the thing." Penelope says.

"We'll talk about the thing later." Hotch states.

"Okay. Instead, let's talk about harvest season." Penelope says. "Because it is harvest season in Indiana, and farmers are finding more than corn in their fields. Meredith Joy, Kimberly Jukes, and Amanda Frye were all discovered murdered in Johnson County, Indiana."

"All 3 women were exotic dancers living in different counties in the state. Kimberly Jukes, the first victim, went missing 6 weeks ago." Hotch says.

"And in each instance, the women finished their shifts, but they never made it to their cars." Penelope says.

"It says here Amanda Frye was found 90 miles from her house. This guy's going a long way to abduct his victims." Derek says.

"If he's dumping the bodies in the same county, it's a good chance he's located nearby. It shouldn't be too hard to work up a geographical profile." Spencer says.

"Meredith Joy put up quite a fight. She's got defensive wounds all over her body." Emily says.

"And the lab discovered two different samples of DNA under her fingernails, so we're dealing with at least a team." Hotch says.

"One that rapes, beats, and strangles their victims in a cornfield." Rossi says.

"They're using condoms. I bet one of these guys has a record and he doesn't want us connecting the DNA." Emily says.

"And they're accelerating their attack schedule." Hotch says.

"It's 3 weeks between the first and second kill, 2 weeks between the second and third." Bedelia says.

"Meredith Joy died October 31st." Penelope states.

"Now they're down to one week." Hotch says.

"Who's missing?" Rossi asks.

"Her name is Stephanie Wilson." Penelope says. "She was abducted last night from Club Prowl in Tippecanoe County. She finished her shift at midnight, but she never made it home to her 2 year old daughter. Babysitter called the police, and Stephanie's car was left in the parking lot like the others."

"And there's a clear pattern. All the women have been abducted on Friday night and murdered sometime Sunday evening." Hotch says.

"Which means we've got less than 2 days to save Stephanie Wilson." Derek says.

+++

Spencer, Bedelia, and Emily are at the club Stephanie works at and talking to one of the women.

"What would it take for you or one of your co-workers to go home with a customer?" Emily asks.

"Nothing. I have a boyfriend." She says.

"Does he know that you work here?" Spencer asks.

"It's how we met." The woman states. "He doesn't have a problem with it. Do you?"