Heurism | Spencer Reid¹

CHAPTER NINETEEN: FLINT AND STEEL

"Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim and, on his behalf, demand atonement or grant forgiveness."

     — W. H. Auden.

—

"Walter Derbin, age 52. His body was found in his cab in East Harlem. He was blindfolded and shot once in the chest. Death was caused by a knife stabbed through his ear. The UnSub broke off the handle with the blade lodged in his brain."

Gathered about the round table, we listen to Hotch's briefing. I glance briefly up at the photos on the screen and wince. Beside me, JJ sighs and takes the remote from him. She clicks it and more pictures show up. "It's the same signature as two other murders. Rachel Holman, 24, found in her apartment three weeks ago on the Lower East Side. And Kaveh Surrani, 30. Police found him two weeks later inside his painting studio in Hell's Kitchen."

"Different locations, different victimology. It's possible we're looking for someone who will hunt indiscriminately."

Hard copies of the crime scene photos are passed around. I hand a few of the photos to Elle, who scans them briefly before asking, "NYPD have any leads?"

"Guy's a ghost."

"He kills at night. There's no witnesses."

Sat off to the side of our group, Gideon breaks his ponderous silence, "Is the NYPD feeling the strain?"

JJ raises a brow as she glances at her notes. "Well, they've withheld details, so the press hasn't sniffed out a link between the murders."

That helps, at least. It will give us more time to figure things out without the press breathing down our necks. "Well, the victims are pretty spread out, both geographically and time-wise. All goes well, we should have time to find one before they do," I say hopefully.

Morgan tilts his head in partial agreement. "With no discernible victim patterns, a killer's practically impossible to stop."

"Did you know the original Zodiac Killer actually continually changed his victims? Young, old, men, women, white, black."

Gideon nods along as Reid speaks. His gaze drifts away as though seeing right through the floor to something far beyond. "Exactly. And he killed for 30 years without ever being caught."

——————

"This is not how I planned to spend a few days home in New York," Elle grumbles, laying down a card. I peek down at mine and curse in my head.

JJ sighs wistfully, "I'd kill for an afternoon at Barneys and dinner at Il Cantinori."

"Yeah, with you and whose paycheque?" I tease.

"I'm looking forward to seeing New York."

We look up at Reid. Morgan seems to find a hard time believing it. "You've never been to New York?"

He just shrugs. "We've never had an UnSub there."

Over on the couch at the front of the plane, I notice Hotch lean over and whisper to Gideon, "I thought you were going to talk to Reid about taking some vacation time."

"What's vacation time?"

Setting down my cards, I turn to him in the seat beside me. He takes a moment to notice, meeting me with a bemused gaze. "What?"

I chuckle, "It's New York. All that history and information, that's like heaven for you."

"Reid, it's a one-hour flight," Morgan insists, still acting as though this is the most shocking revelation he could possibly have about this guy.