Chapter 35

Cassie reflects on a series of failed leads and feels responsible for missing signs that Trina Simms would be targeted. Confined by a new ankle tracker, she spars with Lia while the team regroups to assess whether their visit to Trina played a role in her death.

Michael raises the core question: was Trina already chosen, or did their appearance provoke the UNSUB? Dean, distancing himself through profiler mode, analyzes Emerson’s murder as methodical and evidence-light, suggesting a meticulous offender. Cassie posits that a killer identifying with Daniel Redding might seek someone connected to him, and the group contrasts Emerson with Trina to find commonalities.

Dean explores motives by speaking as the killer, considering whether Emerson’s affair with a Redding expert or rejection could have triggered selection, and asserting that Redding himself would have relished hurting Trina. Something clicks for Dean; he abruptly calls Briggs at the Simms crime scene with specific instructions to inventory what should be on visible surfaces and then to check Trina’s pockets.

After tense silences and Briggs’s off-page replies, Dean’s posture shifts from agitation to certainty. Whatever Briggs reports from Trina’s belongings confirms Dean’s hunch. Dean tells the team they have a problem: the offender is likely not a copycat of Daniel Redding.

Dean delivers the pivotal conclusion—he believes Daniel Redding has a partner. This reframes the investigation, deepens the personal stakes for Dean, and suggests coordinated knowledge behind the murders of Emerson and Trina.