- Emily Prentiss: Clara. Hey.
- Clara Seger: Emily. What brings you to the seventh floor?
- Emily Prentiss: Lisa Sojourn.
- Clara Seger: Oh, I haven't heard that name in years. Poor girl had her whole life ahead of her before that monster took it. I still can't believe he hasn't been caught.
- Emily Prentiss: Well, I just might have found him.
- Emily Prentiss: Communication addressed to the BAU came across my desk this morning. It was sent by Inspector Jin Taan of the Taipei Ministry of Criminal Investigations. In the last twelve days, he's had two unusual murders, which may be linked to one of the cases in the BAU's Zero Files.
- Russ Montgomery: Our victims, Lynn Zhou and Yian Chen, were posed in the same specific display - office building, knife through the heart, flower in the lap.
- Matt Simmons: Then why the purple orchid? Is this homage to...
- Emily Prentiss: The Vinegar Hill Slayer. The BAU hunted him in 2001. He killed four women in the Vinegar Hill section of Brooklyn, New York. All four of his victims were publicly displayed, knife in the heart, flower in the lap.
- Clara Seger: Precisely the same way these women in Taipei were.
- Emily Prentiss: At the time of the New York murders, I was working as an intern at the U.N.
- Clara Seger: As was I.
- Russ Montgomery: Oh, I didn't realize you guys went back that far.
- Clara Seger: Indeed we do. In fact, we knew one of the Vinegar Hill victims. She was a translator for the U.N. Her name was Lisa Sojourn.
- Emily Prentiss: Lisa, Clara, and I, some other girls, would go out after work and drink, dance, meet boys.
- Clara Seger: All that stopped after Lisa's death.
- Emily Prentiss: The preliminary investigation didn't lead to more substantive action. It was reclassified as a Zero File because the BAU's efforts were interrupted by the September 11th attacks.
- Matt Simmons: Right, when the FBI's top priority became terrorism.
- Jack Garrett: Sixteen years is an awfully long period of dormancy.
- Mae Jarvis: Could it be a copycat?
- Emily Prentiss: It's possible, but the purple orchid was a detail that was never made public.
- Jack Garrett: Did the BAU establish an operating theory at the time?
- Emily Prentiss: It was incomplete, but the profile indicated a male, late teens to early 20s, native to New York, sophisticated but with significant anger issues toward women.
- Jack Garrett: Ordinarily, we go to help American victims of crime overseas, but in this case, it looks like we may be looking at an American killing abroad.
- Matt Simmons: From four kills in six months to two murders in two weeks, that means the killings are accelerating.
- Jack Garrett: So we need to stop this unsub before he kills again.
- Emily Prentiss: Clara, I don't know about this.
- Clara Seger: It's happy hour somewhere, and I think we should have a toast.
- Emily Prentiss: So you finally got the Vinegar Hill Slayer.
- Clara Seger: Indeed we did.
- Emily Prentiss: I should be happier about that than I am.
- Clara Seger: Well, I know it doesn't bring Lisa back, or the others, but at least we know he can't hurt anybody else again, right?
- Emily Prentiss: I know, and I really appreciate you and the IRT going and doing this.
- Clara Seger: We did it for Lisa and all the others.
- Emily Prentiss: To Lisa Sojourn, may you finally rest in peace.
- Clara Seger: [they clink wine glasses] Amen.
- [tapping her phone, Clara plays "Set It Off" by Brooklyn Funk Essentials and stands up]
- Clara Seger: Oh, it's time to juke.
- Emily Prentiss: Really? Here?
- Clara Seger: Oh, yeah. This is happening right now.
- Emily Prentiss: No.
- Clara Seger: You're gonna have to stand up. If we're gonna send Lisa off, we're gonna do it right.
- Emily Prentiss: What if Jack or Rossi sees us?
- Clara Seger: [pulling Prentiss to her feet] Have you seen Jack dance? He's fabulous.
- Mae Jarvis: There is no backing out now.
- Russ Montgomery: I'm not trying to back out. I'm just saying maybe we should reschedule.
- Mae Jarvis: Come on, Monty. You and I both know that that is not gonna happen.
- Russ Montgomery: Why not? There were no set rules as to how it should go down.
- Mae Jarvis: Au contraire, mon frere.
- Clara Seger: [entering] You guys ready for tonight?
- Mae Jarvis: Yes.
- Russ Montgomery: No.
- Mae Jarvis: Sout and Pint. 8:00. Sharp.
- Clara Seger: You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this.
- Mae Jarvis: Look, why don't I just give you both $20 and we call it even?
- Clara Seger: That was not the bet.
- Russ Montgomery: I know, but...
- Clara Seger: Monty, you lost the bet, remember?
- Russ Montgomery: Yes, I remember, and I will never, ever again question your knowledge on the "Fast and Furious" franchise.
- Clara Seger: Look, you act like I'm asking for a pound of flesh.
- Russ Montgomery: I would be willing to negotiate that in lieu of singing karaoke tonight.
- Mae Jarvis: Do not be a baby. You are gonna be fine. We've been practicing.
- Clara Seger: No. Yes, really?
- Mae Jarvis: Mm-hmm. Two words: Kenny. Dolly.
- [Clara gasps in excitement]
- Mae Jarvis: That's right. This is getting real.
- Clara Seger: "Islands in the Stream".
- Russ Montgomery: There won't be any video, right?
- Clara Seger: No. Not that you're aware of.
- Mae Jarvis: [patting Monty on the shoulder] It's time to face the music, my friend.
- Matt Simmons: You ready to roll?
- [staring an old picture of her and Lisa, Clara doesn't reply]
- Matt Simmons: Oops. Sorry, Clara, I didn't know you were...
- Clara Seger: No, it's okay. Um, I was just... remembering my friend Lisa.
- [showing Matt the picture]
- Clara Seger: It's hard to believe how much time has passed.
- Matt Simmons: Life has a way of doing that.
- Clara Seger: Yeah, but at least we have a life. You know, Lisa's was... was cut short before it even had a chance to start.
- Matt Simmons: Seems like you have some good memories of her.
- Clara Seger: [he hands the picture back] Yeah, I do. If you would have known Lisa, she... she was this... breath of fresh air. She could talk to anyone. She could wear just about anything. And she loved to go juking.
- Matt Simmons: Juking?
- Clara Seger: It's dancing.
- Matt Simmons: Ah.
- Clara Seger: She was from Georgia, so that's what she called it. But... many a times, we would juke until the morning sun came up.
- Matt Simmons: I'll bet you did.
- Clara Seger: And she had this laugh. It was... it was contagious. And when Lisa got going, you knew eventually you were gonna end up on the floor right next to her. I miss that. I miss her. I just want to honor her, you know, and her memory.
- Matt Simmons: I think you just did.
- Clara Seger: Thank you. I think the only way to really honor her is to catch this killer who took her life.
- Matt Simmons: And we will.
- Inspector Jin Taan: The murders of Lynn Zhou and Yian Chen are a tragic stain on the fabric of Taipei.
- Jack Garrett: Inspector Jin, I'd like to apologize for the horror and dishonor caused by a suspect the FBI believes may be an infamous American killer.
- Jack Garrett: This is a heavily trafficked business area. The unsub had to have timed this precisely to stage the body out here without being observed
- Matt Simmons: Displaying the victim in public is significant to the unsub's ritual, just like in New York, but the BAU never determined what it meant.
- Jack Garrett: We need to figure out what the unsub's trying to say and to whom.
- Matt Simmons: Six victims in two very different countries suggests divergent comfort zones half a world apart, which is very unusual, unless we're talking about a copycat here, right?
- Jack Garrett: Yeah, possibly. Or perhaps it speaks to the unsub being at home in both countries. Maybe a dual citizen.
- Russ Montgomery: Hey, boss.
- Jack Garrett: Monty, I need to you to compile visa entries for people who were living in New York in 2001 during the killings there who are now living in Taiwan.
- Russ Montgomery: It's not gonna be a small list.
- Jack Garrett: Well, if your job was easy, anyone could do it.
- Russ Montgomery: Flattery will get you everywhere. All right, I'm on it.
- Mae Jarvis: There's no evidence of a struggle or visible signs of trauma. I gotta say that these Taiwanese killings seem surprisingly humane compared to the ones in New York.
- Russ Montgomery: "Humane" is an interesting word choice.
- Mae Jarvis: What I mean is those victims didn't suffer. They died peacefully. Those victims in New York... I mean, it was blunt force trauma, throat slashed.
- Russ Montgomery: Are you saying you think this is another killer?
- Mae Jarvis: I'm not sure. I mean, these victims appear to have been incapacitated, probably drugged. But like in the other cases, the stabbing of the heart was performed post-mortem; part of the unsub's signature. But taking a closer look, there might actually be enough to link this murder to the prior cases.
- Russ Montgomery: And that link would be?
- Mae Jarvis: [reading autopsy reports] Well, the other autopsy reports all give very specific details about how the knife was inserted into the victims, but none of those details were ever released to the public. "Blade entry angled upward from below and to the left of the sternum. Penetrating the lower left ventricle, edge downward, and twisted clockwise one-quarter turn." The C.O.D. may be different, but these stabbings are identical. This is no copycat.
- Inspector Jin Taan: I understand you had a friend back in New York who was also a victim.
- [distracted again, Clara doesn't reply]
- Inspector Jin Taan: Agent Seger? You okay?
- Clara Seger: You know, I, um, I try to remain impartial during investigations so my personal feelings don't blur my judgment, but sometimes that is hard to do.
- Clara Seger: As in New York, all of the victims here are not only physically similar, but they're also professional women with careers and families. So was Yian Chen looking for love just like the other two?
- Inspector Jin Taan: Our society is a difficult place for divorced women with children to live in. You know, housing, jobs; these women are too often ostracized.
- Clara Seger: Listen, there is a big difference between being ostracized and getting killed. I mean, what made Yian so different? We get her computer, we're gonna get some answers.
- Russ Montgomery: So our lovely and talented BAU counterpart and I dug deeper into the unsub's mysterious hiatus.
- Jack Garrett: You found something?
- Russ Montgomery: Yeah, the victims in Taiwan didn't flag on the BAU's Interpol query because Taiwan doesn't share an Interpol database.
- Jack Garrett: So if Prentiss hadn't been contacted by Inspector Jin, we might never have known.
- Russ Montgomery: Yes, well, which inspired us to conduct an open-source intelligence review of all print and broadcast media in non-Interpol countries. We found seven other murders with the same M.O. in seven Pacific Rim countries, none of which are part of Interpol.
- Matt Simmons: So each of them thought the killing in their country was an isolated case, not part of a serial event.
- Russ Montgomery: Bingo.
- Clara Seger: If the unsub has only killed once in each of those countries, but has already killed twice in Taiwan, that means his presence here signifies something special.
- Jack Garrett: The unsub may have accelerated his killing tempo in Taiwan because, like New York, he feels at home here.
- Clara Seger: Well, there's definitely a contradiction between the violence in his early kills and the lack of it now. I mean, he has gotten less violent over time.
- Mae Jarvis: Well, maybe he's been perfecting his methodology.
- Matt Simmons: Certainly not his coping mechanism when it comes to women. He seems to have no intention of stopping.
- Jack Garrett: We need to get ahead of him. Find out how he's targeting his victims.
- Russ Montgomery: Inspector Jin found Yian Chen's computer at her office. On it was a history of an online dating site that both victims were members of. Uh, "Taipei Twine is an online dating and matchmaking service that offers professionals a unique dating experience that doesn't require users to post pictures. Instead, drawing potential couples together for deeper relationships..."
- Matt Simmons: "Based on profile, personalities, and promises, not shallow infatuation based solely on looks."
- Clara Seger: Well, makes sense that professionals would use a more discreet online site to seek potential lovers.
- Mae Jarvis: Yeah, our unsub would certainly prefer that type of anonymity.
- Clara Seger: So he lured these women to their death with the promise of love?
- Matt Simmons: No, there's something these particular women had in common that keyed our unsub to choose them.
- Clara Seger: Our unsub's gonna want a secluded spot away from prying eyes.
- Jack Garrett: He'll also want a quick path of egress from his table.
- Inspector Jin Taan: I understand, but I already have three of my plainclothes officers inside, and they have his driver's license.
- Jack Garrett: That's not a good idea.
- Mae Jarvis: I thought I knew all your looks. I don't know this one. I don't like it.
- Clara Seger: I was just within arm's reach of the man who killed my friend sixteen years ago. You know, it took me a long time to face the fact that some cases will never be solved. But this one... I want this one so bad.
- Mae Jarvis: We're gonna get him. You know we will.
- Clara Seger: You and I both know we can't guarantee that. He was right there. Last week, he was a ghost, and now... he was right there.
- Mae Jarvis: Hey, hey. What does Monty always say to people's loved ones? We're the best in the world at getting these kind of guys. Aren't we? We're gonna get him.
- Clara Seger: Thank you.
- Mae Jarvis: We don't think the unsub's gonna flee the country now that he knows we're onto him?
- Jack Garrett: Driven, motivated, and violent? In my experience, unsubs with this level of psychopathy double down. His need to kill will overwhelm any reason that would compel a normal person to stop.
- Mae Jarvis: Professional woman, slender build, dark hair. Just the unsub's type.
- Matt Simmons: Yeah. Looks like the unsub found the closest woman to his victim type and improvised from there. He cut her hair.
- Mae Jarvis: Yep. Looks like a blitz attack. He certainly didn't take the time to charm her.
- Matt Simmons: No. This kill was done out of necessity, but he did take the time to place the purple orchid in her lap. Is there any way we can trace its origin?
- Inspector Jin Taan: In Taiwan, breeding orchids is a mass production business.
- Mae Jarvis: Well, given the blood, I would say that the stab wound is definitely the C.O.D.
- Inspector Jin Taan: The key aspect for this unsub throughout his kill history has been the ritual displaying of the body, is it not?
- Matt Simmons: Yeah. His compulsion to kill comes secondary to his need to display his victims, but he didn't take the time to deliver the full message here by properly displaying it.
- Inspector Jin Taan: Yet he hastily chopped the victim's hair because he didn't want to vary from his physical type?
- Mae Jarvis: Maybe it's not a physical type. Maybe it's a specific woman. And the question is who?
- Jack Garrett: Well, Mary Gau, the woman who survived her date with Tom Wu, said she got the impression he wasn't really interested in kids.
- Russ Montgomery: Curious. Mr. Wu listed having children as one of his profile prefereneces.
- Clara Seger: Yeah, but once Mary mentioned having to leave to go home and tuck her kids in bed, he basically became a jerk from that point on.
- Russ Montgomery: So what is it about a woman cherishing her children that turns this particular unsub off?
- Mae Jarvis: Maybe he suffered a past trauma related to having children.
- Jack Garrett: Maybe, but I think it hits closer to home for him. I think our unsub's trigger is something in his childhood, something... that he experienced firsthand which he never recovered from.
- Jack Garrett: Thanks for all your assistance.
- Inspector Jin Taan: It is I who should thank you and your wonderful team, Jack.
- Mae Jarvis: Pleasure was all ours.
- Inspector Jin Taan: You know, I actually spent time at the FBI National Academy. It was the singular honor of my career. I can never repay the FBI for the prestige it's brought me.
- Matt Simmons: Well, it goes both ways. The FBI benefits immensely from working with officers of your caliber.
- Inspector Jin Taan: May I ask a favor?
- Jack Garrett: Of course.
- Inspector Jin Taan: Should you return to Taipei, would it be possible to bring one of those delightful chicken parmesean sandwiches from that little Italian deli by the back gate to Quantico?
- [the IRT team snickers]
- Jack Garrett: You can count on it. Uh, I only hope it's under better circumstances than this trip.