"Walter Derbin, age 52. His body was found in his cab in East Harlem."

From the crime scene photo it looked as if Mr Derbin had been dragged from the car. His upper body was lying on the road while his legs were still halfway over the driver's seat.

"He was blindfolded and shot once in the chest. Death was caused by a knife stabbed through his ear. The UnSub broke off the handle with the blade lodged in his brain."

"It's the same signature as two other murders. Rachel Holman, 24, found in her apartment three weeks ago on the Lower East Side. And Kaveh Surrani, 30. Police found him two weeks later inside his painting studio in Hell's Kitchen."

"Different locations, different victimology. It's possible we're looking for someone who will hunt indiscriminately."

"NYPD have any leads?"

"Guy's a ghost. He kills at night. There's no witnesses."

"Is the NYPD feeling the strain?"

"Well, they've withheld details so the press hasn't sniffed out a link between the murders."

"With no discernible victim patterns, a killer's practically impossible to stop."

"Did you know the original Zodiac Killer actually continually changed his victims? Young, old, men, women, white, black."

"Exactly. And he killed for 30 years without ever being caught."

~~

W. H. Auden said,

"Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures. So that society must take the place of the victim and, on his behalf, demand atonement or grant forgiveness."

"This is not how I planned to spend a few days home in New York," commented Elle as they flew over New York.

"I'd kill for an afternoon at Barneys and dinner at Il Cantinori."

"I'm looking forward to seeing New York," said Spencer.

"You've never been to New York?" asked Derek

"We've never had an UnSub there."

"Reid, it's a one-hour flight. And a three-hour train ride, man."

"We can stay a few more days after the case," Parker suggested. "I'll show you around."

The young agent looked at Hotch, who nodded.

Parker's grin widened and he nudged Spencer with their elbow. They couldn't wait to show Spencer around town and get out of the office for a few days.

"You've been to New York before?" Elle asked.

"A few times. My parents are theater and musical freaks and they always took me with them," said Parker.

"Okay, here's what we know," Hotch changed the subject. "Blitz attackers are almost always male."

"The fact that he kills in a major urban setting without detection indicates he's highly intelligent."

"How intelligent can he be? I mean, blitz attackers are textbook disorganized killers."

"Yeah, but he brings along a murder kit. Blindfold, knife. How disorganized can he be?"

"We'll split up. We'll take the last two crime scenes. In the meantime, let's talk about what we can agree on. Blindfold likely means one of two things."

"The UnSub might blindfold them initially if he's unsure of killing them and wants to avoid detection."

"Exactly, but since we know the cab driver couldn't have been blindfolded when he drove the UnSub, we're looking at reason number two–"

~~

"– Blindfolding a victim suggests the UnSub feels remorse," said Gideon as he and Spencer stood in front of the taxi.

The Derbin crime scene was in a remote side street. There were only a few buildings around it and a subway station.

"Doesn't want his victims to look at him as he kills them."

"What's in that building?" Gideon asked Detective Bennett.

"Nothing. It's been vacant for a couple of months."

"This train goes express after midnight, it doesn't even stop here."

"He picked this spot beforehand."

"His last fare was logged at an address on Church Street. Do you have any idea what's there?"

"Church is an entry point from Brooklyn," explained Detektive Bennett. "There's a dive there where the cabbies stop for coffee before the overnight shift."

"Explain how he got a cab."

"This guy is definitely not disorganized."

~~

At the same time, the others were looking around Rachel Holman's apartment. They stood the living room where Derek found something interesting.

"Rachel Holman's change-of-address card. She'd just moved in. Hadn't even filled it out yet."

"So she probably didn't know her neighbors and they weren't likely to check in on her," Elle pointed out.

"Nope, and I also found this," said Derek and held out another piece of paper to his colleagues.

"– It's a printout of AA meetings in the area."

"She was starting a new life," Parker murmured.

It was sad that someone's chance at a new life was simply taken away from them. Rachel just wanted to get better and now she will never be.

"Hey, you guys, check this out," Hotch called.

Hotch stood in the hallway. More precisely, he was standing in front of the bathroom and looking to the other side, where the apartment door was.

"The cops' theory is that she was home. That the UnSub broke in through the front window and surprised her. But, look, this is the gunshot to the chest."

The black-haired man pointed to the individual drops of blood on the floor before taking a few steps further and pointing to the pool of blood closer to the door.

"This is the knife to the head."

"So then after she was shot, she tried to run away from him, toward the door."

"Exactly."

If Rachel had the chance to run to the door, that meant she wouldn't be cut off, which meant–

"He was already in the apartment when she got home."

"The hallway is the only room in the apartment with no windows. No one could see him, so he just waited patiently."

"All right. So, she comes home, and she opens the door. She walks in the hallway. She walks down and then, bam, he shoots her right here," Elle summarized the events.

"But she tries to run away, and he's on her."

"So, why didn't he just shoot her again?", one of the officers wanted to know. "Why stab her and break the blade off in her head?"

"Well, there are a number of possibilities."

"Through the ear is the softest path to the brain."

"Snapping the handle's also common in prison shankings. Break it off, other guy can't pull the blade out."

"What's the other possibility?"

~~

"Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris drove ice picks into their victims' heads and broke off the handle. It's possible our UnSub is sort of a serial killer groupie", said Spencer.

"So is this guy an ex-con or some nut-job with an Amazon account?"

"This particular UnSub presents a mixed profile."

"No offense, but, then what good is it?"

~~

"The profile's just a starting point for narrowing down the suspects", Parker explained to the Officers.

"For instance, the fact that the UnSub shoots his victims first, it suggests that he wants a quick and effective means of controlling the situation."

"It's possible that he feels he can't overpower his victims. It could be that he has a physical problem or that he's not confident just because he's small."

"We also now know he has a high degree of organization. That and the fact that he hunts at night, means he probably has a steady job."

~~

"So, we're looking for a small, angry, white guy with a day job?" a female officer asked as the team presented the profile to everyone.

"Maybe it's Wilson," joked one of her colleagues.

A few of the others chuckled and were amused by this.

"Cut it," interrupted Detective Bennett.

"No, no, it's all right, it's all right," said Gideon. "You're right. There's a lot we still don't know, but we do know this, these are not blitz attacks. They're too controlled. These are absolutely executions."

"An UnSub's signature is his own extremely rare combination of MO and ritual. An UnSub kills to satisfy an inner need and will continue killing until that inner need, which is based on a ritual, is lived out perfectly. Because reality never lives up to fantasy, this becomes an impossibility."

"In other words, he's not gonna stop killing until we catch him."

"Okay, hit the streets and keep your head on a swivel."

"Thank you very much."

~~~~

A few hours later, Parker and the others were on their way to the next crime scene. The fourth victim, a priest, was found shortly before in a church.

"So, this is where terror starts."

"How'd they find him?" asked Gideon.

"The night janitor."

"He see anything?"

"No, but he remembered a parishioner who was here earlier."

"So we have a potential witness."

The group entered the church and to confirm this, Detective Bennett spotted an elderly woman sitting with a nun on one of the pews.

"Right there."

"This lady?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Parker," Gideon addressed the young agent.

They knew what to do and stopped next to the older lady with Derek while the rest went forward to the altar where the body still lay.

"Hello Ma'am, I'm Agent Gallagher and this is Agent Morgan. Would you mind if we asked you some questions?"

"No, of course not. You know, as soon as the police asked me if I'd seen anything, I had a sickly feeling."

"So you saw him?"

"Not his face. He had a hood on, and he kept his head down."

"But something about his behavior unsettled you?" Derek asked.

"I'm sorry. I should have known."

"There is no way that someone could know something like this," Parker assured, trying to calm the woman.

"It almost felt like he couldn't hear me," the woman reported, "Like he was in his own world, you know?"

As she spoke, Hotch, Gideon, Elle and Detective Bennett rejoined them and also listened to what the woman had to say.

"You spoke to him?" asked Gideon.

"I just asked if he was okay."

"And he didn't speak?"

"He didn't even look up. I couldn't stop watching his hands. They were moving like he was playing a piano or fingering a rosary maybe... He could have killed me."

"Unless he's not killing at random," Elle pointed out.

"And whatever these people have in common's what got them killed."

"I thought maybe he was uncomfortable being in this parish."

"Why would he be uncomfortable?"

"Because of all that business," the woman replied simply.

She didn't say anything more and Parker looked at Detective Bennett questioningly, maybe she had an answer.

"A year ago, the rector was indicted for pedophilia."

"A lot of people stopped worshiping here, but Father Breeman was tried in a court of law and found innocent. It's not my place to question that."

"He's not using just any knife," Spencer reported as he joined the others last. "It's made of flint."

"As in stone?"

"In Egyptian mythology, flint was the symbol for protection and retribution. With hieroglyphics, they used to depict dangerous animals–" Spencer began.

He was then interrupted by Gideon as the older profiler walked past him to take another look at the body

"– Like scorpions and snakes being cut with flint knives in order to render them powerless."

Spencer finished his sentence and followed him like Hotch and Detective Bennet.

The older profiler put on a glove and carefully lifted the fabric covering the victim's eyes.

"Anything strikes you as strange?"

"Well, blood's all on the inside."

~~~~

The team was back at the police station to introduce the new profile.

"Sorry," Parker mumbled, squeezing past the police officers.

They stood next to Spencer. The young man stood next to the projector, which was in the middle of the room.

Parker handed Spencer one of the coffee cups they had just picked up.

"Thanks."

A moment later Gideon began to introduce the profile.

"We now believe these killings aren't random. We might be dealing with a vigilante. UnSub first shoots his victims in order to subdue them. Flint knife then provides both an efficient kill and symbolic retribution."

Spencer pressed the small remote control and as Gideon spoke, images of the victims' head wounds appeared on the small screen.

"Finally, the victim is blindfolded, like the statue of Lady Justice. This particular UnSub, he displays both a heightened, he's... It's actually almost a poetic sense of right and wrong."

"Serial vigilantes are extremely rare", explained Spencer. "The exaggerated drama of these killings suggests that they're somehow personal. He or someone close to him was likely the victim of a violent crime. His first killing was possibly against his original attacker. And since then he's developed an overblown sense of justice in order to justify that killing to himself."

"Because he chooses the imagery of Lady Justice, it's possible we're dealing with someone who works in or around the criminal justice system. Lawyer, paralegal, bailiff, even a judge."

"We'll crosscheck unsolved murders against suspects in assault cases and victims who work in the system", said Detektive Bennett.

"Whatever the UnSub's job, he's someone who's a cog in the machine. He's overworked, undervalued. He's used to not being noticed. His sense of theatrics is a way to enhance his own self-esteem. Convince himself he has a higher purpose, but he also knows that people look right through him. Being faceless is his best defense against detection. He's everyone. One last thing, we need you to close ranks. The more details slip out, the more he'll feed off it. We don't want him believing he's captured the public's fear or imagination."

"Too late," said JJ.

She stepped forward and handed Gideon a copy of today's newspaper. Half of the front page consisted of the headline: 'Judge and Jury'.

"The afternoon edition's leading with the vigilante story."

"How did they get it?" asked Parker, surprised.

"I don't know."

"You were worried about this guy becoming another Son of Sam," Gideon addressed the detective. "Now we might be dealing with a vigilante folk hero like Bernhard Goetz."

~~~~

"Did you know that you can tell a good Chinese by the bottom third of the door handle?" Parker asked as they put fried noodles on their plate.

"Really? How is that possible?" Spencer wanted to know.

The young man sat between Parker and Derek at a table in a small Chinese restaurant.

He stopped mid-question as his food slipped between his chopsticks again.

"Magic. That's why I insisted we go here and not to the other one down the– okay, I can't look at that anymore."

The young adult put down their chopsticks and turned to Spencer.

"You were definitely right," Elle said as Parker reached for their boyfriend's hand.

Parker placed a chopstick in their hand between Spencer's thumb and forefinger. And the second stick like a pencil with your thumb, index and middle finger. (It did not work.)

"So you know there was a big hole in the profile you presented back there," Hotch spoke up.

Gideon didn't respond at first and instead asked: "Can you pass the moo shu, please?"

"What's the hole?"

"I left out the possibility our UnSub might be a cop," explained Gideon.

"Well, they do know the system. They're definitely overworked and underpaid."

"They see so much injustice every day they can easily take matters into their own hands."

"When someone like our victim is killed, police refer to the murder as a public service murder."

"You know how many rapists I saw during my sex crime days?" said Elle. "And either the victims, they didn't want to press charges, or the juries they said that she was asking for it. It was enough to make you explode."

"Well, it's a long way from feeling like that and actually committing murder. Don't you think?"

"Oh, not really."

A waiter walked past their table and Spencer took the opportunity to ask for a fork.

"Did you know that experts credit Confucius with the advent of the chopstick? He equated knives with acts of aggression."

"You don't know how to use them, do you?" replied Derek.

"It's like trying to forage for dinner with a pair of number two pencils," complained the young genius.

"Naw, poor thing," Parker said and Spencer nodded.

"I have no idea how you guys do it."

"Okay, here let me help you."

JJ grabbed new chopsticks and tied them together at one end with a hair band.

"Oh, the rubber band trick."

"Yeah, the rubber band trick."

"Well, New York City cops do have a lot of pressure on them," Derek returned to the original topic. "Every move they make gets scrutinized."

"One of the first cases of criminal profiling happened when a New York City cop asked a criminal psychiatrist friend to help with the Mad Bomber case."

"The Mad Bomber was a major inspiration for the Unabomber. He eluded cops in New York for 16 years, starting in 1940, but he kept his promise and never set off a single bomb during the Second World War," Spencer said.

"Psychiatrist James Brussels, he developed a profile so accurate, he predicted that when they caught the Bomber, he'd be wearing a double-breasted suit and it would be buttoned," Gideon finished his story.

"You guys, we're here in New York and even when we're not talking about our case, we end up talking about another profiler," Elle pointed out.

"You're right," Hotch agreed. "So, Elle, are you seeing anyone?"

This question was so random that Parker wasn't the only one who had to chuckle.

"Gideon, why didn't you tell the cops that it might be one of their own?" the profiler obviously changed the subject.

"If we're going to catch the guy, we need all the help the cops can give us. Last thing I want to do is accuse one of them of murder."

A few minutes later Gideon received a call and he answered his cell phone.

"How's is going?" Parker asked Spencer.

Of course, they noticed that Spencer was still having problems.

"Perfect," Spencer replied sarcastically. "It's absolutely incredible, 1.3 billion people stay nourished using these things."

"Then use the fork," Parker suggested, their voice slightly higher than normal.

"I will," Spencer replied in the same tone.

"Yeah. Okay. I got it," Gideon ended his phone call.

He put the cell phone back in his pocket and looked at his colleagues.

"He just took out a cop-killer."

~~~~

"His name's Shawn Cooley," Detective Bennett reported when the team got back to the police station.

"One year ago he killed two Port Authority cops and he walked, because the only witness against him was shot six times outside his apartment."

"Might be worth having your men re-canvass this morning. People are more likely to talk in the day. They feel safer."

"I'm already on it."

And if a new victim wasn't bad enough, JJ stood among her colleagues with a newspaper– there was another glorifying article about the killer.

"It's the same reporter every time. Lance Wagner. He's practically deifying him."

She handed Hotch the newspaper and he read the article.

"I'm not even happy with the results when God plays God," Gideon muttered.

"You know, a few of the men were talking about making him a wish list of other dirtbags."

"'Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets,'" Hotch read.

Parker knew the quote from somewhere. But they just wouldn't remeber–

"Taxi driver."

"This town loves a psychopath."

"Why hasn't he contacted the press yet?"

"Reid's right."

"He's got the symbolism, the inflated sense of duty. He should be seeking out acclaim."

"Maybe it's not about acclaim with him."

"He's on a mission. Maybe it's about the work."

"Yeah, but the last two cases were a cop-killer and a pedophile priest. Those are higher-profile cases."

"He's getting more confident."

"He's growing into his role as the city's judge and executioner."

"I'll check the press archives for controversial acquittals. Maybe we can target the victim before the UnSub. Have the police waiting on him," JJ reported and turned around.

"Hey, guys, listen to what came off the tip hotline," Elle spoke to the others and stopped.

The brown-haired woman pressed the start button on the mini recorder.

"I got a tip. Let the guy be."

"How come the NYPD wants to catch this guy? Are you jealous he's doing the job better than you?"

"It goes on for half an hour," Elle explained and stopped the recording.

"He's a hero."

"The exact same thing happened with the Goetz New York subway shooting in the early '80s," said Spencer.

"You weren't even born," Gideon pointed out.

"I read a lot."

~~~~

Garcia found that all criminal cases were processed at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, 100 Center Street.

That didn't really help with 122,998 cases processed there every year, but it was something.

Gideon, Hotch, Spencer and Parker headed out and split up in the building so they could talk to more people.

"The cops have already been down here asking their questions," explained the young woman.

"We just wanted to give you a description of someone, see if he sounds familiar," said Parker.

"He's quiet, his Body language gives the impression he's seen too much."

"Work in this building long enough, we all get that way."

~~

"He's small. Meticulous," Hotch explained at the same time two floors up. "You might not notice him at first but when you do, you realize he's heard everything around him."

"He might have had a personal brush with crime," Spencer added. "When it happened, he talked about it all the time, but now you realize he hasn't mentioned it in quite a while."

"And when the subject of the vigilante comes up, he expresses his support, but it's not something he would bring up in conversation himself."

"Well, if people are being honest with you, that's most of the people in this building," the man replied and then addressed Spencer. "How old are you?"

"24."

"I'll give you six years. That point, a tiny part of your brain will be asking if what this guy's doing isn't the right way to go."

~~~~

"– average court reporter is three-to-six months behind in transcribing his notes. That means that anyone who knows the details of that case had to have been in the courtroom," Hotch reported.

He, Parker, Spencer and Gideon were walking down the street.

The Unit Chief had just phoned Derek, who drove back to the courthouse to look at the original transcripts.

"Court reporters take their work home with them," said Parker.

"They get paid overtime. They take their notes in court and finish transcribing them at night."

"You know what Bennett said about not being able to get the sound of bagpipes out of her head. Maybe that's why the UnSub stabs the ears."

"Killers often harm their victims in ways that they themselves have been harmed."

"A court reporter is by definition a faceless cog in the machine. He sits there, day in, day out, transcribing testimony."

"Well, what if the voices didn't stop when you left the courtroom?"

"The witness in the church said that the UnSub was doing a piano-like motion," Parker recalled.

"Or transcribing."

"Killing's a good way to get the voices to stop, huh?"

"I'll call Garcia," Hotch said and dialed her number.

"Holla."

"I need the name of the court stenographer in each of the victims' original trials."

"Same one every time. Marvin Doyle," Garcia explained after a few moments.

"Crosscheck him against crime records. See if he was ever the victim of a violent crime."

"No, not him. His parents, killed in an attempted robbery, '04."

"That's his stressor. Is he still working? 100 Centre, Courtroom 103."

"We got him."

~~

Doyle didn't show up for work today– he called in sick.

So the team plus police showed up at his apartment door less than half an hour later.

"Marvin Doyle? FBI. Open up."

No reaction. An officer kicked in the door and investigators entered your apartment.

Doyle wasn't there.

And at first glance it was an ordinary apartment– apart from the taped-up windows.

"Soundproofed the entire place."

"He ripped the speakers out of the television and the radio," said Elle as she took a look at the equipment.

"And here is a life insurance check for $250,000," Parker reported as she looked at the stack of papers in the compartment. "It's two years old. He didn't cash it."

Gideon looked at the note briefly and handed it back to Parker. The young agent put it back.

"Won't accept blood money."

Meanwhile, Hotch found a box full of flint knives in the storage room.

"Guys, come take a look at this," Derek called from another room

It appeared to be Doyle's study. Because there was only a desk and a lot of boxes in there.

"It's a stenography machine," said Derek, pointing to the little thing in front of him."– but look at the keys. They're all worn out."

"It's like he was trying to transcribe the voices in his head but couldn't keep up," said Gideon.

He and Elle took a first look at the open boxes.

"It looks like hieroglyphics."

"It's called steno. It's basically a phonetic series of syllables. No court reporter takes notes the same way, so no one can translate them but the reporter himself," explained Spencer.

"He's getting paid overtime to study potential victims."

"He knows we're on to him. He's racing us now."

"Someone in these boxes is targeted to die. We need to get inside his head and figure out who, so we can stop him. Let's go. Start fishing."

Everyone took one of several boxes and started searching through the files.

"You know, this is a lot of boxes, how are we supposed to narrow it down?" Derek wanted to know.

"Check and see if it ended in acquittal. If it didn't, toss it aside."

"It has to be a capital case. It's escalating. The more brutal the better."

"Why not go by most recent?" asked Elle.

"Judging by his elaborate filing system, Doyle, obviously, has obsessive-compulsive disorder. People with OCD often finish tasks and then go back to the beginning and start over."

"So he continually goes through the transcripts and the first one to trigger him becomes his next victim."

"Here's one," said Elle. "This is a liquor store owner who was shot with his own gun."

"Flip to when they present the defense. Did the defendant testify?"

"No."

"Stick with the ones where the accused took the stand. This is personal. He hears their voices."

"OK."

"Doyle's victims all claimed to be a type of victim themselves. First two threw themselves on the mercy of the court, pleading alcohol and drug-dependency. The priest said he was a victim, victim of recent hysteria."

"Look for key phrases.

"Victim, mercy, anything that signifies they thought their crime wasn't their fault."

"I think I might have one, guys. Ted Elmore," Parker spoke up. "He shot and killed both his parents after claiming self-defense for years of physical abuse."

"Doyle lost his own parents. Hearing someone get away with killing their own, that would haunt him."

Gideon called the Elmores. Mrs. Elmore answered the phone.

Her husband came home in the middle of the phone call, shortly afterwards the Profilers heard shots.

The team looked at each other and did not waisted a second of time.

Gandhi said,

"Better to be violent if there's violence in our hearts than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence."

Gandhi also said,

"I object to violence, because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent."

~~~~

The couple left the building holding hands.

They walked along the streets, which were still packed with people despite the time of day. Looking for a restaurant where they could have something to eat.

"So? How do you like New York?" asked Parker.

"It's really cool. I never– look pizza."

Spencer pulled them into a small pizzeria. While he ordered, Parker sat down at one of the tables.

A few minutes later, Spencer sat down with the food.

"You know, that reminds me of our 3 AM meals," Parker said.

The couple had a habit of completely forgetting time on some days– and therefore to eat something. So when either of them looked at the clock it was already 3 a.m.  

"Technically it's 23:34–" 

Spencer paused as Parker raised an eyebrow. 

"– but– but I see your point."