Dr Thomas Fuller wrote,

"With foxes, we must play the fox."

This morning, Hotch's wife Hayley, was visiting Hotch with their son Jack.

"He's so gorgeous," said JJ.

She, Garcia and Parker were completely entranced by the baby that was currently in Hotch's arms. It was one of those rare moments when Hotch genuinely smiled.

"Thank you."

"If you find baldness and wrinkles attractive," Spencer said.

Parker rolled their eyes and lightly punched Spencer in the upper arm.

They knew Spencer wasn't ready to talk about kids just yet. Likewise, Spencer knew that Parker really wanted some in some years.

"Look at his little widdy biddy nose."

"He's so cute," Parker said to the new parents.

"Thanks," Hayley said.

"She's amazing. I'm a little terrified," Hotch said.

Hotchs wife looked at her husband, bevor she turned back to Parker.

"Would you like to hold him?", Hayley asked Parker.

The young Agent froze and looked from Hayley to Hotch, who nodded.

Parker repeatedly asked if Hotch and Hayley were really okay with that– Parker was twelve the last time they held a baby and they didn't want to do hurt Jack.

"Of course", assured Hotch.

A Moment later little Jack was safely in Parkers arms.

Garcia and JJ smiled at the sight. They could very well picture Parker as a parent, young as they were.

And even Spencer had to admit that the idea of becoming a father wasn't so far-fetched anymore.

~~

Shortly thereafter, the Team gathered in the meeting room. The boards with the crime scene photos were already set up.

"Crawford family. Murdered three days ago," Gideon began this time.

"I saw it on the news."

"They were found in the basement of their house."

"Bags packed for a vacation they never took," JJ continued.

"Reporter said it was a murder-suicide? The father stabbed them all and then shot himself?"

"That's the conclusion Maryland State Police came to. The gun was found next to the father, he had gunpowder residue on his right hand."

"And now you must have some compelling reason to think that Chris Crawford didn't off his family?"

"Yeah. Another murdered family, the Millers, found a month ago. The mother, Reese Miller, her two children and her new husband. Again, they were found in the basement, and like the Crawfords, their suitcases were packed for a vacation."

"Both cases, the bodies were discovered five days after their vacations were supposed to have started. "

"Yet the coroner determined that they had been dead only 24 hours."

"So, for four days both families remained in the house."

"Location of the bodies in both cases, the basement. That indicates a level of organization."

"With a quick but disorganized application of overpowering force. "

"If these aren't murder-suicides, someone's doing a damn good job of making them look like it", commented Parker.

"Possibly this man. Eric Miller. Biological father of the Miller children. Arlington PD issued a BOLO for Miller after the bodies were discovered."

"Ex-wife Reese Miller had a restraining order against him for domestic violence."

"When did she get remarried?", Derek asked.

"The week before they were killed."

"Violent husbands believe their wives and children are property. Reese Miller getting remarried possibly made him snap."

"Well, the Virginia cops finally located Eric Miller last night responding to a drunken disturbance at a motel, where Miller had been hiding out. When they found him, they discovered blood on his black leather jacket. It belonged to his children."

"Was any of his DNA found at the Crawford house?"

"No."

"Did he know the Crawfords?"

"If he does, he's not saying."

"In fact, he hasn't said a word since his arrest. The Arlington PD have asked us to interview him."

"If anyone could apply overwhelming force, he's your man", Spencer commented upon seeing the photo of him.

"I want you to find out. Talk to him."

"You want me to talk to him?" he asked, stuttering slightly.

"Yeah, you've done interviews before with other agents running point. You can go solo," Gideon assured.

Spencer scratched his neck nervously. At the same time, Parker grabbed his other hand and tapped it four times– their way of saying 'I love you' while being at work.

"Morgan, Parker, the Crawford house is a fresh crime scene."

~~~~

"Once the Crawfords were brought down to the basement, they must have known their fate," Gideon said as the three agents went down the basement stairs.

"ME said they were all killed down here."

"Sam was found here, Emily over there."

"So, I'm the UnSub–" Gideon started again.

Parker had to suppress a giggle and a 'well then, case closed'. They were at a crime scene, and as an FBI agent they had to be professional.

From the look on Derek's face, he could guess what Parker was thinking.

"–How did I do it?"

"Well, he had to bring them down here first," Derek said.

"How?"

"Had a gun," Parker suggested.

"Okay. Used a gun to force them down here, what next?"

"Stab them."

"Who first?" Gideon asked further.

"The strongest. The father. He was found right there–"

Derek found the crime scene photo in the file and held it up to where the father was found.

"– and then the mother, that's her right there."

"Well, how're you gonna keep the kids from running away?"

"Restraints. Can't aim a gun at them and stab the mother at the same time."

"No restraints were found on the victims," Parker pointed out after a quick look in their file.

"Because I took them with me."

"No ligature marks were found."

"Let's go upstairs, see how they lived."

~~

Something about the rest of the house caught Parker and the others' attention. Some parts were particularly spruced up and others seemed to care little about their condition. The furnishings weren't Parker's style, the young profilers noticed as they surveyed the living room.

"The yard is overgrown, and like the roof, Chris Crawford's car is in need of maintenance. Yet Allison Crawford's SUV is in pristine condition."

"Says here that Allison drove the kids at school. They were educated privately, maybe the car was just an attempt to show the other parents wealth."

"Like this house", commented Parker.

"Designer magazines conspicuously placed. Expensive modern furniture. Plasma TV. But behind the curtains,–" Parker pointed to a semi-obscured spot on the wall. "–water damage."

"Allison spent money on the things her friends could see, and neglected those they couldn't."

"The Crawfords lived beyond their means. So where'd the extra cash come from?"

"Get Garcia to check their financial status."

The three agents went one room further into the kitchen.

Gideon immediately noticed the drawing on the fridge, which was kind of odd. It was black and white, and far too neat for a child's drawing.

"Emily," Gideon read the signature. "This painting is of this house. Strangely, for a child, it has no color. It has lines, dimensions, but no color."

"May I?" Parker asked.

Gideon handed the picture to Parker. Derek stopped next to them and both looked at the picture.

It was, as Gideon had noted, the front of the house. With a few trees in front and behind. There was also a family of four with their dog in front of the house.

"No dog collar was found, right?" Parker heard Derek ask.

"Maybe the dog didn't have one."

"Uh-huh. He'd have to have one. Come here. See that? This dog door opens automatically via a chip in the dog's collar. If anything attempted to get in without one, the alarm would have been activated."

While the two men talked, Parker hung the picture back on the fridge.

"When the cops got here, the house was locked tight and the alarm was hot. So, the night the Crawfords were murdered, the only way in or out was with a dog collar."

Parker wanted to go to their colleagues, but at that moment their mobile phone rang.

INCOMING CALL
Spence <3

"Hey, Spence, how was the interrogation?" Parker asked directly.

"Good, I think. Listen, I don't think Eric Miller is our unsub. He's still wearing his wedding ring – speaking of wedding rings. Hotch and Elle found out that none of the fathers of the wedding bands were found."

"Good to know. We've looked around and it seems the Crawfords have been living beyond their means and–"

Parker and the call were cut short when loud screams came from the living room.

"Help me! Help! Please! Help me!"

"WTF- I'll call you back," Parker assured and hung up.

Parker rushed into the living room. They expected something bad had happened but–

"Please! Please! No! My God, no!"

– Gideon was just himself.

"What's going on here?" Parker asked confused.

They looked at Derek, who was just as confused as Parker. The other agent shrugged and Parker and Derek looked back at their colleague.

"What are you doing?"

"Why didn't anyone hear them scream?" Gideon asked simply.

~~~~

In the meeting room, the team tried but the informations together.

"I believe the UnSub had control over this family. He may have separated each family member. He tells the mother, "If you scream, I'll kill your children." He tells the children, "If you cry, I'll kill Mommy." The suspect found a way of restraining them without leaving marks. Based on lividity, the ME estimates that the father was the last to die," Gideon began.

"Which means he witnessed the whole event. If he did spend time with both families, he must have known he had the time to spend with them."

"Because he knew they were going on vacation."

"Look at travel agents, relatives, work colleagues, contract workers, children's tutors."

There was a beep and they heard Hotch over the speakerphone. He was in Garcia's office.

"Gideon, we've been looking into the Crawford financials."

"Allison Crawford spent way more money than Chris could afford. They were in major debt."

"And Chris Crawford wrote a number of cheques for a series of visits to a therapist."

"She had two cell phone accounts. One of them billed to a separate address in Southeast Washington, D.C."

"Did you get that?"

~~~~

At the address they met a man who they wanted to question immediately and there they also found a picture – a house with a family, a dog and it was painted in all colors. Signed by Emily Crawford.

Gideon and Derek conducted the interrogation while the rest watched from outside.

"Why am I here?" the man wanted to know.

"I think you know why," Morgen replied.

"That's mine," said Frank, pointing to the picture.

"The colors indicate a self-confidence with an outgoing personality. It shows an above-average intelligence. The child that painted this was left-handed. Emily Crawford was left-handed."

"Frank," Derek addressed the man and threw him the medicine box that was found in his house,

"– you're not."

"How'd you get the painting, Frank?" Gideon asked. "Did you forget to take your meds today, Frank? For a severe manic-depressive, that's not good."

"They make me feel wrong."

"Wrong enough to kill the Crawfords?"

The man looked like he was going to say something, but didn't dare and shook his head.

"Frank?"

"I did a bad thing," Frank finally began.

"What did you do?"

"I shouldn't have gone to the house. Allison told me not to. I would never, never hurt Allie. She's the only family I've got."

"Family?"

"She's my sister," reported Frank. "She's dead. She's dead. He killed them. Chris did. I know he did it."

"What bad thing did you do?"

"The rule was, I was never supposed to go to the house. That was the only rule. Allison said if Chris saw me he would never let me see her again. He was gonna lock me up in the loony bin. He never liked me."

"Damn," Parker mumbled. "I know one shouldn't talk about dead people, but– oh my gosh."

"And she wasn't saying, "Go away." She was saying, "Help me.""

Frank realized the same thing at the same time.

"It wasn't a friend."

"Frank."

"It wasn't a friend at all. It was him. He's the one who killed them."

"Frank..."

~~

"Both families had a dog and both houses had a dog door," Derek repeated when everyone was back in the meeting room.

"Frank said that the person he saw was small," said Parker.

"Yeah, well, in order to get through that door, you'd have to be 5'4", tops, and real thin. "

"'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'" quoted Gideon.

"Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character. Whoever did this isn't. We can be pretty sure he's probably found himself another family by now."

~~~~

"Okay. No, I understand. Yeah. I'd figured as much, thank you," Derek ended the call when Parker came back with two cups of coffee.

They gave Spencer a cup before Parker sat down at their desk.

Parker took a sip of coffee, hoping the caffeine would take effect. The team may have only been home briefly that night.

"He's been looking at those pictures all morning," Elle murmured.

Parker followed her gaze. Elle looked towards the briefing room where Gideon was staring at the chalkboards alone.

"Well, I sure hope he sees a connection, because I've checked doctors, lawyers, travel agents, tutors, contract workers... I got nothing."

"Why target those families?"

"Well, to know that, we have to know how."

"All right, we know organized killers are often skilled workers with above-average intelligence," Parker began.

The young agent put the cup down, got up and paced a few steps.

"A high birth status, and in most cases, male. In the workplace, he's socially confident. And with women, sexually competent. Every offence is pre-planned. Targeting the victim is almost as pleasurable as the actual kill. These guys, they're meticulous. It's a compulsion. Everything has to have its proper place. They do exhaustive amounts of research on their victims. They watch their every move. Every last detail is observed. Everything has to be written ever so neatly in a book or possibly a journal. Like when the kids are coming home from school, when Daddy will be home. Playtime, suppertime, bath time, bedtime. Plan the work, work the plan. This is the way that he maintains control. It's also how he personalises his target. So, nothing's left to chance, and absolutely nothing is left out of place. Ever. So, he plans the work. And when he's good and ready, he works that plan. He takes great pride in his job. I think the workplace has to be the connection."

They sat down again at the desk.

A moment later, Gideon walked up to his colleagues and held up the two pictures.

"Both are by Emily. Painted months apart. This one is full of color and life. The one I found at Emily's house has lines, dimensions, no color. I believe Emily was coerced to paint this. It's a point of view. It is his point of view. This is where the killer stood and just watched the family."

Hotch dropped his wedding ring on the desk with a clatter.

"Each of the dead husbands was missing his wedding ring. This is the UnSub's trophy. He targets a family because he lost his own, and for a few days he gets to play Daddy."

"And he can do whatever he wants because no one's gonna come looking because they're supposed to be on vacation."

"Let's get forensics to check the inside of Chris Crawford's clothing. The suspect may've worn the father's clothes, too," Gideon said and scoffed. "—Complete the fantasy."

"So why kill them?"

"Because the fantasy can't last."

"Do we know anything that actually helps us identify this bastard?"

"Wait a minute."

Derek took another look at the file.

"Chris Crawford worked for the IRS, and Reese Miller was a secretary at the GAO."

"That makes them both government employees."

"Let's check out Chris Crawford and Reese Miller."

~~

Derek and Gideon drove to Chris Crawford's place of work while Elle and Hotch looked around at Reese Miller's work.

There, the agents discovered that both families were seeking professional help.

"We've got to stop meeting like this. People will talk," Garcia said as Spencer and Parker walked into her office. "But then, talk is cheap."

"Not when you're talking to a therapist," Spencer replied.

"The Crawfords made 12 weekly payments to the Applewood Family Center. What about the Millers?"

"No, nothing here."

"How about pharmaceuticals?" Spencer asked further. "No one gets therapy these days without a healthy dose of medication."

"What're you implying, Reid?" Garcia asked.

"That everyone is medicated."

Parker and Garcia shared a quick look before looking at Spencer in surprise.

"Did you just make a joke?"

"No. Statistics. They show that..."

"Spence, sweetie," Parker lovingly interrupted their boyfriend. "Next time, just say "yes", okay?"

"Now, medication normally requires a reimbursement from the HMO and since she works for the government like us three, we share the same health care provider", said Garica.

Parker saw on the screen where the technical analyst did something that Parker couldn't figure out what. One of the reasons everyone on the team said that Garcia could do magic.

"Wait a second. Are you hacking into the government's HMO database?" the young agent wanted to know.

"Is that legal?" Spencer asked afterwards.

"Of course not," scoffed Garcia. "We all go to prison and you'll be someone's bitch."

Parker had to smile. Garcia was way too good to get caught, so they were in no danger.

Well, Parker knew that it was a joke, Spencer didn't.

"Really?"

"Maybe," Parker replied in a serious tone.

Spencer turned his head in Parker's direction. His partner had their eyes fixed on one of the many screens.

"Good call, Reid," Garcia said when she found something. "Mrs. Reese Miller, Diazepam."

"Who prescribed the meds?"

"Dr R. Howard at the Applewood Family Centre. Let's find out what he looks like. Here we go."

None of the three agents had expected that Dr Howard was not a man but a middle-aged motherly-looking woman.

"Dr Howard isn't a "he"."

~~

By talking to Dr Howard, they came up with a possible suspect. His name was Karl Arnold. And as it turned out after the search of his office, he was almost certainly the unsub.

The team was able to find him before he could kill another family.

Arnold was taken to the interrogation rooms in handcuffs. He greeted the agents politely as he walked down the hall, as if he hadn't killed several families.

JJ was waiting in the hallway for Gideon, who was walking after Arnold.

"Did he say anything?" JJ asked when her colleague stopped by her side.

"No."

"Can we tie him forensically to the other crimes?"

"Negative on foreign DNA. He must've washed Crawford's clothes."

"Then we'll need a confession", said Gideon. "Did you do what I asked?"

"Yeah."

"Good", the older Profiler said, bevor he turned to the desks in the bullpen.

"Parker?"

The young agent jumped up from the chair and rushed to Gideon and JJ.

"Yes? What's up?"

"Arnold is in the interrogation room now," Gideon explained.

Parker nodded, not quite sure where this was going.

"I want you to get a confession."

"Me?" Parker asked, confused.

They had no idea why Gideon was asking them that. The young agent had never conducted an interrogation alone and now Parker was about to get a confession.

"I do not think that–"

"You can do this," Gideon assured.

~~

Ten minutes later, Parker was in the interrogation room talking to Karl Arnold. Well, they weren't alone, Derek and a few other officers were there as well. But Parker had the lead.

"Emily Crawford was a very talented and gifted girl," Parker said. "Her brother Sam, a bright, energetic child. You watched them from the yard for days, maybe even weeks. You learned everything about them. You studied their every move and then you wrote it all down."

"May I have a glass of water?" Arnold asked.

Parker didn't react at first and looked silently at Arnold.

"I'm thirsty," the man tried again.

"Get him some water, please."

One of the officers brought Arnold a cup of water.

"Could you remove my shackles?" Arnold asked Derek. "I'm clearly no threat to you."

"They stay on."

Arnold sighed and took a sip of water. The man put the cup down again before Parker continued.

"You chose families that reminded you of the one you lost. You stalked them, you bound them, you terrorized them, and then you killed them. One by one. We have your journals, Karl."

"It's my job, to write everything down, to get to know them. I can't help them solve their problems without knowing background. I make home visits. Sometimes without their knowledge, because people lie. You, of all people, should know that."

Without a word, Parker showed the man pictures of the two families.

"Eric Miller was an awful husband and father. Allison Crawford hemorrhaged money her husband didn't have. That can strain any marriage."

The young agent put the family pictures down and picked up a picture frame containing a photo of a third family – Arnold with his ex-wife and children.

"On the surface, this looks like "any family, USA". Two-parent household, two kids, a boy and a girl. But if you look a little closer, you'll see their body language tells a different story. The woman and children are distant from the man. Their smiles are stiff, their eyes are frightened. Every hair is in place, wearing their Sunday best. Their own private hell being memorialized on film."

Arnold looked past Parker at the evidence boards set up behind Parker and twitched nervously.

"Are you okay?"

"It's not right."

"What isn't?" Parker asked.

"You've got the pictures mixed up!" Arnold got louder.

"The one in the middle, that is Sam Crawford's. It should be Ty Miller's! You need to swap them. You need to make it right."

Parker half turned around and then back to Arnold. The young agent looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

They stood up and pointed to the picture: "This one here?"

"What the hell have I been trying to tell you?" Arnold replied, annoyed.

"You're right. They're switched. That is Sam Crawford's foot with the Miller family," Parker admitted.

They sat down again opposite Arnold.

"But how did you know that, Karl?" Parker asked triumphantly.

~~

"– And I watched them for a number of days. Always at night. Saw how they lived, how they loved. I would keep them apart until the last night, until the last supper. Then I would bring them, one by one, down to the basement. The youngest first, the father last."

"Why, Karl?"

"So he could see what happens to families when the head of household isn't strong. Wives wither, children perish. But me, I'm an excellent father."

~~

Parker didn't need to hear more and they and their colleagues left the interrogation room. They met with the rest of the team in the briefing room.

Closing a case was usually a good thing, but nobody felt like celebrating.

Because while Parker was conducting the interrogation, Hotch found a small box in Arnold's office where he kept the trophies

Only there were not just two, but a total of eight wedding rings in the box