timeless, spencer reid [ 1 ]

063. hanley waters

Bedelia runs her hand through Spencer's hair as he finishes crying, the brunette holding her own tears back, knowing she'll cry when she's in the shower later.

"If only we had been faster. We could've saved her." Spencer mumbles.

"Spence..." Bedelia mumbles. "Don't do that. Don't think that way. I know it's terrible and I miss her, too, but... we can't dwell on "what if's"."

"I know." He mumbles. He moves his head making Bedelia take her hand away. "Just wish we could've done something."

Bedelia's heart aches with guilt, the woman barely able to keep it in any longer. She hates watching him sob every night, barely having energy to go on one of his rants when they're watching something. He doesn't even put much effort into the dinner arguments, just accepting whatever she chooses to get.

"Spence, I... look, I have to tell--" Bedelia's cut off as both of their phones go off.

Spencer grabs his phone, looking at the text.

"It's Garcia. We have a case." He says.

"Great." Bedelia sighs.

"What'd you wanna tell me?" Spencer looks back at her.

"Um... I just think you might be right about the pizza. It-- it's getting a little old." Bedelia says, internally cursing herself for chickening out of telling him the truth.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure, whatever you want." Spencer says, his response only making Bedelia feel worse.

+++

"A woman went up there and just shot up the place?" Ashley asks after Hotch turns the news off.

"Yeah, witnesses heard gunshots and saw a woman leaving the store." Penelope says.

"Is there enough for a sketch?" Derek asks.

"Family owned business. No cameras." Hotch says.

"The only thing of value the witnesses said was that she seemed really calm." Penelope says.

"Like an office or school shooter." Ashley says.

"Did she work there?" Bedelia asks.

"No. Local police have already ruled that out." Penelope says.

"Then she must have known one of her victims. I doubt this was random." Ashley says.

"You know, Klebold and Harris documented their hatred of the athletes at Columbine, but on the day, they targeted the cafeteria instead of the gymnasium because they were only interested in obtaining the highest possible body count." Spencer says.

"These offenders usually hole up in one location and eventually commit suicide, either by their own hand or in a shootout with the police." Rossi says.

"But this woman took off before the cops arrived." Derek says.

"She's probably not finished." Hotch says.

+++

"Larry Connors, born and raised in Tampa, he's owned the gun store for 16 years." Spencer says.

"Seaver, what did you find out about victimology?" Hotch asks.

"They're all locals with similar backgrounds." Ashley says. "Blue collar jobs, they're all divorced, and they've all got tempers. Most of them have misdemeanor bar fights on their record."

"Testosterone fueled victims, but somehow she still gets the drop on all of them." Derek says.

"Men like this may not view her as a threat because she's a woman." Ashley says.