Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season Four

Roadkill: Final Part

Not even a day later, there is news of another murder. This time, the victim is a man. He was chased down in a parking garage and nearly got away when the unsub rammed his truck into an elevator, nearly cutting him in two. There are crime scenes--one on the second floor where the initial contact was made, and the one on the first floor where the unsub made contact with the victim.

"The impact nearly cut him in two. His name is Victor Costella, a podiatrist. He works in the building," Detective Quinn says.

"This is the first male victim. So much for the rape theory."

"He ran down from the level above to try to get away."

You're brought back to earlier in the day and see Victor run down from the car ramp to the first floor. The unsub is right behind him with an angry look on his face. You can't see the unsub at all but you can tell by the way it's speeding at Victor that he is angry. Victor thinks he's gonna make it to the elevator, but it closes right before he can get on. That's when the unsub rammed into him.

You rewind the events and follow Victor up the ramp to the second floor. Victor's car is all the way on the other side of the parking garage, so he's running backward the more you rewind. You rewind it as far as it can go and let it play normally. Victor leaves the building and heads to his car, not having seen the unsub in his truck. When he gets halfway to it, the unsub speeds forward to hit Victor but the victim jumps out of the way.

He rams into his personal car, and that's when Victor starts running away. He passes by you in a mist that brings you back to reality.

"Is this the victim's car?" Spencer asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"Uh, excuse me for a second." Spencer takes out his phone and calls Penelope as he walks away. "Garcia, I need you to look into something."

"This is a reserved spot. The unsub knew where he was gonna park and must have gotten here early and picked this spot right across. Somebody might have seen him waiting."

"Somebody did," an officer says. "I talked to an x-ray tech on the third floor. She noticed a truck when she arrived."

"Was he inside it?"

"Yeah, but she couldn't see him because of the tint."

"How did she know if he was inside, then?"

"She said the window was cracked. The occupant was smoking."

"I don't suppose your people found any cigarette butts, did they?" The officer shakes his head. "What time did the tech get in?"

"Ten in the morning."

"He waited for seven hours. A proper addict could go through a whole pack." Rossi walks over to the spot where the unsub was waiting and notices the cigarettes on the ground. It looks like the cigarettes were stripped down. "He field-stripped these."

"What is that?" Emily asks.

"It's something they teach soldiers to avoid leaving traces in the field. They squeeze out the filter then ball up the surrounding paper."

"Then our unsub could be ex-military."

"We can get DNA on this," the officer says. "If we're lucky, he'll be in the system."

"If he's military, why would he choose a truck as his weapon?"

This gets you thinking. Why would he use his truck as a weapon if he could use guns? He's been in the military, so he should be comfortable using one.

"Yeah, a truck is loud and draws attention. Plus, he risked rendering it inoperable. This doesn't make any sense."

"It does to him. He needs to kill this way. I just don't know why."