Next Door Neighbor

CHAPTER 10: OOPS

SPENCER'S POV:

I'm eating an early breakfast with Stephanie when my phone rings. It's Hotch, telling me we have another case. "I have to go, Steph. I'll call you once we're on the jet, okay?" I tell her. She gives me a quick kiss and I run out the door. I hail a taxi and make my way to the office. Traffic is bad, so I'm almost late. I run into the conference room and grab my usual seat.

"Mornin'. Want a doughnut?" Morgan asks, holding the box out to me. "No thanks, Stephanie made banana bread for breakfast, so I already ate." I tell him. "Lucky, I want banana bread." Emily grumbles. Hotch comes in and we all take our seats. Garcia brings some pictures onto the screen. "So, we have an icky one. In Colorado, we have three victims, all female. The first victim is Marianne Brown, a kindergarten teacher at a local public school. She was found murdered in her home, stabbed six times." I write down some notes.

"The second victim is Tanya Pryn, an art teacher at an afterschool program. She was found the same way as the first victim, six stab wounds. The third victim is Hanah Rutger, a swim instructor at the town pool. Again, six stab wounds. Bad stuff." Garcia finishes. I take a look at all the victims. They all share similar looks.

We head to the jet. Once we're in the air, we start discussing. "So, all three victims worked with kids. Could the unsub be a victim of child abuse, maybe from a mentor?" JJ asks. "That's likely. The victims are definitely substitutes for someone." Morgan replies. "The six has to represent something, the question is what." I mutter. We talk for a while longer, but there's not much more we can do until we get to the scene of the crime.

I get up and walk to the back of the plane. I call Stephanie, and she picks up after the second ring. "Hey, Spence!" She says, her voice as bright and cheerful as ever. "Hi Steph. Sorry I had to run out this morning." I apologize. "Don't worry about it. So, what's the case?" she asks. I tell her what we know so far. "I've always wanted to go to Colorado. I heard the aspens are beautiful this time of year." We chat for a while before Hotch tells me we're about to land. We say our goodbyes and I hang up.

Once we land, we head straight to the police station. JJ and Rossi head to the crime scenes, Morgan and Emily go to inspect the bodies, while Hotch, Garcia, and I work on finding more information. We all reunite a few hours later to share what we've found.

"Nothing seemed out of place at the crime scenes. We questioned the neighbors, they all said the same thing, the victims were all kind, they were loved by the community, they were perfect neighbors. Nothing out of the ordinary." JJ explains. "The stab wounds were consistent in all three victims, six stab wounds, likely done from above, suggesting that the unsub is a male, maybe 6'1." Morgan adds. "Okay, so we know that the unsub is a male, he most likely suffered abuse at the hands of an authority figure." Hotch muses.

"Garcia, can you dig through cases of child abuse at the hands of a teacher or instructor from the last thirty years?" I ask. "On it, my beautiful genius." Garcia says. She types on her keyboard and a few minutes later, we hear a gasp. "What is it, Garcia?" Rossi questions. "I found a report from twenty seven years ago, a twelve year old boy, Ryan Adamson, was pushed out of a two story window by his teacher, Laura Ryanson. She claimed he was sitting too close to the edge and fell on his own, but he claims she pushed him off. He suffered three broken ribs and required surgery on his leg, leaving him with a permanent limp, ruining his career as a young award winning athlete. The matter was investigated, but Laura only got six weeks in jail before being cleared and returned to work. She happens to look a lot like our three victims." Garcia finishes.

"Can you send us Ryan Adamson's address?" Hotch asks. "Already done. Go catch him you wonderful people." Garcia says, hanging up. We gear up and get into the car, speeding over to his house. When we arrive, there are already two police cars outside, officers waiting with guns drawn. We move to the back of the house, ready to break in.

"Ryan Adamson! FBI, come out with your hands up!" Hotch barks. No noise. Morgan kicks open the door and we rush inside, guns at the ready. We start to walk through the small house, but each room is empty. "He's not here." JJ sighs. Suddenly, Ryan appears from the kitchen, gun in hand. Everyone turns toward him, guns pointed straight at his chest.

"Ryan Adamson, put the gun down. No one needs to get hurt." Emily shouts. "No! Don't you understand, I had to protect the kids! I couldn't let her hurt someone else. She already ruined my life, I had to save them." Ryan yells, his hands shaking. "I know, you were helping those kids. Put the gun down and we can talk about this." JJ says calmly. Ryan's face falls, his arms dropping. We're safe. But before I can react, the gun is up in the air, firing.

Time seems to move in slow motion. I feel a fiery pain in my left arm, spreading throughout my body. Then I'm falling, the world is spinning, everything's blurry. My head hits the ground, hard. There's shouting, loud noises. What's happening? "Stay awake, prettyboy. C'mon, talk to me." Morgan says, leaning over me. I groan in pain. The world is fading a bit. "Stephanie is gonna be pissed." I mumble. Then everything goes black.