Caution to the Wind

Chapter 21

A case in Taos, New Mexico involving shared delusions leads Tara to open up to Emily about her own folie à deux. Follows S13E21, "Mixed Signals."

Luke had a new girlfriend. He didn't talk about her much—he didn't talk much about any part of his personal life, really. They knew that her name was Lisa, and that she was a doctor, and that his friend Phil had set them up on a blind date, but that was all he'd told them. Everything else they knew from the smile on his face and the spring in his step.

"Come on, it's been three months," Tara said, "You guys going steady or what?"

"We're trying not to put labels on anything," he said.

"Mmm, see, you got a glow, though. It's all over you right now," she teased.

"Men do not glow," he retorted, "Lisa's...got a drawer at my place."

"Okay, so this getting serious."

"She's got me thinking about next steps."

"Oh, alright. See, that's because your biological clock is ticking, my friend," she said.

"Okay," he laughed, "What about you? You and Prentiss have been looking pretty cozy."

"We're very happy together," she nodded.

"I gotta admit, I wouldn't have pegged you as the type for an office romance."

Tara laughed. "Me neither, honestly, but, you know...we've got a really good thing going. I'll admit I was kind of apprehensive at first, you know, dating the unit chief, but we, uh, we figured out a way to make it work."

"Let me guess: She's the boss here; you're the boss at home?" he teased, "Is that it? Please tell me that's it."

"Before I answer that, I'm gonna give you a second to consider how much you really want to know about your boss' love life," she said dryly.

"Probably wise," Emily said as she breezed past both of them, "Come on, Garcia's waiting for us."

Police in Taos, New Mexico had two murder victims over the course of a week, both with identical holes drilled in the sides of their heads. The victims didn't seem to be connected: a family physician and a schoolteacher; one female, one male; one married, one divorced; they didn't know each other or travel in similar circles. The only thing they had in common was their deaths, and the drilling was significant in some way.

"Taos attracts an interesting wash of transplants and tourists," Emily said, "People trying to get back to nature or find a more spiritual existence."

"So, no shortage of people trying to buy crystals, then," Tara said.

"This guy could be some twisted new-age mystic," Luke suggested.

"Or just some Joe Crazy spiraling out of control," Matt replied.

"Well, whatever the reason, two bodies in short succession," JJ said, "Feels like this guy's just getting started."

"Taos P.D. thinks so, and I agree," Emily said, "Wheels up in 20."

By the time they landed in New Mexico, they had a third victim. Once again, he was seemingly unconnected to the first two. Their unsub was clearly a man on a mission, and he was remarkably consistent. All three victims had holes drilled at the same spot on their skulls at the exact same angle, targeting the part of the brain responsible for auditory perception. He had a plan each time, and he executed it, which meant he wasn't finding his victims by chance. But with his fourth victim, he deviated from his pattern. She was a young librarian, and the unsub followed her out of the library and attacked her at her car. He brought the drill with him, but he didn't drill into her skull. Once he realized she was deaf, he told her how lucky she was, and then left her alive and relatively unharmed.