What Goes Around Comes Around

Around

Hotch didn't look pleased when Spencer and I arrived at the crime scene, but he didn't look surprised either. Obviously, he had expected this sort of reaction from me, and he knew that Spencer wouldn't be able to say no to me.

"We'll talk about this later," he mumbled into Spencer's ear as we walked past him and towards Morgan, who was kneeling by something. He stood up sharply as soon as he saw us approaching.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Instead of answering, I turned my attention in the direction of where he was kneeling. I saw a decomposed corpse. White shirt with a butterfly on it. Pink skirt. Black leggings. It was Abby. I felt the tears building up all over again.

"It's really her," I croaked. It barely came out as more than a whisper. "It's Abby."

As Spencer was about to pull me in for a hug, Hotch hurried back into the area with a grim expression. No one had to ask what was wrong.

"They found another body," he said seriously.

We all looked around at each other with confused looks on our faces. This was a huge acceleration of the unsub's timeline. Morgan cleared his throat and spoke first.

"That doesn't make any sense," he observed. "This guy killed less than twenty-four hours ago. These last two murders took place over the span of a month. It's way too soon for another body."

"He's right," Spencer agreed. "Something must have changed."

I thought for a second before saying, "you said JJ did a press conference, didn't you Hotch?" He nodded in reply. "The unsub probably saw it. He knows we're here and that we're onto him. If he has a specific list of victims that he wants to kill, he's going to do it as quickly as possible."

"You're probably right, Hawthorne," Hotch said. "Let's go to the crime scene."

~

Around.

That was what was carved into Greg Clark's chest. Morgan and I knelt by the body as we examined it. This body was in much worse shape than the last two. Our pres conference had obviously pissed our unsub off.

"What goes around," Morgan said mostly to himself. He seemed to think for a moment before calling Spencer over. "Hey, Reid?" he asked. "Do you have any idea what the hell this could mean?"

Spencer's eyebrows furrowed as he thought. I could see the gears turning in his genius brain.

"What goes around," he repeated. "Maybe he's trying to complete the phrase 'what goes around, comes around,'" he theorized.

"So you think he thinks that these victims have wronged him in some way?" I asked as I stood up.

"If that's the case," Morgan added as he also rose to his feet. "That means he has two more victims on his list. We can't let him get to those last two. Has Garcia found any connection between the first two vics yet?"

I let out a strained cough, and he gave me a sympathetic look.

"I'll call her right now to check,' I said.

Before I could though, I got an incoming call from Emily. I picked up and put her on speaker.

"What's up, Emily?" I asked.

"We just finished speaking with the first victim's daughter," she informed us. "Turns out that he was physically abusive as well."

I shuddered at the words. Spencer noticed and pulled me closer.

"We think that's the connection," Rossi added.

"Our latest victim has the word 'around' carved into his chest," I told them. "Spencer thinks that the unsub might be trying to complete the phrase 'what goes around, comes around.'"