Catch-22| Spencer Reid

twenty-four

Grey is hunched over a notebook when Morgan and Gideon get back to the BAU.

"Hey, what's up?" Morgan calls.

She doesn't look up, flatly replying, "The sky, my irritation level."

"Hm, what are you up to?" Gideon queries, proceeding towards her desk.

"Handwriting analysis. Reid and I did the first letter this morning, and I figured I'd work on this one while I waited on them to get back." Grey sighs, sounding quite doubtful that it would accomplish anything.

Morgan tilts his head, saying, "I would offer to help, but I'm not sure I would be much help."

"Yeah, uh, Hotch didn't assign you guys anything because I think he knows we're hitting a dead end," she informs, "So, you guys may as well just sit out here and wait on a call."

She then looks to Gideon, adding, "Or go up in your office, I don't care."

He takes that as a slight, nodding like he expected it. Sitting down at Reid's desk, Gideon tries to make conversation. "What did you and Reid make of the first letter?"

"Heavy pressure and overdrawn downward terminals would indicate cruelty," she responds, rummaging around for a copy of the original letter.

"Terminals?" Morgan sounds back, seeming confused.

Grey grabs a highlighter and starts marking in the copy, mainly 'r's and 'f's. "The downward slope of letters. He brings them down much more than neccessary, to the point where the 'r's look like 'n's, see?"

Morgan and Gideon each nod, understanding that part of the analysis.

"Anything else?" Jason asks.

Quick to deliver, Grey says, "Yes, actually. The other most prominent trait is an ego, as one would expect. The capital letters are so large that they overlap with the lining of the paper, and he overdoes each 'I', putting lines at the top and bottom. The writing of the whole letter is also slanted to the left."

"Cruelty and an ego," Gideon summarizes. "Sounds about right for someone who was about to-"

"Yeah," Grey says, cutting him off.

Realizing his fault, Jason changes the subject. "Do you have anything on the second letter so far?"

"Larger script in general, underlining, and slightly more upright letters." She pauses, finally saying, "Pride."

Derek bites the inside of his cheek, nodding like he expected it.

Lawrence took pride in what he did. Of course he did.

Grey looks to the two agents next to her, sensing how off-put they were. "Not surprising," she says, trying to make herself seem unaffected.

Everyone is silent for a few minutes, the only sound being Grey squeaking a highlighter on the copy of the second letter.

Soon enough, Grey's phone starts buzzing.

She checks it, and sure enough, it's Reid. The call was much earlier than she had expected, considering they had only left around 20 minutes ago.

"It's Reid," she announces, "Seems a bit early, which makes me doubt they got anything."

She picks up, not waiting for Morgan or Gideon's acknowledgement. "Grey," she simply confirms.

Reid's voice is raspy, tinged with annoyance. "Anne... Anne, we got him."

She can't say anything at first, leaning her head back in her chair and running her fingers through her hair with her free hand.