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There was only one murder when the BAU initially got called for the case. The police had faith in their own men but if the rumors were true then it meant they'd soon be dealing with something they were too undermanned to handle.
People had reported clown sightings across a town in Wisconsin. Those alone hadn't warranted any action. College folk were just dressed up and standing around eerily in hopes to scare others. It was close to Halloween so that delinquent-like behavior was expected. The police had dismissed the reports.
A civilian reported a body a few days after the start of the rumors. Much of it had decayed, she'd been dead for a few weeks already. A red balloon, still going strong with helium, was tied to her wrist.
It didn't take being FBI to connect the dots. The clowns people had been seeing lately clearly had something to do with it. They wanted it known that they were the ones responsible. An attention seeking, serial killer group was something the local police were, admittedly, unequipped to handle. Their town was small and the police force was short staffed due to the lack of crime that goes on normally.
By the time the FBI got word, there were two deaths.
Tracy, the first victim, had been killed in an alley where she proceeded to go unnoticed for weeks. The unsub hadn't tried to hide her, it was just a coincidence that no one saw. Or if someone had, for some reason they hadn't reported it. It was an alley for a bar, maybe that was why. The people that went there weren't the clearest of minds nor judgement.
“Fuck off bozo, we were never together! I have an actual man” she had shoved him away. He followed out of confusion and growing anger when she stormed out from the fire exit. They'd been together for a month, they met at the bar practically everyday. Her advances always stopped short before they could get to the fun part but he always assumed she was simply shy at that sort of thing.
He wouldn't have guessed it was because she was just using him. She wanted to rile up her boyfriend. She didn't take into consideration how he'd feel, yet had the audacity to be hostile towards him like he was the bad person. Being degraded pushed him to take out his pocket knife and jam it into her neck.
Bozo.
“Why is it always small towns?” JJ complained, handing everyone a file.
A costume based killer was the last thing the public needed weeks before Halloween. Hotch knew with it already going around locals, it could easily turn into a panic that spreads globally. There was little time to spend. A mass panic would only make things more difficult
When they landed in Wisconsin, they split off to speak with the victims' families and to inspect the bodies. While the interviews hadn't provided much they didn't already know or could assume, the bodies gave them a look at the unsubs.
“It's definitely multiple people. The method is too different” Emily confirmed. Tracy was killed straightforwardly. It wasn't professional, it wasn't someone who had done this before, but it was efficient. The second victim was likely killed by one of the others, her death was quick but only due to how many fatal wounds she had. It was overkill. Her face was carved, into what was hard to tell but it was a clear juxtaposition to the first, who had a bit of her own blood smeared into splotches on either cheek.
“The unsub probably used the blood that was on the knife to do it, unlike the second who forcefully made the design” Reid theorized. “The first looks like it's supposed to resemble blush.”
They were dealing with at least two, the number of unsubs was uncertain, even with pictures of the dressed up clowns people had taken. They weren't sure if it was the same person just dressed up differently, the clown suits added fake weight and obviously their faces were obscured. Garcia was able to pick out which pictures were fake. Some people had circled around old photos of clowns that were unrelated to the case.
“What significance do the balloons have? That's probably important to them” Emily brought up.
“Is there any significance? They're clowns, it might just be to fit the theme,” Morgan was skeptical. The fact they had an unsub duo who dressed as clowns and went around murdering people was something out of a movie.
“Tracy had one wound and one balloon, the second victim had four major wounds and four balloons,” Reid pointed out. “That could just be a coincidence though. If that's their reasoning, I don't know why they'd do that” he admitted. The balloons were probably so authorities knew it was them but if it was only for that then why not just leave one? In order to confirm if it had something to do with the number of fatal wounds they'd have to wait for more victims.
While they were trying to find more connections before that happened, more bodies started to pop up. The pattern of the wound-balloon correlation continued. And seeing as all were murdered with overkill, none of them had only one balloon anymore.
“Garcia, have you found anything that connects them? Same school, work, something?” Morgan asked over the phone. The victimology was still blank. They had started to think the unsubs targeted women but as of the recent murders that proved to not be true. Based on information they got from family and friends, there wasn't anything that actually connected them. Not all of them were even from or lived in the same small town. One of the victims was visiting his friend for a day.
“No, I'm sorry. I'm still looking but I've crossed off all the major ones and there's no relation.”
“If they're a spree killer it’d explain the lack of victimology” Rossi noted. They hoped it wasn't the case. Spree and mission based killers were possible options but the worst case scenario. They'd have to work quicker than they have the resources for. Somehow the unsubs left no evidence. It probably had to do with their costumes, gloves, different shoes, wigs, all things that covered vital parts. Not to mention that it disguised their real identity from any witnesses or cameras.
Garcia was trying to clean up the feed from the night in the bar. They managed to uncover the footage but it was blurry and grainy. The owner had admitted that they were more there for show than practical use. They didn't have the budget for good cameras and considering not much action happened in that part of town, it hadn't been a concern before. The possibility of getting the recording visible gave them a chance to know who at least one of the unsubs were. Until then they needed more information that wasn't available.
“The news reported on the case” JJ came into the room in a hurry, a video already ready on her tablet. “Some don't believe the clowns have anything to do with the murders. They think it's a new Halloween trend so more people are dressing up like clowns and scaring people.” The video was a news report from outside of the town. She had tried to keep the case under wraps from the media but there was only so much she could do. Especially with officers who didn't listen.
‘Reports of killer clowns’
‘Deadly clowns on the loose’
‘Town terrorized by killer clowns’
‘New social media trend’
Despite all the evidence saying it was serious, the audience was still split. Some people thought it was a trend. People went back to the photos of the clowns standing in the park or under the street lamp and we're encouraged to join them. There was a rise in reports. Clowns chasing people at night with what appeared to be a weapon in hand. Some reports came from people in cars, the unsubs wouldn't go after someone they knew they couldn't get, regular people were dressed as these clowns.
“I'll tell my guys to arrest anyone who's going around with a weapon in a clown costume. Even if it's not the murderers, we'll have them off for a little while and can discourage the pranks” the chief officer said, Hotch agreed it was the best course of action. It was a disturbance to the peace anyways.
“We’ll go public about the case”
“Are you sure? That'll scare people even more” JJ questioned him.
“They're already scared. The unsubs know by now that we're on the case. And if they didn't before, then the news already told them now. It's better that people have information” Hotch doubled down, Reid could see why, it may bring a lot of false calls due to the pranks but at least they'd get reports from potential witnesses.
After Gags the clown killed the second victim, his brother, Giggles, tied the balloons. He'd figured out Tracy still was unreported and went back to do the same to her body. He hadn't been there when Bozo killed her but as far as he was aware, police were unaware.
He got a few weird stares by people but that wasn't unusual.
When he was done, he lingered outside the alley to unsettle people and push them away from asking questions. The balloon was already tied but the body was still there. He didn't want someone to investigate what he was doing so he chased people away until he could slip away unnoticed. It was dark out now and most of the people that had been around were gone or inside the bar.
His plan had worked at the time but ultimately had the opposite effect.
A college student had heard that there had been a clown there last night and wanted to go see for himself. It was daytime but he had hoped he'd be able to find him anyway.
When no one had been outside of it, he entered the alley to see if he was hiding or waiting inside. Maybe not the best move but at the time no one suspected that it'd be dangerous.
It's what led to Tracy's body being reported.
He was one of the people who talked with the news. The same spot a clown had been seen had a dead body the next day. It didn't line up with the actual time of death but news companies didn't care about that and it's not like a regular person knew better.
Giggles merely followed Gags for the most part. The older brother did the actual killing for the group, of course it wasn't a designated role but he was the one who enjoyed it the most. Gags loved to get in there with the knife, Curly was more of a gun person despite not being the best shot. He didn't shoot long range, he liked the splatter from up close. Since Curly used to be a performer clown he knew how to blow balloons with strings. He attached them to his own victims to save Giggles the trouble of having to locate the body.
All the victims needed to be like them though, so no matter who killed, the victims were left with some sort of blood makeup. They were clowns just like them.
They were there to laugh at or entertain. And whether or not the jokes were funny, they were jokes.
That's how they saw their victims.
“What if we've been thinking about their reasoning wrong?” Reid asked out of the blue. It was his ‘I have an idea’ tone and those usually ended with the case swinging around in their favor. Prompted by their stares, he continued, “they might not be targeting specific people that one or all of them know. They might be targeting a type. All of the victims are ‘normal’. In the sense that they don't like or do things that would get them judged or be outside of social norms. The unsubs are probably targeting them because they've been made fun of. This could be their way of cleansing bullies and getting revenge.”
“So they're trying to degrade ‘normal' people by killing and making them like them,” Emily followed along.
“That doesn't do much to narrow down the victim pool” JJ pointed out.
“No but it does allow us to think like them. We'll be able to more accurately predict them” Reid said. Hotch was already calling Garcia to inform her. The newfound viewpoint would be most useful to her. After a moment of typing,
“Woah.. there's one guy that's an immediate red flag, Hugo Randez. He shot his high school during senior year in Arizona. When police spoke to his parents they said he always had trouble with bullying. Apparently being chubby with curly ginger hair had earned him the reputation of being a clown. And that might just be a freaky coincidence but there's a good chance he's one of your guys.”
“Where's he now?” Hotch asked.
“Off the grid probably. Police never found him after the incident and there's no record of credit cards or anything. They did a manhunt around the time and there's a few speculated sightings over the years but they didn't go anywhere with it.”
“Starting a new life in a small town in Wisconsin would be easy after the attention dies down,” Rossi said. Hugo had to have changed his name at some point because there was no house or car under his name still. But they at least had an idea of who they were looking for. Hugo was definitely one of their unsubs. If they found one of them then there was a good chance at finding the others.
They didn't risk telling the news about the suspect. They didn't have any recent photos of Hugo, he wasn't going by the same name, and it might shove him into hiding.
Reid got sent alone to investigate a potential hideout they got an anonymous call about. The others had to keep working and so far their leads had been mostly dead ends. Admittedly, they didn't see this one being any different. So they sent one person. The buddy system wasn't required, but in hindsight, sending someone alone to where the unsubs may be wasn't a good idea.
They didn't have time to waste, it was more efficient if someone went to check it out while the others continued. The only mercy they've been given for the case was that the unsubs had slowed to a stop. Or the bodies just weren't getting found. But for optimistic purposes, they had stopped. There was a chance the hideout would come out a dud, their expectations were low so Reid should be fine to go alone.
He didn't mind. Others had gone alone to all types of things in the past and they'd been fine. He shouldn't have been any different.
Only none of them had as much bad luck as he did. That was something none of them took into consideration when they chose who to send.
A few minutes after Reid got sent out, the team got another lead.
A circus tent had been set up in the middle of an unclaimed field. The person who called it in admitted to having found it while hunting for clowns.
“I know it's dumb but I just wanted to see one. To see if people are really doing that trend, y'know?” he had said. And it really was dumb. The others kept their judgement internal for the time being though. He had been tempted to investigate the tent but chose to take precaution and let them know. He knew it wasn't all just a trend, the clowns being murderous had been revealed on the news. He noted the weird noises that came from inside, aside from the virus music. Morgan had told him to stay away from it and that they'd check it out.
It seemed like a good lead.
“It has to be the unsubs”
“It could explain why the murders slowed down. They're occupied” Rossi agreed.
They all were eager to follow the lead and went to the SUVs. It could've been a foolish civilian who wanted to take the prank further but it didn't seem likely. The clowns had no other reason to slow down.
No one living was inside the circus tent when they got there. The noises were being played electronically. JJ turned it off along with the music. There was a small circus set up with an audience of the victims' bodies. The brightly lit stage was missing the entertainment but the audience was seated like they were watching something.
“How are the bodies here? They were already discovered” Rossi examined one, he remembered seeing her. He remembered most of them. Their bodies should've been held somewhere officially, not in the hands of the unsubs again. It didn't make sense.
“They must've stolen them” JJ said, they weren't done clearing the area. The place was larger than it appeared and there were too many hiding spots.
“We'll have Garcia look into it.” Morgan was weirded out but used the opportunity to scope outside to leave. He and Emily checked out there in case the undubs heard them or the caller and decided to make a run for it. Neither of them could see any sign of someone. There were no footprints. Emily found a pick-up truck with no license plate, the unsubs likely used it to transport the tent, bodies, and furniture. They didn't get far into their search when JJ called them back inside urgently.
“Hotch found something!”
When they ran inside, he had just opened a poorly folded paper. The makeshift card had been in an envelope decorated with stickers, it blended into the mess of colors around them that he almost hadn't seen it. Written with red crayon was “Made you look.”
“Where's Reid?” he said, a realization suddenly hitting him before the others. The question jolted the others into action, they went back to the cars quickly.
“Shit, this was a setup” Morgan cursed.
“The anonymous call came from one of the unsubs,” Hotch said darkly. They wanted them to be distracted.
“How'd they know we'd split up?” Emily asked in a hurry. There's no way they were that predictable. The unsubs didn't necessarily have to know they'd separate individually. They could've rigged the hideout to explode to take out multiple people.
“Luck maybe, they could've set this up just in case or to stall. What if we went tto this before the hideout? They just want to waste our time.” JJ hoped that was the case at least, even if it didn't really make it better. She could only hope it applied to the hideout too. Realistically, she knew it wasn't likely. Reid would've contacted them by now.
How the hell had none of them realized he was still missing?
The clowns didn't care about the masses anymore. They would've tried to make the general public laugh but they found out early on that it was full of a bunch of stuck up snobs. They weren't worth the time. People were so boring and judgemental. They didn't know how to see things from other people's perspectives. They were whole-heartedly (or lack thereof a heart) incapable of imagining what someone else was going through or their reasoning. They didn't care unless it affected them.
Serial killers, however, were much better to entertain. They understood the value of life and the small things in it. They know it was a blessing to wake up when they've taken that ability from so many. Serial killers would appreciate them more. They were arguably more appreciative in general. They admired the small traits in people, while others would gloss over or even pick on someone for it. What someone got bullied for, was admired by someone else.
What a world it was that ‘cruel’ murderers were the supportive ones. When did people's laughter become more mocking than humorous?
The unfortunate realities weren't a problem. Not for the clowns at least.
Reid was conscious, somehow, but barely. The blood around him indicated he didn't have much longer. His neck had been cut in a way that didn't instantly kill him, it was still a miracle he held out for as long as he did. That miracle was running out though. He needed medical attention now.
Tied to his wrist was a black balloon. A color the unsubs hadn't used before. Their balloons had been all the clown-typical bright ones up to this point.
“This was their finale. Think- suicide, said somethin’ about nitrous oxide” Reid slurred, barely coherently. He didn't give them time to say anything before he immediately went on about the case. It seemed like he's been holding onto this information for a while, he probably was.
“What's nitrous oxide to normal people?” Morgan asked a bit playfully but he was torn between trying to lighten the mood, being freaked out that Reid was bleeding as if he was attacked by a werewolf, and in a ‘catch the unsub' mindset. If the unsubs were going to commit suicide with a gas then they'd need space for it. Maybe a van but they needed to know what exactly they were looking for before they searched every van within distance.
“Laughing gas” Reid helpfully supplied, but it came out too pathetically for him to be anything but worried.
“There's a dentist office in this complex” JJ remembered seeing it when she arrived.
Rossi stayed with Reid while the others left. The ambulance had already been called and no doubt was almost there. Rossi just needed to keep him awake. When someone feels like they have a purpose, say to relay information, then their body is a lot more compliant to stay awake. Now though, Reid said what he needed. If he felt like his job was done, he may relax and that was a problem.
Rossi smoothly distracted him.
Things only got rocky, ignoring the fact the situation wasn't ideal to begin with, when they were midway into the ambulance ride.
“We're losing him!” Was not what either of them wanted to hear. One was much more unaware but distantly Reid knew it was bad. Others bustled around his oblivious self.
“C'mon kid, hold out a bit longer. I love you, you've got this.”
He didn't, in fact. He was, of course, unaware of this too.
It was too late
When they got to the unsubs, they had already died. They didn't need an autopsy to know it was an overdose of laughing gas.
JJ called Garcia and asked her about their earlier question regarding the bodies being with the unsubs. Apparently no one had reported them missing.
As much as they would've liked to see Reid, their job wasn't done. Normally it would be but they had reason to believe it wasn't all of them.
Clutched in one of the unsubs hands, Giggles’ unbeknownst to them, was a folded paper. Instead of it being some sort of suicide note, there was just one word, ‘Freckles’.
“A clown name?”
“Most likely”
“We'll speak to the person who was in charge of the bodies. For now let's get back” Hotch tried not to sigh. He knew the others wanted to get to Reid but they had to put the job over relations.
Cindy was the one who went over the bodies and was supposed to get them ready for transport. She never reported them missing, which was a huge red flag. The BAU took her in as a suspect for it. Without any hard evidence they had to work quickly to keep her.
While talking around, JJ discovered that Cindy had freckles, they were often covered up by her makeup. The man who revealed it obviously hadn't thought anything of it, she had told him it was just a coincidence that they got covered up. JJ doubted that.
The team could use the info.
Rossi had privately called Hotch sometime during to let him know that, while they got his heart beating again, Reid had been pronounced dead for a few minutes. Hotch, in turn, waited to tell the others. They needed their mind as clear as possible so he held onto the news heavily.
In the end it had been Emily who managed to get the confession out of her.
“You worked with them distantly. You didn't directly kill anyone or saw them do anything. That, in addition to your cooperation if you confess, will get you a lighter sentence. So please, help me out.” She hadn't been honest but it got the confession almost immediately.
Cindy, Freckles, worked with Bozo, Gags, Giggles, and Curly -otherwise known as Hugo- the whole time. She let them know how close the FBI was and gave them back the bodies so they could enjoy their time and make history. The group really thought they were doing a good thing. Nothing went exactly like plan, she had admitted, the suicide route likely wasn't how plan A endedz but it didn't matter now. Cindy had confirmed that there were no more members.
“I'm going to get away with more, right? I did what you asked”
“You killed people, even if it wasn't directly. You were an accomplice to serial killers. I'm not sure if your sentence will have a release day.”
Understandably, the team was upset when they were told what happened to Reid. They also knew why Hotch had kept quiet about it, even if the knowledge could coexist with the anger that Morgan felt.
With the case finally wrapped up for the most part. They were able to visit the hospital.
“He's been going in and out of sleep. The doctors said it's normal and to not be concerned” Rossi warned them. JJ carefully woke him up, she couldn't wait any longer and she knew the others would agree.
“Hey, Spence, how do you feel?”
"Hur's,” he mumbled. He tried to sit up a bit but Hotch guided him back into laying down. He was used to it by now, which was a terrible thing to get used to but he supposed it came with the job. Reid always got restless when injured, even though rest is the exact thing he needed.
"That's what happens when you die" Morgan said, he tried to act calm, as if he didn't feel nauseous with worry.
"Who died?"
"You did"
"Oh"
There was an unsure silence amongst all the agents. Mostly, they were just relishing in the relief that Reid wasn't dead. And unsurprisingly it was the man in question who broke the silence and bittersweet mood. Ever the creamer to the coffee, sometimes Reid's inability to read a room came in handy.
Or maybe it was a purposeful joke to lighten the mood.
"Rossi said he lov's me, think that mea's I'm his favorite"
Despite being shaken, the team laughed.
"Now I didn't say all that," Rossi teased. They knew it was very much implied.