Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"What the hell happened?" Bella asked, rushing into work. The team sat at the table talking in hushed whispers, their faces filled with concern and pity. Spencer looked up from staring down at the table with his head in his hands. He stood up and lightly grabbed Bella by the arm, moving closer towards her as the rest of the team talked in a concerned manner.
"The man who has been killing middle aged women in the D.C. area for the past couple of months," Spencer began. "The media has nicknamed him The Phantom since he is able to cover his tracks so well, but that's not important. Well, Gideon's girlfriend was attacked and killed by him."
Bella covered her mouth in shock. Though the BAU hadn't been invited to join the case, Bella and the rest of the team has been keeping tabs on the killer. He would stalk women for weeks, memorizing their schedules and seeing who lived with them. He always snuck into the house or the apartment the victim was living in, not leaving a single sign of a break in. He would attack the women at night, stabbing them to death and writing random letters on the wall with their blood. He made sure not to leave any DNA, footprints, or weapons to prove that he was there.
"Where is he?" Bella asked, looking around the room to see that he wasn't there.
"Witnesses said that they saw Gideon running down the street covered in blood, suspecting that he did it," Spencer shrugged. "But the letters 'goaihtebottmle'were written on the wall, The Phantom's signature. I think that Gideon got home and found her, getting the blood on him by trying to revive her. He probably recognized the M.O. and decided to run out of his apartment and track down The Phantom himself. He called Hotch and explained that his girlfriend was dead and he was going to stop this before another man's heart was shattered."
"Damn it, I-I don't even know what to say. I can't imagine what Gideon is feeling right now, we need to find him. Have we been invited on the case?"
Spencer nodded, "The detectives have recognized this as The Phantom as well, so they're not planning on investigating Gideon. We just-we just have to find him, Bella, he's so important to this team. He's important to all of us."
"We're going to find him, Spence, and we're going to find The Phantom as well."
Spencer gave a weak smile before turning back to the rest of the team. Bella knew how much Gideon meant to Spencer, he was almost like a father to him. Bella recalled the countless times Gideon and Spencer would play chess, no one ever knowing who was going to win. She smiled to herself, thinking back to the time she played against Gideon and won, the team giving her the title of "The Chess Wizard."
The entire room could feel Gideon's pain. No one had even known Gideon had a girlfriend, he kept to himself so much. She probably meant the entire world to him. Bella wondered how long The Phantom must have been following her and memorizing her everyday schedule in order to execute the perfect attack.
