Embers~Criminal Minds 2

Zugzwang

Hotch: "I got here as quickly as I could. What's wrong?" he rushes into his office and finds Reid waiting for him

Reid: "I need to tell you something" Hotch looks at him before closing the door and they move to sit down "Our correspondence started 10 months ago" he pulls out a pile of letters for Hotch to look through "She wrote me a compliment on my "Journal of Behavioral Psych" article, and for 3 months, this is how we communicated because she was scared."

Hotch: "Scared of whom?"

Reid: "She didn't know, only that he was dangerous. Horribly threatening phone calls, letters, emails, no matter where she moved. It's why I never called her from the same phone booth twice."

Hotch: "You don't know what Maeve looks like?"

Reid: "No."

Hotch: "Or where she works?"

Reid: "No. I know she's a geneticist."

Hotch: "Do you even know her last name?"

Reid: "No." he softly says

Hotch: "Then I have to ask you, how do you know she's missing?"

Reid: "Because we always addressed our letters to pseudonyms."

Hotch: "And you're Dr. Joseph Bell?"

Reid: "The real-life inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. And that codename is how I know she's in trouble. The voice on the phone identified himself as Adam Worth. That was the American criminal that Arthur Conan Doyle based the character of Moriarty on."

Hotch: "And what did he say to you?"

Reid: "Zugzwang. It's a chess term. It describes the point in a game when a player realizes he'll inevitably be checkmated. He has to decide whether to resign or to play through to the bitter end."

Hotch: "If you're right about this, then you're part of his victimology, too."

Reid: "I know."
-
Reid: "He thinks he'll get away with this, and he might. I have a wealth of knowledge I should be applying to this case. Behavioral patterns of violent stalkers" he tells the others as they stand around him in the bullpen Tactical recovery strategies. Victim survival odds. But right now I can't focus on anything more than 4 seconds at a time. Which makes me the dumbest person in the room. So...please help me. Help me find her."

Hotch: "We don't know if we have a case. So we'll be working on personal time. Does anybody want to leave?" he looks around at everybody and they all shake their heads "Good. Let's get to work."

Reid: "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." Lao Tsu."

➰

Morgan: "Based on Maeve's description of the unsub in her letters, he seems like a classically possessive stalker."

JJ: "One who craves validation and recognition. "Why won't you see me?" "Do you think you're better than me?" This comes up again and again."

Alex: "So does his suicidal ideation. "When I find you, I'm going to kill you, then myself."

Rossi: "Murder-suicide is the ultimate "I love you" to these guys."

Hotch: "When did the unsub start targeting Maeve?"

Reid: "Maeve said it started out of the blue. My guess is it was some sort of incidental interaction, something she probably wasn't even aware of."

Watson: "That's gonna make the unsub hard to find."

JJ: "And Maeve, too, until we know more about her."