the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

015. the job

Bedelia is sitting at her desk and working.

"Hey." She hears Spencer say and she looks at him as he nods towards the doors. She looks over and sees Hotch and Penelope walking to the round table room. She gets up, following Spencer up the steps and into the round table room.

"Is it the same unsub?" Spencer asks.

"Two kills on two coasts in two days. This guy's on a mission. He's not gonna rest until he completes it." Derek says.

"Then neither will we." Hotch says.

"But we're down two profilers." Penelope says.

"Our six brains against his one. My money's still on us." Rossi says.

"Let's get to work." Hotch says.

~ ~ ~

"We know for a fact that victim number one was bound and gagged, but it doesn't look like number two was." Derek says.

"Windows in both residences were tampered with, so he knows how to get in and out undetected." Spencer says.

"Okay, that's impressive because aluminum foil is super crinkly." Penelope says. "I'm sorry, I'm not a profiler, I'm doing my best."

"No, it's a fair point. He snuck up on a tweaker who probably hadn't slept in a couple of days." Rossi says. "M.O. said this guy's good at hunting."

"Cause of death?" Hotch asks.

"Cardiac arrest, but Dr. Mertz in the crime lab can't pin down how." Derek says.

"He might hide it under the face paint." Hotch says. "What we're assuming is ritual could be a forensic countermeasure."

"What do we know about the face paint?" Bedelia asks.

"Traditional greasepaint used by clowns, but applied to resemble a pulcinella." Spencer says.

"Okay, I totally know what that is, but I'm gonna Google it in case someone else doesn't." Penelope says.

"Spencie." Bedelia gives him a look.

"Sorry." Spencer says. "The clown archetype that we recognize today actually leads back to a 16th century stage tradition called Commedia Dell' Arte. Where actors wore masks to resemble their characters. The Pulcinella was the trickster character, usually without a voice. He used a horn to make funny noises."

"Maybe the victims tricked him and he's remaking them in death how he saw them in life." Rossi says.

"So this is a vendetta by the unsub and not a compulsion." Hotch says. His phone goes off.

"It's gonna make this guy really hard to profile." Derek says.

"All right, Dave, keep working victimology. Morgan, stay on the M.O., and, Reids, dig deeper into the ritual." Hotch says. "I'll be right back." He walks out.

+++

"Well, this doesn't clear up much." Rossi says. "Vic number one was a divorced dad who got custody of his kids."

"And number two was the local drug supplier." Spencer says.

"So if the question is, what connects these two guys, the answer is, nothing." Rossi says.

"And we never would have made the connection if it weren't for the face paint." Spencer says. "Which begs the question, why do it all?"

"To taunt us, feel superior." Rossi says.

"It's obviously a message, and my assumption is that it has something to do with the mouth, cause look at this." He grabs one of the many books off his desk, flipping through it. "The colors of the Pulcinella are oddly inverted. Traditionally the character has a black face but a white jaw. He's painting it the other way around."