"Alright my lovelies, our newest case of icky is in the good doctors home town," Garcia said passing out tablets, and handing a file to Reid, "Las Vegas. Three men have been found, three weeks apart from each other, shot in the temple, in front of several bars."
"Is there anything connecting the victims, that we know of right now?" Morgan questioned his brows furrowed in concentration.
"Yes there is my sweet milk chocolate, All the victims where around the same age and all were of Russian or Irish Decent." Garcia informed.
"What do you mean Russian or Irish? Couldn't that just be coincident?" Rossi asked.
"It could've been but they don't think so. Our first victim Eddie Castrov was Russian, Vic number two Aiden O'Conner was Irish, and our last vic was a split of both, Quinn Redmond was half Irish half Russian. And they all ran in the same sort of circles."
Reid who had been taking a drink of his sugary coffee, chocked breaking into a coughing fit while J.J lightly patted his back her face clouded with concern.
"You good pretty boy?" Morgan questioned when he had stopped coughing.
Reid waved him off, "I'm fine," He wheezed clearing his throat, "I'm sorry did you say Quinn Redmond?"
"Yeah," Garcia say tilting her head in confusion, clicking a picture open on the screen.
The twenty nine year old in the picture was tall and well built, his dirty blonde hair sat in a mop of curls on his head, one of the ringlets falling into his stormy blue grey eyes, his nose was slightly crooked like it had been broken before, and his smile was wide and charming, surrounded by a five o clock shadow that had hints of red with the blonde.
Reid's heart sank in his chest, and Hotch frowned at him, his usual serious scowl. "Reid did you know him?"
Garcia gasps fumbling to flick off the picture, "Oh my gosh! I didn't even think of that, im so sorry!"
He shook his head sort of in a daze, "Yeah, I uh, I know the family." He said his voice a little above a whisper.
"Reid you know I have to ask, Is this gonna be a problem for you? Because I can't have you emotionally compromised." Hotch said his voice breaking the sudden silence that fell over the room.
"Hotch, no I can do this, I promise. I want to help." He said as sternly and confident as he could muster at the moment.
Hotch watched him carefully for a moment before giving a stiff nod. "Garcia is there anything else that makes them think we're dealing with one unsub?"
"Um Yes, each victim had a symbol carved into there chests." She said more hesitantly and quiet, the screen showed the twisted design carved carefully into the chest of the first victim.
"It's a Celtic Trinity Knot." Reid informed them.
"The triangle design represents, that there is no beginning and no end, it was used in ancient druid tribes to worship the goddess of the moon. That's what it represented the phases of the moon. Now it can be used to represent a number of things, The sun, the moon, the truth. Alpha, Beta, Omega. Father, Mother, Child. Past, present, future. The father, the sun, the holy spirit. It really depends on the person."
"So what your saying is we've got nothing." Prentiss said.
Reid nodded sheepishly, "Reid when was the last time you saw Quinn?" Hotch questioned.
He licked his lips nervously a tick some of them picked up on though they didn't say anything, "Three and a half months ago, was the last time I was in town."
Hotch nodded, "When we land I want you to take us to talk to them." He said not really giving him a choice. Reid sighed and nodded running a hand through his slightly shorter hair, he had recently cut it and was still getting use to the new length.
"Wheels up in thirty."
...
The house stood tall and grand with large archways on the porch and big glass windows, a warm white light drifted out through the drapes, and chatter was heard inside even on the outside of the heavy oak door.
"Who throws a party when someone dies?" Morgan commented from somewhere behind Reid.
"The Irish." He stated turning to look at his best friend. "They choose to celebrate the persons life rather then dwell on there death." He didn't give him time to respond before he was pushing the door open and stepping inside.
There were people every where in suits and dresses laughing talking and drinking though you could see the sadness they held in there eyes, Reid heaved a sigh taking in the familiar surroundings.
Just then a toddler with dark brown curls and a pink flower dress came running into the room as fast as her little legs could carry her, tiny giggles pouring out of her little body.
J.J chuckled stepping out of the way to avoid being run into, but Reid didn't hesitate to scoop her up in his arm and heft her onto his hip, She squealed before catching sight of who had her and breaking into a fit of giggles.
"Dahlia Jade!" The voice was female and coated with a thick Russian accent, the woman that the voice belonged to looked to be in her early forties was beautiful with ivory skin, wavy dark brown hair that ended on her shoulders, full lips and tired looking blue grey eyes, her emerald green dress trailed behind her as her heels clacked at a pace fast enough to catch the little girl.
She seemed to deflate at the sight of her in his arms, "Spencer." She breathed a small smile gracing her pink lips.
"Hello Anya. I'm sorry for your loss. This is my team Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, and Jennifer jareau."
She smiled politely, shaking each of there hands, "Thank you for coming, and thank you for catching her." She said with a chuckle motioning to the toddler playing with the buttons on Spencer's coat.
"Just in time too, Where were you headed flower bud?" He asked making a face at the toddler causing her to giggle. "B!" She yelled.
"B? Where is B?" He said bouncing her on his hip.
"On the stairs." A new voice said, that one belonging to a boy that looked about seventeen, with wavy brown locks and turquoise colored eyes wearing black slacks and a blue button down, "Glaring at any poor soul that happens to glance in that direction. But you'll probably have better luck then the rest of us Doc."
"Thanks Silas, and I'm sorry about Quinn." Silas clenched his jaw giving a stiff but grateful nod.
"Come on Dahlia, let go find B." Reid said then turning to his team who where just noticing that Reid was a lot closer to the family they he had let on he nodding his head in the direction he was headed.
They watched as he bounced Dahlia on his hip and stopped to grab a glass of Irish whiskey before making his way into the other room.
They shared a glance before trailing behind him, The woman- Anya and Silas followed also.
They follow Reid into a grand ballroom, with a beautiful winding staircase leading to the upstairs, sitting perched on the railing is a woman who looks to be maybe twenty two, she's model thin, with a long red dress clinging to her subtle curves, her feet are bare and her toes are painted with a sparkly black polish.
Her skin is a fair ivory, she had sharp cheek bones and large lips, holding a slight look alike to Angelina Jolie, Her wavy dirty blonde hair hung to about mid breast and the red lipstick she wore make her hard turquoise eyes look more green than blue.
"B!" Dahlia squealed wiggling out of Spencer's arms and back onto her feet, the girl on the stairs turning to look at them her eyes automatically finding Spencer who flushed ever so slightly under her intense gaze, he nervously runs a hand through his messy hair, "Hi," He stutters.
Her gaze softens, and her lips twitch into a sad smile, "Hey Captain," Her voice is silky smooth and his shoulders deflate just the slightest bit at the sound of it.
She pushes herself off the railing landing gracefully on the floor in front of them, her eyes take them all in warily, "This is my team." Spencer says catching her attention.
She raises an eyebrow at him and he chuckles, "Uh, This is my unit chief, Aaron Hotchtner, and my team, Derek Morgan, David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, and Jennifer jareau."
She smiles slightly holding out a slime hand a ring on almost every finger, and stiletto nails painted a sleek black, shaking theirs in a firm grip.
"Briar Rose Redmond." She greets with confidence and pride, though her voice holds a bitter edge of sadness. She takes the glass of whiskey from Spencer swirling it in the glass for a moment before placing it on a table to the right of her.
Spencer watches her furrowing his brows "Cen chaoi a bhfuil mo blath alainn?" Spencer said in a language not even Emily could understand.
Thats when she cracks showing the emotions the team were looking for, her bottom lip trembles, and she rushing into his arms, slamming hard into his chest, knocking them back a couple steps, his arms lock around her, one across her back and the other one buried in her blonde hair.
His nose is pressed to her hair, and he's murmuring soft spoken words against her forehead while she cry's.
"She finally off the stairs then?" A heavily Irish accented voice booms from behind them, they turn to find a man who stood tall at, at least six feet, and build like a building, his black dress shirk stretched tightly across his chest and his black slacks where classy and tailored, His lips where set in a hard line, his turquoise eyes assed them quietly, his dirty blonde curls were gelled back, and he had a scare running from his left temple down till under his left eye.
"Lochlan Redmond," He said holding out a large calloused hand in greeting. "I'm guessing you met my family? My wife Anya, Son Silas, and my beautiful flowers, Briar Rose, and Dahlia?"
"Yes," Hotch says shaking his hand, "I'm Aaron Hotchner and this is my team SSA's, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, and Jennifer Jareau. I'm assuming you know Dr. Spencer Reid,"
Lochlan chuckles, "Yes I know the Captain," Derek makes a face a the nickname but doesn't comment.
"I'm guessing you have some questions for us?"
"We don't have to do that now, Mr. Redmond, it can wait until tomorrow." Rossi assures him glancing back at spencer and briar rose who had stopped crying but had yet to leave the young doctors arms. Rossi had a suspicion that the doctor was a lot more emotionally involved the he let on.
"Nonsense." He said shaking his head firmly, "What ever it takes to find the son of a bitch that did this to my first born son." He voice leaves no room for argument. "We can talk upstairs where it's quiet."
"Very well." Hotch says with a nod of his head, "Lead the way."
Lochlan glanced back behind him, raising a brow at Spencer, "You got her?"
Spencer glances up his face clouded with concern, "Uh yeah, yeah I'm fine you go," He stuttered, shifting his arm around the young women.
He lead them up stairs to a large office with dark blue walls, lined with bookcases, a big oak desk, and various chairs sitting around it.
The walls hold various pictures most of them endearing off guard pictures instead of the professional ones that lined the stair case. One in particular caught J.J's eye.
It was a picture of Spencer, on what seemed to be his birthday, with a cardboard party hat on, he had his head tossed back mid laugh, his white shirt was half unbuttoned and he had red lipstick marks all over his face, neck, and chest. Briar rose stood next to him, her cheeks were flushed and she had cake frosting all over her hands, her red painted lips were wrapped around her thumb, and she was obviously where the marks had come from.
She smiled at how care free he looked, realizing that, that was a face they rarely every saw on the young doctor, but then frowning.
Were they together? Spencer knows he can't work on a case that close to home, it compromises his position.
She stood in front of it subtly hoping Hotch wouldn't see and get him in trouble.
"Mr. Redmond, first I have to ask, if you or Quinn knew the other victims." Hotch says.
He nods solemnly, "It's a close knit community Agent Hotchner, My son was close friends with both of them I'm pretty sure he was dating O'conner, though he wouldn't admit it." He chuckled.
"Quinn was gay?" Rossi asked.
It was Silas that spoke up to answer the question with a shake of his head, "He was Bi, I guess you could call it, he liked what ever he liked, gender didn't matter."
They nodded, "And did any one seem to have a problem with that?" Rossi continued to question.
Redmond shook his head firmly, "Nobody had a problem with Quinn, he was well respected and well liked."
"Mr. Redmond, Is they're any reason someone would want to target you or your family?" Prentiss asked.
He locked eyes with the agent, his hared turquoise gaze holding no lie as he spoke, "Agents I'm gonna be completely honest with you. My family has been involved in some un morel things, I'll be the first to admit, call us what you will, assassins, organized crime, mafia. We're out of it now. As you could probably guess by her age Dahlia was a surprise, when my wife was pregnant with her, an unfortunate incident with a collogue almost caused her to loose the baby."
"After she was born I vowed to go into honest work, It wasn't a life I wanted for my youngest daughter, I just wished I had figured that out with the first three, Some of the things they've seen...done...been taught to do...It makes me angry at myself. We've been out for three years now, but I cannot guarantee that every one would except that."
Hotchner is frowning at him when he's finished he knows even with the confession he basically just gave him they're was nothing he could do about it know with nothing to charge him with. He also though reluctant to admit admired him for coming clean especially to the FBI of all people.
He nods stiffly, "Mr, Redmond I'm gonna show you a picture from one of the crime scenes I want you to tell me if it's significant to you in any way." He waits for a nod of agreement before he places the picture in front of him.
"That's a celtic trinity knot." He says tensely.
"Does it mean something to you?" J.J asks.
"Not to me. My daughter wears one on a chain around her neck."
"Briar Rose?" Morgan Questions with furrowed brows crossing his arms across his broad chest.
"She never takes it off."