CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX: GAMBLE IT ALL AWAY !

7x13

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THE TEAM HAD A CASE DOWN IN ATLANTIC CITY. Home of the poker players and gamblers. Casey couldn't help but notice that Garcia wasn't presenting the case and she was late this morning. She was never late.

"Danny Savino, the floor manager at the Sapphire Lady Casino in Atlantic City was found dead in his office this morning." Hotch presented. "Blunt force trauma to the head. An empty wallet and money clip left next to the body." Rossi told and as Casey sipped from her cup of coffee, she noticed a disheveled Garcia walking in the room.

"Mug shot. This guy's got a record." Morgan says. "Savino was a member of the Agnoli crime family." Rossi told and Garcia apologizes for being late. "Sorry. Sorry." She takes a spot in between Casey and JJ.

"How's the head?" JJ whispers to Garcia. "Not all the aspirins in all the pharmacies..." Garcia whispers. Morgan waves at Garcia and she avoids eye contact with him. Makes it look a little suspicious and Casey couldn't help but notice.

"It looks like a robbery gone bad. Why was the BAU called in?" Emily asks. "Eight one-dollar bills surrounding an 8 card. That's highly ritualistic." Reid points out. "And because Savino has ties to organized crime, agents in New Jersey are worried about things escalating." Hotch explains.

"Well, it doesn't take much to ignite a mob war." Casey says. "And collateral damage means nothing to these guys." Rossi adds. "If we don't get a handle on this soon, innocent people are gonna die."

With that, the team headed onto the jet, engaging conversation about their favorite gangster flicks. "No question. Godfather II, hands down." Emily tells. "No, no, gotta be Scarface." Morgan voices.

"Bronx Tale, come on!" Casey added.
"For me, The Untouchables. Spence?" JJ asks.

"Mm, probably Le Cercle Rouge, the 1970s French classic. But Den Tredje Vaagan is definitely a close second." Reid tells. "Yeah, that was my runner-up, too." Emily chuckles.

"What about you, Rossi? Best ever gangster flick." JJ tells. "I've had too much of the real thing to be a fan of mob movies." Rossi answers. "I'm not even surprised with that answer." Casey comments.

"Garcia, did we get the crime scene surveillance video yet?" Hotch asks Garcia on the laptop screen. "No, sir, because there wasn't any."

"That's not possible. Every inch of the casino is surveilled every minute of every day." Reid tells. "Yeah. Apparently the footage was tampered with, so..." Garcia says.

"All right. Reid and Prentiss, go to the crime scene. Dave, you, Willows and JJ find out if Savino was involved in anything the local authorities don't know about." Casey nods over to Rossi and JJ. "Morgan and I will contact the local FBI office and arrange a ceasefire with the families."

Casey, JJ and Rossi went to chat with a man named Vince Repeti since he cooperated with the BAU before. They found out new information that they were going to the deliver to their team.

"Savino purposely bypassed the standard casino security." Emily said as soon as the three walked into an office with the rest of the team. "And I think we know why." Rossi said. "Danny Savino supplemented his income by loaning money to casino patrons." JJ explained.

"It explains why he changed the camera in his office. He didn't want his bosses to know he was freelancing." Reid stated. "So we're looking for a gambler." Hotch told. "A gambler in Atlantic City." Emily says. "Needle meet haystack." Casey crosses her arms.

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A day later, a prostitute was found murdered in a parking lot. And soon enough, another body was found and a day later, another body was found. Eight dollars and an 8 card found on all bodies.

They discovered a private gambling establishment right around the corner from where the last body was found. And it would be happening later in the afternoon. Agent Goslin walked into the room with news. "Forensics got a fingerprint match on the last victim. Eddie Langdon. We're looking into him."

"Hey, any luck?" JJ asked Hotch as he walked into the room. "No, they don't want to allocate agency funds for the buy-in. I'm still working on it." Hotch shook his head. "Well, I can't imagine why not. We're only asking for 50,000 bucks of taxpayer money so that FBI agents can play Texas Hold 'Em." Rossi stated.

   "Hey, what about you?" Emily asked. "What about me what?" Rossi asked. "You could stake us the buy-in." Emily told. "Yeah, you're a best-selling author." Reid joined in, sitting next to Casey. "No." Rossi answered.

"Well, why not?" Casey whined. "You got more money than any of us. Spare some, Mr. Krabs." Rossi looked the girl's way. "One, it's against regulations, and I'd like to hold on to this job for a little while longer."

"It's a minor administrative violation." JJ tells. "And two, I prefer to spend my money on actual things, like single-malt scotch, a fine cigar, beautiful artwork." Rossi finishes.

Emily smiles, "Poker chips are things." Reid nods along. "Maybe just think of it as like a new experience. I mean, at your age, how often does that happen?"

Rossi turns his head and furrows his brows. "At my what?" Reid turns away from Rossi, avoiding eye contact.

"Rossi, this may be our only chance to get this guy." JJ tries. Rossi gives in and sighs. "All right. Fine. I'm a decent poker player. But I can't promise that I can stay in the game long enough to--"

Casey interrupts Rossi once she gets an idea. "You know what? I bet you're a great poker player, really Rossi, I bet. But what if we sent in Reid? I mean, no offense but he's got twice the brains none of us have." Casey tells.

"I am banned from casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin, and Parump because of my card-counting ability." Reid nods, thinking Casey's idea is a great idea. "Look, I know I'm not a genius like the boy wonder here, but poker is not Blackjack. It's about bluffing, reading human nature, head games. It's not math." Rossi tells.

"That's not entirely accurate," Reid stands up and walks over to the board. "There actually is a mathematical equation for knowing when to raise and when to fold. If P represents the size of the pot at the time of play, then P times N minus one, with N representing the estimated number of players in the final round of betting--"

Rossi interrupts Reid. "Okay, fine. I surrender." He gives in and looks at Reid. "Just try not to lose all of my money." Reid snaps his fingers and nods.

"It's Reid, if anything he's gonna double up your money." Casey tells.

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        So, Reid was going in undercover and the team was standing by on their stakeout. Casey and Emily in charge of trying to fit the physical appearance of the profile. "Some of these guys have records, but the don't fit the profile." Emily pointed out. "Keep looking, he's gotta be there." Hotch said. "Gotta be somewhere." Casey tells.

        "The last victim, Eddie Langdon, was wearing a watch that was much too big for his wrist." Hotch remembered. "Could it be stolen?" Emily asked. "Or it was a gift from the unsub." Hotch says. "That fits, given the care and remorse for the victim." Casey adds.

        "Okay, the link is set. As soon as Reid triggers the alarm, we can move in." Emily says and Casey throws a thumbs-up at Emily.

        Soon enough, Reid triggers the alarm walking in and Garcia had called up Morgan. "Okay, got something for you." Morgan holds up the phone. "All right, talk to me, mama."

       "Eddie Langdon. High school dropout, lots of odd jobs, never married, lived at transient-type hotels in and around Atlantic City. Started his own plumbing supply business that went bankrupt. Was in jail for six months in 2005 for forgery, and that's why we were able to get a match on his prints so fast." Garcia explained.

      "You've always been fast, baby girl." Morgan tells and there's a pause from Garcia. No witty or sassy comeback. "Uh, yeah. Gotta go." Garcia hangs up.

       Morgan looks over at a curious Casey. "Do you know what's up with her?" He asks and Casey shrugs. "Beats me." Truth was, Casey knew what was up. Earlier, Casey called Garcia up and noticed how she had been acting and Garcia replied with, "I hate profilers". And so, Garcia spilt the beans about how she had had too much to drink the other night and she had no clue if her and Morgan had slept together because she woke up to Morgan showering in her apartment and it was making her question everything since she was still with Kevin and such. Casey had encouraged for Garcia to talk to Morgan once they got back. And so far, she wasn't doing a good job at talking.

        Casey had watched over the cameras at every move Reid was making. His poker skills were definitely put to the test at this one. Soon enough, Reid triggered the alarm and they knew that was their go. "That's Reid. Let's go." The four exited the van they were staking out in.

       They walk into the private establishment and Hotch points at a guard leading Reid out. "He's an FBI Agent." The guard lets go of him as Reid points ahead. "There he goes. Plaid shirt, baseball hat." He tells.

       The unsub is rushing to get out of there in the back as the team follows him. "Morgan, Willows, he's a white male, baseball cap, he's headed towards the back door. He's on the move." Emily orders but unfortunately, the unsub had made a quick getaway. Too quick.

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      Fortunately enough, a man by the name of Curtis Banks had been caught as their unsub. He was a friend of Eddie Langdon. And Banks' father was a compulsive gambler and the father abandoned the family and ended up dead six months later in a Las Vegas hotel room. Drank himself to death. They had gotten an address and they were close to being successful until Curtis killed himself right in front of the team.

      Casey had finished filling out her side of the paperwork and was ready to go home when suddenly, Garcia had come out of her lair with Kevin by her side. "False alarm." Garcia told the girl. "False alarm?" Casey asked.

      "Text you later." Garcia mouthed and Casey chuckled and shook her head at Garcia.

      Casey began to walk out of the building when she heard her name being called. "Hey, Casey!" The girl spun around and saw Reid was jogging towards her. "Oh, hey!" Casey smiled.

      "So, I have an extra ticket to a theatre show on the 2nd; 'Moulin Rouge' and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me. We can get coffee, take the bus there and maybe hang out afterwards? I hear they have this showing at a museum about the Mona Lisa." Reid explained, trying to invite Casey to hang out.

      Casey nods, "Yeah, that sounds—" She then realized she had something that weekend. "Wait." Reid's smile faltered as Casey closed her eyes and said the word.

     "Sawyer's coming into town on that weekend. I'm sorry, I would've totally gone with you but... you get it." Reid nodded at Casey's words. "Yeah-yeah, I get it."

      Truth was, he didn't get it. He'd never been a relationship before. I mean, you could count Lila and the bartender girl but those were just flings. Casey was the one experienced in the relationships because she had been in them before. Reid never had a stable relationship like that before.

      "I'm sorry, again." Casey told. "Rain check?" She asked and Reid nodded, disappointingly. "Yeah." Casey waves at Reid. "I'll see you later." With that, she leaves and Reid watches her go.

       Reid looked down at the tickets in his hands and sighed. He bought one for her. He wanted her to go with him. Actually, he didn't buy it specially for her but he bought in hopes that Casey would go with him. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case. She wasn't able to go.

       Maybe next time... He thought.

hey, lovelies!
ik this was kinda short and rushed but oh well

reid when casey says she has plans: 🥲

drama will be coming up soon!😈

reid in this episode: 😍

also
"all too well" is literally reid and casey's song
change my mind lol
are there any specific songs you think of with reid and casey????
-mya </3