EASY WAY OUT ¹ ➢ spencer reid

VI

After a few hours of research Garrelson appeared at the doorway. She leaned against it, her arms still crossed as she let out a heavy sigh. She narrowed her eyes at Hotch, clearing her throat. He turned to face her, looking equally annoyed as she did. "We got another body."

We looked between each other. Everyone seemed pretty calm about the whole thing. We knew coming here that there'd be more and it had been a week, which gave the unsub enough time to prepare. Garrelson however, was fuming; you could feel it in her stare.

Hotch stood up, adjusting his suit jacket. "Reid, Rafferty, let's go."

I swallowed hard, looking over at Morgan who nodded. "Good luck."

"T-thanks." I nodded back and followed Hotch and Reid out. Garrelson stared as we walked past, following behind me. I jumped into an SUV with Garrelson at the wheel. We drove for a while, maybe half an hour, in complete silence. Once at the scene, things felt a little less tense. Garrelson wandered off to talk to first responders, while the rest of us gloved up and walked into the house.

"See if you can find anything suspicious. If this unsub really is performing rituals they may have left something behind." Reid walked in first, looking completely unfazed at the body. A medical examiner stood near by, watching him. "What was the time of death?"

"Only a couple of hours," the examiner responded.

I walked around the room, rummaging through the shelves. Whoever he was he sure liked to read. He had shelves lining the walls that were filled to the brim with books pertaining to mostly psychology. "Who is this guy?"

"Robert Alman," the examiner said, "his coworker found him when he didn't show up to work this morning."

"What does he do?" Hotch asked.

"My guess is a psychologist," I responded, pointing to the books.

The examiner nodded.

I stood on my tiptoes, eyeing the top shelf. As if by some miracle I found what I was looking for almost immediately. I reached up and grabbed it, showing it off to the rest of the team. "Well, at least we know they're consistent." It was another wickerman. I threw it in an evidence bag and kept searching. Everything seemed fine. There was no mess, no sign of struggle; barely any dust. I sniffed the air, a wave of intensity attacking my nose. "Wait, do you guys smell that?"

They all breathed in the air. Hotch and the examiner looked at me curiously, while Reid stood up, eyes slightly widened. "Sage," he spoke.

"What's the significance of sage?" Hotch asked.

"It's used for cleansing and purification," I replied.

"It also promotes mental clarity," Reid added.

"They're protecting themselves from something." I paced around the room, letting my thoughts run their course. Unfortunately though, the course had run dry and I was left with nothing. I sighed, joining Hotch and Reid at the body.

"The wounds are the exact same. One stab wound to the abdomen and burnt alive," Hotch said.

"Not a lot we can do with that." The examiner shrugged. "I'll take another look when I get the body to my office and call you if I find anything."

'Thank-you." Hotch nodded and left. Reid and I followed, peeling off our gloves. "I'm going to talk to Robert's coworker. Call Garcia and see if there've been any reports on fires being started in the last twenty-four hours. If so, take Morgan with you and check out the site. I'll meet you back at the station."

"Sounds good," Reid said. Hotch threw him a set of keys, which he caught with ease. We walked towards the vehicle. I wasn't sure about how everyone else was feeling, but I felt great. I felt motivated. "You can drive." He offered me the keys.