deep end, cm [ 1 ]

002. compulsion

"Come on, Elle, we've all asked him, and he won't say. He wants us to figure it out." Derek says as Jessica walks back over to her desk after getting coffee.

"Oh, God, is this about the Foothpath Killer again?" Jessica asks, groaning in annoyance. "He's not gonna tell anyone."

"Okay. I'm up for a challenge." Elle says, leaning against her desk.

"Good, because these go to you." JJ puts a stack of files on Elle's desk. "Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. JJ if you like." She holds her hand out and Elle shakes it.

"Elle." She introduces herself.

"Greenaway. Highest number of solved cases in Seattle 3 years running, specialty in sex offender cases." JJ says.

"Not bad."

"Well, I'm the unit liaison. My specialty is untangling bureaucratic knots. You'll probably be talking to me a lot. My door's always open, mostly because I'm never in my office." JJ says while making her way to Hotch's office. "So just call me on my cell, okay? We'll talk."

"Did you watch it?" JJ asks Hotch as he walks out of his office.

"Yeah. Think everybody should see it." He says. "BAU team, can you meet me in the conference room, please? I need to show you something." He states and they all follow him to the conference room.

"This is from the Phoenix office, Bradshaw College in Tempe, 6 fires in 7 months." Hotch says.

"Who recorded it?" Gideon asks.

"A student with a digital camcorder. He was watching a fire in the building across from their dorm. The other person you'll see is his roommate, 20 year old Matthew Rowland." JJ says before starting the video.

"This is crazy." The student recording says, zooming in on the fire across the street. "Hey, Matt, get over here. You gotta see this. The building's on fire."

"Bro, you getting this?" A guy steps into the frame.

"Is that the kid?" Gideon asks.

"Yeah, that's him." Hotch says.

"Relax, man. There's always fires during rush week."

"Yeah, but that's pretty big. What building is that?"

"Dude, over here. Check this out."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but it's coming underneath the door."

"Is there someone in the hallway?"

"Hey, someone's trying to get in."

"Hey, man, you should get in there."

"Oh, my God! It smells like gas."

Fire flames from underneath the door and sets one of the guys on fire while both yell out and scream. The one recording drops the camera and starts to try to put his roommate out.

+++

"There are 2 common stressors for a serial arsonist." Spencer says.

"Loss of job, loss of love." Elle says.

"When was the first fire set?" Derek asks.

"March. Uh, the next one was in May." Hotch informs, flipping through the file. "And the third one wasn't until September. Then two weeks later there were three in one night."

"He's speeding up. Fires are closer together." Gideon says.

"Hey, Reid, you got a statistic on arsonists?" Derek asks.