EXT. MANHATTAN, NEW YORK - NIGHT
Times Square is all lit up. A taxi goes past. Then we pan up and peer into an apartment through the window. We see a MAN's naked back.
INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT
The MAN is shirtless, wearing only boxer shorts and sitting on a chair. He grabs his head, rocking back and forth. He taps his fingers on his thighs like a typist.
The MAN stands up and pulls first duct tape, then aluminum foil from a roll.
He tapes the foil over the window, then pulls on his clothes: pants and a hooded shirt.
EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT
The MAN (in a HOOD so that we can't see his face) is walking down a rainy street past a line of taxis waiting.
INT. TAXI - NIGHT
As he drives, the CAB DRIVER looks into his rearview mirror at the HOODED MAN in the back seat. It's still raining.
CAB DRIVER: So, you a Knick fan? 10 million a year they're paying Larry Brown. I could make them suck just as bad for half of that. You from here?
The HOODED MAN taps his fingers on his thighs again.
CAB DRIVER: No? Out of town?
We see the CAB DRIVER's licence. His name is WALTER DERBIN.
DERBIN: Suit yourself.
EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT
The taxi pulls up underneath a bridge as a train rattles over it. It has stopped raining.
The HOODED MAN gets out of the back seat and shuts the door behind him. His right hand is stuffed in his pocket, so we can't see it.
DERBIN (O.S.): You sure this is where you wanna be?
The HOODED MAN stands beside the driver side door of the taxi. His left hand taps faster on his thigh. DERBIN looks out his window.
DERBIN: Did you hear me?
The HOODED MAN raises his gun and fires into the taxi.
INT. B.A.U. CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT
Derbin's cab licence is on the screen behind J.J., who is facing the rest of the team. HOTCH stands to the side, flicking through pictures on the screen with the remote.
HOTCH: Walter Derbin, age 52. His body was found in his cab in East Harlem. He was blindfolded and shot once in the chest. Death was caused by knife stab through his ear. The unsub broke off the handle with the blade lodged in his brain.
HOTCH hands the remote to J.J.
J.J.: It's the same signature as two other murders. Rachel Holman, 24, found in her apartment 3 weeks ago on the Lower East Side. And Kaveh Surrani, 30.
J.J. flicks through four pictures: the two victims alive and dead, lying on the floor.
J.J.: The police found him 2 weeks later in his painting studio in Hell's Kitchen.
HOTCH: Different locations, different victimology. It's possible we're looking for someone who'll hunt indiscriminately.
ELLE: N.Y.P.D. have any leads?
HOTCH: Guy's a ghost
J.J.: He kills at night. There's no witnesses.
GIDEON is chewing on a toothpick.
GIDEON: Is the N.Y.P.D. feeling the strain?
J.J.: Well, they've withheld details so the press hasn't sniffed out a link between the murders.
MORGAN: With no discernable victim patterns, the killer's practically impossible to stop.
REID: Did you know the original Zodiac Killer actually continually changed his victims. Young, old, men, women, White, Black.
GIDEON: Exactly, and he killed for 30 years without ever being caught.
EXT. PRIVATE PLANE - DAY
The plane is flying over New York City.
GIDEON (V.O.): 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."
INT. PRIVATE PLANE - DAY
The team are all sitting in the forward half of the plane.
ELLE: This is not how I planned to spend a few days home in New York.
ELLE, J.J. and REID are playing cards.
J.J.: I'd kill for an afternoon at Barney's and dinner at Il Cantinori.
REID: I'm looking forward to seeing New York.
MORGAN: You've never been to New York?
REID: We've never had an unsub there.
HOTCH: I thought you were gonna talk to Reid about taking some vacation time.
GIDEON: What's vacation time?
MORGAN: Reid, it's a one hour flight.
J.J.: Well, if we have some time, I'll show you around.
MORGAN: It's 3 hour train ride, man.
ELLE laughs.
HOTCH: OK, here's what we know. Blitz attackers are almost always male.
MORGAN: He got picked up in the pouring rain by a New York cabbie, so we definitely know he's not a brother.
REID: The fact that he kills in a major urban setting without detection indicates he's highly intelligent.
ELLE: How intelligent can he be? And blitz attackers are textbook disorganized killers.
HOTCH: Yeah, but he brings along a murder kit. Blindfold, knife. How disorganized can he be?
GIDEON: We'll split up. We'll take the last two crime scenes. In the meantime, let's talk about what we can agree on. A blindfold likely means one of two things.
MORGAN: The unsub might blindfold them initially if he's unsure of killing them and wants to avoid detection.
GIDEON: 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.
EXT. EAST HARLEM BRIDGE - DAY
GIDEON is looking inside Derbin's taxi. REID stands to the side with an OFFICER (#1) and a DETECTIVE. All of them are wearing white gloves.
GIDEON: Blindfolding a victim suggests the unsub feels remorse. Doesn't want his victims to look at him... as he kills them.
GIDEON looks up, in the direction the taxi is pointing.
GIDEON: What's in that building?
DETECTIVE: Nothing. It's been vacant for a couple of months.
REID: This train goes express after midnight. It doesn't even stop here.
DETECTIVE: He picked this spot beforehand.
GIDEON opens the door behind the driver's and gets into the taxi.
REID: His last fare was logged in an address on Church Street. You have any idea what's there?
DETECTIVE: Church is an entry point for Brooklyn. There's a dive there where the cabbies stop for coffee before the overnight shift.
REID: Explains how he got a cab.
GIDEON looks in through the driver's window at the blood spatter on the steering wheel.
GIDEON: This guy's definitely not disorganized.
GIDEON looks back up at the empty building and walks away.
INT. RACHEL HOLMAN'S APARTMENT - DAY
MORGAN holds up a piece of paper and shows it to ELLE. He's wearing white gloves.
MORGAN: Rachel Holman's "Change of address" card. She just moved in. Hadn't even filled out yet.
ELLE: So she probably didn't know her neighbors, and they weren't likely to check in on her.
MORGAN: Nope. I also found this.
MORGAN shows ELLE another printed sheet of paper.
MORGAN: It's a printout of A.A. meetings in the area.
ELLE: She was starting a new life.
HOTCH: Hey, you guys, check this out.
ELLE and MORGAN follow HOTCH into the hallway.
HOTCH: The cops' theory is that she was home and the unsub broke in through the front window and surprised her. But look. This is the gunshot to the chest.
HOTCH points to a small stain of blood on the floor. Then he walks further to a larger bloodstain.
HOTCH: This is the knife to the head.
MORGAN: So then after she was shot, she tried to run away from him toward the door.
HOTCH: Exactly.
ELLE: He was already in the apartment when she got home.
HOTCH: The hallway's the only room in the apartment with no windows. No one could see him, so he just waited patiently.
ELLE walks to the front door and traces Rachel's steps.
ELLE: So... she comes home... and she opens the door... and she walks in the hallway. She walks down, and then... bam, he shoots her right here.
MORGAN: But she tries to run away... and he's on her.
FEMALE OFFICER: So why didn't he just shoot her again? Why stab her and break the blade off in her head?
HOTCH: Well, there are a number of possibilities.
ELLE: Through the ear is the softest path to the brain.
MORGAN: Snapping the handle's also common in prison shankings. Break it off, other guy can't pull the blade out.
FEMALE OFFICER: What's the other possibility?
EXT. EAST HARLEM BRIDGE - DAY
Back at the taxi crime scene, REID is talking to the DETECTIVE and other N.Y.P.D. officers. They are all standing beside the taxi.
REID: Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris drove ice picks into their victim's heads and broke off the handle. It's possible our unsub is sort of a, uh, serial-killer groupie.
OFFICER #2: So is this guy an ex-con or some nut job with an Amazon account?
GIDEON: This particular unsub presents a mixed profile.
OFFICER #2: No offense, then what good is it?
INT. RACHEL HOLMAN'S APARTMENT - DAY
ELLE, MORGAN and HOTCH is briefing the officers at that crime scene.
ELLE: The profile's just a starting point for narrowing down the suspects.
MORGAN: For instance, the fact that the unsub shoots his victims first suggests that he needs a quick and effective means of controlling the situation.
ELLE: 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 confidant just because he's small.
EXT. EAST HARLEM BRIDGE - DAY
GIDEON is now sitting in the back of the taxi.
GIDEON: We now know he has a high degree of organization. That coupled with the fact he hunts at night means he probably has a steady job.
INT. N.Y.P.D. BRIEFING ROOM - DAY
GIDEON and REID are a the front of the room with the DETECTIVE in front of assembled OFFICERS.
FEMALE OFFICER: So we're looking for a small, angry white guy with a day job?
OFFICER #2: Maybe it's Wilson.
The assembled OFFICERS laugh.
DETECTIVE: Cut it!
GIDEON: No, that's all right. That's all right. 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.
REID: An unsub's signature-- is his own extremely rare combination of M.O. and ritual. An unsub kills to satisfy an inner need, and he'll 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.
GIDEON: In other words, he's not gonna stop killing until we catch him.
DETECTIVE: OK. Hit the streets and keep your head on a swivel.
The assembled OFFICERS stand and leave the room.
GIDEON: Thank you very much.
J.J. comes into the room and shakes hands with the DETECTIVE. HOTCH follows her.
J.J.: Hi. Jennifer Jareau. We spoke on the phone.
DETECTIVE: Detective Bennett.
The DETECTIVE shakes hands with HOTCH.
DETECTIVE: Hello.
HOTCH: Agent Hotchner.
J.J.: So I spoke to your point man. I reiterated how important it is to keep the crime scene details under wraps, but it would go a long way if it came out of your mouth, too.
DETECTIVE: You got it.
HOTCH: If this guy's who we think he is, we're talking terror like New York hasn't seen since Son of Sam.
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
A WOMAN finishes a prayer beside a table of candles. She turns around and sees the HOODED MAN.
WOMAN: May I help you?
She notices he's tapping his leg.
WOMAN: Are you OK?
The WOMAN leaves. The HOODED MAN walks into the church, dipping the fingers of his right hand into the font of holy water, then walks into the main room toward the altar, and then the confessionals to the side. He pushes aside the curtain and gets inside.
The PRIEST on the other side turns to look at the HOODED MAN who shoots him through the grill.
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
GIDEON, HOTCH and the DETECTIVE are walking through the entryway toward the main room.
DETECTIVE: So this is where terror starts.
GIDEON: How'd they find him?
DETECTIVE: The night janitor.
HOTCH: He see anything?
DETECTIVE: No, but he remembered a parishioner who was here earlier.
HOTCH: So there's a potential witness.
They reach the main room. ELLE and MORGAN are following him.
DETECTIVE: Right there.
The WOMAN is sitting in a pew beside a NUN.
GIDEON: This lady?
DETECTIVE: Mm-hmm.
GIDEON turns to tell ELLE something.
ELLE: Yeah.
ELLE and MORGAN stop to talk to the WOMAN. HOTCH, GIDEON and the DETECTIVE head to the body, lying blindfolded outside the confessional. REID follows them.
GIDEON: First public killing. He's getting bolder, huh?
GIDEON and REID bend down toward the body.
HOTCH: He didn't let his surroundings alter his method. He's meticulous. The presentation is every bit as important as the killing.
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
ELLE and MORGAN stand talking to the WOMAN who is sitting in a pew.
WOMAN: As soon as the police asked me if I'd seen anything, I had a sickly feeling.
ELLE: So you saw him?
WOMAN: Not his face. He had a hood on
HOTCH approaches from behind ELLE. The DETECTIVE rounds MORGAN.
WOMAN: And he kept his head down.
MORGAN: But something about his behavior unsettled you?
WOMAN: I'm sorry. I should have known.
ELLE: There's no way that someone could know something like this.
GIDEON walks up.
WOMAN: It almost felt like he couldn't hear me, like he was in his own world, you know?
GIDEON sits in the pew in front of the woman.
GIDEON: You spoke to him?
WOMAN: I just asked if he was OK.
HOTCH: And he didn't speak?
WOMAN: 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.
ELLE: Unless he's not killing at random.
MORGAN: And whatever these people have in common is what got them killed.
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
REID bends over the CRIME SCENE TECH and the body.
REID: I'm sorry. Would it be possible to maybe... slide that thing out of his ear?
The CRIME SCENE TECH slowly pulls it out while REID watches.
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
Back to the interview.
WOMAN: I thought maybe he was uncomfortable being in this parish.
GIDEON: Why would it be uncomfortable?
WOMAN: Because of all that... business.
DETECTIVE: A year ago, the rector was indicted for pedophilia.
WOMAN: A lot of people stopped worshipping here. But Father Breeman was tried in a court of law and found innocent. It's not my place to question that.
REID approaches.
REID: He's not using just any knife. It's made of flint.
ELLE: As in stone?
REID: In Egyptian mythology, flint was the symbol for protection and retribution.
GIDEON gets up and walks away.
REID: With hieroglyphics, they used to depict dangerous animals like scorpions and snakes being cut with flint knives in order to render them powerless.
HOTCH follows GIDEON over to the body. GIDEON pulls on a glove and bends down. He lifts up the blindfold.
GIDEON: Anything strike you as strange?
HOTCH: The blood's all on the inside.
INT. GARCIA'S OFFICE - NIGHT
GARCIA is at her computer talking to HOTCH, who is still in the church.
GARCIA: Fount of all knowledge. Check my flow.
HOTCH: I need you to check all the victims and see if any were charged with a crime.
GARCIA: OK. You wanna time me, or should I just dazzle you off the clock?
HOTCH smiles.
GARCIA: OK. Kaveh Surrani.
On GARCIA's monitor is a mugshot, fingerprint and arrest record.
GARCIA: Vehicular manslaughter. Tried and found not guilty July 2002. Rachel Holman. Convicted of cocaine possession, 2004.
There is a similar screen with Rachel's picture.
GARCIA: Oh, baby girl. Just say no.
HOTCH: No acquittals?
GARCIA taps keys on her keyboard.
GARCIA: Uh... wait. Hold on. Same case. She was also up on charges for administering a fatal dose of heroin to her boyfriend. Jury found her not guilty. Can we go 3 for 3?
GARCIA brings up a mugshot of Derbin.
GARCIA: Yahtzee. Our cabbie, Walter Derbin. Spousal battery. Bastard!
HOTCH: But he was innocent?
GARCIA: If you wanna call it that. Charges were dropped mid-trial four months ago.
HOTCH:You're a genius.
GARCIA: You're just saying that 'cause it's true.
HOTCH: Thanks.
HOTCH hangs up his phone.
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
The gang are all talking.
GIDEON: If the victim was blindfolded first, the blood would have flowed over the blindfold. He puts it on after he kills them.
HOTCH walks up to them.
HOTCH: All three charged with a felony. All three found innocent.
ELLE: And that didn't show up on your men's radar?
DETECTIVE: Acquittals? No. Why is it important?
GIDEON: Because we have a new profile.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - DAY
Profile briefing number two. GIDEON speaks while REID hits the projector, showing pictures of the bodies.
GIDEON: We know believe these killings aren't random. We might be dealing with a vigilante. The unsub first shoots his victims in order to subdue them. Flint knife then provides both an efficient kill and symbolic retribution. Finally, the victim is blindfolded, like the statue of Lady Justice. This particular unsub, he displays both a heightened-- it's actually almost a poetic sense of right and wrong.
REID: Serial vigilantes are extremely rare. The exaggerated drama of these killings suggest that they're somehow personal. He, or someone close to him, is 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.
GIDEON: 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.
DETECTIVE: We'll cross-check unsolved murders against suspects in assault cases and victims who work in the system.
GIDEON: 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. And 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.
J.J. enters the room.
GIDEON: We don't want him believing he captured the public's fear or imagination.
J.J.: Too late.
J.J. hands a newspaper to GIDEON.
GIDEON: The afternoon edition's leading with the vigilante story.
DETECTIVE: How did they get it?
J.J.: I don't know.
You were worried about this guy becoming another Son of Sam. Now we might be dealing with a vigilante folk hero like Bernhard Goetz.
INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - NIGHT
The six B.A.U. members are sitting around a table, eating.
HOTCH: So you know there was a big hole in the profile you presented back there.
GIDEON: Can you pass the mu-shu, please?
MORGAN passes a bowl to J.J.
J.J.: What's the hole?
J.J. passes the bowl to GIDEON.
GIDEON: I left out the possibility our unsub might be a cop.
MORGAN: Well, they do know the system. They're definitely overworked and underpaid.
HOTCH: They see so much injustice every day they can easily take matters into their own hands.
REID: When someone like our victim is killed, police refer to the murder as a public-service murder.
As REID speaks his noodles slip from his chopsticks.
ELLE: You know how many rapists i saw walk during my sex-crime days? None of 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.
J.J.: It's a long way from feeling like that and actually committing murder, don't you think?
HOTCH: Not really.
REID leans back to ask a waitress.
REID: Excuse me. Can I get a fork, perhaps?
MORGAN laughs.
REID: Did you know that experts credit Confucius with the advent of the chopstick? He equated knives with acts of aggression.
MORGAN: You don't know how to use them, do you?
MORGAN hands REID a new pair of chopsticks.
REID: It's like trying to forage for dinner with a pair of number two pencils.
J.J.: OK, here, let me help you.
J.J. takes the chopsticks and uses a hair elastic to tie the ends together.
MORGAN: Oh, the rubber-band trick.
J.J.: Yup.
MORGAN: Well, New York city cops do have a lot of pressure on 'em. Every move they make is scrutinized.
GIDEON: You know, 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.
REID: 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.
GIDEON: 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.
ELLE: 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.
REID drops a vegetable with his rubber-banded chopsticks.
HOTCH: You're right. So, Elle... are you seeing anyone?
MORGAN and GIDEON laugh.
ELLE: Uh, Gideon... why didn't you tell the cops that it might be one of their own?
GIDEON: If we're gonna catch the guy, we need all the help the cops can give us. The last thing I want to do is accuse one of them of murder.
EXT. NEW YORK STREET - NIGHT
A bus pulls up and the HOODED MAN gets off. He's tapping his fingers against his thighs.
INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - NIGHT
GIDEON's phone rings.
J.J.: How's it going?
REID: Awesome.
GIDEON answers his phone.
GIDEON: Gideon.
REID drops something else.
REID: It's absolutely incredible. 1.3 billion people stay nourished using these things.
HOTCH and ELLE giggle.
GIDEON: Yeah. OK. I got it.
GIDEON shuts his phone.
GIDEON: He just took out a cop killer.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - DAY
GIDEON looks at a board. The DETECTIVE approaches and hands GIDEON a blue file.
DETECTIVE: His name's Shawn Cooley. One year ago, he killed two Port Authority cops. And he walked.
GIDEON flicks through the pictures of the dead man's bloody head.
DETECTIVE: Because the only witness against him was shot six times outside his apartment.
GIDEON: It might be worth having your men re-canvas this morning. People are more likely to talk in the day. They feel safer.
GIDEON walks toward the rest of the team.
DETECTIVE: I'm already on it.
J.J. walks in with a newspaper.
J.J.: More bad news.
J.J. hands the paper to HOTCH.
J.J.: It's the same reporter every time. Lance Wagner. He's practically deifying him.
GIDEON: I'm not even happy with the results when God plays God.
DETECTIVE: You know, a few of the men were talking about making him a wish list of other dirtbags.
HOTCH: "Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets."
REID: Taxi Driver.
DETECTIVE: This town loves a psychopath.
REID: Why hasn't he contacted the press yet?
HOTCH: Reid's right. He's got the symbolism, the inflated sense of duty. He should be seeking out acclaim.
GIDEON: Maybe it's not about acclaim with him. He's on a mission. Maybe it's about the work.
HOTCH: Yeah, but the last two cases were a cop killer and a pedophile priest. Those are higher profile cases.
REID: He's getting more confident.
GIDEON: He's growing into his role as the city's judge and executioner.
J.J.: I'll check the press archives for controversial acquittals. Maybe we can target the victim before the unsub, have the police waiting on him.
ELLE walks into the room.
ELLE: Hey, guys. Listen to what came off the tip hotline.
MALE CALLER: I got a tip. Let the guy be.
ELLE's recorder beeps.
FEMALE CALLER: How come the N.Y.P.D. wants to catch this guy? Are you jealous he's doing the job better than you?
ELLE: It goes on for half an hour.
GIDEON: He's a hero.
REID: The exact same thing happened with the Goetz New York subway shootings in the early eighties.
GIDEON: You weren't even born.
REID: I read a lot.
EXT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - DAY
MORGAN's phone rings while he's outside getting coffee.
MORGAN: Hey, talk to me, baby.
GARCIA: Who do you love?
MORGAN: That depends on what you're giving me.
GARCIA: Oh, don't be such a man. I ran the names of the five victims like you asked. No overlap in arresting officers, public defenders or district attorneys.
MORGAN: Do I sense a but
GARCIA: Small but.
MORGAN walks down the street.
MORGAN: That's not what I was jonesing for.
GARCIA: You're killing me with entendres. But each one was processed at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse at 100 Centre Street.
MORGAN stops walking.
MORGAN: Do you have any idea how many cases run through there every year?
GARCIA: 122,998. But at least we've eliminated four other boroughs, hmm?
MORGAN: Yeah, great. All right. It's a start. Thanks.
GARCIA: Ta.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - DAY
HOTCH, ELLE, REID, MORGAN and GIDEON are gathered.
HOTCH: Do you have any idea how many cases--
MORGAN: 122,998 cases a year.
GIDEON: We'll check it out. Maybe there's someone with a history of erratic behavior who worked in the building. Crime groupies. A security guard that fits the profile. Get with J.J. See what you can make of her case list.
MORGAN: OK.
ELLE: I'll go with you.
EXT. MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE - DAY
HOTCH, GIDEON and REID are walking up the front steps.
HOTCH: Ever crossed your mind?
GIDEON: Taking the law into my own hands?
HOTCH: Not the law, justice.
GIDEON: What's this about? The boys in Iowa?
HOTCH: It's just a question.
GIDEON: I guess if I think if I ever let my mind go there, then the unsubs would be getting into my head instead of me getting into theirs. That wouldn't be a good idea, now, would it?
INT. MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE - DAY
GIDEON is speaking to an ASIAN WOMAN.
ASIAN WOMAN: The cops have already been down here asking their questions.
GIDEON: I just want to give you a description of someone, see if he sounds familiar. He's quiet. He... body language gives the impression he's seen too much.
ASIAN WOMAN: Work in this building long enough, we all get that way.
INT. COURTROOM - DAY
HOTCH and REID are following an OLDER MAN.
HOTCH: He's small, meticulous. You might not notice him at first, but when you do, you realize he's heard everything around him.
REID: He might have had a personal brush with crime. When it happened, he talked about it all the time. But now you realize he hasn't mentioned it in quite a while.
HOTCH: 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.
OLDER MAN: Well, if people are being honest with you, that's most of the people in this building. How old are you?
REID: 24.
OLDER MAN: I'll give you 6 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.
INT. MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE - DAY
GIDEON stands in the middle of the atrium, reading a newspaper. REID walks up to him.
GIDEON: Anything?
REID: Uh-uh. You?
GIDEON: No.
REID: What happened in Iowa?
GIDEON folds up his paper and removes his glasses.
GIDEON: It was one of the first cases Hotch and I worked together. Small town, two boys had been murdered, same signature. The profile led us to the local 4-H leader. We went to interview him. The guy, he was suicidal. He had a shotgun. Our guns were drawn. At some point, he turns the shotgun on Hotch. Instead of firing, Hotch talks him down the guy surrenders.
REID: Sounds like pretty good work.
GIDEON: At trial, the guy's wife gave him an alibi for both murders. Small town. They all knew each other. The jurors believed her. Eventually they got him when he killed another boy.
HOTCH approaches.
HOTCH: Any luck?
GIDEON shakes his head and hands HOTCH the paper. The headline reads "Street Justice".
HOTCH: This guy's not doing us any favors.
REID: His access is unbelievable . He's practically scooping us.
INT. NEWSPAPER OFFICE - DAY
J.J. is following a man, WAGNER through the office.
WAGNER: The F.B.I. needs help and they get you to do their bidding?
J.J.: I am an F.B.I. special agent. The rest of the team is too busy. They're out in the field.
WAGNER: Yeah, and they're doing a bang-up job, too.
WAGNER sets aside a folder labeled "Righteous Killings".
J.J.: Look, the fact is you've scooped every other reporter in New York. You've even managed to be ahead of the cops a few times.
WAGNER: A good crime reporter needs to be better than the police. You get less to go on.
J.J.: Well, that's why Agent Gideon was hoping you'd accept this invitation to help.
WAGNER: Jason Gideon?
WAGNER laughs.
WAGNER: He used to be one of the best.
J.J.: He still is.
WAGNER: Yeah. He had kind of a famous meltdown.
J.J.: And a whole string of success since he's returned.
WAGNER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Meltdown's make better copy.
J.J.: Maybe you can take that up with him yourself... you know, if you decide to come in.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - DAY
HOTCH and GIDEON interviewing WAGNER in some kind of small meeting room with a table.
HOTCH: So how did you put together the vigilante angle so quickly?
WAGNER: I covered the original trials of all the victims.
GIDEON: You must have a good memory. A lot of killers can't remember details from their own crimes.
WAGNER: Some cases just stick right in your brain.
HOTCH: Tell us about the victims.
WAGNER lifts pictures from the table and looks at each in turn.
WAGNER: All right. Well, this girl, she was just a waste case. The jury bought into the whole "Addiction as disease" B.S. And this old guy, he was a thug. He beat his wife, but the case fell apart because she wouldn't testify.
GIDEON: Surrani?
WAGNER: He drank and drove. It was a tragedy, but... it was the kind of thing that could happen to anybody.
HOTCH: So who do you think we're looking for? What's his background? My guess is he's a crime victim. Probably something violent.
GIDEON: But you do think he's a hero.
WAGNER: Well...
WAGNER leans back in his seat.
WAGNER: You know, this city make you swallow a lot of crap. It's hard not to feel for someone who won't take it anymore.
HOTCH: These haven't been released to the press. They're pretty grim.
HOTCH sets down pictures of the bloody heads.
WAGNER: I've seen plenty of crime scenes.
HOTCH: Right.
WAGNER picks one up, looking interested.
GIDEON: We're stuck on the ear. Is it for killing efficiency or symbolism? Why would you stab someone through the ear into their brain?
WAGNER: What's going on here?
HOTCH: The profile leads us to think that he works close to the criminal justice system. What do you think?
WAGNER: No, no. You didn't bring me in here because you wanted my help.
GIDEON: The profile suggests this guy'd contact the media. He hasn't.
HOTCH: And we thought the killer wouldn't need to contact the press if he were the press.
GIDEON: You're single-handedly turning this psychopath into a folk hero.
WAGNER: So what happened? You get your men killed on the job and you think everybody else must be a killer, too?
HOTCH: Watch your mouth.
GIDEON: It's OK, Hotch. Not our guy.
WAGNER gets up to leave.
WAGNER: You're damn right. I didn't kill anybody. What about you?
GIDEON: Wagner. You're right. You're not the killer.
WAGNER: Mm-hmm.
GIDEON: Everything you feel is vicarious. You don't have it in you to act. This psycho's the last chance for you. You've screwed up other jobs. You drink too much. Probably have a broken marriage or two. You're actually hoping he doesn't get caught for a while. Part of you knows that's twisted and pathetic, but hey... you're just reporting the news, right?
WAGNER leaves.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - NIGHT
A HOODED MAN stands by the fountain. He doesn't tap his fingers. He is approached by a second man in a BLUE JACKET.
BLUE JACKET: Hey! Hey!
The HOODED MAN lifts out a gun and shoots BLUE JACKET in the heart. BLUE JACKET falls forward.
The HOODED MAN rolls him over and listens for a heartbeat.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - NIGHT
MORGAN and ELLE are getting coffee from the urn. The DETECTIVE walks over.
DETECTIVE: The reporter is not a vigilante.
ELLE: Yeah, we know. How do you know?
DETECTIVE: There was just another shooting in Central Park.
MORGAN: You say shooting. What about the rest of the signature?
DETECTIVE: Officers heard the shot, but he ran off before they got there. The victim was an undercover cop.
A HOODED MAN enters the police station.
HOODED MAN: I think you're looking for me.
He is holding a gun but is not poised to shoot. MORGAN, and everyone else in the police station raise their guns and point them at the man.
OFFICER: Put the gun on the ground!
MORGAN: On your knees!
OFFICER: Drop the gun!
The HOODED MAN lies on the floor on his stomach.
OFFICER #2: Get down.
An OFFICER kicks away the gun.
OFFICER: Don't move.
HOODED MAN: No, you don't understand. I did this all for you. We're in this together.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - NIGHT
The HOODED MAN, now un-hooded sits in an interrogation room. J.J. and REID look at him through the window. ELLE and MORGAN approach.
ELLE: His name's Will Sykes. He's a security guard at a boutique in Soho.
MORGAN: He was a mugging victim last year. Spent two days in intensive care.
REID: Fits the profile.
ELLE: How's it going in here?
J.J.: He just confessed to all the murders.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT
GIDEON and the DETECTIVE are interviewing SYKES.
DETECTIVE: So what were you doing in the park?
SYKES: It's full of animals. Muggers and scum, drug dealers. I knew one of them would try to prey on me.
GIDEON: That's not your usual method. I mean, you target them. You don't let them target you.
SYKES: I made that point, now I'm making this one.
GIDEON: Which is?
SYKES: If you hunt us on the street, you will die the way you lived.
DETECTIVE: So why turn yourself in now?
SYKES: I can't change the city without help. People need to be inspired. They need to see me. They need to hear my voice.
GIDEON: Can you tell me about the cab driver, Derbin?
SYKES: He was a thug. A wife beater.
GIDEON: And the priest?
SYKES: What's to know? He preyed on young boys.
GIDEON: Is that why you stabbed him in the groin?
SYKES: It's what he deserved.
GIDEON: Thank you.
GIDEON and the DETECTIVE leave.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - NIGHT
J.J., MORGAN, ELLE and REID are still looking through the window.
J.J.: Why would he confess to murders he didn't commit?
MORGAN: Because he has narcissistic delusions. He wants the glory. He wants to be a star.
ELLE: He went into the park hoping that somebody would mess with him.
The door opens and GIDEON and the DETECTIVE enter.
GIDEON: He killed your undercover officer but not the others.
DETECTIVE: So where does that leave us?
REID: We know our unsub has a heightened sense of right and wrong. If he knew that he inspired a would-be vigilante to murder an undercover cop, he might feel remorse.
GIDEON: You think you might be able to mend fences with the reporter, Wagner?
J.J.: If it played to his ego, yeah.
GIDEON: We might be able to draw the unsub out. That's a good one.
EXT. CEMETERY - DAY
It's the funeral for the dead police officer. Someone appears to be playing "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.
INT. N.Y.P.D. STATION - DAY
REID, HOTCH, GIDEON and assorted cops are watching the funeral on the T.V.
REID: Wagner said this morning that the cop's blood is all over the vigilante's hands.
HOTCH: How did J.J. get him to cooperate?
The DETECTIVE walks up to GIDEON.
GIDEON: The unsub may feel a need to be there, to physically mourn for what he caused.
On the television, uniformed men are shooting a coordinated salute.
GIDEON: If that article lures him, Wagner gets to claim he caught a murderer. It's the ultimate scoop.
DETECTIVE: Will they know how to spot him?
GIDEON: I briefed your men. If the unsub's there, he'll be alone, out of place, not speaking to anyone else, probably not even making eye contact. Hopefully, he'll panic, draw attention to himself.
DETECTIVE: I can never get that sound out of my head. Wakes me in the middle of the night. If there was any justice, cop killers would have to hear it for an eternity.
HOTCH's phone rings and he answers.
HOTCH: Hotchner.
INT. MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE - DAY
MORGAN is holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder and looking through file boxes.
MORGAN: Hey, Hotch. Hotch,it's Morgan.
A woman hands him something.
MORGAN: Thank you-- Listen, something's funky, man.
MORGAN walks over to a desk and signs a guestbook. I'm here trying to get transcripts from the victims'original trials. I thought maybe there could have been a disturbance at the courthouse, or maybe the unsub even made himself known. You know what I mean?
HOTCH: Yeah.
MORGAN: OK. Well, here's the thing.There are no records available yet from the cabbie's trial. The clerk told me that your average court reporter is 3 to 6 months behind in transcribing his notes.
EXT. NEW YORK SIDEWALK - DAY
GIDEON, HOTCH and REID are walking somewhere.
HOTCH: That means that anyone who knows the details of that case had to have been in the courtroom.
GIDEON: Court reporters take their work home with them.
HOTCH: They get paid overtime. They take their notes in court and finish transcribing them at night.
GIDEON: 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.
REID: Killers often harm their victims in ways that they themselves have been harmed.
HOTCH: Court reporters, by definition, are a faceless cog in the machine. He sits there day in and day out transcribing testimony.
GIDEON: What if the voices wouldn't stop when you left the courtroom?
They round a corner.
REID: The witness at the church said that the unsub was playing a piano-like motion.
HOTCH: Or transcribing.
GIDEON: Killing's a good way to get the voices to stop, huh?
INT. GARCIA'S OFFICE - DAY
GARCIA's in her office talking to HOTCH, who is with REID and GIDEON beside an S.U.V.
GARCIA: Holla.
HOTCH: I need the name of the court stenographer in each of the victims' original trials.
GARCIA: Same one every time. Marvin Doyle.
HOTCH: Cross-check him against crime records. See if he was ever the victim of a violent crime.
GARCIA: No, not him. His parents killed in an attempted robbery, '04.
HOTCH: That's his stressor. Is he still working?
GARCIA: 100 Center, Courtroom 103.
GIDEON: we've got him.
The three of them get into the car.
INT. COURTROOM 103 - DAY
HOTCH pushes open the double doors, followed by REID. HOTCH shows his I.D. to the SECURITY GUARD.
HOTCH: Marvin Doyle. Is that him?
The stenographer is a middle-aged guy.
SECURITY GUARD: Doyle called in sick.
The SECURITY GUARD turns back to watch the proceedings.
HOTCH looks around the room and sees that a painting of a blindfolded woman is directly in the stenographer's line of sight.
HOTCH: We were in this courtroom yesterday.
REID: He saw us.
HOTCH: Tell your judge I need a warrant. Take that.
HOTCH hands the SECURITY GUARD his I.D.
INT. MARVIN DOYLE'S APARTMENT - DAY
GIDEON knocks on the door. With him are HOTCH, MORGAN, ELLE and REID and they're all wearing bullet-proof vests.
GIDEON: Marvin Doyle. F.B.I. Open up.
After a pause, GIDEON nods to the OFFICER beside him, who kicks open the door.
HOTCH walks in with his gun raised, followed by MORGAN and the DETECTIVE.
HOTCH: Clear!
GIDEON, ELLE and REID enter the room with their guns raised.
DETECTIVE: Clear!
GIDEON sees the foil taped over the windows.
GIDEON: He's gonna keep the voices out.
GIDEON pulls aside the foil and other lining over the window. He can now clearly hear a siren as an ambulance goes by.
GIDEON: He sound-proofed the entire place.
REID examines some photos in frames. He picks up one of a kissing couple where the woman's face has been drawn over with a marker.
ELLE: He ripped the speakers out of the television and the radio. And here is a life insurance check for $250,000. It's two years old. He didn't cash it.
GIDEON takes a look at the check.
GIDEON: He won't accept blood money.
REID shows the photo to GIDEON.
HOTCH pulls a box from a room.
HOTCH: Here's a box full of flint knives. There's got to be a hundred of 'em.
GIDEON, ELLE, REID, and the DETECTIVE look into the box.
MORGAN: Hey, guys. Come take a look at this.
MORGAN is fiddling with a stenography machine in an office by a desk. There are lots of file boxes on top of each other lining the walls. GIDEON comes into the room first.
MORGAN: It's a stenography machine. Look at the keys.
GIDEON bends down to look at the machine.
MORGAN: They're all worn out.
GIDEON goes over to look in a box nearby. It's full of stenography paper.
GIDEON: It's like he was trying to transcribe the voices in his head and he couldn't keep up.
ELLE is looking in the box beside him.
ELLE: Looks like hieroglyphics.
REID: 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.
GIDEON: He's getting paid overtime to study potential victims.
HOTCH: He knows we're onto him. He's racing us now.
GIDEON: Someone in these boxes is targeted to die.
GIDEON walks over and lifts the lid on all the top boxes.
GIDEON: We need to get inside his head and figure out who so we can stop him. Let's go. Start fishin'.
Everyone grabs a box.
INT. MARVIN DOYLE'S APARTMENT - DAY
MORGAN is carrying two boxes from the office to the main room.
MORGAN: You know, this is a lot of boxes. How are we supposed to narrow it down?
MORGAN sets the boxes on a table in the kitchen by GIDEON.
GIDEON: Check and see if it ended in acquittal. If it didn't, toss it aside.
HOTCH: It has to be a capital case. He's escalating. The more brutal the better.
ELLE: Why not go by most recent?
REID: Judging by his elaborate filing system, Doyle obviously has obsessive-compulsive disorder. People with O.C.D. often finish tasks then go back to the beginning and start over.
MORGAN: So he continually goes through the transcripts and the first one to trigger him becomes his next victim.
ELLE: Here's one. This is a liquor store owner who was shot with his own gun.
HOTCH: Flip to when they present the defense. Did the defendant testify?
ELLE: No.
HOTCH: Stick with the ones where the accused took the stand. This is personal. He hears their voices.
GIDEON: Doyle's victims all claimed to be a type of victim themselves. They 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.
HOTCH: Look for key phrases- Victim, mercy, anything that signifies they thought their crime wasn't their fault.
REID lifts a file from a box.
REID: I think I might have one, guys. Ted Elmore. He shot and killed both his parents after claiming self-defense for years of physical abuse.
GIDEON: Doyle lost his own parents. Hearing someone get away with killing their own, that would haunt him.
EXT. BLUE CAR - DAY
The HOODED MAN, presumably DOYLE, is looking at a mugshot of a man. He sees the man, ELMORE, walking on the other side of the street. He gets out of his car.
INT. MARVIN DOYLE's APARTMENT - DAY
GIDEON is on the phone.
INT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
A WOMAN picks up the phone when it rings.
WOMAN: Hello?
GIDEON: Is Ted Elmore there?
WOMAN: Not right now. Can I take a message?
GIDEON: Who's this?
WOMAN: This is his wife. Who's this?
GIDEON: My name is Jason Gideon. I'm with the F.B.I.
EXT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
The man from the mugshot is still walking down the street. The HOODED MAN crosses the road and follows ELMORE into his apartment building. The door shuts and locks behind him.
INT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
ELMORE walks into the apartment.
MRS. ELMORE turns and looks at him.
MRS. ELMORE: Honey, the F.B.I. is on the phone?
The HOODED man comes into the apartment through the still open door and shoots ELMORE in the chest.
MRS. ELMORE screams.
GIDEON: Mrs. Elmore! Mrs. Elmore! Come on!
GIDEON gets up.
EXT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
The street is swarming with police and cars. The B.A.U. get out of their cars.
The DETECTIVE points up to ELMORE's window.
DETECTIVE: He's there.
GIDEON: I think I can talk him out.
DETECTIVE: I have snipers up high. If they get a clean shot, they have my order to take it.
SNIPERS take their positions.
GIDEON: We might be able to reason. We rushed him. He doesn't want to have an innocent hostage. He has an exaggerated sense of right and wrong.
GIDEON pulls on a bullet-proof vest.
DETECTIVE: And so do I.
GIDEON: Talking's worth a shot.
HOTCH: I'm coming with you.
GIDEON adjusts his vest as he makes his way to the building followed by HOTCH.
INT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
The HOODED MAN has lost his hood and we see that it is DOYLE, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall holding ELMORE against his chest. DOYLE is pointing his gun at ELMORE and has a flint knife in the other hand.
MRS. ELMORE makes terrified noises, standing on the other side of the room.
DOYLE: Shut up!
MRS. ELMORE: He didn't do anything to you.
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE ELMORE APARTMENT - DAY
HOTCH leads GIDEON toward ELMORE's DOOR.
DOYLE (O.S.): Tell her how you lied. Tell her how you killed your parents and pretended they'd been hurting you.
HOTCH and GIDEON head into the room with guns drawn.
ELMORE: They did hurt me.
GIDEON pushes MRS. ELMORE behind him.
DOYLE: I'll kill him.
GIDEON: Then you wouldn't get to hear the truth. If he admits the truth, the voices will stop, right?
DOYLE: They always lie.
EXT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
The DETECTIVE is walking between the police cars on her walkie-talkie.
DETECTIVE: Do you have the shot?
SNIPER: Negative.
INT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
HOTCH moves around to get a better shot.
HOTCH: Let us interrogate him. Put the gun down. We're the F.B.I. We'll get the truth.
GIDEON: Marvin, I'm gonna put my gun away. We'll do this together, OK?
GIDEON slowly holsters his weapon. HOTCH moves again. GIDEON bends down and squats in front of ELMORE.
GIDEON: Tell him the truth. Tell him how you lied on the stand.
ELMORE: They did hurt me.
GIDEON: Don't listen to them, Marvin.
DOYLE: If he dies, they'll go away!
DOYLE digs his gun into ELMORE's chest.
HOTCH: What do you think? They won't come back? Waverly, Iowa, 1999. A man kills two boys only to walk away free and kill another one.
DOYLE: Stop it.
GIDEON: Haskins, Georgia, last year. Three white guys-- Three white guys kill a black teenager just because four witnesses see it. The jury finds them not guilty-- just because.
HOTCH: The first two boys were 14 years old. The third was only 12.
DOYLE: Stop!
GIDEON: It doesn't stop.
HOTCH: Diallo, Blake, Simpson, T. Cullen Davis.
GIDEON: You can't kill fast enough to keep up.
DOYLE: They killed my parents.
GIDEON: I know.
DOYLE aims the gun at the top of ELMORE's head.
DOYLE: I'm so tired.
GIDEON: Marvin, listen to me. Why don't you just give me the gun? Promise you... I will get you a place to rest.
DOYLE pushes ELMORE off his chest.
EXT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
The DETECTIVE is still on her walkie-talkie.
DETECTIVE: Are you clear now?
The SNIPER looks through his scope.
INT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
DOYLE points his gun at GIDEON. We hear a shot.
DOYLE falls backward. GIDEON starts. MRS. ELMORE shrieks.
HOTCH has his gun raised, still smoking. He slowly lowers it.
EXT. TED ELMORE'S APARTMENT - DAY
ELMORE is on a gurney being pushed by PARAMEDICS. MRS. ELMORE accompanies him.
A second gurney follows, toward a Coroner's van.
GIDEON (V.O.): Gandhi said, "It is better to be violent if there's violence in our hearts than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence."
HOTCH (V.O.): 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."
EXT. STREET - DAY
The following are statements from people off the street. Recorded by a news crew with flashes of static between each.
MAN #1: He got what he deserved.
MAN #2: He only did what the rest of us wish we could do.
WOMAN #1: I felt safer when he was alive.
MAN #3: This is why we need gun control.
MAN #4: The guy's a murderer. He got his own. Death penalty.
WOMAN #2: I say he's a hero.
WOMAN #3: They only killed him because they were afraid no jury would convict him.
