The Stone Wall and His Weakness [A.H.]

XXXI

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I stared at the blonde boy sat in front of me, the expression of terror still frozen on his face. He sat, curled into the couch, with his knees to his chest. I sat across from him, with Alvez stood behind me, trying to calm the boy down.

I kept my voice low as I leaned forward, my arms pressed against my thighs, "You're safe now, Matthew. You're safe... Matthew, we want to find who did this. So if there's anything you can remember seeing or hearing, anything at all, it could help us."

We sat in silence as he continued to stare at his feet. I glanced at the window to my right as Alvez spoke up, "What you did, calling 9-1-1, that was brave."

"That call saved your life." I bit the inside of my cheek as I stared at him. A teenager, orphaned.

"I heard him walking." His voice was uneven as he spoke, "Then he stopped. He was in my room... Right there. Why am I alive? Why me?" He looked at me as he broke down again, burying his face in his knees.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Matthew." I sat up and looked back at Alvez, sharing a somber look before we exited the room.

Emily and Rossi filled us in as we made our way to the main office of the precinct, preparing us to deliver the profile on the unsub.

Once everyone had gathered round, Rossi began.

"We believe the unsub is a variation of what we know as a family annihilator."

Emily, who was standing beside him, picked it up, "The garden variety family annihilator is usually a narcissistic male patriarch experiencing psychological stress. This causes him to become homicidal and then suicidal."

Spencer, who was next in line, continued, "His narcissism often manifests as rage, directed at a specific family member, prompting him to murder the entire family as an act of punishment and revenge. He then blames the object of his rage for his violent outburst."

Next, Alvez, "Once the entire family is dead, the patriarch typically commits or attempts to commit suicide."

JJ, "But this unsub is murdering families that are not his own."

I spoke up, "There's a distinct punishment component to the annihilation that's driving this ubsub."

Rossi started again, "He's more organized than the typical family annihilator, with greater impulse control and a high level of sophistication."

"His sophistication is apparent in the fact that the object of his rage is deliberately spared rather than murdered." Emily explained.

JJ explained further, "This allows the unsub the satisfaction of inflicting ongoing psychological pain on the object of his rage."

Rossi, "We're looking for a male in his late twenties, early thirties. He's mature and highly intelligent."

Alvez, "Amanda Bergstrom and Matthew Doherty may be surrogates for individuals who wronged the unsub when he himself was an adolescent."