The Killer's Sister

A Derek Morgan Oneshot

"Okay, everyone, listen." Hotchner said, closing the door of his office. "We just received new information on the King's Reaper case." He gave everyone a file with information on the case.

"The killer in Queens?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, original, huh?" Morgan said. Hotchner pushed a button and pictures of the victims showed on the board.

"As we know, the unsub killed couples. The males were tortured and bled to death, while the females were tied to a tree where they – as we suspected earlier this month – were forced to watch the other die. The women also got shot in the head. So far the only connection we have between the victims is that all men were black."

"All of them were killed in the woods, right?" Morgan asked, more to himself than anyone else. Hotchner simply nodded.

"Are there any new leads on which we can build a better profile?" Reid asked while reading the file he had been given by Hotchner and then closed the file. "Any new suspects maybe?"

"We can keep the old profile. We have a new suspect and a witness who claims to have seen this suspect kill one of the victims." Hotchner replied. "His name is Raymond Carson. His sister is the one who tipped us. She called the police and told them that her brother had been acting strange ever since the murders started and that she has witnessed him kill a person yesterday. This woman also claims her brother threatened her when she spoke of one of the victims, Jenny Rapet. Apparently, they were friends." There was a silence.

"Hotch, what's the sister's name?" JJ asked. Hotchner looked at the file.

"I believe it's Heather Carson." Morgan looked up.

"Heather Carson?"

"Yes, why? Do you know her?" Hotchner asked, turning the lights back on and the images on the board faded.

"I think so. We were sorta close."

"Close? As in dating?" JJ asked, suddenly becoming more interested in Morgan than the case they had to work on.

"Former lovers often still feel some kind of connection to one another." Reid said.

"She wasn't my-" Morgan sighed. "We weren't lovers."

"Then divine 'close' for us."

"We grew up together, sort of. That's all. I never knew she had a brother though."

"Maybe she knows Morgan is with the FBI and wanted to contact him." Reid thought out loud.

"Well, if that's true," Morgan leaned back in his chair and remained silent for a couple of seconds. "Do you know where she is? Maybe she's willing to talk to me about this whole thing."

Everyone agreed to this and got up. Hotchner called Garcia to track Heather Carson down and give them her address.

"I find it strange that she isn't protected." Reid said, when Hotch hung up on Garcia.

"She was offered but refused. We are keeping an eye on her though she doesn't know this."

Once they arrived at the address Garcia had given them, Morgan was the first to get out of the car and knock on the door. For some reason he was really excited about being here. He hadn't seen Heather in years and he missed how close they were when they were still very young. He hadn't been so close to anyone, not even his team. Sure, he felt comfortable around them and he knew they would always have his back and support him. But he remembered real comfort – for as far as he could experience any, due to his troubled past – and she had always been the only one to really make him feel better.

Even though Morgan hadn't seen this girl in so long, and he had given up on ever seeing her again and stopped thinking about her, didn't mean that he had forgotten her. Ever.

"He's off quickly…" Reid said, actually surprised to see Morgan act like this.

"Yeah, he seems really eager to be here." JJ responded.

"Let's not bother him and his personal life," Hotchner said calmly. He stepped out of the car as well and looked around. "Let's just focus on the case instead." He then walked towards the front door of the house, soon followed by the rest.

Finally, the door opened and a woman stared at the small crowd that had gathered in front of her house. She was obviously confused.

"Heather Carson?" Hotchner, who was now standing next to Morgan, asked. The woman nodded. He took out his ID and showed her. "I'm Aaron Hotchner, FBI. This is Dr. Spencer Reid, and agents Prentiss, Jareau and Morgan." Hotchner introduced his team. "We have some questions about your brother, Raymond, and the recent murders. May we come in?"

Hesitantly, Heather opened the door. There was a group of five people in front of her. One of them seemed quite familiar to her – both looks and name –, but she couldn't figure out where she knew him from. She nodded and let them all in, after hearing they were from the FBI and why they were here.

She closed the door behind them and smiled slightly, not sure what to say. Eventually she decided to ask them what exactly it was that they wanted to know.

"Could you please inform us on your brother's behavior? What did he act like before the murders started, and what did he act like when the first victims were killed?"

Heather sat down on her couch, thinking carefully about her brother's behavior and what she could say.

"Well, Raymond always had terrible mood swings but… about a week before the first victims… he began buying stuff. Robes and a new knife set and some other things. He said that he needed it because he had to fix something in the garage. Now I think of it… he took a lot of road trips, but I never knew it would be anything bad. I just thought he needed time to think."

"And think he did…" Morgan said.

"Miss Carson, what else did you see?" Hotchner asked.

"Uhm… well I once saw him come home really late. I had been waiting for him because I was never home so late. And then I saw him take the robe from the trunk and even though it was dark I saw something on the robe. Like blood… maybe… Oh my God." Heather brought her hands to her face and wiped away some tears.

"It's all right, take your time." JJ said, sitting down next to the woman on the couch.

"Is it all right if we take a look in your house?" Hotchner asked to which he got a quiet 'sure', which was enough for him and the others to go look for things.

Everyone went a different direction to look for anything that could give away where the killer was right now and/or why he was killing all these innocent people.

Morgan had made his way up the stairs and ended up checking a bedroom, and by the look of it, this bedroom belonged to the killer. Gideon came in as well looking around for anything suspicious.

"The room seems neat. So far there's nothing that can help us, aside from the fact that he's organized."

"Yes," Gideon said. "but we already knew he was quite neat because of the way he kills his victims. Keep your eyes open." As they continued looking for anything suspicious or helpful, Morgan found a small pendant necklace. He took it and opened it, seeing a little picture inside of a boy and a girl.

He remember this.

He had a picture just like this.

"What is that?" Gideon asked, when he noticed Morgan was staring at a piece of jewelry.

"It's an old photo of me and my best friend." Heather was standing in the doorway. "I thought I lost it…" There was a silence. "Back, when we were about ten years old, we promised that we'd always be together." She walked up to Morgan and took the pendant from his hands into her own. For a while, she stared at the picture, a longing look in her eyes. "I wish he was still here… heh, you know, back when this picture was taken, I had such a big crush on him." She closed the jewelry so no one could see the picture anymore.

"Did your brother know about your feelings for this boy?" Gideon asked. Just then, Reid and JJ walked in, causing Heather to remain quiet for a couple of seconds.

"Yes, I told him. Why?"

"The fact that your brother knew of your crush might have set him off." JJ said and Reid nodded.

"If he knew of your love for someone else but him , that could have been the trigger for him to lose his mind and start killing. He was obsessed with you." Reid added, holding up pictures of Heather that he had found somewhere in the house. "You were his motive."

"Miss Carson, who is the boy?" Gideon asked.

"His name was Derek." Heather's mouth fell open, finally understanding what everyone tried to tell her. "Oh, my god… you don't think he'll…. Do you think he found him?" Her voice seemed to echo through the room. All of the emotions hidden in the way she spoke touched the hearts of those present. It held hints of fear but also desperation and hope.

Gideon, JJ and Reid looked at Morgan, waiting for him to say something.

And he did.

"No, I doubt your brother has found your friend yet," he said. "I can assure you we will find him first."

It didn't matter if those words calmed her or not, but Morgan did know he would not stop until he found the killer, Heather's brother Raymond Carson. Especially now he knew that Raymond wanted him.

"I think it's best for us to go now." Gideon said, putting his hand on Morgan's shoulder. "We will find your brother and save your friend. I promise you this." And with those words he left the room, followed by the others.

Once they were all outside, JJ tapped Morgan on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked, opening the door of the car.

"She can't handle more bad news."

"It's not always bad news, Morgan. It can also be comfort."

It had been two days since Morgan and the others had visited Heather in order to gain more information about her brother. And in those two days, they had arrested her brother, but that visit had caused him to act weird.

Since that day, he seemed to be lost in thought all the time, and it was always her that he was thinking of. His team wasn't really being helpful either. They either asked him questions or teased him. The only three that left him alone were Reid, Hotchner and Gideon.

Sighing, Morgan remembered himself asking Reid for advice. A weird choice but it seemed the safest one at the time. He had to admit, it wasn't bad advice had been given by the young genius.

"How about talking to her about this?" Reid has said to him, and Morgan figured it was the only reasonable thing to do.

So, in order to get everything off his mind, he drove to Heather's house and parked his car.

He took out his wallet and opened it, revealing a picture of a young girl and a boy of the same age. It was the same picture he had found in Heather's house.

She had kept it.

So had he.

He touched the picture, a small smile playing on his lips as he remembered the day he and Heather had this picture made.

[Flashback]

"Derek wait! I'm tired!" A little girl yelled, trying to catch her breath. She looked up at the boy in front of her.

"Come on, Heather! I have a surprise but you have to hurry before it's too late!" The girl sighed and got up again, following her best friend to wherever he wanted them to go. After a few more minutes of running, they arrived at a small photo booth. The girl tilted her head, obviously confused. Derek, the little boy, took out a bit of money. "I found some money on the street! We can make a picture. That way," he smiled and held out his hand. "we can always be together." They both laughed and went into the photo booth. The boy threw in the small amount of money he had and they had their photo taken.

Once they were out of the photo booth and the pictures were out, Derek took them and smiled. "Look look! They're good photo's aren't they? Choose one, which one do you want?" The girl looked at the pictures and pointed at the one in the middle.

"That one!" She said, happily.

"All right, I want this one!" He ripped off the two photos and gave Heather the one she had picked out. "If we keep this with us forever, we will always be together. No matter where we are." He said, holding up his picture.

[End Flashback]

Another sigh escaped his lips and Morgan got out of his car, slowly walking to the door of Heather's house. He knocked on the door, waiting patiently for the woman to open it. He actually had no idea what he was going to say, but hoped that once the door opened and she saw him, he would know exactly what to say.

After a couple of seconds, the door opened and Heather tilted her head slightly. She was confused, just like the last time he was here.

"Agent.. Morgan right?" she asked, and he just nodded. "What can I do for you? Does this have to do with my brother again? Please, tell me he did not escape or anything."

"I can assure you, he'll never get out of jail again."

"Well, then what is it?"

"Heather… do you remember that necklace I found in your brother's room the other time?" She simply nodded, still not understanding where he was going with this. Morgan knew this, and took out his wallet. "Remember this?" He showed her the picture he had kept with him ever since the day it was made.

"It's my picture…" She whispered.

"Not your picture…but,"

"…Our picture…" She finished his sentence for him. There was a silence and Morgan wondered if it was a bad idea coming here in the first place. She really couldn't handle more stress now, he had been right, hadn't he?

"Derek.." Morgan put the wallet back in his pocket.

"Look, I'm sorry for bothering you with this…" He said. "But it had been on my mind ever since I saw you again. This sounds strange but I never forgot you. The day you said you were moving broke me, but I got back on my feet. I always knew we would see each other again, always knew we were still together because of this picture. We made that promise, and I kept it…" Another silence. "Have you?"

Heather smiled slightly and did a step forward, reaching out her arms for what seemed like a hug. But instead of a hug, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to her and kissed him.

"Bet you I won't leave again." She whispered, winking.