the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

068. night lights

Bedelia had told Emily she'd be into work late since Theodora was having meltdowns over every little thing, it already being a bad thing for the toddler.

Instead of taking her to preschool, Bedelia called Eliza and asked her to come in, the woman thankfully available. So Bedelia had to wait until Eliza got there before she could go to work.

On her way to work, Spencer had called her and said his seminar ended early, the woman immediately agreeing to meet up with him before work so they could go in together.

They met up at the office, going into the elevator together.

"I love when seminars end early." Bedelia grins, pressing multiple kisses to his lips. Spencer softly laughs.

"It's not so bad, no." Spencer agrees.

The elevator doors open making them break apart, just in time to see the team walking towards them.

"Wait. You're back. Why are you back? What happened?" Penelope asks the genius.

"Nothing happened. The seminar wrapped early and I missed you guys." Spencer says.

"Well, you're both just in time to help us reel in a nasty one." Rossi says.

"We'll brief you guys on the way to the jet. Let's go." Emily says.

"And we'll catch up later." Penelope calls out as everybody else piles into the elevator. "Go, Mighty Professor, go!" Spencer waves bye to her.

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"So we ruled out the son, right?" JJ asks as she walks over.

"Yeah. He was home all night. Why?" Spencer asks.

"Well, the unsub cut the power to the house, and Ray didn't mention it to the police." JJ says.

"It's odd, but he did just lose both his parents." Spencer says.

"And that tracks with what we found." Matt adds.

"Well, what did you find?" JJ asks.

"Well, the unsub secured them here and not very well." Spencer says, pointing to the large table.

"How can you tell?" JJ asks.

"Butane burns on the table. They squirmed as he brought the lighter down." Spencer says.

"Okay, well, why blind him, then stab?" JJ asks. "He has them secure. It's already dark. What is he trying to accomplish?"

"This." Matt says, turning a UV light on and showing the markings on the floor. "So we asked the police to dust for prints, but we were not expecting this."

"Oh, my God." JJ mutters.

"The prints all belong to Mr. and Mrs. Mendelbaum." Spencer says.

"Yeah, they were trying to feel their way around blind." Bedelia says.

"And he was watching them with his goggles on." Matt says. "He wanted to see them struggle."

"No. He wanted to see them panic." JJ says. "He wanted them to know that at any point, he could stab them, which he did right there and then here."

"We thought that last night's victim got lucky and escaped, but this crime scene tells an entirely different story." Spencer says.

"Yeah. He let them go on purpose, first in a controlled setting like this, then out in the wild." JJ says.

"So last night's victim didn't get lucky." Bedelia says.

"No. Our unsub's a hunter." JJ states.

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