Handlung

A serial killer in the Olympia, Washington area has abducted four blonde, twenty-something women. When the third victim is found embalmed, the BAU are called in and suspect that the embalming is a way for him to spend more time with them.

Twenty-something blond women have been abducted in the Olympia, Washington area. The abductions have taken place about three months apart. The dead bodies of three of the four abducted have just been found, the bodies embalmed causing the deaths. The autopsies also show the abductor is a necrophiliac. Sandra Lombardini, the mother of Brooke Lombardini, the only abducted woman not found, has hired a clairvoyant, Stanley Usher, to help provide information on the case. Usher states that he knows Brooke is still alive. Among the BAU, Rossi in particular is angry about Usher's participation in the case. As the BAU do their analysis to get close to identifying the possible abductor, J.J. thinks that Usher may be able to fill in the missing piece of the puzzle.—Huggo

Ominous music. A marker board with pictures of dead young woman. A detective, looking quite glum, gets a visit from Sandra, the mother of a missing girl. "The body we found in the woods -- it wasn't Brooke," he tells the woman. She is relieved, then asks for her daughter's necklace. "Please," she says. The detective would like to know why. "He says it could tell him things," Sandra explains.

Cut to the home of "he," a psychic. Sandra hands the seer her daughter's necklace. The man closes his eyes and then opens them with a start. "What did you see?" Sandra asks. But we don't get the answer just yet. Instead, we head to BAU headquarters, where Garcia is coincidentally reading horoscopes. Derek and Emily are clearly skeptics. Now it's down to biz. Jennifer details a series of murders in Olympia, Washington. All the vics have been blonde with blue eyes. The first body was taken nine months ago and was embalmed. "That's different," Emily quips. Indeed. But that's what makes life so darn interesting, right?

The team's private jet heads west. Inside, Spencer explains that the unsub probably has a medical background. "Mortuary sciences," Hotch suggests. Rossi, meanwhile, has a creepy suggestion of his own. The unsub embalms his victim in order to "hold onto them." Perhaps he has a rather extreme fear of abandonment? Brooke, meanwhile, has been missing for four days. It doesn't look good.

It looks even worse on the ground. The team heads to a local park where the last body was found. "The killer can't dismember these women," Spencer explains. "He cares for them." Hotch and Emily, in the meantime, have discovered that all the women were abducted while leaving work at high-end outlets. "The killer has money," Emily suggests. They meet the detective, who explains that Brooke's mother has gone to a psychic named Stanley Usher. Emily scoffs.

Jennifer and Rossi meet Sandra and Stanley. "We think this man is a loner," Rossi explains. "Shy." Sandra asks why they aren't investigating the "clues" that the psychic has uncovered, including a "fenced-in area." Rossi is openly disgusted. Stanley, undaunted, says Brooke feels "tired" and "heavy" (as if she was drugged, perhaps?). Jennifer gets a call: more bodies have been found.

The two new victims have double piercings in their ears -- possibly the work of the killer. But it gets worse. Much worse. Trace amounts of semen were found, but no signs of rape. "Are you saying it was consensual?" Spencer asks. Says Derek: "She's saying they were dead." Ugh. Back at police headquarters, Rossi calls Garcia and asks for a background check on the psychic. Derek, in the meantime, briefs the cops: "Because of the alternations to the bodies, we believe the unsub is attempting to recreate a woman he once loved."

The team fans out to local mortuaries, cemeteries, etc. At each stop, they administer DNA swabs. Hotch runs across what might be a promising lead: an embalmer tells of a young assistant who was "weird." "I didn't like the attention he paid the female cadavers," the man says. As a result, the weird guy was let go. His name: Ivan Bakunas. Unfortunately, Mr. Bakunas refuses to give up his DNA when Hotch and Emily come knocking on his front door. Garcia finds out that creepy Ivan has a history of drugging girls and then having sex with their unconscious bodies. Alas, Bakunas doesn't have money -- and the equipment and fluids required to embalm ain't cheap. Just then, Jennifer arrives with news: a woman claiming to be Brooke recently called 911!

Seconds later, we listen in on the recorded phone call along with the team. Brooke identifies herself and says she is being held prisoner. She begs for help, then a struggle, then a dial tone. "That's her," Sandra says. "Stanley said she was alive. This proves it!" Rossi explains that Stanley has a record. He was charged with fraud in Oregon before coming to Washington. Sandra is defiant. "I need my baby to be alive!" she cries.

Emily has narrowed the 911 call down to a 20-mile radius. And, it was made on a disposable cell. Not much help, unfortunately. The larger question is why the killer is keeping the girl alive. Hotch theorizes that the unsub is attempting to make his captive accept her role -- whatever that role might be. "The longer she holds out, the longer she stays alive," Derek says. But how long can she hold out?

We cut to a woman in a cage: Brooke. Her blonde hair has been cut short. Her ears have been double pierced. A dark figure outside the cage calls her "Abby." "I told you, I'm not Abby!" Brooke says. Looks like our girl can hold out just a bit longer, after all.

Back at police headquarters, the detective has brought in Stanley to examine a blonde wig belonging to Bakunas -- much to Rossi's disgust (we're sensing a pattern here). Seconds later, Bakunas is brought in for questioning. The man admits to having sex with corpses, but claims to have never killed. He then explains that the key for him is having a "genuine article" belonging to the deceased. The comment triggers something for Spencer. He recalls questioning a cemetery worker who said earrings and other jewelry were recently stolen from a grave belonging to an Abigail Hanson, who died in 1992. Ladies and gents, we have our "Abby." But who was she? Hotch and Rossi intend to find out. They head to a wealthy couples' home where Abby worked for years. She apparently took care of the couples son, Roderick. "She basically raised the boy," mom says. Uh oh.

It gets worse (again). Mom and dad haven't talked to Roderick in more than a year. The young man, who more than fits the profile, is probably living off the remainder of his trust fund. But where? Garcia explains that there is no paper trail on the man. After dropping out of medical school (!), he went off the proverbial grid. The team is going to need a miracle. Luckily, Jennifer just might have one. She hands Stanley a letter sent by Roderick to his mother. The psychic closes his eyes for a moment before declaring "water" and "rocky shore line." As Spencer points out, this clue doesn't give the BAU much to go on. After all, two-thirds of the planet is water. But wait! Jennifer points out that Roderick's family used to live on a waterfront property. Could this be the hideout?

Not so fast. Rossi enters with news: Roderick's dad has secretly been sending his son money -- lots of it. Hotch immediately heads to the parents' house to get some answers. Dad, simply trying to buy his son's love and not acting as an accomplice, quickly succumbs under questioning. "We got a location," Hotch tells the team.

Cut to a creepy, makeshift lab in a warehouse where Brooke has finally stopped fighting and "become" Abby. Roderick is about to cut her open and begin the embalming process when the team bursts through the door! The sick surgeon is detained -- all the while screaming "Abby!" The good news: Brooke is heavily drugged but alive. She's going to be OK. Rossi takes the opportunity to call Stanley a fraud (again), saying "this place is as far from a rocky shore line as you can get." Not so fast, Mr. Skeptic. Hotch looks through the window and sees a billboard featuring a painting of a rocky shore. Rossi's jaw drops.