A/N. So with the success of my "Supernatural " Story. I thought I'd tackle serial killers and "Criminal Minds" next. No romance just casefic and friendship. Non CM fans watch this space for another SPN fic soon!
Warnings: Violence and disturbing content. Let me know if the rating needs to go up.
Disclaimer I own nothing.
Hour of Need
Chapter 1.
"Sandra Falvey. Missing since June 3rd. In her early 30s, white, blonde, slight. Worked in Research at Glaxo Smith Kline. She lived alone, used to jog every evening with her German Shepherd, Harvey."
Reid thought back to Morgan's briefing. As he knelt in the congealing blood on the concrete floor. Sandra had lived alone, her family in other states, not many friends outside of work. She'd taken some vacation time. Had her dog not been found slaughtered the way it had her disappearance might have gone unreported for weeks.
Maybe I should get a dog. He thought absently. Letting his mind wander, out of the hellish room, up through the floorboards where he could hear Hotch and Morgan's feet pacing as they called his name in blind panic. It was strange, they sounded far away.
Hotch will be mad.
He'd gone off half cocked, without backup, again. Boy would Hotch ever be mad.
The thing was... He'd had to go, as soon as he figured out where she was being kept, he'd had to run, because if he didn't... There wouldn't be time to save her. There was no time to wait for anyone. He'd woken up just after midnight with the knowledge he'd been missing, as though all the facts and figures He'd studied in the week since Sandra's disappearance had congealed overnight into certainty.
He had left a message on Morgan's phone, thrown on some clothes and driven like a maniac to Dr. John Ferrin's house.
That kindly man who'd been Sandra Falvey's colleague at the pharmaceutical company for years. It had been her threat to move, he realised, that had been the trigger. She'd wanted to move to Montana to look after her ageing mother. Ferrin was too desperate for control to allow that.
He briefly wondered where the doctor was now. The man would reappear and either turn himself in now that the object of his obsession was gone. Or go looking for another one, probably a women her age, height and colouring.
Reid tried not to look at her. But found he couldn't help himself. She... What was left of her anyway, was chained to the floor spread eagled. naked. All the insides on the outside. Her blood still warm.
He'd been at her for days with a scalpel, made it last. It figured, he supposed. The bastard had worked as a vivisectionist. It was what he'd done to the Dog that had given him the first clue, he realised. The surgical precision. He'd taken everything from her. Her skin, her eyes...Not her tongue though. Probably wanted to hear her.
Oh God. Thought Reid, if there is a God... Wherever Sandra is , may she not remember any of it.
During his years at Cal Tech, several professors tried to persuade him to go into the field of medical research. He'd never wanted to. Couldn't hack the stuff you had to do to rats. The type of thing psychopaths do as children. No doubt he'd taken childish glee in what he'd done here. Reid ducked his head, became aware of his name being called again. He wanted to call out to the team, so they'd know he'd found her. But he just couldn't make a sound.
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It had been Emily who'd found him eventually. Rossi covering her as she braved the basement and gagged on the smell of blood, just as he had.
"Reid!" She rushed over and knelt beside him, stifling a moan at at sight of Sandra Falvey's tortured body. He couldn't look at her. He felt her hand on his shoulder but didn't turn to her.
"Reid?" her voice was soft, gentle. He liked Emily's voice. He liked Women's voices in general. He liked women in general and wondered why men like Ferrin hated them so much.
Rossi had called up the basement steps before joining Emily and pulling Reid to his feet. he felt like his hamstrings had been cut. Like he was floating. He couldn't remember getting up the stairs.
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Morgan regarded his friend with concern. He'd got the garbled message after he woke up at 5 am.
"Morgan! It's the guy... The one from her work! Ferrin! It's him! "
After he'd made sense of it he'd immediately mobilised the team and headed to the guy's house. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't pissed. What the hell had Reid been thinking, what if Ferrin had been there? They'd have a re-run of Tobias Hankle is what. He shuddered at the thought.
He approached the couch where a very pale, shaken Reid was staring at his feet. No shoes, just socks, one red and blue stripes, one while... Well the part that hadn't absorbed blood. He hadn't taken the time to put his shoes on. Just run out the door, probably hadn't locked it. Now his feet were sticky with it. The light of an ambulance flickered though the window. Too late... Forensics had been called instead.
"Reid!" he said sharply "Look at me pretty boy!" Morgan was kneeling in front of him. Reid looked at him. the kid looked devastated, like something had been taken from him. Morgan hadn't seen that look in his eyes for a long time.
"Reid are you ok? You had us worried."
"I didn't make it in time." He mumbled, swallowing thickly.
Morgan shook his head in exasperation. "God dammit Reid! Do you know how dangerous it was to..." He couldn't finish, just clenched his fist and jaw.
"Sorry." Breathed Reid. "Didn't have time to wait for you... Didn't even put on shoes." He laughed then, at the sight of his own red footprints of the cream carpet. Found he couldn't stop... Couldn't stifle the hysterical sound, too close to sobbing.
Hotch was there then, re- emerging form the basement to check on them. His face stoic as ever, hard to read. Bound to be angry, thought Morgan entitled to be. Hoping Reid's head wouldn't roll for this.
In any event, Hotch didn't speak to Reid, just observed him calmly for a moment and turned to Morgan.
"He's in shock," Morgan told him. "I'll take him home."
"Your house." Hotch said. It wasn't a question.
"Yeah." Morgan nodded. "Not about to leave him alone."
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After Morgan had hustled Reid into his car and driven away, Hotch returned to the basement. Someone from forensics was speaking to Rossi and Prentiss. She thanked the man and walked over to Hotch.
"She died about four hours ago." She told him. "That would have been shortly before Reid arrived." She sighed. " Ferrin shot her in the head and left the house. Reid probably arrived a few minutes later."
Hotch frowned. "How long had he been torturing her?" .
"They estimate about three days." Prentsiss said, looking nauseous. "She was beyond saving at that point, even if he hadn't shot her."
"Unusually clean kill for a sexual Sadist." Hotch observed.
"My guess is that he was planning to skip town for some reason and couldn't take his time... Not that there was much left of her." She added with disgust.
Hotch watched the forensics team at work for a moment. Their usually business like facades crumbling in the face of the atrocity before them. A middle aged fed had to take a break and go upstairs. The man was crying.
"Prentiss. Give the file to me when you get it. I'd rather Garcia didn't have to process this."
She nodded sadly.
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