Premeditated Chapter 14
"Agent Hotchner?" Detective Scott Collier entered the room and looked from Hotch to Rossi and back to Hotch again.
Reid noted that Collier didn't look at him.
"Yes," Hotch stood up to shake hands. "You must be Detective Collier. SSA David Rossi and SSA Dr. Spencer Reid," he gestured behind him.
"Please, call me Scott," Collier introduced himself. "Sorry I'm late for the meeting. I stopped by the falls on my way into work today. Just to maintain a police presence, you know. Ever since Melody Sanders was found, the residents have been shaken up about the murders. Most people are avoiding the trail along the river or the entire area of the falls now. Good thing the murders haven't become national news yet. Hopefully, you can help us put a stop to them before the reporters get wind of this. Otherwise, the tourists might stop coming, and the city can't afford that during the current economy. For months, the Mayor's been promoting the city as a holiday destination, then as a winter destination for the frozen falls, so we're under intense pressure to solve the case ASAP. That was why Grace and I were so quick to request federal assistance. Anyway, I picked up a guy in the parking lot above the falls. He was harassing a group of tourists, offering to push one of them down the falls. Looked and sounded like a psycho, but I didn't recognize him as one of the regular vagrants around town, so I thought I'd bring him in, just in case you wanted to interview him."
"Certainly," Hotch said. "Thank you for bringing him in. We'll interview him right away. So far, we haven't gotten anywhere with the profile, so we're maintaining an open mind on all potential UnSubs."
"So you haven't come up with a, uh, psychoanalysis of the, um, UnSub yet?" Collier tested out the terminology.
"No," Reid replied. "So far, we've only identified a person of interest, whom our colleagues, Agents Morgan and Prentiss, are monitoring overnight."
"You mean you have agents staking out his apartment?" Collier asked.
"Yes," Reid answered, then paused, hoping that Hotch and Rossi had caught on to Collier's choice of words.
"Dave," Hotch turned to Rossi. "Why don't you take the lead on the interrogation? I'll back you up outside. In the meantime, Reid, fill in the details for Detective Collier. We'll be back in a little bit."
"Or a large bit, depending on how the interrogation goes," Rossi stood up wearily.
"Sure," Reid nodded, only slightly annoyed that Hotch and Rossi hadn't caught on to Collier's choice of words.
For Hotch, he made the excuse that Hotch, as the Unit Chief, had been preoccupied with his executive functions - deciding who did what when. For Rossi, there was no excuse, unless Rossi had been deep in thought about one of his three ex-wives, in which case Reid had no right to impugn his focus, having no ex-wives or -girlfriends to deepen his own thoughts. Besides, while his colleagues had done their duties this afternoon, he had spent two hours eating and littering along the river, so who was he to impugn anyone else's focus?
"Sounds good to me," Collier sat down in the nearest chair. "We'll see you in a little bit," he waved Hotch and Rossi out of the room, then swiveled around to face Reid. "Dr. Reid, I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on the case."
"Uh, yes, um, of course," Reid cleared his throat, shuffled his papers, and swiveled his chair, adopting his absent-minded professor persona.
"The Absent-Minded Professor" was the persona that he adopted for local law enforcement to soften the blow of his intellectual superiority over them. Long ago, Reid had learned that people felt more comfortable around their intellectual equals than their intellectual superiors. That was why, around local law enforcement in particular and people in general, he adopted fidgety body language, facial expressions ranging from mild distraction to severe oblivion, and gratuitously convoluted speech patterns juxtaposing rapidfire breakneck fluency with uh, st-st-stutter-ter-tering and um, st-st-stammer-mer-mering, as if he were reciting lines out of, or dictating lines into, esoteric academic publications, while under the influence of a drug cocktail of psychostimulating methamphetamines and dysphasia-inducing antipsychotics. The persona enveloped him in a personal force field that zapped two fence climbers with one electrical discharge - first, by shielding others from himself, and second, by shielding himself from others. Even his peculiarities of dress, down to his mismatched socks, were part and parcel of his adopted persona.
When honest with himself, Reid admitted that his persona was only partially adopted, because the majority of it was his genuine self. The real difference between his persona and his genuine self was the recognition, by his genuine self, of his persona as a presentable sliding scale of himself that he adjusted, as required, to achieve his personal and/or professional sociological and/or psychological objectives. Just as the psychiatrist was more self-aware of his own mind than was the average person, so was the profiler more self-aware of his own persona - a combination of behavior and psychology, or meat and potatoes, the specific choice of words boiling down to the munchies status of the profiler during the period of self-awareness.
Alternatively, through creepier-colored glasses, Reid was both puppet and puppeteer. In front of his team, he played himself as a mildly exaggerated version of his genuine self. In front of other teams, he played himself as a severely exaggerated version. In both cases, he exaggerated the majority to attenuate the minority. He never played himself as his genuine self, because, in addition to "The Absent-Minded Professor", his genuine self also included "The Mad Scientist", an eviler twin delineated by his three defining personality characteristics - intellectual brilliance, emotional instability, and moral ambiguity - of which the existence of the third was predicated upon the combined existence of its two preceding partners in crime.
"As, uh, Agent Hotchner mentioned earlier," Reid began the interrogation. "We haven't, uh, gotten anywhere with the profile, but we have, um, identified a person of interest in the case. Hm..." he gazed past the detective at the opposite wall, as if he had lost his train of thought.
"Yes, you've identified a person of interest," Collier prompted. "May I ask who the person is?"
"Oh, um, the person of interest," Reid shifted his eyes, several times, between the detective and the wall. "Actually, let me start over," he rolled his chair closer to the laptop, within which Garcia had been replaced by frames of video from the CCTV footage. "Are you familiar with the CCTV system here? I can explain, if..." he moved the images around the screen, waiting for a response from Collier.
"Yeah, sure," Collier replied.
"Yeah, sure, you're familiar, or yeah, sure, explain?" Reid asked.
"Please explain," Collier said.
"CCTV stands for closed-circuit television," Reid embarked upon a journey of a thousand facts. "In CCTV systems, video cameras capture and transmit information from many remote locations to one central monitoring station. In the past, live videos were transmitted to be monitored by live people. Did you know that CCTV systems were first employed by the Germans during World War II to observe V-2 rocket launches? From 1942 onwards, the Germans launched V-2s against Allied targets in Belgium and England. At the time, no other rocket came close to the range of the V-2. Coincidentally, the V-2, the world's first long-range ballistic missile, was employed in conjunction with CCTV, the world's first long-range surveillance system. Did you know that warfare has always been a prime driver of technological innovation? After the war, Wernher von Braun, the German scientist who developed the V-2 in his roles as both scientist and Nazi party member/SS officer, surrendered to the Americans rather than the Soviets, became a U.S. citizen, and worked for the U.S. Army during the Cold War to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles based on the V-2. After the Soviets launched Sputnik in the late '50s, the American public panicked that we were falling behind in the Space Race, so Wernher von Braun was transferred to NASA to head the Marshall Space Flight Center near Huntsville, Alabama. He only agreed to the transfer on the condition that NASA received research funding for genuine space exploration beyond the Space Race. He had a vision for the future of humanity in space. Can you believe that even with all his wartime and post-war activities geared towards killing people, that he never stopped having a vision and being a romantic? As the greatest rocket scientist of all time, his greatest achievement was the development of the Saturn V booster rocket that launched the Apollo spacecraft to send us, rather than the Soviets, to the Moon, effectively winning the Space Race for us. At the time, the Apollo Moon Landing was regarded, by the government at least, as a victory in the Cold War, but now, it is universally regarded as 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'. I think Wernher would have liked that. I think he did like that. He died in 1977. What do you think of him? First, he was a German who worked for them to kill us. Then, he became one of us and worked to save us from the Soviets. What kind of person was Wernher von Braun? Good or bad?"
"All's well that ends well?" Collier shrugged.
"All's well that ends well!" Reid laughed, tacking a soft snort onto the end of his laugh to exaggerate his persona. He shifted his eyes several times between the detective, the wall, and the table before continuing, "Um, uh, why...Why are we talking about Wernher von Braun?" he gazed at Collier.
"I dunno, Doc," Collier chuckled. "You were telling me about CCTV systems, then V-2 rockets, then this Wernher von Braun guy."
"Sorry, Detective," Reid apologized. "I have a habit of drifting off onto tangents. Let's return to the CCTV footage. Where did I leave off on that?"
"You were saying that in the past, live videos were monitored by live people," Collier replied. "I'm assuming that's no longer the case?"
"No, that's no longer the case," Reid said. "Now, CCTV footage is recorded to network-attached storage devices and analyzed by automated video processing software. Biometric techniques are employed to match subjects in videos. In 2001, facial recognition software was employed at the Super Bowl to scan the crowd for suspicious individuals from a database of criminals and terrorists. It ended up identifying 19 individuals with pending arrest warrants."
"Wow, 19," Collier said. "So the software is pretty accurate?"
"It has its limits, but in general, it's pretty accurate," Reid said. "Of course, no facial recognition software can match the visual cortex of the human brain."
"Really? I thought computers were taking over the world," Collier remarked. "Ever since that computer program beat that chess player..."
"Garry Kasparov vs. Deep Blue," Reid cut in. "Yes, the loss is what everyone remembers, but the story is more complicated than that. Before Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in 1997, Kasparov beat Deep Blue in 1996. In six games over six days, Kasparov beat Deep Blue 4-2, with three wins, one loss, and two draws. Afterwards, IBM upgraded Deep Blue, and one year later, Deep Blue beat Kasparov 3.5-2.5, with two wins, one loss, and three draws. The rules of the rematch allowed the programmers to upgrade the software between games, and so, they did, having it learn from its mistakes and respond to its opponent. Kasparov accused IBM of hiding human chess players behind Deep Blue, but IBM denied the allegations and rejected the idea of yet another rematch. Anyhow, if you sum up the games won and lost from the '96 and '97 matches, Kasparov beat Deep Blue 6.5-5.5, with four wins, three losses, and five draws, all without upgrading himself by the same percentage that the programmers upgraded Deep Blue. The human was a whole game better than the computer. Let me put it this way. If my life depended on the outcome of a chess game, then I'd pick Kasparov over Deep Blue to play for me. What about you, Detective? Would you pick the human or the computer?"
"I dunno, I'd probably pick the computer," Collier considered. "Humans tend to get emotional and make mistakes. I'd pick the computer, unless I knew for sure that the human could be counted on to..."
"To separate the intellectual and the emotional?" Reid asked. "To possess the speed of a computer and the creativity of a human on the intellectual plane while possessing none of the inexplicable impulses that cause problems for us on the emotional plane as they do for us in our everyday lives? To be, in effect, a life-like human computer?"
"Yeah, something like that," Collier agreed.
"We believe that the UnSub, the person who obstructed the evidence, did so on impulse after his first two crimes, and that the act of obstruction evolved him from impulse-driven predator to purpose-driven predator," Reid declared.
"Whoa, Doc, you totally lost me there," Collier widened his eyes, shifted them back and forth between Reid and the laptop, and leaned back in his chair, waiting for an explanation.
"I'm sorry, that was rather abrupt," Reid apologized. "Let me explain. As you know, the UnSub killed the first two victims on two successive days - the 10th and 11th of this month. He modified the CCTV footage for those days as well as for the 8th, 9th, and 12th. Together, the 8th through the 12th comprised a work week from Monday through Friday. From the evidence, or rather its obstruction, it appears that the UnSub spent the work week prowling the falls, encountered two victims on two evenings around sunset, pushed them both down the falls, then modified the CCTV footage to cut himself out of the videos from all the days that week. He killed the first two victims on impulse rather than on purpose. After he modified the CCTV footage, after the act of obstruction, he..."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand the difference between impulse-driven predator and purpose-driven predator," Collier interjected.
"The impulse-driven predator and the purpose-driven predator are two successive stages in the evolution of 'The Novice Killer'," Reid explained. "The impulse-driven predator kills on impulse. He prowls for prey without the conscious intent to kill. Each evening, he walks around the falls, subconsciously looking for victims to push down the falls. If he encounters a victim, then he kills him. If he doesn't encounter a victim, then he goes home or to work or wherever. He spends so much time at the falls that he has to cut himself out of the CCTV footage. In contrast, the purpose-driven predator kills on purpose. He seeks out prey with the conscious intent to kill. He waits around on the trail or behind the trees, consciously looking for a tourist to come by, so he can push her down the falls. He visits the area at a certain time, after his day shift or before his night shift, looking for the woman who walks the trail every evening. Unlike his predecessor, he doesn't spend so much time at the falls that he has to cut himself out of the CCTV footage. Over time, he has evolved within the profile of 'The Novice Killer', progressing from one stage to another. In this case, we believe that the act of obstruction evolved the UnSub from impulse-driven predator to purpose-driven predator. Before the act of obstruction, he killed on impulse, as a knee-jerk reaction to the presence of prey within his quasi-natural environment. After the act of obstruction, he killed on purpose, seeking out prey within the same environment for the express purpose of killing them. In either case, he has no motive, only intent - subconscious, then conscious."
"I got all of that except one part," Collier said. "What is 'The Novice Killer'? Is that a profile?"
"Yes, 'The Novice Killer' is a profile," Reid replied. "It's a very simple profile. 'The Novice Killer' feels an urge to kill. He looks for victims, subconsciously, then consciously. He finds them. He kills them. He kills with intent, but without motive. He has an urge to kill, but no reason to kill."
"I understand the difference between motive and intent, but not between conscious and subconscious intent," Collier said.
"Let me give you an example," Reid said. "Let's suppose that I'm walking around in an area, maybe in a dark alley on a rainy night, and I encounter three muggers. I'm walking down the alley, and I hear them sneaking up behind me. One or all of them may or may not be armed with a knife or a gun. I don't know, and I can't tell. I'm an FBI agent, so I carry a gun at all times. I'm walking down the alley, and I hear the muggers coming closer and closer. Just as the first one is pulling out his weapon, I turn around. On impulse, I shoot him, and I kill him. I shoot him in the chest, as I've been trained to do. He goes down, but there's a second one behind him. I don't know if the second one has a weapon. I shoot him. I kill him. He goes down, but there's a third one behind both of them. The third one is unarmed, so he runs away. I chase him down, like a predator chasing down his prey. On purpose, I shoot him, and I kill him. I try to shoot him in the back, but I miss, so I shoot him in the back of the head instead. In the first case, I killed on impulse, without the conscious intent to kill and with the subconscious intent to kill. In the third case, I killed on purpose, with the conscious intent to kill. The second case is a bit of a gray area, maybe 50-50. In all cases, I had no motive, only intent. Does that make sense, Detective?"
"Yeah, perfectly," Collier replied. "Wow, Doc, that makes a ton of sense. Here, let me try it out on this case. In this case, the UnSub feels an urge to kill. To satisfy the urge, he spends a week prowling the falls, subconsciously looking for victims to push down the falls. On Monday and Tuesday, he encounters no victims. On Wednesday, he encounters a victim and pushes him down the falls. On Thursday, he encounters a victim and pushes him down the falls. On Friday, he encounters no victims. The next Monday, he cuts himself out of the CCTV footage from the previous Monday through Friday. That's the act of obstruction. After the act of obstruction, he evolves from impulse-driven predator to purpose-driven predator. Did I get that right, Doc?"
"Yes, perfectly," Reid replied brightly, like a teacher pleased with the aptitude of a student.
"So what happens next?" Collier asked. "What's the next stage in the evolution of the UnSub?"
"Not so fast, Detective," Reid said. "To predict the future behavior and psychology of the UnSub, we have to examine the past behavior and psychology. Specifically, the act of obstruction itself. Don't you think the timing of the crimes is curious?"
"Yeah, we've been wondering about that," Collier nodded. "Why do you think the UnSub kills the victims around sunset?"
"Oh, I didn't mean the time of day," Reid shook his head. "I meant the timing of the crimes - the crimes of killing and obstructing."
"I'm sorry?" Collier frowned in confusion.
"The UnSub killed the first two victims on two successive days," Reid said. "Then, he waited a whole week before killing the third victim. In the interim, he obstructed the evidence. It's almost as if..." he lost his train of thought. "Your department first requested federal assistance on Monday, November 15. Is that right?"
"Uh, yeah, sort of," Collier replied hesitantly. "The second victim was found on the morning of the 15th. At the time, we had considered the incidents to be accidents or suicides, more likely accidents, based on the identities of the victims. We requested a consult from the BAU to establish the accidental nature of the incidents once and for all. Naturally, the family of Colin Taylor asked many questions about his death, and we knew that the family of Kazuo Sato would be asking many of the same questions. Sato was a tourist from Japan, so we had to handle his case with extra sensitivity. We requested the consult to get the federal stamp of approval, so to speak..."
"Detective Dylan was the one who requested the consult?" Reid asked.
"No, I was," Collier answered.
"On the 15th?"
"Yes."
"Well, I apologize for not responding earlier," Reid said. "At the time, I was not aware that you had requested a consult. The BAU was away on a case from the 12th through the 18th, and our case screener at the time, who also happens to be our technical analyst, had flown off with the team for the case. After the case with the killer/obstructor twins, I took on the case screening responsibilities, but I didn't notice your request until the 20th, because I was busy completing the profile of the previous case."
"Huh..." Collier squinted in confusion.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Detective," Reid shook his head sheepishly. "I'm boring you with the details. I have a habit of boring everyone with the details. What I meant to say was that after the killer/obstructor case, the BAU had two choices of cases and profiles to pursue, and we chose the other case over your case. On the 15th, had we responded to your request, we would have agreed with you that the first two incidents were accidents."
"That's good to know," Collier shrugged.
"The UnSub obstructed the evidence on the same day that you requested the consult," Reid stated.
"On the 15th...Yeah," Collier licked his lips.
"The act of obstruction coincided with the act of promotion," Reid stated again, same but different. "You requested the consult on Monday, November 15. That's the act of promotion. The UnSub obstructed the evidence on Monday, November 15. That's the act of obstruction. The two acts were in direct conflict with one another. What do you make of that, Detective?"
"What do I make of that?" Collier swallowed nervously. "I don't know. I'm not an expert in criminal psychology..."
"Why don't you take a guess?" Reid suggested.
"Um, OK..." Collier fidgeted in his chair. "If I had to guess, I'd say that the UnSub obstructed the evidence after I requested the consult."
"Yes, exactly," Reid said. "Somehow, the UnSub found out that you had requested the consult. That was why he took steps to obstruct the evidence. You requested the consult. Why? Because you wanted to stop the UnSub. You wanted to catch him. He obstructed the evidence. Why? Because he wanted to save the UnSub. He didn't want to be caught."
"But I only requested the consult to establish the incidents as accidents," Collier said.
"Yes, but even so, you must have had your suspicions about the incidents," Reid argued. "You must have considered the possibility of foul play. When you requested the consult, a part of you must have wanted to stop the UnSub. In the end, that part of you turned out to be right. Not only right, but your act of promotion led directly to his act of obstruction."
"But the act of obstruction...You said earlier that it evolved the UnSub from impulse-driven predator to purpose-driven predator. How did that happen?" Collier asked.
"It evolved the UnSub through empowerment," Reid explained. "Let me give you an example. Let's suppose that I'm him and you're you. I start out killing on impulse. I kill the first two victims on impulse. You consider the crimes to be accidents. To make sure, you request a consult from the BAU. In response, I obstruct the evidence. I do it on impulse. Well, actually, maybe not entirely on impulse. Maybe on purpose too. I do it on impulse and on purpose. Remember the example of the muggers? Obstructing the evidence is like killing the second mugger. Did I kill the second mugger on impulse or on purpose? I'm not sure...Maybe 50-50. After I kill the mugger, I realize that I can kill. After I obstruct the evidence, I realize that I can obstruct. I can kill, then obstruct. The realization is empowering. It shifts the balance of power away from you and towards me. I evolve as a killer. I evolve from shooting people on impulse to shooting people on purpose. In that case, the evolution was astonishingly fast. In this case, the evolution was slower. In either case, due to empowerment, I evolve from impulse-driven predator to purpose-driven predator, from subconscious intent to conscious intent, regardless of whether the evolution took days or seconds. Let's extend the chain of reasoning. Let's suppose that one day, I realize that I can obstruct the evidence as much as I want. I control all the information that comes in and goes out. Everything passes through my mind before passing through anyone else's mind. In that case, due to empowerment, I evolve from intent to motive. I evolve out of the profile of 'The Novice Killer' and into some other profile. The act of empowerment evolves me as a killer. If the killer starts, builds, and completes profiles faster than the profiler, then the profiler will never catch the killer."
"So that was why the UnSub killed the third victim? He evolved, so he killed her on purpose?" Collier extended the chain of reasoning.
"Yes, he killed Melody Sanders, knowing full well that the authorities would consider her death to be neither accident or suicide," Reid said. "Sanders was killed on the 18th. On the 18th, a non-criminal investigation turned into a criminal investigation. I'm confused. Why didn't you request our assistance that day?"
"Melody Sanders was reported missing on the 18th, but her body wasn't found until the 22nd, the following Monday," Collier explained. "Initially, her case was considered a missing persons case. The 22nd was the day that Angelina Alvarez went missing. Grace...Detective Dylan requested federal assistance the next day, after Alvarez was reported missing but before her body was recovered from the river."
"Ah, that makes sense," Reid nodded. "I received two messages from Detective Dylan on Tuesday, November 23. However, I...The BAU was busy completing another profile at the time. I wasn't free to call Detective Dylan until the next day, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That was when she sent me additional information, including the CCTV footage, from the case."
"She sent you the CCTV footage?" Collier asked. "But we already analyzed...Oh, that was when you found out about the, uh, obstruction? You analyzed the footage, and..."
"No, our tech analyzed the footage. I only watched it. We discovered the discrepancies in the videos," Reid said. "For footage from the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th - the evenings on which the UnSub prowled the falls - the last frame of one video didn't match up with the first frame of the next video."
"Oh, um...I don't know why that..." Collier paused, then continued. "Isn't CCTV footage analyzed automatically? Our software didn't pick up either of the victims in the videos from those days, from the time around sunset when the crimes were committed."
"Neither did ours," Reid said. "But as I said, facial recognition software cannot match the visual cortex of the human brain. Don't worry, Detective, I didn't sit down and watch hours and hours of footage at normal speed. Here, let me show you how I did it."
Turning to the laptop, Reid opened a file and played a video at maximum speed. On fast forward, the frames whizzed by, and the video that would normally have taken several hours to play took several minutes instead. Reid watched videos in the same way that he read books, his subconscious mind processing the visual channel at 11 million bits per second as his eyes fixated upon the screen. Afterwards, for further analysis, he could extract individual frames from the videos of CCTV footage, just as he could extract individual quotes from the works of David Rossi.
"You can...Can you...Can you really watch that fast?" Collier stared at Reid as Reid stared at the screen.
"Yes, I can really watch that fast," Reid answered, his eyes still glued to the screen. "When we first opened the files and discovered the discrepancies, we were surprised that the UnSub hadn't done a better job editing the videos. If I were him, I would have done a much better job editing the videos. At the very least, I would have made sure that the last frame of one video matched up to the first frame of the next video. I can't quite wrap my head around why he didn't..." he shook his head in confusion.
"Why he didn't what?" Collier prompted anxiously.
"Why he didn't do a better job editing the videos," Reid replied. "With his job and all, I would have expected him to have obstructed the evidence more skillfully. To have played smarter, so to speak..."
"What...What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, if Technical Analyst Terrence Wood was the one who modified the CCTV footage, then don't you think that he should have done a better job editing the videos?" Reid asked. "With his technical expertise and all..."
"Oh!" Collier sighed. "Yeah, I agree. I completely agree. A tech should have done a better job editing the videos. I don't know why he didn't. Maybe he was in a hurry that night? Maybe he was flustered that night?"
"Maybe," Reid considered. "According to the files, he edited all the videos at the same time on the same day. 11/15/2010, 22:18. Did you see anyone in the CCTV control room during your shift that night?"
"Yeah, I passed by there and thought I saw someone in the room, but it was dark, so I couldn't tell who it was," Collier said. "Even at night, people are constantly coming and going at the police station, so I didn't give it another thought."
"No, you wouldn't have," Reid said. "Tell me, Detective, how well do you know Terrence Wood?"
"He's the person of interest that the other agents are monitoring overnight?" Collier asked.
"Yes, we're officially calling him a person of interest, but unofficially, in our minds, we're considering him to be the UnSub," Reid answered in a confidential tone.
"I don't know much about him," Collier said. "He's quiet, shy, nerdy. Middle-aged, but unmarried. No kids. Lives alone in an apartment not far from the station. Handles most of our technical issues here. Does a really thorough job with database searches. Basically, anytime we want to find out anything about anyone, we go to him for information."
"Sounds like our tech," Reid said. "Knowing techs in general, knowing how competent they are and how obsessive they can be about their software, from development to deployment to employment, I can't get past the fact that the UnSub did such a poor job editing the videos. There's only one possible explanation for his behavior."
"What's that?" Collier asked.
"He wants to be caught," Reid answered.
"He wants to be caught? Then why obstruct the evidence at all?" Collier asked. "If he wants to be caught, then he can just turn himself in at work."
"Well, he's conflicted," Reid said. "A part of him, the super-ego, wants to be caught, so he can be judged and punished for his crimes. But another part of him, the id, will stop at nothing to save himself from any and all of the consequences - death, imprisonment, whatever - of his behaviors. Since Monday, November 15, the two parts have been in conflict. As of today, the two parts are still in conflict."
"How so?" Collier asked. "He went on to kill two more victims after the 15th. Didn't the id win out?"
"Yes, the id was prevalent from the 15th through the 22nd," Reid answered. "But after that? After that, the conflict returned. On the 23rd, you...no...Detective Dylan requested federal assistance from the BAU. The BAU responded positively on the 24th. Detective Dylan sent over reams of information about the case, including the CCTV footage. Wood must have known about that."
"So?"
"So he obstructed the evidence again," Reid said. "Detective Dylan's request for assistance was another act of promotion. Again, you sought to stop the killer, and again, he sought to save the killer. The UnSub responded with another act of obstruction. We don't have evidence of the obstruction...yet. But the very fact that we're sitting here talking about the obstruction suggests that the obstruction was ultimately unsuccessful. Sooner or later, we'll find out. We discovered the discrepancies in the videos. Somewhere else, there are discrepancies that haven't been discovered yet. Based on your information about the technical competence of your tech, I believe that the UnSub wants to be caught. That's why he did such a poor job editing the videos. He probably did a poor job doing whatever else he did to obstruct the evidence again. If successful acts of obstruction are acts of empowerment, then unsuccessful acts of obstruction are acts of...uh, I guess, um...depowerment. The UnSub wants to be caught. In fact, I believe that all serial killers have a deep-seated desire to be caught."
"Why would they want to be caught?" Collier asked.
"So their questions can be answered," Reid replied. "So they can be told, by the authorities, why they did what they did. One time, during a VICAP interview, I spent thirteen minutes telling a serial killer why he committed his crimes. Chester Hardwicke was so absorbed in my psychoanalysis of him that he forgot to kill me and my boss, Agent Hotchner, as he had planned to do during the period of time when we were all trapped in an interrogation room together. My lecture, a combination of knowledge and analysis, engaged and distracted him to such an extent that he made the mistake of forgetting to kill us. As a result, he missed out on his last chance at living before his scheduled execution. I guess my tangents and details are good for something after all."
"I can see why he would be interested in your insight," Collier said. "I mean, with everything you know about the motives and intents of serial killers, their behavior and psychology, why they do what they do..."
"But I don't really know why they do what they do," Reid said. "I've been considering the questions for some time now, but so far, I haven't figured out the answers. For me, it's an ongoing research project to figure out the answers. It helps that all the questions boil down to the same question with the same answer."
"How had it come to this?" Collier suggested.
"Exactly!" Reid nodded emphatically. "How had it come to this? Look, I'm a killer. I killed all these people. Why did I kill them? I felt an urge to kill, so I killed. But why did I feel an urge to kill? I don't know. It was an inexplicable urge. Is there something wrong with me? Yes, there is something fundamentally wrong with me. Is that a satisfying answer? No, that's not satisfying at all. That's an escape from the question, not an answer to the question. I've gotta answer the question! How am I going to answer the question? Maybe I can kill again! Will I be able to answer the question if I kill again? After I kill again, will I wake up knowing the answer? Maybe I can continue to kill until I find out the answer. That gives me a motive. A motive is a reason to kill. Why am I going to kill? I'm going to kill, so I can find out why I killed. I've killed before, so it's not a big deal for me to kill again. I'm going to find out the answer, any way I can. No one else can tell me the answer, so I've gotta find out for myself. How am I going to find out the answer?" Reid asked.
"Kill," Collier answered.
"Why am I killing?" Reid asked.
"To find out the answer," Collier replied.
"Exactly," Reid nodded.
He sighed, lowered his eyes to the table, and tapped his fingers against the wood grain surface, as if he had suddenly become absorbed in a new train of thought that had barreled into the station to push away the old train of thought. He sat in silence, waiting for Collier to respond.
"Can the killer, uh, stop killing?" Collier responded.
"No, not normally," Reid answered. "Not unless we catch him and put him away. Other than that, there's only one scenario in which he stops."
"What's that?" Collier asked eagerly.
"In this scenario, he stops killing on his own," Reid said. "He feels an urge stronger than the urge to kill."
"What's stronger than the urge to kill?" Collier asked.
"The urge to save," Reid replied. "The urge to save everyone else from him. In this scenario, he kills one more time, but this time, his victim is himself. He kills one to save many. He kills himself to save others...through the goodness of his heart. In a way, the final murder is an act of love."
"Oh," Collier glanced away, disappointed.
"I call this profile 'The Angel'," Reid said. "It can be contrasted with its alternate profile, 'The Devil'. Within one profile, the killer continues to kill, over and over and over again, with whatever motive he comes up with to justify his intent. Within the other, he kills one more time. Victimology? Himself. M.O.? Any. Motive? Save others. Intent? Kill himself. Conscious or subconscious? Conscious. Profile? 'The Angel'. The killer stops himself."
"What if he doesn't want to kill himself?" Collier asked softly.
"Then he kills others," Reid said. "He kills until we catch him and put him away. For most serial killers, it's only a matter of time before we catch them and put them away. In most cases, the story goes like this. I'm a serial killer. I kill, but at the same time, I have a deep-seated desire to be caught. I'm conflicted. I'm conflicted enough to leave evidence behind, either the evidence itself or the obstruction of the evidence, which is evidence in and of itself. The evidence helps the authorities catch me and put me away. I spend the rest of my life in prison, wondering why I did what I did. I ask the authorities for the answer. They don't know. They know less than I know, because they're profilers, not killers. I'm disappointed. I'm stuck. I'm stuck for life in prison, where I can neither kill or find out why I killed. It's a miserable existence, and looking back, I wish that I had chosen the other profile instead."
"'The Angel' over 'The Devil'?" Collier whispered.
"Yes," Reid answered. "'The Angel' vs. 'The Devil'. A killer kills, himself or others. It's his choice."
"Is there another way?" Collier asked. "Can he, uh, can he...Can he turn himself in?"
"He can," Reid replied. "Actually, that would be preferable to any other option, but in this case, I don't see him doing it."
"Why's that?"
"As you said, the UnSub is quiet, shy, nerdy. He lives alone, is unmarried, has no kids. He's middle-aged, so his parents may or may not be alive. He sounds like an introvert, someone who doesn't have many friends, someone who doesn't make friends easily. Work is probably all he has. His colleagues are his friends. His personal and professional relationships are the same. His friends and colleagues at work are his only connections to the world outside himself. They're all he has. He'd have to give up those connections if he turned himself in. He'd have to live, knowing that his former friends and colleagues knew the truth about him...about his genuine self. I don't think he'll ever turn himself in. He doesn't want anyone to find out about his genuine self. He hates his genuine self. If they find out about him, then they'll hate him too. He's scared to lose them. He's scared in general. Maybe he'll try to take his own life. Maybe he'll wait for them to catch him. If one fails, then he's got the other. It's his choice."
"'The Angel' vs. 'The Devil'?" Collier asked.
"'The Angel' vs. 'The Devil'," Reid concluded.
At the conclusion, Collier stood up to exit the room.
"Sorry, Doc," Collier said. "Gotta go take a bathroom break. And, uh, I might as well check on your colleagues while I'm at it. And, um, I've gotta go release that psycho. That guy I picked up, remember? You'll probably wanna call it a day soon. I'll see you later...Maybe in the morning?"
"Sure, Detective," Reid nodded. "I'll see you in the morning. By the way, thanks for entertaining my ideas. I know I can be long-winded and boring..."
"No problem, Dr. Reid," Collier dismissed the concerns. "I really enjoyed your insight. Your insight has been really helpful to me," he nodded, waved, and exited the room.
Alone in the conference room, Reid swiveled his chair in circles, waiting for Hotch and Rossi to return from their useless activities. He checked the laptop to make sure that it, its camera, and its microphone had recorded the entire interrogation. In the video editor, he opened the file. Without modifying the footage, he closed the file. In the video player, he opened the file. He played the video, watching the interrogation footage in the same way that he had watched the CCTV footage. On fast forward, the visual channel was rich, vibrant, and informative. On fast forward, the auditory channel was a mess. Through the speakers, Reid and the UnSub sounded like hyperactive chipmunks rehearsing one of the Shakespearean tragedies that a roomful of ringtailed lemurs had typed up in the deep dark depths of someone's mother's basement.
"No matter," Reid thought as he stretched out his legs, then put his feet up on a chair.
As long as the footage contained the units of video and audio in which the UnSub had made his confession, then Hotch and Rossi could use it to build 'The Fallen Angel' for themselves. Reid could stop playing dumb, in front of his team or any other. In the evening, "The Absent-Minded Professor" had done his duty. In the morning, it would be time for "The Mad Scientist" to act.
Master Post