how to save a life, criminal minds [ 1 ]

055. paradise

"Hey, if you guys are hungry, I know a pretty good Indian restaurant that's open all night." Spencer says.

"Ooh." Madelyn perks up. "Yes. I'm in."

"Oh, I can't. I have a date." Emily says.

"You got a date? With who?" Derek asks.

"My hot tub." Emily says.

"Oh, now that sounds like a party." Derek says.

"You're so not invited." Emily chuckles. Derek winces, gently slapping his cheek.

"Hold up, guys." JJ walks over.

"Change of plans." Spencer says.

"I'm glad I caught you." JJ says.

"Is everything okay?" Emily asks.

"I've been on the phone with a sheriff in Nevada. There's been a series of suspicious accidents in the Reno area that may be connected." JJ explains.

"JJ, this can't wait till morning?" Derek asks.

"I don't think so. If I'm right about this, I think we'll be leaving first thing tomorrow. Sorry" JJ says, walking off.

"I wanted food." Madelyn whines.

Spencer sympathetically smiles before gently grabbing her wrist, leading her towards the conference room.

+++

"Three nights ago, outside of Reno, this car was hit by a tractor trailer." JJ says.

"Any survivors?" Derek asks.

"The truck driver walked away unharmed. Jonathan and Rebecca Gallen, the passengers in the car, were DOA. When the local sheriff arrived on the scene, he noticed several things -- no blood spatter inside the car. No seat belt burns. No lacerations from the air bags."

"They were dead before the accident." Spencer says.

"The autopsy confirmed that and the cause of death." JJ says. "Blunt force head trauma and evidence of rape and torture to the woman."

"The unsub wasn't very successful at hiding the fact that he murdered two people." Hotch says.

"There's a chance he has gotten away with it before. After I spoke to the sheriff, I had Garcia look into any similar accidents near the California, Nevada border. She found two with a similar M.O. in the past couple of weeks. Both were couples, in a car, hit by a tractor trailer."

"It's always a man and a woman stopped right in the middle of the road." Derek says.

"It's always at night on a remote highway." Emily adds.

"It can't be a coincidence the victim type and this very specific M.O. are the same in all three cases." Rossi says.

"Was Garcia able to find any connection between them?" Hotch asks.

"One thing they have in common is that they all disappeared for 48 hours prior to the accidents." JJ says.

"We know what he does to his victims during that time." Rossi says.

"We just need to figure out where he finds them." Hotch says.

+++

They're on the jet and JJ puts headphones over her stomach.

"JJ?" Emily asks, nodding to the stomach.

"It's so the baby can't hear." JJ explains.

"Oh, I did that. Always Elvis, Somewhere Over the Rainbow -- both versions -- or The Beatles. Only way they'd fall asleep until they were one and a half, too." Madelyn says making JJ chuckle.