"How did we miss this before?" Lilith asked as they stood in shock as local workers kept finding more and more bodies.
"Well, the trail's 40 miles long" Morgan explained before Bill walked over to them.
"8 graves,12 bodies" Bill confirmed.
"So, he didn't stick to a pattern. And we have 12 more victims" Lilith muttered as Morgan's phone rang.
"The guy had a busy year" Bill said as Lilith and he walked off.
"Baby girl, there's nothing to know. I hit a couple of buttons. It got stuck. That's it. What do you want?" Morgan asked into the phone.
"And?" Garcia asked greatly amused by the situation.
"Ok, I freaked out, a little bit. Look here, you little busybody, I know you traced that number for me 5 minutes ago, so give it up" Morgan said changing the subject.
"Ah, yes. Changing the subject. It's listed as the Goodman institute" Garcia explained.
"What the hell's that?" Morgan asked confused.
"I've beyond googled this thing. To the untrained eye, it looks totally legit. Someone went to great lengths to make the website decent. The articles are well written. But, as my brilliant and bespectacled eyes can see, they all lead to dead ends" Garcia explained as she typed away on her computer.
"Well, then what is it?" Morgan asked curiously.
"A bogus business that claims to be the leading researcher in behavioural therapy. There's no tax records, no business license, no evidence it actually exists. It's supposed to be run by a guy named dr. Barry Goodman. Says here he's renowned in curing fears and phobias. Get this-he has an online questionnaire. Asks all kinds of things about phobias" Garcia explained.
"So these victims fill it out and he plucks them off the screen. Garcia, get that over to Hotch" Morgan said.
"Way ahead of you,'friady cat" Garcia teased.
"Of course, you are" Morgan said grinning before hanging up and going back to the local station with Lilith and Bill.
"Look at this guys, he calls them phobias instead of anxiety disorders" Reid said to the team as they sat back in the conference room.
"Yeah, this guy's either an amateur or he studied psychology in the eighties" Lilith added looking up at Reid.
"His phrasing of the questions are clinical. This guy's a professional" Morgan said.
"Well, he's able to pick the perfect victims. Are you close to your family? Easy making friends? Just answer yes and you're spared the torture" Hotch added as he read the questionnaire that Garcia had sent them.
"We figured out how he chooses his victims, but how does that get us his real name?" Bill asked the team.
"All right. Let's review. J.J., Can you get Garcia?" Hotch said as JJ called Garcia and put her on loud speaker.
"I think the guy's a real psychiatrist" Morgan stated.
"Also afraid of being alone, so he's most likely married" Lilith said.
"May have adopted children" Reid said walking behind Lilith.
"Why?" Bill asked Reid.
"Well, because the tortures lack a sexual component" Reid explained walking circles around the table.
"Oh, right. He might be impotent" Bill remembered.
"Also, he's desperate for a sense of community. He'd definitely have kids" Reid added finally taking a seat across the table from Lilith.
"Ok, I'm crossing Portland doctors with adoptions" Garcia said as she typed on her computer.
"And given the obsession to control his victims with torture, he might have been abused" Hotch added.
"Ok, Juvenile records are going to be sealed, so you gotta give me a minute" Garcia said sliding along her table to another set of computer screens.
"He uses antiquated terms like phobias, so he's most likely in his 40s" Lilith said helping Garcia with her search.
"And... the creep of the moment award goes to... one 43-year-old Dr. Stanley Howard, psychiatrist" Garcia said as her search came to a stop.
"This guy was killing his own patients?" Bill asked confused.
"No. Stan Howard's smarter than that. That's why he created Goodman and the research ruse" Hotch explained.
"Married to Jane Howard, has one 8-year-old daughter Jessica. He started a center for abused kids" Garcia read from her screen.
"Probably because he could relate" Hotch stated.
"One good deed's not fortifying his karma sufficiently. Looks like his practice shut down last year" Garcia explained.
'Right about the time the killings started?" Hotch asked rhetorically.
"He still has a lease on his old office building. City permits were pulled due to renovation, but what do you know? They've been delayed. Yikes! His bank records show a seriously depleted savings account" Garcia explained.
"So he's keeping up appearances. Where's the building?" Hotch asked
"427 Cedars avenue" Garcia read.
"It's not far from here" Bill explained.
"All right. Let's go check the building. You two…" Hotch started to say.
"Talk to the family, got it" Lilith finished for him.
"Thanks, Garcia" JJ said hanging up and the team disbursed.
….
"Why do they always seem so normal?" Lilith asked JJ as they knocked on the door of Jane and Stan Howard. A little girl wearing a pink dress answered looking confused.
"Who are you?" She asked confused.
"Hi. I'm Lilith, and this is Jennifer" Lilith introduced as Jane came running to the door.
"Hello, ma'am, we're here from the FBI" Lilith said showing Jane her badge. Jane let them inside and JJ looked after the daughter Jessica while Lilith spoke with Jane.
"Where is your husband?" Lilith asked.
"He's with a patient" Jane said simply.
"You know, he shut down his practice a year ago" Lilith informed her.
"Excuse me? No, that's not possible. He wouldn't do something like that without talking to me first" Jane said in denial.
"He referred his patients to other doctors and allowed his license to expire" Lilith explained.
"What's happening?" Jane asked confused as Lilith took a seat and motioned for Jane to do so as well.
"Has Stan been acting strangely lately?" Lilith asked carefully.
"Well, he's had... some issues since his mother died last year, but... I mean, he refused to go to her funeral, but they were never close. Stan always said it was because of her that he became a psychiatrist" Jane explained as Lilith listened silently before her phone started to ring.
"Hey, Fallon. We're at the office. The building's gone" Hotch said to Lilith as she sighed and hung up before turning to Jane.
"Mrs. Howard, my team just went to your husband's work. The building is gone" Lilith said softly.
"What do you mean, it's gone?" Jane asked shocked and confused.
"We need to figure out where Stan's been going every day" Lilith said a little bit more firmly this time as she knew a woman may be in danger.
"I don't know" Jane said in a daze.
"Where would he go, Mrs. Howard?" Lilith asked again.
"My family has commercial property downtown. I…maybe…" Jane said and Lilith left her to call Hotch back up. Hotch, Morgan, Bill and Reid quickly drove to the property with SWAT and local police.
"There are no tenants in this building. These must be fake names" Bill said as they walked into the building.
"Helps with the ruse. Goodman's on the fifth floor" Morgan said as they went upstairs and moved through the office with their guns out.
"It's clear! Back area's clear!" Morgan said as they checked every room.
"Missy Cassell was the last person to sign in" Hotch said reading Stan's files.
"When was that?" Reid asked.
"Hours ago. All right, let's split up. Calvert, you and Reid take the west side" Hotch said as Bill and Reid left the office.
"It definitely looks like he's still here" Morgan said to Hotch.
"He's not gonna go quietly" Hotch warned as they left the office and searched the building until Hotch and Morgan found him on the stairs outside the building.
"Stan Howard, FBI! Stay where you are!" Morgan yelled out before chasing up upstairs to the roof.
"Morgan, slow down. Tell Reid and Calvert that we found him" Hotch said as they ran up the stairs.
"Reid, it's Morgan. We got Howard. Call the fire department. He's going to the roof" Morgan said into the phone before hanging up.
"Dr. Howard? I'm Aaron Hotchner. I'm with the FBI" Hotch said once they found him standing on the ledge of the roof.
"Don't ask me to come down" Stan said coldly.
"We found at least 15 people. It's over" Hotch said simply.
"They sacrificed themselves for science" Stan explained.
"You know this is the easy way out. If you come down, we'd like to talk to you. You know you'll never get over your fear by killing yourself or your patients" Hotch said.
"Most people go into law enforcement because they want to help others. I think your greatest fear is that you can't save everyone. It is worse than I thought" Stan said before taking a step off the roof and falling to the ground, dead.
"We found Missy Cassell's car in a parking lot next to the building. Howard's is around back" Bill explained.
"Before he jumped, he said that my biggest fear was not being able to save everybody" Hotch said to Morgan.
"Hotch, this guy wasn't well in the head" Morgan tried to explain.
"I know that, but what I think he meant was that she's here somewhere" Hotch explained before Reid found them outside. He paused slightly at the sight of Stan's head cracked open on the cement before recovering.
"I went through all of his journals and I found Missy's." Reid explained.
"What did it say?" Hotch asked.
"That she was going on a cave-diving trip. She wasn't scared of the water, but she was terrified of the walls crumbling down on her?" Reid explained.
"So what's she afraid of?" Bill asked.
"Being buried alive" Reid explained.
"Guys, look at the dirt under his nails" Hotch said looking at Stan's hand.
"She's gotta be close, guys" Morgan added.
"Is there a basement in this building?" Hotch asked Bill.
"Yes" Bill said before they ran down to the basement and found a chamber full of dirt.
"Guys, over here. Over here. Right here. Hold that. Reid?" Hotch said handing Reid a flashlight as Morgan and Hotch dug until they found an arm.
"Oh, my god" Morgan said as they dug her out quickly.
"Be careful. That's her head. Help me to get her arm. Be careful" Morgan said grabbing Missy's arm.
"Oh, not too hard. Not too hard. She might be stuck" Hotch said getting into the dirt.
"Got her?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah" Hotch said, his forearms under the dirt grabbing Missy and pulling her unconscious form out of the dirt.
"Tell them to call paramedics" Hotch said to Bill.
"I got it" Bill said running off.
"Oh, my god" Morgan said shocked.
"Missy? Missy? Ok, faint heartbeat. Clear her area" Hotch said as Missy woke up and started struggling.
"It's ok. It's all right. We're here to help. It's ok. It's ok. You're going to be all right. We're here to help you. You're going to be all right" Hotch said as Missy stopped struggling.
…
Morgan looked around the plane as JJ slept curled up in a ball and then he looked over to find Reid and Lilith asleep cuddling on the lounge. Then he looked across to find Hotch, wide awake.
"I, um... Can't sleep." Morgan said as Hotch watched him curiously.
"Want me to turn off the light?" Hotch asked.
"No. I wont be able to sleep" Morgan said sighing.
"What's the matter?" Hotch asked concerned.
"What's the matter with you, Hotch? You're sitting here doing work when you'd normally take a break. Please don't tell me it's about Gideon leaving" Morgan asked worried.
"You know, we made a deal a long time ago not to profile each other" Hotch said sighing.
"Am I wrong? You know, Hotch, today was a huge, huge victory for all of us. I mean, I never thought I'd say this, but... we're doing just fine without Gideon. Hotch. What's keeping you up tonight?" Morgan asked worried as Hotch looked over at Lilith and Reid's sleeping bodies and sighed sadly.
"Haley's left. And I don't know if she's coming back" Hotch admitted to Morgan before the lights flickered back on and the jet started to land. Lilith woke up first and sat up slightly but was careful not to wake Reid, who was laying on her arm.
"You okay Hotch?" Lilith asked after feeling the atmosphere in the room. Hotch smiled sadly at Lilith and nodded before going to wake up JJ. Lilith shared a worried look with Morgan before shaking Reid awake gently.
"Love?" Reid asked confused and sleepily making Morgan snicker at the pet name. Reid sat up and rubbed his face finally realizing where he was, while Lilith glared warningly at Morgan. Morgan chuckled before leaving them alone.
"You want to come over to mine tonight?" Reid asked Lilith, grabbing her hand with his.
"Of course, I'll drive though because you look like you're going to drop any minute" Lilith teased playfully before they got up and left the jet with the team.
….