Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season Four

Masterpiece: Final Part

"Y/N, I need you to do something for me," Rossi says.

"Anything."

"You said he feels intimidated by women. He didn't want to look at you. I want you to come in when he least expects it to throw him off his game."

"You got it," you nod.

You, Rossi, and Spencer get up to head to the interrogation room, and Rossi looks at Spencer in confusion.

"What's our strategy going to be in there with the interrogation?"

"You're not gonna be in the room."

"What? Why?"

"That's what he wants. He wants to play with you. We have to knock him off his game. That's all we have right now."

Rossi walks into the room without your boyfriend, but he doesn't leave. You two watch from the window, and Paul looks around when he doesn't see Spencer in there.

"Where's Dr. Reid?"

"Busy."

"You have something more important going on than me?"

"My dry cleaning is more important than you."

"That's very hostile."

"I think you're just a big-mouth wannabe who doesn't have the guts to do anything at all about this."

"Well, then I guess I'm free to go. I didn't spend the last five years of my life working on a masterpiece just to fold to a bad bluff, especially to someone who doesn't even have a hand to play."

Paul grabs his jacket and opens the door to leave, and you take this moment to walk into the room. As soon as he sees you, he lowers his head and becomes super shy. He didn't act this way when he first met you because Spencer was also there. Now that it's a more intimate setting, he has nothing to do but be a coward in front of you.

"Agent Y/N, you remember Professor Rothschild, right?"

"May I?" you ask and take his jacket from him.

He walks to the wall and cowers next to it without so much as a look in your direction.

"A God like you doesn't have a problem with women, does he?" Rossi asks.

"Do I make you nervous?" you ask him.

"It's okay, Agent. I think we have everything we need to know. This is not a man who can confront a woman on an equal footing. He sneaks up on them and gets them from behind. The original seven victims, oh, they were alone when they came up missing. They had a routine, and he watched them. Hiding in the weeds like a snake... Like a coward."

You set his jacket down over the chair before leaving the room. As soon as you leave, Paul recovers and goes back to being mysterious and calm.

"That was a waste of precious time."

"Oh, it's all part of the game now, isn't it?"

"You think you know what game you're playing, David? You aren't even able to grasp what questions to ask."

"Such as?"

"How about asking what the rules are."

"Rules?"

Paul takes off his watch and sets it on the table so Rossi can see what time it is.

"Two o'clock... and then there were four. I told you that in less than ten hours, another five people would be dead. I never said they would die at the same time. I wonder which one it was--the woman or one of those precious babies." Rossi is seething at this point, but he is doing a good job at hiding it from Paul. "You have to know the rules to play the game, David. Every two hours, one of them will die. In the end, they will all be gone."