Read my Lips
Chapter 16
The first thing Spencer did when he woke up was reach for his phone. This wasn't out of the ordinary, especially when he was working a case. But on this occasion, he wasn't waiting for an email from the medical examiner or a text from Penelope Garcia. He was checking to see if Eliana called him back. Which she hadn't. But she did text him back. And then she sent him a picture of herself in her bra with his bed behind her, which was even better than a call.
The picture wasn't even that provocative. But still, it sent a rush of warmth flooding to his groin. And he zoomed in on her face, filling his phone screen with her image. Her full lips were slightly parted. But it was the sultry look in her dark eyes that made Spencer Reid briefly consider quitting his job so that he could drive straight home to be with her. His yearning for her was palpable. And it made Spencer wonder if his married coworkers just walked around all the time feeling this way. Would the intensity of his need for Eliana fade with time, or would he just have to learn to compartmentalize those feelings? Maybe it was different for everyone.
Spencer rose from his undersized hotel bed, still pondering his ability to focus with thoughts of Eliana's exposed cleavage bouncing around in his mind. He headed for the bathroom. And as Reid hurried to shower and dress, he computed all the information they'd gained so far about the man they were searching for. When he arrived in the meeting room with Eliana's purple insulated coffee cup in his hand, he discovered he wasn't the only one that spent the early part of his morning thinking about what type of man Casanova might be.
"He's sophisticated. And bold," Prentiss observed, resting her hand on her palm as she stared at the white board with all the images of the missing girls on it. "Some of these women, he grabbed them in broad daylight from public places."
"Maybe he's good looking," JJ suggested. When she got a few questioning looks from her teammates, she added, "...maybe he didn't grab them. Maybe they went with him willingly." JJ gestured towards the large white board. "Most of these girls are single. Or at least the ones that disappeared in public."
Spencer nodded his head before he added, "Ted Bundy used his good looks and charm to lure his victims. He would put a fake cast or a sling on his arm and use the sympathy he got for being injured to isolate women. And sometimes he would even dress up as a police officer or a fireman to gain their trust."
"So he's charming," Rossi agreed. "Handsome. He has enough knowledge of forensic procedures to avoid leaving any DNA behind."
"There's no way this is the first time he's done this. He's too sophisticated," Morgan declared. He was staring at the board with a look of deep concentration, looking like he might be about to finish working something out in his mind. But before he could, the door swung open. The older and heavier of the two detectives poked his head into the room.
"They found another body."
The day was hot and humid, even by North Carolina standards. By the time he got done trekking through the woods to the crime scene, Spencer was already starting to reconsider his wardrobe choices. The pits of his button down shirt were damp with sweat. And he had to loosen his tie and collar so that he could breathe. The gunk JJ loaned him to cover the fading love bites on his neck was melting off. It was probably staining his shirt. But he was too hot and thirsty to care.
Spencer smelled the body before he saw it. The foul odor of rotting flesh was pungent even in the open air. In the hot, damp Carolina spring weather, the body was decomposing rapidly. Like the others, this woman had been tied naked to a tree. She'd also been badly attacked by the wildlife. Spencer hoped that happened after she died. But given that she'd dislocated both her arms in an attempt to escape, he doubted it. There was no doubt that she was a beautiful woman at one time. All Casanova's victims were. But now, what was left of her body was bloated and discolored. Her eyes were dark empty sockets. They seemed to be staring up at the top of the tree she was tied to. And Spencer wondered what she saw last before the birds plucked her eyes out.
"I think this might be Elizabeth Greenwood," Rossi said, gesturing to a gold men's wristwatch that was fastened around what was left of the woman's arm. "I talked to her husband yesterday. He said she borrowed his watch the day she disappeared. I met her two kids. They're one and three years old. We need to catch this guy before he does this to anyone else."
The mention of the deceased woman's young children, along with the grisly sight of her body, was too much for JJ. She turned on her heel and rushed far enough away that she didn't have to worry about contaminating the crime scene with her vomit. Spencer chased after her, rubbing her back and offering her a drink from his mostly depleted water bottle.
Spencer glanced back, gesturing to Derek so the man would know he planned to walk JJ back to their waiting vehicles. The walk was long. And hot. As they moved, Reid tried to imagine Casanova stalking through these woods. He would have to be relatively young. And fit. And since there was nothing in the way of a nature trail or any type of public access nearby, he was probably from the area. Or he had lived in the triangle long enough that he knew his way around the less populated areas. Reid made a mental note to have Garcia look up everyone that owned or previously owned property on or near any of the sites where the bodies were dumped. It was taking longer than he would have liked, but an image of the unsub was starting to piece together in his mind.
"Sorry," JJ said, lowering herself into the open passenger seat of the SUV they rode over in. "I don't know why, but this case is really getting to me."
"It's because you share the same victimology as the women that were taken," Reid informed her.
JJ scowled at him, unsure of whether she ought to take what he said as a compliment, an insult, or as just another bullet point in the long list of weird things that Spencer said to her over the years. She watched as he stepped away, pulling his phone from his pocket and answering it. JJ didn't think anything of the phone call at first. They were always getting calls when they were on a case. And most anything to do with forensics or evidence went to Reid first as policy. But then she heard a frantic voice coming from the other end of the call.
"Mr. Spencer… I mean Dr. Reid… I mean… Something real bad happened."
"Lynn?," Spencer asked. "Is that you? Are you okay?"
"It's me," Lynn replied. "I'm okay. But your mom got hurt. And I can't find Liana anywhere!"
Spencer could already feel the panic rising inside him. But having two people freaking out instead of just one wasn't going to help the situation. "Calm down," he ordered. "Tell me everything from the beginning."
Lynn was supposed to take the night shift. But something came up. Eliana said she would stay with his mom. She told him to come relieve her around lunchtime. But when Lynn arrived, the apartment door was ajar. The inside of the place was torn up. There was broken glass everywhere. Books from the shelf were scattered all over the room. The sofa was tipped over. Lynn found Reid's mother hiding in the closet with dried blood on her clothes and in her hair. She got hit over the head with something hard. But she was going to be alright, physically at least. She'd been freaking out nonstop about a devil since he coaxed her out of the closet. She said the devil took Eliana.
"You know Eliana," Lynn said. "She would never take off and leave your mom here alone. Something bad must've happened. I think someone took her just like your mom said."
Spencer balled his fist up. His nails were cutting into his palm. But he forced himself to take a deep breath. JJ was lingering nearby. But he was too focused on the call to notice her.
"Lynn," Spencer said, "...I need you to do something for me. Look around the apartment and tell me if you see anything weird. I know it's a mess. But just look for anything that shouldn't be there."
"There was something," Lynn said. "When I came in, I saw it." Lynn stopped talking for a moment. But Spencer could hear movement on the other end of the line. And then the rustle of paper as Lynn retrieved whatever it was that he saw from the floor. "Here it is. It's a drawing of a naked lady that looks like she's being tortured. I just thought it was weird 'cause no offense Dr. Reid but you seem like a pretty vanilla dude to me. So I knew it wasn't yours."
"Is it a drawing?," Reid asked, though he was secretly hoping the answer was no.
"Yeah," Lynn said. "And there's a note on the back of it."
"Read it to me," Spencer said. And as Lynn read the note, he could feel himself losing his shit.
You will be amused when you see that I have more than once deceived without the slightest qualm of conscience, both knaves and fools.
"Who's the note from?," Spencer asked. He already knew the answer. But he still needed to hear it.
"It says it's from some guy named Casanova."
Spencer's phone slipped from his hand. And he dropped to his knees on the rough pavement. All the horrible things the medical examiner said were rushing back to him at once. Casanova didn't just torture his victims. He violated them. Repeatedly. The examiner described their unsub as an enthusiastic rapist. He's either very well equipped or he uses something large to penetrate them. All three dead women had vaginal and anal tears the likes of which I've never seen. The examiner said that's why he was so shocked not to find one scrap of DNA. He didn't know how a man could have sex with the same woman so many times and not leave any evidence behind.
"He's got her," Spencer gasped. "Casanova. He took Eliana."
JJ was talking to him. She called him Spence and promised him everything was going to be alright. But that was a lie. There was nothing about this that was alright. Eliana was taken sometime during the night. Which meant Casanova had already been alone with her for hours. Images of her naked body flooded Spencer's mind. But instead of him on top of her, now it was a madman dressed up as the devil.
JJ was on her phone, calling FBI friends of hers from another department. She arranged for an agent to meet Lynn and Reid's mother at the hospital. As soon as Diana was well enough to travel, she and Lynn would both be driven down to North Carolina in the hopes that something they saw might help with the investigation. The best forensics team would be sent into Reid's apartment. Not that it would do any good. The man had yet to leave a single trace of himself behind. And he probably wasn't going to start today.
While JJ sprung into action, Reid stayed poised on his knees. He was staring at his hands, watching them go in and out of focus. Every horrible thing that could be happening to his kind and gentle friend was flashing through his mind. Like violent lightning. He braced his hand against the side of the SUV and leaned forward. The coffee he drank out of Eliana's purple cup made a very unwelcome reappearance.
When Spencer was done vomiting, he forced himself up onto his feet. Once standing, he could see his own reflection in the tinted window of the vehicle. And he looked as scared and useless as he felt. The old familiar question bubbled up in his mind. What good was all that he did if he couldn't protect the people he really cared about? If he couldn't keep them safe, what was the point? He slapped his hand against the glass, angry at himself and even angrier at a world that always seemed to reward heroics with pain and torture. He brought his hand down against the glass, harder and harder. Spencer could hear someone screaming. But he didn't realize until he felt Derek arms circle his body that the noise was coming from him.
