the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

060. believer

"Who remembers this agent?" Emily asks, showing Owen Quinn's photo.

"I do not." Matt says.

"That's Agent Owen Quinn." Penelope says. "He worked here until he quit a year ago."

"He worked in the Violence Crimes Apprehension Program on the 5th floor, but he aspired to be a profiler." Bedelia says.

"So, why'd he quit?" Matt asks.

"He was convinced there was an unsub we missed working up and down the northeast corridor." Luke says. "He named him "The Strangler.""

"Naming the unsub. That's exactly what we don't do." Matt says.

"That wasn't his only mistake." Rossi says.

"Yeah, we reviewed his report. He started with a single victim -- a woman in Maryland who'd been strangled and had the hyoid bone at the front of her throat removed, but she was his only confirmed victim." Tara says.

"One murder doesn't make you a serial killer." Matt says.

"Yeah, we told him that." Tara says. "So he started forcing missing persons into his victimology to fit his profile. In the end, 5 of his 7 victims showed up alive and unharmed, 2 were inconclusive."

"First sin of profiling. Trying to fit the evidence to match a theory." Rossi says.

"Quinn took the criticism personally and quit, said he'd pursue the investigation on his own." Luke says.

"That's a little impulsive." Matt says. "So, how did we find him in the storage unit?"

"I got an email." Spencer says.

"You got an email?" Bedelia asks. "You hate email. You-- you avoid it at all costs."

"I do." Spencer confirms. "I was even more surprised when I saw that it was an anonymous sender. Garcia, can you put the message on the board?" She does so.

"That's Quinn's FBI ID badge. That's a big piece of bait. I mean, the unsub knows we have to take it." Luke says.

"Someone left us breadcrumbs to a former federal agent, who sure as hell looked dead." Matt says. "So did the unsub think he was dead when he left him there for us, or was he leaving us some kind of witness?"

"Or to put it another way, is this guy trying to help us or taunt us?" Rossi asks.

"Right now, Quinn has all the answers." Emily says. "Reid will interview him. Luke, Tara, go to the storage unit, see what you can uncover. Matt, JJ, I need you to reach out to his wife and son."

Everybody disperses and Bedelia quickly follows her husband.

"Spencie." She calls, immediately getting his attention. He stops so she can catch up, the two continuing to walk around. "Are-- an email?" She frowns. Why-- wait, why didn't you tell me? Or anybody else on this team? Hell, tell JJ or something."

"I sleep in the same bed as you, it's not that hard to get ahold of me." Bedelia remarks. "Why take a SWAT team to a storage unit in the middle of the night? Plus, where are the secrets coming from? You and I do not keep secrets from each other, we promised that. Plus, not to bring up horrid memories, but the last time you kept a secret from the team--"

"I went to prison for a murder that I didn't commit." Spencer says, stopping and turning to her.

"Yes." Bedelia nods. "Plus all the other secrets you had that were crucial to your physical or mental health. I mean, I knew about everything, but still. And now that you didn't tell me is making me really worry and--"