- The BAU are called to Louisiana to get information from an autistic boy who has witnessed his parents' abduction. Meanwhile, Prentiss calls in two old colleagues to track down Ian Doyle.
- The BAU travel to Lafayette Parish, Louisiana to work on the case of Sammy Sparks, a ten year old autistic boy who is seen splattered with blood. His parents, Alison and Charlie Sparks, are missing. At the Sparks home, the BAU find evidence that Charlie was shot and has a serious wound. The Sparks recently were issued a large loan to be able to keep their music store, their long time family business, open. As Lafayette Parish is in an area hit hard by the oil spill, anyone who gets a loan is considered to have won the lottery. The BAU therefore believe the Sparks were targeted for the money, and that the unsub knew the family and knew that Sammy would not be able to identify him. They try to decipher Sammy's drawings and his music and piece it to the strict routine by which all the Sparks lived to find the unsub. Meanwhile, two of Prentiss' Interpol colleagues, Tsia Mosely and Clyde Easter, try to track Ian Doyle's movements, while Prentiss considers asking her BAU colleagues for help on the matter.—Huggo
- A little boy, Sammy, plays the piano, eats breakfast and plays with toys. Behind him, adults argue. The boy is suddenly splattered with blood. What happened? Before we can find out, it's time to revisit the ongoing Ian Doyle subplot. Emily cautiously approaches her car, starting it from a distance with her fob. It doesn't explode. Emily breathes a sigh of relief. Later, Emily visits a fountain and gets a call from Tsia. Also on the line is Clyde, another former Interpol colleague of Emily. All three are trying to track Doyle. "He sent me flowers," Emily says. "I think it's safe to assume he's coming here."
Back at the BAU office, Garcia explains that a boy (Sammy) was found covered with blood while his parents are missing. "Sammy is autistic," Hotch explains. "Getting him to tell us what happened isn't going to be easy." Garcia reveals that the blood on Sammy belongs to Sammy's father Charlie. One jet ride later, the BAU team is at the scene of the crime. Derek and Hotch theorize that the unsub shot Charlie and then left the home with the mother, Alison, as well as the injured (possibly dead) father. But why did the intruder leave Sammy behind? "The unsub must have known the family well enough to know that Sammy wouldn't be able to ID him," Derek guesses.
Sammy, in the meantime, makes an "L" shaped gesture with his hand. Rossi advices Garcia to look for known associates of the Sparks family whose first or last name begins with the letter. CUT to Emily and Ashley who check the music store that the Sparks family owns and runs. Garcia then calls with potential big news: someone just withdrew $10,000 from the parents' shared savings account. "If the unsub has what he's after, Sammy's parents just became expendable," Rossi says. Thanks, Captain Sunshine. CUT to Alison Sparks, who gives $10,000 in cash to the unidentified unsub, a man with long hair and a camouflage hat.. The unsub is upset that the amount is so small. "We're going to sit here until Charlie bleeds to death and you'll never see Sammy again," he growls.
Sometime later, Seaver and Emily visit the bank and learn that the clerk would not allow Alison to take out the entire $42,000 in her savings count. "The unsub is probably holding Charlie at a secondary location," Seaver theorizes. Back at police headquarters, Garcia says she has had little luck in searching for local associates of the Sparks' with the initial "L." However, baby girl has located a Sparks relative, Sammy's aunt Lizzie. Derek then gives the cops a profile. The BAU team believes that the unsub needs a certain amount of money to cover his debts after the devastating oil spill. An officer notes that the description could match hundreds in the area. "He feels such a strong obligation to his dependents, that he's willing to kidnap and steal from people he knows," Emily says.
Sammy, meanwhile, begins to violently rock back and forth -- and then begins to play a piece of paper like a piano. "Sammy is trying to tell us something," Reid says. Just then, Lizzie Sparks enters the room. The team would like to bring Sammy back to his house to play the piano, but Sammy's teacher objects. The decision falls to Lizzie. The unsub, meanwhile, apologies to his hostage, Alison. He explains that he needs to get his boys back -- and has only two more days to round up the money needed to do so. They enter a check-cashing store. Later, he takes Alison to a fishing boat ... where Charlie lies in a pool of his own blood. Alison SCREAMS. Charlie is dead. The unsub, who apparently knows the couple, looks mighty sorry. The next day, Emily, Seaver and Derek arrive at the check-cashing joint. Seaver finds a crowbar on the ground. Derek notices that the crowbar is rusted -- as it would be if the unsub used it to hook crap traps. "Our unsub is definitely a fisherman," Derek notes. Emily, meanwhile, gets a call from Clyde: Doyle has been located in the D.C. area. "He's baiting us," Emily notes. You think?
CUT to Sammy, who returns to his home with Reid, Rossi and Lizzie. Aunt Lizzie explains that she got in a fight with Charlie five years ago and hasn't seen anyone in the family since that time. "I suspected Sammy had autism, but Charlie couldn't see it," Lizzie explains. "He kicked me out." Reid sits down with Sammy at the piano -- and the two begin to play. Rossi then finds a flip book that gives detailed instructions of where Sammy is supposed to be during a typical day. Sammy's life, after all, is all about logical patterns. The pair quickly figures out that the "L" doesn't refer to a name, but a time. When the hands of the clock are at 3 p.m., Sammy is supposed to be at his parents' store.
Back at police HQ, Garcia has cross referenced fisherman with folks who have default loans totaling more than $35,000 -- and there are quite a few. Emily suggests narrowing the list of fishermen who have children and homes in foreclosure. "We are officially down to 24 names," Garcia says. It's a start. Sammy, in the meantime, arrives at the music store shortly after 3 p.m. with Reid, Rossi and Lizzie. The boy immediately sits down and starts playing the same song on a keyboard that he did on his parents' home piano. Reid checks the surveillance tapes and notices that Charlie would change the music playing in the store to classical (likely to calm Sammy) at exactly 3 p.m., when the boy would arrive at the store from school. Reid then notes that the song is Sammy's way of telling the team who the unsub is. When the music plays, the unsub is in the store. So who also arrives at the store at approximately 3 p.m. everyday? Reid checks the tapes again and spots a delivery man -- someone with a routine all his own. Bingo.
Garcia runs the photo of the man from the store and gets a hit. The man, a fisherman turned delivery man, has two sons and owes the bank a whole lot of money. The BAU team rushes to the house of the unsub, Bill Thomas -- but find it empty. Derek and Reid, meanwhile, head to Bill's boat. "Give yourself up!" Derek yells. "Your boat is surrounded!" Inside the boat, Bill tells Alison that he only wanted to put food on the table for his family. "It was my dream," Alison responds, looking at her dead husband. Bill then hands Alison a gun and asks her to shoot him -- for his boys. "I'd do it myself but they won't get my life-insurance policy," Bill says. Alison refuses to do it. Bill then begins to taunt Alison, trying to get the woman to kill him. Outside, the BAU team hears a SHOT. They charge into the boat to discover Bill dead and Alison crying. The wife and mother decided to do the unsub a favor after all. She is soon reunited with Sammy, who hugs her for the first time. Lizzie, discovering that her brother is dead, weeps.
Case closed, but not the episode. Emily turns to D.C. and sits outside having a cup of coffee. Doyle's hand falls on her shoulder. "I've been here two hours," Emily says. "You should know better than to keep a lady waiting." Doyle notes that he has had to wait several years to see her again. "What do you want?" Emily asks. Responds Doyle: "You ... not today ... but soon." Doyle then begins to tell Emily all about her partners at the BAU. The criminal mastermind has done his homework. "Come after my team and I will end you," Emily threatens. To be continued.
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