Twisted Vengeance

Smart

"Heather Lancaster, 42, murdered in her home. Elle-" The team winced as they heard her name being spoken as though she was the unsub. "Elle, " Hotch said firmly, "probably didn't count on her body being found so early on. It looks like this woman died a few minutes before the mailman found her body. Considering, we're lucky we found her. Garcia, I want an alert sent out to watch out for a brunette woman. The rest of us are going to the crime scene."

The team rode silently in the FBI vans, feeling the gaping presence of where Prentiss used to be. She was going to be ok, but that wasn't taking into account everything that was happening for her and for everyone at the moment. 

They all thought that Elle would have stopped killing after getting to the object of her affection. Unfortunately, her motives appeared to be shifting, almost as though she was concealing it from herself. 

After arriving at Heather's cottage, they saw the horrifying crime scene. Blood was spattered all over her white couch, Heather's body removed, but only minutes before they arrived.  Even worse? Written on the walls in blood was the word Smart. How did this word play into anything? She could have left any message of her choosing, and she chose smart?

"Smart? We'll run that for fingerprints. Does anyone have any idea what the word smart could mean? We need to find out. She could have chosen any word, but smart was the word she chose?"

No one answered. Subconsciously, they all agreed that they would think of what it meant. They had to examine the rest of the scene,  they needed to find more about Elle and her ways of killing through the crime scene.

"Looks like Heather was here, and Elle was here." Morgan moved to a position near the armchair, exactly where Elle had been standing when she shot Heather.

Reid, who was standing in the doorway, added, "The unsub probably pointed a gun at her after Heather opened the door. She probably started off friendly and confused, waiting for Heather to at least somewhat trust her. The unsub then probably said, 'Don't move or I'll shoot you,' forcing her way into the living room." Reid still refused to say Elle's name.

Rossi added even more to their understanding by saying, "She probably explained her vengeance to this woman. I think Elle is devolving, starting to break away from reality. After doing that with Prentiss, she wanted to share her story again, to make these people understand why she had to kill. Almost as though she was trying to convince herself."

Hotch started speaking again, "If you're right, Rossi, what she told Prentiss about why she was doing this isn't right. There's some other reason that Elle is killing these people. It's a reason that she's not going to tell anyone until her endgame. The word smart

Everyone stood there, silent, the same as they all had at Prentiss's crime scene. They were dumbfounded. If Elle hadn't wanted them to know who she was, they wouldn't know. Elle was a functioning murderer, able to kill without leaving a trace. Even with alerts out, she had been able to successfully kill a woman in her targeted age and appearance demographic.

Reid's mind started thinking about everything, the evidence displayed. Gideon had always said that the most important thing is the why. That was how you could catch an unsub. He was the closest person to Elle on the team. Why was she doing it? It appeared to be some vengeance against Hotch, or at least that's what she was telling herself and her victims during every murder.

For once, Spencer's mind eluded him. He couldn't figure out what the word smart had to do with anything. This unsub's motive, her reasons, were not clearly visible to Spencer. He was the one person who could always read between the lines, see what wasn't clearly visible, but now, when they needed him most, he failed. A devolving unsub, a serial killer, someone he was profiling, was a friend. And it was blocking him from seeing what he never thought would be so invisible, so impossible for him to see. Why? Why? Why?

"Is anyone holding anything back? Because right now would be the time to say something. Even a fraction of a theory would be fine," Hotch spoke, looking to Spencer. He knew Spencer was thinking something, he just couldn't get Spencer to share.

"Pretty boy, I know that face. What are you thinking, Reid?" Morgan asked Reid. 

"I- don't know. For the first time, this case has me stumped. I don't know how the word smart plays into any of this. I don't know why she's killing. And I don't want her to keep killing. And I've never wanted an unsub to be a different person more than I do now. I don't want it to be Elle. It can't be her. Because if it's her, then it-"

"Reid, I know. You're not the only one in denial. But we have to focus on this case, or we'll never catch her," Morgan consoled Reid.

"Reid," Hotch said quietly. "If you let this interfere with the case or your objectivity, you can't be on the case. None of us can testify against her already, we can't have it getting personal. Elle's the unsub, and I can't have you doing that."

"Elle's the unsub," Reid said it as though it was an affirmation, as if it was something he had to tell himself. 

"I don't understand the why," Reid said to the team, finally saying what was in his head.

JJ walked in front of them, holding up a ringing phone. "I think that's going to change. Elle's calling."

Author's Note:

Sorry, this chapter was slightly shorter than the others. I  wrote this super quickly because I wanted to let you know what was going to happen next. I know I keep ending with cliffhangers, and I'm sorry that you have to wait. I hope you enjoyed this chapter a lot. I know that I enjoyed writing it.