Caution to the Wind

Chapter 30

A case in Des Plaines puts Tara, Matt, and Luke in danger and tests Emily's ability to balance her commitments to her agents and her fiancée. Follows S15E5, "Ghost."

"I'm not saying that Rose isn't cute," Emily said, "I'm just saying that she looks exactly the same in this picture as she did in the one from three days ago."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mention that to Matt when he comes back from paternity leave today," Tara teased.

"Oh, I will only say nice things to him," Emily laughed, "The guy's already got enough to worry about coming back to the BAU with a one-month-old baby and four other kids at home."

"Well, maybe he'll get lucky, and we'll have a quiet day today so he can ease back into things," Tara said.

It ended up being anything but a quiet day. The morning started off easy enough—plenty of time for Tara and JJ to tease Luke about losing a one-on-one basketball game to Matt—but then Penelope came in with a worried look on her face that told them all that they had a new case, and that it would be a bad one.

"There was a double homicide this morning in Des Plaines, Illinois," Emily said, "It appears our victims, Marko Salazar and Benjamin Blake, were shot by a sniper while playing basketball on a neighborhood court."

"Des Plaines, Illinois?" Spencer asked.

"I know what's in your noggin," Penelope said, "And what's in your noggin is correct to be in your noggin because two days ago, a gentleman named Brian Nicolay was shot in a parking lot by a sniper."

"Just like the Phillip Dowd case we worked in Des Plaines 15 years ago," JJ said.

"It is," Spencer replied, "All single shots to the victims' torsos, all in public places, and no one's seen the shooter. He's a ghost."

"But there's no way it's the same long-distance serial killer," JJ said, "Because—"

"Because I killed Phillip Dowd," Spencer finished.

"So you think it's a copycat LDSK?" Emily asked.

"Typically, LDSKs are skilled marksmen with a God complex," Tara said.

"And they pretty much revel in taking people's lives from above and afar," Luke added.

"But copycats are out to prove their superiority by making a bigger bang," Rossi pointed out.

"Or to ride the wave of infamy created by the original killer," Emily replied.

"But in this case, the original killer, Phillip Dowd, is a distant memory," Tara said, "There's not much of a wave to ride."

"Dowd's original M.O. was to shoot victims, then race back to the emergency room where he worked because he thrived on trying to save them," Spencer said.

"Yeah, typical hero homicides," Rossi said, "But we're not seeing that here."

"No, we're not," JJ replied, "But this unsub's victimology is remaining consistent enough to suggest that his next victims will most likely be three visitors to one of the local parks."

"I'll make sure Chief Weigart has his officers stake out the parks," Emily said, "We are wheels up in 20."

Three victims had already been shot in McCarty Memorial Park by the time the team landed in Des Plaines and met up with Chief Weigart and Commander Rush from HRT at the mobile command center. The unsub had seemingly combined two of Dowd's shootings into one with this most recent attack. There were a lot of differences between the original LDSK case and this one: different weapon, different bullets, different desired result. There were two guns used at McCarty Park, which meant they could be dealing with more than one unsub—two close-range shooters with no desire to save their victims.