EASY WAY OUT ¹ ➢ spencer reid

XVIII

"We believe the man we're looking for is a sexual sadist." Like always, Hotch stood at the front of the room, conducting our usual profile. He stood with his hands in the pockets of his slacks, scanning the room as he spoke. "What that means, is that for him, the torture he conducts is a substitute for his sexual fantasies."

"We believe he's new to this, which means his MO may or may not change in the future. He's experimenting. Trying out what he likes before he decides on a consistent form of killing." Morgan added.

"We also believe this unsub gets gratification for his ability to keep his victims alive in order to endure more torture." Hotch explained.

"The unsub tended to various wounds on the body so we believe he's got a medical background." Morgan cleared his throats.

"We're looking for the kind of guy, who even after a traumatic day at work would want to go out for a beer with his coworkers and ask them about their day." Prentiss added.

Hotch finished up the profile, ending with a thank-you before everyone dispersed back to their desks. The rest of us walked back to the office, Detective Leon following closely behind. "Reid I want you and Rafferty to head to the hospital. See if you can talk to any doctors who might have any leads."

Both of us nodded, exiting the room without another word. We hopped into the vehicle and drove to the hospital. "Do we seriously have to ask a bunch of doctors if they might know this guy?" I asked, closing the car door as I got out. I followed Reid as we wandered into the hospital.

Reid just shrugged.

We spent the rest of the day questioning the staff. It felt like we were there for hours, asking the same questions over and over again, getting the same results. Nobody knew who this guy was and when we presented the profile they often had no answers to give us. By the end I was feeling discouraged, not to mention exhausted from all the repetitive talking we'd been doing. I sat down in the one of the waiting room chairs, running my hands through my hair with a sigh. Reid stood beside me, talking to one of the nurses.

"Uh, we had this one guy a couple months back," she glanced down the hall, crossing her hands over her chest, "he was weird."

"Weird how?" Reid asked.

"He was always really distracted. We got a lot of complaints about him being rough with patients."

I looked up from my seat, raising my brow curiously.

"I didn't work with him much, but I remember the last time I did we had a girl who came in to get stitches. It took him way too long to do them, which I thought was kind of weird. Poor girl was in so much pain." She shook her head.

"Did the patient mention this to anyone?" Reid asked.

She nodded her head. "Yeah. I think so. I don't exactly know what happened, but he stopped coming into work after that."

"How long ago was this?" I asked.

"Month and a half ago, I think?"

"Do you know his name?"

"Matt, I think," she gave us a confused look and glanced down the hallway again, "let me just check with Lisa. She would probably know his last name." She gave us a quick smile and ran down the hall, leaving Reid and I to look at each other.

"Guess it was worth it after all." I stood up from the chair.

The nurse returned not long after. "Matt Berkley, he was a nurse here for about a year and half." She responded.