the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

077. ghost

"So, Alvez, I heard you got smoked." Tara comments. Luke laughs.

"I did not get smoked." He denies.

"Yeah, well, I hear we've taken to calling Simmons the bus driver because he took you to school." Tara remarks.

"He kind of did." Luke admits. "He's also been off for the past month, he's slept in. He's working out."

"Slept in?" Bedelia questions.

"Yeah." Luke nods.

"Yeah, he wishes." Bedelia scoffs. "I barely get enough sleep with two kids, I don't know how he hasn't toppled over yet."

"Whoa, he's got a newborn baby and 4 kids to corral. I don't think so, buddy." JJ argues.

"Seriously, you got more sleep last night than Matt's had in a month." Rossi says.

"That's actually not an exaggeration." Spencer says. "Research studies have shown that in the first 12 months of a child's life, parents sleep less than 59% of the recommended 8 hours a night, hence losing the equivalent of on average, 50 nights of sleep."

"Do you have any stats that might be able to help me?" Luke asks.

"Nope." Spencer shakes his head. "Even if I did, I have personal experience that would contradict the stats."

"Mm-hmm." Bedelia nods.

"It's happening again." Penelope walks up. "We got a..." She frowns, walking towards the round table room, everybody following.

"There was a double homicide this morning in Des Plaines, Illinois." Emily states. "It appears our victims, Marko Salazar and Benjamin Blake, were shot by a sniper while playing basketball on a neighborhood court."

"Des Plaines, Illinois?" Spencer asks.

"I know what's in your noggin, and what is in your noggin is correct to be in your noggin because two days ago a gentleman named Brian Nikolay was shot in a parking lot by a sniper." Penelope says.

"Just like the Phillip Dowd case we worked in Des Plaines 15 years ago." JJ says.

"It is. All single shots to the victims' torsos, all in public places, and no one's seen the shooter." Spencer says. "He's a ghost."

"Well, it's definitely not the same LDSK, cause--"

"Cause I killed Phillip Dowd." Spencer states.

"So you think it's a copycat LDSK?" Emily asks.

"Typically, LDSKs are skilled marksmen with a God complex." Tara says.

"And they pretty much revel in taking people's lives from above and afar." Luke says.

"But copycats are out to prove their superiority by making a bigger bang." Rossi says.

"Or to ride the wave of infamy created by the original killer." Emily says.

"But in this case, the original killer, Phillip Dowd, is a distant memory." Tara says. "There's not much of a wave to ride."

"Dowd's original M.O. was to shoot his victims, then race back to the emergency room where he worked cause he thrived on trying to save them." Spencer says.

"Yeah, typical hero homicides." Rossi says. "But we're not seeing that here."

"No, we're not, but this unsub's victimology is remaining consistent enough to suggest that his next victims will most likely be 3 visitors to one of the local parks." Bedelia says.

"I'll make sure Chief Weigart has his officers stake out the parks." Emily says. "Penelope, will you let Matt know that it's all hands on deck?" Penelope grabs her phone. "We are wheels up in 20."