Chapter Text
“It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality.”
― Virginia Woolf
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“JJ, Reid. Conference room, now.”
Hotch’s brisk voice jolted Reid out of his thoughts on Virginia Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness in her writings and glanced up to meet JJ’s eyes from across his desk.
“I hear it’s a weird one.” The blonde gestured at the departing team leader heading into the room with their new case.
Reid raised his eyebrows, “It’s always a weird one.”
JJ laughed and got to her feet.
“Well, this guy kills with magic apparently so maybe it’ll be weird enough to perk your interest, huh?”
Reid smiled and a spark lit up in his eyes. JJ could tell that one of Dr. Reid’s many fun facts were coming before her friend even opened his mouth.
“You know, even Harry Houdini was quick to denounce those who believed in the supernatural. He would offer a $10,000 reward to any psychic who could prove to him evidence of the supernatural and he pushed to have fortune telling banned.”
“No, Spence, I didn’t know that.”
Morgan had come up behind Reid and JJ while they were talking and he clapped a hand on Reid’s shoulder.
“What’s the hold up? Boy genius got you caught up in a history lesson?”
JJ’s laugh and Reids protests trailed behind the three agents as they made their way into the conference room to learn about their new case. Rossi, Hotch, Emily and Garcia were already gathered and as the three newcomers found their seats, Garcia stood to give the case presentation. An image of a young white man with mid length blondish brown hair in his early twenties popped up on the screen and Garcia began her speal.
“Meet Jason Gray, born and raised in New York. A Cornell University computer science graduate who split most of his time between being a private contract IT consultant and self-employed game developer.” Last week he was attending a local game convention in Ithaca when he disappeared. The two friends he was with say that one moment he was right beside him and the next, he was gone. It was like magic”.
Morgan crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows.
“Maybe he just got lost in the crowd, busy location like that, there’s a lot to keep track of.”
“No, my sugar plum, when I say he disappeared, I mean he disappeared.”
Garcia pressed a button on her remote and a video was pulled up onto the screen. The feed was clearly from a security camera and the footage showed a crowded room full of eager video game fans and creators visiting various booths and excitedly talking to others. Garcia pulled out a laser light and pointed the light at a trio of three young men standing slightly apart from the rest of the crowd.
“The one on the left is Jason. Watch him carefully, my pretties.”
The video continued and the team watched as the three men chatted animatedly, albeit with no sound. All of a sudden, there was a slight glitch in the video where the screen went black for just a millisecond, but when it had passed, the man on the left was gone. The two men he had been with stared at the spot he had stood for a moment and then began looking around them, seeming to begin calling out for their friend. Garcia closed the video and continued.
“Jason was reported missing a couple hours after this video. His body was found last night on Gardiners Island, over three hundred miles away from where he disappeared.”
Pulling up another photo on the screen, Garcia took a breath and then nodded to Hotch before taking a seat next to Emily. Hotch stood and gestured at the photo on the screen. The dirty blonde hair on the body in the photo showed the team that this was the body of Jason Gray but there was little else that they could make out that resembled the previously unscathed young man. There were dark bruises covering the majority of his face and neck. They likely continued down under his clothing which was torn and haphazardly barely clinging to his body. His feet were bare and covered in dirt and dried blood. His hands were the same. This man had not experienced a kind fate.
“An autopsy was completed on Jason Gray and we’ve received confirmation that he was severely beaten on multiple occasions as well as experienced repeated and violent sexual assault. This all would lead us to believe that the Unsub is both a physical and sexual sadist, however the COD was simply a gunshot to the back of the head.”
Rossi studied the photo and voiced his thoughts.
“Why would the Unsub put so much effort into hurting and humiliating his victim just to end things so quickly?”
The room was quiet for a moment and then Morgan broke the silence.
“He disposed of him when he had had enough with him. He doesn’t consider him worth taking his time once he’s finished.”
Emily nodded.
“He served his purpose so the Unsub washed his hands of him.”
Hotch cleared his throat and nodded to Garcia who pressed another button on her remote, pulling up five more images of similar looking men.
“Jason Gray is the latest of six victims. The first was Markus Davidson, taken from Watkins Glen on a hike with his family, second: Ethan Jones, from a football game. James Meridian, a grocery store, Andrew Holland, a parking lot. Will Sanders from outside his workplace.”
“All in public places where a struggle would be plainly visible.” JJ said thoughtfully.
Hotch nodded and continued.
“The local police are calling the Unsub ‘The Illusionist’. Security footage at all of the initial crime scenes have been tampered with and show the victims seemingly disappearing into thin air. He seems to have a system where he takes a new victim and drops their body a week later. Three days later, the next victim disappears. He has not deviated from this so we have two and a half days until the next victim is taken. We have to act fast. Wheels up in 20. Garcia, you’re going to join us. We need someone to look at the security footage and figure out how the Unsub is altering it.”
The team all rose to their feet and made their way out of the room. Morgan lingered behind, still looking at the six faces of the victims. They all bore a strong resemblance to each other, and to someone else Morgan knew. Reid.