"Local police I.D. the body. It's Patrick Walker. He's got deep abrasions and bruising on the neck and shoulders" Bill explained to Lilith and Morgan the next day at the newest crime scene.
"I'm going to go see if they found anything else in the water" Morgan said ducking underneath the police tap and heading to the river.
"Ok. I know his landlady called you about this guy missing, but what makes you think this is related?" Bill asked curiously.
"He fits the profile of our victims. He's the same age, lives alone, new to the city" Lilith explained.
"But he wasn't buried like everybody else" Bill stated.
"No, you found the unsub's dump site. He couldn't go back to the trail. It forced him to do something different" Lilith explained as Morgan walked back up the embankment.
"Well, they found a rope at the bottom of the river, but that's probably been there for years. A couple feet out, they found this. It's shepherd's crook. Lifeguards and rescue workers use it" Morgan explained holding it up.
"Oh, I bet he didn't use it for safety" Lilith said sarcastically.
"Officer, thank you" Morgan said handing it to a local officer.
"We haven't seen any evidence of a struggle with the other bodies. This is the first one" Bill said confused.
"Do you remember any open cases involving suspicious drownings?" Lilith asked.
"Since I've been in Portland, we've had 2 or 3. I can call the office, get the files to your other agents. Maybe they can make a connection" Bill said walking off.
"Hotchner" Morgan said calling Hotch and putting it on loud speaker.
"Hey, that landlady Fallon spoke to was right to be worried. We just found Patrick Walker dead in a river" Morgan said
"And it was exactly what you predicted. He found a new place to dump the body" Lilith added.
"Fire, hanging, asphyxiation. Now we've got a drowning" Hotch said looking at the work board.
"I think it's someone who's afraid of drowning" Reid said suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Hotch asked.
"Just something Lilith told me once…" Reid muttered and Lilith looked at the phone confused for a moment.
"Scott Reilly" Reid said softly and Lilith stiffened dramatically.
"Fallon?" Morgan asked worried.
"Scott had a fear of clowns… so when my… so when Justin and Rosemary would rape him they would dress up as clowns" Lilith spoke softly blinking away tears.
"I'm sorry Lilith…" Reid whispered as if it was just them to in the room together rather than them speaking over the phone in front of the team.
"If you look at the M.O.S of the victims, what do they all have in common? They could all be classified as anxiety disorders. It's right out of the diagnostics and statistical manual. It lists 5 subtypes of phobias" Reid explained eager to change the subject to help Lilith.
"Most of these are environmental and situational" Hotch stated.
"Exactly" Reid said.
"So it's all about fear. These people are being killed by their fears" Hotch said looking at the board in deep thought.
….
"I'm sorry I had to bring up Scott… I just didn't know how else to explain my theory" Reid apologized for the hundredth time to Lilith as they got out of the car near Patrick Walker's house.
"It's okay. I understand, it just caught me off guard. I haven't spoken about that in a while" Lilith admitted but smiled so Reid wouldn't be too worried about her.
"So Hotch is even more intense now that Gideon's gone" Lilith said changing the subject.
"Yeah, I've noticed" Reid said chuckling slightly.
"Do you think that's going to change?" Lilith asked curiously.
"I certainly think we'll find out but you know him better than anyone" Reid explained.
"Oh yeah, we are having dinner with him after this case" Lilith said chuckling at Reid's fake scared face.
"What about you? You ok?" Lilith asked softly.
"Oh, I'm great, doing much better than before" Reid lied terribly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Lilith asked.
"What's there to talk about, really?" Reid asked.
"Gideon" Lilith said looking at him knowingly.
"Oh, no. He, uh… he left a letter explaining everything remember? Just like my dad did when he abandoned me and my mom" Reid said sarcastically making Lilith grab his hand and calm him down.
"He addressed it to you" Lilith said.
"Yeah, yeah. You know, Gideon stood toe to toe with some of the sickest people on this planet. I think that took a lot of courage, right?" Reid asked.
"Yeah" Lilith said thinking about her parents.
"So, why'd he do this? It's addressed to me, but I'm…I'm not… I'm not the only one that he abandoned" Reid said confused.
"But why is it addressed to you? I think you need to read that letter again" Lilith said.
"I have an eidetic memory, love" Reid said as he accidentally slipped in his 'pet name' for her.
"Ah, yeah, I know, and an I.Q. Of 187, but what do you remember about your father?" Lilith asked softly.
"What do you mean?" Reid asked confused.
"Well, he gave you 10 years before he left, and yet you've erased all those memories. And-it's too painful. I get it. But then Gideon leaves. I think you need to read that letter again, and ask yourself why, of all the people he walked away from, did he only explain himself to one person. You" Lilith said simply before kissing Reid gently on the lips before they walked into the local laundry mat.
"Morgan said this is the laundromat closest to Patrick Walker's apartment building. So, we have washers and dryers, and... we have a bulletin board" Lilith listed as they walked through the building.
"Snack machine" Reid said walking over to her with a bag of pretzels.
"Yeah, I don't think he's luring them with pretzels" Lilith said sarcastically as she grabbed one out of the bag and ate it laughing at Reid's playful frown.
"Babysitter, buy a car..." Reid read
"Ooh, look at this baby. Participate in a controlled research project and you'll receive 100 bucks to get over your anxieties" Lilith read and pulled the flyer down.
"You only have to attend 2 sessions?" Reid said confused.
"2 hours of your time,100 bucks-easy sell" Lilith said simply.
"Just one stub's taken" Reid pointed out as Morgan walked into the building and over to them.
"Hey, well, Patrick Walker just joined a pretty sweet boxing gym, but that's about it. You guys find anything?" Morgan asked as Lilith handed him the flyer.
"Well, I think we should go over to victim number 2's coffee shop, see if any of these are hanging around" Morgan suggested.
"If all of our victims saw these fliers, we just figured out how he casts his net" Lilith explained.
"Let's do it" Morgan said the three of them left the Laundry Mat and drove to the second victim's coffee local coffee shop.
"These fliers have all been hanging in places where our victims could have seen them" Lilith said as Morgan walked over to her.
"What do you see?" Morgan asked as he saw Lilith frowning slightly and shaking her head.
"Well, look at the date. Friday, August 25" Lilith said pulling down the flyer.
"That was last summer. If he's been luring victims for that long…" Morgan started to say.
"There could be more victims that we missed. We need to go back and check the rest of that trail" Morgan said as they left the coffee shop.
…..