the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

012. mr. scratch

"Why don't we just start with the simplest explanation?" Derek asks. "They're lying."

"There are easier lies to tell to cover for murder." JJ says. "Why tell the same one, especially when it doesn't make sense?"

"Could it be a group delusion?" Kate asks.

"Their similar age range all points in that direction." Spencer says. "33 to 34 years old, but the geographic diversity kind of rules that out."

"Yeah. Larry Merrin's from Topeka. Christine McNeil is from Roswell, Georgia, Daniel Karras is from Derry, Maine. All different economic levels, social circles, obviously different racial backgrounds." Penelope says.

"So if he's an unsub, he's not killing but creating killers." Rossi says. "Murder by proxy, if you will."

"It's gotta be drugs." Derek says. "Larry Merrin's story just sounds like a bad trip."

"According to the police reports, all 3 tox screens came up negative." Penelope says.

"Well, they only screen for known compounds. This could be a cocktail we've never seen before." JJ says.

"Every drug affects every person differently, yet somehow this unsub is able to make his drug affect 3 completely dissimilar people exactly in the same way." Spencer says.

"Maybe they're not dissimilar at all." Hotch says. "Maybe the drugs are just the tipping point and these 3 share some sort of pre-existing mental condition he knows he can tap into to induce them to kill. We find that, we find him."

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"The plastic tested positive for sevoflurane and scopolamine, both powerful disassociatives." Spencer says. "The first is used to put you into a walking dream. Dentists often use it during oral surgery. The second, in high doses, makes you completely suggestible."

"And the unsub uses the first to make the victims hallucinate their worst fear." Kate says.

"Then he uses the second to make them attack that fear when it's really the person next to them. They don't realize that they're actually killing someone that they love." Derek says.

"And once they do, their lives are ruined forever." Rossi says. "Even if they plead insanity, we've got 3 victims who ain't never goin' back to Mayberry."

"Let's go back to the part about hallucinating your worst fear." Hotch says. "JJ, what's your earliest fear from childhood?"

"Being separated from my parents." She says.

"Dave?" Hotch asks.

"Lon Chaney, Phantom of the Opera. She takes off that mask, forget about it." He says.

"Kate?" Hotch asks.

"Melissa Gordner. That bitch." Kate says.

"B?"

"The Sanderson Sisters." She states.

"And yet each of these victims saw exactly the same thing." Hotch says.

"The initial police reports only called it a dark figure, but our interviews revealed shared details." Spencer says. "A shadow monster with talons for hands."

"And that level of specificity says it's not just a childhood nightmare, it's something they really experienced." Hotch says. "Though they were too young to understand what it was."

"But they were from different states." JJ says.

"No, they were adopted in different states." Kate says. "Maybe at some point they shared the same group home."