the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

034. scarecrow

"Does anyone know when Agent Fill-in-the-blank is gonna start?" Penelope asks. "Because I cannot begin my detailed, rumor based background check without a name."

"You couldn't find anything out with all your super powers?" Luke asks making Bedelia quietly laugh.

"Oh, ha ha, newbie. It's not like I haven't tried." Penelope says. "I checked with all the other mes in other units to see if any of their agents are transferring over. Nobody knows diddly squat."

"Well, I feel like Emily's been poring over these resumes forever." JJ says. "I mean, the brass has to approve a new agent soon, right?"

"All I know is, who ever he or she is, they'd better be nice." Penelope states. "That is the most important thing to me."

"To all of us." Spencer adds.

"Amen." Penelope states. "So whoever this well qualified mystery person is, I say once they join, we change our name from the Magnificent 8 to the Awesome 9." She grins. "Huh? It's perfect."

The others share looks, letting out some noises of disagreement.

"I'm declaring dictatorship." Penelope says. "You guys don't get a vote. Especially you, newbie."

"Sorry, guys, no news, but we have a case." Emily says as she and Rossi walk out of her office.

"What?" Penelope asks as her phone goes off and she looks at it. "Oh, yeah, we do. This isn't good."

"Let's get started." Emily says as they all sit around the table.

"Okay, last night in Yakima, Washington, police received multiple 911 phone calls from the same neighborhood." Penelope says, handing out the files. "They all reported a woman pounding on the door, screaming for help." Luke holds the remote up to her and Penelope harshly takes it. "She was hysterical. They received 5 calls in less than 5 minutes."

"Let me guess -- not one person opened their door to help her." Rossi says.

"Sad commentary on our times, but understandable. A stranger at your door could be a ruse to get into your home to rob you." Spencer says.

"Or worse." JJ adds.

"All of the callers described the woman as being in her mid 20s and scantily clad." Luke says. "One even called her a prostitute. Said that a hooded figure grabbed her off the street, was driving a dark colored car."

"So we have an abduction." Tara says.

"It appears so, but that's not the only reason they called us." Emily says.

"Okay, because when the local police were looking for the missing woman, they uncovered the remains of two female victims on the bank of a nearby creek." Penelope informs. "One was skeletonized, and the other was in a burlap sack. She'd been dead for 3 weeks."

"She also has barbed wire wrapped around her waist." Tara notes.

"She being Debra McDermott, 27, from Moxee, Washington." Penelope says.

"Ran away from home at 16, multiple arrests for prostitution." JJ says. "Given the witness statements for the current missing woman, I'd say our unsub's got a type."

"Any idea on the skeleton?" Bedelia asks.

"No, not yet." Penelope shakes her head.

"But her date of death is estimated to be 3 years ago." Spencer says.

"3 years and now 3 weeks. What are the odds he remained dormant between victims?" Rossi asks.

"We should look into recent local prison releases that match that timeframe." Emily says.

"I'll search that now." Penelope says.

"He could have been sublimating his urges by reliving the kills." Tara says.

"Maybe he found a job or a relationship that satisfied him." Luke says.

"It either went sour, that could have triggered his killing again." Spencer says.

"The only thing we know for certain is we have two dead victims and a missing woman who's still out there." Emily says. "Wheels up in 20."

+++

Bedelia walks into the conference room with two cups of coffee, staying quiet when she sees Spencer on the phone.

"Why don't you get a little bit of rest and I'm gonna call you back later, okay?" Spencer says. "All right. I love you." He hangs up.

"Your mom?" Bedelia asks.

"Yeah." He mumbles, nodding.

"She okay?" She asks.

"She-- she was confused about where she was and she was convinced that her friends had been kidnapped. She wanted us to investigate." Spencer says.

"I'm sorry." Bedelia winces.

"This was my biggest fear." Spencer admits. "You know, about getting her into the clinical trial. I think she's getting a placebo."

"I thought you said she was getting better." Bedelia says.

"She was. Or I-- I was-- I don't know, I was fooling myself into thinking that." Spencer says.

"Is there anything I can do? Anything we can do?" Bedelia asks.

"I don't know." Spencer sighs.

Bedelia lets out a sad sigh, wishing she could magically heal her mother-in-law, even just for her husband's sake. She puts the coffees down and pulls Spencer into a hug, wrapping her arms securely around his shoulder. Spencer tightly grips her waist, digging his face into the crook of her shoulder.

"Babe." She pulls away a little after a few moments, reaching up to cup his face. "We need to go see your mom. To just visit her, but to also try to help her. Maybe there's something we can do down there that we can't do far away. Maybe we need to see for ourselves. See if we should move her or keep her there. But she should also get some quality time with her son. Playing chess or reading books."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Spencer nods.

"Okay." Bedelia whispers, giving him a comforting smile. She pecks him on the lips before pulling him back into another hug.

+++

They're on the jet after finishing the case and Spencer takes two cups of coffee over to Emily.

"Coffee?" He asks.

"Oh, you are a lifesaver." Emily chuckles, taking one of the cups and Spencer sits across from her. "What's going on?" She asks.

"I need to take some time off. Well, m-me and Delia." Spencer says.

"Okay. When?" Emily asks.

"As soon as we get back." Spencer says. "I normally wouldn't do this, especially with everything we have going on and the new agent, but it's my mom. I don't think the clinical trials are helping her."

"Spence, I'm so sorry." Emily tells him.

"I need to see for myself what's happening in Houston, and, you know, talk to the doctors, try to figure out what's next."

"As you should. Both of you go. Listen, we'll be fine. You two take as long as you need."

"Thank you."

"I have one condition. I need you two to check in every day, no matter what. I need to know you're both okay." Emily says.

"It's understood." Spencer says. "I don't-- I don't know how to fix this." Emily reaches out and holds his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.