Disclaimer: Criminal Minds does not belong to me. It belongs to Jeff Davis and CBS. But if it does belong to me, Spencer Reid is mine... Buahahahaha!

Enjoy xxx

CHAPTER 1

-.-.-

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living - Marcus Tullius Cicero

-.-.-

Douglas County, Minnesota
9th March, 2012

After waiting for couple of minutes after the first ring of the doorbell, the doorbell is pressed again. Just as the bell finishes its second 'ding-dong', the door behind the screen opens. The young woman behind the screen shuffles with her cardigan, in order to make her more presentable as she eyes the two agents warily.

"Afternoon miss, I'm agent Aaron Hotchner, and this is Dr Spencer Reid. We're from the FBI. Are you Teresa Jones?" As the senior agent speaks, he pulls out his credentials and shows it to her through the screen. He shifts slightly to the side, allowing the other agent to do the same. She peers at the credentials through the screen door. Deeming their badges trustworthy, she steps forward to push the screen door open. Teresa Jones looks up to the two agents and says "yes, that's me." Showing her nervousness as she wrangle with her cardigan further.

"We need to speak to you regarding a case that we are working on. May we come in?" after asking permission to enter, the young woman steps aside, allowing the agents to step through, into the house.

-.-.-

Quantico, Virginia
4 days ago

As the team migrated into the conference room, they slowly realised that something is slightly different for this case. Firstly is the lack of paperwork on the desk. Secondly, JJ was standing next to the big screen, conversing on the phone, indicating that she was there before Garcia. Thirdly, the permanent scowl on their unit chief's forehead is deeper then usual. As the team settled down on the seats, JJ closed her phone and waited for everyone's attention.

"Alright guys, we have a special one." She picked up the controller and started showing an e-mail. "Approximately a week ago I got this e-mail from an anonymous person detailing a case for us." Looking at Garcia before the others had a chance to ask any questions, Garcia answered "yah, I checked the IP address and all that I could. All that I could trace back is to an internet café in Madison, Wisconsin, with a bogus e-mail account" Happy with the reply, JJ was indicated to continue with her briefing.

"According to the e-mail" summarising as she scrolled down the screen "this case is about a family murder which happened through out the country, always on the 15th of May." Gradually scowls appears on everyone's forehead, no one liked family murders. Flipping through pictures, showing gruesome images of different adult male victims tied to a chair, caked blood all over the body, "the father of the family, beaten and stabbed." The images then changed to different adult female victims, laying on the floor, hands tied bend their backs in pools of blood, originated from the throat " the mother bled to death from knife wound through the throat." Pictures then flicked to images of young children of various gender but mostly male, brutally beaten. "The older sibling," JJ's voice wavered at this point, Garcia shifted in her seat so she wouldn't see them and Prentiss gasped at the brutality, "beaten to death". The images then lead to a younger child, mostly female "the younger sibling, strangled to death." JJ finished with a big sign, glad to be finished with the worst bit.

"JJ came to me with this e-mail couple of days after she got the e-mails." The unit chief stood up to explain to the team. "She had initially went to Garcia to double check that there weren't any complications with the e-mail." JJ nodded and Garcia shifted to face back to the screen, which was showing the original e-mail. Reid was reading the e-mail in his tablet and mumbling small remarks. "Getting the all clear," Hotch continued, "I had then proceeded to gather all information regarding the killings. I had to make sure whether this was a BAU worthy case and realised that they were real."

"Why wasn't this picked up earlier?" Morgan voiced his opinion, "with such brutality and unique MO, this should be easily noticed?" Hotch nodded to the question, admitting the merit to the questions. He turned to face JJ, letting her answer. Glad to be given the chance to practice as a profiler, she answered the questions with conviction. "The biggest problem is the victimology was very broad" turning back to the screen to flip through family photos of the families, "different socioeconomic group, different occupations, different race, different states and even different sexuality." "Sexuality?" Prentiss asked. JJ nodded, showing a picture of a family with two mothers "lesbians, with their own biological children."

"The person who wrote this e-mail obviously knew what he was talking about." Reid interjected, after analysing the language and choice of vocabulary used by the sender. "Wouldn't be surprising if this was written by someone that we knew, someone that we had consulted…" Drifting off into his own thoughts, Morgan pressed "Reid, what is it?" Shaken of out his daze, the young profiler noticed a glare from his boss. Noting the deeper meaning of the glare, Reid lightly shook his head and answered "oh nothing, probably just a real bored college professor." Looking back to the screen, Reid indicated that the conversation had ended and Morgan just shrugged.

"But why now?" Prentiss interjected, "why is it now that someone contacted us?" Grim emotion flashed through JJ's face, using the screen, a highlighted part of the e-mail was zoomed in so that everyone could read. "According to the e-mail, there was another murder, a thirteenth." A picture was brought up showing a family picture of four. JJ paused her clicking "thirteen years ago", before being able to finish her sentence, Rossi having been quiet throughout the briefing interjected, "the original murder".

Hotch nodded at his exclamation, "that's right, the original case." Stepping into JJ's position as she handed over the remote. Hotch switched the image on the screen to the father of the family "Philip Steil, 38, organised crime detective in Boston." Another click showed a picture of the mother, "Marissa Kent-Steil, 36, assistant district attorney." Next was a picture from what seemed like the year book of a teenage boy "Charles Steil, 16." Taking a deep breath as the screen showed a grinning girl "Tracy-Jane Steil, 12."

-.-.-

Another click showed the crime scene, exact same as the others, except the position of the father, who was lying faced down on the floor. "The husband and wife had been focusing on breaking a case regarding a crime syndicate" clicking through documents, Hotch explained "the case file showed that they were close to getting what they had wanted before they were slaughtered." The rest of the team glanced up at his choice of word, not acknowledging their questioning glance, he continued. "There was a difference in this case" at that, everyone leaned forwards, Hotch grimly added "a living survivor." He then clicked to a picture of a girl, sitting on the side of a hospital bed, clutching a stuffed bunny, eyes glazed and skin pale, bruises on the neck showed big hand prints, the saddened agent spoke "the daughter." Everyone in the room was horrified by the fact, Garcia murmured "poor baby" before the unit chief continued.

"The Boston PD and DA found documents and testimonies regarding the fact that the family was killed by a hired killer, a hitman." Hotch's voice became more grim as he continued. "The surviving daughter was placed in the witness protection program." As he finished, he handed the remote back to JJ, indicating that there were more information regarding the case. "However, there were discrepancies with the story in comparing with the crime scene." Clicking to a crime scene photo, showing the father laying sprawled on the floor, next to him was a pool of blood, roughly in the shape of another human. "As you can see, there was another set of blood pattern in the crime scene." JJ clicked through the rest of the crime scenes, "the pool of blood was tested and did not fit the families' blood type."

"So, there was a fifth person there?" Reid asked the question in everyone's head. "Yes" JJ answered, facing the young profiler, "but there was no indications as to who that person was or there were even a body." Looking back to the e-mail, JJ continued "the e-mail said that this is a very important clue and we needed to know what happened." After a while of silence, Morgan's cop instinct kicked in "why don't we ask Boston PD? They should know?" Hotch picked up on the question and answered, "yes, but this was thirteen years ago, and the original personnel who had worked on the case were either retired or dead. No much people in the Boston PD currently would be answer such details."

"So the best case scenario is to ask the survivor." Rossi grimly interjected," even if this case was recent, as profilers we would always prefer first hand accounts." Nodding in agreement to his remark, everyone settled, absorbed with their own thoughts. Hotch stood up and addressed everyone "Garcia, I want you and Reid working on gathering as much information on the victims as you can. The rest of you, go through the crime scene photos and start a profile." As if remembering something else Hotch added, "remember, this is not a priority case" seeing everyone's nod to indicate understanding "if there is another case that comes up, we drop this and work on that one, understand?" Satisfied with getting his information through, he turned towards the door "Now, I would be dragging up all my contacts to get her current location and name."

As Hotch moved towards the door, Garcia who had been quiet for a while offered "erm, sir. If you want, I can find out where she is?" Smiling at her offer, Hotch moved to face her and said, "thanks but no thanks. I want to do this the normal way, giving her as much privacy as I can. She's not the suspect in this case, she's the survivor." Nodding her head, Garcia understood her boss's sentiments.

"Also," Prentiss added before he walked out of the conference room, "why are we putting so much trust into this one e-mail? Why should we give any credit to this person anyways?" Hotch paused as he watched the rest of the members of the team looked at him, anticipating an answer. However, the answer did not come from him. Reid softly said "that's because we all know him." The team looked at him, with surprise on their face.

-.-.-

Present day
Douglas County, Minnesota

"So, your saying that you need my help with these cases." Teresa Jones exclaim, astonished by their proposition. The two FBI agents are sitting in her room, sipping glasses of iced-tea as they recounted their case. "You need my help with solving the killing of all those families" as the information sunk in, the woman leans forward and place her forehead onto her hands, elbows on her knees. "I know this must be difficult" Hotch's voice is smooth and calming "we need to know what happened." As he lightly place a hand on her shoulder, at the contact, she suddenly sits up.

"Do you mind if we shift this conversation outside? To the patio?" seeing the agents' nod and standing up, they follow the young woman to the front of the house. The front porch extends along the wall, leading to the patio. On the patio, against the wall are two small couches, separated by a small table. The owner of the house sits on the couch, drawing her feet up to snuggle into the couch. She picks up a pack of cigarette and a lighter on the small table. Making a small gesture to offer the two agents, she receives two refusals. The senior agent sat on another couch, whist the younger agent lean on the railing of the patio, facing his boss, hands fidgeting with his messenger bag.

Taking a drag of smoke, Teresa Jones smiles as she spoke in her slight British accent "you know, it's been along time since anyone's called me by that name." She shifts to tap the ashes from the tip of her cigarette into the ashtray, "Tracy-Jane Steil" saying it slowly as the unfamiliarity of those words rolls in her mouth. The two agents sits patiently as she takes a couple more drags off the cigarette, watching her puff out the second hand smoke into the wind. Reid coughs from the smoke as a sudden change of wind causes the smoke to drift towards him.

Looking at the young agent as she stubs the remaining cigarette into the ashtray, smiling "don't worry doctor, I don't smoke often. I only smoke when I'm stressed." Surprised at her confession, Reid stammers a response, "I'm not actually a doctor. I just have three PhDs." He quiets when he sees the surprise on her face. "Well I'll be damned. JUST three PhDs uh?" Emphasising on the 'just' as she throws a smirk at Hotch. "You know what PhDs stand for?" Blurting out his response without hesitation, Reid answers "Doctor of Philosophy." Giggling at his enthusiasm to respond, "no, it's Permanent Head Damage darling" her response got a smile from Hotch. As Reid was ready to retort, he observes his boss and the young woman's body language, he managed a small "oh" as he realises that was a joke.

"Yah, I'll help." She shifts to square her shoulder as she faces the two agents who are looking at her. "I'll help you catch this SOB before he has a chance to hurt more families" relieved at her answer, the two agents shifts position. Before any of them spoke, Teresa questions "is it okay if you give me a couple of days before me giving you the details?" raking her fingers through her short dark brown hair, "its just." Understanding her request, Hotch answers before she could finish "that's fine. This is not urgent. How much time do you need?" Relieved at his understanding, she ponders "today is Friday right? What about Monday? Where do I go?" Looking at the agents questioning face, she answers "I just don't want to associate anything that horrifying with this place." Gazing out into the scenery around the house, "this is my safe place, my safety" looking up into the agents' eyes, imploring them to understand.

The two agents looks at each other as the senior agent makes the decision "yes, I can understand" nodding as he spoke, to get the agreement across. "Then would it be possible for you to come to Quantico? We can provide the money for the fight." Hearing the unit chief request, Teresa's eyes widens, "really? I get to go to Quantico? Awesome." Smiling at her reaction, rarely does he see an adult, albeit young show such enthusiasm upon going to Quantico. Working for the FBI for so long, he forgot that FBIs and many government agencies are a rare sight amongst the normal citizens.

"No, no. Plane ticket is not necessary. I can buy my own." Standing up as she waggle her hands showing that she does not require the offer. "I've been planning to go to Virginia for some time as I have some friends over there." As she observes the FBI agents making their way to the front steps of the house, she exclaims as she just remembered "wait! How shall I contact you once I'm there?" Stopping on her request, the senior agent pulls out his card and gives it to her, "call me with the number on there." Her small hand rose to receive the card from him, holding the white card between her thumb and index finger. She raise her head to look at the agents "see you there then!" speaking as she smiles. Her Cheshire grin elicits a small smile from both the agents.

-.-.-

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor - Sholom Aleichem

A/N:

Firstly, I would like to apologise if the whole this is too hard to read. Tell me if I need to break up the paragraphs more.

Secondly, I haven't been watching the recent seasons of CM. I've been catching up with the relevant bits from Wiki, so if I've made any errors, please forgive me.

Thirdly, English is my second language. So if I have any grammatical error, please forgive and correct me any-time! :D

Fourthly, I am not American. I have tried to keep the geographical names as accurate as possible. So if I have any errors about that, please forgive me again.

Fifthly, I don't really get to say fifthly a lot... so there goes... :P