Criminal Minds

In Orange County, California, Norman Hill struggles with his tie in front of the mirror. It's one of his favorites, with colorful pictures of classic cars displayed down the front. His wife, Vanessa, looking cool and beautiful in a black dress, her blonde hair perfect, comes up behind him and urges him to hurry - she won't be late to her own party and is taking her own car - and demands he change his tie. He reluctantly loosens the knot, head hanging down. Norman walks through the kitchen, past his shelf display of model cars, and takes a long, wrapped package from its hiding place. He signs the card, picks up the package, and takes a moment to brush some dust from one of his models before he gets into his small SUV. He neatly hangs his suit jacket on a hanger in the back seat and places the package on the passenger seat.



Traffic is snarled, as usual. Norman squints against the glare behind his wire-framed glasses, not hurrying, driving slowly in his blue jeep. Horns blare behind him and woman in a black Mercedes suddenly pulls around him and cuts him off. At the next traffic light, Norman pulls up next to the woman and watches her out his window. She is talking animatedly via a blue-ray device attached to her ear. She impatiently tells her caller to hold when she notices that Norman has lowered his window and is gesturing to her to do the same. Her tone is scathing, and Norman's face falls, wounded by her words. She shakes her blonde hair from her eyes and stomps on the gas. Norman turns his head slowly from the window, utterly lost, his eyes drawn to the package next to him. The top of the gift box is slightly ajar.



Judy Hannity continues down the road, still on the phone, driving quickly and confidently in her Mercedes when a blue Jeep passes her on the left. Norman's face is set, his skin pale and wet with sweat, his eyes darting from the road to the package. Judy doesn't notice him, their two cars now side-by-side, until Norman places the shotgun through the passenger window and pulls the trigger. The glass erupts across Judy's shattered face, and the car swerves from the lane bursting through two yellow barrels of water before launching into space, its head-first roll slowing into unreality, before it lands on its hood and finally slides to a stop. A small smile plays across Norman's features as he continues on his way.



At the office party, Norman is calm and confident, shaking hands with co-workers, and pleasantly surprising his wife with his friendly demeanor. She accepts a kiss on the cheek and smiles, shrugging behind his back to a co-worker. This is a side of Norman Hill that no one has seen before. Later that night she lays beside him in their bed, content, her head leaning against him, while Norman stares silently into space. "What's gotten into you tonight?" she teases, but Norman cannot respond. Finally, she rolls over and goes to sleep. Norman glances over at her, puts on his robe and slippers, and shuffles into the hallway. On one closed bedroom door is a sign with his oldest daughter's name, Sasha. He turns from that door, to his second daughter's room, but Britney's door is also closed. At the third door, Jenny's room, he pauses for a moment before moving on. In the garage there is work to do. He works efficiently, sawing off the barrel of the pump action shotgun, the look on Judy Hannity's face clear in his mind's eye.



"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats." H. L. Mencken.



Agent Jordan Todd hands around case files to the BAU agents on the jet over Virginia. She explains that Judy Hannity was shot ten days ago and is paralyzed from the waist down, and two subsequent victims were killed. Each of the shootings took place on the freeway, and each time the vehicle of the shooter was different - a small SUV, a black sedan and a white sedan. Judy Hannity described her shooter as a normal looking white man driving an SUV. Hotchner wonders why she can remember him so clearly, but cannot remember anything else about her attack. Prentiss explains that, after a trauma, victims either remember everything in crisp detail, or block everything out - it is very unusual for someone to remember bits and pieces. The reason the team is only being called in now is because of the variety of cars involved, and the change in weapon type. Rossi is quick to point out that the weapon has not changed, the unsub simply sawed off the barrel of his shotgun - that accounts for the wider dispersal pattern.



Todd goes on to tell the team that the local media has dubbed the man, "The Road Warrior." Morgan explains that this type of unsub is extremely difficult to catch since his victims are impersonal, and he takes the crime scene with him when he leaves the area. They must build a solid profile and give it to the public, only then, with the public on the watch for the man, will they be able to identify the killer. Todd realizes that much of the job falls on her shoulders, as it will be her job to give the profile to the media. Hotchner looks up with concern, as if wondering if the new member of their team is up to the task. Det. Salinas greets the team as they enter the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Through the open area to the agents' right, the team can see the shattered hulks of the victims' vehicles in the Sheriff's Department garage. Morgan, Hotchner, and Prentiss move quickly into that area to begin their investigations. Det. Salinas advises the team that she has set up a tip line and is receiving hundreds of calls concerning the shootings. Agent Todd leaves to alert the media to expect a press conference as soon as possible.



Det. Salinas runs through her department's work so far, including the heightened police presence on and above freeways, and other tactical and investigatory resources that are pouring into the case. Rossi is impressed, but Salinas shakes her head, commenting that the three things they have plenty of are "freeways, news coverage, and blonde, female, luxury car owners." People are scared, and would probably give her a submarine if they thought it would help her investigation.



Inside the garage, the board shows the photos of the three victims - all blonde women. Hotchner notices that the circumstances of the first shooting were different from the other two - the unsub attacked in daylight on a crowded freeway, leaving dozens of potential witnesses. Morgan believes the man is a fast study, since by the very next attack he had changed vehicles, changed to nights, and changed his weapon by sawing off the barrel. Prentiss suggests that the first murder might have been spontaneous, leading the team to believe that the vehicle from the first attack, the blue SUV, was the unsub's actual car. They still have questions: why was he carrying a weapon in the car if he didn't mean to shoot someone, and why did he pull the trigger the first time? An interview of the first victim may help them find answers.



Judy Hannity is propped up in her hospital bed, bandages covering one side of her face, her right arm in a sling, and her teen-aged son at her bedside when Hotchner and Prentiss enter the room. Rick, the son, wants to protect his mother, but she tells him it's okay, and he allows Prentiss to escort him from the room. Hotchner is gentle, quiet, asking her to piece together her day, if she can.



Outside, Rick asks Prentiss if she's seen people recover from accidents like this one, looking for reassurance. Finally, he begins to cry, sure that what happened to his mother is his fault - if he hadn't gotten into trouble at school that day, his mother would not have been in her car at that time.



Judy tries to remember, picturing herself in the car that day: how impatient she had been, honking and pulling around him. She is uncomfortable with the memories, ashamed of herself as she remembers what she said to him when he asked her to roll down her window. Almost crying, she tells Hotchner what she said, insulting him, calling him "a girl," and telling him he drove like an old man. "If he hadn't seemed so normal I wouldn't have said anything," she sobs. "I don't even usually use my horn, because, on the road, you never know." Opening the door to her room, Hotchner tells Rick that his mother is lucky to have him taking such good care of her, and the boy's eyes light up. When the door shuts behind the young man, Hotchner turns to Prentiss with the important piece of evidence he obtained from Judy Hannity: she made it personal.



Studying the file, the attack sites on a map of Orange County, and the victims, Reid believes that the shooter's choice of victim represents a specific person in his life. Based on the ages and race, it is likely a wife or girlfriend. Det. Salinas asks Reid why the shooter doesn't just kill the woman in his life instead of going after strangers, and Reid explains that he needs the real woman as his scapegoat - if she dies, he has no one to blame for his shortcomings and failings. Since this type of killer has a need to strike quickly, odds are that the locations of the shootings will not be far from his interactions with his wife - probably his home. Reid points to the various different symbols on the map, asking Salinas what they signify. She replies that those are indications of roadwork. Eyes and thoughts moving quickly, Reid snatches up the map and hurries to his teammates.



On a whiteboard in the OC garage, Hotchner notes the information that he received from Judy Hannity: how the shooter was almost apologetic before she challenged him. Reid rushes in with the map and begins to explain his theory. Throughout the area there are many instances of roadwork, but only two designated as "alternate merges" where multiple lanes funnel down to one, with only one car going through at a time at the drivers' discretion. Both of these sites were within 3 miles of one of the shootings. These sites are allowing him to set up confrontations with other drivers: if the first confrontation brought on the need to kill, he needs to set up subsequent confrontations to feel that need again. He goes through the alternate merges again and again until he finds the correct victim time to cut him off. For now, they'll shut down all of the alternate merge sites in the county, and talk to all of the work crews on these sites.



Hotchner tells Det. Salinas that killers are like drug addicts, always looking for a high like his first one, chasing it down, obsessively, until it leads to insanity or death. In his garage, Norman sits in his car, again and again putting the shotgun through the passenger side window.



This killer will set up the same situation in order to try to get the same result. The pump of the shotgun pinches Norman's finger and he drops the weapon, hand going to his mouth.



When the high doesn't come, the killer starts to believe he is doing something wrong, and begins working on his methods, experimenting to find exactly the right way to proceed. The killer will begin to modify his weapon until it suits his purposes exactly. Norman throws the gun down on his workbench and reaches for a square, metal bracket. He places the bracket along the bottom of the barrel and wires it into place. Now the hacksaw, to cut the bottom of the square away from the bracket, leaving him a sturdy rest for his weapon. He screws it on tightly.



Continuing, Hotchner explains that, in the killer's mind, when he's done everything exactly right he'll feel that first high again. And, even when it doesn't come, he'll never stop. Inside the car again, Norman practices, pulling the shotgun from the seat and slapping it down on the car door, the two sides of the bracket holding it in place as he pumps the action again and again.



This type of killer will never accept that the high is gone and will never come back. And he'll never stop. Norman looks down at his weapon and smiles in satisfaction.



The hardworking road worker is speechless when Rossi asks him about the cars that went through his alternate merge zone. Hotchner clarifies, telling the man that they are looking for a white sedan, and the driver would have gone through the area again and again, driving very slowly, as if daring other drivers to cut him off. That description strikes a chord, and the hard-hat tells the agents about a man who he thought was lost. He "dressed like a hard-ass, but drove like a chick," the man explains. The driver was wearing a leather jacket and mirrored shades even though it was night time. Hotchner observes that the unsub is role-playing - breaking from reality. The road worker continues, explaining that a car cut the man off and he stuck his arm out across the front seat as if he was keeping a passenger from hitting the dashboard in a sudden stop. When the worker walks off, Det. Salinas asks Hotchner about the gesture. He and Rossi exchange worried glances - it most likely means that the unsub is used to being in the car with children. When Det. Salinas asks the two why that is a concern, they tell her that if he's breaking down, he's likely to turn on his actual targets before long - he's going to kill his family.



At the profile briefing, Hotchner explains that the hyper masculine disguise and victim preferences describe a man suffering a dramatic masculine identity crisis. Salinas is outraged that a simple identity crisis could possibly be the basis for attempted murder of women. Prentiss explains that something that happened before Judy Hannity even met the unsub started his disconnect with reality - something so traumatic that his mind could not handle it. The entire world has changed, and his perception of his home life is the key. He feels less than a man, his children don't respect him, or need him, and he is unwanted. He feels humiliated by his wife. These may or may not be true, but, either way, these perceptions have destroyed his masculine self-image. He's delusional, and now identifies completely with this image of the "Road Warrior." He'll die before he gives it up. And, since this new persona cannot exist in the same reality with his home-life, he will eventually kill his family.



Hotchner explains the three-fold plan for finding this killer: identifying every small, blue SUV in the area, setting up a single alternate merge zone within the geographical area of the attacks, and releasing the profile to the public. "Somebody out there knows this man, they just don't realize it."



Norman Hill sits in his cubicle at work, eating half a sandwich. His shirt is pressed, his tie is neat, but visions of brutal murders flash through his mind, and the co-worker who approaches his desk startles him. She holds out a receipt and asks him to put it on her expense account. A man approaches his desk, hands in his pockets, wondering where the expense report from last month is - he's been waiting for it. Norman shuffles through his files nervously, apologizing, when he feels the man behind him, leaning close, whispering how he is a loser. When he turns around, the man is still a distance away, waiting for the report. Norman frowns, and the man warns him that the "6th floor" doesn't care what's happening in his personal life, they just want results. The man goes on, insisting that he likes Norman, but statistics say that younger workers are better investments. While he talks, Norman reaches behind a framed photograph of his family for the gun he has hidden there. Changing his mind before he has the gun out, Norman calms, reaches down and grabs the missing report and hands it to the man.



Jordan Todd faces the press, asking the public to listen carefully to the description of the man they are looking for. Her words echo from the plasma television set into the corner of the large work area at Norman Hill's office, describing a white, middle-aged, father and husband, with a blonde wife who resembles the victims and drives a blue SUV. She continues, telling the viewers that the man has recently suffered a personal trauma. Some of the employees are watching the television, engrossed in the FBI description, and Norman imagines that one of the employees turns to him, her face melting in and out of reality as she describes the loser that the police are looking for: "Be on the lookout for a worthless loser named Norman who resents anyone with a life, and kills just to prove he's not an emasculated loser." Norman sees himself firing the shotgun again and again, in the car, in his house, the cars of his victims spinning in the air. He quickly packs up his belongings and hurries out of the office.



In his car, Norman is breaking down, sobbing and shouting, pounding his fists against the steering wheel. He hits the back of his hand against the passenger seat repeatedly, as if striking the person who sits there. At a stop light, two men pull up beside him on the left, and ask if he's okay. Norman sits, staring, his face set. Suddenly, the shotgun is in his hand, propped against his door, and he fires at the two men over and over and over again.



At the scene, Det. Salinas tells Hotchner that the two men lived in the area and detectives are notifying their families. Morgan observes that it is their killer - same weapon, blue SUV, but he's killed two young men in broad daylight. Something "pissed him off." The single witness confirmed that it was a middle-aged white male, wearing a tie, with a suit jacket hanging in the back seat. The killing was at 2:20, and Jordan's press conference began at 2:00. If he'd been watching the coverage, and he drove the speed limit, that means the man works within ten miles of the latest shooting. Morgan calls Garcia and asks her to pull up a map of the crime scene area, highlighting a ten mile radius from the latest shooting and coordinate it with calls to the tip line. Looking at the faces of the three BAU Agents, Det. Salinas is worried, and asks them if they feel the unsub will kill again, soon. Before they can answer, Jordan Todd bursts in, full of emotion, demanding to know if Hotchner knew this would happen right after her press conference. Hotchner takes her arm, quietly telling her that she has to control herself in front of the public and press. "He killed these people because of something I said," she insists. Hotchner, very much in control, corrects her. This is always a possibility whenever "we" talk to the press, he reminds her, asking her to tell him right away if this is too much for her. She puts her hands on her hips, and tells him that she can handle it. "Good, because you're about to give another press conference," he replies.



In front of the cameras again, Jordan releases more details to the press, now describing the killer as 45-55 years old, average build, who works within the ten mile area wearing a suit and tie. She goes on to say that he saw the press conference at 2:00 and immediately left work afterward. In his garage, Norman watches on a small television. When Jordan stops and faces the camera, Norman stops, his head down, his face blank. The young woman appeals to the killer, reminding him that he is a husband and father and has the capacity for mercy. "Do not hurt any more people, please turn yourself in." As soon as she is finished, Norman hurries out of the garage and into the living room. His wife, Vanessa, is there. Norman quickly admits to her that he is the "Road Warrior," the freeway shooter - he was compelled to tell her. Vanessa purses her lips, and nods once. "Of course, you are, dear, and I'm the Zodiac Killer." As the murders flash across Norman's mind again, Vanessa turns from him, laughing. When their two daughters ask what's so funny, Vanessa smiles and tells them what Norman said. They call him a dork and walk away.



Reid and Prentiss have been analyzing tip-line calls. Morgan leans over to listen as Prentiss relates just how many people believe that their middle-aged neighbors are serial killers. Reid hangs up with someone and hurries over - he's got something. At Norman Hill's office, the man who had requested the expense report leads Morgan, Prentiss, and Reid to Norman's desk. He explains that one of the reasons he thought of Norman in association with the press conference is the mention of a tragedy that the killer may have suffered recently. A simple situation - a flat tire - Norman sits on the sidewalk, struggling to change the tire while his youngest daughter, Jenny, sits in the car. But Jenny is bored, and restless, and Daddy is taking too long. She jumps off the seat and wanders into the road, and before Norman can reach her, a car slams into her small body. The man tells the agents that Jenny died six months ago. He hands Norman's personnel file to Reid, and Reid notices there are actually two files there. He's been given Vanessa Hill's file as well - Norman's wife works at the same firm. When Morgan asks to see her, the man informs the agents that she just got a big promotion and is taking some time off.



Norman storms into the kitchen and orders his family into the car. The girls reluctantly agree, but Vanessa questions him. Norman doesn't explain, just insists that he is driving. The girls huddle together in the backseat, and Vanessa screams at Norman to slow down. He refuses, telling his family that they have to get out of there. He swerves through traffic, straight through stop signs and then drives even faster. A police car pulls in behind him, lights flashing and siren blaring. Vanessa tells Norman to pull over but he tells her no. "No?" she is outraged. The girls are crying and trying to tell him to stop, but he shouts at them, telling them to shut up.



Det. Salinas gets a call about the high-speed chase of a small blue SUV driving erratically at 117th and Pacific. Hotchner immediately calls Morgan to let him know. Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss are closer to the car, and Hotchner, Salinas, Rossi, and Todd are closer to the Hill house - Norman may be heading home to kill his family.



Vanessa changes her tactics, now pleading with Norman to stop. He shakes his head, telling her they should have left the house long ago; they can't move on while they're living in that house - there are too many memories of their daughter. He wavers between sadness and anger, one moment mourning the loss of Jenny, the other determined to be the one to protect his family.



Morgan is playing catch up, listening to Reid's exasperating directions from the back seat to get them to the blue SUV as quickly as possible.



"Why are you doing this?" Vanessa pleads. "Because I know that you blame me," Norman responds.



Weaving in and out, Morgan squeals around the next corner at Reid's direction, Reid reacting in the back seat.



The Sheriff's vehicles are closing in on Norman. Two of them flank the Jeep from behind, trying to box him in, get beside him. Norman pulls the shotgun from the seat next to him and holds it out the window, shooting at the police cars behind him. Vanessa and the girls are upset, afraid, his wife yells at him to stop.



Morgan and the other agents listen as the shots are broadcast over the radio. Reid believes that Norman is heading in a wide circle towards his home. Rossi is on the phone with Prentiss when he gets out of the car at the Hill's home. They will be ready for him.



Reid instructs Morgan to turn right at the next light - they are closing in.



Norman's anger is winning. He accuses Vanessa of already forgetting their daughter, but his wife denies it, telling him that she cries every day. He waves the gun in her face, "Don't lie to me! Don't lie to me!"



Around the next corner, Morgan sees the blue SUV coming. Tires squeal, and he narrowly avoids a collision, finally falling into line with the Sheriff's vehicles on the chase.



Rossi knocks frantically at the front door, calling Vanessa's name. Her car is still in the driveway, and Hotchner leads the team around to the back door.



Norman's younger daughter is crying. She tells her dad that they can never be a family again. "It wasn't my fault," Norman pleads, but Vanessa turns on him, telling him he was the only other person there, of course it was his fault. He waves the gun again.



Inside the quiet Hill home, the agents admire Norman's c model car collection before proceeding down the hallway.



Morgan tells Reid to get on the radio and warn the local police that, when they stop Norman, the officers must let the BAU take the lead in case the Hill family is in the car.



Once Rossi opens the door into the house, the smell hits the agents, and Hotchner grimly orders them to split up. Each agent opens a bedroom door, glances inside, and turns away, horrified.



The Hill family argues, Norman remembering the sight of his daughter being hit by a car, until Vanessa grabs the wheel and jerks it, sending the jeep into the path of one of the Sheriff's cars. Brakes squeal, metal bends, and the small SUV is tipped onto its side, pushed along by the inertia of the chase and the press of the other cars. It slides along the road, lying on the drivers' side, the metal scraping loudly against the asphalt until it finally comes to a stop.



Rossi walks into the master bedroom and sees the blood-soaked sheets. He takes out his cell phone.



Norman, cuts on his head and arms, looks up at his wife's bloody face hanging over him and struggles to pull himself through the broken windshield. Officers and agents surround him, guns drawn, but Morgan, hanging up his phone, moves out towards him, frantically gesturing for the officers to lower their weapons. Norman stumbles from the car - Morgan screaming for the officers not to shoot - Norman frantic, trying to get the officers to save his family - guns pointed at the confused man - Morgan walking towards him, telling him his family is not in there, yelling for him to look in the car. "They were never there," Morgan insists, "they were never with you." Norman stares at the empty seats and the truth hurls itself against his consciousness - the night he lay in bed with his wife, cut down his shot gun, walked to each of his daughter's bedroom doors - he'd killed them, he'd killed them all. Out on the street, Norman sobs, "What did I do? Oh, what did I do?" Morgan grabs him from behind, cuffs him, and puts one arm around his chest to pull him to his feet. "We're gonna get you some help, Norman," he tells him.



Jordan Todd hurries out of the Hill home, face pale, with David Rossi following at a distance. She falls to her knees, crying, and he moves towards her. "Was this my fault?" she asks him, face to face. He shakes his head, telling her that the Hill family was dead before the BAU even got the case. She can't deny her feelings, and tells him that she's not sure she can do this job. He smiles fleetingly, and assures her that it's okay - there's nothing wrong with that.



"There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were." President Dwight Eisenhower.



When the team arrives back at the BAU headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, there's a surprise waiting for them. JJ has brought Henry to visit and is waiting in the conference room. Hotchner makes a show of disapproval, telling her that he ordered her to get this place out of her head, but Garcia hurries in with a newly warmed bottle, and the other agents gather around, smiling. "I just realized with all we do and see in this room, we never smile, I wanted at least one good memory to hold on to," JJ explains. Morgan pushes Reid out of the way and asks JJ if he can hold the baby. She smiles and hands him over, Prentiss nervously giving advice, and Garcia hovering. "Look-look-look, what's he doing? He's smiling at Derek Morgan," he insists. In unison, Prentiss and Garcia respond, "Gas," as the other agents laugh. JJ has stepped back beside Hotchner and glances at his face. "You're smiling," she whispers. "Gas," he insists.

[recap written by Finnegan77, uploaded 12.21.08]