the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

051. full-tilt boogie

"Oh, my gosh. You guys, this might be a record. It's just a little bit after New Year's and we're actually gonna celebrate our MHM tonight." Penelope says. "Aren't you excited?" She asks as she, Bedelia, Matt, and JJ walk out of the elevator.

"I will be in a minute. What's MHM?" Matt asks.

"Oh, Garcia named them. It's a missed holiday meal." JJ explains.

"Or as I like to call them, mm-hmm." Penelope says.

"Mm-hmm." JJ echoes.

"Tonight's actually perfect since Spence will be back from his seminar." Bedelia grins.

Penelope grins back, but her smile drops when she looks into the round table room. The others follow her gaze, seeing Emily and Rossi inside with a crime board.

"Put on your rain check boots." Penelope says.

"What do we have?" JJ asks as they walk into the room.

"No time to sit." Emily says. "Trish Gaines. She was beaten nearly to death, partially buried, and resuscitated in a grave in Hitchens."

"She's the chief of police's wife. She was found in a national park 100 miles from her. Makes it a federal case." Rossi says.

"We also have a suspect on the run. Rick Sturgess." Emily says. "He was seen harassing Trish at a bar just hours before she was found."

"He's done time for sexual assault." Matt says.

"He's never killed before." JJ says.

"But he has an outstanding warrant." Penelope says.

"Which is why we're teaming up with the marshals. But I'm not ruling out any suspects." Emily says. "Whoever wanted Trish dead is still out there. We'll hit the road in 10."

+++

Bedelia stayed back at the BAU with Luke, Tara, and Penelope. The four are at the round table and on the phone with the rest of the team.

"What do we know about Trish Gaines and her family?" Emily asks.

"They moved to Hitchens about a year ago from Ashburn." Penelope states.

"That's right outside of D.C." Matt says. "And way more cosmopolitan than this."

"Yeah, it looks like Steve Gaines was the chief there, too." Tara says. "Ran for mayor bot lost, so he took the lateral move."

"Yeah, I wonder how he feels about that." Luke says.

"What about Trish? Does she work?" JJ asks.

"Uh, she had a job at the kids' old school. She hasn't landed anything here yet." Penelope says.

"Well, it doesn't look like there's a booming economy and we've passed a lot of vacant stores." JJ says.

"Any chance Trish knew Rick Sturgess before the bar last night?" Rossi asks.

"Not that I can tell." Penelope says. "Neither one of them are on social media. Sturgess doesn't even have a physical address."

"This level of violence suggests a personal connection." Matt says.

"Or a rejection. I mean, a guy with Sturgess' record wouldn't have taken that well." Tara says.

"Sturgess served 5 years for sexual assault." Rossi says. "Which means he was locked up, he learned next time don't leave a witness."

"Only he did. Why didn't he make sure Trish was dead?" Matt asks.

"Maybe he wanted to punish her by burying her alive." Bedelia suggests.