Lights Out on Broadway
A/N I don't own Criminal Minds or any Broadway show mentioned in this story. It's purely for entertainment, not profit. I have changed the names of the actors playing all of the characters in the plays, but have kept the characters names themselves.
LOoB
"Tell them how I am defying gravity!" A woman clad in a black frock declared as she soared to the ceiling, spotlights fully focused on her. She could hear the crowd cheering over her triumph and it fueled her performance. This was her defining moment and the audience would remember it forever.
No truer words were ever spoken.
The platform the woman relied on for her flight lurched and she struggled to regain her footing. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to belt out-
The platform lost its with the failing mechanism and in one single swoop, sent the young woman crashing down to the floor.
Red seeped from green skin.
LOoB
"Crime fighters, today you will be jetting off to the Big Apple. Strange things are happening on Broadway, and I am not just talking about the revival of Hair! This is-"The bubbly blonde woman clicked on a remote - "Twenty-five year-old Melanie Townsend." A slim brunette stared happily in the picture, her eyes locked on something invisible to the viewer. "Three months ago, Melanie was cast in Wicked as Elphaba, the so-called Wicked Witch of The Wizard of Oz fame. Last night during an evening performance, Melanie was in the middle of performing a song when the platform which would allow her to look like she was flying gave away." Garcia pressed a button and quickly looked away from the screen. "In a matter of seconds, Melanie had fallen." A picture of the woman now with running green make up and blood pooling around her, now filled the screen.
"Why are we needed for an accident, if the platform simply gave away?" Morgan voiced what the team was all thinking. While it was a tragedy, there were more pressing things for the team to work on, namely serial killers murdering victims.
"Well, hold your horses, stud muffin. NYC police are calling us in because of this-" three more pictures filled the screen, all of deceased actors staring blankly at the team.
"This is Stephan O'Kelly," Garcia pointed to the first man who was clad in a red jumpsuit. "He was, as you can probably deduce, performing Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark as the webbed hero himself. His harness got tangled up and he was hanged on stage."
The group all nodded, remembering hearing about the unfortunate accident on the news.
"NYC investigators thought it was an accident as that musical had been plagued with more accidents than all other musicals put together in the last century. In fact, the musical ended up closing to revamp its flying sequences and had only reopened a week before Stephan's death."
"Were there any witnesses?" Rossi shared a glance at Hotch.
"Yes. Many. As in, the entire audience. The uniforms didn't contact info though as like I said, they weren't suspecting foul play." Garcia knew what was coming next.
"Garcia, is it possible to get a list of everyone who was in the audience and in the musical itself?" Hotch asked, knowing that somehow the quirky computer wiz would make it happen.
"Sure thing. It will be a lot of names, especially including the three other musicals, but it can easily be done. Why do you doubt me?" She grinned, joking her boss.
"Speaking of the other musicals, what were they?" Prentiss questioned, glancing up at the screen at the remaining pictures.
"One," Garcia gestured to a muscular man in an African-inspired costume, "was in The Lion King. Mathias Jenkins was the adult Simba and had only just begun his run as the lead role. He had understudied the previous Simba, Tyrone York for two years and when Tyrone's contract was completed, Mathias was promoted."
"Garcia, you said that you would have to get the audience's information on all of the deaths. Did each victim die on stage?" Reid ran his thumb over his chin.
"Yes, my Junior G-Man. Each victim had an onstage, front and center, spotlight-focused death. Case in point, Mathias had just completed a song when he fell unconscious and died of an apparent heart-attack."
"Heart attack?" Morgan questioned, unsure why a heart attack would be considered suspicious. They happened to anyone.
"Statistically only three men per 1,000 in the range from 30 to 44 years of age experience natural-causes heart attacks. Undetected diseases along with drug use and other circumstances, up the odds of having an early-life cardiac arrest but they are still marginal comparatively speaking. The average age for a male to experience a significant cardiac arrest-"Reid noticed his teammates staring blankly. He hated when he rambled, but couldn't seem to stop himself.
"So, we're thinking someone caused the heart attack?" Rossi pondered.
"Yeah, or it wasn't a heart attack to begin with." Reid jumped back in.
"Ok, we have one so-called faulty platform, one harness malfunction and a heart attack. How did the fourth victim die?" JJ looked over to the computer tech.
"Mia Harrison was crushed to death when the chandelier in Phantom of the Opera fell on her during a song. She was the only one on the stage at the time. The chandelier is supposed to fall, but on a pulley system and during a different time of the musical. Mia played the lead woman, Christine. There are multiple safeguards to protect the actors from the chandelier when it falls, but none of them worked. It seems that the pulley was disengaged."
"So, it looked suspicious but yet, no one thought to contact us until now? For any of them?!" Prentiss could not believe that some police departments could be so late in contacting them.
"It looks that way." Hotch broke in. "Wheels up in thirty."
LOoB
"So we have four known victims. We should look into other Broadway accidents to make sure that they are in fact, accidents." Prentiss spoke, examining her tablet.
"Ok, we need to see what these musicals have in common." Hotch waited until they were safely in the air and the seatbelt sign clicked off.
"They are all musicals to begin with" JJ answered the obvious connection.
"The victims were all leads in their shows." Prentiss bounced back.
Rossi glanced at the photos on his tablet. "They were all young adults. Twenty to mid-thirty." He rested his hand on the table in front of him.
"Reid, you have anything?" Hotch questioned the genius who was flipping through his paper copy of the file.
"I might. Garcia" Reid looked at the computer screen where the Tech was live screamed.
"Yes, Sweetcheeks?"
"It says here that Melanie Townsend was performing the song, "Defying Gravity." Mathias Jenkins had just finished "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and the character of Simba was deciding to go fight his uncle, Scar. Mia Harrison's character, Christine was trying to decide whether to follow the Phantom's demand to be his or marry her intended." Everyone could practically see the wheels turning in the young genius's mind.
Reid glanced at the computer. "Garcia, was Stephan O'Kelly's character facing any important decisions or events?"
"hmm…" Back in her batcave, the bubbly tech punched some keys on her computer. "Yes! He was trying to decide whether he wanted to be a regular teen or take on the identity of Spider-man fully. He had just completed his first rescue as the webbed hero." Garcia confirmed.
"Thanks Garcia!" Reid turned his head to his teammates in the jet. "Since each character was facing a life-changing decision when the actors died, the unsub must have fixated on that aspect."
"An unsub targeting Broadway actors. What's next? Morgan shook his head, it seemed that the longer he worked in the FBI, the stranger the unsubs became.
Rossi raised a brow. "Let's just hope that no one is performing Sweeny Todd."