To Solve

Chapter 40: Limelight

"– From an old storage unit. Case agent from the Philly field office sent it to me," said Agent Rossi.

He and Hotch stood together in the bullpen and looked at several sheets that were faxed to Rossi.

Parker and Spencer were curious, maybe a little too curious, and stood up and walked up next to the two men.

"Somebody you know?" Hotch asked.

Agent Rossi handed him the pages and he looked at them.

"She knows me, you know."

"Oh, a fan. Your world's a very crowded place, isn't it?"

"You'd be surprised."

Spencer looked over Hotch's shoulder and glanced at the pages. Since Parker was smaller than Hotch and Spencer, they stood next to the two of them and Hotch handed them two pages so that Parker could look at them too.

The recordings were about torture practices– including drawings.

"This is detailed."

"Future tense. They're fantasies."

"That agent thinks it could be more than that," explained Agent Rossi.

"There's more of this?"

"Few boxes in the field office. I'd like to drive up there, look at the rest of the material. Make a judgment from that."

"Take Reid and Parker with you," Hotch said simply, handed the pages back to Agent Rossi and went back to his office.

"Omg–" "Road trip, nice–" the two young agents said happily.

"I've got Books on Tape with Peter Coyote reading the entire Foundation Trilogy," the young genius remembered.

He and Parker went to their desks to grab their bags.

Parker was full of motivation, but when they saw Agent Rossi's expression, the smile partially disappeared from their face.

"Spence, maybe we should just listen to the radio."

~~

The drive to Philadelphia took about four hours. It would have been faster, but someone– no names– didn't want to listen and so they got stuck in a traffic jam.

As soon as the three profilers entered the field office, the eyes of every agent they passed followed them.

"How do you get used to the staring?" Spencer asked quietly. "I'd feel like I perpetually have something stuck in my teeth."

"You learn to ignore it."

They met the agent who had written to Rossi in her office.

The red-brown haired woman ended the call when she noticed Parker, Spencer and Agent Rossi.

"David Rossi, in my office. Someone pinch me."

She went to the door where the three profilers stood and held out her hand.

"You must be Agent Morris."

"Jill, please. Can I get you anything? Coffee..."

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like for Agent Gallagher, Dr Reid and I to get to this," Agent Rossi explained.

"Agent Gallagher. Dr Reid. Thank you for coming. You won't be disappointed."

"What other materials do you have?" asked Spencer.

"We found assorted artwork, torture porn, bondage, but what strikes me is the prose. It screams of high-order sexual predator."

Agent Morris walked past the profilers, left her office and led Parker and their colleagues past the desks.