Sunday Emily and JJ camp out at the precinct trying to find any little connection between anyone in their large pool of suspects and their victims. By noon Emily is ready to lose her mind.
"This isn't getting us anywhere! The would-be actors and actresses were washed out so long ago they'd have snapped years ago if they were the unsub."
JJ shrugs. "There's nothing more we can do than keep looking at- -"
"We could get some of the names from the others and help them interview people," Emily interrupts.
JJ glares at her wife. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the doctor tell you to take it easy for 24-48 hours?"
"I'll just be talking to people! How is that NOT easy?" she replies in frustration.
JJ just shakes her head. "I'm not even going to justify that with a response." Emily goes to speak but JJ stops her with a raised finger. "Okay, maybe I will. Tell me, Em, what if that jerk yesterday had boiling hot spaghetti in his hands instead of a cake? It could happen. Remember getting ambushed in Seattle? It could happen again. Do I need to go on or are you going to shut up and get back to work?" She is yelling by the time she finishes.
Emily stares at her wife, shamed by the fury she sees in the ice blue orbs. She swallows and sits forward. "I'm sorry. I promised after Arizona I'd stop trying to be Wonder Woman and take better care of myself. I guess…some days that's harder to live up to than other days. I'm sorry, Jennifer."
Emily lifts up the next background. JJ stares at her wife a moment, her fury dissipating.
"Thank you, Emily."
Emily just nods. JJ tilts her head to the side, studying her wife.
"Emily." The brunette looks up. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry."
Emily gives her a small smile. "I forgive you."
JJ nods and starts to read again. After a second she chuckles. "Now I know where he gets it."
Emily looks up. "Where who gets what?"
JJ grins at her wife. "Henry has an amazing ability to make us feel so guilty when we scold him. He gets it from you. You deserved that scolding but you made me feel like crap."
Emily grins. "That's my boy," she says proudly.
JJ just laughs and shakes her head.
At 6 p.m. the team sits in the conference room eating pizza and comparing frustrating notes. Morgan taps the pile he and Hotch had worked on.
"Two of them weren't home. Garcia tracked one down to New Zealand where he's working on a movie set. He's been gone 2 months so unless he owns a transporter he's not our unsub. We'll try to catch the other one tomorrow at work at the studio."
Rossi lifts up the pile he and Reid had worked. "We're missing 4. Two look like they may have moved so Garcia is trying to find them through change of address forms. Of the other two, we're also hoping to find them tomorrow."
"Does anyone else feel like we're chasing our fucking tails?" Reid asks in frustration. "I mean, I've been weeding through tip line leads and not a damn one of these people has come up. And with so many shows, movies, etc. going on at any time it's not strange there is so much crossover with workers." He pats a pile to emphasize his point. "None of these people ring a bell for me. I don't know about the rest of you but I feel like we're chasing the proverbial wild goose!"
Silence greets his statement. Hotch studies each of his profilers carefully and sees they all agree with Reid. What's worse…he does, too. He leans on the table.
"Does anyone have a better idea? Anything at all?"
Emily carefully stands and walks to a white board in the room with the preliminary profile on it as well as the crime scene photos. She taps it.
"How about we start here? Instead of just blindly going to talk to people let's look at the deaths as if they weren't actors. Let's look at them like they are just everyday Joes."
The others glance at each other and nod. Hotch gestures to Emily. "You start, Prentiss."
Emily nods in agreement and turns to look at the photos. "He's someone they feel confident enough to open the door for. Even if he drugs them he has to get close enough to do so without harming them or drawing attention to the two of them. They show no signs of struggle. He is patient enough to sit and wait for just the right moment to kill them." She turns to the others. "This guy has ice water in his veins."
"The control tells me someone older," Rossi continues. "I'd say in his 40's and angry that his life has not gone the way he wanted it to. Something about these three victims is a real poke in the eye to the unsub. They represent what he wants and doesn't have or what he wanted and they pissed away."
"Who do you let into your house?" JJ asks. "Could the ruse be utility worker, postman, something like that?"
Reid shakes his head. "They were all dressed uncharacteristically nice. You don't dress for a service worker."
Morgan straightens up. "But you do dress up for a job interview! They were out of work. But you clean up, put in your false teeth, sober up for a job interview."
"They had auditions?" Hotch suggests.
Reid shakes his head. "That still wouldn't explain how the unsub got in their apartment. But sometimes a studio will send a car for you if you've landed the role or they are courting you for the role."
Hotch frowns. "These three were off the radar of the studios."
"But there is a hubris in acting; a belief that you are wonderful and the best in the world," Emily points out. "If their agent or a studio lackey called them and said a car was coming for them they would probably buy it."
"And they'd clean up, sober up, put in their teeth, and wear their best to impress this person," JJ finishes.
"So they may not have actually known their killer. They just thought they knew what he was," Hotch says, staring at the pictures.
This new look is feeling more right to the team than their previous profile. Emily sees that in their eyes and grabs an eraser. She wipes away what was already there.
"So, mid-40's, male, non-threatening, strong enough to assist them after they've been drugged," she writes.
"Bitter about his lot in life. These people had chances he didn't get, either in acting or just in getting a second chance at all," Rossi adds.
"I don't think he's an actor," Reid interjects.
Morgan looks at him. "Why not, Reid?"
"There's nothing theatrical about these kills. Add in the trash and I believe we're right that means he thinks they are garbage. He thinks all actors and actresses are trash and he is better than them."
"So, who is better than the actors and actresses?" JJ asks.
Reid shrugs. "I'd say directors and producers are the obvious."
Rossi shakes his head. "I don't think so. It goes back to your point that there's nothing theatrical about these kills. Nothing is staged perfectly so I don't see it being a director."
"And what would a producer care unless these three ruined a movie he'd financed?" Morgan asks.
Everyone stiffens up. Hotch grabs the phone. "Garcia, are you still at the office?"
"Just about to leave, sir."
"Okay. Just start a search for us. Probably Vanity Fair and gossip rags will have what we need." He hears her sit down. "Did any of our victims cause such a problem on a set that someone lost a lot of money? Either having to recast, reshoot, or just cancel shooting. Anything that would have cost more money than the actor was worth."
Garcia types a few minutes. "Okay, how far back do I go with this?"
"Go back five years. That should cover whether it happened before their star fell the first time or the second time."
"Got it, sir. It will need to scan articles here and overseas so it will be going all night."
"That's fine. Go ahead and get home, Garcia. Thanks for the help."
"No problem, sir. I'll aim to get in around 10 tomorrow to give me time to collate any of these searches but still stay late if you need me."
"Perfect. You're a dream, Garcia."
"Oh, sir, if only you knew what kind of dream I am," she says flirtatiously.
Everyone chuckles as she hangs up. Hotch looks around the table. "Is there anything more we can accomplish tonight?"
"Oh, I don't think my ulcer is acting up as much as it could be," Rossi offers.
Hotch rolls his eyes as everyone chuckles. "Let's call it a night. Back here at 7. Just to cover all bases we'll talk to the last few from our original suspect pool though I think the revised profile is more accurate."
"Which means we've just opened up another huge kettle of worms," JJ groans.
Hotch just nods. "Exactly. At least the weather's nice," he cracks to everyone's surprise.
The team gathers up their things and prepares to leave for the night. Detective Renfro walks in. He notices the new profile and his shoulders slump.
"Son of a bitch…you mean…you've been looking at the wrong people?"
Hotch nods. "Yes. But sometimes it takes looking at the wrong people to find the right ones. We're narrowing the profile down and, with it, the possible suspects. Sadly the number of people in the film industry gives us 100's of people we have to look at. We're getting closer, Detective. I promise."
"Yeah, well how many more child stars end up in pauper's graves until you stop this guy?"
JJ steps in front of Hotch, once again playing the peacemaker. "Ease up, Detective. We don't magically walk in, find the killer and go home at the end of the day. This is real life, not a TV show over in an hour. There are even times we've had to walk away from a case with no resolution. It sucks, but it's just how it is sometimes. Right now we have a new direction to look into and we'll follow that path to its conclusion. In the mean time, we'll be looking for clues, hints, information that will further help us refine the profile and find the killer. Jumping our asses because we don't have an answer already is pointless and divisive."
Renfro takes a deep breath, quite obviously working to get control of his emotions. "You're right." He looks at Hotch. "Sorry, Hotchner. I let stress get to me." His eyes move back to JJ and get noticeably nicer. "Maybe I can take you out for a drink to apologize?" He quickly glances up and looks at the others as if he'd forgotten they were there. "Uh, you know, all of you," he adds hastily.
Emily turns to pack up her laptop so the man doesn't see her trying not to laugh. The men on the team also do something to look busy. JJ looks like she wants the floor to open up and swallow her as Renfro brings his attention back to her. She gives him a kind smile.
"Thanks but that's not necessary. I'm sure your wife would like to see you at a decent hour." She runs her left hand through her hair, hoping he'll notice the ring set.
If he does, he ignores it.
"Um, actually, we're separated. She'd rather I take a long walk off a short pier." He gives her a charming smile. "I'd take that walk if I had a beautiful woman to be my lifeguard."
It takes everything she has for Emily to not fall over as she fights not to laugh out loud. She only wishes she could turn and see the look on her wife's face. When Reid starts to "cough" and Morgan starts to clear his throat, both to cover their laughs, Emily embarrasses herself by snorting out a laugh. Hotch glances at her.
"Bless you," he says with a grin, as if she'd sneezed.
Emily nods. "Thanks. Bathroom," she squeaks out and quickly leaves the room, still refusing to look at her wife or the detective.
JJ is ready to kill them all. She takes a deep breath.
"Uh, Detective Renfro, I'm flattered. But I'm also married. Very happily so," she explains. "Though right now I want to throttle her," she adds to herself.
Renfro nods self-consciously. "Oh. Uh, okay. Um, I see. So, um, then I'll see you all tomorrow."
He quickly turns and leaves the room. JJ closes the door behind him and turns to glare at her teammates.
"You all suck! And I'm going to throttle Emily! What the hell was that snort? And why didn't any of you jump in to go for drinks or something with him! Geez! You all just SUCK!"
"You handled it very nicely, JJ," Reid praises her. "You didn't look like you needed help."
"Whatever. You all still suck." She gathers her things, finishing just as Emily walks back in. JJ glares at her. "Cut. Off. For. Life."
Emily smiles. "Jen, you didn't need my help. You took care of it…um, right?"
JJ raises an eyebrow. "For all you know I accepted his invite when you left." Emily frowns. "I didn't, but I could have. You're just damn lucky I love you as much as I do."
Emily takes her hand. "Yes, I am. And that's why I knew you could handle things without my interference."
"Hmph. Keep saying nice things like that and maybe I'll forgive you by the time we get back to the hotel."
JJ grabs her briefcase and walks out. Morgan pats Emily on the back.
"Good luck, buddy."
Emily shrugs. "I'm not worried." She grabs her briefcase and smiles at the guys. "Pregnancy hormones."
The guys burst into a fresh round of laughter as she follows her wife out to the SUV's.