A Spencer Reid Story: Love and Loss

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

A few weeks had passed as the BAU tried to get their bearings. Work was moving as there were always more cases to solve. From petty crimes to murder, the stream of files continued to come, never stopping. It was still evident that JJ’s death had affected a lot of the members. Penelope was more quiet, which was quite unusual for her. There were a few times when Spencer had caught Hotch going to JJ’s room, but at the last minute detouring, covering up the fact that he had forgotten she wasn’t there. Emily seemed the most stable out of everyone, although it seemed only Spencer noticed her glancing at a photograph of the two of them on her desk every so often. Spencer had felt irritable, slightly ill in fact. He was shooting up the dilaudid about once a day, usually after work. The withdraw throughout the day was pretty awful though; severe headaches, and sometimes even feverish chills. However he did his best to cover up all of this. The team just amounted it to his reaction to JJ’s death as well.

When he wasn’t on a case Spencer was spending a bit more time with Catherine. It was nice to have someone who wasn’t affected by the recent events of the family, someone he could go home to and just vent out all of his frustrations. When he was in the state he was able to have lunch with her during a break between classes. She had such a bright personality and always knew how to make him laugh, even when he felt at his lowest. He really appreciated her effort to make him feel better, it was so very kind. Especially when all he could do was think about that night, that awful night.

He shook his head, trying to clear his straying thoughts and trying to focus at the task at hand. Hotchner was staring at him as he spoke.

“We’ve had a recent string of crimes in the area that might be connected. Garcia can you give us the statistics?” He sat down, grabbing his coffee and taking a sip. Garcia grabbed at her remote control, bringing up pictures on the main screen. “This is victim, 22 year old Ashley Nemt, she was found dead in her apartment by her mother Ms. Stephanie Nemt. The mother was worried after she was told that Ashley hadn’t shown up for work in a few days. She went to go over and check on her and she found this-“ Garcia pulled up an image of a mangled girls body that was nailed to a wall, her feet pinned together and her arms spread eagle. Carved on her forehead were the words “Pretty” and her eyes had been missing.

“Wow. What a site for a mother to find her daughter in.” Emily shook her head, feeling sick as she looked at the picture.

“And it gets worse. We have another victim, 21 year old Jenna Merz. She was also found in her apartment, same style of murder except for on her head the word “vain” was carved.” Garcia flipped on the picture of Jenna. She was positioned the same way as Ashley, eyes missing, naked.”

Spencer flipped through the photos of the crime scene. “Was there any presence of sexual harassment?’ Spencer flipped through the photos, noticing the bruising around each woman’s breast. Garcia nodded.

“Each woman had multiple bruises and scratches in her private area, which means forced penetration, however no DNA samples could be collected.”  Garcia shrugged her shoulders. “The only connection that I was able to bring up between the two victims was that at one point they were both part of the same modeling industry when they were younger. It was one of those scams, ‘pretty girls come model for me’ type deals. They both participated. There was claim that the girls were forced to do illegal sexual acts and there was a lawsuit brought against them in which they won, and the family was compensated for quite a large sum of money.”

“So right there we have our lead; maybe this was someone who felt angry about losing their cash to these girls.” Derek noted, flipping through the pictures.

“But it’s much more than that,” Spencer added, “ there is a significance to the position of the body in a religious stance, and the taking of the eyes. It’s somewhat symbolic. Is it possible our unsub thinks they shouldn’t see how beautiful they are? Or is it maybe that the unsub feels they cannot look at his magnificence because he is God?” Spencer couldn’t decide. They needed more.

“Garcia, I want you to pull up everything you can about that modeling business. I want Spencer and Emily to go to the crime scene and Morgan I want you to go to the corner to discuss the autopsy.” Hotchner gave out his orders.

“And I and Hotch will go to the agency and see if there is anything we can stir up.” Rossi took a sip of his coffee, standing up. The team following.

Spencer and Emily searched for clues high and low within the apartments of the two girls. The only real evident item was the fact that both girls owned macs and had a stash of diet pills and pot. “It seems that Ashley was still working on staying in the modeling industry.” Spencer said as he flipped through a portfolio of Ashley’s pictures that were sitting on her desk. Emily nodded as she scoured the room, being careful not to step in the blood pile that had ran down the wall from the body and onto the floor. Emily stared up at the nails.

“Our unsub has to be tall, at least around 6 ft something… look at the position of the nails. If I were to place a body on the wall, I wouldn’t want to have to use a chair or ladder to do it, I would just place it as high as my height would take me.” She looked up at the nails, calculating. Spencer nodded, agreeing. He felt a bit lost in thought, his eyes focusing on the blood all around the room. It disturbed him, reminding him of JJ’s blood in that machine.

“We should see if any of the model agencies around here had employed Ashley or Jenna. Maybe it’s even possible they knew each other.” Spencer searched around the room, looking for any indication that they were familiar to one another; finding nothing.

“Well I think that is all we can do for right now. We should head over to Jenna’s apartment now.” Emily stood up from her position of kneeling on the floor, trying to inspect for any other evidence that the evidence crew may have missed. Spencer agreed, starting to head out the door.

Spencer crashed on his couch, exhaustion taking over him. Today had been long and meticulous. It had taken him and Emily hours to comb and search through Jenna’s room because Jenna was a very messy person. After what had seemed like hours on end, they had finally called it a day and were able to return back home. Spencer immediately took a small hit when he got through the door. The druggy haze clouded his thoughts as he just sat on the couch, his head lulled back. It was comfortable and welcoming; numbing his thoughts and feelings for the time being. Within an hour the drug began to subside, and Spencer awoke to hunger pangs in his stomach, having hardly anything to eat all day. He made his way over to his fridge and pulled out some left over Chinese that he and Cat had the other night. He pulled out his phone as the food blazed in the microwave.

“Hey Cat, it’s Spencer. Did you maybe want to come over for the night? I know it’s kinda late but-, Oh? Yeah? Okay great! I’ll see you in a few? Okay great. See ya. Bye.” He hung up, smiling at the thought of having a movie buddy tonight, someone to clear his thoughts about the case the team was currently working on. Spencer turned on a few lights to his apartment, and cranked up the heat a bit so it wasn’t so drafty. In about 30 minutes Cat arrived, with a pizza box and a bottle of wine.

“Wow, you’re awesome!” Spencer said, slurping down a noodle. She laughed, giving him a hug and a peck on the cheek.

“How have you been Spencer? I feel like I haven’t heard from you in forever.” Cat thought and remembered that the last time they had hung out was about a week ago. She was very surprised and glad for the invite over tonight. They sat down, chomping on pizza and sipping the white wine slowly. Cat could tell Spencer was still stressed. She could see the dark circles under his eyes, the haunting look they held every time she caught him staring off into space. Spencer popped in a movie, one of his favorites, and Cat soon cuddled up to him, placing her head on his chest. It was a perfect night.

There was a small tap as Cat awoke suddenly. She had fallen asleep during the movie. Spencer pushed her hair back away from her eyes as he placed a cover on her, letting her lay completely down on his couch. He had dozed off himself and had awoken to find it very late. He didn’t want to kick her out so he figured she could spend the night on his couch. He made his way over to his bedroom, shutting the door gently. In no time he was back asleep, his fears turning into nightmares. The same nightmare that he experienced almost every night came back to hit him with its full intensity tonight. He awoke with a start; sweat pouring down his forehead. It had only been an hour since he had laid down. He sprung up, making his way to the bathroom. He took the syringe and took a large hit, but something wasn’t right. As soon as he injected it his body started to feel numb. He lost his footing, falling lightly on the floor. He coughed, his chest feeling like bricks were inside it. He could feel he was losing consciousness fast; but not the normal drug induced kind. Before everything became black he thought to himself  “Did I just OD?”