"Here we go." Fleur put some baked goods on everyone's desks.

"This is why you're my best friend." Elijah hummed.

"Hope you all enjoy." Fleur chuckled.

"I'm sure we will." Morgan picked up a croissant.

"Reid, are you still playing with yourself?" Elijah turned to him.

"What?" Morgan blinked.

"He's still playing chess against himself." Elijah pointed.

Morgan sighed and turned around.

"It helps my brian work faster, by being both competitors I can see how the other will think." Reid explained.

"So... How do you actually play chess?" Elijah asked.

"You don't know?"

"Not at all."

"Eli, you literally played it with me last week." Morgan turned.

"Oh, I didn't know what I was doing." Elijah shook his head,"I was just moving things and stealing your pieces when you weren't looking."

Fleur laughed and shook her head as Gideon came down, moving one of Reid's pieces.

"Check. Checkmate in three moves."

Reid furrowed his brow, looking down at his chessboard confused,"What?"

"You know, you'll beat him when you start learning." Morgan put his newspaper down.

"Learning what?" Reid looked over at him.

"How to think outside of the box." Fleur tapped her head.

Reid looked back at the chessboard as Elle walked down the stairs,"Question for you."

"Try me." Elijah turned to her.

"The Footpath Killer. Why did he stutter?" Elle shrugged.

"Come on, Elle. We've all asked him and he won't say." Morgan shook his head.

"He wants us to figure it out." Fleur leaned back in her seat.

Elijah blinked,"Maybe there is no reason."

"Well, whatever the reason is, I'm up for a challenge." Elle hummed.

"Good. Because these go to you." A blonde walked in, placing a bunch of files on Elle's desk,"Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. JJ if you'd like."

"I like her." Elijah pointed.

"Elle." She shook JJ's hand.

"Greenaway. Highest number of solved cases in Seattle for the past three years. Speciality in sex offender cases, you previously worked with Agent Howards before she came to the BAU."

"Not bad." Elle nodded.

"You know your stuff, JJ." Elijah smiled at her.

"Well, I'm the unit liason. My specialty is untangling bureaucratic knots. You'll probably talk to me a lot, my door is always open. Mostly because I'm never in my office. So just... Call me on my cell, okay? We'll talk." JJ walked off.

"I'll give you her number." Fleur assured Elle.

That's when Hotch walked past, exchanging a few brief words to JJ as he past her,"BAU Team, can you meet me in the Conference Room. I need to show you something."

Everyone left their desks, heading to the Conference Room and sat down.

"This is from the Pheonix Office, Bradshaw College in Tempe. Six fires in seven months." Hotch showed the team.

"Who recorded it?" Gideon asked as he sifted through the file.

"A student with a digital camrecorder. He was watching the fire in the building across from the dorm. The other person we see is his roomate, twenty year old Matthew Rowland." JJ put on a recording.

As the clip played, two young men were speaking about the fire, one soon appearing on screen.

"Is that the kid?" Gideon asked.

"Yeah, that's him." Hotch nodded.

The group then watched as gasoline was poured underneath the door and Matthew was set alight. He screamed, falling to ground as he begged his roommate to put him out.

"Wheels up." Gideon stood up.

"Wasn't that a lovely video?" Elijah shook his head as he got up.

"I'm just glad Garcia didn't need to see it." Fleur sighed.

"Nobody in their right mind would show her that."

"She has to watch some fucked up videos." Morgan rose from his seat.

"I wish she didn't." Elijah shook his head.

"Race you to the jet." Fleur nudged Elijah.

"Oh, you're on." Elijah smirked.

"Elijah?" Reid tapped his shoulder while Fleur sped off.

"What is it, Reid?" Elijah turned.

"I was a distraction." Reid held up his hands.

Elijah gasped,"How dare you, doctor! I have never felt so betrayed."

"I'm sorry." Reid chuckled slightly.

"You better be!" Elijah pointed before he ran off.

"Kids." Morgan rolled his eyes.

*********************************

"No badges." Gideon instructed them as they got out of the SUVs,"I don't wanna satisfy the Unsubs needs for attention by letting them know we have the FBI here. Try not too look official." He added.

Everyone turned and looked at each other.

"Try to look less official." Gideon corrected.

"Dont need to tell me twice." Elijah removed his tie.

"Least you're not wearing a suit." Morgan unbuttoned his blazer.

"That was your choice, big man." Elijah shook his head.

"I think it makes you look smart." Fleur complimented.

"Thanks Fleur." Morgan gave her a smile.

Fleur smiled and walked with the others as they met the Dean.

"Obviously I'd have liked to meet you under different circumstances." She sighed as they walked,"This is fire inspector, Zhang."

"This morning, the chemistry department reported several bottles of flammable chemicals missing." Zhang explained.

"I'm prepared to evacuate this school." The Dean sighed.

"That brings it's own problems." Hotch told her.

"You might end up evacuating the arsonist as well." Gideon shook his head.

"Then the case goes unsolved, the campus re-opens but the fires start again." Elle explained.

"Hold on a second." Fleur stopped,"You said the chemicals went missing today. It says here that one of the previous fires were set with diesel fuel that disappeared from the grounds keeper's facility. How long after it disappeared was the fire set?"

"One day." The Dean told them.

"Oh, that's not good." Elijah shook his head.

Hotch and Gideon looked at each other as they walked off, discussing the case.

*********************************

"Right, the door was locked." Elijah nodded slowly as he and Reid crossed the police tape, walking into the burned room.

"Matthew Rowland and his roommate watched as the doorknob turned against the lock." Reid paced.

"But the Unsub couldn't get in." Elijah crossed his arms.

"So he pours the accelorant into the room from the hallway."

"Which meant he couldn't see the fire." Elijah shook his head.

"But he could hear Matthew Rowland screaming." Reid turned to him.

"Yeah, but not for long. He would've had to move quickly."

"To avoid being spotted." Reid agreed.

"It doesn't make sense." Elijah shook his head.

"Pyromania as a mental disorder may just be a myth but we do know from predecent that serial arsonists derive pleasure from pathological fire setting."

"Sex and power."

"But a serial arsonists wouldn't just set a fire then walk away."

"He needs to experience it." Elijah sighed.

"So why could he set a fire he couldn't watch?" Reid wondered

"That's a question I can't answer." Elijah shook his head.

"We should go join the others." Reid sighed.

"I think so too." Elijah nodded.

"Are we done in here?" Reid did a small spin as he walked to the door.

"We're done." Elijah nodded, walking past him.

The two then walked to the others, Zhang was opening a box.

"They turned the water off just before the fire. The last three were set with these, two devices, simultaneous ignition."

"There was no device used on Matthew Rowland." Gideon stated, standing up,"The UnSub set that one manually?"

"He wanted to be there, enjoy the kid's death." Morgan suggested.

"Not necessarily." Elijah shook his head.

"Well if the target was Matthew Rowland, why set the other two fires?" Elle raised a brow.

"Motives for arson are usually quote simple. There's vandalism, crime concealment, political statement, profit.." Reid began to list reasons.

"And revenge." Hotch added.

"We interviewed Matthew Rowland's roommate." Zhang told them,"He said Matthew was very well-liked, no reason for revenge."

"What about vandalism?" The Dean crossed her arms.

"No, the fires are too sophisticated." Elle shook her head,"And if he's trying to make a political statement, he's not being too clear about ut."

"There's an underlying strategy in this case. Matthew, Fire fighters, injured victims. To the Unsub they're not people they're.." Gideon trailed off.

"They're objects." Hotch sighed.

"They're more like-" Fleur began.

"Chess pieces." Elijah finished.

"Exactly." Gideon threw the device he'd picked up back into the box.

*********************************

Reid and Fleur sat in the room with the timer, studying it.

"The timer sets the road flare, which then lights the chemical mixture inside the canister. Simple." Fleur shrugged.

"Yet sophisticated in it's simplicity." Reid shook his head,"I mean, there's a meticulous construction to it."

"Chemical accelorant could mean chemistry student." Fleur got up.

"It could also mean a chemistry professor." Reid told her.

"Mmm... I say student." Fleur disagreed,"You need self confidence to teach in front of thirty college students. Arsonists are socially incompetent. This guy, he doesn't go on dates, or go to parties, he doesn't feel comfortable in front of groups.."

Fleur was practically just listing of Spencer's personality. Reid looked up at her, blinking as he held one of the devices in his hand.

"... And of course he's a total psychopath." Fleur chuckled, shaking her head.

"Of course." Reid chuckled softly as well, looking back down at the device.

That's when the fire alarm began ringing, an evacuation was happening.

"There's been another fire." Reid shook his head as he stood up.

"We need to go." Fleur cursed, grabbing the evidence as they ran out to meet the others.

When they managed to get outside they saw smoke pouring out of the chemistry department, Morgan pulling Gideon down the stairs. Hotch ordered Elle to take photos of everyone, meanwhile the others grouped up.

"Where were you?" Fleur turned to Elijah.

"Exploring campus, looking around." Elijah shrugged,"You?"

"There's an arsonist on the loose and you were exploring?" Reid turned.

"Hey, I was looking to find quiet places around campus that they could escape from." Elijah crossed his arms,"But it's cute that you both care."

"I wouldn't go as far as that." Fleur smirked.

"You care, don't you, Spence?" Elijah looked over at him.

"Course I do." Reid nodded.

"See? At least someone cares." Elijah crossed his arms.

Fleur hummed and shrugged,"We should go join up with the others."

"I guess you're right."

Later on that night, the team were in the main office, looking through all their evidence.

"We've been on this all night and we still got nothing. Look at these expressions." Morgan lifted the photos Elle had taken,"We got fear, horror and even a little bit of panic... Where's the guy getting off?

"When asked about his motives, Peter Dinsdale said,'I am devoted to fire, fire is my master." Reid told him.

"Okay so... Who's our boy's master? Ten thousand plus students and one... With a serious fascination for fire." Morgan paced.

"Fire starting is one third of the homicidal triad, an early predictor for adult dissociative criminal behavior." Elle shook her head,"If we looked in his childhood, we'd probably find all three."

"Bed wetting and cruelty to animals." Fleur added.

"Absent or abusive father, trouble with the opposite sex." Elijah threw his pen up and down,"Chronic low self-esteem. The MO will be dynamic, evolving."

"As fire setting escalates, they thrive on panic, fear... It's just a standard profile of a serial arsonist." Gideon waved his hands.

"Based on hundreds of interviews." Reid nodded.

"Based on precedent." Morgan crossed his arms.

"Everything the Unsub should be according to that research." Fleur leaned back on her chair.

"But we're off the mark." Elijah sighed.

"Becuase of two missing elements." Gideon nodded.

"Sex and Power, the two motives that drive a serial arsonist." Morgan listed.

"And without them, we have no profile." Elijah shook his head.

*********************************

"Alright gorgeous. I've put this thing through every audio filter I've got. There's only one thing I can tell you for sure. This guy isn't saying Karen, he's saying Ka-wron." Garcia explained.

"Garcia, what the hell is ka-wron?" Morgan questioned.

"If I figure it out does it earn me a night of passionate lovemaking?" Garcia smiled.

Morgan chuckled,"Of course, sweetness. With Reid."

Reid turned around confused and Elijah sat up in his chair sharply. Fleur cleared her throat and pushed Elijah back down in his seat.

"Hey Reid? Garcia says it's not Karen but maybe something like-" Morgan began.

"Ka-wron." Gideon hurried in,"I do it for Ka-wron."

"That's Hebrew." Fleur turned.

"It's God's burning anger." Elijah sighed.

"The motive is now religious?" Elle walked over

"Well, you know in a lot of religions, God is related to fire." Reid nodded.

"Well Agni is fire is Hinduism and the Jews see God as a pillar of fire, and Christians worship God as a consuming fire." Hotch listed off.

"Okay, so we're looking for a theology major. Maybe he's punishing other students for their sins." Morgan suggested.

Gideon handed over a device to Reid, in which he quickly handed it to Elijah,"I don't want this."

"What's the most sinful place on campus?" Fleur asked.

"Come on, Fleur, when I was in college that was everywhere." Elijah subconsciously toyed with the device in his hands.

"Fraternity?" Hotch crossed his arms.

"Campus bar?" Elle suggested.

"No, because that's inconsistent with the previous targets." Hotch shook his head.

"What about the idea of baptism by fire? Aren't we all supposed to be tested through fire in Revelations?" Morgan looked at Gideon.

"Listen, it's good, it's good but please don't jump to any conclusions." Gideon waved his hands,"Religion may be a part of it, but it might not be the prime compulsion."

"Gideon, rush to conclusions, jump to conclusions- Who cares?" Morgan scoffed.

"We are running out of time!" Elle sighed.

"Compulsion." Reid studied the video as he played it again, and again.

"You got this?" Morgan turned to him.

"I got this." Reid nodded slowly.

Everyone then left Reid alone for an hour, letting him think about the case, until he walked back into the office.

"I know why the profiles never fit. You were right to tell Morgan not to rely on precedent. The fires thus far have been completely task-oriented."

"So once they're set, the Unsub is done?" Hotch raised a brow.

"Exactly. The Unsub is not a classical serial arsonist. He's someone who uses fire because of a completely different disorder." Reid pointed.

"Which is?" Gideon asked.

"An extreme manifestation of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. He does everything in threes. And if I'm right, he'll have to kill again." Reid got the computer up,"There's a form of OCD called scrupulously."

"Religious obsession and compulsion." Hotch nodded.

"An obsessive fear of commiting sin which creates so much anxiety that he's compelled to do something to ease that anxiety."

"Like setting fires." Elijah nodded.

"Where's the behavioural evidence?" Gideon held the bridge of his nose.

"Right here. Remember the night of the three fires, we saw the lock turn against the door." Reid pointed to the screen,"But he's not trying to get in. He's compelled to turn the doorknob three times."

"Well, what about the first fires? The first ones were single fires. If the Unsub was OCD, shouldn't they have all been in threes?" Gideon sighed.

"They were in threes, a trinity of threes." Reid told him,"The first fire occurred on March third."

"3:00pm, third day, third month." Gideon listed.

"It's that convergence of threes that causes the overwhelming anxiety. Obsessive-compulsives ease the anxiety by performing the compulsion." Reid crossed his arms.

"What about the other fires? Professor Wallace?" Hotch raised a brow.

"Office number three." Reid answered,"I looked for more patterns of threes, his class was on Tuesdays."

"Third day of the week." Hotch nodded.

"Matthew Rowland was in that class. It was his third class of the day." Reid continued,"If we looked into each of the fires, we'd find a lot of patterns having to do with threes, because our minds are incredibly adept at seeking out patterns. But to the Unsub, when that pattern hits.."

"Bam! He sets a fire." Fleur hummed as her and Morgan walked in, handing Elijah a muffin.

"If the target was always people, why did no one die in the first few fires?" Gideon leaned back.

"They were failures." Elijah took a bite of his muffin,"Up until Matthew Rowland."

"What is it?" Gideon looked at Hotch who had started pacing.

"I think I might know who it is... And it's not a he, it's a she." Hotch answered.

"I told you." Fleur pointed at Elijah.

"Yeah, and I never disagreed." Elijah finished his muffin,"But I do thank you for the snack."

"Okay, we need to evacuate." Hotch pointed.

"Before anyone else dies." Elijah nodded.

"Evacuate the science building first, Clara might be there." Hotch ordered as everyone ran off.

"We're on it." Morgan nodded.

*********************************

While Elijah was evacuating, he remembered the elevators in the science department didn't work without a key after 10:00pm. As he hurried through the halls, a bright orange light caught his eye and he turned the corner... There was Clara, holding a burning splint in front of the elevator.

"Clara." He spoke calmly.

Clara turned to look at Elijah, tightening her grip on the splint.

"You know this isn't rational, Clara. You tried to tell them them before, Hotch and Reid." Elijah stayed where he was.

"God chose me to be tested and now he's chosen them. If I don't do this, something horrible will happen." Clara leaned the splint closer to the elevator.

"What's going to happen, Clara? A flood? An earthquake?" Elijah took a step forward,"You know this isn't rational."

"I know, I know, I know." Clara repeated.

"Then resist, I know you can."

"I... I can't! They must be tested. God's wrath.."

Elijah slowly began to draw his weapon,"Clara, you told them it was a chemistry student, you left thr message about Ka-wron, you want to stop."

"Ka-wron, Ka-wron, Moloch." Clara began praying, bowing up and down.

"Clara... Clara, stop." Elijah tightened his grip on his gun.

"Father... Son... The Holy Ghost." Clara recited, going to throw the splint.

Elijah then drew his gun, shooting Clara in the leg and causing her to drop the splint that he quickly kicked away from the elevator.

"You alright?" Gideon ran up.

"I'll be fine." Elijah shook his head, putting his gun back in its holster.

"Okay, go back to the others." Gideon patted his back.

"I'm going." Elijah sighed as he walked off.

*********************************

"Elle told me she looked up why the footpath killer stuttered." Fleur sat down on her seat on the plane.

"And what was the reason?" Elijah looked up from his notebook.

"No one knows." Fleur shrugged.

"Nobody knows?"

"No one. Gideon was only stalling him." Fleur sighed

"Like what I did with Clara?" Elijah raised a brow.

"Practically." Fleur nodded,"What are you writing?"

"Oh- Just some little notes about the case, things to remember for next time." Elijah told her.

Fleur moved next to him, looking down at the pages,"Why are you drawing cats?"

"I don't take notes." Elijah admitted,"This is just my doodle book, it helps me focus."

"It's very artistic." Fleur chuckled.

"Much more fun thank actually paying attention." Elijah hummed.

"You have a point." Fleur shrugged.

"I always have a point."

Fleur shook her head while everyone else got on the plane.

"Y'know, back there, I was scared I wouldn't be able to get through to her." Elijah told her.

"But you did it, you got through." Elle nodded.

"Not really."

"She's alive and so are the people in the lift." Morgan assured him.

"But I didn't get though to her, I shot her."

"Sometimes that's the way to go, Deans." Morgan rubbed his arm.

"Does it get easier? Shooting people?" Elijah turned to him.

"It does." Morgan nodded.

"Good." Elijah sighed, closing his notebook.