the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

064. the tall man

"Last night, three teenage girls went searching for The Tall Man." JJ informs. "It's a regional ghost story. According to the survivor recovered this morning, they found him."

"She looks like she went through hell." Luke comments. "She say what happened?"

"That would be Ally Macready. And according to her, The Tall Man held them and cut them repeatedly." Penelope says.

"That is consistent with the legend. So The Tall Man is your classic don't go into the woods dare. Survive the night, you survive him. He catches you, he cuts you until you reveal your deepest secrets." JJ explains.

"Let's go back to the victims for a second." Matt says. "Did they sneak out or did their parents know?"

"They told their parents that they were going to a party, and they actually did." Penelope says.

"Okay, so then off the bat we have two theories about the unsub. One is that he knew they were planning this." Matt says.

"Which puts him in the girls' inner circle." Rossi says.

"Exactly. Or two, he waited in the woods opportunistically. But that strategy only works if he plays the odds right. So how far reaching is this ghost story?" Matt questions.

"Maybe I can answer that. The story JJ grew up with, it's gone viral, and the photoshop work is on fleek." Penelope says.

"Tall Man is a story. What happened to these girls is real. The first 24 hours are crucial in an abduction case, and we are now down to 18. Let's move." Emily says.

+++

"I'd like to direct your attention to two oddities. Oddity number one is Ally Macready's medical exam." Penelope says.

"Give us the headline." Emily orders.

"Despite outward appearances, Ally had a sum total of zero wounds on her." Penelope states. "So whose blood is on her clothes, you ask? DNA report is not back yet, but typing and matching points to the other girls."

"She could have escaped before the unsub got to her." Tara says. "Holding three girls takes a lot of control."

"What's oddity number two?" Emily asks.

"That would be a text exchange between Bethany and Chelsea." Penelope says. "Bethany says to Chelsea, "What if we do it in the woods tonight?" To which Chelsea responds, "We'd have to do it fast. Ally can't see us coming.""

"Vaguely threatening. Although Ally didn't say anything like that in her interview." Spencer says.

"Two of the girls had some agenda besides the Tall Man." Rossi says. "We need to see if it played a part in their disappearance."

"Chelsea's dad, Tom, he dated my sister in high school, so I can talk to him." JJ says.

"Good. Do that." Emily says. "We will divide and conquer when we land. We will investigate this as if Bethany and Chelsea are still alive, and we will not sleep until we find them."

+++

"Go ahead, Garcia." Emily says.

"The police recovered all 3 girls' phones in the woods." Penelope informs. "And you know how teens and myself spend way too much time on our screens? Well, the breakdown on the lab report from the girls' cell phones suggests a surefire way to get us all to stop. Please look at that report on your tablets."

"Fentanyl as in the opioid derivative?" Spencer asks.

"Yeah, trace elements were found on all 3 screens. Now, the medical patch it comes in knocks you out instantaneously." Penelope says.

"Wait, hold up. Full stop." Emily says. "Let's retrace the girls' timeline. They went to a party, then somehow the unsub manages to get his hands on all 3 of the girls' phones to lace them?"

"He could have been at the party." Matt says.

"But then he'd have to time that out with when they went into the woods." Emily says. "No one's that good. Factor this in now. You're a teenage girl. You keep your cell phone on you at all times. Who would you maybe hand it over to?"

"Your best friend." Tara says.

"Uh-huh." Emily nods. "I'm starting to think Bethany or Chelsea might be pulling the strings here."

"Whoa, slow down." Rossi intercepts. "All 3 girls' phones were drugged, and Ally had the other girls' blood on her."

"I'm with Rossi. If one of the girls was staging this, she would have had to have knocked herself out and let herself get cut. That's one hell of a gaslight." Luke says.

"But not an impossible one, especially with a partner." Bedelia says. "People have been known to do drastic things to look like a victim."

"Well, if that's true, I think we're missing the bigger picture here." Matt says. "Chelsea and Bethany are best friends. Why would one recruit a partner to terrorize the other?"

"Okay, it has something to do with this." JJ takes a piece of paper off the board. ""Where is it?" That's what Ally heard. So they're looking for something they lost, something they think the other girl can find."

"I think we need to take another look at their high school, see what we can find." Emily says.

"I know a guy over there that could help us." JJ says.

"Great." Emily says and JJ leaves.

+++

"This is mislabeled." Matt says. "Unsub's older, predatory."

"Yeah. Let's add it all up." Emily says. "The unsub gives the girls he grooms a necklace. But Chelsea stole Bethany's to figure out who he is."

"And it's the smoking gun of their affair, dangerous enough to ruin his life if discovered." Tara says. "So he and Bethany come up with a plan to get it back."

"This guy's been at it for a while." Rossi says. "So who's in Bethany's life who also overlaps with JJ's sister?"

"Well, there's one obvious suspect. It's Tom Davis, Chelsea's dad, and he was Roslyn's old boyfriend." Matt says.

"Matt, Luke, bring him in." Emily says. "He has an alibi. I want to stress test it."

+++

Spencer takes the guy into the interrogation room.

"This is just a horrible mistake, okay? I didn't do anything wrong. I mean, you can't just bring me-- does JJ-- where are you going?" He asks as Spencer walks out. "Hey, listen. Listen. I didn't do this." Spencer shuts the door.

"I searched his car, his house, and the school." Spencer says. "No sign of Bethany."

"Dave, I think he'll respond to your authority." Emily says. "I want you to take the first crack at him." Rossi nods.

"Actually, I'd like to." JJ says, taking her gun holster off and holding it out to Emily.

Emily and Rossi look at each other, Rossi nodding a little.

"Okay." Emily takes JJ's gun before the blonde goes into the room.

+++

"Hey." Bedelia walks up to JJ's seat on the jet. "You holding up okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, fine." JJ quietly answers, weakly smiling. Bedelia kisses JJ on the head before going back over to her seat by Spencer.