: Ocean Bones :
Jacksonville, Florida. A large lot of unidentified skeletal remains. When the BAU is called in, Reid knows just who could help them; the recently freed Dr. Zachary Addy.
A.N/: Takes place in the Smile at Each Other's Welcome Verse. Takes place about a month after the last scene in It's a Long Way to Freedom; Zack's been staying on Reid's couch since then. Based around the events of Criminal Minds Episode 6x23, "At Sea", which I rewatched way too many times to write this. There are a couple of bits of dialogue which are directly lifted from that episode.
-x-
It was early morning when Reid got the call. Well used to it, he rolled over and picked up the phone.
"What is it, Hotch?"
"Jacksonville. A sea grave has been discovered. Multiple bodies. We take off in an hour."
"Sea grave? How many? Is there an identity on any of them?" Reid tossed the covers off his bed and prepared to get up.
"No. Everything's just bone, and we could be looking at nationwide missing persons going back at least 10 years."
Reid grabbed a pair of trousers and a shirt out of his wardrobe. "Can I bring Zack? He'd speed the entire process up."
Hotch thought on it a moment. He knew Reid was right – the entire point of the medico-legal lab before Agent Booth had arrived had been to identify remains which had been unidentified for numerous years – but there was also Zack's past, his liability, to consider. "Alright. He's your responsibility though, Reid; I don't want him out of your sight. I need you both at Quantico within the hour."
"Of course Hotch" Reid put the phone down, finished pulling on trousers and his shirt, and went to wake Zack.
-x-
That was how Zack found himself in Jacksonville, Florida, once again examining remains. The jet over had been strange, sitting with the other (admittedly reduced) members of the BAU. He'd met Hotch and Morgan before – Hotch had still pulled him aside to make it perfectly clear what his responsibilities were during this trip. David Rossi he knew by reputation. The young Agent Seaver – Spencer had explained her circumstances while they were on the metro – was wary of him, and hadn't approached him during the entire flight. He knew as well about Emily's recent departure. The terrified phone call Spencer had made from the hospital and the haggard look he'd worn ever since he returned from Boston.
The perky blonde who spoke over the connection was Zack's favourite though. And Zack was saved by Spencer who spent most of the flight going over various bits of procedure with him.
The local CSU had done a decent job separating out what remains had been recovered, but it was clear that there were more to come. Agent Hotchner had eased things over with the locals, introducing him as Dr. Addy, formerly of the Jeffersonian institute and consulting with the FBI, which smoothed over his lack of official documentation.
He and Spencer set to work quickly; trying to piece together the number of victims and whether there was any common victimology. What quickly became apparent was that there wasn't.
Reid raced around showing Hotch everything they'd found, while Zack stood quietly on the sides examining the new bones which were continuing to come in. It reminded him of the long days he used to spend in Limbo, identifying remains. At least then there was a list of missing persons to compare them to; Garcia was still trying to compile theirs, and the general consensus was that it would be long.
"We're going to get calls from the relatives of every person who has gone missing from the East Coast." Zack overheard Hotch discussing it with the team.
"If you can get the x-rays of any injuries they suffered, I can start eliminating possible victims," Zack said.
They all turned to look at him. "You can do that?" Ashley asked, nervously, looking slightly dubious at the concept.
"In some cases yes. This woman broke her arm in multiple places when she was approximately ten years old, most likely in a fall from a height. The man over here broke his wrist within three months of his death; it's only just healed over, the cast had probably just come off. There is a woman who has several micro fractures which match the common pattern of injuries for a domestic abuse victim. We can eliminate or include missing persons based on those elements. I can do it with more certainty if I can match the x-rays."
"We'll make sure to ask," Hotch replied.
Spencer smiled at Zack. He smiled back, glad to be of some use.
-x-
"Can you tell me anything specific about the first victim?"
Zack looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected Agent Hotchner to actually come and ask his opinion on much, especially given how competent Spencer was with remains. He was simply there to assist.
He gathered it together. "The body has been in the water so long it is mostly become bone fragments. I can't reconstruct the skeleton though, the work is too fine for my hands."
"Reid," Hotch called instinctively.
"Yes Hotch." He came over quickly.
"I need the first victim put back together. Three hours."
Reid looked down at the shattered fragments. "I can do it in two," he replied.
"Make it one." Hotch started to back away back to Rossi.
"Agent Hotchner," Zack called out. Hotch turned to look back at him. "Ten years in the sea would not account for this much wear. The body was badly damaged and broken when it went in. I thought you should know."
"Could it simply be the age of this victim?"
"The bones point to him being significantly older than the other victims, most likely in his late fifties, but I cannot initially see any signs that would account for this degree of damage. I will know more once the skeleton is reconstructed."
"Thanks, Zack." Hotch nodded in return, and walked off.
Spencer and Zack made a quick pair. There was no doubt in Zack's mind that Spencer is capable of doing this job on his own, but Zack guiding and overlooking certainly helped achieve the skeleton's completion quicker.
"Anything new?" Hotch asked, as he came back, having given them the requisite hour.
"He was severely beaten prior to being submerged," Zack started.
"Overkill?" Hotch asked.
"Yes. This is probably the unsub's father," Reid replied.
"There are signs of severe arthritis in the joints and the low calcium levels present in his bones indicate a high consumption of alcohol," Zack adds.
"He's an alcoholic. Most likely not a very good father."
-x-
Come evening, the remains have all been transported to the local coroners office, and the BAU has firmly made residence at the local police department. Zack sat apart from the rest of them, consulting the missing persons list and the notes he'd made earlier, looking for matches. The BAU is still trawling through likely victims; DNA testing has gone for a Doctor who they suspect is among the missing.
A pot of chinese food was placed under Zack at one point, and Spencer sat with him and his notes for the duration that it took to eat, before disappearing back to the BAU gathering.
A couple of hours later, Spencer appeared again. "We're heading back to the hotel, there's nothing more we can do tonight. How's your work going?"
"I've got a couple of likely matches for a few, and I've eliminated some others." Zack showed Spencer the list.
"Good work," Spencer said, looking down at it. Zack had achieved more than they had, that much was certain. "I'll get this to Hotch, we'll see if we can find anything more on your likely victims which might narrow it down. Garcia's stretched pretty thin though."
"I understand. You'll want DNA to confirm these anyway," Zack pointed out. "I've id-ed bodies with less before, Spencer."
Reid remembered the vast tracks of limbo, which Cam had shown him once. He'd felt utterly helpless, surveying the sheer number of bones. He was used to missing persons without bodies, not the other way round. "Of course." The other, lingering creepy thing about limbo was that it was a perfect hiding place for bodies – something Zack knew all too well. "We should get going."
Zack passed the list to Reid, closed the other files, neatly ordering them, and then got up. Reid followed him out the police station.
-x-
They woke up early the next morning, and quickly descended on the police station. The results have come back, and they have the first confirmed victim, Samantha Cormick, who went missing from Charleston.
She'd left a postcard, which the BAU poured over. Zack didn't feel quite so comfortable with this part of the investigation, he missed the lab and its confines.
Zack busied himself about thinking about the various victims, and the missing persons reports that had poured in. Word had been sent out looking for more postcards similar to the one that they currently had in their possession.
"I don't think this was written under duress," Reid says. "You said Dr. Cormick wasn't taking medication for Parkinsons right?"
Zack had her file in front of him. He knew the answer anyway. "No, she wasn't"
"Look at her handwriting."
He handed it to Rossi. Zack could see over his shoulder. There weren't any of the tell-tale signs of Parkinsons, tremors or shakes. His brain quickly caught up to where Reid is thinking. "Trillomide."
"In minute doses it treats Parkinsons, but it's more commonly used as a cure for seasickness."
Zack knew the other use of it too. As Morgan quickly explained to everyone else, it also served as a minor narcotic and brain washing chemical, making its victims completely compliant.
The team split back up again after this conversation. Morgan went to continue interviewing the friends and family of the missing, this time with a specific view to finding postcards. Hotch asked Reid to start setting up the geographical profile.
Zack watched, feeling slightly redundant now. Morgan brought back four postcards which had been sent; four more victims. Three of them matched missing persons whom Zack had indicated the day before. He also mentioned that they were calling people who had filed missing person's reports which Zack had lined up with the skeletons, and another of those had said they had received a postcard; they were faxing it over.
"Good work Zack," Hotch said, noting his success.
Zack watched as Reid tried to put together the geographical profile. He knew it was just math, but there was a layer of complexity to it which made it beautiful. Spencer was teaching Zack some of the basics, but he couldn't do it anywhere near as quickly, as easily, as elegantly as Spencer managed to do so.
Though having confirmed victims really should make their job easier, it didn't seem to have done so. There isn't a single common location between the victims, which makes the job of a geographical profile that much more difficult. And they haven't even identified most of the victims.
Which was what Zack was supposed to be working on, but he found Spencer distracting.
-x-
Zack had been left with Reid, who was busy trying to work up a linguistic profile based upon the (now) seven postcards which they have; which, really, wasn't very much to go on.
Zack liked watching Spencer work. He was in his element, scrawling over a whiteboard all his different findings. Zack turned back to his own work, and saw Rossi interviewing Morgan, just as the rest of the BAU had interviewed the victim's relatives earlier.
"Spencer?"
"Yes, Zack?" Reid was ever patient.
"Why is Agent Rossi interviewing Agent Morgan?"
Reid looked surprised that Zack had noticed that going on. He sat down next to Zack. "He has a cousin, Cindi, who went missing several years ago. Victim no. 5 fits her general description."
"And Agent Morgan thinks it's her?"
"We're considering the possibility," Reid replied. Zack nodded in response.
-x-
"My men pulled a body out the water. Agent Morgan's at the autopsy now."
Reid defaultly looked to Zack. Rossi does too. "So, how good are you with flesh and not just bones?" Rossi asked.
"I assisted Dr. Saroyan in numerous autopsies where there was still enough flesh left on the victim to require one," Zack begun, but Reid is already moving.
"You're coming Zack," Reid said. As soon as he spoke, Zack turned to follow him.
Being back in an autopsy room was weird for Zack; for a start it is nothing like the one Cam had set up at the Jeffersonian. When he and Reid enter, Morgan was already there, flipping through the report the Medical Examiner had completed.
They don gloves as they enter, moving swiftly over to where the body lay. It was covered by a sheet, and Reid drew it back as Zack begun his examination.
His focus was quickly drawn to the shallow stab marks on the man's thigh. "These stab marks are too shallow to be caused by a fully grown man using all his strength. The blade went in slowly. The angle indicates left handed dominance," Zack paused for a moment while he thought about it, "while the bones of the other victims indicate a right handed dominant unsub."
"This guy's left handed," Morgan provided.
"He caused the marks himself," Reid put it together. "That explains the hesitation. But if he was completely compliant, why did he run?"
"Defensive marks on both his arms, a knock to his head. Cause of death is drowning. There are marks around his torso."
"The unsub held him under water," Reid inferred, knowing that Zack wasn't very good at making leaps from evidence to theory. "His self-preservation instinct was completely compromised." He was still confused.
"Another instinct must have been stronger," Morgan replied.
Both Reid and Zack look confused. "Like what?"
"A protective one," Morgan answered. "This guy was mentally and physically compromised but he still went after the unsub with everything he had."
"Who would he fight that hard for?" Reid asked in return.
"His child," Morgan answered.
-x-
After that revelation, everything picked up pace. Zack really did feel redundant as the members of the BAU rushed around having finally gotten a lead they could actually follow. First came the identity of the kid, then the realisation that the victims were being taken from that trainline.
And then they had an identity to put to the unsub. And locations where they thought they would be.
So, while Hotch, Morgan and the detective went out in pursuit, Reid roped Zack into helping compile a final list of possible victims. "We need to get a list to be able to show him," Reid explained as they grabbed files and pictures.
Zack was fairly certain that the identity he put with each victim was correct, but there were four bodies whom he hadn't got a preferred candidate, and getting the unsub to identify the victims would give closure quicker than waiting on DNA and other forensic results.
He watched from the sidelines as Agent Morgan brought the suspect in and marched him straight to the interrogation room. The files he was working on were silently passed to Reid, who took them and went to give them to Morgan.
The quiet suspense was something Zack was unused too. This was Agent Booth's area, what Dr. Brennan was interested in; most definitely not for him. Reid sensed his discomfort and reassured him it would be alright.
They couldn't start clearing anything up until Morgan came out of interrogation. And when he did so, he headed straight to his Aunt.
It was complicated, Zack knew that much. He didn't understand closure, the need for it, but did understand that it was crucial. Dr. Brennan had always made that clear. Long hours spent in the halls of Limbo had made it clear to Zack.
He didn't understand why knowing what happened to her daughter matters, but knew that it would help.
-x-
The Jet back was quiet. Everyone was giving Morgan a wide berth, understanding the difficulties the case had provided for him. They'd left the couch clear for him, but he hadn't taken it, choosing to sit instead at the back of the plane.
Rossi sat with Ashley, going over some details of her training, her asking questions. She was, really, even newer to this than Zack, thrust into the BAU with Emily's death, promoted far above what she was capable of at the moment. Hotch sat alone, getting an early start on end of case paperwork.
Reid sat next to Zack, quietly, as they always did. The apartment that they share was often quiet; it was what they both preferred.
"Thank you." Zack was the first to speak, breaking with his usual way of letting Reid go first.
"For what?"
"Letting me work. You were perfectly capable of sorting through the forensics on your own, Spencer," Zack replied.
"It was much easier with you here," Reid said. "You should thank Hotch though, he agreed to let you stay."
"I will."
"You did well today." Zack smiled. That was all that was needed.