Spencer was late for work. This didn't happen often, but it wasn't entirely his fault. His alarm hadn't gone off due to a power outage in the middle of the night after a violent thunderstorm. At eight forty five, he stumbled through the doorway into the conference room, holding a to go cup of coffee in both hands.

"Rough night?" Morgan teased him. Spencer rubbed at his eyes behind his glasses (he hadn't had time to bother with his contacts), trying to focus on the images on the board.

"Power went out in the storm, my alarm didn't go off." He gave the short version. "What's the case?"

JJ tossed him a file, which he fumbled with but managed to catch. "Over the past few weeks, the police in Manchester, New Hampshire have found the bodies of three women. All three had had their makeup done perfectly, and were dressed in formal attire, but covered in bruises and abrasions that don't look fresh."

"The unsub didn't inflict these injuries." Prentiss translated. JJ nodded.

"What was the COD?"

"Uh, all three women were killed with lethal injections of barbiturates."

"How soon was the time of death compared to when they went missing?"

"Not very long, the M.E. report says that our first victim, Leslie Donner, died at 6:30 on Tuesday evening; she was supposed to be back home by then, but she was seen leaving the grocery store at five fifty."

"He kills them instantly." Morgan said. "Probably with a blitz attack, and then--" He imitated pushing the plunger on a syringe, looking over his file. "Puts 'em to sleep."

"Any signs of sexual assault?"

"None."

"That rules out a necrophiliac." Emily sighed.

"We need to figure out what he's doing to them before dressing them. That should be our top priority as of right now. Wheel's up in thirty."

Spencer was slower than the rest of his team as he went to his desk to retrieve his go bag. He sat down and finished off his coffee before heading out to the tarmac. On the jet, he took the seat beside the window and watched as the others filed in as well.

Emily sat down beside him and handed him a coffee mug. Hotch spoke up from the opposite aisle, where he sat across from Rossi. "Alright, we have an hour flight, so we should start on victimology. Something about these victims bothers me."

"Okay, well...Our first victim, Leslie Donner, she was a housewife. She was unemployed, married with one son who's attending college out of state."

"Manchester PD already gathered the families of the victims, they're waiting to talk to us when we arrive."

"Second victim, same thing. Married, unemployed, but she didn't have any children. So being a mother can't be the connection." JJ added.

"Right, and the newest victim, Sarah Murphy, she's also married and unemployed, but her daughter lives at home."

"What's the daughter's name?" Morgan asked.

"Brynn Murphy, she's twelve years old."

Just then, the laptop began emitting noises, and Garcia's face popped up on screen. "Hello, hello, my fine furry friends, I come bearing the gift of information."

"Whatcha got, Baby Girl?"

"All three victims have had extensive ER visits for things like taking a tumble down some stairs, tripping over things, or falling. Doctors have put in their charts that their injuries don't add up with their stories."

"Typical indications of domestic spousal abuse." Spencer said.

"Ding ding ding, give the grand prize to Junior G-man! Clearly, and there have been several reports, but every time our victims denied them, and so law enforcement couldn't charge their spouses with anything."

"Could that be our connection?" Emily asked. "Our unsub could think of himself as an angel of death."

"Guys, I think the unsub might be female." Spencer said. "Think about it, she kills her victims instantly so it isn't about prolonging their pain, and there's been no evidence of sexual assault."

"Kid's right, the profile fits better if the unsub is female." Morgan agreed.

"Alright, so what changes if the unsub is female?"

"It might explain why she chooses her victims." Emily said. "If she was a domestic abuse victim herself, she could be continuously ending her own pain by killing these women."

Hotch leaned forward. "Okay, Rossi, I want you and Prentiss to talk to the M.E. Morgan, you talk to Leslie Donner's family, JJ, you talk to Anna Weston's husband, and Reid, you talk to Sarah Murphy's family."

The team nodded their understanding of Hotch's instructions before spreading out, each of them looking over the files separately.

Emily sighed and moved to get up from her spot next to Spencer. "You want a refill?" She asked, nodding at his empty mug. He nodded, and she took both mugs to refill them before sitting back down.

"You feeling okay?" She asked suddenly. "You look pretty tired today."

"It's called sleep inertia? The, uh...the average person will still feel groggy for as long as two hours after they wake up."

Emily smiled. "Alright, just don't fall asleep on us this time, got it?"

Spencer shook his head with a small smile, taking a sip from his mug. "Not a chance."