Captain Aaron Spencer is a character and the Main Antagonist of the first season of Showtime series Dexter: Original Sin.
He was the former captain to Miami Metro Police Department's homicide division during Sergeant Harry Morgan's later years in the department and when Dexter Morgan first arrived as an intern for the forensics department. He at first appeared to have a strong stance against homicide and lead his detectives with a coaching mentality; demanding results and heated when cases hit a standstill.
He was later revealed to be the Masked Kidnapper behind the death of Jimmy Powell as well as the abduction and mutilation of his son Nicky Spencer. Aaron Spencer is the first Main Antagonist of the series and Dexter's first major target - being connected to Spencer via his work and his father. Ultimately he becomes Dexter's Fourth Victim and the first one to be dumped in the waters beyond the Biscayne Bay.
Background[]
Spencer served as a Lieutenant during the Estrada Case where he assigned Detectives Harry Morgan and Bobby Watt as the leads into the investigation. Deeply unnerved over the Cartel's foothold in Miami and how the city was overflowing with cocaine...he wanted to put a stop to it before it corrupted the city any further. Their efforts to flip the Colombians within the organization to aid in taking down Estrada were met with failure so he wanted to try a different approach - someone street level that Harry and Bobby could build up, someone they could trust...that would rise in the ranks and get close to Estrada. Harry and Bobby pursued a smalltime dealer named Joe Driscoll, busting him for possession and carrying a firearm...while also taking his girlfriend Laura Moser in for questioning. They attempted to leverage the charges against him so he'd work for them but his refusal, ontop of being a junkie himself, resulted in Harry choosing Laura instead...whom he got close to after connecting with her over her kids. Harry reports these efforts to Spencer, who approves of using Laura for this purpose but that if anything goes wrong that it's on him...and Harry acknowledges it, leaving to pursue Estrada.
After 10 months in the case Laura moved up in the ranks and got close with Harry, eventually developing a romantic relationship. As the case was on the cusp of being concluded, Laura and her boys are kidnapped by Santos Jimenez and brought to a shipping container where Hector Estrada orders everyone there to be killed with a chainsaw. Harry sits down with Spencer, telling him that they swung by Laura's place and it was a disaster - Laura and her boys had been kidnapped, which he can feel in every fiber of his being. Spencer questions him, saying that he wants him to jeopardize the Estrada case on a feeling. Harry admits that the case is compromised...which paints a look of anger on Spencer's face as he asks "what the Fuck are you talking about?" - he then tells him that he had an affair with Laura. Spencer sits back, rolling his eyes before he stands and closes the office door for them to talk over this - Harry saying that one of Estrada's henchman probably saw them together. Spencer, appearing concerned about his friend, asks if Doris knew...to which Harry says that didn't matter that he knows what the Cartel will do to an informant - that she has two sons. Spencer goes to his window and looks out, asking if he has any idea where they are and Harry tells him the Port Miami Docks where Estrada does all of his business. He wants to lead the charge but Spencer tells him he's allowed to join the search - as a uni, effectively demoting Harry in this moment for blowing the case and asks Harry for his shield which he gives over realizing what all of this cost him.
Spencer can later be seen standing on a scissor lift addressing officers and detectives at the Shipping Yard. "We are looking for a mother and two boys, age seven and three. They could be in any shipping container on the premises, but we cannot open any without probable cause. So any proof of life in a shipping container is enough to crack open the lock, so if there is a whimper, a scream, a K-9 indicating a scent, that's good enough. You understand me?" - everyone agrees with him and he organizes the large amount of police officers to check every single container in the area. The search goes on for three days...until finally a female officer catches the sound of something inside of a green container calling out to Harry. He rushes over, taking a stethoscope to check the the door - where he can hear Brian singing the three little pigs to his younger brother. When they open the door blood spills out, completely filling the ground outside the container...and inside are the corpses of four people including Laura Moser...with her two boys sitting in a corner traumatized from the event.
In 1980 Aaron married Becca Spencer and Aaron's focus on his work for the Miami Metro Police Department caused a rift in their marriage - as he had chosen them as "his family" over her. With a rift growing in the relationship, this is where she started seeing a man named Nelson. Unbeknownst to Aaron, Nelson fathered her child who would be born Nicky Spencer and Aaron raised him under the belief that he was his child. Aaron was close with Nicky for some time until his devotion to his job created strain in their relationship especially following his promotion to Captain. He used to take his son to the Arcade every weekend up until this promotion and spent a lot of time with Judge Powell's family with their kids playing Little League together. All the while she continued seeing Nelson and this led to their divorce that was finalized in 1991, which furthered the rift between Aaron and Becca leading to constant fighting that Nicky had to cope with by spending time playing his video games.
At some point, likely during the divorce proceedings, Spencer was made aware that Nicky was in fact not his biological child. When Spencer realized this fact something inside of him snapped - what could be referred to as a good man being changed by one traumatic event. He then began planning a plot to hurt his ex-wife and ultimately murder everyone in that household.
Summary[]
Under the guise of Captain Aaron Spencer he runs a tight ship with his homicide detectives at what he calls "The Ranch" (a nickname for the Homicide Department), demanding answers from his men when hunting down killers but reserves himself to allow his forensic team led by Tanya Martin to do their jobs efficiently. He appears to have deep respect for Harry Morgan, who served under him when he was a Lieutenant in Vice pursuing the Estrada Organization and to this day holds belief that the Cartel seeks payback for their efforts putting them away.
Aaron, like the rest of his department, enjoys cutting back and bantering with his colleagues though he can jump into a serious focus when the time calls for it. Despite his efforts Miami Metro Homicide's solve rate by May of 1991 is only 18%...which suggests that despite his efforts for speedy arrests on limited evidence more often than not criminals go free. Despite his aggressive push towards the murders of children and families he does not possess the same gusto in regard to what he refers to as "N.H.Is" - No Human Involved. While his men are still sent to these crime scenes they are often left unsolved, which likely adds to the large 82% unsolved rate. The reasoning for this as suggested by Harry is that Homicide directs their resources towards cases they can actually solve but the newly appointed Detective Maria LaGuerta feels that there is a racial element to it - as cases involving white victims are treated with priority over those within the Latino community.
LaGuerta joins the department on the Commissioner's directive, in an effort to "clean it up" and Spencer looks at her with complete disdain viewing her as a "climber" in the ranks who is only using the department's failings to pave her way to the top. He assigns her to the bottom of the Homicide list, where the N.H.Is he referred to (consisting of drug addicts, prostitutes and the homeless) sit while he has his best men focus on high priority cases such as the Jimmy Powell case and eventually the disappearance of his own son Nicky Spencer. His demeanor begins to unravel and he becomes more emotional as the days go on with his son missing resulting in aggressive outbursts in both the department and at crime scenes while butting heads with superiors and the likes of his ex-wife's new boyfriend.
When he is operating as the Masked Kidnapper, he shows a cold callousness towards the victims he's abducted. First it was Jimmy Powell, a young boy who he knew via his father Judge Powell, whom he abducted on his way to school. He held the boy captive for four days, feeding him meals and leaving him isolated in the dark. He provides the boy a lantern as a mercy, though on the fourth day he chose to cut off one of his pinky fingers to send to his father's house. After receiving the finger, Aaron went on to stage a hunt for the kidnapper while pushing forth the idea that the cartels were involved - repeating the theory at every chance he got and keeping it fresh in the minds of his detectives. When it reached the eleventh night he killed Jimmy with an ice pick and strung his body under a overpass bridge. Repeating his theories, he would eventually target his own son after knocking out his ex-wife. As before he provided Nicky his meals each day while playing the worried father on the outside, convincing everyone that he's concerned for his son's safety. Despite this on the fourth day Spencer intended to cut off his son's finger as he did Jimmy...only Nicky had prepared himself, ready to defend with a fashioned shiv. After a struggle he was cut and wrestles his son to the ground preparing to cut off his finger but...he hesitates at first...before following through on the second press of the shears.
Little did he realize that his best friend Harry was training up a serial killer of his own to deal with people just like himself. Dexter Morgan's need to kill is ignited from the first moment Jimmy Powell's finger showed up. He tried to avoid the kidnapping situation because it was too high profile and too many eyes would be on it, so he worked on perfecting his craft by targeting at least three others (one killed incidentally during a chase). All the while when the corpse of Jimmy Powell showed up it deeply impacted Dexter and gave this hunt purpose. When Nicky goes missing and his finger follows, Dexter finally decides it's time to act as he fully targets the killer, ultimately arriving at the discovery that Aaron Spencer was the kidnapper. Dexter would track and capture Spencer, briefly letting him go so that he could find out where Nicky was to save him. Realizing that his motivations were so powerfully driven by revenge against his ex-wife, he followed Spencer after Nicky was safe and stopped him from killing his ex-wfe and her fiance.
Dexter: Original Sin[]
Captain Aaron Spencer arrives on a scene where a family was murdered following a home invasion. As he heads into the house he looks around, noticing the corpses of two parents and their daughter laid out on the ground. He greets Sergeant Harry Morgan asking "What the fuck? Who the fuck?" when looking around at the bodies. Before he can proceed into the crime scene he is stopped by CSI Chief Tanya Martin who states that until her team is finished with their sweep everyone, even Spencer himself, are guests at the scene and need to "booty up". Spencer obliges, putting on the equipment before asking for a rundown of what his detectives know. Detectives Bobby Watt and Angel Batista each give him a description of the killer along with Harry's own testimony, which frustrates Spencer as it doesn't provide him any answers and asks what they do know. Harry notices that the TV was off, despite the fact that this family appeared to have been sitting down enjoying their dinner prior to the break in. After verifying it was off before anyone arrived he investigates the remote, tellling Vince Masuka to check it for prints and goes over to turn on the TV, which starts playing the Happy Days intro.
Following this crime scene Spencer is giving a briefing, expressing anger over the fact that three families across three counties have wound up dead in connection to these home invasions. He declares that he will not allow someone else to be killed and pushes his detectives to find the killer with urgency. Tanya arrives with some good news, which relieves some of the tension though Spencer remaolic School]]] visibly agitated as she reads off the first three hits on the print Harry found. The fourth however gives them a suspect - Levi Reed, which Harry looks to Spencer and says they need to act now - bust him immediately which Spencer concurs and he mobilizes SWAT for a raid. Spencer's present while Harry and Bobby move in with the SWAT team to check Levi's house, ultimately arresting him with little resistance. He asks for his shoes to which Harry responds that he killed two kids - "fuck you" and Spencer chimes in saying "Yeah fuck your shoes. Get him out of my face" and they march Reed out of his house.
The next morning Harry suffers a heart attack and ends up in the Angel of Mercy Hospital where his condition worsens under the "care" of Nurse Mary. After tracking and killing her, Dexter dumps her body off in the Everglades (where it is consumed by alligators) and he returns home where several cop cars are situated around his house. Unsure what to expect, he heads up to his front door where Batista is standing there waiting and asks who Dexter is, getting the response that he lives there. Spencer and Bobby walk up with food dishes (Spencer brings what appears to be Chocolate Chip Muffins and Bobby half-pepperoni Pizzas), expressing their support for Harry and his family in their time of need before being allowed into the home to drop off the food.
After Dexter's graduation he arrives at Miami Metro with his father, where detectives like Batista and Watt greet them both following Harry's recovery. Spencer is among his detectives welcoming back Harry with a hug, before approaching Dexter anticipating another Morgan within his building and even compliments him on his haircut.
Around 7am on a Thursday morning Jimmy Powell was seen walking to Saint Theresa Catholic School when he is eventually kidnapped by Spencer wearing a black mask with no features on it. He takes the child to an unknown location, similar to a ship and chains him next to a bed while closing a metal door shut behind him. Afterwards he changes into his suit for work and heads into the office as the Captain ready to greet his best friend upon his return to work.
While Dexter settles into his new job in the Miami Metro Forensics department, Harry can be seen at his desk surrounded by his peers including Captain Spencer who asks how his kids have been treating him while he was in the hospital. After some back and forth banter regarding the heart attack Harry pulls out a sucker which Spencer takes note of and teases him over the fact stating that if he's still hungry after that there's a pudding cup in the fridge he can have after his nap. Harry retorts that since he had to give up smoking on doctor's orders he needed to find something else, which they all acknowledge as the reason for pulling out the candy. Batista then changes the subject to a serious case involving the disappearance of Jimmy Powell, who had gone missing that morning. Bobby feels like it's a kidnapping while Spencer interjects claiming it may be the cartel as Judge Powell had "put a lot of those bastards away. Could be payback".
Officer Clark Sanders calls out to Spencer and tells him there's a call for him, which he takes in his office. Dexter approaches the group as he leaves, being welcomed in by Bobby until Spencer returns with news of a drug related homicide which he brushes off as probably an "N.H.I". He assigns Watt, Batista and Morgan to the case, noticing Dexter and reiterating that he meant "Detective Morgan"...then decides that Dexter should go along as well before they all ship out. After Spencer returns to his office Dexter asks Batista what an N.H.I means and he's informed that it refers to "No Human Involved", a classification for low priority cases involving prostitutes, drug addicts and the homeless.
Later at the scene Spencer along with his officers, detectives and the forensic team are seen canvasing the area surrounding the body of Raul Martinez. With crime scene tape holding back a crowd of local onlookers Spencer can be seen chatting with Harry as Dexter arrives on scene, enamored by his first crime scene. Tanya Martin arrives, who assigns him the duty of fetching several coffees for those at the scene until Spencer interjects that Harry's "ticker" probably can't handle the caffeine so he tells him to get Harry a juice box to go along with his lollipop. He also adds that he wants a banana bread slice with chocolate chips in it, to which Harry gives him a look and he asks "What? I like sweet things. I'm a sweet guy" before Harry adds that's not what he heard from his ex-wife and they laugh it off. Dexter later returns with everything, including the banana bread slice with chocolate chips, then begins looking over the body. As Tanya goes over how she likes crime scenes handled Dexter is able to accurately deduce how the crime scene went down where the killer approached the killer from behind and shot him as he turned around - which resulted in a blood spatter pattern that left a void where the killer was standing. Dexter, intoxicated by the crime scene, began an enthusiastic demonstration of the events...which Tanya felt needed an audience. First she brought Batista over, where Dexter played it out again...and then he called over Spencer and Bobby who he gave the demonstration for one more time. Bobby then joked that they would never have figured that out if not for the obvious muzzle flash on the skin of the victim showing it was point blank...and they all laughed while Harry told them to settle down, taking Dexter aside to explain that they crack jokes to make seeing this stuff every day easier on everyone and not to take it too personally. Dexter says it doesn't bother him and Harry tells him he should do what he's always been taught - to blend in. He later attends his first crime scene lunch, where he has an awkward moment trying to connect with them.
Meanwhile Spencer returns to the location he stored Jimmy, who is now looking around trying to figure out what kind of room he's in. Spencer shows up at a slot in the door, wearing a mask that appears white in the lighting. He hands him first a lantern to light the dark room he's found himself in and then a SunnysmilesHam and Cheese meal, which Jimmy takes but begs to understand what's going on. Spencer then leaves again without a word.
Two days later, seeking to improve over an awkward first crime scene lunch, Dexter continues his efforts in trying to blend in - by bringing in a veggie tray as he gets off the elevator. The first person he runs into is Captain Spencer, who takes one look at the tray and cracks a smile telling him that's great kid before walking off. Later that day he attends a court hearing with Harry for Levi Reed, whom they had arrested earlier in a bust. Levi pleads "not guilty" and Spencer remarks to Harry if Levi isn't guilty then Spencer himself is Burt Reynolds. Confident that it's an open and shut case, he bids Harry farewell saying he'll see him back at "the ranch" (nickname for the Homicide department).
Later that night Spencer returns to Jimmy who is seen rocking back and forth as he looks into the lantern. Beside him are three boxes of Sunnysmiles that he had eaten over the past few days and Spencer opens the slot holding a fourth, which Jimmy shuffles over to grab. As he places his hand on the box Spencer yanks the arm through and uses a pair of spring-loaded pruning shears to cut off Jimmy's right pinky finger which causes the boy to shriek in pain.
Following this into the next day Dexter tries yet again to blend in but this time with success - carrying his signature box of Sadie's Donuts into the department. Spencer approaches Dexter from behind, patting a file on his shoulder as he tells him "That's what I'm talking about! You're officially my favorite Morgan" as he takes one of the donuts for himself and heads to his office.
Unfortunately the day takes a dark turn when later on Spencer presents a finger in a box, that he sent to Judge Powell's home earlier in the morning. He states that Jimmy has been missing for over 72 hours at this point and he makes it clear that this doesn't mean they have a homicide on their hands but needs their best people on it regardless. First he wants the finger I.D'd, which Tanya takes a fingerprint and matches it to a print from one of Jimmy's toys...which causes Spencer to fall back with a feigned look of anger while he rips off his gloves and Dexter looks on, declaring via monologue that he wanted to kill the person responsible.
Spencer holds a press conference on the steps of the Dade County Courthouse, standing beside Judge Powell and his wife as well as a photograph of their missing son Jimmy. He refers to this heinous act, the abduction and mutilation of a defenseless child as not only an assault on this family but an attack on the entire city of Miami. As he details his last known whereabouts Dexter can be seen watching this news conference along with the rest of the department on a TV set, seething over the need to kill whoever did this. Spencer can be heard talking about his investigators canvasing the neighborhoods looking for witnesses and if any one has seen anything to call their tip hotline. A reporter asks if there has been any demands from whoever did this, though Spencer states there has been no messages at all and Dexter monologues that the finger was the message. She follows up saying that Judge Powell has a history of coming down on the cartels, if this could be retaliation. Spencer responds by saying that they're looking at everything...saying that this act is incomprehensible to all of us, no one feels Jimmy's loss more deeply than his family. He wants to assure the Miami community that they're doing everything they can to solve this case and bring the perpetrator to justice. He looks directly into the camera now stating the following "To the individual responsible, I will not stop until Jimmy has been safely returned to his family. If you do not release him, you will pay the ultimate price."
Later that day a woman walks off the elevator in high heels, making her way into the Homicide department which catches the interest of detectives in the area. She first meets Dexter, who responds that he works in Forensics but Batista rolls up to introduce himself trying to flirt with her. She introduces herself as Detective Maria LaGuerta and informs Batista that she doesn't fraternize with colleagues. Spencer arrives via elevator, carrying with him a newspaper as he calls out to everyone saying how they seem to have met the woman of the hour. He flashes the newspaper and says that normally he would give a few words of introduction himself but he'd rather introduce her by her own words in the paper and he quotes from the Miami Herald: "Miami Metro has let a number of homicide cases slip through the cracks. Mainly drug users, sex workers and the homeless. They're known internally as N.H.I.s - 'no human involved'. Needless to say, there needs to be a recknoning. No one life has more value than the next". Spencer begins to laugh, saying that the Commissioner has sent her here to "clean things up"...then begins to mock her as he asks if she left her little crusader cape in the car. She retorts that she doesn't back down from the difficult questions, which Spencer responds that it's funny because before yesterday...no one was asking those questions. She says "my point exactly" and he dismisses everyone to get back to work, before going over to her at her new desk referring to her by her first name with an assignment - a pile of cold cases that need transcribing for the new electronic database sits in the corner. As he walks off she reminds him that it's "Detective, Captain"...which causes Spencer's face to twist into a scowl as he walks into his office. Dexter then asks Batista what his deal is...to which Batista admits that she "took it outside the family. Us cops, we look out for our own".
Spencer sits down on a couch in his office, holding his forehead as Harry knocks on the door and enters. He tells him he saw the press conference this morning, that a pretty sick bastard could do this to a kid. Spencer calls him a "fucking ballsy fucker" for it, a judge's kid? Even talks about how he and his ex-wife Becca go back with the Powells where their sons played Little League together. As he reminisces over this he remembers that Harry has a trial date for the Levi Reed case, asking if his girlfriend Brandi Silvera gave him anything with her supposed alibi. Harry brushed it off saying she was so high she didn't even know what day of the week it was, which Spencer responds that it's gonna be a slam dunk and asks Harry to close the door so he could talk to her about the new detective Maria. He doesn't trust her, that she's a climber who wanted a spot on Homicide and smeared them in the press forcing Spencer to hire her. If she slips up Harry agrees he'll come directly to him.
On the eleventh night since he first kidnapped Jimmy, Spencer creeps into the boy's room while he's sleeping and undoes the shackle keeping him in place. He then leaves, going around the corner somewhere within the metal building while the door stays cracked open. Sometime later the boy can be seen waking up with his right hand bloodied from the removal of one finger. He stands up, slowly moving towards the door which he opens and he starts to walk down a corridor to his right. He turns a corner and walks off screen...where Spencer attacks him and kills him with an ice pick in the back of his skull, the boy's screams heard throughout the empty building.
Early one morning two roller-bladers are making their way down a sidewalk when they look up and discover a horrifying a sight - the body of Jimmy Powell hung from one of the bridges in Miami. Once the cops are called a media circus surrounds the scene, with the press trying to push behind the yellow tape and talk to anyone willing to tell them what's going on. Spencer and his detectives canvas the scene trying to keep it under control with Bobby trying to direct a van to hold back the press, while LaGuerta attempts to talk to the press. Spencer pulls her away, saying they can answer no more questions at this time while warning her to "stay away from the fucking press" as they move into position for the body to be taken down from the bridge. As the body is laid down and Spencer recognizes that it's Powell, he tells Batista that the van won't be enough to keep this scene private he wants a tent around this boy's body which Batista says he's on it.
As he kneels down he asks what they're dealing with, bringing up the Cartels once again while Harry says they're not ruling anything out. LaGuerta looks to Spencer and says she wants to take point on this, in which he immediately shuts her down saying that she will be handling the body that was found at Coconut Grove this morning in Alice Wainwright Park. LaGuerta grimaces, referring to it as "prostitute park?" while Spencer repeats her words from the other day - "No one life is more valuable than the next, right?" and says to have Officer Sanders meet her there. He then has Harry and Bobby take point on this, with Harry focused on a locked up Dexter who has been unable to handle seeing the sight of a dead body. After he asks Harry again, he says that they'll catch whoever did this and Spencer states "Damn right, now let's get to work".
The next day back at Miami Metro Homicide Tanya Martin's team compiled evidence from the crime scene and she gives a rundown of Jimmy Powell's killing, saying that appears professional. Cause of death was an ice pick to the back of the head which Spencer says fits with the Cartel theory as he looks around at his detectives. Harry asks why hang him from the overpass then, why the big display to which Bobby questions maybe it was a warning but Harry says he spoke to the Miami Metro Narcotics department who said they're just as baffled as they are since there hasn't been a lot of drug activity lately. Tanya adds that they know he was killed eight to ten hours before his body was strung up, with Batista stating he must have been killed elsewhere and Spencer asks where, if they have any leads. She says that they can't determine a location yet but did find that the only thing in the boys stomach were ham and cheese Sunnysmiles, fed the same thing every day since the kidnapping. Bobby notes that every grocery store in Miami sells those things and Spencer asks if there's anything else they've been able to determine about the boy's severed finger from a few days prior. Tanya says no though the nub where the finger used to be was cauterized using a car cigarette lighter - causing Spencer to state "Fucking monsters". Harry follows up saying that they kidnap a child, offer no ransom, no demands and Spencer continues saying leave his finger in a box and place it in front of his parent's house while Harry brings up hanging the body from a bridge and ponders the question what does this killer want?
As Spencer says they've got to find something soon with a terrified public out there and he has to tell his parents something Becca Spencer arrives with their son Nicky outside the briefing room. Aaron turns around surprised, asking what they're doing there asking if everything's okay. She says yes but that she needs to speak with him, which he says they'll go to his office though Nicky is told to wait outside in the hall and Aaron hugs his son before going in to speak with his ex-wife. Frustrated with the fact that she's here he asks what's going on and she says that she has her step aerobics class to teach with Aaron needing to take Nicky to soccer. This evolves into an argument where she says he'd be thrilled to have his Dad show at least once to one of his games this season and Aaron says has she even seen the news, that he's a little busy. She questions if he's too busy for his own son and he tells her "that's not fair", while she brings up Nelson who has been to see every one of his games. This sets Aaron off, warning her not to say "that prick's name to me". She claims that he's her fiancé and Aaron quickly snaps that he's a homewrecker, telling her to take a step back and realize that he was faithful to her while she is the one who ruined everything. She gets angry and tells him to take some "fucking responsibility for once in your life, Aaron" while pointing out to the Homicide department saying "This is your family, you made that choice a long time ago".
While the fighting continues Dexter can be seen standing outside and Nicky tells him they'll be in there awhile, with Dexter walking over and sitting down next to Aaron's kid. As they talk he learns that the Sega Game Gear he's playing was special ordered from Japan by his Dad and says that he's gotten pretty good at Sonic the Hedgehog since he plays it every time they fight (which is often). He tells him that he can find Nicky's name under "NAS" at the Arcade for the game Dragon Ninjas, saying his Dad used to take him there every weekend before he got promoted to Captain. He then offers him a Twix, despite Nicky saying he's not allowed to have Candy Dexter says he can keep a secret if Nicky can.
The trial date for Levi Reed finally approaches and Harry practices his testimony with District Attorney Elaine Zhu who questions him about his investigation at the Shapiro Family Home, noting an anomaly Harry stated he found. She holds up a photo of the remote control, which Harry responds clearly that's where Levi left a partial finger print. She tells him he's doing great so far but Spencer interjects, saying not to go easy on him - the defense attorneys "sure as fuck won't". He looks to Tanya who's sitting in on the practice run, saying that she's had a run in with him before and she agrees - Alan Barnes cross examined her for a nightclub murder to which she wanted to punch him in "his smug-ass face". Bobby chuckles, to which she says there was a bailiff there - though Bobby says she could have taken him and Tanya admits confidently she could have in her sleep. The practice run continues and after Harry gives the correct answers, he directs Tanya as the next one up.
The next day Harry is seen in court at the Dade County Courthouse giving his testimony as practiced the day before with Spencer, Bobby and Batista sitting in to observe. Barnes retorts that those were only partial prints and Harry agrees, with Barnes continuing to question their justification for a warrant without even securing a full fingerprint. Zhu objects that he's leading the witness and Judge Francisco Torres sustains the objection telling Barnes to rephrase his question. Barnes asks that without a full match, what made him decide to pursue a warrant for Mr. Reed's arrest. Harry says that they considered other physical evidence from the scene as well as his past criminal record, to which Barnes looks to the jury as he says "oh, so you profiled him?". Harry follows up by saying they made a calculated decision to pursue a warrant based on the evidence from the scene so they moved quickly to arrest him at risk that he might kill again. Barnes asks the court's permission to turn this over to his associate Carol Shears and takes his seat next Reed.
Shears stands up and turns on a projector, showing the Shapiro Family Home and asks if Harry recognizes the house to which he responds that he'll never forget it having found the Shapiro family murdered in that house. She asks if he saw Mr. Reed at the house, to which he says he did not but follows up saying that he's sure Mr. Reed was at this house the night of the incident. Harry repeats what he told Barnes that evidence at the scene points to Mr. Reed being there, though she looks at him perplexed as she says "all...the evidence?" and notions towards the door. In walks Brandi Silvera from the other day, now completely cleaned up and dressed professionally as she enters the court room. Harry rejects what he's seeing, saying that at the time she came in to provide an alibi she was high out of her mind and didn't even know what day of the week it was. Spencer watches on as Shears digs into Harry's decision to reject a good-faith alibi based on his statement of her condition, with how she looks now being more than enough for Shears to push that Judge Torres dismiss the charges against Levi Reed due to Harry's suppression of evidence via her alibi. Harry starts to lose his cool, pointing to Levi and telling Torres that this man killed eight people including two children...though Torres responds that Levi is entitled to a fair trial with all evidence submitted. As a result of this bungle Torres dismisses the case against Levi Reed and he's free to go, which causes everyone in the court room to grimace over this screwup with Spencer in particular showing heavy frustration over the ruling. As Harry stands up and approaches Spencer, Aaron tells him that he should take the rest of the afternoon off until he figures out what to do next about Harry and he leaves the courtroom.
Later that night Harry can be seen drinking at a bar when Spencer walks in and asks for two scotches for the both of them. Harry assumes he's not there at their "old haunt" to reminisce about the good old days and Spencer tells him that what happened with Levi Reed that morning was a "major fuckup" with the mayor needing someone held responsible. The scotch arrives and Spencer takes a drink, as Harry pulls out his badge and lays it on the table saying he'll save him the trouble of firing him. Spencer takes the badge and tells him that he knows Harry, that he's not negligent and that he's the best detective he's got while making sure the mayor knew that as well. He hands him back his badge and tells him that he saved Harry's job...at a cost. The consequences are that he's off the Jimmy Powell case, it's too high profile at the moment and Harry admits that he himself is too high profile...a bad mix. He tells him that he'll be working at the bottom of the Homicide list with LaGuerta until this cools down and he tells him that this is where he throws him a "fucking parade for saving your ass" or at least say thank you, even happy about it. Harry says he can't, given what Levi did and how he's free now...Spencer agrees, taking another drink of the scotch as he tells him that "sometimes the bad guys...they slip through the cracks" but Harry doesn't like being the crack. He looks at him and sternly says to never let it happen again, before standing up to head out. Harry stops him, telling him thank you while holding his badge...and Aaron smiles patting him on the shoulder as he leaves the bar.
The next day Nicky can be seen playing Sonic the Hedgehog on his Sega Game Gear again at his house. His mother Becca tells him to get his shoes on and get in the car as they're going to be late, also asking that he turns the game down as it's driving her nuts. Nicky plugs in some headphones so that the sound doesn't bother his mom and he makes his way into their jeep situated in the attached garage while she loads some food into the trunk of the vehicle. She tries to talk to him but he can't hear her due to his game and she gets distracted as she places some oranges in the car, one of them falling out into the garage so she leans down. As she stands up and turns around a Aaron, draped in his dark outfit and black mask, grabs her by the shoulder and punches her in the face, which causes her to fall down unconscious in the garage. He drags her body off to the side while Nicky is focused on his game and zipties her hands, before moving around to the passenger seat where Nicky is. Aaron goes to grab him, with Nicky kicking and punching the attacker who drags him out of the car and his handheld console smashes to the ground breaking. Aaron puts his hand over Nicky's mouth and takes him out of the garage, later bringing him to the same room he had trapped Jimmy Powell in days before.
While Dexter prepares to kill his third victim Levi Reed (following his release due to his father's mistake), he can be seen trying to print out a victim list from the outdated printer they have at the office though has trouble when it jams. He has some small talk with Officer Sanders who gets a call at his desk who asks if Captain Spencer is there and he says that he is, finding out that Nicky had been kidnapped which causes his cheery demeanor to drop quickly. Spencer is seen in the briefing room going over the Powell case with Bobby standing nearby and Sanders approaches, getting Bobby's attention to inform Spencer what happened. Dexter watches on as Aaron's told about the attack on his ex-wife and his son's kidnapping, which results in him "losing his cool" and he throws a chair as Bobby comforts him.
Becca walks in accompanied by her fiancé Nelson and Aaron sees her, moving in as the two hug one another. Nelson emotionally calls out Spencer, saying that it's his fault as Spencer says "You need to back away" as he holds his ex wife. He then asks if he realized Becca was tied up and gagged in the garage for hours, to which Aaron's rage ignites and he says that "no, because you're the one living in my goddamn house!". Nelson angerly states that Aaron knew they were targeting the kids of public officials and that he went on national television to threaten them. The back and forth escalates as Aaron venomously declares that none of this would have happened had he not been fucking his wife behind his back for the last 14 years. This erupts into Nelson trying to attack him, to which Bobby and Batista split the two men up as tensions escalate, with both men being dragged away from each other.
Later on Becca can be seen sobbing over a notepad as Aaron calmly questions her about the abduction, feigning interest in the kidnapper's identity but probing for anything he might have missed in concealing himself. He asks if she's absolutely certain it was just one man. She says that he was behind her so she couldn't see and he asks if she could describe him, anything in regard to his height or what he was wearing, if he smelled like cigarettes or what race he was. Becca quickly states that he was wearing a mask...and Aaron searches for anything she might have also seen, even his shoes could mean the difference in finding Nicky alive. She breaks down, saying she should have protected him blaming herself as she pleads for Aaron to find him. He consuls her briefly, telling her that he'll give her a minute as he steps out of the office wiping away his own crocodile tears. Harry follows Aaron out to the hallway, saying that he just has to say the word he has his back and Spencer thanks him. He says he would be his right-hand man if it wasn't for the Mayor's orders. Harry asks what he's thinking on this...and Spencer questions that first Judge Powell, now himself? He even admits that Nelson may be right..."this job is a fucking hazard". Harry reassures him that the job is difficult but that they need guys like him, to help take down these bastards because if they didn't who knows what they'd get away with. Spencer says that he's "gonna find this son of a bitch and make him pay for what he's done", with Harry saying they're going to get his boy back and Spencer nods before walking back to his office.
The next day Aaron charges through the department, saying that they "need a fucking lead" as Bobby says they're working on it and Tanya says they're re-examining all forensics in case anything was missed as they make their way to the briefing room. They spend the rest of the day here as Dexter goes out that night and kills Levi Reed, preventing another child murderer from claiming anymore victims. Around this time Assistant Chief Carl Borlee can be seen addressing Spencer and his detectives in the briefing room stating that he's there to assure everyone that the full force of the Miami Metro Police Department is behind them. He asks if they're certain if the Powell case and Nicky's disappearance are connected, which angers Spencer saying that you have a Judge and a Police Captain known for being hard on cartels that have been targeted - "of course they're goddamn connected!". Borlee tells him that maybe he should take a walk, grab a coffee but he refuses saying he's not leaving the room then asks what evidence they found at the crime scene. Tanya says that they swept both the house and the garage finding absolutely nothing, that was behind this knew what they were doing. They even managed to avoid the oil spot on the garage floor. Aaron's face starts to devolve into a worried, hopeless expression as he then tells them to run the Powell timeline. Batista said that Jimmy Powell was kidnapped on Day One, his severed finger showed up on day four and on day 12...to which he pauses as Aaron glares at him, telling him that he's wasting his time - he needs leads.
Bobby says that they might have a lead, they looked into high ranking cartel members that both him and Judge Powell helped put away and turned up with a name - Rafael Campos, head of the Los Tigres Cartel doing 25 years for drug trafficking. Spencer arrested him and Powell through the book at him, Bobby says he thinks he may be pulling the strings that he has young crew on the street working for him, both extremely violent and unpredictable with Batista adding that they're looking into him hoping they find an address before Nicky...and he pauses once again. Spencer grows angry, telling him and everyone else to stop dancing around "the fucking word" and they adhere to his orders...he takes a moment as he stares at the board showing Jimmy Powell's autopsy photos. He knows what's at stake here, saying that what happened to Jimmy could happen to Nicky in the next few days if they don't find him and he punches the board with Nicky's information on it. Borlee tells him he needs to step out for a moment and follows him out in front of the elevator, telling him he's too close to this and he needs to take a breath. Spencer tells him he needs to get out of his precinct that he has work to do, to which Borlee tells him that he needs to step back. Aaron responds by saying that Carl has five kids, to which Borlee answers that's right with a puzzled look on his face. He asks him if it was him, what would he do but Borlee says he's in no position to give an answer on that...well Spencer is, he says "I'm right in the fucking thick of it" while he tells him that his son got snatched from him, that he's out there somewhere scared shitless and that's killing him. Borlee cautions him that emotions can be a distraction in an investigation, to which Spencer barks does he really think he'll do something that's going to jeopardize this case saying that he's the last person to fuck this up..."because if I do, my son dies".
Aaron storms away from Borlee into his office and slams the door, taking a seat at his desk as he recollects himself amidst his scheme. Harry walks in, bringing two mugs and heads to Spencer's cabinet for a bottle of whiskey which he pours for the both of them. After taking a seat across from him the both of them take a drink and Spencer tells him that this is all his own fault...that he didn't do enough to keep him safe. Harry tells him that it's hard being a father, impossible even...you're always going to worry about them. Want to make sure they're safe and know that nothing bad will ever happen to them. Aaron agrees, saying that he would know that more than anybody. Aaron stands up, moving over to the couch beside where Harry is sitting and Harry tells him that feeling is never gonna go away. There's always going to be some things that are out of our control. We can't protect them from everything. He reassures him that his detectives and forensic team are the best at what they do because of him, that they will get Nicky back...which causes Aaron to smile as he regains hope over finding his son.
Later that night Nicky can be seen chained in the same way Jimmy was before and his father appears at the door, dressed in his masked attire. He hands him a tray of food, to which Nicky demands he lets him out of there. Aaron closes the slot and leaves, while Nicky looks around the room with the lantern. He finds a bloody handprint on the floor, which terrifies him...and he looks up pondering what he'll do to survive.
After Dexter bids farewell to his dumping ground in the Miami Everglades and drops of the corpse of Levi Reed in a dumpster (which is later buried within a mountain of trash at a dumping site), Nicky can be seen detaching the handle from a toilet bucket and fashions it into a sharp weapon he can utilize the next time the kidnapper approaches. In order to do some damage he begins sharpening the end of the makeshift shiv, scraping it against the metal ground while examining it's quality with the lantern's light. Later on Dexter ponders over a new dumping ground, standing in a meeting where Spencer walks in asking Bobby to update everyone on their new angle for the case. Bobby says that in regard to the murder of Jimmy Powell and the kidnapping of Nicky Spencer that they're pursuing every avenue to find the Los Tigres Cartel safe house. Angel says they'll pull in all their informants and knock down doors looking for anyone willing to talk, seeing if they can cut a deal with anyone within the cartel who can give them a lead at exchange for reduced sentences for incarcerated cartel members who are willing to give up any information.
Spencer tells them that it's been four days since Nicky was taken, comparing it to the same amount of time Jimmy Powell went missing and his finger showed up. He says that every seconds counts and feigns concern over what his son is going through. Angel says they've got 24 hour surveillance on Becca's house, with Angel stating that he and Bobby will relieve Officer Franklin and Officer Musznynski whom have been watching over her taking over to insure they're there if anything happens. Spencer thanks them and redirects to a case involving Dexter's near flub at the Everglades. An arm of one of his victims, Tony Ferrer, was not eaten by the alligators initially and turned up resulting in a crime scene around the area. Dexter, who had arrived on the scene to dump Levi that night, pretended that he was called there as a Forensics tech which allows him entry. When he finds a moment alone with the arm and dispose of this crime scene as efficiently as possible - he "accidentally" loses the arm to a nearby alligator that swallows it up and recedes into the swamp, faking that it came up on shore to attack him. Spencer looks on in disbelief over what happened, remarking that "that is one hell of a way to lose evidence" before telling everyone to get back to it.
On his way out the office LaGuerta stops him with a potential case into the N.H.I. Killer, saying that they have a Serial Killer on their hands. Spencer moves the conversation into his office alongside Harry and looks over files of the three victims thus far. He's dismissive of the claim, asking if they have anything that resembles evidence such as an M.O., a pattern of killing, anything at all. LaGuerta speaks up saying to allow her to speak and Spencer obliges, taking a seat while she talks. She says that the last three NHI murders - as he calls them - have striking similarities. All victims come from high-risk populations, all loners. No robbery as a motive but Spencer interjects saying that all three victims were killed in a different manner which doesn't suggest just a single killer to him. LaGuerta adds what Dexter had told her previously at the third crime scene - that the killer's methods are escalating, experimenting and becoming more violent all to find out what he finds most pleasurable in the experience. Spencer sits back and looks at Harry, who hasn't said much and asks what he thinks. He says that he believes she's onto something and it's worth pursuing - to which Aaron stands up, looking her in the eye and hands her the folders "I look forward to being amazed". As the two leave the office Aaron's face turns into a scowl as he thinks over it and Harry outside says that he has a lot on his plate with his snide approval of her investigation but that Harry believes she can do it.
Around lunchtime he returns to the building, where Nicky can be seen waiting poised at one end of the room on the bed. Behind his back is the makeshift shiv ready to strike when the kidnapper comes after him. The slot opens and Aaron places the Sunnysmiles tray in it, shaking it to get Nicky's attention who snaps that he's "going to have to come in here and make me eat them, motherfucker!". Aaron pauses for a moment with the food tray, pulls it through the slot and closes it...which causes Nicky to relax himself a bit thinking maybe he won't come in. Aaron does open the door, standing there in the doorway for a moment before he strides in with one arm behind his back much like his son holding a pair of pruning shears. As he gets closer Nicky lunges forward, slashing Aaron's left arm shy of the wrist which causes Aaron to draw blood. As Nicky tries to follow up with another stab Aaron stops his arm dead in its tracks with both of his and removes the shiv from his hand, throwing his son back onto the bed. Nicky panics as he's pinned to the bed then flipped over, his right arm being pulled back as Aaron readies the shears to remove a finger. Nicky tells him to let him go, warning him that his dad's a cop. While he wraps the blades around a finger, he pauses for a moment out of hesitation, looking over to his son for a moment before looking back to the hand and adjusts the blades once more to fully cut off his right pinky as Nicky screams out in pain.
Later on in the day as Dexter is standing around talking with his coworkers eating Bobby and Angel can be seen entering the office, taking a long walk through Homicide with everyone's eyes on them to the Forensics department with Bobby presenting a box to Tanya Martin. Tanya calls out to Dexter and Vince Masuka to join her in her office. Spencer then arrives, having put back on his suit to act as the Captain and concerned father, rushing into the office in a false panic only to be stopped by Bobby, Angel and Harry. Tanya removes the lid from the box, revealing Nicky's finger...which they begin to examine. Dexter decides it's finally time to act, unable to understand the monster responsible for this and that he needed him on his kill table. He asks what he can do and Tanya tells him to stand by as she goes over the damage to the finger, determining it was done with pruning shears just like Jimmy Powell. Dexter removes the tray that the box sat on and brings it to the side, examining it while they look over the finger. As he traces his eyes along its structure he spots a small blood spot...which he decides to tell the others about, asking if it could be the killer's blood. He notes the location and angle of the drip, bringing the tray back over to Tanya and Masuka saying it doesn't match the blood inside. Masuka says that bloody fingers tend to be messy so it could be from the finger but Martin says that it's a long short worth exploring then orders both samples tested - congratulating Dexter for his discovery. Dexter begins to scrape off the blood sample, placing it on a slide and closes it together making his first official Blood Slide while examining it deeply - staing "I was always good at seeing thins others couldn't".
Meanwhile Aaron can be seen pacing around his office while Harry sits on his desk pouring a drink for the both of them. He tells Aaron to be patient, offering him the mug which Aaron refuses while asking how he can be patient in the "middle of this shit?". Tanya, having finished her analysis, walks in with a folder ready to present what she found from the finger. She says that they ran the print and it matches the one at record at his school, stating that it does in fact belong to his son - Aaron fakes a look of shock and grief, continuing this display as Tanya proceeds with her report. She says that the methodology also matches Jimmy Powell which confirms that the cases were connected. She starts to talk about what the perp did before pausing, holding back because she's wanting to spare him the gory details but Spencer tells her he wants to know everything. She tells him that the kidnapper used spring-loaded pruning shears based on the cut and trace amounts of WD-40 detected on the skin. She says that the good news is that based on the blood that Nicky was alive when his finger was severed. Aaron begins walking over to a chair in the corner next to a mounted saber on his wall...taking a seat as she continues to talk. He asks if there's nothing else, which Martin remisses that unfortunately no prints were on the box and no hairs or fibers to test. Spencer sighs...possibly in relief until Martin mentions that they did notice a small spatter of blood on the outside of the box which causes him to look up at her with a focused gaze. She says that it's important to understand that the probability is low but there's a chance that it could be the perp's blood (his own blood). Spencer appears to be in thought as she goes over that maybe he nicked himself in the process and will run the sample against Nicky's, giving them a blood type to compare with any suspects brought in ultimately narrowing down the leads. He remarks that it's great work Tanya but she corrects him saying it was actually Dexter who noticed the spatter...to which Aaron looks up at Harry saying "Your boy" and then he asks when they'll get the blood test results - to which she says due to it being expedited to the labs they should expect them back first thing in the morning. She leaves and Harry tells him they're doing everything they can to which Aaron responds "do more" before he heads out.
A bit later Dexter can be seen in his office going over files related to Nicky, unable to stop thinking about the child being locked up alone and scared (unknowingly connecting this to himself during a tragedy many years ago). As he gets a page from his "sort of ex-girlfriend" Sofia that clearly reads "go 2 hell", he comes to realize there was something more to Jimmy's finger from earlier. He quickly goes to the cabinet and retrieves the finger, examining it to note the hesitation cut that the kidnapper must have made prior to cutting off the finger. He then cross references it with photos from Jimmy Powell's finger, determining there was no hesitation cut. He sighs, hoping that the blood test due tomorrow morning will be the missing piece he needs and locks the finger back up in the cabinet securely.
The next morning Dexter makes his way into the office early on in the morning and is shocked to find Captain Spencer sitting there, looking over a report. He speaks up, telling him "it's a damn shame your theory didn't pan out. Same blood type". Dexter tries to tell him the statistics that at least 34% of people are A-positive - the killer could just have the same blood type as Nicky to which Spencer says that's true..."my boy's running out of time". Dexter, anxious to provide what he's found out so far, tells Spencer he found something else - he noticed a small hesitation cut on Nicky's finger but not on Jimmy Powell's. Spencer's expression hardens into a focused gaze and he asks him what he thinks that means - Dexter says he's not sure but that it could be the work of an inexperienced or nervous cartel member (lending to Spencer's constant theories surrounding the Cartel being involved). Or maybe even someone who feels some kind of connection to Nicky, which Aaron thanks him for everything he's trying to do to help Nicky. As Dexter is looking down in thought he notices something...underneath the Captain's left sleeve of his jacket and dress shirt is a bandage with a blood spot. Dexter points it out, to which Spencer deflects the observation by stating he hurt himself trying to fix an air conditioner in his "shitty apartment". He stands up, telling Dexter he hasn't been able to sleep very well lately and tells him that if he has any other theories that could help him...come to him directly and he begins to walk off.
As he moves towards his office it starts to dawn on Dexter that the blood spatter on the box not matching the blood inside the box and the small hesitation cut, the matching blood types and even his suggestion about a connection with Nicky from the kidnapper all turn his focus to watching the Captain as he enters his office - the Captain was the killer. Dexter looks down to confirm his suspicion...the blood type is an exact match. He asked himself how he had not seen this before and put his gloves on, moving to the cabinet where he pulled out the blood slide containing a sample of Spencer's blood on it - realizing that he's going to need to find a new dumping ground a lot sooner than he thought.
Sometime later Aaron can be seen checking out groceries at a supermarket...a bundle of bananas, a package of Quietryl Elixer, bread and most importantly - a couple boxes of Sunnymates Ham and Cheese Meals which the cashier remarks are quite popular asking if they're any good. Spencer hands her the money and tells her "My kid loves em'" as he smiles to himself.
At the mysterious location where Nicky's being held, a masked Spencer can be seen smashing a collection of white pills into a fine powder using the butt of a screwdriver. Then with a razor he divides up an amount and places it into a waterbottle which she shakes up thoroughly. Around this time Nicky can be seen, delirious as he sits within the cell holding the hand that had a pinky removed. The slot on the door slides open catching his attention and Aaron throws in the water bottle, followed by the food tray - likely refusing to hand it to him at this point given their earlier altercation. He closes the slot and Nicky scrambles over to the food and water, consuming them in a way to suggest he's grown to "love em". After awhile Nicky can be seen laying down, the drugs in the water knocking him out and Spencer enters the room, approaching his son slowly as he towers over his unconscious body. He kneels down and lifts him up from his Jersey, sliding it off of his body while Nicky slowly slips into consciousness. Spencer tells him to shoosh calmly, then whispers that "it's gonna be okay" to which Nicky recognizes his father's voice while Aaron gently lays the boy back down on the ground. With Jersey in hand, he stands up and takes off his mask...staring down at his unconscious child.
Back at the Morgan household, after addressing a situation involving Gio Martino and Debra, Harry says that he's in a hurry and needs to go track down a lead on the N.H.I. Serial Killer but Dexter halts him - knowing that'll sound crazy - and he tells him about Spencer. That he had kidnapped Jimmy Powell and kidnapped Nicky, to which Harry agrees that it is crazy. He tells him how he found that spot of blood on the side of the finger box and "Spencer got all up in my business" when he heard about it - even walked in on Spencer in Dexter's lab reading the blood report while also mentioning the fresh cut on his arm. Harry, in disbelief, says that he cut himself shaving this morning too - does that make Harry a killer as well? He then gets stern with Dexter, telling him that he doesn't know what it's like to be a father and lose a child - that he's known Spencer since before he was born and even went to Nicky's confirmation last year. Dexter says he knows he's hiding something, that he can feel it in his bones and Harry shuts him down - telling him that he's just projecting his darkness onto others then leaves tasking him with finding his sister Debra.
Returning to the Miami Metro Police Department, Crime Stoppers can be seen in the briefing room answering any calls in regard to the Nicky Spencer Case. Bobby walks in with Aaron telling him that they've been hitting up cartel informants but so far no sightings of Nicky. Spencer approaches the board and points at the photo of Campos, asking about his Los Tigres guys. Batista tells him that word on the street is they're out to make a name for themselves in Miami - which Spencer adds that kidnapping a police captain's son would do that. Batista hands him a file that they've been able to gather on the members so far, to which Spencer looks down at it as he flips through the pages telling his men that he wants names of every member, addresses, phone numbers. He wants to know what they're going to do before they do it. He hands the file to Batista saying that they could have his son and they are running out of time, meanwhile Bobby adds that they've set up an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip line that's being monitored around the clock. Spencer removes his jacket, telling them that someone out there must know something...until he notices Dexter walk into the building and stares at him for a moment while Dexter keeps going towards his lab. When Dexter sits down, he decides that he has to dig up info on this Gio character Debra's with in order to find her - until Camilla Figg arrives with a box full of cold case files placing them on his desk. After they exchange pleasantries including offering Dexter the chance to borrow the boat just ask. Tanya shows up and informs him that this is his reward for finding the blood spot on the outside of the box - a box full of case files that he wants Spencer to review the blood spatter on. Camilla says that he must think a lot about him and they both leave, with Dexter noting to himself that he had thought a lot about him as well - if he was so valued then why did Spencer want him working on every case except the most important one - his own son's. Back in the briefing room Spencer tells them that he's gonna go home, take a shower and then he'll be back with Bobby saying they'll call with any news with Spencer heading to the elevator. Dexter ponders what Spencer wanted him to find in those files - or not find...which prompts Dexter to begin pursuing Spencer.
As Spencer rolls out of the parking lot, Dexter in a cap can be seen in his truck tailing him from the police station. Spencer pulls up to a stop sign knowing that a left would take him to Coral Gables where his apartment was...except he turns right, which Dexter feels that maybe Harry was wrong about Spencer - pursuing him further. Eventually Spencer reaches a neighborhood street across from a building with an alleyway beside it and Dexter pulls into this alleyway as he watches Spencer park his car in front of a house. A junkie named Victor walks up to the car, which Spencer hands a yellow bag containing the jersey he removed from his son earlier as well as a wad of cash, which Dexter takes note of now with an additional target to pursue. The man gets in his own car and pulls behind Spencer at a stop light - with Spencer now intending to go left and the man needing to go right. Dexter, now behind the both of them, originally intended to tail Spencer further but decides that he needs to know what was in that bag and follows the junkie. The junkie pulls into the driveway of the Los Tigres Safehouse where he conceals the yellow bag in the back of his pants as he walks up to the door. A Cartel member answers the door, letting him inside (presumably so he can score cocaine) while Dexter watches on - noting a particular garden gnome outside. At this time he receives a page "911" which is from his father and he has to leave, finding a payphone nearby. Harry wanted to ask what he found out about Deb and Dexter told him the information he had on Gio, but then changed subjects to Spencer saying he saw him do something weird so he followed him. Harry tells him that he's forensics, not a detective...and that he's talking about a guy who has served for 30 years on the force. He says that the thing right now that Spencer and Harry have in common is that they both have children who are missing so he demands that Dexter find his sister, ending the call.
After successfully finding and returning Debra home, he receives a page telling him to be at the department. When he arrives SWAT has been organized in the parking lot and Tanya tells him that they received a tip from the crime stoppers hotline - Nicky Spencer was located at a known cartel stash-house. Vince welcomes him to his first SWAT raid and Dexter asks why Forensics is coming, which Tanya explains that they are there to process anything and everything they find immediately once the scene is clear. Spencer can be seen walking in front of Chief Borlee telling him that he won't be told to stay back, "it's my fucking son!" and everyone makes their way to the stash house with Dexter pondering that if Nicky was at a Cartel house then Spencer was innocent. When everyone arrives at the location, Dexter realizes is the same house he tailed the junkie to from before - Tanya pointing out that "the Cartel has a Garden Gnome". Dexter then realizes that he wasn't projecting his darkness as his father thought...he was witnessing it.
Spencer moves in with the SWAT team, which busts down the door and they begin moving throughout the house. They move each resident of the house into the living room while Spencer throws on an act about searching for his son, checking behind curtains and making demands while the SWAT team rounds everyone up. When five people are brought to the living room and Bobby confirms that the house is clear, Spencer asks if there's any sign of Nicky to which they obviously didn't find him. Spencer then turns around and looks at one of the Cartel members sitting near the windows, asking him where his son is. The man curses him out telling him he has no idea what he's talking about and Spencer changes his attention to the rest of the room when Bobby notices Nicky's jersey under a chair where a man named Juan is sitting. After he picks it up and calls it out, Spencer walks over to the Jersey saying that it's Nicky's with his voice cracking asking where he is. Lina on the couch yells "Fuck you!" which prompts Aaron to shift his act towards anger and he approaches her, screaming as he demands to know where his son is. He also pushes down another woman named Mari onto the couch before turning his attention to Juan who has remained seated during this raid. He pulls out his gun and places it to his forehead, with the scene quickly escalating while Borlee calls out to Spencer to stop what he's doing. With Borlee's attention off of the man at the window, he reaches for a gun stashed under a table and takes a shot at Aaron - missing him on the right side which causes Aaron to call out the gun as he opens fire killing the man in a few body shots. The rest of the members scramble, while Aaron moves into cover allowing the SWAT to deal with the situation - all four of the remaining Cartel members are killed though one of them, Juan, manages to shoot Bobby in the right side of his neck during the firefight. Batista rushes to Bobby, keeping pressure on the wound until the firefight dies down and Borlee orders SWAT to get Bobby out of there on a shield. During the conclusion of the firefight, a small smirk can be seen painted on Aaron's face as he remains in cover...though switches to a somber act as he walks into the room following the carnage.
He looks around, then to the jersey on the ground which he kneels down to pick up. Borlee asks for his gun and Spencer, as if rehearsed, surrenders it without question...while he stands up with the jersey. Tanya approaches after Borlee orders forensics into the scene and says she has to take the shirt - with Spencer portraying himself as a father about to break down in tears, even holding onto the shirt some as Tanya brings it out of his hands. She tells him that she's sorry...and Dexter watches on, having seen Bobby brought out on the shield. Forensics gets to work, gathering evidence at the scene when Dexter notices the yellow bag used to hold Nicky's shirt was left behind in the house. He realizes that Spencer planned all of this...had he followed Spencer he could have prevented this slaughter and Bobby being shot. After SWAT performs another sweep of the house confirms Nicky isn't there Aaron switches his act once more to an aggressive push for finding his son, destroying a TV and using a nearby stool to destroy a table in fury until Borlee puts him in a bear hug to "calm him down". During the display Dexter says that everyone has darkness they try to keep hidden, that he's always been adept at seeing the darkness in others - ever since a young age and Spencer may have everyone else fooled by his display but not him.
Back in his office at Miami Metro, Spencer can be seen talking with his ex-wife Becca while the Forensics team watches from their office. Tanya says she can't even imagine what he's going through, while Dexter monologues in his head that Spencer had everyone fooled but him - that for Spencer pain was pleasure and the difference between the two was razor-thin. "Spencer was my first child killer, true evil incarnate". Spencer exits the office with Becca saying that his son is still alive, he knows it while Becca demands that she finds him. Spencer looks around at the officers within the room, telling him that they can't let Bobby's sacrifice be in vein...he would want them out there "shaking the goddamn cartel tree until we find my son - our son". Dexter expresses that in that moment he too wanted to find Nicky - and that only Spencer knew where he was.
Dexter makes his way to Spencer's apartment at 2101 Chateau Lisa, where he picks the lock on Spencer's door and walks inside to bachelor pad. As he looks around he wonders if he even had the right apartment - the place was messy and filled with leftover Chinese food cartons, a pizza box and other various food items strung about. To Dexter it didn't seem like the home of a police captain but as he noticed the divorce papers, he did say it worked as a crash pad for a recently divorced husband. He then picks up a Sunnysmiles meal from the table investigating it, before moving deeper into the apartment. When he arrives at the bedroom he briefly scans over a bottle of Glenfiddich at the bedside table with his flashlight then turns his attention to a dresser - where a photo of Spencer with his bowling team Donut Squad can be seen (featuring Harry, Bobby and Batista as well as they hold a trophy for a 1989 tournament) and Dexter checks other nearby photos, coming across one with Spencer at the arcade with his son pointing at Nicky's top score in "Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja" at Pirate Arcade. Dexter remarks that "Shakespeare was right. You can smile and smile and all the while still be a villain" and he puts the photos in a bag of his, hearing the locks click from the front door. Dexter quickly turns out the light and hides in the room as Spencer walks in - with Dexter preparing a syringe of M99 to use against him. He takes a moment when he hears Spencer talking to someone else who is revealed to be Harry who drove him home, which causes Dexter to remark that sometimes he thought Harry was "a little too kind". Spencer says that he still can't believe the Cartel members opened fire on them (which he obviously intended to happen) and Harry assures him that they found Nicky's jersey, they'll find him next. Spencer says he needs a drink and says that he's got a bottle of Glenfiddich somewhere around there - which happens to be in the room Dexter's hiding in. He slips out through the attached balcony, moving down to the ground outside as Spencer notices the open door and moves outside to investigate, before heading back into his apartment while Dexter leaves down the street.
On another day Nicky can be seen staring at his lamp as he lays in his the locked room, when Spencer drops off another Sunnysmiles as well as a small jug of water. Nicky hops up and immediately calls out to him as his dad - saying that he knows it's him. As he runs up to the slot he asks what he did, pleading to be let out of there. He sticks his hand through the slot showing the hand with the missing finger, asking why he did this. Spencer takes off his mask and looks at his son - "You didn't do anything wrong. This will all be over soon" and the shuts the slot once more, with Nicky begging his father not to go. Later, with Bobby's condition still being critical after he was shot, Miami Metro holds a blood drive where every officer and staff member intended to donate. Dexter brings Debra along and she signs up, while Dexter departs to the briefing room to look over evidence. As he examine's Nicky's jersey he states that Jimmy Powell was killed by stabbing an ice pick into the back of his head and that left blood along the back of his shirt, where as Nicky's jersey only had some blood droplets on the front indicating the boy was still alive. He returns the jersey back to its bag and then finds another bag which contained the yellow plastic bag used to initially hold the jersey. Before he can look further at it Tanya enters the room and orders that he draw blood from the long line of people willing to donate for Bobby's cause - much to his reluctance.
After drawing blood from a good number of volunteers he laments that this is not the "blood drive he was hoping for"...and that getting Spencer on his table was going to have to wait. That is until Spencer himself walks in, ready to donate as well. He removes his jacket and sits on the table, asking if Dexter's done this before - Dexter tells him to not be nervous and he places his hand on Spencer's chest feeling a steady, calm heartbeat which Spencer can be seen feeling a bit uneasy. As Dexter prepares to draw his blood he does a quick, solid tight knot around Spencer's right arm and then uses some force to push the needle into his arm - all things Spencer notices while the two of them converse. As the blood slowly drips into the bag Dexter says that it must be hard, what he and his wife are going through right now. Spencer corrects him saying "ex-wife" saying that she's a wreck...he asks if anything was found at the Tigres house to help find his son. Dexter tells him the good news...that the blood on Nicky's jersey was not indicative of a fatal wound that was on the front and likely from the finger amputation, meaning the boy was still alive. Dexter monologues in his head that he was a better actor than a cop...and turns around with Spencer giving him a hard stare. Dexter turns around asking why the Cartel would target kids...and Spencer refers to them as "fucking evil animals", with Dexter agreeing on that note - people who hurt kids. He then yanks the needle from his arm, which causes Spencer to hiss as he glares at Dexter with Dexter monologuing it as "chalk that up to foreplay" and he applies a gauze to cover the bleeding. Spencer then says the he hopes he's a lot better solving the cases he assigned him than he was at drawing blood and Dexter remarks that he feels he's getting close to turning a corner on a big case..."tonight could even be the night", to which Spencer says that's good, they need good news around there and he gets up to leave passing Tanya on his way out who informs Dexter his blood drive days are over - sending him back to work in the briefing room.
As Dexter looms over the bag from earlier he monologues "Every day we leave evidence of ourselves behind, whether we like it or not. DNA, hair, dandruff...Fingerprints. Identifiers of who we are. Where we've been"...as he pulls a fingerprint from the bag. He's interrupted when Clark walks in, saying that he needs to give blood to Bobby but he can't - which prompts the discussion that he may or may not be HIV positive after one of his partners contacted him. Knowing that not giving his blood could lead to questions or stigma, he asks Dexter for a favor in this regard. Realizing this truth - Dexter agrees to help him by donating a pint of blood in his place under Clark's name on the bag. After Clark leaves Dexter prepares to head out himself when Vince Masuka shows up saying that Dexter hasn't given blood yet - to which Dexter tries to avoid it saying he has an intense fear of needles but Masuka is insistent ultimately leading Dexter to have to give yet another pint of blood (this time from his left arm since he had already given blood with his right).
Later that night Dexter has arrived at Pirate Arcade and is seen setting up the kill room within the main area, plastic sheets covering the main area of the building around the register. As he sets up the room he places a photo of both Nicky and Jimmy Powell on the ceiling, meant for Spencer when he finally catches him. He says that he's been feeling unsettled since seeing Jimmy's body hanging from that bridge but he never dreamed that it would be his blade that ended Jimmy's killer's life. "Spencer was exactly the sort of person that Harry created the Code for. Too bad Harry didn't see it that way...yet". Dexter hops off the table he set for the kill room and stumbles on the ground, due to having lost those pints of blood earlier. He starts eating some candy at the register in an effort to replenish his energy for what came next. Meanwhile Spencer arrives home to find an envelope taped to his front door addressed to "Nicky's father" and as Spencer enters his house reading it, it says "You gave me your kid's jersey to plant in that house. $5,000 cash. Or I tell the world. I am at 300 Oceania Drive". This prompts Spencer to say "fucking Victor" and he goes to grab a box hidden behind a shelf which has a cloth bag holding a revolver in it. Spencer arrives at the arcade, now dressed in a leather jacket and jeans with the gun contained inside of a yellow bag meant to represent the bribe Victor was asking for. As he approaches the arcade and walks inside, he notices the lights on every machine as well as some of the plastic asking "what the fuck..." when Dexter approaches him from behind ready to stab him with the syringe. Spencer turns around and brings his hand up to blood the syringe, with the needle piercing through it completely. A struggle follows with Dexter pinning Spencer against a set of machines until his anger causes him to push Dexter back in retaliation, only for the tables to turn back in Dexter's favor as he wants again has Spencer against the machines. He to force Spencer's hand and the syringe against Spencer's neck piercing it...taking his other hand and smashing it on the plunger to inject the M99 which causes Spencer to fall to the ground unconscious. Dexter stands there a moment before he stumbles and finds his balance again, stating "I learned a valuable lesson that night - never give two pints of blood on stalk and kill days.
Spencer awakens on the table, wrapped in plastic...as he notices the photos above his head then looks off to the side to see Dexter. Dexter can be seen playing on the arcade cabinet from the photograph, trying to beat Nicky's score but he ultimately only achieves 8th place - still putting Nicky's initials of "NAS" in respect of the boy. Spencer asks what the hell is going on and Dexter, with his signature way of pressing his finger against a victim's forehead, telling him that they both know what's going on here. Spencer asks about the pictures, why his son is up there and Dexter claps, complimenting him saying that he is one great actor - how does he do it? "How do you, who is, as you yourself said, "a fucking evil animal", give such a convincing innocent performance?". Spencer tells him that he has the wrong guy and Dexter says no...he's the right guy and tells him again about the blood on the box that held his son's finger - his first mistake. He would have passed it off as a coincidence if not for the wound on his forearm - which Dexter proceeds to squeeze causing Spencer agony...he says that Nicky must have fought back. Older than Jimmy, tougher to wrangle. He then brings up the hesitation cut on Nicky's finger, saying that even for an "evil fucking animal" was it hard for him to cut off the finger of his own son? He follows this by the most concrete proof he had - when he followed Spencer to his deal with Victor where he handed him his son's bloodied Jersey and he killed those Los Tigres members to cover it up. "Let's not forget what happened to Bobby - I like him..." to which Spencer yells that he likes Bobby as well. Dexter then grabs him by the throat and asks him how many children he's murdered over the years. Spencer says calmly "none", which causes Dexter to sigh in irritation as he tells him to drop the innocent act.
| " "I am not a serial killer. I protected this city. I spent my entire life in the pursuit of justice. I am a goddamn hero!" "I thought you were a hero. You were always one of the good guys to me." "I am one of the good guys!" "Good guys don't kill kids." "She betrayed me." "Becca?" "Betrayed my family and turned Nicky against me." "Oh, you did all this to...to hurt your ex-wife?" "Aren't you a fucking genius?" ~ Aaron's apparent confession to Dexter as to his motivation for why he did what he did" |
Dexter monologues that in that moment he realized at single incident could turn a good person into a monster (similar to how he himself was changed due to the memories he repressed from when his mother was murdered) and that it was a sobering realization - "the world became an even darker place". Spencer then tells him to let him go, he'll tell Dexter where Nicky is. If he kills him...he'll die of starvation. Dexter demands that he tells him, but Spencer holds onto that information as a bargaining chip - despite Dexter putting a knife to this throat. "There's only one way to find out!". Dexter takes a moment then slices one side of the plastic, pulling out Spencer's right hand. He places it on the table and the knife to his pinky asking if he wants to feel how Nicky and Jimmy felt - "guarantee zero hesitation marks when I do it!". Aaron yells "Fuck you!" and Dexter swiftly removes h is right pinky, causing Spencer to let out a painful scream. Dexter asks if his son screamed like that - did Jimmy Powell? Dexter, ready to kill Spencer, lifts the blade and jams it next to Spencer's head stating in his head "that moment...was the worse case of Serial Killer blue balls I ever had". He says that he's learned first hand that losing two pints of blood means you can still function but when you get to three, things get "a little iffy - mortally speaking". Spencer tells him to let him go one more time...and Dexter removes the blade, turning his back as he says no, that they'll let him sit there and think about everything he's done. Once he returns, he hopes that Spencer will be more forthcoming about Nicky. Once he leaves the room, Spencer makes use of the cut plastic to break free from the table and grabs his clothes, as well as his severed pinky and the photos placed on the ceiling that showed his son as well as Jimmy Powell. He leaves the building, jumping into his car and he races off - with Dexter already waiting in his truck for this move. As it turns out - Dexter had planned to let Spencer lead him right to where Nicky was..."Tamping down my Dark Passenger's urges was never easy, but when a child's life was at stake, it felt...right".
Spencer drives along the Miami highways, unknowingly being tailed by Dexter a few car lengths back. Dexter monologues "After being on my table, Spencer was desperate - and desperate people do desperate things" until they pass by the Miami Metro Police Department even Dexter had concern that he might be that far gone. To his surprise they kept going, only a half mile down the harbor to a port where a Derilict Cargo Ship was docked. Spencer parks his car and makes his way inside, flipping on the power switch as he descends several sets of stairs. Dexter remarked how he had been keeping him so close to the police department after having his men scour the city for the boy... "You son of a bitch". When Dexter enters, he follows the initial path Spencer took but given the spacious interior of the ship sound was carrying all over the place. He couldn't be sure exactly where Spencer was...so he made his way to a kitchen and started pounding on the pots in there to get his attention. When Spencer heard this he uttered "Motherfucker!" and a weakened Nicky starts calling out for health, struggling to get the strength to go louder as Dexter shuts off the lights. "I always felt more comfortable in the dark".
Dexter enters a large room with grating on the floor as well as a flare gun rack - his attention focused on the missing pistol. Spencer steps out and fires a flare at Dexter, which he quickly ducks to avoid (though drops his syringe in the process). Aaron yells "Fuck!" and charges at Dexter, who swings at him with a pipe in hand to keep Aaron at a distance. Dexter goes in to swipe at him and Aaron blocks it, clocking him in the face with a punch. He continues to evade and block Dexter's attacks until he manages to turn his weapon against him to choke him out with the pipe. Dexter struggles, making use of the wound on his left arm that Nicky had left on him from before, which causes Aaron to scream out loosening his grip for a second but he holds on until Dexter finds a way to flip him over onto forcing them both to the ground. The pipe gets tossed down a nearby stairwell and Spencer kicks Dexter back as he's trying to stand up which gives Aaron enough time to detach a wall mounted fire extinguisher. Aaron swings it like a baseball bat and clocks Dexter in the chest, sending him to the ground. He throws down the fire extinguisher and continues down the stairs, grabbing the pipe that had fallen down earlier. Spencer then approaches a nearby hatch and pulls it open revealing the chamber Nicky was trapped in.
Spencer looks down at the boy coldly, then moves over to start up a pumping system which shoots water through the room's many pipes. The water starts to fill the area quickly while Nicky begs for help and Spencer stairs down at him with a smirk. Dexter charges in and pleads with him
| ""No! That's your son." "Is he?" (Aaron breaks the nearby pump handle rendering it impossible to stop) "He's a kid - an innocent. He doesn't deserve any of this." "Deserve has nothing to do with this!" "Look, I get rage. Believe me, there are better ways to handle it, I promise. What kind of monster are you?"' "I'll give you a choice. You can come after me or you can save him. So the real question is...what kind of monster are you?" - Dexter and Spencer's conversation while Nicky was about to drown" |
Spencer then throws down his pipe, confident that if he chose to come after him he would be able to deal with Dexter on his own. He then runs out to go for his next objective - his wife Becca. Dexter stays behind and dives into the water, managing to save Nicky after some struggle with the locked end of the chain keeping Nicky under. After performing CPR he's able to revive him and he takes him to the deck of the ship. He whispers to him after putting a blanket around the boy that "someone'll be here soon. You're safe now, Nicky" then proceeds to fire off all the remaining flare guns into the sky from the ship's location - which alerts the nearby police station to mobile quickly. Dexter then makes his way to where he knows Spencer's going to be.
Becca Spencer can be seen watching the news where reporter Maria Gonzalez gives the report on an increase in Latin American investors in the real estate market. Nelson wanders down the stairs, saying it's late as he calls out to his soon to be wife telling her to come back to bed. He says it's the same broadcast from earlier that they're running and if there was any update the cops would give them a call. She stays resolved - saying she'll eventually be up there with him and he sighs, heading back up the stairs. After a few moments a grunt can be heard from upstairs and Becca looks behind her, watching as Nelson is knocked down the steps and sees Spencer charging down after. She immediately runs into the hallway and locks herself in the bathroom while Aaron screams out pounding on the door.
| " "I'm gonna fucking kill you! You lied to me! You told me he was my son! You lying bitch! How could you do this to me? Huh?!" (Aaron breaks a portion of the door and puts his hands against the wall, becoming emotional for a moment before souring back into rage as he bashes his head against the door) "I loved you. I loved you. How could you do this to me?!" How?!" ?"What did you do to Nicky??" "Same thing I'm gonna do to you! But I'm gonna look you in the eye when I do it! You fucking BITCH!" - Aaron and Becca as he nearly beats down the door through kicking, punching and headbutting" |
With Becca in an absolute panic, Aaron tries to break down the door with his rage. Before he can however Dexter injects him once again with a syringe of M99 - causing Spencer to slump to the floor. "Spencer running would have been logical but I knew hate had no logic". Dexter drags Aaron's body through the house, passing by a news report that talks about an unidentified woman having been found dead on the roof of the Brickell High-rise. His focus is grabbed when the victim was revealed to be cut into six pieces by a chainsaw. This intrigues Dexter, possibly giving him an idea on how to dispose of Spencer in a bit. He then loads the body into his truck and drives out into the Marina where he makes use of the "Slice of Pie" to transport Spencer, fully wrapped in plastic on the end of the boat.
| ""What a beautiful night on the water. I'd spent weeks with this intense urge to find and kill the murderer of Jimmy Powell. Some people are worth the wait." |
Dexter pulls deep beyond the Biscayne Bay into an open body of water, stopping when he's far enough and he approaches Spencer using smelling salts to wake him up. Spencer shoots awake in shock, then looks at Dexter, then chuckles to himself as he starts to smile as if accepting his fate feeling he accomplished his task of truly hurting Becca (unaware that Nicky had been saved).
| ""Oh, it's you. Again." "How does it feel to have ruined your own life? Your entire legacy. All for nothing?" "No. I taught her a lesson. She'll..(laughs)..She will never feel safe again." "Well, you did do that. But Nicky's alive. Nicky, Becca and Nelson...have a chance at happily-ever-after. But you...not so much." (Dexter pulls out a machete and shows the reflection of Spencer in the blade as it hovers above him) "Look at yourself. You get to die knowing that you failed. As a cop, as a father, a husband...a human being." "If you only knew...how your dad failed you. "No. This isn't about Harry. No, this night...is all about you." (Dexter puts his hand to Spencer's chest feeling his heart race this time as opposed to the last) "How many lives were you wiling to destroy just because you couldn't handle your own emotion?" I am the goddamn Miami Metro Homicide Captain! You are a psychotic piece of shit! "Stop it. You dont' deserve that badge. And you don't deserve to live. "Enough! Just get it over with..." - Spencer and Dexter's final conversation." |
As Dexter stands over him, taunting him with his failures as a cop...a father, a husband and even a human being...Spencer makes sure to note how Harry "failed him" which Dexter deflects to focus on Spencer - who after some back and forth finally given up his rage to accept his fate. He sighs and keeps his eyes open as he tells Dexter to "get it over with" so Dexter pulls up the drawstring on his coat, raises the blade and brings it down into Spencer's neck. The doesn't completely decapitate him, instead leaving a large gaping wound where he bleeds out in seconds dying as he looks to the stars. "Now it's over with".
Dexter proceeds to cut up the body into six pieces (the same as his mother many years before though rationalized for easier disposal), unroll various trash bags where he loads up each body part as well as rocks he had already gathered prior to the voyage. He then ties up each bag and tosses them into the water, where they drift into what would alter become the Underwater Graveyard. Dexter thanks Camilla with his new way to dispose of his bodies - saying he was a little closer to his final form and almost felt complete. He then proceeds to rinse down the boat with a pressured hose and makes his way back to land.
Aftermath[]
Following Spencer's death, the news reports that Nicky Spencer was found alive and well - claiming that his father was the kidnapper. Harry can be seen drinking when this report happens and talks with his son, saying his instincts were right about Spencer. He says that if it wasn't for himself...Spencer would have been caught and Nicky would have been rescued days ago. He says that he never should have stopped him from going after Spencer and didn't listen to him, to which Dexter responds that he didn't listen to Harry either and he realizes what that means. Dexter confirms that he took care of Spencer and Harry scoffs, taking a seat as he processes what happened. He looks up and asks about Nicky, if that was Dexter too to which he admits to saving him - that Spencer was going to drown his own son which puts Harry into shock as he likely remembers back to the death of his first son Harry Morgan, Jr. who also drowned but he was unable to save. As he continues to sort everything through his mind Harry tells Dexter that he's known Spencer forever, that he was his friend.
| ""I've known Spencer forever. He was my friend. Never in a million years could I have imagined he would be capable of killing a child. Or...torturing his own son. I saw in Spencer what I wanted to see, not who he actually was." "That person you once knew - who we all knew - he was good. Spencer wasn't born a monster. He became one. But me...I was born this way." "Yes, you were. But I couldn't be prouder of what you've become. "Thank you for believing I could be more. For showing me how to channel my urges. To control them. And for teaching me who deserves to die. I'm sorry it had to be your friend." "You did the right thing...son." ~ Harry and Dexter talking about Spencer" |
This news circulates around Miami Metro Homicide, where Harry and Batista talk over it as the look over the Jimmy and Nicky case boards. Batista says they're searching all over for him, with the police believing he's at large with only Dexter and his father knowing the truth. Harry wonders how they couldn't see it right in front of them, how Spencer was the kidnapper. Angel refers to Spencer as a "malparido" (slang word for "bastard, son of a bitch, etc.") and says he was too good of a liar. Harry then ponders why he killed Jimmy and went after Nicky, all for what? Angel adds that people clouded by anger don't make logical decisions, they make dangerous ones...Harry adding "With serious consequences". Afterwards Batista states that officially that there's counseling available to any officer who needs it though unofficially he has a bottle of Santa Theresa 1976 in his Desk and Harry says that he appreciates it - having shared so many drinks with Spencer over the years he could now share one with Batista.
Description[]
Aaron Spencer is a middle aged Caucasian male with dark hair (featuring grey sideburns), murky green eyes and a mustache. As the Captain of Miami Metro he is often seen wearing formal suits, opting for a tan overcoat in rainy conditions and during raids he gears up with a bulletproof vest. His hair is long enough to keep combed and he retains a professional appearance at all times.
When he is the kidnapper his outfit is completely dark mix of a sweater and pants similar to Dexter's standard attire later in his life complete with black shoes and gloves as well as a black mask with no features - completely concealing his identity.
His plain clothes appearance at the end of the series consists of jeans, a leather jacket and a blue button up shirt - his hair, now no longer kept in place by gel, is loose and long.
Personality[]
Aaron Spencer's hard stance against murder leads him to passionate, emotional speeches and somewhat impulsive decisions. When he arrives at a crime scene featuring two dead parents and their daughter he asks "what the fuck? and who the fuck?" in disbelief over the carnage in front of him, looking to his detectives for answers. He remains calm at the scene, even honoring Tanya Martin's directive that he "booty up" as to not disturb the crime scene for her forensics team and gives each of his detectives the opportunity to report on what they see. His satisfaction with the details, however, is not enough for him as he needs actual answers on how to stop the killer and relies on Harry to provide them if he can. Later the next day he gives a heated speech over the matter, slipping into his creativity in explaining the anger he feels over the killing spree that has left eight dead. Tanya arrives with some information and he steps back, thankful for some good news though continues to fume as Tanya goes through the potential suspects. When they land on a name, Levi Reed, Harry looks to him and says they need to make a move now - which Spencer quickly jumps into action organizing SWAT to raid his home. At the Raid, he arrives following Reed's arrest and quickly chimes in with a one liner before he's carted off.
Outside of his job though he's very friendly with his detectives, being close to both Harry and Bobby Watt. He, along with Bobby, arrive at Dexter's house following Harry's heart attack to bring food in their time of need - saying there's no need for kids to worry about filling the fridge. He shows genuine concern over Harry's health and when he makes a recovery, is among the others in welcoming him back with a hug. He also has admiration for Harry's kids, looking forward to the potential Dexter must have and even compliments him on his haircut.
Spencer has a peculiar fixation on the Cartels, ever since he assigned Harry and Bobby to work on the Estrada Case in the 70's. When Jimmy Powell is kidnapped he pushes forth his belief that this could be the Cartels seeking revenge...which may be in response to the conclusion of the Estrada Case. Additionally Judge Powell has a strong stance against the cartels and he continues to push the narrative that perhaps they are connected, which escalates even further when his own son Nicky is kidnapped as well.
Aaron faces a conflict when it comes to his work and his home life, having sacrificed time with his family once he earned a promotion to Captain in the Homicide department. Becca feels that he chose the people at his work as "his family" and this connection created a rift with his wife who would find comfort in her fiancé Nelson who she had started seeing for at least the past fourteen years (part of which was during their marriage). Prior to his promotion he did spend more time around his son Nicky as well, who now sees his future step father more than his own dad. All of this contributes to a highly emotional state that Aaron lives with daily - the aggression in his personal life constantly fighting with his wife and now problems in the office with a budding detective Maria LaGuerta result in angrier outbursts. When his son Nicky goes missing this escalates to violent reactions, throwing chairs and screaming at his superiors as he tries to track down his son. In a preview for a future event in the series he is shown to have another outburst at a crime scene where corpses are shown inside of a home, indicating that he's unable to keep his cool anymore as the pressures of his life get to him.
Traits and Ability[]
Skilled Manipulator: Spencer is able to faithfully commit to his scheme, presenting himself as a grieving father on a warpath to find his son. He had everyone within Miami Metro fooled into believing that the Cartels were responsible and completely dodged suspicion that he was actually the kidnapper. Out of everyone in Miami Metro, Dexter is the only one who caught onto him - though it's possible that he sensed that Maria LaGuerta possibly could have found him out as well had she gotten too close (a Detective he didn't know during a time he was pulling this off would cause problems).
Skilled Fighter: In an impressive feat that's generally rare with Dexter's adversaries, Spencer had the complete upper hand during their fight in the Derelict Cargo Ship. While Spencer wasn't able to hit Dexter with the flare, Spencer was generally able to avoid taking any direct hits from Dexter during their struggle even blocking and countering him. He's able to overpower Dexter on his own despite being unarmed against Dexter wielding a pipe and even puts him into a choke hold. Even after he's flipped onto his back, he's able to keep Dexter back long enough to grab a fire extinguisher smashing it into his ribs. It is also notable that Spencer put up a good fight before Dexter sedated him for the first time, managing to briefly hold Dexter back from injecting him with M99, showing good reflexes as well.
Killer Profile[]
Spencer was a child killer who captured and tortured a young boy - starving, isolating, mutilating and ultimately killing one victim. He then strung the body from a bridge, where it became a public spectacle. After attention was squarely on his narrative that this was the Cartel's doing, he kidnapped his son whom he subjected to the same torment. He intended to drown Nicky however, watching down on him as he died. He also intended to kill Becca, with a gun in hand it's possible he was going to shoot her but the rage he demonstrated when attacking the door with his bare hands suggests he would beat her to death.
Motive[]
Spencer led a life protecting his city, focusing squarely on his job as a member of the Miami Metro Police Department. He was a good man who cared for the city, unaware that his sacrifices in the marriage led to his wife's infidelity. Behind his back for over 14 years (suggested to have started somewhere in the late 70's) she started seeing a man named Nelson. Considering his marriage to Becca was in 1980 and they divorced in 1991, it's suggested that Nicky was had out of wedlock with Nelson as the father while Spencer was told he fathered the child. He did care for his son, though over time he came to realize that his wife was having an affair and their fighting escalated into a divorce early in the year of 1991. Somewhere during these proceedings Spencer was made aware that his son Nicky was not actually his child and the good man who protected the city snapped - the trauma from this realization sending him into a tailspin where he saw everything he lost. He loved Becca, she betrayed him...he loved Nicky, the child was not even his...and in the end she left him to be with the man she had been sleeping with for over 14 years. He moved out of their house into a messy apartment, buried himself in his work until eventually he broke: concocting a plan to hurt Becca while blaming the Cartels as a cover story.
During his tenure on the force he worked with Judge Powell, a hardliner against the Cartels and together the two put away many members from different organizations. In order to help sell this story that the Cartels were involved he kidnapped the child of Judge Powell, Jimmy Powell and held him in captivity for 12 days. Four days into his captivity his right pinky was removed and sent to his parents, a callsign of the Cartels (shown explicitly in the 1970's with the Estrada Organization). This allowed him to utilize the press to push out a televised message over the kidnapping of Jimmy Powell, threatening whomever was responsible to seem like he was daring "the kidnappers" to act. On the 11th night Jimmy was lured from his cell deeper into the ship where Spencer stabbed him in the back of the head with an ice pick, killing the boy. On the 12th day his body was found strung from a bridge which escalated the case, leading to a spectacle in the press. After a few days Spencer would then abduct Nicky, knocking out his wife and taking the boy with him to the ship where he had stored Jimmy prior. With the boy now in captivity he returned to the police station, pretending to focus on the Jimmy Powell kidnapping until a call would come in triggering the next stage of his plan - the act of a grieving father desperate to find his child. He sold this performance to everyone, believed by all that he was unraveling due to the disappearance of his child. On the fourth day he went to cut off Jimmy's finger but found the boy to be resilient, who fought back and injured Spencer creating a bloody gash on his left arm. He would eventually claim the finger, although via hesitation, having it sent to Becca's house while he returned to play the panicked father desperate for info about his child...until it's revealed that an external blood spatter was left on the outside of a box containing the finger, which Dexter Morgan had located. This news reveals to Spencer that Dexter may be getting close to finding something on him so he arrives early the following day for the blood report, talking to Dexter in his lab over the situation. Dexter ultimately realizes that Spencer is the kidnapper while Spencer feels the need to derail the young forensic intern - having Tanya Martin assigned to examine the blood work on several cold case files to keep him preoccupied during the duration of his plan.
In truth Spencer derailed another unknown factor in the equation - the new Detective Maria LaGuerta, who had transferred in after "smearing Miami Metro Homicide in the press" over the use of their internal term "N.H.I - No Humans Involved". Not wanting a hitch in his plan from a new up and comer, he made sure to assign her to those vary cases she talked about to the press - N.H.Is. He needed her off the big cases tied to him, such as Jimmy Powell and especially Nicky Spencer...it also benefited him that Harry had bungled an alibi earlier which set free known killer Levi Reed. Spencer speaks with the mayor and Harry's allowed to keep his badge - though he's thrown down to the bottom of the homicide list with LaGuerta. He believes that Harry, being his close friend for over 20 years, will keep an eye on the young detective for him - while he's free to put more of his plan in motion. Harry bought Spencer's acting just like everyone else and often drank with him, though he didn't realize the entire time he was a killer - which Harry would later note that he looks at someone with the expectations of who they should be rather than who they were. LaGuerta is ultimately tied up in an investigation into what she refers to as the N.H.I Serial Killer and Spencer signs off on it - which keeps the two of them busy for the duration of his plan while his other detectives are at his beck and call looking for leads on Nicky's disappearance.
Spencer had put forth that the Cartels were involved in any instance where Jimmy Powell was mentioned. Realizing how protocol worked, the case would not arrive for the Homicide department unless a body turned up so he continued to act as if he was projecting a circulating rumor that he himself created. When Jimmy's body does appear, Spencer continues to push the Cartel narrative especially in briefings over the ordeal. Given the history he, Harry and Bobby share against their pursuit of the Estrada Organization in 1973 he believes that ultimately he can steer the investigation that direction - this is further aided by a press conference where a reporter brings up the history of Jimmy's father and Captain Spencer locking up multiple cartel members over the years - questioning if this could be retaliation. With the rumor circulating throughout the press and the department, when he finally did kidnap his son he was able to shift into a more emotional state - questioning his people in regard to any leads they may have found. Ultimately Bobby brings him a target, the Los Tigres Cartel, helmed by an imprisoned Cartel boss Raphael Campos. With this information he aggressively pushes the Cartel theory to Assistant Chief Carl Borlee and his outbursts are intended to show "an unraveling character on the edge of snapping". This comes to a head when he receives intel on the Los Tigres members, utilizing this information to arrange a shootout at a Cartel stash house. He takes a jersey worn by Nicky and pays a drug addict named Victor to leave the shirt inside a cartel stash house - which is later called in anonymously as the last known location of Nicky Spencer and Aaron joins the raid, helming it along with swat as they pull five Cartel members into the living room of the house. Spencer begins questioning each of them about Nicky, until Bobby locates the jersey - resulting in Spencer switching to a meltdown as he screams at the Cartel members and puts a gun to one of their heads - a man named Juan. After another member takes a shot at Aaron during this interrogation, Spencer unloads killing the man and retreats while SWAT handles the other four in the room. During the shootout Juan clips Bobby in the right side of his neck and he goes down, being carried out by SWAT once the firefight dies. Spencer then walks into the carnage and acts like a father who has lost all hope - picking up the shirt and pretending to be overwhelmed by everything. He later breaks some objects in the house in a rage and is calmed down by Borlee...further convincing everyone that his motivation to find his son is sincere and heart breaking.
Dexter on the hand is not so convinced...and tails Spencer to the handoff with Victor, witnesses the aftermath of the shootout and discovers evidence at the scene - the yellow bag Spencer used to hold the jersey. After witnessing his darkness first hand, he's convinced that Spencer is responsible for the kidnapping and plans to capture Spencer. When Spencer is lured to Pirate Arcade to pay off Victor or he'll expose Spencer's secret...Dexter ambushes him and after a brief struggle is able to sedate him. When he finally has Spencer on his table, he denies being a child killer - that he's hurt no children and that he was a hero to this city, one of the good guys. Dexter sees through all of it as an act and gets a glimpse into his true motivation - his vendetta against Becca. Spencer, realizing that he can use Nicky's life as leverage, tries to convince Dexter to free him otherwise Nicky will die of starvation. Dexter doesn't oblige to his knowledge and instead cuts through the plastic, taking out an arm where he removes his right pinky just as he did with the two boys he's kidnapped. Dexter then leaves him, which was his own act in order to watch Spencer's next move. He broke free, grabbed his clothes and made his way out from the arcade while Dexter tails him - believing he'll be led to Nicky.
The truth was that being captured and interrogated by Dexter, as well as having one of his fingers cut off - sets Aaron into a tailspin and he plans to kill Nicky tonight. It's unclear if this was his original intention but given Dexter's presence and danger - he needs to act now to dispose of the betrayals in his life. Spencer makes his way to a ship where he has kept Nicky captive this whole time and Dexter tails him here, which results in his attempted ambush of the young serial killer hoping to take him out with a flaregun. When this fails, he wins in a physical fight where he's able to temporarily stun Dexter enough that he can make his way further into the ship where Nicky sits below a control panel. Spencer opens the door, looking down at Nicky as he pulls some levers and begins filling the room he's in with water. When Dexter arrives he gives Dexter an ultimatum - chase after him or save Nicky...and questions what kind of monster he is after Dexter pleads with him not to hurt this boy. He then makes a run for it, able to escape due to Dexter turning his focus towards Nicky. His next stop is Becca's house...where he sneaks in upstairs and knocks out Nelson, likely planning to kill him after he's finished with his ex wife. Now without much of a plan beyond finally getting his revenge - he chases her into the bathroom and beats on the door, gun in hand...ready to kill her for what she did to him. Unfortunately for him...Dexter yet again tailed him and injected him with M99 for the second time...taking his body away to the ocean.
In his final moments he reveals that despite having failed...he feels content knowing that he "taught Becca a lesson" and that she'll never feel safe again, believing that since he saw Dexter here then Nicky must have perished. This realization is crushed by Dexter however when he reveals that Nicky was alive...Becca and Nelson were alive and they all had a chance at a happy ending. Dexter turns the blade of his machete towards Spencer, reflecting like a mirror as he tells him that he's failed as a cop, failed as a father...failed at his plan. Ultimately he accepts his fate...and Dexter finishes him off.
As the Captain of Miami Metro he constantly pushed out a theory that the Cartels are involved. At each instance during the investigation he repeats this - especially after he cuts off Jimmy's finger and sends it to his parents, utilizing a press conference to call suspicion towards the Cartels while faking a warning to the kidnapper that they'll be brought to justice. After killing and displaying Jimmy's body under a bridge he repeats this once more and all throughout the disappearance of his own son Nicky. His Detectives appear to be picking up what he's wanting from them and they begin pursuing a big cartel by the name of the Los Tigres Cartel led by Rafael Campos. As he lets his Detectives build their case he keeps a close eye on all aspects of the case that could relate to him, apparently confident that he's left no trace to him.
As the days go on with Nicky in captivity, he decides to drug the boy and remove his jersey - which he then hands off to a man on the street who brings it into a Cartel safehouse. In this house the shirt's planted and later escalates into a raid that Spencer planned. Aaron puts on a show, convincing everyone that he's on a warpath to find his son...while also showing how emotional he's being, a "concerned father" doing everything he can. He pushes this narrative further, when after everyone in the house is captured alive, he paces around questioning them and jumps it even further when he "finds" the shirt he had planted there earlier. Bordering on the edge with his acting, his actions convince a nearby unguarded Cartel member to take a shot at him, missing by the side of his head. Spencer shoots the man twice and then retreats into cover, where SWAT eliminates the other four people in the house. After the carnage, he walks into the den to find the shirt...appearing to be a father who has lost all hope. He even sells it that he's responsible when asked to give up his gun...which he does with one hand movement with zero error. Tanya Martin then takes the shirt from him and he still appears distraught...all of this to continue selling this narrative.
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Modus Operandi[]
He kidnapped Jimmy Powell in broad daylight on his way to school, dragging him into an unknown location resembling the inside of an old ship. He shackled the boy to the ground, left him sitting in the dark for a day until he provided both a light and a meal of Sunnysmiles Ham and Cheese for the kid to eat. On the third night that the boy was there he tricked the boy into coming to grab the food and pulled his arm through, using a pair of spring-loaded pruning shears to cut off his right pinky. Several days later on the eleventh night since his kidnapping he unlocked the shackle on Jimmy and left the door open while he was asleep...allowing the boy to try and wander the building. This was brief as he would quickly attack and kill the boy with an ice pick, stringing the body under a overpass where it would be found by pedestrians the next day.
He repeated this kidnapping with his own son, this time abducting the child in his old home where he knocked out his ex-wife before he snatched the boy. As before he fed the kid the same type of meal and on the fourth day he intended to lure Nicky to the door to cut off his finger only for Nicky to refuse, having prepared himself with a makeshift shiv from a bucket handle. Spencer made his way into the cell, holding the shears behind his back when he was attacked and during the scuffle he threw the boy to the bed pinning him. With the shears he prepared to cut off his right pinky but hesitated for a moment due to the boy being his son...only to follow through and remove it violently. Currently the boy remains in captivity.
For five additional deaths, he manipulated the Miami Metro Police Department to aid in this effort. After arranging for someone to plant evidence in a Cartel safehouse, he would alter call it in as the last known location of his son and perform a raid alongside SWAT and Forensics. Insisting on being at the front of this, once everyone in the house was arrested, he started questioning - later demanding at gunpoint when he found the evidence (a Jersey his son had been wearing at his disappearance) where his son was. Through the heightened tension in the air a gang member took a shot at Spencer which he anticipated and shot the man dead, which led to a shootout with the remaining Cartel members. All four of them were shot dead while Bobby Watt was wounded, currently in critical condition. Through Spencer's acting, his pursuit of finding his son and blaming the Cartels for it, he arranged for the deaths of five people to further his goals. Unlike other serial killers in the series, this did not appear to have any personal meaning for him - rather that he's willing to let people die (even if they're in the Cartel) and possibly even his own Detectives. This kind of warpath to his goals makes everyone around him collateral...and if he can arrange more shootouts or a gang war with the police department - then his total death toll could climb significantly.
For his next attempted murders he tried to drown Nicky in the room he was held captive in, which had various holes with direct access to the sea water around the boat. He filled the room with the water, Nicky ultimately falling unconscious until he was saved and revived via CPR by Dexter. He later went and attacked Nelson, knocking him down the stairs where he was rendered unconscious while he chased after Becca who hid in the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Now full of rage, he planned to kill her - revolver in hand. It's possible he planned to shoot her dead at this point but he's unable to bust down the door before Dexter sedates him, removing him from the home.
Victims[]
Aaron was initially involved in just two kidnappings and a murder of a child, however he escalated to 1 additional direct kill and five indirect kills as the result of a shootout he created at a Cartel safehouse. Bobby was also wounded during the conflict, showing that collateral towards Aaron's goals is irrelevant.
- Jimmy Powell - Captured the boy and kept him captive in a dark, metallic room for 12 days. On the fourth day he mailed the right pinky finger of the boy he had cut off the night before and on the eleventh night he killed the boy with a ice pick to the back of his head, stringing up the body under a overpass bridge to be found on the twelfth day.
- Five Cartel members - Aaron met with someone and provided him a bag with a jersey concealed within. The man would later go to a house where cartel members were said to be located at and planted the shirt in the house. Later that night a call was put in (likely by Spencer himself) of a Cartel safehouse where Nicky was apparently spotted. Spencer, along with SWAT and forensics, arrived at the building with Spencer and SWAT making their way inside. Everyone was captured and brought out to the main room, where Spencer put on a show about finding his son.
- Juan - His picture is shown when Angel and Bobby provide files on the Los Tigres Cartel - suggesting this was one of their safehouses. During the raid...he was having sex with Lina when SWAT busts in. He is rounded up and brought to the living room, where another man is seated down next to him. As Spencer demands answers to where his son is, Bobby spots a shirt underneath a chair Juan was sitting on and Spencer takes it...first yelling at Lina and Mari, then he turns to Juan with venom in his voice "You!" as he stalks over to him and puts his gun to Juan's head. Juan, defiant in the face of death, looks back at Spencer poised for whatever might happen. One of the Cartel members near the window pulls out a gun, fires at Spencer and this results in a shootout. Juan quickly ducks behind a fireplace with Lina in the corner while Mari holds a position behind the nearby column. The three of them shoot at the cops, holding their cover while Juan fires at Bobby hitting him in the neck. More SWAT eventually bust in and shoot Mari dead, followed by Lina and Juan who is the last to die...falling forward on the floor next to Mari's body.
- Male Victim A - Was shown letting in a drug addict who secretly had Nicky Spencer's shirt with him. The first one seen when the raid occurs, he's rounded up into the living room where he sits near the window. As Spencer escalates things after the shirt was located, he puts a gun to Juan's head and demands he tell him where Nicky is. This victim reaches for a nearby handgun and shoots beside Spencer's head, which prompts Spencer to shoot him dead where he falls through the window.
- Male Victim B - During the raid this man busts through a door, knocking down a SWAT member as he attacks him. He is hit with the butt of a rifle in the face, breaking his nose and bloodying it. He's then rounded up and brought into the living room, where he's seated down next to Juan while looking at the blood coming from his nose yelling at the SWAT commandos. After the shootout starts, this victim picks up a nearby shotgun but is shot twice in the body resulting in a blast going off into the ceiling as he slumps back into the seat dead.
- Mari - A young woman who was in a room by herself during the raid, thrown into a panic as Spencer and a SWAT commando bust into her room. She's rounded up and sat on the couch with Lina, her emotional state stuck in a panic. When Spencer finds the shirt he goes to question the women, pushing Mari down onto the couch as he moves around to Juan and puts his gun to his head. Once the shootout starts, Mari grabs an automatic weapon and takes cover behind a column as her rage breaks out - shooting back at the SWAT. Eventually a team busts in through the window and shoots Mari dead first, followed by Lina and Juan in the corner.
- Lina - A young woman who was having sex with Juan when the raid started. She quickly throws on a button up jersey and is led out to the hallway, thrown against the wall and later onto a couch where Mari is brought next to her. When Spencer finds Nicky's shirt he demands answers to which Lina yells "Fuck you!" as Aaron storms over to her, yelling in her face and then he pushes Mari down before putting a gun to Juan's head. When the shootout breaks out, she takes a stance with Juan in the back corner with Mari behind the column taking shots at the cops.
Gallery of Victims[]
Attempted Victims[]
- Nicky Spencer - Captured his son after knocking his ex-wife out in his own home. Like with Jimmy he kept him locked up in a room and came in to cut off his right pinky like he had the previous boy, only to be attacked this time resulting in a wound on his left arm. He still cut off the boy's finger after a hesitation cut and kept him fed on a diet of one meal a day with some water ultimately keeping the boy weak and malnourished. When Dexter captures him and throws Spencer into a panic, it's possible that his plan changed - as he raised back to the ship where he held Nicky and pulled some levers which caused water to fill up in the room Nicky was in - with the intent to drown the boy. Spencer utilizes this predicament to hold Dexter at bay - chase after him or save the boy and he makes a run for it, with Dexter choosing to save Nicky's life. He pulls the boy from the water and performs CPR, ultimately reviving him. He's then left on the deck of the ship where he's found by authorities after Dexter fires several flares tipping them off.
- Bobby Watt - While indirect, Bobby is currently in critical condition after being shot in the right side of his neck.
- Dexter Morgan - Attempted to shoot Dexter with a flare gun to burn him alive, fought with him in the ship repeatedly hitting him though ultimately resorts to leaving him be to finish Nicky off.
- Becca Spencer - After "dealing with Nicky", he made his way to the house he and Becca lived in when they were married. He knocks Nelson out, who falls down the stairs unconscious as Spencer chases Becca to her bathroom where she holds the door shut with her body. Aaron is in an intense rage, bashing on the door telling her that he's going to kill her - that she lied to him and that Nicky wasn't his son. He said that he would do to her what he did to Nicky except for her he would look her in the eyes as he killed her. Before he's able to follow up on his threat, Dexter arrives and sedates him with Etorphine - dragging his body from the house.
- Nelson - Spencer knocks him out and he falls down the stairs, apparently unconscious. Given the fact that his death is not mentioned and Dexter later confirms to Spencer that the three of them can live a happy life without Aaron in it...suggests Nelson survived his injuries.
Quotes[]
- "What the fuck? And who the fuck?"
- "This is starting to look like a serial killer art project up in here. And we are the parents displaying it on our fucking fridge! I'm not a proud mama, fellas. I am one pissed-off, menopausal bitch!"
- "We have three home invasion sites in three counties. Eight dead, including two children. I will not and I cannot wait for the next one to happen. Do you understand me?!"
- "Yeah, fuck your shoes. Get him out of my face"
- "If you do not release him - you WILL pay the ultimate price."
- "Sometimes the bad guys....they slip through the cracks."
Relationship with Dexter[]
Aaron Spencer has worked with Dexter's father Harry for many years, having a great respect for his sergeant and his abilities. He, Harry and Bobby all appear to be close friends that go back quite a ways and as such he's familiar with Harry's children. When Dexter arrives to join Miami Metro's forensic department under an internship he expresses anticipation of another Morgan being in the building, hoping that he's not too much like his old man in a joking manner. When the body of Raul Martinez turns up in Little Havana he arranges for several detectives including Harry to head to the seen, before deciding to also allow Dexter along as well. At the scene, he along with the rest, give Dexter a errand to grab coffees and even a pastry for Spencer himself...banana nut bread with chocolate chips in it which kind of surprises him when Dexter actually brings it to him and he's thankful for the treat. When Dexter investigates the body and determines various pieces of evidence detailing what happened...he reports his findings to Tanya Martin who pulls in first Batista and then the Captain with Bobby to hear Dexter repeat his hypothesis twice. He feigns awe in his explanation calling him a "real blue-chipper" before Bobby chimes in with a joke and they all laugh...all in good humor. Due to the culture Spencer surrounds himself with all of his people joke and rip into one another so this was sort of the indoctrination into that "gallows humor" mindset, which Harry explains that due to the horrible stuff they see every day having a way to kick back and laugh lifts everyone's spirits. This kind of joking continues as Dexter awkwardly fumbles his way into being part of the department, such as when Dexter brings in a veggie tray and it causes Spencer to bust into a smirk as he walks off. The next time Dexter shows up he brings his signature box of donuts from Sadie's Donuts and Spencer walks up with a smile, taking a donut as he declares Dexter his "favorite Morgan".
Dexter and Spencer's interactions are limited from this point until the arrival of Nicky Spencer's finger where Dexter becomes fully involved in the case. He finds a blood spot on the outside of the box used to contain the finger and has it tested, which Tanya relays to Spencer in her report that catches his attention. From that moment on he could sense that Dexter was on his trail and the next morning he was in his office reading over the blood results. As Dexter talked, he could tell that he was getting close to figuring out Spencer's game so after some deflection he ultimately assigned Dexter a stack of cold case files to keep him busy while his plan continued. Dexter, not taking the bait, tailed Spencer instead where he met up with a man named Victor, providing him a bag with Nicky's bloody jersey in it. After a shootout occurs at a Cartel safehouse Spencer arranged to happen...Dexter's convinced of his guilt and views him as his first "Child Killer, true evil incarnate". During a blood drive Spencer heads in to give his blood but Dexter's firm, rough handling of the procedure (intentional) further tips Spencer off to Dexter's suspicions...as he constantly glares at him from behind his back. Later when Dexter arranges for him to go to the arcade to capture him (and succeeds) he puts on his act again feigning innocence despite Dexter's knowledge that he was responsible for Jimmy's death (and his own son's kidnapping). Spencer isn't forthcoming at first...claiming he is one of the good guys, a hero that has fought for this city his entire life. Ultimately however the mask finally slips...revealing his true motivation - he wants to hurt his ex-wife, for having betrayed him and turned his own son against him - though not the fact that Nicky wasn't his biological son.
Relationship with Harry[]
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Relationship with Bobby[]
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Relationship with Becca[]
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Relationship with Nicky[]
Spencer loved Nicky as his son for many years as he grew up, taking him to the Pirate Arcade every weekend and paying for a Sega Game Gear as well as an advance copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the system (which would not have been out in the states in 1991). The boy thought fondly of Aaron, though he did feel distance growing between them after his promotion which saw the weekend visits to the arcade disappear completely. The boy also witnessed the many arguments of his parents while growing up and utilized gaming as an escape, becoming quite skilled through how often he'd have to do this. It's unknown exactly when Aaron found out that Nicky was not his biological son but it's possible that it occurred anywhere from his promotion to Captain to the divorce which was finalized earlier in 1991 (possibly requiring a court ordered DNA test for parental rights). Once Aaron found out that Becca had betrayed him and the boy he had been raising for around 14 years now was not his...Aaron had a psychotic break and channeled his rage in a twisted plan to get revenge on his ex-wife.
After Jimmy Powell's corpse is found, Nicky arrives at the station with his Mom and Aaron seems to show some affection to Nicky before going into the office to fight with his ex-wife. Later when Nicky is kidnapped...Aaron's connection to Nicky, despite the fact that he wasn't his, causes him to hesitate when cutting off his finger. It's possible that killing Jimmy Powell for his goals pushed him beyond the point of no return at this point and he had to continue carrying out his plan. While he kept his son alive over the course of a week or so in captivity like Jimmy, he eventually drugged him to take his jersey to utilize in a planned firefight later in the evening. During this time Aaron gently handles Nicky as he pulls off the Jersey, whispering to him that it's gonna be okay and lightly shooshing him as he sets him down carefully after retrieving the jersey.
To the public Spencer portrayed himself as a grieving father, angry over the kidnapping of his son and directly clashed with superiors and those around him while he put on a performance that was all supposedly meant to hurt Rebecca. It's possible that he was selling it to those in the department so that anyone Becca might interact with could tell her how broken up he was over this but it also may have been fueled by how he was actually feeling going this far in his revenge plot. Perhaps he separated how he felt about what he was doing with the reality that he needed to do it, actively calling himself out over the kidnapping of his son because his rage towards his wife made him do this. Regardless...on the last time he saw his son face-to-face Nicky called out to him realizing the kidnapper was his father and he pleaded to be let go, not understanding what he did wrong. Spencer removed his mask and looked at him, saying that none of this was his fault - that it would be over soon...
After being captured by Dexter and let go so that he could lead him to Nicky, Spencer makes his way to Derelict Cargo Ship where he moves around through the ship until he has a fight with Dexter - overpowering him. When he reaches a hatch above the room Nicky's been kept in, he opens it up and turns on a nearby pump - filling the room with water as he stands above looking down at the boy. It's unknown if he always intended to kill Nicky...or if he was driven to this point due to Dexter's intervention but he made the choice regardless to try and drown him. When Dexter confronts him while Nicky screams for help below, he pleads with him that this is his son - to which Spencer remarks snidely "is he?" and he breaks the lever off the pump - which means the only way to save Nicky at that point would be to swim down and save him. Dexter continues to try and plead with him about this, that he's a kid who doesn't deserve it but Spencer says that "deserve has nothing to do with any of this". He then gives Dexter an ultimatum - save Nicky or chase after himself, before he escapes heading off to kill his ex-wife. When he arrives at her place he threatens her, in pure fury as he pounds on a door gun in hand - she asks what he did with Nicky and he said "Same thing I'm going to do to you except I'm going to look you in the eye when I do it!".
Ultimately Dexter saved Nicky and would report that his father was the one who kidnapped him, which led to Spencer becoming a wanted man. Dexter recaptures Aaron before he can kill Becca and as he's prepped to be killed, Spencer smiles feeling content that Becca will never know peace - always living in fear. Dexter tells him that he failed in that regard...Nicky's alive, which causes Spencer's smile to fade from his face...and Becca as well as Nelson are alive too. That they have a chance at a happy ending and he failed...as a father, a husband, a human being. It's unclear how much remorse he would have had in regard to killing Nicky but by the end of it he was prepared to kill all of them and blame it on the Cartels, thus keeping him in the clear.
Police Cases[]
- Estrada Case
- Home Invasion Murders (Original Sin Episode 101: And in the Beginning)
- Raul Martinez Murder (Original Sin Episode 102: Kid in a Candy Store)
- Jimmy Powell Kidnapping (Original Sin Episode 102: Kid in a Candy Store)
- Nicky Spencer Case (Original Sin Episode 106: The Joy of Killing)
Notes[]
- As with first three victims, Nurse Mary, Tony Ferrer and Levi Reed (and first victim by proxy, Anthony Moretti), Spencer is notable at being first in many categories of Dexter's kills:
- He is technically the first victim ever to have a blood slide. Although Dexter only has one at the lab and likely never interacts with it further, it is possible that this initial slide was an inspiration for later blood slide trophies.
- He is a first victim of Dexter's from the law enforcement, specifically police and Miami Metro Police Department.
- He is the first victim of Dexter's which was not Harry Morgan's call, meaning that Dexter to take action himself for the first time.
- He is the first victim that took multiple attempts to kill (See Later Successes).
- He is the first victim killed directly on Dexter's boat, which precedes exactly one known case so far, Clint McKay.
- Spencer is the first victim that Dexter cut up, packed into six hefty bags filled with rocks and dumped into the waters off the Biscayne Bay. He also utilized the "Slice of Pie", Camilla Figg's boat which may eventually be renamed to "Slice of Life", Dexter's signature boat.
- He is the first victim of Dexter's that was disposed of in the Underwater Graveyard off shore from Biscayne Bay. As such he would be the oldest corpse in the area when the graveyard is discovered by the Scuba Divers.
- Given the fact that Aaron Spencer was a former police captain, had his body been found this would have been a major point during the Bay Harbor Butcher Case. However, due to the fact that he was a new character designed for the prequel series and was not conceptualized during the development of the original show - this can be excused.
- Additionally they were only able to locate 18 victims of his already substantial number killed (though additional parts were suggested to have been found), it's unknown where a majority of his victims actually wound up. It's possible that at the time of Season 2 they did not have a solid number for how many victims Dexter had up until this point so 19 are all that were found - however none of Dexter's victims from Season 1 are mentioned among the bodies - they would have been the most fresh of his victims and likely the most complete. Perhaps Dexter had another dumping ground separate from the graveyard where these corpses wound up along with possibly Spencer's and many of Dexter's other victims.
- Aaron Spencer is a new character introduced in Original Sin that was not part of the original show, fulfilling the role of Tom Matthews as the Captain of the homicide department. Currently it's unknown where Tom Matthews is as flashbacks and conversations throughout the original series show that Harry and Tom were close but among his peers in the homicide department his closest friends appear to be Aaron and Bobby Watt (his partner, another character not part of the original show).
- Given the history Matthews had in the original show it could be that he's currently navigating the political ranks within law enforcement. During the events of the original series he is promoted to Deputy Chief and the role of Captain falls to LaGuerta. However, he is the one who promoted LaGuerta from a Homicide Detective to Lieutenant following a successful bust of a drug dealer with Sergeant James Doakes...so between the events of 1991 and 2006 Spencer has to vacate the role and Matthews claim it. It's possible that Matthews could be Spencer's Lieutenant at this time as a flashback during Season 2's episode Episode 210: There's Something About Harry has Harry refer to Tom as "Lieutenant" though he has yet to be shown in Original Sin.
- During "Crocodile" in a flashback Harry says that he and the Captain had a discussion regarding the man who killed Davey Sanchez, his old partner. He says that the judge let the perp walk as the bust wasn't "righteous"...given that this was during a time when Dexter was still a teenager and Matthews at most would have been a Lieutenant at this time, this could suggest that the captain Harry was referring to was Aaron Spencer.
- During the 1970's Spencer was a Lieutenant and likely became Captain following the Estrada Case, which would have meant that Harry was talking to Spencer about this murder. However, Davey Sanchez was not Harry's partner during the events of Original Sin and instead Bobby Watt has remained his partner since at least the 70's. Unless there is a period of time where Harry had a new partner after adopting Dexter it's possible that the Captain in those flashbacks was someone else entirely in the original continuity.
- Aaron has repeatedly referred to the Cartels as the possible perpetrators over the kidnapping of Jimmy Powell and later his own son Nicky Spencer. He is the only one vocal about this other than a reporter during a press conference where he stood beside Judge Powell, another hardliner against the Cartels and uses every instance to suggest a connection to them. It's possible that he's paranoid over his hand in putting them away, knowing what the Cartels did to Laura Moser and other people that crossed them in the past. Or he's using them as a scapegoat as nobody would question that due to his past they're an easy target to go after.
- When Jimmy's autopsy reveals that an ice pick was used as the murder weapon, he says that this connects with the "Cartel theory" though as he's the one who introduced the theory and the way he looks around at the others for reassurance during this case it does show some suspicious need to pin it on them.
- After Nicky's disappearance he paints the narrative to Assistant Chief Carl Borlee that both a judge and a police captain known for putting away key members of the Cartel indicates that both cases have to be connected. Bobby does mention a lead, bringing up one of his past arrests with the head of Los Tigres Cartel named Rafael Campos that refocuses a distraught Spencer giving him a clear target.
- At the end of 'The Big Bad Body Problem' it's revealed that he is the kidnapper responsible for the murder of Jimmy Powell and the mutilation of his own son.
- Actor Reno Wilson during a "Postmortem" for Episode 107 refers to Patrick Dempsey's portrayal of the character as "McScary", which is a play on his popular character Derek Shepherd (also known as "McDreamy") in the series Grey's Anatomy.
- Spencer's acting has convinced everyone at Miami Metro Homicide as well as the general public that he is a grieving father with a strong arm for justice. Dexter is the first one to peek beneath the mask and see Aaron's true colors.
- Spencer appears to have had no issue mutilating Jimmy Powell or killing him, even doing so with a degree of professionalism as told by Tanya Martin. This lack of care in eliminating a child could be due to a psychopathic trait that's currently unexplored or a detachment from his feelings in pursuit of his goals.
- Regardless he expresses extreme anger over the deaths of the children Levi Reed killed. It's unknown if this was an act or if he genuinely cared about these kids, though his capability of killing a child himself would indicate the former.
- Spencer has one of the lowest direct kill counts of any Main Antagonist aside from Jordan Chase. Other low-kill amount main antagonists include:
- Lila West has two confirmed kills, with several attempted kills under her belt.
- Miguel Prado has two confirmed kills and two indirect kills, as well as several attempts throughout the series.
- Spencer is the first main antagonist in the franchise, predating Brian Moser in Season One by 15 years. He is also the first main antagonist to be within law enforcement, followed by Sergeant James Doakes from Season Two. As with all main antagonists in the series, he has everyone except Dexter convinced of his innocence prior to a major reveal.
- Spencer is the first main antagonist Captain of Miami Metro Homicide, followed by Maria LaGuerta in Season Seven and potentially Angel Batista in Dexter: Resurrection.
- Spencer and LaGuerta interactions marks the first occurrence of two main antagonists knowing one another. Both would also interact with Hector Estrada in different points of his life, from his height of power to his lowest point. Ironically if it was Spencer who arrested Estrada leading to his promotion... it was LaGuerta who facilitated his release years later (in an attempt to corner Dexter).
- Due to his fight against the Cartels in the 1970's, he is the one who assigns Harry Morgan to find someone they can use on the inside. Because of this Aaron directly set Harry on a collision course into Dexter's life - it's possible had Harry never chose Laura as his informant that she would still be alive and her sons would have grown up in relative normalcy (granted still not a healthy home environment considering what both she and Joe were into). In some ways...it all begins with Aaron's fight against the cartels that got Laura killed.
- It's also possible that Joe and maybe Laura would have been arrested eventually...which would have resulted in the boys being placed in foster care. Brian in Original Sin shows some psychopathic traits but it's possible he may never turn into a killer - Dexter in particular probably would have grown up like a normal boy in the foster care system - for better or worse in that regard.
- Dexter (present day via narration) states that Spencer was his first child killer.
- This excludes Levi Reed, his third victim, who has murdered two children but as they were not the primary focus of his attacks Dexter classified him differently (despite the anger that he killed two kids).
- Mike Donovan from Season One of the original series was originally Dexter’s first known child killer, being responsible for the deaths of at least three boys in the show’s depiction of the character. Ironically this makes Aaron Spencer the first child killer of Original Sin and the first to be a main antagonist (followed by Arthur Mitchell, who murdered boys around the age his own trauma started).
- It could be that Dexter’s anger towards child killers stems from his encounter with Spencer as well as his own traumatic past as a child witnessing his mother’s death. His protective instinct towards children was also born from his encounter with Spencer, as he intends to save Nicky’s life.
- Spencer was able to fight off Dexter in their second confrontation, overpowering him and even outwitting him by giving him the ultimatum of chasing him or saving Nicky's life. This makes him one of the few antagonists to have gotten the better of Dexter in a fight, as only extremely strong antagonists were able to do so in a direct confrontation with Dexter in his later years.
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