Vulnerable | Spencer Reid

Chapter 5 - Giorgio Armani

We got a case.

She sighed and thanked the barista for her coffee as she shoved her phone back in her pocket. She got back in her car and drove to the BAU.

"Hold up!"

She quickly stuck her arm in the elevator door and waited as Reid ran in.

"Thanks."

She nodded and sipped her coffee. Reid nervously glanced at her until the door opened. He rushed forward to hold open the door for her as they walked into the office.

She muttered a small thanks and made their way to the conference room. Hotch noticed them first and motioned for them to sit; the rest of the team was already there.

"Alright, Philadelphia PD called. Three bodies washed up along the Schuylkill River. The M.E. said the cause of death was strangulation," JJ informed.

"So the bodies must have been transferred and dumped postmortem," Rossi said.

"All three victims had no sign of ligature marks or bruising. But, there is a twist to this unsub's signature."

Andy opened the file and pulled out the picture. Reid looked over her shoulder as he had not yet sat down and Morgan whistled lowly.

"Damn.."

"Their eyes were taken out?" Reid asked bluntly.

"But why?" Rossi asked as he set the file aside.

"Trophies?" Prentiss suggested.

"Maybe it's something symbolic to the unsub. Some people believe the eyes are the cause of sin," Andy inputed.

"Are you saying they could be religious?" Hotch questioned.

"It's just a suggestion. The eyes have a multitude of symbolic backgrounds and purposes."

"It's true! In the 18th century-"

"Reid, I'm sorry but we don't have time for a history lesson right now. We have to get on the plane to Philadelphia as fast as possible. They called an hour ago that another possible victim just went missing. Let's get ready to go in ten minutes."

Reid looked heavily disappointed as the others dispersed quickly and left the conference room. She got up and gathered her papers, "If this unsub is mutilating the eyes for some religious purpose, I'd like to hear it. Will you tell me on the plane?"

He looked up at her shocked and grateful, "Of course."

She gave him a small smile before going out to the locker room where she kept her go bag. Prentiss was in there already and briefly glanced at her.

"So how are things with you? Adjusting well?"

Andy nodded, "It's been a month. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Just working out the finer details now."

Prentiss nodded thoughtfully but her thoughts were obviously somewhere else other than small talk. Andy slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Prentiss...just ask."

Emily rolled her eyes and closed her locker before following Andy out of the locker room and toward the team standing in the bullpen.

"You have a PhD and yet no one calls you doctor, they call you agent. Why?"

Andy scoffed. She was used to these ridiculous and sometimes humorous questions Prentiss and Morgan had insistently asked her.

She shrugged, "It sounds cooler."

Rossi, who had caught the ending of their conversation, inputed his opinion, "But it sounds smarter."

"Morgan doesn't have a PhD but people still listen to him. People tend to lean towards cool over smarts."

They started to walk out of the office in pairs and Reid waited for her to gather the rest of her files. Garcia quickly approached her before she left, "I'm sorry I haven't been able to get you a tablet. We're on a budget right now."

"No worries. I think I actually prefer paper anyway but thank you for the sentiment."

They entered the elevator as she stuffed the files in her bag.

"So what's your theory on the eyes? Religious purpose?" she asked with her hands still rummaging around.

"Most religious rituals have more than one part to them. Taking the eyes might just be part of their signature," he stated.

"But what's the point?" she questioned as the doors opened into the parking garage, "The eyes are symbolic to the unsub, religious or not, but there's got to be a deeper meaning to it."

"Remorse? He doesn't want his victims to see what he does, so he ensures it."

She shook her head, "It doesn't correlate with the cause of death though. Why strangle someone when you can simply stab them with the knife you'll use later to cut out their eyes?"

Reid held open the door to the SUV for her as the two piled in alone. She got in the car and paused her thoughts as Reid went around to his side.

"Okay so he could have easily killed them faster but he wanted to see them suffer and die slowly."

"Sadistic psychopath? He gets off by seeing them die in his hands but wants to keep the witnesses, in this case, the eyes, for himself as trophies," Reid continued.

"That's a hell of a way to relive his crimes."

-

"Agent Hotchner!"

A detective came over to the group with a grim look on his face, "I'm Detective Gordon. Thank you for coming."

Hotch shook his hand and nodded toward the team, "This is SSA Agent Rossi, Agent Jareau, Agent Delvaux, and Dr. Reid. We already sent two of our agents to survey the latest crime scene."

"Good. We could use a few more hands."

"Is there a place we can set up? We'd like to work up victimology as soon as possible," Andy said as she eagerly stepped forward.

"I'm afraid it's a bit small. But it's right over there," Detective Gordon said as he pointed to a small room.

She and Reid thanked him and walked into the room, quickly setting up their own station with boards.

"I'll handle the geographic profile. You'll work victimology and see what connects the victims. Morgan and Prentiss will probably check in soon so we can confer with them too," Reid said as he pinned a map to the board.

"Alright let's get to work."

Hotch finished talking to the detective and turned to the small room where his two youngest agents were already hard at work with the case.

"JJ, set up a press conference. Tell all local news channels that the department isn't ready to give up details of the case but we'll have a preliminary profile soon."

She nodded and walked off with her phone already in her hand.

"I wonder how they do that."

Hotch looked over his shoulder to see Rossi staring at Andy and Reid through the blinds.

"Best to leave them to it. When they get something, they'll let us know."

---

"To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail."

-Giorgio Armani