A/N: Okay, once again, thank you for the reviews!!!
Also once again, I don't own Criminal Minds. If I did, I wouldn't need to worry about not getting a too expensive phone because I would be making way more money.
The rest of the team finally entered. They tried to catch Reid up with all of the details of the case, but his mind just wasn't up to its normal speed. He kept getting confused and forgetting details. It was decided quickly to leave him to rest, which was also a doctor's order.
Reid was upset at first. He wanted to help find Kristy but he knew he was holding the team back because he couldn't keep up.
The team kept making rounds inside the hospital trying to pinpoint a person who could have done this. They had decided to not talk about the case in front of Reid. However, after spending two hours in and out of a doze, Reid finally felt ready to help. He agitated everyone enough that they finally decided that they would let him help as long as the doctor cleared it.
The doctor had decided that Reid was now competent, but she had wished to keep him in the hospital for observation to make sure the side effects weren't too much to handle. As long as Reid didn't do anything to strenuous, he would be okay.
During their lunch break, they all met back up in Reid's room while he examined the letter.
"I was thinking, maybe the unsub's feeling remorse because of religious connections. I mean, the letter says Jesus and it implies Christ." Emily pondered aloud.
"Well, this defiantly is a religious area." Morgan contributed.
"It is definitely a religious area, but that's not right." Reid said.
"Why not?" Emily asked.
"Because the unsub didn't write this. Kristy did." Reid said.
"Kristy? Are you sure?" Hotch asked.
"Yes. The handwriting implies a female. It's more bouncy and curly. It's also the language. Kristy wants to be a Social Studies teacher when she grows up. She talked about it like the language here, with how she described the impact on ancient history." Reid explained.
"Then why did she have all the errors?" Morgan asked. "I heard this girl; she's too smart for that many errors."
"She was probably in danger at the time." Gideon said. "Anyone with a weapon to their head is guaranteed to make a few mistakes."
"Kristy wouldn't make this many." Reid said. "She did this on purpose."
"So what does it mean?" JJ asked.
Reid started to think long and hard. K, E, N, C and N were the letters that needed to be replaced. C, I, M, S, and M were the letters that belonged in the letter. H, E, R, and I were the letters that were missing.
"Anything?" Hotch asked after a few minutes.
"If I put the letters that are involved in order, it's nonsense. I can try to find anagrams of these letters, but the K is really throwing me." Reid replied. He turned the note over to examine the lines.
'These look familiar.' He thought. From where, he had no idea.
"Let me think about it a while." Reid replied. Everyone was finishing eating, leaving Reid and JJ alone as they headed out.
A nurse came by later to try to get Reid to eat. However, nausea still hung around him and the urge to eat was nonexistent. Reid was praying that this was the only side effect he experienced. He knew that vomiting was the other major side effect that was present for a long time afterwards, something he dearly wanted to avoid.
"Reid, you have to eat something. Do you remember eating anything yesterday?" JJ urged.
"I think I grabbed something from the cafeteria." Reid said. He didn't remember, but JJ didn't need to know that.
JJ sighed. She was worried that Reid would push himself too far. He couldn't hide that he was still weak. Every time he stood up he trembled and required assistance with everything. It was good to see him awake and alert; it wasn't right when he was out cold or confused. That was not the Spencer Reid she loved.
'Loved? Shut up JJ! You can't love someone that you aren't even dating!' She admonished herself.
"I'm still drinking liquids; as long as my stomach returns to normal soon, I'll be fine." Reid said.
JJ and Reid were both silent for a few minutes. Reid was still thinking about the difficult problem of decoding Kristy's letter.
"I don't get it." JJ said quietly.
"What?"
"Why would she go to all this trouble to give us a simple message? I mean, if you can't figure it out, then who can?" JJ said.
"I don't know." Reid said thoughtfully. "Unless I'm over analyzing it. That has been known to happen." He replied with a small smile.
JJ chuckled. Her laugh warmed Reid's insides, and somehow gave him new inspiration.
"Wait, she probably didn't mean to include all of these letters! I've been trying to make anagrams including every single one." Reid said. He grabbed a legal pad and began writing because ideas were flooding his brain, and he needed to remember them all.
"What do you mean?" JJ asked.
"She probably only wants me to use certain groups of letters. And…" Reid began, but stopped.
"What?
Reid looked away and kept thinking. He flipped over the paper to examine the lines.
"JJ, do you have a copy of the DNA results for Nathanial Grimow?" Reid asked quietly.
JJ looked at him.
"Well, yes, but why?" She said as she handed them to him.
"JJ, is Grimow working today?" he asked after examining it for a moment.
"I don't think anyone has seen him, but why is that important? He's not the unsub." JJ reminded him.
"I need your cell phone." Reid said quickly.
"What?"
"JJ, please I need to call Garcia, and my cell phone is conveniently with the unsub along with my satchel. It's important." Reid said adamantly.
JJ fished it out and handed it over.
"If you called this number hoping to reach the all supreme and powerful technology enchantress of the FBI's computer system, then you have been successful." Garcia greeted Reid. "What can I do for you JJ?"
"Actually it's Reid. I need you to check something for me Garcia."
"Reid? Sweetie, how are you feeling? Why are working? You're in the hospital! If Hotch made you, don't worry, I can order a-" Garcia said.
"Later. Do you have the DNA of the unsub?"
"Yes."
"Does it have a secondary line?"
"Uh, yes it does, but it's very faint."
"Can you compare the secondary line to the main line of DNA for Grimow?"
"What? What for?"
"Garcia, please."
"Okay, but it's not going…" Garcia began.
"Going to what?" Reid asked, getting excited.
"Reid, they're a match. What the hell is going on?"
"Garcia, can you compare the other two?"
"Those are a match too." Garcia said after a moment.
"Thanks. I have to go. You're a miracle worker."
"Reid, you need to explain this freakiness to me later."
Reid snapped the cell phone shut and started to climb out of bed unsuccessfully.
"Whoa, Spence, what's going on?" JJ said as she rushed over to help him.
"JJ we need to get Hotch. Grimow's the unsub." Reid said as he collapsed onto her outstretched arm.
"Spence, DNA cleared him. He didn't do it." JJ said quietly as she tried to get him to sit down.
"No, DNA confused us. Grimow's the unsub. JJ, we need to talk to Hotch." Reid said firmly.
"Well, I'll call Hotch, and-"
"He went to the ICU. No cell phones allowed." Reid reminded her.
JJ sighed. She knew there was nothing that would stop him.
"Let's go." She said as she led him out.
Hotch was walking out of the ICU when he saw Reid and JJ hobbling towards him. Reid looked out of breath but determined while JJ looked ready to panic.
"Reid! JJ! What's going on?" Hotch said as he ran to help Reid over to a chair.
"Hotch, Grimow's the unsub. He's a chimera." Reid panted out.
"What?"
"He's a chimera. It's a birth defect where a set of twins combines into one person. There's two sets of DNA present in a chimera. Certain cells will take certain DNA as the forefront. We compared Grimow's saliva and hair. They didn't match because it was from different types of cells, but if we were to compare his hair, they would have matched."
"Reid, how do we know? How do you know?" Hotch said obviously stunned.
"Kristy told us. Instead of using all of the letters, I was only supposed to use the ones that were needed to replace the wrong ones or the letters that were missing all together. It spells 'CHIMERISM'. On the back were lines that looked like tracings of the DNA lines. I think I gave Kristy a piece of paper last night, I'm not for sure. If I did, she was trying to figure out why this was wrong." Reid finished.
"Then why didn't she wake you and tell you she figured it out?" JJ asked.
"I don't think she figured it out until Grimow came. The tracings were done in pencil, while the letter was written in pen. I was found inside her bathroom, and the door to the bathroom had been shut?" Reid inquired.
"I believe so." Hotch replied.
"And, most likely, he got to me right away, before I had time to stop him?" Reid asked shakily.
"Yes Reid." Hotch said.
Reid breathed a sigh internally. He hoped Hotch was right; he needed to know that he did everything he could to help Kristy.
"Well, I always have a pen in my front pocket. Kristy's street clothes were gone, and a hospital patient doesn't walk around at night. Kristy had them on before she left. She went into the bathroom, changed, but also wrote this note because of the pen she got from my pocket." Reid said.
"Reid, I don't get the connection you're making." Hotch simply said.
"Grimow needed to make sure that I wouldn't be fond right away. The sooner I was found, the worse. So he put me in the bathroom, and told Kristy to change. He had my gun to threaten her. Well, Kristy would have insisted on going in the bathroom to change. Her privacy is the most important thing in the world to her. She would probably rather be shot than change in front of him." Reid said.
"And when she was in there, she hid the sheet of paper with her, and wrote the note." Hotch concluded.
"But how did she hide the note when she got out?" Reid asked.
"When I arrived, the bed was messed up from the nurse, but I think she said that it was made to look occupied. The person did a very bad job, and the note was stashed on the bed." Hotch said. "Kristy could have easily taken it back out if she brought it into the bathroom. And if he forced her to make the bed, she just had to slip it out of her hand. I mean, the paper was only a few inches big." Hotch said.
"But why did she make it a code? I mean, why didn't she just write chimerism?" JJ asked.
"In case she was caught." Hotch said.
"He wouldn't have known what it said." Reid finished.
"But how do we know that she's right?" Hotch asked.
"Garcia confirmed that the DNA cross matched. No matter what, we have Grimow, or his nonexistent twin, at the first scene." Reid said. "Now we have to figure out why or where he is."
"We were having trouble figuring that out yesterday." JJ said quietly.
"Gideon and Prentiss thought they might have had a lead yesterday when the results came back. We'll pull everything that we got yesterday and keep looking. Go back to your room; I'll get the others." Hotch ordered.
JJ helped Reid stand up. It went more smoothly going back until Reid got to the room. Suddenly, he found himself hovering over the toilet emptying himself of his meager stomach contents with JJ beside him.
"I'm sorry." He apologized after it ended and JJ assisted him to his bed.
"Spence, it's not your fault. Rohypnol and Dilaudid can both cause nasty withdrawal symptoms. It's a good thing that you're not addicted; then they can get really bad." JJ said with an encouraging, or in Reid's opinion, taunting smile.
He gave a small nod and his cheeks began to flush.
'If only you knew JJ.' A new train of through then occurred to Reid. 'What's going to happen when I experience bad withdrawal symptoms?' Reid panicked. He knew that this was going to be the beginning of the end. No one was going to be able to understand why he would be having such terrible symptoms when he only had little amounts of the drug.
Thankfully, everyone else entered the room right then
"I briefed them, but you're going to have to explain Chimerism better than I did." Hotch said.
"Chimerism is like Siamese twins, except instead of it obviously being two distinct people, it's one person. As long as both babies are the same gender, people can go their entire lives not knowing because this is extremely rare." Reid said.
"If he did this, then why did he give us the DNA sample?" Emily challenged.
Reid had to think about this a moment.
"He knew." Gideon said. "We told him we had a hair sample, so he gave us the opposite knowing it would clear him."
Everyone became disgusted by his guile.
"How would he find out?" Emily asked. "How or why did he suspect this?"
"Who knows? People have found out from regular DNA testing for other reasons such as paternal tests or matches for tissue and organ donation. Then, the test comes back and the DNA says that the person is really their own sibling. It can create problems with other family members' DNA as well. In fact one lady who was a chimera had a son whose parents were determined to be the kid's uncle and grandfather." Reid rambled.
"So what, he could have had a paternity test, and it just appeared?" Morgan said.
Reid nodded.
"Well, where were you guys headed with your lead?" Hotch asked, feeling that chimerism was clear enough now.
"We know that Grimow was married, but we're having trouble finding information on his wife. All we have is her name, and Garcia was working on it when the DNA results came back." Emily supplied.
"Call her and have her pick it up again." Hotch ordered to which Emily leapt right away. "Where were we with the rest of his family? There has to be someone we can talk to."
"I don't think so Hotch. His parents are dead, and as far as we can tell, he doesn't have any other alive relatives. He had a son, but he died back in 2000 from cardiac arrest according to the death certificate. And he was real young, only 17." Morgan said.
"What?" Reid asked.
"He was 17." Morgan said.
'The same age that we thought the unsub was when the accident happened. O rmaybe not…' Reid thought.
"What else do we know about his death?" Reid asked.
"Well, I got an obituary with this. All it says is that he died at Sioux Valley Hospital on March 7, 2000 after being admitted a week before following an accident." Morgan said.
"March 7? That was two days ago." Emily said.
"It only says accident; that could mean car accident, or anything else." JJ reminded her.
"We only looked as far back as 10 years ago. We can try to pull up an accident report from then and see if it matches." Hotch said.
Everyone began to flutter around.
20 minutes later, Morgan, Hotch and Gideon were headed to meet Daphne Olsen, Grimow's ex-wife. She greeted them kindly but was obviously confused about why three FBI agents were at her house.
"Ms. Olsen, what can you tell us about your ex-husband?" Morgan started.
"Nathan? Well, I haven't spoken to him in months. Why?" She asked nervously.
"Ma'am, we believe that he may be connected with a series of crimes that have been committed recently." Hotch said.
"Nathan? No. He's not that kind of person." Daphne retorted.
"What kind of person is he?" Gideon asked kindly.
"Quiet, kind. A good man and he was a good father. What makes you think he did something?"
"What connection do you have with Lake Cooper?" Hotch inquired.
"Lake Cooper? Well, until last summer, my family has owned a cabin for years there." She replied. "And, well, it's where Scott, well, the accident occurred there."
"Scott?" Morgan asked.
"Our son. You see, when we 19, Nathan and I thought we were in love. My family is very, well, rich and snobby. I'm not proud of it. They looked down upon Nathan. My parents never realized how serious I was about him. We eloped. I tried to hide it from my parents by saying that I needed to stay at school; I was on the East coast. But then I got pregnant. Needless to say, my parents spazzed when I came home from school. I told them everything, and the worst of it is that they were more ashamed that Scott turned out to be Nathan's son. They were hoping that I was sleeping around with other rich boys instead of waiting and marrying a good man. Nathan and I realized that it would never work. We got an annulment. My father tried to keep Nathan from even seeing Scott, which I hated. When Nathan tried to take him to court, my father cracked and every Sunday, Nathan and Scott spent the day together. My father did his best to cover up our marriage. Hardly anyone knows I even got married."
"How does Lake Cooper fit in?" Hotch asked again.
"Well, Nathan and Scott both loved the lake in the summer. Often, just on Sundays, they would go out and go boating and whatever else. They would stay at the cabin, which my father owned. Usually in the winter, they wouldn't go, but then, one fateful day, Scott was out with his girlfriend. She was a native of the lake; lived there all the time. It was really warm for March. She wanted to go ice fishing and Scott drove his truck out on the ice. She was following, so only Scott went under when the ice broke. Tanya, his girlfriend, did her best. She called the police and got help immediately, but Scott was trapped in the truck for so long. They were amazed that he was still alive when they pulled him out." Daphne began. She began to sniff a bit and her eyes were starting to well a bit. "They rushed him to the hospital. He went into a coma, and after a week, he passed away. It was the seven year anniversary a few days ago."
"We're sorry for your loss." Gideon said.
"Thank you. But what does this have to do with Nathan? Like I said, I haven't spoken to him in months."
"We believe that he is responsible for the kidnappings and beatings of seven local girls. The only connection is Lake Cooper. However, we don't know where three of them are." Hotch said.
"That's terrible, but I just don't see Nathan doing this. He's not a violent man." Daphne insisted.
"He most likely isn't. When did you last have contact with him?" Morgan asked.
"When we sold the cabin." Daphne said.
Morgan, Hotch and Gideon all exchanged looks.
"When was that?" Hotch asked.
"Last September. Ever since Scott passed away, we didn't really talk that much. He was our only connection after college. Nathan took it extremely hard. But, this is not Nathan." Daphne said.
"Is there anywhere he would go, something that has high value to him?" Hotch asked.
"Uh, well, whenever he was feeling really sad, he would go to the cabin. You can tell exactly where Scott fell in from a window. Nathan once told me that he somehow feels closer to Nathan there. I've never wanted to go back. We finally got around to putting it up for sale last summer. Nathan wasn't too thrilled, but he accepted it." Daphne said.
"Who bought it?" Morgan asked. "Are they there now?"
"Uh, I think a family from Sioux Falls. They said they would only want it for the summer, even though it's a winter cabin also. He wouldn't go back there, would he?" Daphne asked with wide eyes.
"We don't know ma'am, but we're going to check it out." Gideon said standing up.
"Thank you for your time, and if you think of anything else, call us here." Hotch said as they left.
"Okay, selling the house could have been the stressor." Morgan said as they stepped outside.
"But why wait this long? You heard her, they sold it last September." Hotch said.
"He probably wasn't angry enough. Now, it was just the anniversary of his son's death." Gideon said.
"So that could have been the stressor." Morgan said.
"But he took Cora on February 28. His son died on March 7." Hotch said.
"But that was the day that he didn't take anyone." Morgan reminded them.
"Then why did he take Kristy last night?" Gideon asked.
"Call the others. They can add this to their information." Hotch ordered. "But I think we're going to need to go to the lake and check out the cabin."
Gideon and Morgan nodded their heads.
"Hey."
"Hey JJ. Listen, we got the connection. Grimow's father-in-law owned a cabin on Lake Cooper, and his son-" Morgan began.
"Died because of it. We know. Emily found the file and Reid's been dissecting it for a while. All we know is he went in February 28, and died March 7." JJ said.
"Well, add to the list that the possible stressor could be that they sold the cabin last September, and now it's the anniversary of the kid's death." Morgan replied.
"Okay."
"We're coming over soon, but we think that he could possibly be at the lake. We'll assemble a team when we get back."
"Okay." JJ hung up her phone.
"Okay, they may have gotten a possible stressor. Apparently, the cabin that Grimow spent his time was owned by his ex-wife's family and they sold it last September." JJ said.
"Last September?" Reid repeated.
"Yeah, why?" JJ asked.
"7 months…" Reid muttered quietly. He wished he could stand up and pace without becoming dizzy. Then the light bulb flashed on
"What?" Emily asked.
"The stressor was mathematical." Reid said. "His stressor was a convergence of seven sevens."
"Spence, what are you talking about?" JJ asked.
"Grimow's son was 17 years old. He was in a coma for 7 days. He died March 7. It was 7 years ago. It's now 2007. There were 7 girls who lived on the lake all the time. And, it was 7 months that they sold the cabin. He probably saw all these sevens and figured it was destiny." Reid said.
"Like, the will of God." Emily said.
"Yeah exactly." Reid replied after a moment. He hadn't heard anyone use those words since Rafael had told him it was the will of God for Reid to die.
'You're here. He's not.' Reid reminded himself.
"So, why did he choose the abandoned building?" JJ asked. "I mean, they think he's at the old cabin. Wouldn't he have started there?"
"That would make sense…" Reid agreed.
"Well, the address of the building is 707, 7th street." Emily said, peering into the file.
"And then he had to move, so he went to other meaningful place he could think of that would work." Reid said.
"We got him." JJ said.
The others arrived a few moments later and were immediately told their discovery. They wasted no time in getting a force ready to leave to go to the lake.
Reid watched with sadness as everyone got ready. He wanted to go find Kristy, to find out if he really did everything he was supposed to protect her. It bothered Reid that he was taken down with little physical force. Would Kristy even forgive him? Was she okay? The questions that he had put off so they could find Kristy began to flood his head.
A few moments, he noticed that his room was completely empty. Even Gideon, who had said he would stay with Reid, was gone. Reid just slumped back in his bed. He looked at Kristy's note again. It amazed him that she figured that out. He knew that she would make it; she wouldn't go down without a hell of a fight.
Reid smiled at this thought, and then ran to the bathroom to puke again. This was the third time altogether. He knew that JJ and Emily were getting worried, but luckily, everything turned out so quickly, they weren't able to say anything.
'At least there might only be one more day of this.' Reid thought painfully. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought; he knew that the symptoms would only intensify, and the team or the doctor would notice. She had told Reid when she came to remove the oxygen cannula earlier that morning that she thought he would be able to go home that day, as long as he reacted well enough.
"Hey." Reid nearly jumped. He hadn't realized that Gideon had returned.
"Oh, hi."
"I figured that you'd want to change into something comfortable." Gideon said. He motioned to Reid's duffel, which was now on the floor.
"Thanks." Reid said.
"It could be a while. Never know how long it could take to get Grimow to come out." Gideon said.
Reid nodded and went into the bathroom to change. It felt better to be back in his own T-shirt, his own sweatpants. He looked down at his mismatched feet as he was walking out and was thankful that the doctors hadn't removed his socks. Of course, Reid had been smart enough to put a band aid over the marks, so that if someone asked, Reid would just say he cut himself.
He returned a few minutes later. Then the wait began.
Another note, take time to support the noble cause of feedback simply by clicking the 'Submit Review' button on the bottom left corner of your screen. Just by filling in your thoughts, you will have helped save many days of the author wondering exactly how they are doing. Together, we can beat this epidemic.
