CHAPTER THREE: TRACEY LAMBERT !

3x08
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IT WAS THE AVERAGE DAY AT THE BAU. Casey had been filling out some paperwork and she had been halfway done when she looked up and noticed Penelope strolling through her desk — multiple times, I might add and Casey knew she had something on her mind.

    Casey had finally decided to give in once the clacking of Penelope's heels grew tired in her ears. She put her pen down and looked up and Penelope's eyes sparkled. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Garcia?" She asked and Penelope stood in front of her desk. "I met a guy." She smiled.

"Really? Where? What's his name? Give me all the dirty details." Casey said, sitting up now. "His name is James, I met him at the coffee shop. Smoking hot." Penelope described and Casey smirked, "Was it like a meet-cute?" She asked. "I fixed his computer and he gave me his number in return. Can you believe it? A complete stranger."

"Well, I'm happy for you, Pen." Casey smiled. "This never happens. Not to me. What if I mess it up?" Casey could tell that Penelope was beginning to overthink. "Pen, you have a beautiful soul, along with a beautiful heart. Who wouldn't want you? You're hot." Casey says.

She then turns her attention to JJ walking fast towards the round table room and Morgan following behind her. "Case?" She asks. "Yup." Morgan answers. "How bad?" Casey asks. Morgan turns to her and says: "Florida."

Casey closes her eyes: "Oh, golly." She stands and follows Morgan and the rest into the room as JJ already has the crime scene photos on the screen and presents the case to them.

    "Bridgewater, Florida. Local girl, Abbey Kelton, 19, left her parents' home to go to the local junior college. She never came home. 3 days later, joggers found her-- part of her--" JJ presses the button and reveals the picture of half of the woman's body. "In a nearby park."

    "What did that to her?" Prentiss asks. "Bridgewater's off of I-75, which is often referred to as 'Alligator Alley' for reasons that are now apparent. Everything below the waist had been eaten." JJ explains.

     "Ah, the circle of life." Rossi comments. "Suddenly, I don't feel so guilty about my alligator wallet." Emily adds on.
     "Alligators didn't cut off her fingers, slit her throat, or carve this into her chest." Hotch slides a picture over to Morgan and Casey peeks and sees that a pentagram is carved into her chest. "An inverted pentagram." Morgan says. "Locals believe the killing was committed by a satanic cult." JJ added. "Some things never change." Rossi says.

"But killer satanic cults don't exist. They were debunked as a suburban myth, right?" Casey looked around and saw that all eyes were on her and a look on Rossi's face confused her. "What?" She asks.
"Rossi's the one that debunked them." Reid informs to the girl. Rossi nods, raising his eyebrows. "Oh, right. Thanks." Casey says.

"Aren't you supposed to be an expert on my books? I send one to you every single year on your birthday." Rossi tells. "I don't really read as much anymore. Can't even read the morning paper anymore because of how early I get here." Casey jokes and Rossi gives a smile over at the girl.

"Cult or not, the killing was ritualized." Rossi continued. "This will turn serial if it hasn't already."

JJ begins to speak. "So killer satanic cults don't exist, but satanic serial killers do?"

Rossi stands from his seat. "Lasciate ogni speranza ch'entrate." He says and walks out of the room. "Oh, thanks for clearin' that up." JJ replies. "Uh, it's from Dante's Inferno." Reid answers. "'Abandon hope, all ye who enter here'." Casey recites. "So that was a yes." JJ assumes. "A big yes." Hotch nods.

The team had headed on the jet and looked over the case as they went on. Casey sat over next to Prentiss as they continued with the case. "But we never found any evidence of a killer satanic cult. In reality, there are only two types of violent satanic criminals." Rossi explained.

"Uh, type one-- teen satanists assume the satanic identity to rebel. Minor crimes, theft and vandalism to churches, schools, symbols of authority. When combined with drugs and alcohol, they may turn violent." Reid explained out. "Yes, in extreme cases, deadly." Rossi adds and gives a look to Reid. "That was out of my book word for word."

"Oh, trust us, we know." Morgan nodded and Casey smiled and then looked back into her lap. "Uh, killings are accidental, usually resulting from their hobby getting out of control. Killings won't turn serial--"

"Hey, Reid." Reid probably would've continued if Morgan hadn't shut him down. Casey actually liked listening to Reid talk. She probably could've listened to it all day if she wanted to. "Sorry." Reid squeaked over to Rossi.

"Okay, so that's one type. What's type two?" Emily asks Rossi. "The adaptive satanist is the one you have to worry about. The typical serial killer rationalizing his fantasies by blaming them on outside forces."
"Like Satan." JJ states.
"Yes," Rossi nods. "He adapts satanic beliefs to fit his specific homicidal drives. He doesn't kill because he believes in Satan. He believes in Satan because he kills."

"Well, let's hope it's the teenagers," Hotch says, causing Casey to look over at him. "Whether you're religious or not, the presence of satanic elements can affect even the most experienced investigators. And we're not immune, So keep an eye on the locals and keep an eye on each other."

"I hear you," JJ says. "I saw The Exorcist."
"My mother took us to church every sunday until I moved out. This whole Devil thing doesn't spook me at all." Morgan says "Maybe that's because you never truly bought the God part either." Reid spoke, causing Casey to look up again.

Morgan had given Reid a look that definitely said 'cut it out'. "No offense, kid, but you don't know what I believe." He said. "Well, I mean, logic dictates that if you believe in the one, you have to reconcile existence of the other." Reid explains.

"What if you're confused?" Casey asked, gaining looks from her team. "I mean, what if you believe there's something out there but you don't know if it's just a coincidence or a miracle?" Casey didn't know what to believe when it came to religion. There was always a saying she had heard growing up: God never gives you more than you can handle. Then why was everything hard for Casey growing up? Why did her family have to fall apart before she could even speak? Why did she go through what she went through in high school? Why did her Uncle Gideon leave?

"People's reaction to Satan is what gives it appeal to these offenders." Hotch continued. "It has power, And it would be a mistake to underestimate it."

The team had landed and separated. Casey had gone with Hotch, Prentiss and Reid down at the medical examiner's office to check out the body of Abbey Kelton. "We found Abbey's car at a gas station near her home. No sign of foul play." The detective spoke, a cigar hanging from his mouth as he did so. "Dr. Fulton?"

"The gators got to her sometime during the night," The doctor began. "Her nose was broken at least 48 hours prior."
"About the time of the abduction." Emily stated. "Blitz attack." Hotch added. "What was the cause of death?" Reid asked. "Her throat," The doctor answered. "It was cut roughly eight hours prior to the discovery of the body."

Casey looked up. "Was there, uh, any sign of sexual assault?" She asked. "State of the body makes that impossible to determine." The doctor answered. "The pentagram?" Hotch asks. "That was done postmortem." The doctor told. "And the fingers?"
"All severed at the first knuckle."
"When?"
"I was unsure when the fingers were removed until I found this..." Dr. Fulton grabbed a bowl and held it out, placed it down and didn't want to look at it. "The contents of her stomach. The condition indicates they were fed to her just prior to her death."

"All 10 fingers." Reid says. "Well, this just got even more sinister." Casey commented.

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Hotch had figured out that the fingers in Abbey Kelton's stomach weren't hers, but six index fingers. He had figured out that the unsub was sending a message. 'She's not my first'.

        Detective Jordan had gotten a phone call about a Tracey Lambert going missing and she was last seen at the Inlet State Park restroom. Casey had decided to go with Rossi and Prentiss and had gotten her gloves on as she entered the bathroom.

      "So yesterday afternoon, Tracey Lambert told her roommate she was going for a hike." Emily remembered. "He was waiting for her." Rossi said. "Blitz attack, probably like Abbey Kelton's at the gas station." Casey said.

      Rossi had opened one of the stall doors and looked over back at Prentiss and Casey. "Our, um, unsub was likely in a mental institution." Both of the women furrowed their eyebrows. "Why do you say that?" Casey asked. "One neat aspect." The two check the stall that Rossi is looking in and see that books are piled neatly against one another.

      "The severely mentally ill have chaos all around them. When institutionalized, they're given order, taught to keep their rooms clean and neat. When discharged, they stop taking their meds. Their minds fall back into chaos, but often they do one thing to keep some order back into it." Rossi tells.

      "Ok. I'll call Garcia, tell her to check state mental records." Emily says, pulling her phone out. 

       Casey felt at the pit of her stomach that this wasn't gonna end well but she kept the thought to herself. Maybe if she didn't say anything about her gut feeling, it would go away. But that was the thing, her gut feeling was never wrong.

       The team had organized a Volunteer Sign-Up for a search party for Tracey. The priest, Father Marks, had been all for it and the people from the church had come, helping to find Tracey Lambert. But no such luck had come.

      Casey had gotten back to the station and heard her phone ring and furrowed her brows, wondering who could be calling her. She checked the Caller ID and picked up. "Garcia?" She asked. "I'm still running the particulars of our homicides through vicap, nothing so far." Garcia informs.

       "Okay, I think Emily just sent you the volunteer search list." Casey said. "Okay and I'm cross-checking the names against mental institution records." Garcia told. "Pay attention to individuals who were involuntarily committed in Florida. Rossi's convinced our unsub is the type that likes to stick close to home." Casey told.

        "Look at you, future agent." Garcia comments and Casey smirks. "And I got it. Talk to you later." Before she hung up, Casey had stopped her from doing so.

        "Hey, Garcia, you normally call Morgan about this type of stuff. Is everything alright with you two?" Casey asked in curiousness. "God, I hate profilers." Casey heard the frown on her face. "Okay, come on, spill it. What's going on, Pen?"

         "You know that guy I told you about? The smoking hot one I met at the coffee shop?" Penelope reminded. "I vaguely remember how you described him, yeah." Casey nodded. Penelope began to explain about how she told Morgan and asked him for advice and he told her to blow him off and so she took his advice and now, she was mad at him.

         "Okay, that's your mistake right there. You don't ask your guy friends for advice. From now on, call me when you need advice on a guy." Casey told. "Did you call the guy?"

         "Yeah, I did, but was it a good idea? I mean, what if Morgan was right about him?" Casey shook her head. "Pen, don't worry about Morgan. You are gonna go on that date tonight. Whether you like it or not, missy. You are gonna get snazzed up, you're gonna look sexy and you are gonna rock this guy's world! And if he doesn't like you, screw him! You hear me? I will take care of Morgan."

        "Thanks, fair maiden." Casey knows she got Penelope's smile back on her face. "No problemo, Pen." With that, she hung up and then fixated a gaze on Morgan and glared at him as she approached him.

Morgan had been confused to why she was giving him this look. "What?" He asked. Casey looked at him in the eyes. "When a woman tells a man about her feelings, she doesn't want him to fix her. She wants him to shut up and listen." With that, she walked away.

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Because of Rossi, Morgan had gone to a church where another body was discovered in the chapel, also in half, like Abbey Kelton. Hotch had come to the conclusion that she was put in a freezer because he thinks that the unsub is a cannibal.

The doctor had then confirmed that she was indeed frozen and his other message besides 'She isn't my first' was 'I'm eating them'. Garcia had called and let them know that Hazelwood Mental Institution was for 'Florida's most dangerous kinds of wackos' as Garcia put it and they had a fire in 1998 that destroyed all their records.

Hotch had taken Reid and Casey with him as they had driven down to the institution and were greeted by an elderly man. "As I told Agent Jareau on the phone, we have no existing record of that patient you described." The man, also known as Dr. Nash, stated.

"But your records only go back as far as 1998. We were hoping that perhaps you would remember him?" Hotch said. "I'm sorry, I don't." Dr. Nash told. "Jim Lorenz was in charge of the adolescents."

Casey exchanged a look with Hotch and then to Reid and asked the question. "I'm sorry, adolescents?" She repeated.

"Only reason we release a patient this disturbed is if he had been admitted as a minor and turned eighteen." Dr. Nash said. "Could we speak to Dr. Lorenz?" Hotch asked.

Dr. Nash had a sorrowful look on his face. "He died in the fire." He informed. "He was leaving when he heard the alarm. He came back inside... and became trapped."

Casey exchanged a look with Hotch once more. "Why would he come back?" Hotch asked. "He was a very dedicated man." Dr. Nash stated.

"Could it be because there was something in his office that he felt was worth risking his life for?" Reid questioned and there was a look written upon the man's face. "Dr. Nash?" Hotch asked.

"There is something," He admitted and leaned back in his seat and looked through a cabinet. "The grounds people found it in a tree just below his office. Jim, uh, must have thrown it out of his window just before he..." He handed a leather book to Reid and he examined through it since he was a quick reader. "I started reading. I had to s-stop."

"'The--' uh, 'The patient's symptoms go far beyond normal psychosexual, oral biting fixation of a typical 7-year-old boy.'" As Reid read, Hotch had dialed Rossi's number to tell them they had something.

"Rossi, we've got something. I need a name, Reid." Hotch told. "'Admitted after biting a large piece of flesh out of his 9-month-old sister.'" Reid continued. "A name." Hotch ignored what he had been reading.

"'Believes he is possessed by a flesh-Eating demon.'" 
"Reid, the name, damn it." Casey spoke.
"Floyd Feylinn Ferrel." Reid stated.

They had taken Floyd into custody and everything about him just seemed odd to Casey. He kind of terrified her, if she was being honest. Morgan had tried to speak with him but he refused and decided that he only wanted to speak with Father Marks.

Casey watched as Morgan had gotten Father Marks to come to the station to 'talk' to Floyd. Morgan decided that he still wanted to do most of the talking.

"Thank you for comin', father." Floyd said.

"Anything I can do to--" Morgan stopped Father Marks from speaking. "Floyd, I had to pull some serious strings to get him here. My bosses didn't like the idea at all of sendin' him in. Now, they're gonna allow him to sit right here and listen, but you're gonna talk to me, all right?" Morgan explained and Floyd obliged. "I've done some really bad things." Floyd said.

"Everybody's done things they're not proud of, Floyd. The only thing that helps is to talk about 'em, tell other people. Things are always better after you talk about 'em." As Morgan continued to speak with Floyd, Casey looked down at the sign-up sheet and noticed that Floyd's name was on the sheet but not on the list of searchers. "Not everything." Floyd spoke.

"This is odd," Casey spoke and looked over at Hotch. "When he entered the park, Feylinn signed the volunteer sign-in sheet, but his name's not on the list of searchers." Rossi had examined the sheet beside Casey and confirmed: "She's right."

"Come on, Floyd," Morgan spoke. "I got him here like you asked. Now it's your turn. Tell us. Where is Tracey Lambert?"

That feeling creeped up again in Casey's gut. "Something's wrong." She said.

"Father, I feel so alone. I feel like God has abandoned me." Floyd said and Morgan gave him a nod to speak. "You are not alone, my son."

Casey looked down and saw that he had signed up and saw just under the sheet, had signed up to be the volunteer cook band everything pieced together. "Hotch, we need to stop the interview right now." She told.

"God is in all of us."

"So is Tracey Lambert." Floyd smirked.

Casey looked up and saw that Father Marks had leapt across the table and tried to grab Floyd by his collar and Rossi and Hotch entered as them and Morgan pulled Father Marks out of the room.

"He was feeding the volunteers."

After that, Floyd was taken into a mental institution for the rest of his life and the meat from the chili he made with Tracey Lambert's body, was taken in to be examined.

Even though the case had been over, the whole jet ride home, the pit in Casey's stomach lingered. She thought that when they had solved the case, it would've gone away. But it was still there. Meaning that something else was wrong, Casey just didn't know what it was yet.

hey, lovelies!
by far one of the best criminal minds episodes!
i really enjoyed writing this out!!
thank you for reading 🥺
quick warning: angst in the next chapter and if y'all have watched s3, y'all know the next episode after this one!
-mya <3