[CM] THE CASE

Both too many secrets and too few secrets speak of mental weakness. —— Wovenag

At 10 o'clock in the evening, all BAU staff gathered in the conference room on the second floor.

Before Griffith sat down, he heard Morgan jokingly say, "It's too inhumane for us to work overtime like this."

Garcia sat far away from the monitor, trying to avoid the bloody photos, and sighed: "Salary, my dear, for the sake of salary, there is overtime pay for working overtime."

"That's the only consolation," Morgan said, taking a sip of his coffee.

Hotch was the last to come in.He stood by the monitor, looking a little tired: "This is the photo of his first murder. I hope I can put aside NathanHarris and do a new test. I ask you to be objective and not to mix any personal emotions. Is it possible?"

His team members nodded.

"The two cases were separated by three months. He controlled the desire to kill for three months. He didn't ask the police for help until it got out of control, which shows that he was still hesitant to kill." Hotch said, "But we don't know why he cut off their hair."

"Perhaps to weaken them," Gideon leaned against the table, "to prey on their femininity."

Reid answered immediately: "It's the same as killing people early in the morning. He... He probably saw them receiving guests at night, and felt that morning was their weakest time compared to night."

Griffith picked up a pen and twirled it: "So, he must be a person of low status and insignificance." He recalled his feelings in the morgue, and continued: "He...is definitely not the conspicuous type, Lack of confidence in your own strength."

"I think he's more schizophrenic than sadistic," Reid said.

Morgan couldn't help asking, "Why?"

"This is Washington," Reid explained. "The most important thing in Washington is power. As Griffith said, he may not be competent at work and not be taken seriously."

Emily dutifully copied all the key points in her notebook, and when she saw that no one wanted to add, she raised her head and asked the boss for instructions: "Tomorrow, I will go to the street and ask them if they have seen similar people."

Hotch nodded: "Okay, that's it for today. Go home and rest."

Everyone turned around and left, and JJ stayed at the end to clean up the conference room.It wasn't part of her remit, but she was used to it.Seeing the blank report paper, she asked Hotch suspiciously: "Don't you need to make meeting minutes?"

Hotch looked not in a good mood, and said, "No need."

That's not quite in line, and Hotch seems to have a problem with his emotions. JJ had no choice but to smooth things over by himself: "Uh, maybe it's not too late to do it tomorrow?"

Hotch looked at her fixedly: "I said no."

Emily seemed to notice them, and turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

JJ was puzzled, but still smiled at Emily: "It's okay."

Hotch glanced at Emily and left without looking back.

In the early morning, sparrows stand on the black wires, chirping to wake up the city after a night of carnival.

Holly lit a cigarette and began to count the night's harvest.Her thick makeup was a bit smudged, revealing a bit of a girlish childishness.

A friend brought a guest, and he hasn't come back yet. Holly waited for a while after counting the money, thinking of what the two FBI said yesterday, she was a little worried.

There is only one tail left in autumn, and winter is coming.The cold at night intensified in the morning, leaving Holly shivering.She had to wrap herself tightly in a shawl, and her high-heeled boots stomped back and forth on the ground, making muffled noises.

Due to work, she doesn't wear many clothes, even if she wants to keep warm, the effect is very limited.

"Damn." Holly cursed under her breath, deciding not to wait for her friend.But before she could turn around, a tall black figure occupied her world with severe pain.

Holly's eyes widened in disbelief.

The banknotes in her hands were scattered all over the place.The man ignored it, he pulled out the knife, and the blood dripped on the banknote, blurring a strange pattern.

The knife quickly penetrated into the girl's delicate and fair skin. Holly wanted to scream, but was thrown to the ground hard by the man.She struggled to get up, but the third knife arrived.

Holly's lips moved as if to mutter "Help".

The man inserted the fourth knife indifferently and angrily.Immediately afterwards, the fifth knife, the sixth knife, the seventh knife...

Holly felt chills in her fingertips.The pain was almost numb, and she wanted to cry out, but she couldn't even breathe.

The man changed tack.Instead of frantically stabbing into the blade, he cut gently.

Holly's consciousness was no longer clear.But she stubbornly opened her eyes wide, hoping to look at the murderer.

"I'm watching you." She thought resentfully, "You wait...wait..."

What are you waiting for?

She couldn't remember, and couldn't think anymore.

The man cut off her hair and dragged her to the back of the garbage truck like a heavy bag of trash.When he left, he also viciously crushed the banknotes all over the ground, as if he wanted to crush something to pieces.

The sparrow flew away long ago.The man pulled up his collar and left in a hurry.

Before long, the dirty tramp picked up money all over the floor.His bearded and grime-covered face was full of smiles.

A sparrow flew in the distance.The tramp looked at it and blew a happy whistle.

"Look!" he said triumphantly, "I'm lucky today!"

Haley stood in the porch with Jack in her arms, sending her husband off to work. Hotch bowed his head and gave Jack a kiss, then gave his wife a deep kiss. Jack hugged his mother dissatisfied and stopped his father's hooliganism.

Both Hotch and Haley laughed.

"What will he do when he grows up?" Hotch said distressedly, "Now he's robbing you."

"I'm his mother." Haley bowed her head and kissed her precious son.

"I'm your husband." Hotch said aggrievedly, "Me too."

Haley kissed her precious husband again.

Hotch, who was blessed by his beloved wife, picked up the briefcase and checked the time: "I have to go."

"Be careful on the road." Haley took Jack's hand and waved, "Jackie, say goodbye to Dad."

"Goodbye," Hotch said.He looked at his family affectionately, opened the door and walked out.But before he could close the door, the phone rang.So the act of closing the door was handed over to Haley, and Hotch picked up the phone, and his blissful expression turned cold in an instant.

"Hotch."

"This is Emily, sir," Emily said. "I just got a call. There's another body."

"address?"

Emily reported the address quickly, and Hotch heard the sound of the engine starting: "Where are you?"

"I'm rushing there," Emily said. "The police have been notified, and the forensic and scene investigators have all gone."

"What about the rest?"

"Nathan Harris' psychological evaluation is due today, and Gideon should be in the bureau. I haven't informed the others yet, so I gave you the news first, sir."

Hotch opened the car door: "Okay, I'll inform the others. You go to the scene first."

"Yes, sir."

Hotch notified the team one by one, and finally called Gideon: "Jason, are you in the bureau?"

Gideon just took a cup of coffee and didn't have time to drink it: "Yes. What?"

"We just found a body and we're about to rush over."

Gideon said: "Nathan Harris stayed at the youth counseling center and had no time to commit crimes. Suspects can be ruled out."

"Yes. Are you still doing psychological evaluations?"

"Do." Gideon took a sip of his coffee. "He needs help."

Reid also needs to help him.

As a student, he lives with guilt towards his mother and always hopes to make up for it.But what is doomed cannot be made up for.All his efforts were just atonement for the sins he had imposed.

This is what he didn't say.

"Okay, I see." Hotch said and hung up the phone.

Gideon returned to the office with coffee and a lot of thoughts, and happened to meet the gray-haired lawyer and the black-haired teenager.

Nathan peeked uneasily at the stern lawyer, who pretended not to see it.He held out his hand solemnly, and shook Gideon's hand: "Hi, Jack Johnson."

"I know you, an experienced lawyer in the bureau." Gideon shook hands with the lawyer, then opened the office door, "Come in, let's sit and talk."

The lawyer didn't move. Nathan looked at the lawyer, then at Gideon, and got an encouraging look from the latter before stepping into the office.

It was as if he had finally summoned up the courage to meet the eyes of the unknown devil in his heart.

To Nathan's surprise, the lawyer followed in and planned to sit next to him. Gideon stopped him and motioned him to sit in the corner of the office.

"He'll be nervous if you're here," Gideon said bluntly. "I agree with your presence, but I won't allow anything to spoil this assessment."

The lawyer had no choice but to curl up in the single sofa in the corner aggrievedly holding his briefcase.

Even so, Nathan kept peeking at him.For a young man, a senior who is too old has an unspeakable coercion, not to mention that it is extremely shameful to cut himself open in front of a complete stranger.

"Leave him alone," Gideon said. "Just pretend he doesn't exist. He's just promising that I won't talk to you about the case."

Nathan looked at Gideon hesitantly.

"No offense intended," Gideon said.

The lawyer shook his head.

Nathan lowered his head nervously.

The way he looked reminded Gideon of Griffith, the young man with the secret.Because of getting familiar, Griffith's attitude is no longer so awkward.

Perhaps all those who harbor secrets are so embarrassed.

And another person with a secret is being missed by his students.

The cause of the matter is this: Griffith's phone can't get through.

Of course he didn't do it on purpose, but he was involved in a small car accident when he was going out, and he was not injured. Unfortunately, the mobile phone was unlucky to get a box on the spot, so Hotch couldn't contact him.

Hearing that Griffith had lost contact, Reid couldn't help worrying that something might happen to him.Finally, Morgan couldn't stand it any longer: "Please, it's just that you didn't answer the phone. Do you need to be so nervous?"

Reid doesn't speak.He bit his lower lip lightly, his brown eyes staring absently at the rearview mirror.

Morgan started the car and said, "If I don't answer the phone, you'll just think I'm flirting with some beautiful woman? Hey!" He laughed to himself.

Reid suddenly turned his head and gave him a serious look, Morgan was taken aback by his expression: "Reid? What's wrong?"

Reid shook his head and said after a while, "You're right."

Morgan turned sideways, sizing up Reid while also paying attention to the road conditions: "Right what?"

Reid didn't speak again, staring in the rearview mirror in a daze.

It's like... Griffith's special, a little too much?