Heurism | Spencer Reid¹

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT: IN HEAT

"There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses."

     — George Bernard Shaw.

—

Lungs sore and my heart pounding, I hurry through the bullpen. Nobody's here. The light in the conference room is on. "Shit." I desperately try to fix my hair and wipe the sweat from my brow as I enter the room, taking a seat between Morgan and Prentiss. "Sorry. Alarm didn't go off. What's up?"

With a raised eyebrow, JJ directs my attention to the screen, where the photo of a dead man's face is displayed. "Charles Luvet was found floating in a Miami marina last night. Local M.E. thinks that he was only in the water about an hour."

"Any attempt to weigh the body down?" Hotch asks, looking away the second I notice him watching me.

"Doesn't appear to be."

"The dumping could be convenient as opposed to a means of hiding the crime," Morgan points out.

She shakes her head, unconvinced. "Well, he's the third victim found in Miami over the last two months. Though the locations of the bodies are different, many of the elements are the same. All males, 25 to 35, all travelling, all asphyxiated with no signs of sexual assault."

"But tourists could mean just simple robbery."

"There are some personal items missing," she agrees.

Eyes narrowed in thought, Rossi speaks up, "He's targeting travellers for a reason."

The door opens and Garcia hurries in. "I am so sorry."

"Hey, half day today?" Prentiss teases.

"I— The alarm, sir, I overslept. I'm so sorry."

"Yes, that seems to be a theme this morning," he sighs. "Everyone's allowed to be late. Once."

"It won't happen again."

Eager to move on, Rossi consults his files yet again. "You guys notice the red flag on the autopsy reports?"

I thought there was something I'd forgotten to do. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I open the file in front of me and try to catch up. Prentiss spots the issue first. "Yeah, none of the hyoid bones were fractured."

"No visual signs of trauma, no ligature marks, yet the UnSub still managed to asphyxiate grown men."

"Maybe a chokehold?" Morgan suggests thoughtfully. "WOuldn't leave any signs of trauma."

"It would also be a way of controlling a male. A powerful grip from behind gives the UnSub all the leverage. None of these victims look out of shape or easy to control. In fact, they all look remarkably fit."

As Reid talks, my gaze drifts over to him. He seems well. I wait for him to look to me, as I've realised he often does when he's talking to the team — prolonged eye contact for him is rare, but he's managed it with me in the past. But he doesn't look at me. Not once. I don't let myself get too distracted with it, as JJ's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Well, as I said, the recovery locations are very different. Charles Luvet was found in the water, Daniel Brown was partially buried in a shallow sand dune, Paul Hayes was stuffed in a dumpster."

"That's not much of an effort to hide any of them."

I nod a little. "Either he's incompetent or he wants them to be found."

"They were all found in high-traffic areas," Rossi notes.

"Miami PD is asking for our help, considering there are currently four other men missing that match this victimology."