Finishing School Part 2

Ok, here we go with the second half of Finishing School, by Max Allan Collins, which I started recapping here.

Part two, of course, also contains spoilers for the book...


So Garue and the crime lab guy-Keegan, the Quantico graduate-come in. Reid and Keegan have a little love-in where they remember first meeting at some lecture Gideon gave at the Academy.

Then Keegan finally gets on with the matter in hand and tells everyone that the victims' teeth were healthy and strong at the time of death, meaning that they were fed well. This is another sign that the UnSub "loved" them.

The team comes to the same conclusion that Rossi and Prentiss did-that the UnSub took the girls because he needed them for something. Magical. Then they wonder why the UnSub would suddenly kill them after 10 years.

Keegan confirms the teams' earlier suspicions that the clothes were homemade, which, of course, proves that the UnSub didn't put them in public school (?!!). But Garue hasn't managed to find any private school record for them, so that means they must have been homeschooled by the UnSub.  Of course, it's Reid that works this out. He also works out that the UnSub might have a female partner who makes the clothes and stuff. Go Reid.

So it's the next day and we're back in Hibbing with the male UnSub. We  find out that he and wifey are planning to leave town-but not before getting his hands on Bratz girl. Last night, he'd followed her and her mum home, so he quite literally knows where they live. He's waiting there, in his car, for them to drive out again and then he follows them to a store with some gas pumps. He snatches the girl from the car while Negligent Mum is paying for the gas in the store. The girl's not too happy about this as they drive off, so he knocks her out with a handkerchief full of chloroform.

Back in Georgia, Prentiss, Rossi and Carlyle turn up at the town Abigail was taken from. They go to her parents' house. This time, the parents have already been told that she's dead, so at least that saves a few extra pages of awkwardness. They ask the parents some questions, don't learn much, and then leave.

In Bemidji, the rest of the team are working hard. REID IS GOING OVER MAPS, and it doesn't really matter what the rest of the team are doing. What matters is what they know (or think they know) so far-this is clearly v important as we get a nice little recap. The team thinks the UnSub is:

Comfortable in the woods
Uncomfortable with confrontation
Nonviolent, even though he's a murderer. (Hotch recalls this from the fact that the UnSub poisons his victims. Stunning.)
Doesn't leave any sign of hatred/anger in the murders.

Hotch thinks the UnSub's not only uncomfortable with confrontation, but just uncomfortable around people in general. Oh Hotch, anyone would be nervous around you, you sexy thing. This leads Hotch to also think that the guy has a job where he doesn't have to deal with people much. Sounds like my kind of job.

As all good CM fans know, all bad UnSubs like to inject themselves in the investigation. Hotch thinks that if this guy is doing this, it's just to keep tabs on what's going down, rather than for the lolz.

Hotch also figures the UnSub is smart because he knew exactly the right dosage of poison to use. I bet he's not as smart as you though, Hotch. The UnSub is also highly organised because no one's seen nuthin', even though he went ahead and killed and buried three victims.

The more Hotch thinks about it, the more he thinks there is an UnSub team- a man and a woman. Yes, Hotch, didn't Reid tell you that last night?

Unfortunately, we leave Hotch's brain now, because JJ comes in and tells them about how Bratz girl is missing.

In Georgia, Rossi and the others go to see retired detective Malcolm Henry, who worked the case when Abigail originally went missing. When he's told about how Abigail and the other girls were murdered, Henry mentions there was a similar case in a nearby town ten years ago. Blonde, dead girl found buried in the woods, about the same age as the Bemidji bodies.

So the gang goes to this other town to look at the spot in the woods. They call a crime lab out and two more bodies are dug up.  It turns out that the woods are owned by Clenteen Industries, presumably a company like Bassinko Industries, because Rossi then deducts that the UnSub who killed these girls and the ones in Bemidji worked for Clenteen. So that means our UnSub moved and now works for Bassinko, right? The game's afoot!

The next morning, Morgan and Garue are in Hibbing to talk to Bratz girl's parents. The mum tells them that the girl was taken while she was paying for the gas. Morgan and Garue head to the gas pumps and look around. There's still a CSI van in the parking lot. Didn't someone tell them that this isn't their book? Morgan works out from profiling and magic that the UnSub has a vehicle. Wow, you don't say.

When they're back in Bemidji, Morgan and Garue brief the team on what they found out and then they hear that Logan's back in town so they get him into the LEC and interview him. Logan says he disappeared because he'd gone on vacation to visit his brother. Morgan gives him a hard time for a bit and then lets him go because he kind of knows he's not the UnSub.

Then it's time for the interviews with Silvan and his two colleagues. But before Morgan can start them, Rossi comes online to tell the team about the other three bodies. Then Garcia also comes online and tells them that Clenteen and Basinko are both owned by the same holding company.

The team work out that the UnSub must have moved from Clenteen to Bassinko-ie from down South to Bemidji-ten years ago as he killed the Southern girls before he left, then kidnapped the Minnesota ones as soon as he got up there.

Garcia does her thing and finds out that Silvan and one of the others about to be interviewed-Fryman-moved ten years ago.

Morgan then interviews all three of the foresters and finds out that:

They tend to stay with places in the forest that they've already worked.
Hibbing is in Fryman's territory.
Fryman called in sick yesterday (the day the girl was taken)
Silvan was covering for Fryman, but Fryman doesn't know if Silvan was in Hibbing
Silvan has been married since before he left Georgia
Silvan moved to Bemidji for the money
Fryman's also married and has been for 22 years.
Niether Fryman nor Silvan have kids
Fryman's wife had a miscarriage 20 years ago.
The Frymans have never adopted, because Mrs Fryman wanted "just the right child" and that wasn't ever going to happen.
Silvan's wife works from home as a teacher, teaching homeschoolers.
Fryman thinks the team are watsing their time by investigating him and Silvan. Oh, ok then Small Fry, if you say so. Call off the dogs.

Prentiss and Rossi are now attending the Southern girls' autopsies. They realise that out of the six bodies found in total in the whole case, half of them had tampons in their handbags and the other half were of an age when they'd be starting their period. They begin to think this is significant...

Back with the male UnSub's point of view, and he's freaking out because, although he expected to be interviewed by the FBI, he was surprised by how much they already know. Oh, UnSub, has no one told you that Reid knows everything and the rest of the team are magic too? However the UnSub has a plan. When he and the wife leave town, they're going to frame someone else for the murders. They had a similar plan in Georgia, in case the bodies were discovered before they left there.

We find out that he and wifey are planning to hit the road in less than two days. They're going to move to Washington state, because he's managed to get a job with a lumber company near Seattle. He then has a little internal rant at the hunters who found the Bemidji bodies because they disturbed his baby girls' final resting place. Or something.

The UnSub has driven to some town called Cohasset because there's another "special little girl" there he wants to pick up. He, of course, knows where the girl and Mummy live. He drives to the house-puts on" a fake mustache and cheap, black wig" (yeah, for real) and rings the bell. Mummy answers and he tasers her. Then he goes in and kidnaps the girl.

In Bemidji, Reid is aching "from head to toe" from tiredness. May I suggest a full body massage? Preferably given by Hotch?  Sadly, there's no time for this as Rossi's back online, waving dead girls' tampons around. Jeez, talk about killing the mood I was trying to create, Dave.

Of course, Reid is the first one to get where Rossi is going with this. Once the girls start turning into women, the UnSub kills them. "Loves" them as girls, can't be doing with them once they start growing up.

Reid says again that it must be a couple working as an UnSub team. Jeez guys, yes, you're right-it's a couple! What are you actually going to do about it?

Thankfully, they quickly work out that the female UnSub sees the girls as competition for hubby's affections once they hit puberty, because she herself was abused by her own Dad as a young woman.

And then finally Hotch utters the immortal words, "Let's get the locals in. Let's not waste any more time [yeah, tell me about it, Hotch]-let's give them the profile".

And this seems like a good place to break off yet again. Sorry, I really thought I'd be able to finish the damn thing this time, but I'll have to get some sleep and come back it to later. But the third part will be worth the wait-I promise! Kind of.