Criminal Minds (2005–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Compulsion - full transcript
The team are called to an Arizona college when an arsonist who operates in a very unusual way kills a student.
Previously on Criminal Minds...
Anyone recognize these faces?
Victims of the Footpath Killer.
That's what Virginia newspapers
are calling him.
We refer to him
as the unknown subject or UnSub.
I told Virginia P.D. they're
looking for a white male in his 20s,
who owns an American-made truck,
works a menial job.
I told them, "When you find him,
don't be surprised to hear him speak
"with a severe stutter."
Have a nice day.
The gun.
Take out the gun.
- Throw it.
- Any particular direction?
Who are...
Who are you?
- Who are you?
- FBI.
Take out your wallet.
What do you... What do you...
- What do you know?
- About you?
Or about the people you've murdered?
I know a lot about you.
I know how you do it.
I know you can't stop.
And I know something that no one's
ever been able to tell you.
I know why you stutter.
Weren't you a little bit
worried he might just shoot you?
- I was a lot worried.
- But how did you find him?
I was just stopping for gas.
I walked into that store
and I saw pieces of a profile
that I'd given a Virginia P.D.
almost a year ago.
A truck in disrepair,
disheveled young man, severe stutter.
James Reese once said, "There are
certain clues at a crime scene,
"which, by their very nature,
"do not lend themselves
to being collected or examined."
How does one collect love,
rage, hatred, fear?
These are things
that we're trained to look for.
So anyone else
would've just seen a guy who stutters.
But you saw the Footpath Killer.
Right.
But sometimes these guys
are still found by just dumb luck.
Berkowitz was caught
because of a parking ticket.
Except the cop who caught him wasn't
staring down a shotgun like you were.
This is true.
This is also a good time to stop.
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you.
Okay, I'm curious.
Why'd he stutter?
You're on your way to becoming
a part of the Behavior Analysis team
now, Elle.
You tell me.
Check. Checkmate in three moves.
What?
You know, you'll beat him
when you start learning.
- Learning what?
- To think outside the box.
- Question for you.
- Shoot.
The Footpath Killer.
Why did he stutter?
Come on, Elle, we've all asked him
and he won't say.
He wants us to figure it out.
Well, okay. I'm up for a challenge.
Good. Because these go to you.
Special Agent Jennifer Jareau.
JJ if you like.
- Elle.
- Greenaway.
Highest number of solved cases
in Seattle three years running.
Speciality in sex offender cases.
- Not bad.
- Well, I'm the unit liaison.
My speciality is untangling
bureaucratic knots.
You'll probably be talking to me a lot.
My door is always open.
Mostly because I'm never in my office.
So just call me on my cell. Okay?
We'll talk.
- Did you watch it?
- Yeah. I think everybody should see it.
BAU team, can you meet me
in the conference room, please?
I need to show you something.
This is from the Phoenix office.
Bradshaw College in Tempe.
Six fires in seven months.
- Who recorded it?
- A student with a digital camcorder.
He was watching a fire in the building
across from their dorm.
The other person you'll see
is his roommate,
20-year-old Matthew Rowland.
What the... This is crazy.
Hey, Matt, get over here,
you gotta see this.
- The building's on fire.
- Bro! You getting this?
- There's two of them!
- Is that the kid?
- Man, get out of the way.
- Yeah, that's him.
- We should call campus security.
- Nah, relax, man.
There's always fires during rush week.
Yeah, but that's pretty big.
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know,
but it's coming underneath the door.
- Is someone in the hallway?
- Hey, someone's trying to get in.
Hey, man,
you should get away from there.
- Oh, my God. It smells like gas.
- It's kind of starting to...
- God!
- Oh, my God, man!
- Oh, my God!
- Put me out!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Einstein once said,
"Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
"Knowledge is limited.
"Imagination encircles the world."
There are two common stressors
for a serial arsonist.
Loss of job, loss of love.
- When was the first fire set?
- March.
The next one was in May.
And the third one
wasn't until September.
Then two weeks later,
there were three in one night.
He's speeding up.
Fires are closer together.
Hey, Reid, you got a statistic
on arsonists?
Eighty-two percent are white males
between 17 and 27.
Female arsonists are far less likely,
their motive typically being revenge.
Sounds like our boy's a student.
Oh, don't be so sure.
You rely too much on precedent,
you never allow for the unexpected.
If he went from setting one fire to three
in two weeks' time...
Rapid escalation.
He's gone from the power
to damage a building
to something far more satisfying.
The power over life and death.
Who we talking to first?
Dean of Students, Ellen Turner.
No badges.
I don't want to satisfy
the UnSub's need for attention
by letting him know
he got the FBI here.
Try not to look official.
Try to look less official.
Obviously I'd rather be meeting you
under different circumstances.
This is Fire Inspector Zhang.
This morning
the chemistry department reported
several bottles of highly
flammable chemicals missing.
I'm prepared to evacuate this campus.
Thank you.
That brings with it its own problems.
You might evacuate
the arsonist as well.
When the case goes unsolved,
the campus is re-opened,
but the fires start up again.
Wait, Hotch, Gideon.
Hold on a second.
You said
the chemicals went missing today.
It says here that one of the previous
fires was set with diesel fuel
that disappeared
from the grounds-keeping facility.
How long after it disappeared
was the fire set?
One day.
He's holding to a pattern?
Who's to say
the next fire won't be today?
Door was locked.
Matthew Rowland
and his roommate watched
as the doorknob
turned against the lock.
But the UnSub couldn't get in.
So he pours the accelerant
into the room from the hallway.
Which means he couldn't see the fire.
But he could hear
Matthew Rowland screaming.
Yeah, but not for long.
He would have left quickly.
- Yeah, to avoid being spotted.
- Doesn't make sense.
Pyromania as a mental disorder
may just be a simple myth,
but we do know from precedent
that serial arsonists derive pleasure
from pathological fire-setting.
Sex and power.
But a serial arsonist wouldn't just
set a fire and walk away.
He needs to experience it.
So why would he set a fire
he couldn't watch?
They turned the water off
just before the fire.
The last three were set with these.
Two devices, simultaneous ignition.
There was no device used
on Matthew Rowland.
UnSub set that one manually?
He wanted to be there.
- To enjoy the kid's death.
- Not necessarily.
If the target was Matthew Rowland,
then why set the other two fires?
Motives for arson are relatively simple.
There's vandalism, crime concealment,
political statement, profit...
And revenge.
We interviewed
Matthew Rowland's roommate.
He said Matthew was very well liked.
No reason for revenge.
- What about vandalism?
- No, the fires are too sophisticated.
And if he's trying to make
a political statement,
he's not being too clear about it.
There's an underlying strategy
in this case.
Matthew, fire-fighters, injured victims.
To the UnSub
they're not people, they're...
- They're objects.
- They're just more like...
Chess pieces.
Exactly.
All right.
I want to set a dormitory on fire.
Where would I start?
In the basement.
The upper levels would be fuel.
Then why did I start on the third floor?
Oh, God!
Because it wasn't the building
I wanted to set on fire.
The timer sets the road flare,
which then lights the chemical mixture
inside the canister.
Simple.
Yet sophisticated in its simplicity.
I mean
there's a meticulous construction to it.
Chemical accelerant
could mean chemistry student.
Could also mean chemistry professor.
Mmm-mmm.
I say student.
You need self-confidence
to lecture in front of a classroom
full of 30 college kids.
Arsonists are socially incompetent.
This guy, he doesn't go on dates,
he doesn't go to parties,
he doesn't feel comfortable
in front of groups.
- And of course he's a total psychopath.
- Of course.
You think
we'll get a lead from the hotline?
No.
If you don't mind my asking,
why then did you set up the number?
Well, serial arsonists
enjoy manipulating authorities.
They like to communicate,
explain themselves.
I'm not waiting to hear
from a tipster or witness.
- You're waiting to hear from him.
- Yeah.
Now, the evacuation process...
All right. Office hours.
I have my own homework to do.
- Thank you, Professor Wallace.
- No problem.
We don't want a stampede
on our hands
because the exits out of the campus
block so quickly.
Now we have staging areas
and we must utilize every possible...
Agent Gideon?
Agent Gideon?
Agent Gideon?
Everybody out of the building! Go!
- What is it?
- Look out!
Clear the whole building!
Clear it! Move!
- Just leave it. Come on.
- I'm on fire!
Help me! Help me!
Move! Move! Get out of the way!
Gideon! Get out of there! Let's go!
Wait, Morgan!
There's somebody in there!
Come on, Gideon! Move! Move!
Keep moving, people.
- Get off of me! It was a teacher.
- Just let it go!
He's already dead. Let it go.
He might be here watching.
- Elle.
- Yeah.
- Take pictures. As many as you can.
- You got it.
- The professor's name was Wallace?
- It's a terrible loss.
He was one of those teachers.
He knew how to make a difference.
Gideon, we've got police and security
interviewing everyone in that building.
How long will it take to finish
evacuating the campus?
This is a college
of 10,000 students and faculty.
Well, there's another problem
with evacuating.
You mean, we might accelerate
the UnSub's timeline.
Let's round everybody up.
Dean Turner? Hi, I'm Jeremy.
I'm one of the research assistants
at the science department.
We were talking and we'd like to help.
The best thing you can do right now
is just stay...
We know how he did it.
We've been at this all night
and we got nothing.
Look at these expressions.
We got fear, a touch of horror,
even a little bit of panic.
But where's the guy getting off?
When asked about his motives,
Peter Dinsdale said,
"I am devoted to fire.
Fire is my master."
Okay, so who is our boy's master?
Ten-thousand-plus students,
and one
has a serious fascination with fire.
Fire-starting is one third
of the homicidal triad,
an early predictor of adult
disassociative criminal behavior.
If we looked in his childhood,
we'd probably find all three.
Bed-wetting
and cruelty to animals.
Absent or abusive father,
trouble with the opposite sex,
chronic low self-esteem.
MO will be dynamic.
Evolving. As fire-setting escalates,
they thrive on panic, fear.
It's just standard profile
of a serial arsonist.
- Based on hundreds of interviews.
- Based on precedent.
Everything the UnSub should be
according to research.
- But we're off the mark.
- Because of two missing elements.
Sex and power. The two motives
that drive a serial arsonist.
And without them,
we do not have a profile.
Whoa! Hey!
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.
I just... I'm campus patrol.
- I'm supposed to ask for your ID.
- Sure.
One of those FBI guys.
Like a profiler, right?
Like, one look at a crime scene,
you can tell
what kind of shampoo a killer uses?
- You sound skeptical.
- Maybe a little.
Your girlfriend thinks
you're gonna break up with her.
- You're kidding, right?
- You keep adjusting your necklace.
That tells me
you're not used to wearing one,
or somebody else probably
bought it for you, bought it recently.
And the Chinese symbol on it means
"Forever Yours".
Take care of yourself, all right?
Reid, since you're more their age,
why don't you do the talking?
Hi guys.
My name is Doctor Spencer Reid.
I am an agent with the BAU,
Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI,
which, it used to be called the BSU,
the Behavioral Science Unit,
but not anymore.
They changed it to the BAU.
It's part of the NCAVC,
the National Center
for the Analysis of Violent Crime,
which is also part of this thing
called the CIRG,
the Critical Incident
Response Group and...
What he's trying to say is,
we'd love to know how you can help us.
May I, please? Thank you.
See this?
Drill a hole in the side,
fill it with gasoline,
or whatever is good and flammable,
turn the light on, boom.
- That is what went down, didn't it?
- This stuff's all over the Net.
Wanna know how to make a Molotov
cocktail that sets itself on fire?
Potassium, sulphur, and normal sugar.
Sugar.
- Sugar, which is...
- Not exactly plutonium.
- You could get the stuff anywhere.
- Sugar from the supermarket.
But you don't need to be
a chem major to know that.
Do you think it's a chem student?
You wanna know what I think?
I think it would be a good time
to take the semester off.
Hold on, you need a key
to get it moving after 10:00 p.m.
So what are you still doing here?
I can't leave. We've all got projects.
You know how to solve
the three-body problem?
Computing the mutual
gravitational interaction
between the earth, sun and moon?
Do you have any idea how many
people called me today
with absolute certainty that our arsonist
is a fire-fighter?
I'm like, "Yeah, I saw Backdraft."
Let me call you right back.
This came into the hotline
about five minutes ago.
You've reached the FBI Tip Hotline
for the Bradshaw College fires.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
Play it again.
The call came from the office
right next to Wallace's
five minutes before the fire was started.
Play it again.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
Again. Louder.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
What is it?
I'm not sure.
There's something about it.
Is this tape clean?
Yeah, I can put it
through some more audio filters.
Look, we need as close to the real
voice as you can get,
and anything that might be
in the background.
Can you do it?
Okay, you know how on Star Trek,
when Captain Kirk asks McCoy
to do something totally impossible
and McCoy says, "Damn it, Jim,
I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker"?
Hey, what are you telling me?
Not to expect a miracle?
No, I'm saying I'm not a doctor.
That's my girl.
These are all the women on campus
with the first name Karen.
Lot of Karens.
What if the UnSub
is one of the students leaving?
No, he's not done yet.
He's not going anywhere.
- Keep thinking.
- You mean, outside the box?
That's what
Morgan's always telling me.
He says that's why
I can never beat you at chess.
Well, he's probably right.
But I mean, in this situation,
what exactly is the box?
The standard profile
of a serial arsonist.
If everything you know goes in the box,
what's left?
What you don't know. The unknown.
Sometimes you have to get creative,
even if you think it's utterly unlikely.
You have to think of things
nobody else thought of.
Like a stutter.
Yeah, exactly.
Thank you, Karen.
Karen number seven.
You know, there's got to be
a faster way to do this.
How about we just
change the first question to,
"Have you recently dated
a homicidal pyromaniac?"
Speaking of questions,
you figured out yet
why the Footpath Killer stuttered?
Nope. You?
I know that
embarrassment makes a stutter worse.
And that when you're flustered
it's more difficult to control
the articulatory musculature of the face.
You sound like Reid.
You did not just say that.
Obviously somebody's been doing
their homework.
I still have no idea
what causes a stutter.
Karen! Number eight.
Hey! I didn't scare you again, did I?
Sorry, this is one of the buildings
on my patrol.
I was just looking at the board.
"Three-body problem."
- You know what it means?
- No, no idea.
It's physics.
It's one of the great
mathematical mysteries.
You broke up with her.
No more necklace.
Yeah, I kind of wanted
to date someone else.
- What's her name?
- Brian.
Oh.
Well, that's...
That's a pretty good reason.
- She take it all right?
- Yeah.
Yeah, other than telling me
that homosexuality is a sin
and that I'm going to
incur the wrath of God.
Wrath of God.
Okay, gorgeous. I've put this thing
through every audio filter I've got.
There's only one thing
I can tell you for sure.
This guy isn't saying Karen.
It's more like "Ka-rown."
Garcia, what the hell is "Ka-rown?"
If I figure it out, does it earn me
a night of passionate lovemaking?
Most definitely, sweetness.
With Reid.
Bye. Hey, Reid!
Garcia says it's not Karen,
it's actually something more like...
- Charown.
- Charown?
- "I do it because of charown."
- That's Hebrew.
- It's God's burning anger.
- Yeah.
The motive is now religious?
Well, you know in a lot of religions,
God is related to fire.
- Well, Agni is fire in Hinduism.
- Yeah, purging with fire.
And the Jews see God
as a pillar of fire.
And Christians worship God
as a consuming fire.
Okay, so we're looking for
a theology major.
Maybe he's punishing
the other students for their sins.
I don't want this.
What's the most
sinful place on campus?
Come on, Elle, when I was in college,
it was everywhere.
- Fraternity?
- Campus bar?
No, because that's not consistent
with the previous targets.
What about the idea
of baptism by fire?
Aren't we all supposed to be tested
through fire in Revelations?
Look, it's good, it's good.
But, listen, please
do not jump to conclusions.
Religion might be a part of it,
but it's not necessarily
the prime compulsion.
Gideon, rush to conclusions,
jump to conclusions, who cares?
- We are running out of time.
- Compulsion.
What the... This is crazy!
Hey, Matt, get over here,
you gotta see this.
- The building's on fire.
- Bro! You getting this?
- Two of them.
- Man, get out of the way.
- We should call campus security.
- Nah, relax, man.
There's always fires during rush week.
Yeah, but that's pretty big.
You know, it's...
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know,
but it's coming underneath the door.
- Is someone in the hallway?
- Hey, someone's trying to get in.
Hey man,
you should get away from there.
- Oh, my God. It smells like gas.
- It's kind of starting to...
- God!
- Oh, my God, man!
- Oh, my God!
- Put me out!
Hold on! Oh, my God!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Hold on, man!
Outside the box.
Keep thinking.
It's like chess.
Don't look at just the next move.
Try to look three moves ahead.
What the... This is crazy!
Hey, Matt, get over here,
you gotta see this.
- The building's on fire.
- Bro! You getting this?
- Two of them.
- Man, get out of the way!
- We should call campus security.
- Nah, relax, man.
There's always fires during rush week.
Yeah, but that's pretty big.
You know it's...
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
What the hell is that?
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know.
There's always fires during rush week.
What the hell is that?
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know.
Three times.
Professor Wallace. Tuesday. 3:00.
I know why the profiles never fit.
You were right to tell Morgan
not to rely on precedent.
The fires thus far have been
completely task-oriented.
So once they're set,
the UnSub is done?
Exactly.
The UnSub is not
a classical serial arsonist.
He's someone who uses fire
because of a completely
different disorder.
- Which is?
- An extreme manifestation of OCD,
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
He does everything in threes.
And if I'm right,
he'll have to kill again.
There's a form of OCD
called scrupulosity.
Religious obsession
and compulsion.
An obsessive fear of committing sin
which creates so much anxiety
that he's compelled to do something
to ease that anxiety.
Like setting fires.
- Where's the behavioral evidence?
- Right here.
All right, remember the night
of the three fires?
We saw the door knob
turning against the lock.
But he's not trying to get in.
He's compelled
to turn the door knob three times.
Well, what about the fires?
The first ones were single fires.
If the UnSub was OCD,
shouldn't they have all been in threes?
They were in threes.
In a trinity of threes.
- The first fire occurred on March 3rd.
- 3:00 p.m. Third day. Third month.
It's that convergence of threes that
causes the overwhelming anxiety.
Obsessive-compulsives ease the
anxiety by performing the compulsion.
What about the other fires?
- Professor Wallace?
- Office number three.
I checked for more patterns of threes.
His class was on Tuesdays.
Third day of the week.
Matthew Rowland was in that class.
It was his third class of the day.
If we looked into each of the fires,
we'd find a lot of patterns
having to do with threes.
Because our minds are incredibly
adept at seeking out patterns.
But to the UnSub,
once that pattern hits...
Bam! He sets a fire.
If the target was always people,
why did no one die in the first few fires?
They were failures,
up until Matthew Rowland.
- What is it?
- I think I know who it might be.
And it's not a he, it's a she.
Clara Hayes.
A chemistry student.
I'll get you her records now.
First get campus security out
and find her.
She could set her next fire
within hours.
Okay, got it.
Her apartment's off-campus.
But how is he sure it's this girl?
When I was talking to her
and her classmates,
I noticed something.
A ring on her finger
and she kept turning it.
- At intervals?
- Of three.
And she counted off the ingredients
of a light bulb bomb.
Potassium, sulphur, and normal sugar.
- Sugar. Sugar...
- And the word sugar.
Yeah, and then she kept repeating it.
- Once she started, she couldn't stop.
- Yeah, it's palilalia.
It's the involuntary repetition of words.
Howard Hughes had it
when his OCD worsened.
Clara and her classmates were working
on a project about gravitational pull.
The three-body problem.
No one in here.
Clear.
Oh, you gotta be kidding.
OCD? I'm thinking more like OMG.
- OMG?
- "Oh, my God."
"A fire is kindled in my anger,
and shall burn unto the lowest hell."
Deuteronomy.
"And again the fire of heaven
came down and killed them all."
"I do this for Charon." That's Charon.
That's the Greek mythological
ferryman of the dead.
It's also the name
of Pluto's only moon.
Paradise Lost.
"Moloch, horrid King,
"besmeared with blood
of human sacrifice, and parents' tears."
Moloch was the demon sun god
of the Canaanites.
In order to keep
from incurring his wrath,
the people would sacrifice their
children to them by burning them alive.
"Sixteen-year-old survives inferno.
"The mother, Ellen Hayes,
called it a miracle.
"My daughter was tested by God.
"He tested my child
and she came through blessed."
Look at the house number.
Three-three-three.
Hey, Morgan.
- You know what magical thinking is?
- Obsessive thoughts.
It's like a superstition.
It controls them.
Like, "Step on a crack,
break your mother's back."
Except she actually believes it.
Yeah, God tested her with fire.
And now, when three threes...
Three threes show up
around another person...
God tells her to test them.
Security's checking
the science building.
Well, where else would she be?
We need to find
the next pattern of threes.
Hey, Hotch.
We're looking, man.
I don't think she would've left behind
a day planner that says,
"Set Next Fire Here" written in it.
Yeah, I understand...
Wait until you see this place.
Morgan?
I'll call you back.
There must be
30 homemade bombs in here.
Morgan, seal the building.
Get everybody out of there
and walk away.
We need to send our people
into every building,
have them start pulling fire alarms.
- Please. Go!
- Okay. Okay.
We need a map of the campus.
We need to find anything
and everything
having to do with the number three.
- Where's the blueprint?
- Hell, no. I am not leaving.
Look, I have too much to do.
All right, I bought one of those
mini halon fire extinguishers.
They started selling them
at the bookstore.
It's pretty morbid, right?
Hey, I'm about to get into an elevator,
so I'll probably lose you.
All right, bye-bye.
You got the science building?
All the corridors and stairwells
are clear.
The elevator closets checked.
No elevators are in service.
It's not gonna start.
- Don't you have the key?
- I put it back on the hook in the office.
Aren't you supposed to be able to hear
the Emergency Call button?
Maybe it's broken.
- Or turned off.
- I say we pry open the doors.
You can't pry them all the way open.
It's a safety precaution.
Maybe we can try yelling for help.
That's the fire alarm.
Jason, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Clara Hayes is very likely
a good person.
Someone who never wanted to do
anyone any harm,
like any other rational person.
But there's nothing rational about
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Research suggests OCD
involves problems in communication
between the frontal part of the brain
and the orbital cortex.
Plus deeper structures,
the basal ganglia.
You can't reason with her
because you can't reason
with a physiological problem.
She's not setting these fires because
she wants to, but because she has to.
- What are you trying to say?
- Don't try to convince her to stop.
Because you won't be able to.
That's it? It won't go any further?
I told you.
It's a built-in safety precaution.
Help! Somebody help us! Hello!
Somebody help us! Please!
Somebody... We're trapped down here.
Somebody help us!
Clara.
- Clara, thank God.
- It's all right.
Clara, go back to the office
and get the elevator key.
It's okay. I'm here to save you.
Go get the key, Clara.
Go... The elevator key.
- Clara, get the key!
- Clara! Clara, wait!
- The key!
- Is this building on fire?
Clara?
Not yet.
- It's clear up here. Anything?
- Nothing.
No girl, no smoke, no fire.
- Where did she go?
- Maybe she's getting the key.
I don't know.
What is she doing?
Someone coming to help?
I'm here to help. I'm here to save you.
God chose you.
Chose you, chose you.
Clara?
- Father. Son.
- Oh, my God!
- Holy Ghost.
- Clara. Clara? Listen to me.
- Clara...
- Clara, listen...
It's gasoline!
- Clara, listen!
- Oh, God! Clara, no!
Security's sure that they've cleared
the science building?
The guards made sure
all the floors are empty
and no elevators are in service.
Need a key to get it moving
after 10:00 p.m.
- Clara?
- Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Clara? Clara? Put it down, Clara!
- I'm still looking.
- Focus on the girl.
She was failing out.
This was gonna be her last semester.
That's the stressor. What else?
Let's see, she was a researcher
in the science building.
We know that. They already
cleared the science building.
The third floor of the science
building is under construction.
I'm on my way.
- Clara! Please.
- Clara!
Clara, you don't have to
do this, all right?
Somebody help us!
I have to do this.
You know it's not rational, Clara.
You were trying to tell me.
God chose me to be tested.
- And now he's chosen them.
- Do something!
If I don't do this,
something terrible will happen.
What's gonna happen, Clara?
A flood? An earthquake?
You know this isn't rational.
- I know, I know, I know.
- Then resist.
- I can't!
- Clara?
- Clara, listen to me.
- Oh, my God! Clara! Don't!
They must be tested. God's wrath...
Clara, you told me
it was a chemistry student.
You left the message about Charon.
- Charon, Charon, Moloch.
- You wanna stop.
- Father, Son...
- Clara.
Holy Ghost.
- Clara, stop!
- God chose them.
I thought you said
not to reason with her?
Get us out of here!
You know, I figured it out.
The stutter.
You know
why the Footpath Killer stuttered?
When you and Hotch were
talking earlier, that's when I got it.
He said
he was just trying to stall Clara.
Right.
Well, that's it, isn't it?
The Footpath Killer.
You were just trying to stall him.
You said, "I know why you stutter",
because you were buying time.
You were stalling.
But you don't really know
why he stuttered.
- I don't?
- I looked it up. No one does.
There are some theories
about a neurological basis.
But they're just theories.
What really happened
in the convenience store?
I'll tell you
what I do know about a stutter.
I know how to provoke one.
Now the key.
Thirteen.
We only found six.
- Are you impressed?
- Yeah.
I didn't know you could count.
Our profile said you'd be too stupid.
We also said
you'd be a chronic bed-wetter.
You take...
What?
The cam... The cam...
I don't know what you're trying to say.
You take the cam, the cam, the cam...
I'm sorry.
I have no idea
what you're trying to say.
You take... You take the cam...
The cam...
Say it.
The cam... The cam...
Just spit it out.
- Just...
- The cam...
Come on!
Faulkner once said,
"Don't bother just to be better than
your contemporaries or predecessors,
"try to be better than yourself."
Check in three.
Not bad.
Checkmate.
Don't worry. You're getting there.
Anyone recognize these faces?
Victims of the Footpath Killer.
That's what Virginia newspapers
are calling him.
We refer to him
as the unknown subject or UnSub.
I told Virginia P.D. they're
looking for a white male in his 20s,
who owns an American-made truck,
works a menial job.
I told them, "When you find him,
don't be surprised to hear him speak
"with a severe stutter."
Have a nice day.
The gun.
Take out the gun.
- Throw it.
- Any particular direction?
Who are...
Who are you?
- Who are you?
- FBI.
Take out your wallet.
What do you... What do you...
- What do you know?
- About you?
Or about the people you've murdered?
I know a lot about you.
I know how you do it.
I know you can't stop.
And I know something that no one's
ever been able to tell you.
I know why you stutter.
Weren't you a little bit
worried he might just shoot you?
- I was a lot worried.
- But how did you find him?
I was just stopping for gas.
I walked into that store
and I saw pieces of a profile
that I'd given a Virginia P.D.
almost a year ago.
A truck in disrepair,
disheveled young man, severe stutter.
James Reese once said, "There are
certain clues at a crime scene,
"which, by their very nature,
"do not lend themselves
to being collected or examined."
How does one collect love,
rage, hatred, fear?
These are things
that we're trained to look for.
So anyone else
would've just seen a guy who stutters.
But you saw the Footpath Killer.
Right.
But sometimes these guys
are still found by just dumb luck.
Berkowitz was caught
because of a parking ticket.
Except the cop who caught him wasn't
staring down a shotgun like you were.
This is true.
This is also a good time to stop.
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you.
Okay, I'm curious.
Why'd he stutter?
You're on your way to becoming
a part of the Behavior Analysis team
now, Elle.
You tell me.
Check. Checkmate in three moves.
What?
You know, you'll beat him
when you start learning.
- Learning what?
- To think outside the box.
- Question for you.
- Shoot.
The Footpath Killer.
Why did he stutter?
Come on, Elle, we've all asked him
and he won't say.
He wants us to figure it out.
Well, okay. I'm up for a challenge.
Good. Because these go to you.
Special Agent Jennifer Jareau.
JJ if you like.
- Elle.
- Greenaway.
Highest number of solved cases
in Seattle three years running.
Speciality in sex offender cases.
- Not bad.
- Well, I'm the unit liaison.
My speciality is untangling
bureaucratic knots.
You'll probably be talking to me a lot.
My door is always open.
Mostly because I'm never in my office.
So just call me on my cell. Okay?
We'll talk.
- Did you watch it?
- Yeah. I think everybody should see it.
BAU team, can you meet me
in the conference room, please?
I need to show you something.
This is from the Phoenix office.
Bradshaw College in Tempe.
Six fires in seven months.
- Who recorded it?
- A student with a digital camcorder.
He was watching a fire in the building
across from their dorm.
The other person you'll see
is his roommate,
20-year-old Matthew Rowland.
What the... This is crazy.
Hey, Matt, get over here,
you gotta see this.
- The building's on fire.
- Bro! You getting this?
- There's two of them!
- Is that the kid?
- Man, get out of the way.
- Yeah, that's him.
- We should call campus security.
- Nah, relax, man.
There's always fires during rush week.
Yeah, but that's pretty big.
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know,
but it's coming underneath the door.
- Is someone in the hallway?
- Hey, someone's trying to get in.
Hey, man,
you should get away from there.
- Oh, my God. It smells like gas.
- It's kind of starting to...
- God!
- Oh, my God, man!
- Oh, my God!
- Put me out!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Einstein once said,
"Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
"Knowledge is limited.
"Imagination encircles the world."
There are two common stressors
for a serial arsonist.
Loss of job, loss of love.
- When was the first fire set?
- March.
The next one was in May.
And the third one
wasn't until September.
Then two weeks later,
there were three in one night.
He's speeding up.
Fires are closer together.
Hey, Reid, you got a statistic
on arsonists?
Eighty-two percent are white males
between 17 and 27.
Female arsonists are far less likely,
their motive typically being revenge.
Sounds like our boy's a student.
Oh, don't be so sure.
You rely too much on precedent,
you never allow for the unexpected.
If he went from setting one fire to three
in two weeks' time...
Rapid escalation.
He's gone from the power
to damage a building
to something far more satisfying.
The power over life and death.
Who we talking to first?
Dean of Students, Ellen Turner.
No badges.
I don't want to satisfy
the UnSub's need for attention
by letting him know
he got the FBI here.
Try not to look official.
Try to look less official.
Obviously I'd rather be meeting you
under different circumstances.
This is Fire Inspector Zhang.
This morning
the chemistry department reported
several bottles of highly
flammable chemicals missing.
I'm prepared to evacuate this campus.
Thank you.
That brings with it its own problems.
You might evacuate
the arsonist as well.
When the case goes unsolved,
the campus is re-opened,
but the fires start up again.
Wait, Hotch, Gideon.
Hold on a second.
You said
the chemicals went missing today.
It says here that one of the previous
fires was set with diesel fuel
that disappeared
from the grounds-keeping facility.
How long after it disappeared
was the fire set?
One day.
He's holding to a pattern?
Who's to say
the next fire won't be today?
Door was locked.
Matthew Rowland
and his roommate watched
as the doorknob
turned against the lock.
But the UnSub couldn't get in.
So he pours the accelerant
into the room from the hallway.
Which means he couldn't see the fire.
But he could hear
Matthew Rowland screaming.
Yeah, but not for long.
He would have left quickly.
- Yeah, to avoid being spotted.
- Doesn't make sense.
Pyromania as a mental disorder
may just be a simple myth,
but we do know from precedent
that serial arsonists derive pleasure
from pathological fire-setting.
Sex and power.
But a serial arsonist wouldn't just
set a fire and walk away.
He needs to experience it.
So why would he set a fire
he couldn't watch?
They turned the water off
just before the fire.
The last three were set with these.
Two devices, simultaneous ignition.
There was no device used
on Matthew Rowland.
UnSub set that one manually?
He wanted to be there.
- To enjoy the kid's death.
- Not necessarily.
If the target was Matthew Rowland,
then why set the other two fires?
Motives for arson are relatively simple.
There's vandalism, crime concealment,
political statement, profit...
And revenge.
We interviewed
Matthew Rowland's roommate.
He said Matthew was very well liked.
No reason for revenge.
- What about vandalism?
- No, the fires are too sophisticated.
And if he's trying to make
a political statement,
he's not being too clear about it.
There's an underlying strategy
in this case.
Matthew, fire-fighters, injured victims.
To the UnSub
they're not people, they're...
- They're objects.
- They're just more like...
Chess pieces.
Exactly.
All right.
I want to set a dormitory on fire.
Where would I start?
In the basement.
The upper levels would be fuel.
Then why did I start on the third floor?
Oh, God!
Because it wasn't the building
I wanted to set on fire.
The timer sets the road flare,
which then lights the chemical mixture
inside the canister.
Simple.
Yet sophisticated in its simplicity.
I mean
there's a meticulous construction to it.
Chemical accelerant
could mean chemistry student.
Could also mean chemistry professor.
Mmm-mmm.
I say student.
You need self-confidence
to lecture in front of a classroom
full of 30 college kids.
Arsonists are socially incompetent.
This guy, he doesn't go on dates,
he doesn't go to parties,
he doesn't feel comfortable
in front of groups.
- And of course he's a total psychopath.
- Of course.
You think
we'll get a lead from the hotline?
No.
If you don't mind my asking,
why then did you set up the number?
Well, serial arsonists
enjoy manipulating authorities.
They like to communicate,
explain themselves.
I'm not waiting to hear
from a tipster or witness.
- You're waiting to hear from him.
- Yeah.
Now, the evacuation process...
All right. Office hours.
I have my own homework to do.
- Thank you, Professor Wallace.
- No problem.
We don't want a stampede
on our hands
because the exits out of the campus
block so quickly.
Now we have staging areas
and we must utilize every possible...
Agent Gideon?
Agent Gideon?
Agent Gideon?
Everybody out of the building! Go!
- What is it?
- Look out!
Clear the whole building!
Clear it! Move!
- Just leave it. Come on.
- I'm on fire!
Help me! Help me!
Move! Move! Get out of the way!
Gideon! Get out of there! Let's go!
Wait, Morgan!
There's somebody in there!
Come on, Gideon! Move! Move!
Keep moving, people.
- Get off of me! It was a teacher.
- Just let it go!
He's already dead. Let it go.
He might be here watching.
- Elle.
- Yeah.
- Take pictures. As many as you can.
- You got it.
- The professor's name was Wallace?
- It's a terrible loss.
He was one of those teachers.
He knew how to make a difference.
Gideon, we've got police and security
interviewing everyone in that building.
How long will it take to finish
evacuating the campus?
This is a college
of 10,000 students and faculty.
Well, there's another problem
with evacuating.
You mean, we might accelerate
the UnSub's timeline.
Let's round everybody up.
Dean Turner? Hi, I'm Jeremy.
I'm one of the research assistants
at the science department.
We were talking and we'd like to help.
The best thing you can do right now
is just stay...
We know how he did it.
We've been at this all night
and we got nothing.
Look at these expressions.
We got fear, a touch of horror,
even a little bit of panic.
But where's the guy getting off?
When asked about his motives,
Peter Dinsdale said,
"I am devoted to fire.
Fire is my master."
Okay, so who is our boy's master?
Ten-thousand-plus students,
and one
has a serious fascination with fire.
Fire-starting is one third
of the homicidal triad,
an early predictor of adult
disassociative criminal behavior.
If we looked in his childhood,
we'd probably find all three.
Bed-wetting
and cruelty to animals.
Absent or abusive father,
trouble with the opposite sex,
chronic low self-esteem.
MO will be dynamic.
Evolving. As fire-setting escalates,
they thrive on panic, fear.
It's just standard profile
of a serial arsonist.
- Based on hundreds of interviews.
- Based on precedent.
Everything the UnSub should be
according to research.
- But we're off the mark.
- Because of two missing elements.
Sex and power. The two motives
that drive a serial arsonist.
And without them,
we do not have a profile.
Whoa! Hey!
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.
I just... I'm campus patrol.
- I'm supposed to ask for your ID.
- Sure.
One of those FBI guys.
Like a profiler, right?
Like, one look at a crime scene,
you can tell
what kind of shampoo a killer uses?
- You sound skeptical.
- Maybe a little.
Your girlfriend thinks
you're gonna break up with her.
- You're kidding, right?
- You keep adjusting your necklace.
That tells me
you're not used to wearing one,
or somebody else probably
bought it for you, bought it recently.
And the Chinese symbol on it means
"Forever Yours".
Take care of yourself, all right?
Reid, since you're more their age,
why don't you do the talking?
Hi guys.
My name is Doctor Spencer Reid.
I am an agent with the BAU,
Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI,
which, it used to be called the BSU,
the Behavioral Science Unit,
but not anymore.
They changed it to the BAU.
It's part of the NCAVC,
the National Center
for the Analysis of Violent Crime,
which is also part of this thing
called the CIRG,
the Critical Incident
Response Group and...
What he's trying to say is,
we'd love to know how you can help us.
May I, please? Thank you.
See this?
Drill a hole in the side,
fill it with gasoline,
or whatever is good and flammable,
turn the light on, boom.
- That is what went down, didn't it?
- This stuff's all over the Net.
Wanna know how to make a Molotov
cocktail that sets itself on fire?
Potassium, sulphur, and normal sugar.
Sugar.
- Sugar, which is...
- Not exactly plutonium.
- You could get the stuff anywhere.
- Sugar from the supermarket.
But you don't need to be
a chem major to know that.
Do you think it's a chem student?
You wanna know what I think?
I think it would be a good time
to take the semester off.
Hold on, you need a key
to get it moving after 10:00 p.m.
So what are you still doing here?
I can't leave. We've all got projects.
You know how to solve
the three-body problem?
Computing the mutual
gravitational interaction
between the earth, sun and moon?
Do you have any idea how many
people called me today
with absolute certainty that our arsonist
is a fire-fighter?
I'm like, "Yeah, I saw Backdraft."
Let me call you right back.
This came into the hotline
about five minutes ago.
You've reached the FBI Tip Hotline
for the Bradshaw College fires.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
Play it again.
The call came from the office
right next to Wallace's
five minutes before the fire was started.
Play it again.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
Again. Louder.
Karen, I do this for Karen.
What is it?
I'm not sure.
There's something about it.
Is this tape clean?
Yeah, I can put it
through some more audio filters.
Look, we need as close to the real
voice as you can get,
and anything that might be
in the background.
Can you do it?
Okay, you know how on Star Trek,
when Captain Kirk asks McCoy
to do something totally impossible
and McCoy says, "Damn it, Jim,
I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker"?
Hey, what are you telling me?
Not to expect a miracle?
No, I'm saying I'm not a doctor.
That's my girl.
These are all the women on campus
with the first name Karen.
Lot of Karens.
What if the UnSub
is one of the students leaving?
No, he's not done yet.
He's not going anywhere.
- Keep thinking.
- You mean, outside the box?
That's what
Morgan's always telling me.
He says that's why
I can never beat you at chess.
Well, he's probably right.
But I mean, in this situation,
what exactly is the box?
The standard profile
of a serial arsonist.
If everything you know goes in the box,
what's left?
What you don't know. The unknown.
Sometimes you have to get creative,
even if you think it's utterly unlikely.
You have to think of things
nobody else thought of.
Like a stutter.
Yeah, exactly.
Thank you, Karen.
Karen number seven.
You know, there's got to be
a faster way to do this.
How about we just
change the first question to,
"Have you recently dated
a homicidal pyromaniac?"
Speaking of questions,
you figured out yet
why the Footpath Killer stuttered?
Nope. You?
I know that
embarrassment makes a stutter worse.
And that when you're flustered
it's more difficult to control
the articulatory musculature of the face.
You sound like Reid.
You did not just say that.
Obviously somebody's been doing
their homework.
I still have no idea
what causes a stutter.
Karen! Number eight.
Hey! I didn't scare you again, did I?
Sorry, this is one of the buildings
on my patrol.
I was just looking at the board.
"Three-body problem."
- You know what it means?
- No, no idea.
It's physics.
It's one of the great
mathematical mysteries.
You broke up with her.
No more necklace.
Yeah, I kind of wanted
to date someone else.
- What's her name?
- Brian.
Oh.
Well, that's...
That's a pretty good reason.
- She take it all right?
- Yeah.
Yeah, other than telling me
that homosexuality is a sin
and that I'm going to
incur the wrath of God.
Wrath of God.
Okay, gorgeous. I've put this thing
through every audio filter I've got.
There's only one thing
I can tell you for sure.
This guy isn't saying Karen.
It's more like "Ka-rown."
Garcia, what the hell is "Ka-rown?"
If I figure it out, does it earn me
a night of passionate lovemaking?
Most definitely, sweetness.
With Reid.
Bye. Hey, Reid!
Garcia says it's not Karen,
it's actually something more like...
- Charown.
- Charown?
- "I do it because of charown."
- That's Hebrew.
- It's God's burning anger.
- Yeah.
The motive is now religious?
Well, you know in a lot of religions,
God is related to fire.
- Well, Agni is fire in Hinduism.
- Yeah, purging with fire.
And the Jews see God
as a pillar of fire.
And Christians worship God
as a consuming fire.
Okay, so we're looking for
a theology major.
Maybe he's punishing
the other students for their sins.
I don't want this.
What's the most
sinful place on campus?
Come on, Elle, when I was in college,
it was everywhere.
- Fraternity?
- Campus bar?
No, because that's not consistent
with the previous targets.
What about the idea
of baptism by fire?
Aren't we all supposed to be tested
through fire in Revelations?
Look, it's good, it's good.
But, listen, please
do not jump to conclusions.
Religion might be a part of it,
but it's not necessarily
the prime compulsion.
Gideon, rush to conclusions,
jump to conclusions, who cares?
- We are running out of time.
- Compulsion.
What the... This is crazy!
Hey, Matt, get over here,
you gotta see this.
- The building's on fire.
- Bro! You getting this?
- Two of them.
- Man, get out of the way.
- We should call campus security.
- Nah, relax, man.
There's always fires during rush week.
Yeah, but that's pretty big.
You know, it's...
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know,
but it's coming underneath the door.
- Is someone in the hallway?
- Hey, someone's trying to get in.
Hey man,
you should get away from there.
- Oh, my God. It smells like gas.
- It's kind of starting to...
- God!
- Oh, my God, man!
- Oh, my God!
- Put me out!
Hold on! Oh, my God!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Hold on, man!
Outside the box.
Keep thinking.
It's like chess.
Don't look at just the next move.
Try to look three moves ahead.
What the... This is crazy!
Hey, Matt, get over here,
you gotta see this.
- The building's on fire.
- Bro! You getting this?
- Two of them.
- Man, get out of the way!
- We should call campus security.
- Nah, relax, man.
There's always fires during rush week.
Yeah, but that's pretty big.
You know it's...
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
What the hell is that?
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know.
There's always fires during rush week.
What the hell is that?
- Dude, over here. Check this out.
- What is it?
I don't know.
Three times.
Professor Wallace. Tuesday. 3:00.
I know why the profiles never fit.
You were right to tell Morgan
not to rely on precedent.
The fires thus far have been
completely task-oriented.
So once they're set,
the UnSub is done?
Exactly.
The UnSub is not
a classical serial arsonist.
He's someone who uses fire
because of a completely
different disorder.
- Which is?
- An extreme manifestation of OCD,
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
He does everything in threes.
And if I'm right,
he'll have to kill again.
There's a form of OCD
called scrupulosity.
Religious obsession
and compulsion.
An obsessive fear of committing sin
which creates so much anxiety
that he's compelled to do something
to ease that anxiety.
Like setting fires.
- Where's the behavioral evidence?
- Right here.
All right, remember the night
of the three fires?
We saw the door knob
turning against the lock.
But he's not trying to get in.
He's compelled
to turn the door knob three times.
Well, what about the fires?
The first ones were single fires.
If the UnSub was OCD,
shouldn't they have all been in threes?
They were in threes.
In a trinity of threes.
- The first fire occurred on March 3rd.
- 3:00 p.m. Third day. Third month.
It's that convergence of threes that
causes the overwhelming anxiety.
Obsessive-compulsives ease the
anxiety by performing the compulsion.
What about the other fires?
- Professor Wallace?
- Office number three.
I checked for more patterns of threes.
His class was on Tuesdays.
Third day of the week.
Matthew Rowland was in that class.
It was his third class of the day.
If we looked into each of the fires,
we'd find a lot of patterns
having to do with threes.
Because our minds are incredibly
adept at seeking out patterns.
But to the UnSub,
once that pattern hits...
Bam! He sets a fire.
If the target was always people,
why did no one die in the first few fires?
They were failures,
up until Matthew Rowland.
- What is it?
- I think I know who it might be.
And it's not a he, it's a she.
Clara Hayes.
A chemistry student.
I'll get you her records now.
First get campus security out
and find her.
She could set her next fire
within hours.
Okay, got it.
Her apartment's off-campus.
But how is he sure it's this girl?
When I was talking to her
and her classmates,
I noticed something.
A ring on her finger
and she kept turning it.
- At intervals?
- Of three.
And she counted off the ingredients
of a light bulb bomb.
Potassium, sulphur, and normal sugar.
- Sugar. Sugar...
- And the word sugar.
Yeah, and then she kept repeating it.
- Once she started, she couldn't stop.
- Yeah, it's palilalia.
It's the involuntary repetition of words.
Howard Hughes had it
when his OCD worsened.
Clara and her classmates were working
on a project about gravitational pull.
The three-body problem.
No one in here.
Clear.
Oh, you gotta be kidding.
OCD? I'm thinking more like OMG.
- OMG?
- "Oh, my God."
"A fire is kindled in my anger,
and shall burn unto the lowest hell."
Deuteronomy.
"And again the fire of heaven
came down and killed them all."
"I do this for Charon." That's Charon.
That's the Greek mythological
ferryman of the dead.
It's also the name
of Pluto's only moon.
Paradise Lost.
"Moloch, horrid King,
"besmeared with blood
of human sacrifice, and parents' tears."
Moloch was the demon sun god
of the Canaanites.
In order to keep
from incurring his wrath,
the people would sacrifice their
children to them by burning them alive.
"Sixteen-year-old survives inferno.
"The mother, Ellen Hayes,
called it a miracle.
"My daughter was tested by God.
"He tested my child
and she came through blessed."
Look at the house number.
Three-three-three.
Hey, Morgan.
- You know what magical thinking is?
- Obsessive thoughts.
It's like a superstition.
It controls them.
Like, "Step on a crack,
break your mother's back."
Except she actually believes it.
Yeah, God tested her with fire.
And now, when three threes...
Three threes show up
around another person...
God tells her to test them.
Security's checking
the science building.
Well, where else would she be?
We need to find
the next pattern of threes.
Hey, Hotch.
We're looking, man.
I don't think she would've left behind
a day planner that says,
"Set Next Fire Here" written in it.
Yeah, I understand...
Wait until you see this place.
Morgan?
I'll call you back.
There must be
30 homemade bombs in here.
Morgan, seal the building.
Get everybody out of there
and walk away.
We need to send our people
into every building,
have them start pulling fire alarms.
- Please. Go!
- Okay. Okay.
We need a map of the campus.
We need to find anything
and everything
having to do with the number three.
- Where's the blueprint?
- Hell, no. I am not leaving.
Look, I have too much to do.
All right, I bought one of those
mini halon fire extinguishers.
They started selling them
at the bookstore.
It's pretty morbid, right?
Hey, I'm about to get into an elevator,
so I'll probably lose you.
All right, bye-bye.
You got the science building?
All the corridors and stairwells
are clear.
The elevator closets checked.
No elevators are in service.
It's not gonna start.
- Don't you have the key?
- I put it back on the hook in the office.
Aren't you supposed to be able to hear
the Emergency Call button?
Maybe it's broken.
- Or turned off.
- I say we pry open the doors.
You can't pry them all the way open.
It's a safety precaution.
Maybe we can try yelling for help.
That's the fire alarm.
Jason, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Clara Hayes is very likely
a good person.
Someone who never wanted to do
anyone any harm,
like any other rational person.
But there's nothing rational about
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Research suggests OCD
involves problems in communication
between the frontal part of the brain
and the orbital cortex.
Plus deeper structures,
the basal ganglia.
You can't reason with her
because you can't reason
with a physiological problem.
She's not setting these fires because
she wants to, but because she has to.
- What are you trying to say?
- Don't try to convince her to stop.
Because you won't be able to.
That's it? It won't go any further?
I told you.
It's a built-in safety precaution.
Help! Somebody help us! Hello!
Somebody help us! Please!
Somebody... We're trapped down here.
Somebody help us!
Clara.
- Clara, thank God.
- It's all right.
Clara, go back to the office
and get the elevator key.
It's okay. I'm here to save you.
Go get the key, Clara.
Go... The elevator key.
- Clara, get the key!
- Clara! Clara, wait!
- The key!
- Is this building on fire?
Clara?
Not yet.
- It's clear up here. Anything?
- Nothing.
No girl, no smoke, no fire.
- Where did she go?
- Maybe she's getting the key.
I don't know.
What is she doing?
Someone coming to help?
I'm here to help. I'm here to save you.
God chose you.
Chose you, chose you.
Clara?
- Father. Son.
- Oh, my God!
- Holy Ghost.
- Clara. Clara? Listen to me.
- Clara...
- Clara, listen...
It's gasoline!
- Clara, listen!
- Oh, God! Clara, no!
Security's sure that they've cleared
the science building?
The guards made sure
all the floors are empty
and no elevators are in service.
Need a key to get it moving
after 10:00 p.m.
- Clara?
- Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Clara? Clara? Put it down, Clara!
- I'm still looking.
- Focus on the girl.
She was failing out.
This was gonna be her last semester.
That's the stressor. What else?
Let's see, she was a researcher
in the science building.
We know that. They already
cleared the science building.
The third floor of the science
building is under construction.
I'm on my way.
- Clara! Please.
- Clara!
Clara, you don't have to
do this, all right?
Somebody help us!
I have to do this.
You know it's not rational, Clara.
You were trying to tell me.
God chose me to be tested.
- And now he's chosen them.
- Do something!
If I don't do this,
something terrible will happen.
What's gonna happen, Clara?
A flood? An earthquake?
You know this isn't rational.
- I know, I know, I know.
- Then resist.
- I can't!
- Clara?
- Clara, listen to me.
- Oh, my God! Clara! Don't!
They must be tested. God's wrath...
Clara, you told me
it was a chemistry student.
You left the message about Charon.
- Charon, Charon, Moloch.
- You wanna stop.
- Father, Son...
- Clara.
Holy Ghost.
- Clara, stop!
- God chose them.
I thought you said
not to reason with her?
Get us out of here!
You know, I figured it out.
The stutter.
You know
why the Footpath Killer stuttered?
When you and Hotch were
talking earlier, that's when I got it.
He said
he was just trying to stall Clara.
Right.
Well, that's it, isn't it?
The Footpath Killer.
You were just trying to stall him.
You said, "I know why you stutter",
because you were buying time.
You were stalling.
But you don't really know
why he stuttered.
- I don't?
- I looked it up. No one does.
There are some theories
about a neurological basis.
But they're just theories.
What really happened
in the convenience store?
I'll tell you
what I do know about a stutter.
I know how to provoke one.
Now the key.
Thirteen.
We only found six.
- Are you impressed?
- Yeah.
I didn't know you could count.
Our profile said you'd be too stupid.
We also said
you'd be a chronic bed-wetter.
You take...
What?
The cam... The cam...
I don't know what you're trying to say.
You take the cam, the cam, the cam...
I'm sorry.
I have no idea
what you're trying to say.
You take... You take the cam...
The cam...
Say it.
The cam... The cam...
Just spit it out.
- Just...
- The cam...
Come on!
Faulkner once said,
"Don't bother just to be better than
your contemporaries or predecessors,
"try to be better than yourself."
Check in three.
Not bad.
Checkmate.
Don't worry. You're getting there.