"Don't forget that I cannot see myself, that my role is limited to being the one who looks in the mirror." ~ Jacques Rigaut
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"Brenda Samms was found yesterday by her children when they got home from school. She had been strangled with a thin ligature, possibly a wire." Hotch explains while handing out pictures.
"He didn't leave a weapon." I state.
Spence adds, "Residue on the wrist and mouth indicate that duck tape was used and then removed."
"He didn't leave that either." I tell him and he leans over my shoulder to look.
"Brought it with him, took it with him." Elle says.
Hotch adds, "He also started leaving messages at the fourth scene." He holds up a picture, "This was on the mirrors. 'Fair lady, throw those costly robes aside. No longer may you glory in your pride. Take leave of all your carnal, vain delight.-"
I cut off Hotch with the close, "'I've come to summon you away this night.' It's a late 1600s ballad. A conversation between death and a lady." Morgan looks at me like I'm crazy and I explain, "I have a phd in English Literature."
"A 17th century ballad?" Elle asks and I climb over Reid to get water.
I walk down the aisle as Spence says, "Yeah, essentially, a woman begging death to live."
"What kind of person knows this ballad?" Elle questions and Reid and I raise our hands, "Are we looking for a literature professor?" Elle asks, ignoring us.
I climb back over Reid and say, "You can find it on the internet."
"You should see what comes in when you type the word 'death' into a search engine." Reid says and I nod.
"Reid, no wonder you can't get a date." Morgan says and I glare at him.
"Reid, Amanda, you stay on the messages. See if there's a deeper meaning." Gideon demands and we nod.
"Well," Derek says holding up the picture, "it definitely looks like he ransacked the crime scene pretty well." I lean over Spence a bit to look closer.
"A lot of damage, nothing taken." Hotch responds.
"The eyes are the signature. It's not necessary for the murder. It is for the emotional release." I state.
"There used to be a widely held belief that the eyes record a snapshot of the last thing a person sees before they die." Reid says and I nod, resting my head on his shoulder.
"Yeah, that's right. People used to write poems about talking to death." Morgan states, looking at us with a face that says, you aren't the only smart ones.
Reid and I look at each other before correcting him, "Ballads." Spence puts his arm around me as Derek huffs whatever.
"You think they'll ever run out of new things to do to their victims?" Elle questions and I look down sadly. Reid sees my face and pulls me tighter into him.
"Well, finding new ways to hurt each other is what we're good at." Gideon responds and I lean my head on Reid's shoulder.
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"Captain Griffith, Task Force Commander." Griffith introduces himself after we all walk past him.
"Sorry, we all get tunnel vision. I'm Special Agent Hotchner. This is Agent Jareau, our liaison." Hotch responds and Griffith shakes their hands. I sit down beside Spence and we start working on the ballad as Griffith thanks us for coming. I place my feet in Spencer's lap as I start to read the ballad. On the side of the ballad I draw an eye.
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Below it I write all the things that were destroyed and all the things that were used but taken. Spencer taps me on the shoulder and points to a board with all the ballads on it. I stand and walk over with him. "'My name is death. Have you not heard of me? You may as well be mute...'" Spencer reads and I follow along.
"Creepy, huh?" JJ asks, looking at the board.
Reid glances at her before responding, "Actually, conversations between death and his victims was a fairly popular literary and artistic theme throughout the Renaissance." He glances at JJ again, "Yeah, creepy." He agrees. I giggle as she walks away.
"I believe the ballad itself is beautiful but not what it's being used for." I explain to Spencer and he smiles at me.
A while later we walk up to Hotch and Elle, "It looks like what he's written at the scenes are most of the first three verses of the same ballad." Spencer states.
"Most of?" Hotch questions.
"There's no 'betwixt'. It's only death speaking, the lady never gets to answer." I explain.
"Maybe he feels like their bodies are answer enough." Elle remarks.
