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chapter one - "Yes, he is a genius."

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𝗕.𝗔.𝗨. - 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙.𝗕.𝗜., 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗼 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮

Juniper and Spencer walked down the hallway side by side walking towards Gideon's training class. "You think he's ready?" She asked breaking the silence between the two as they reached the door.

"He has to be," He said holding the door open for her as they walked in immediately getting his attention.

Spencer held the file up pointing towards it as Juniper smiled sweetly. "Excuse me." He said before walking out with the two.

"They're calling him the Seattle Strangler four victims in four months." Spencer informed him showing him the file. "He keeps the victims alive seven days. The handle serves as a crank." She finished fumbling with the ring on her thumb.

"Allowing him to control the rate of suffocation." He said as she nodded.

"To prolong it?" They asked in unison.

"To enjoy it," He corrected as they stopped. "Seattle's hit a wall?"

"Physical evidence isn't existent. So there are no tangible leads." She informed.

"Another girl is missing," He said walking down to his office as the two waited by the door as he fumbled through papers. "I looked the case file over. I'll get some thoughts to you asap."

"You're gonna be with us in Seattle asap." Hotchner said walking in with Morgan behind him.

Morgan leaded over him showing him a photo, "Twenty-two year old Heather Woodland." Gideon took the photo as Hotch continued, "Before she left for lunch, she downloaded and email with a time-delayed virus attached. The killer's virus wiped her hard drive and left this on the screen." He said handing him another photo.

The two glanced at each other not fully knowing what was going on.

"For heaven's sake, catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself." He read aloud seeing it match a framed photo on his wall.

"He never keeps them for more than seven days, which means we have fewer than 36 hours to find her."

"They want you back in the saddle. You ready?" Morgan said.

"Looks like medical leave's over, boss." Reid pointed out. "They sure they want me?" He asked as Hotch nodded, "The order came from the director."

"No one's as good as you are," Jun said still having her sweet smile.

He thought about it for a moment turning back to the photo, "Then we'd better get started.

+°✮*. · ∘ .

Once on the plane they started going over the case again. Juniper was sitting in a chair trying to see if she was gunna throw up from motion sickness.

"His first victim was twenty-six years old Melissa Kirsh. Stabs wounds, strangulation." Reid read out loud as everyone crowded around him but Juniper.

"Wait, wait. Back up. Back up." Morgan said stopping him, "He stabbed her...and then strangled her to finish her off?"

"Other way around why do you think he started using the belt with the second murder?" Gideon asked. "He was strangling them with his...bare hands...and it wasn't as easy as he ─ he thought." She explained taking a hard swallow before continuing. "He tried, probably found it took too long..."

"So he stabbed her instead," Morgan finished as she nodded.

"Motion sickness?" Both Hotch and Gideon asked. "Oh yeah," She confirmed as Morgan handed her a barf bag.

"And realized it would be hour's cleaning up the blood." Hotch said changing back to the subject.

"Next time, our boy's got a method ─ the belt."

"He's learning, perfecting his scenario. Becoming a better killer."

+°✮*. · ∘ .

𝗙.𝗕.𝗜. 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲, 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

Once in seattle everyone walking into the office getting their bags checked, I.D's, everything.

Morgan hanged back with Reid and Juniper, "He never stands with his back to a window. When I was between him and a doorway, he asked me to move." He started not realizing Hotch was behind them listening to their conversation.

"That's hyper vigilance. It's not uncommon in post traumatic stress disorder." Reid explained making him scoff. "Just how much disorder are we talking about?"

"Morgan, it's been six months. Everything's ok," Hotch said as Juniper nodded fixing the strap on her shoulder. "Mentally okay Gideon is better than no Gideon at all," She said before walking in front of them.

Hotch started doing the introduction once the reached the main area of the precinct. "This is Special Agent Gideon, Special Agent Morgan, our expert on obsessional crimes. Special Agent Reid and Hall-"

"Dr. Reid and Dr. Hall" Gideon corrected.

"Dr. Reid and Hall, our experts on, well, everything. And after two years busting my butt in this office, I hope you remember me."

Juniper walked up to up to the maps seeing all the long red lines showing his routes. "He's willing to travel with the body. Which means he drives a vehicle able to conceal one." She thought out loud as her finger traced the different lines.

"One in seven-point-four drivers in Seattle owns an SUV." Reid pointed out.

"Explore with tinted windows," Morgan suggested looking between the two. "Explores are higher rated with woman." She answered crossing her arm's turning towards him.

"But how do we know it's his car? Ted Bundy drove a VW Bug."

"What about a Jeep Cherokee?" Hotch suggested.

"Jeeps are more masculine."

"We all know how unsub feels about asserting his masculinity." Gideon added onto Reid's sentence turning towards everyone.

"When did the bureau become involved in the case?" Hotch asked walking up to the victim board.

"After the fourth body, right?" She answered looking at one of the detective. "Corrected, he dumped that one out of state."

"On purpose."

"If so, knowledge of law enforcement does suggest a criminal record." Reid pointed out as she turned towards him. "Exactly what I was thinking."

"Or that he watched television. May I?" Morgan said asking the same detective who handed him another case file.

"So you wanna see our suspect list?" He asked Juniper quickly shook her head before leaving to find some coffee having a feeling it was going to be a long day. And after finding out they had to come up with a profile by four, needless to say she was already ready for her second cup.

+°✮*. · ∘ .

They went their separate ways, Reid, Juniper and Hotch went to talk to the victims brother.

The dog barked at both doctors making them jump back. "Sandy, no, no, no. I'm so sorry," He said holding the dog back.

"No, it's ok. It's what we call the Reid effect. Happens with children, too. I'm Agent Hotchner. This is Special Agent Dr. Reid and Special Agent Dr. Hall." He introduced as both waved lightly.

"You two look too young to have gone to medical school." He said trying to calm the dog down.

"They're Ph. D.s three of them." Reid explained as Juniper smiled sweetly, "I got four out of five."

"Are you two some type of geniuses or something?"

"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified -- but I do have an I.Q. of 187 and an eidetic memory and can read twenty thousands words per minute." Reid rambled off leaving him speechless.

She laughed lightly, "Yes, he is a genius." when she said that she saw Hotch smile, which just make her smile wider.

"Sandy, you get a lot of attention, don't you?" He asked petting the dog as the two doctors looked around the living room. "Yeah, Heather loves this dog. I feed her when Heather's away. Usually, she's fine, but... Lately, she won't eat. It's almost like she can sense something's wrong."

"No sense, smell our...apocrine sweet gland releases secretions in response to emotional stress." Reid rambled off once again.

"Sandy's worried because she knows you are." Hotch said simply the ramble.

"David, does your sister drive a Datsun Z?" She asked suddenly looking through pictures and magazines of the car.

"No, but she's in the market for one. How'd you know?" He asked as she held up a magazine as Sandy woofed twice. "Come on, Sandy." He said taking the dog out.

Hotch and Reid got closer to the girl that was flipping through the magazine. "There's a immediate bound established between a buyer and a seller. A weird level of trust where both trust that the other isn't gunna screw them over. If I wanted to coax a young woman into my car..." She trailed off.

"Offer her a test drive." Hotchner finished ad she nodded.

+°✮*. · ∘ .

"Okay, then how 'bout the fact that on one hand, we have paranoid psychosis..." Morgan asked as they sat in a border office. He was pacing around, Reid was spinning around in a chair as. Juniper was bitting the straw of her drinking, a habit she did when trying to stay focused. And Hotchner was just watching it all happen as Gideon stood at a board. "But the autopsy protocol says what?"

"Adhesive residue shows he put a layer after layer of duct tape over his victims' eyes." Reid called.

"He knows he wants to kill them, but he still covers their eyes." He asked.

"He doesn't want 'em looking at him, apparently." She suggested resting her chin on her palm.

"Ok, but then he takes the body and dumps it right out in the open, murder weapon nearby." He asked turning towards her as she shrugged lightly. "Not the M.O. of a paranoid convinced he's being watched or surveilled." Reid said getting the attention off her which she silently thanked.

"Paranoid psychosis, but behavior that's not paranoid." Morgan continued.

"Maybe he's schizophrenic," Hotchner suggested.

"Maybe we just don't have enough for a complete profile."

"We have enough to at least narrow the list of suspects." She said bringing her legs up to the chair and crossing them.

"We're looking at less than twelve hours to find this woman Hall." He said as he clearly was getting angry. "We've done this stuff in shorter time frames." She pointed out.

"We don't know exactly what --"

"Hotch, we don't know anything!"

"All right, enough." Gideon said getting all four of their attention. "Let's tell them we're ready." He said before walking out leaving everyone speechless.

"We're ready?" Morgan asked in disbelief before turning to the table. "Reid. Hall. You're good with this?" He asked getting their attentions. "We've got a woman who's only got a few hours left to live, and incomplete profile, and a unit chief on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

Her eye's widen seeing Gideon quickly walking in as Morgan was talking. "They don't call them nervous breakdowns anymore." He corrected before grabbing his glasses and leaving again.

"It's called a major depressive episode."

"I know, Reid." He said softly.

"If Gideon says we're ready than...I guess we are. Sadly there's some type of knowledge behind his gaslighting." She sighed getting up. "You guy's coming or what?" She asked walking towards the door. "You're going to the briefing?" Reid asked. "Yeah I wanna know what our profile is,"

+°✮*. · ∘ .

Gideon had given the profile which made the department go back over their suspect list and they found someone that fit it perfectly. They ended up putting him into custody and making Juniper starting to feel the pressure to find the missing woman.

"There's no sign of the girl here. We can arrest him with probable cause, but we won't be able to hold him." Reid explained to Gideon will walking down the hallway.

"Slessman's been at the top of the suspect list." She added standing behind them.

"Is that the mother?"

"Grandmother," Elle corrected walking up to Gideon. "The mother died in a fire when he was thirteen."

"Probably not the only fire in his childhood." Gideon explained as they walking past the dinning room where Morgan was going through some mail.

"Before his Son of Sam murders, David Berkowitz set a multitude of fires." Juniper informed twisted her ring around her finger. "Exactly how much is a multitude?" Morgan asked following them into the living room. "According to his dairy, Thousand and four hundred and...." Reid said trailing off trying to remember the number. "Eight-eight," She added smiling at him.

"Luring him out was your idea, right? Greenway?" Gideon asked looking around.

"Elle. I don't send a swat team into a house with children." She explained as Morgan and Juniper glanced at each other. "Hotch says your background is in sex offender cases. What can you tell us?"

"The last four murders show he's an anger-excitation rapist. He'll keep a victim for a couple of days. He probably record's or videotapes them so that he can keep reliving the fantasy." She explained.

"You okay with Hotch and Dr. Hall being in on the interview?"

"I'd like him to lead, actually. And Dr. Hall is welcomed." She said glancing at Juniper who smiled.

"Fine but hold off." He asked. "Slessman's done time, and he knows the process. And all you will get now is a demand for a lawyer. And Dr. Hall would help make him feel comfortable." He explained before walking out. "Hall, Hotch, let's check to garage, then show me what you got!"

"Next time, show a little leg." Morgan said as she shook her head hitting his chest lightly.

"Don't listen him, you're doing great." She reassured smiling before running off to catch up with Gideon and Hotch.

+°✮*. · ∘ .

Hotch pulled the garage door up seeing a Jeep in the driveway. "Well, we got the Jeep right."

"An everything else wrong."

"Wait, the bodies had defensive wounds. From what I saw Richard didn't have a mark on him. But also he didn't look like he could mark them." Juniper started rambling trying to get her thoughts out. "I mean he doesn't have any type of muscle and I could probably drop him a blink of an eye."

"I've seen you take down an ex-fifteen year military specialist. No, no, we're missin' something." Gideon said shaking his head as Hotch looked at him.

+°✮*. · ∘ .

They were now back up in the attic as Spencer and Juniper were studying a board on the table.

"What kind of game is it?" Elle asked walking up to them.

"In China, it's called Wei-Chi. But in America it's "Go". It's considered to be the most difficult board game ever conceived." She explained crouched down to get a better look.

"Chairman Mao required his generals to learn it." Gideon informed standing behind her.

"He seems to be playing himself." She informed glancing up at Spencer to confirm if she was right. He shook his head as she smiled lightly.

"How can you tell?" Elle asked as Reid spinned the board showing it on a lazy susen so he could play himself. "This might actually provide an advantage," She said standing up and turning towards Gideon and Hotch. "It's considered to be a particularly psychological game. That revealed a profile for every type of player."

"Right, the conservative point counter, the aggressor, the finesser." Spencer added.

"What kind of player is Slessman."

"Umm, an Extreme Aggressor."

+°✮*. · ∘ .

"Juniper," Gideon said walking down the stairs getting her attention from a notebook. "Follow me," She nodded as she followed behind him walking into the kitchen. Throwing the paperback workbook onto the table as her sat across from Slessman. "You read my paper. Learn anything?"

"Heirens said a man living inside of his head was the one who committed the murders. You said he was lying, that there'd never been an actual case of multiple personalities." He informed.

Juniper stood behind Gideon with her back against the wall studying him. Every move, his breathing, how his voice came off.

"You have an academic interest in dissociative identity disorder, or you just planning your defense?" He asked making the guy chuckle as he kept looking off to the side before slowly looking back at Gideon. Who flipped the book quickly pulling a newspaper headline out. "You a fan of Adrien Baal's work?"

"No." He answered not looking away from the paper in front of him. "I'm a fan of yours."

Juniper sighed quietly at those words, watching him even more closely. "You know..." He started to lean forwarded, "They never gibe you the real facts about CPR... That outside of a hospital, it's only effective 7% of the time. Your friend had a 93% certainty of dying, but you kept trying....even after you'd broken his ribs, even after his blood was all over your hands."

She lightly tilted her head to the side. It didn't make any sense, I mean their were conflicts that they didn't know about. It was 2 different behaviors, 2 different profiles, 2 different people. But she didn't know how true that could be considering she was going off just her own thoughts.

"Why don't you tell us where Heather Woodland is?"

Slessman quickly returned his back against the chair. Relaxing slightly as he thought about it for a moment. "Woodland... Isn't she the girl that went missing a couple days ago?"

She saw him glance over one more time towards the window. She followed it seeing a sign, "Good little boys are like sunshine,". Than started to slowly look around the kitchen. A cookie jar, "Cookies for Good Boys Only,"

"Get him out of here." Gideon told the officer standing behind him before the two left. Gideon walking completely out as Juniper watched standing next to Hotch who had been listening to them.

"He got to him,"

She slowly nodded, "Didn't let him see it though. But he did try to get him to break." She explained.

"Have anything that would help us interrogate him?"

"He said, 'isn't she the girl...'. If she was already dead he would of said 'wasn't she,'" She explained twisting the ring around her finger. "She's alive, for how long I can't tell you that. I'm gunna help them upstairs call me when you're ready to do the interrogation." She said as he nodded before she went back upstairs.