CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE: ZODIAC'S BACK !

7x11

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CASEY AND REID WERE CURRENTLY AT AN FBI SEMINAR DOWN IN ILLINOIS. Patricia Cornwell was just finishing up her part. "In the end, I just write about violent crime. The real heroes are the people here beside me. Now give a warm welcome to our next speaker, Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU."

       Casey clapped for Spencer and he turned back at her and she gave him a reassuring look that he was gonna do great. Reid stood up and took over for the panel. "Thank you. Thanks. Patricia Cornwell, ladies and gentlemen. Ms. Cornwell will be signing books at the end of the session." The microphone was now receiving feedback. "Sorry. Um... Hi. I am here today to talk to you about paraphilias and their relation to violent crime. Does anybody know what dendrophilia is?" No one said anything and just stared at Spencer. "Yes, a fet-ish for trees."

        To say that his part wasn't so good was an understatement. Casey had thought he had done well, though. She was currently getting a lot of hype from the other people at the conference. They loved speaking to her and getting her insight since she had been the youngest on the team.

        Casey finished up speaking to everyone and realized Spencer had already walked out. She walked out to the lobby and found Reid speaking to someone. The person walked off, leaving Reid by himself. Casey caught up to Reid. "Who was that?" She asked.

        "That was the founder of Nanovex." Reid told. "Nano-what?" Casey questioned. "They make magnetically responsive nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery to tumor cells." Reid told. Casey gave Reid a blank stare. "Which brings me back to the my original question: 'Nano-what?' I've never heard of that." Casey stated.

         "You will. It's gonna change the world." Reid stated. He had begun to walk off and Casey stopped him. "Hey..." She called and Reid stopped. "You know, you did good up there today." The girl assured but Reid shook his head. "You know, you don't have to lie to me." He said. "I'm not," Casey told. "You did great."

         Before Reid could respond, he had received a text message from Hotch saying that they had had a case in San Francisco, relating to the Zodiac Killer. Casey was confused since the Zodiac Killer was long gone and it looked like a copy. Hotch had ordered for Reid and Casey to meet at the crime scene with him, Emily and JJ.

         And soon enough, they had gotten there. The crime scene looked similar to one of the murders from the Zodiac Killer. They walked up to the crime scene and flashed their badges. "Have any letters or ciphers been received?" Reid questioned as they met up with Hotch, JJ, Emily and an agent in charge.

       "Agent Lin, this is Dr. Reid, Agent Willows." The woman went in for a handshake with Reid but Reid only waved at the woman and Casey shook the woman's hand instead. "How was the conference?" JJ asked. "Enlightening." Reid told, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

        "Has the unsub made any contact?" Casey asked, changing the subject. "The 'Chronicle's' website manager received two phone calls this morning. There was just heavy breathing on the other end. Like the phone calls Zodiac used to make." Agent Lin explained.

        "Can I get a physical copy of the online version of today's paper?" Reid asked. "You want a printout of the online version?" Lin asked. "Yeah, with all the comments printed out as well, if possible, thanks." Lin looked over at JJ, unsure and JJ shook her head. "Don't ask."

        Agent Lin walked off and Casey and Reid examined the crime scene. "It's not the real Zodiac." Reid was sure and Casey looked over at Hotch, Emily and JJ. "How can you be so sure?" Emily asked. "I just know it," Reid told. "Sometimes I can't really explain it."

        After investigating so forth on the crime scene, the five and Agent Lin arrived back at the PD where someone was being interviewed and claimed that their relative had been the new Zodiac Killer. "The dates match. When Zodiac stopped killed, my cousin was put in a mental hospital in Mexico. He was released 2 months ago." A man told.

        "Do you have anything more specific?" An interviewer asked. "He was working on a production of 'The Mikado' in '68. The Zodiac talked about 'The Mikado' in a letter." Casey knew this guy was full of shit and she wasn't the only one that thought so.

       "Excuse me," Reid stepped up. "I'm Dr. Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Was your cousin by chance a fan of Wagner? Because a CD of the 'Tragic Overture' was sent to the police this morning."

       The man nodded, "He loved Wagner, especially the 'Tragic Overture.' It's him." Reid nodded back and then stood next to the man and said: "Oh, yeah. Well, for the record, a CD was not sent to the police this morning, and the 'Tragic Overture' was written by Brahms, not Wagner, so luckily, I guess it's not your cousin." Casey smirked a bit at the attitude that Reid was giving.

        Reid then looked directly at the camera as he spoke. "The FBI would greatly appreciate it if people would stop making false claims to get their 15 minutes of fame. Thank you. Thank you very much." He said and walked into the building and Casey walked in behind him and caught up

        "Way to go, Reid." Casey smirked as she walked with him. Casey always liked seeing the sassy side come out of him so naturally. Reid's face heated up as Casey complimented him and tried to hide it as he cleared his throat.

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         Reid had his printed copies of the newspaper and was going over them. Casey offered to help but Reid was in his own world. Hotch had walked over to him. "Reid, how's it going?" He asked.

        "Computers slow me down, so I prefer paper, but I wasn't expecting all these comments. Where do people find the time?" Reid quieted down for a minute and then stopped. "I think I just found a cipher from the unsub. The symbols buried in the spam are the same ones the Zodiac used in his first message back in 1969." Reid explained.

         "What does it say?" Casey asked.

         "'Killing is the most fun you can have 98 minutes below the horizon in Magic City with President Garfield. Happy hunting.'" Reid recited.

          Casey had read Hotch's mind and decided to call Garcia. "The oracle is in. How may I assist?" Casey started, "Garcia, to what specific location does Magic City refer?" She asked.

         "Birmingham, Alabama." Garcia answered. "98 minutes below the horizon. Garcia, what time is sunset there, tonight?" Reid asked. "6:22." Garcia responded. "98 minutes there would be 8p.m. What's dedicated to President Garfield in San Francisco?" Reid asked.

         "President Garfield... there's a statue of him in Golden Gate Park." Garcia told. "He's attacking there next?" Casey asked. "Not too sure but just in case. We should head there tonight."

         With that, Hotch had undercover agents posed as a couple in Golden Gate Park. Casey was posted behind a couple of trees, disguising herself as she kept in contact with the team via microphone.

        "No one at the south entrance yet."
        "Copy that."

      There's a pause. "We've got a vehicle." Hotch said. "It's a lone driver." Casey watched as a man figure dressed in all black began to move towards the couple. "Move in." Casey steadied her gun as she moved in. The couple had gotten their guns out as well as Hotch and JJ. "FBI. Show me your hands."

      A man had held his hands up and he was holding a note in his hand. "Drop it." The man dropped the note. "I'm just the messenger. I'm supposed to deliver a letter." The man told as an officer put him in handcuffs. Casey grabbed the letter off the ground. "It's for Reid." She told.

      Reid gave the girl a confused look and wanted to see what was written to him. He held a hand out and Casey gave him the letter and he read: "'You're not as smart as you think you are.'"

      "Who sent it?" Hotch asked. "I don't know," The man answered. "I just deliver it to the address when I'm supposed to."

       "If the unsub's not here, where is he?" JJ questioned and little did they know, he was off killing in another nearby park and he did this just to throw them off. The team went to visit the murder site the next day.

      Casey, Emily and Reid were exploring the area and to see if the unsub left any clues behind. "It's a high vantage point." Emily said. "The victims chose it for the view, the unsub chose it so he could see if anyone was coming." Casey said and Reid's cell phone began to ring.

      Reid answered it after figuring it was Garcia. "Hey, what's up? All right, thanks, Garcia." The three stopped as JJ and Hotch came walking up. "He used the same code that was broken years ago in a riddle we cracked in seconds. He knew we'd solve it. It was a decoy."

     "No, it's a taunt. He wants to prove that he's smarter than everyone." Hotch said. "And we fell for it." Casey added. "Well, if he's trying to compete with me, then it means he's most likely within five years of my age. The question is why." Reid stated.

     "But the message might not have been meant for you, Reid." Hotch told. "A letter was hand-delivered to me last night." Reid pointed out. "The comment to the paper was written at 9:03 a.m. We weren't even in the city yet, so how would the unsub know you'd be involved in the case?" Casey questioned.

      "You did give your name to the press later that day, and you said yourself he knew we'd be in the park." JJ told. "If he's doing his best to emulate the Zodiac, killing in such quick succession would be a mistake." Emily thinks. "The shortest time span for a Zodiac was two weeks?" JJ asked. "Maybe the unsub doesn't have a choice. Maybe he's experiencing a time pressure that he has no control over." Emily tells.

       Hotch had then decided: "We're ready to give the profile."

       Everyone walked off and Casey turned and saw that Reid was still standing in the same spot. Casey had decided to stay behind to talk to him. The rest of the team was to give the profile to the PD.

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       Casey had spotted Reid in a café nearby and entered the café and Reid didn't even seem to notice her walking in and sitting in front of him. This case seemed to be really getting to him — since his 'genius energy' was now being attacked by this unsub.

       "Hey," Casey spoke as she sat in front of him. "Are you gonna tell me what's up?" Reid didn't pay attention to her and he looked at the code he was trying to decipher. "Reid, it's me. Talk to me." Reid ignored her. "Hey, we swore that we would talk to each other if we needed to. This is one of those times."

        Reid stopped as he remembered the promise they made to one another and put his own down and sighed. "Do you even wonder if you lived up to expectations?"

       Casey began to think. "Mm... I beat them. I'm almost 25 and I'm in the FBI. Pretty much all I wanted for expectations."

       "I thought I'd cure schizophrenia by the time I was 25," Reid told. "You know, when I was a kid, people told me that I could do anything." Casey tilted her head a bit. "You're afraid you've let people down?"

      "No, I'm afraid I've let myself down." Reid said.

     "By not curing schizophrenia?" Casey questioned.

     "No, just because... I don't know why I'm in the FBI." Reid admitted.

      "Ah, I see," Casey nodded. "You're a genius, but you have the same job as me, Morgan, JJ."

      "Yeah, exactly— No, that's not what I'm saying." Reid joked and Casey chuckled a bit. "It's just sometimes-- sometimes I kind of get this feeling like-- like maybe I should have done something more with my life."

      "How old are you? 29–"

      "I'm 30." Reid spat out.

       Casey gave him a dead stare. "No way. We missed your birthday?" She asked and Reid shrugged. "Well--why didn't you tell us? Now, I feel bad." Reid shook his head and Casey caught her breath, mentally making a note to make it up to Reid lately. She felt terrible to have missed his birthday — especially his 30th. It was just like yesterday they were celebrating his 24th birthday at the BAU.

       "Look, the fact of the matter is you're young. There's still time." Casey told. "By the time Nicola Tesla was 30, he'd already invented the induction motor." Reid told.

       Casey didn't like that Reid was feeling bad for himself and so she decided to use some reverse psychology on him. "You know what? You might be right." Reid looked up at Casey in confusion. "You don't hear that much about child prodigies once they grow up. In fact, most of them turn out average," Casey motioned to herself. "Exhibit A."

        Reid gave the girl a strange look and he shook his head. "That's not true. Are you trying reverse psychology with me?" Casey shrugged, "I'm just telling it like it is."

        Casey then reached over and began to try and decipher the message next. "What are you doing?" Reid asked as she reached over. She grabbed the pen next. "Well, you just told me yourself you're washed up. I should take a look at this. From one washed up child prodigy to another, right? We can figure this out together."

       "That's not what I'm saying," Reid said. "It's--seriously, what are you doing?" He silently began to panic as Casey wrote down on the paper. "I'm just looking to see what you missed."

        "Don't do--you're gonna actually mess it up. Casey-- give it back." He grabbed the paper from her and looked down at the paper and came to a realization. "Wait a minute, that's it. The real code is in the words."

        With a smirk, Casey grabbed her phone out of her pocket and decided to call Hotch. Reid gave the girl a look as she held her phone up to her ear. "Did my reverse psychology help?" She smirked and Reid looked back down at his paper. "An A++ in Psychology in high school. Advanced Placement." Casey said and Reid smiles a bit and goes back to his paper.

         Now, Hotch had been working with the two down to the post office since Reid had found the code in a China Weekly Post page. "The spam had to be converted from matrix code to binary code, then switched to base 8 before being translated back into letters. I can go into more detail if you want." Reid explained.

       "Uh, no. How smart would a person have to be to write code like that?" Hotch asked. "Beyond smart. Profoundly gifted. An I.Q. of at least 160." Reid told.

       "That changes the profile, then." Casey said as they walked into the post office. "The unsub could still hold a menial or low-level job. Many believe that beyond an I.Q. Of 120, success is determined by other factors. This is a bilingual paper. The English version should be somewhere." Reid said as he began to search for it. Casey tried to help him out and successfully found it. The code was: "You could do so much better."

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          Later after, a cab driver was found murdered and now, Reid had dived deep into investigating codes off of the paper. Casey couldn't help but feel worried. It was like he wasn't getting any rest until he found out who was responsible. She didn't know whether to be concerned or grateful. "Hey. We went through all the surveillance footage near the newspaper. There's nothing." Emily explained to the team.

         "Spence, you okay?" JJ asked. "Nothing is accidental. Nothing this unsub does is accidental. The message in the "China Weekly Post" was on page F-4. Why F-4?" Reid questioned. "That's where the classifieds were." Morgan said. "It's more than that." Reid told.

          After feeling like she should be helping him, Casey tried to persuade Reid into getting a least a little bit of a break and Casey offered to take over but Reid refused. But soon enough, he figured it out. They had all stood in front of a map on the computer as Reid read it out.

         "Can you rotate that? See, F-4 is a chess square." Reid said. "He murdered people according to a chess game?" JJ asked. "Specifically, Game 6 of Fischer versus Spassky in 1972, one of the greatest chess matches ever played. The murder locations correspond with the final three moves of the game." Hotch called Garcia up.

         "Garcia's lair of knowledge and wisdom." Garcia said. "Garcia, you have the list of Zodiac case experts?" Hotch asked. "Yes. Standing by for you. I have everyone who's ever written or blogged about it. FYI, there are way too many people obsessed with this sicko."

         "All right, cross-reference that with professional chess players." Casey told. "Oh, fair maiden, that totally helps. Yeah. Okay. List is getting smaller and smaller... Down to nothing."

        "All right, open it up to high-level amateurs as well." Hotch ordered. Garcia called back once she had something. "Get ready to love me more. I did a search of chess players rated 2,200 or higher, which would make them Masters but not necessarily professionals. I cross-referenced that search with Zodiac experts and came up with two former chess prodigies and best friends who used to write about the Zodiac in their junior high school newspaper. And I get bonus points because they both have I.Q's over 160."

        "Where are they?" Hotch asked. "In San Francisco. Caleb Rossmore is a City Parks employee. Harvey Morell is an engineer at a Chinese computer firm. He's about to get married, and, yes, I just emailed you all this information right now."

         "The fiancée Marisa Devon looks like the two female victims. They were surrogates for her." JJ pointed out. "Caleb could be jealous of his friend." Morgan thinks. "Or what if he's afraid of losing Harvey?" Emily assumes. "If he was a child prodigy, he may no longer feel special as an adult. He could be trying to hold on to him." Reid thinks. "Harvey's engagement could have been a trigger." Rossi suggests. "Reid, I know Spassky conceded the match, but what would the next move have been?" Hotch asked.

       "Spassky would have been checkmated or he would have lost his Queen."

        The team was now on the road, ready to catch up with the unsub. Casey was with Reid, Morgan and Hotch. "Spassky's Queen was in square E-8, so that would land us in Richmond. Garcia, is there a connection between that location and the two men?" Reid questioned.

        "Checking now. Uh... Bingo. Harvey's dad worked there as a chemistry teacher in the sixties. And... oh, uh, Caleb lived there in 2008. He worked at the Powerlinks Gym on Second and Hill and the Dragon Temple Restaurant at 636 Mason."

        "All right. JJ, you go to the gym. We'll check out the restaurant." Hotch told. "Copy that." JJ responded. "Zablonsky's wife recognized the photos of Caleb and Harvey. They interviewed the detective for an article they were writing about the Zodiac when they were kids." Rossi told.

       "They wrote a Crime Beat column in the newspaper." Garcia said. "One of them stole the photo left at the first crime scene." JJ told. "It had to be Caleb. The message, 'You could do so much better' in the Chinese paper was meant for Harvey." Reid told.

       "That means the original spam message was for him, too." Emily said. "But how did Caleb know that Harvey wouldn't turn him in?" Morgan asked. "Caleb has something on him or he's holding the fiancée hostage." Casey told.

       "Shut the front door," Garcia said. "They were interviewed by police in 2000 about a crime in their hometown."

       They had discovered that Harvey had murdered a child in their neighborhood and was never caught for it. The bones of the boy he murdered were in his backyard. Reid had talked Caleb down and got him to put down his gun and got Caleb to admit that Harvey killed the boy. Harvey and Caleb were both arrested in the process.

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         The team had arrived back to the BAU and the next day, Casey had set something up for Reid since she and the team had missed his birthday and they decided to make it up to him. Once Reid arrived, Casey turned the corner and made sure she stopped him. "Hey, Reid. Um, Hotch wants to talk to you."

          Reid made a face. "What's wrong?" Casey furrowed her eyebrows. "He probably wants to talk to me about why I've been kind of weird lately." Reid stated. "You are making a difference, you know, one person at a time. Whether you think so or not, you are."

         "Thank you." Hearing Casey's words put him in a better mood. "You know, I've been thinking a lot lately about why I stayed after Gideon left, why I didn't take any of those other offers." Reid said. "I realized, I don't know, there's just something incredibly right about being here, with you guys."

         "I feel the same way," Casey told. "I mean, without you guys, I probably wouldn't be here either. So, I get it." Reid nodded and Casey began to walk with him. "Well, I'm glad to hear it. Otherwise this would have been really awkward." She said. "What would have been really awkward?" Reid asked as they walked in the roundtable room. "Happy Birthday!" "Surprise!" Garcia and JJ cheered as did the rest of the team.

        Reid had a huge smile on his face as he walked into the room and JJ gave him a hug. "You guys didn't have to do all this." Reid said. "Don't look at us, it was all Casey's idea." Reid looked Casey's way as Rossi credited her.

         Casey smiled, "Guilty!" She said. "I felt really bad when I found out we missed your birthday. It didn't sit right with me that we missed it. So... I arranged this in hopes of forgiveness. A thank you would suffice but—"

         Reid immediately interrupted Casey with a big hug — which caught Casey by surprise since Reid wasn't a hugger. "Thank you." He muffled into her shirt and Casey gladly returned the hug. "Of, course."

          Reid and Casey pulled away. "Now, open my present."

hey, lovelies!

headcannon (that is very real in my head) : casey got reid a modern day dictionary lmao

guysss i really don't want criminal minds to be taken off of netflix :( and i don't have paramount+ and all seasons are on there so time for illegal websites lol

anyways thank you for reading!
i enjoyed writing this one!
lowkey excited for what's to come but also not lol
get ready for drama in a couple of chapters lol😈
-mya </3