T W E L V E

SOMETHING SPENCER RARELY was familiar with was the pestering and gnawing feeling of being stumped.

But this case left many gaps between his thoughts. And there was no way to fill it with whatever explanation he could think of. At least, not anything that made logical sense.

And Spencer Reid only found interest in what was logical.

"So you're saying there's no way to tell how long it's been?" Blake said, looking through her files once more.

The coroner shook his head, "Skin itself dries very quickly but once it's been taken off, we have no way to really tell."

"And what about gender?"

"Nothing, and there's no way to tell. Whoever did this was careful to get rid of any possible tattoos but they weren't very skilled, I can tell you that."

"Why's that?" Reid snapped from his trance, he needed information. His brain craved any detail that it could digest and process.

"Here," The coroner pointed to the edges of the skin. "They start off slow and meticulously but by the end, the cuts become jagged and quick. Any person with experience would know that you have to be slow to get the results you want."

"So they have no formal training?"

"Not at all."

Blake inquired, "But how could they have known what they do know? It must take some knowledge to do this."

"It's easy enough to find a video online. Skinning isn't an uncommon search word if you're in Biology or trying to pass 9th grade science."

But this new information didn't do enough for Spencer. He wanted to know more.

And his skin was starting to crawl because of it.

When they got back to the station, everyone was in a buzz. Lines were ringing and every office looked as if they're heads were about to explode.

He set his bag down on the table, startling Scout who was reading a file with deep concentration. Hotch has just gotten off the phone.

"What happened?" Spencer asked.

"They found the bodies."

'What was left of them, at least.' Scout thought as she went back to the board.

A civilian had called about a terrible scent in the woods after going hiking and what was though to be a bundle of dead animals were instead the skinless bodies. Morgan was sent to investigate along with Rossi.

They were all female and the sight was one to be shocked.

And the strangest thing was, they were all yellow.

"Yellow?" Reid questioned.

Scout nodded, "It looks like paint, the kind you buy at a home improvement store. Morgan said that they found 7 bodies, they're going to check if they match but they're pretty certain."

"And Garcia is getting us a list of all the missing persons." Hotch chimed in.

"And?"

"They weren't hidden. The unsub wanted us to find them."

Spencer's face turned sour, "They know we're here."

The phone rang, cutting the deep tension in the air. Scout's stomach churned when she glanced at the pictures of the body. She may be involved in some dangerous and unspeakable things but this...this was beyond what she had even imagined.

She didn't feel as brave as she was acting.

And she only hoped that they couldn't figure it out.

"O' captain, my captain. Do I have a tale to tell." Garcia's voice echoed.

"You're on speaker with Reid, Wiley, JJ, and Blake. I'll transfer in Morgan and Rossi."

"So, you might want to write down these names because, oh boy, our fella did not play nice with anyone."

"Stella Rosen, Becca Berkeley, Janice Gelaquin, Amy Fitzgerald, Jacquline Castro, Virginia Zapatista, and Sara Province. They all range between 21 to 30."

Scout spoke, "Garcia, do we know of any of them we're apart of the LGBT+ community?"

"Negative, Amy was an out bisexual and Virginia had a girlfriend but Stella, Becca, Jacquline, and Sara all had boyfriends and Janice was married."

Scout sighed, her theory was blown and left in fragments. Now, she had nothing to base off her theory.

"We're they all reported missing?" Blake asked.

"Yep, Janice was the first one. She was reported by her husband about 2 months ago."

"So this hasn't been going on for long?"

Hotch stepped in, "We can't assume that, let's go off on what we have now and work our way down. Start with Janice and see if we can find a connection between all 7 females."

Spencer nodded and immediately started to pull out his laptop, typing away the information he had.

'But why yellow?' Scout thought to herself.

"You okay?" JJ came up behind her, a stack of papers in hand.

Scout nodded, "Yeah, just a bit flustered."

"I know, your first assignment can be overwhelming but you shouldn't let it get you down. We all have to start somewhere, right?"

"I just don't think anyone likes working with me, to be honest."

"Why's that?" JJ's eyebrow flutter together in confusion.

She shrugged, "I'm sure Blake and Rossi don't like working with a kid like me and Morgan just seems so hardcore, and Dr. Reid just pretends like I don't exist. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this team."

"Dr. Reid? Please, you guys are the same age and he always lives in his little bubble when he thinks this long. And I'm sure the rest of the team just needs time to warm up to you as I'm sure you need time to warm up to them. Don't give up on the team and I'm sure they won't give up on you."

Scout nodded, "Thanks, I needed to hear that."

"No problem, now hang up this pictures on the board. Garcia just faxed them over to us, it's the pictures of the girls."

And Scout immediately went to it.

But there was nothing she could see where the victims overlapped. They all ranged in ethnicities and features, leaving the only thing they shared being the state that they lived in. In both sense of the word: Indiana and dead.

Scout wrote down underneath the picture of each girl what factors she believed to be important. Stella was IT manager, Becca was physical education coach, Janice was a plumber, Amy as a telemarketer, Jacquline worked in the lumberyard, Virginia as a mailroom deliverer, and Sara was an engineer student.

They all had good jobs and were well paid but not outrageously that it would be about money. None had children and lived alone or with someone they had a friendship with or relationship with. They were all average, hardworking women.

And it clicked.

Scout glanced at Spencer, he was in deep thought and it was almost time to leave for the night. Everyone looked like they're brains had been fried to a crisp.

"Reid?"

Nothing.

"Reid?" She said louder.

Again, nothing.

"Hey, Spence?"

And the genius' head flick up, with no warning. His eyes looked bloodshot it his body showed no signal of slowing down.

"Can-can I borrow your laptop for a quick second?"

Spencer looked curious, "What?"

"I mean, I just need to check something. It'll be really quick, I swear."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, go ahead." Reid pushed his computer away and stood up with his empty cup of coffee.

"I'll just go and get myself another cup. You want one?"

"No, I hate coffee." Scout muttered, typing into the search engine.

"Oh."

And left without saying another word, tapping his short nails against the cold ceramic. His hair flew into his face but he quickly tucked it back, an old habit from when he had longer hair.

He silently kicked himself, knowing that he should've said more.

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