Part of a Team - Criminal Minds Fanfiction

Chapter 50 - The Uncanny Valley

Elijah hummed as he and Reid sat at the park. Reid was reading and Elijah was sat beside him, looking over his shoulder as a kid, Eric, played chess nearby.

"I see checkmate in five. What do you two see?" The kid asked.

"I see it in three." Reid nodded.

"Kid, I'm clueless." Elijah whispered.

He sighed, moving pieces,"We missed you guys out here."

"Aw, thanks."

"Yeah, we had to take a little break." Reid told him.

"How come?" Eric asked.

"I used to play all the time with an old friend of mine. He was probably the best mind I ever went up against. One day he just decided he didn't want to play anymore." Reid explained.

"So, you gave up, too?"

"Just the opposite. I attempted to play through every permutation of moves on a chess board." Reid sighed.

"That's an infinite number of games." Eric pointed.

"It's not infinite. It's exponentially large."

"You couldn't have played through them all."

"There's an average of forty moves per chess game. I'll tell you something, the more I played the more I realised that every single match, every single chess game is really just a simple variation on the exact same theme. You know? It's aggressive opening, patient mid game, inevitable checkmate and I realised why my friend quit. He was tired of repeating the same patterns and expecting a different outcome."

"He just needed.. A break." Elijah nodded slowly.

That's when Reid's phone began to ring.

"You've got a lifetime of chess strategy in your head and you're just sitting on it?" Eric asked.

"I still use it, I just apply it differently. We gotta go." Reid checked his phone.

"It was nice seeing you, Eric." Elijah smiled.

Reid hummed and moved a piece before they ran off.

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"Rita Stuart, twenty-five, second victim in Atlantic City." JJ pointed at the screen.

"Pretty public spot for a dump site." Rossi tilted his head.

"You know, technically I'd say it qualifies as more of a disposable site. You don't leave a body on a merry-go-round our of convenience." Reid shook his head.

"He took some time with her appearance didn't he?" Fleur sighed.

"Yeah, her nails were polished, her hair was cut, her clothes were brand new."

"He wants her to look her best when found. That's a lot of remorse." Morgan nodded.

"Who was victim number one?" Hotch asked.

"Stacia Jackson, twenty-nine. She was found at a local playground." JJ showed the picture.

"Quite a change in victimology." Elijah nodded slowly.

"What's the connection between these women?" Hotch asked.

"There is none. Rita was married, Stacia was single. Rita worked at a diner, Stacia was a corporate lawyer." JJ told him,"According to their credit cards, they never came within ten miles of each other. "

"Both women were taken two months ago?"

"Yeah. They led such completely different lives the police never connected their abductions together until now." She explained.