the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

002. burn

"So where's Garcia and Morgan? Are they finally having that love child?" Rossi asks. Bedelia rolls her lips into her mouth when Derek walks in. He puts his hand on Rossi's shoulder.

"Heard that." Derek says.

"Busted." Rossi whispers.

"Uh, Garcia's taking some personal time." Hotch says.

"Is everything okay?" JJ asks.

"I hope it wasn't those burritos we had yesterday." Kate says.

"She's fine. Kevin Lynch will be presenting the case." Hotch says.

"Hiya. Hi." Kevin walks in. "Sorry."

"Where are we going?" Spencer asks.

"Seattle, Washington." Kevin says. "Over the last few weeks, two gentlemen between the ages of 35 and 40 have been killed. With radically different M.O.s. First victim, Dan Chen, was strangled and dropped off on the side of a road. The second victim, Joe Hazley, was run over by a car."

"The intimacy of strangulation suggests a personal attack, literally and figuratively, the need to kill in a hands on manner." Spencer says.

"While crushing someone with a car presents as distance and removal from the kill." JJ says.

"What makes you think they're connected?" Kate asks.

"The victims' cars were found about two miles from each other, and they have similar mutilation around their mouths." Hotch says.

"And he crosses racial lines." Derek says.

"Well, if you consider that and a similar geo-profile, maybe we have two different killers." Rossi says.

"We could be looking at a team." Bedelia says.

"A disorganized one." Kate adds.

"Or the unsub's just overcompensating, trying to figure out how he or she likes to kill." Derek says.

"Similar to Herzog and Shermantine." Spencer says.

"So we need to get to Seattle quickly. If he's evolving, he could strike again soon." Hotch says.

+++

"All of the victims had different C.O.D.s. Strangulation, severe crush injuries, and finally, drowning." The M.E. says.

"The last victim's hands and legs were bound before the unsub forcibly submerged him." Spencer says.

"They all have contusions on their head." The M.E. says.

"And it looks like he blitz attacks them or hits them when they try to fight back." Derek says.

"There was no DNA or trace evidence found." The M.E. says.

"You get the tox screen back?" Derek asks.

"Nothing out of the ordinary in their systems. However, I did find some slash marks on the roofs of their mouths." The M.E. says.

"Slash marks? We thought it was random mutilation." Spencer says. He grabs one of the mirrors and puts it in the victim's mouth, looking the roof of his mouth. "Whoa."

"What is it?" Derek asks.

"It's not slashes. It looks-- it looks like Roman numerals." Spencer says.

"What?" Bedelia asks.

"Look." Spencer leans back. Derek leans forward and Bedelia leans against him, both seeing the Roman numeral carved into the roof of the mouth.

"That's the number 3." Derek says.