A/N: Welcome one and all, to The Funeral. (That sounded eery.) These first view chapters will be posted rather quickly because I've been writing this one for a while. So enjoy while they come quick, cos it's almost midterms and they won't always be this often haha. Love to all.
CHAPTER 2
"Alright, so geographical profile thus far is done. All victims were taken from the city, but were killed in their homes in the suburbs, each within a 2 mile radius of one another. With that, we can deduce that he's probably somewhere within THIS area," Reid circled a place on the map.
Prentiss nodded, looking the map over. "Looks good. Let's bring this to Rymer."
Rymer had been working with Hotch and JJ in another room.
"We're stationed around the dump site now, we've got 24 hour detail," Rymer noted.
JJ sighed. "Maybe if this had been kept from the press, that might of worked, but now it's out there. We've caught his attention. No," she sighed again. "He won't be dumping there anymore."
Rymer swore, looking down at his feet. Reid cleared his throat.
"We have a geographical profile."
Hotch nodded. "Good, take it to Morgan and work with Rossi on developing a full profile."
Reid nodded, and they went. They spread out the map on the table, and Reid rolled up his sleeves. He quickly caught sight of the few faint scars still drawn on his arms, and hesitated, before rolling his sleeves down again. Prentiss saw this.
"You okay?"
He looked up. "Hm? Yeah. I'm… fine." He really needed to get to a meeting. He was starting to get anxious, particularly with his own similarities to the victims. He knew he had nothing to worry about, but the fear still gripped him. "Can… Can I catch you guys in an hour?"
Prentiss understood. "I'll tell Hotch. You do what you need to do."
Morgan nodded. "Proud of you, kid."
Reid just nodded, embarrassed, and swallowed, before grabbing his bag and ducking out.
He found a local meeting, and sat at the table, drumming his fingers as the woman at the podium spoke.
He always loved meetings. He knew few people there did, but he loved it. It was a reminder of how far he had come, how hard it had been to stop drowning and make it back up to the surface, and how he still worked diligently every day to stay afloat.
Once the meeting wrapped up, he grabbed a coffee and stood outside with the other members at the hall, enjoying quiet conversation and occasionally coughing when the stench of cigarettes came his way.
It wasn't until he was about to leave that he noticed a tall, thin man with brown curly hair that tumbled around his ears, in the corner, staring at him intently. Almost curious. Reid swallowed, and excused himself, walking back out to the street and hailing a cab, checking over his shoulder the whole time.
Back at the station, Reid was quiet, he had lost his spark and energy, and he kept to himself. Morgan approached him from behind, slapping the kid on the back, who jumped. "What?" Reid said, voice shaking.
"Whoa, easy, kid. Just checking in on you. How you doing?"
Reid swallowed, nodded, and looked down at his feet. "I'm fine. Better, now."
Morgan grinned. "Glad to hear it. We're headed to the conference room, Hotch has got the profile prepared."
They all stood around the conference room, the members of the BAU up front, doling out the profile to the members of Chicago P.D.
"Our unsub is between the ages of 25 and 35, white, with a steady job. He likely keeps to himself, doesn't have family, and lives in a suburban neighborhood within these radiuses." Hotch pointed to the board.
Reid spoke up. "He's killing for a personal motive, most likely some sort of sexual pleasure in torturing his victims before death. Yet he gives them a quick and easy death, and he does not mutilate the bodies post-mortem. He expresses remorse for these acts."
"Each was tortured differently. One showed exhibits of rat bites, one was flogged, and so on. He knows how to work these victims to exhibit fear. He probably stalks them for days prior to kidnapping," Prentiss said.
"While he doesn't know these victims personally, he knows their lives inside and out. This is an obsession for him. Don't be surprised if we find him with boards or notebooks full of information on them. He has a type, and he sticks to it," Rossi added.
As all of this was said, Reid shut his eyes for a moment, and he was unable to get the image of the man at the meeting out of his head.
That night, at the hotel, Reid sat staring at the 6 month coin in his palm, legs crossed in front of him as he sat on the bed. Morgan glanced over at him. "Hey. Kid. You wanna tell me what's going on in that head of yours?"
Reid stared a little while longer, then looked over at Morgan, the pain in his eyes wounding the elder agent. "I'm struggling."
"With sobriety?"
Reid nodded, staring down at the coin again. "I'm so scared I'll mess this up, but lately… Lately, it's just been getting harder every day."
"That will happen. That's when you go to meetings, and you talk to someone about it."
"I try that. It's not working anymore."
Morgan sighed, then approached Reid, a hand dropping to Reid's shoulder. "You just need to take it one day at a time, kid. Just worry about making it through today. Don't worry about tomorrow, or the next day. Just make it through today. Can you do that?"
Reid nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I can."
Morgan smiled. "That's all you need to do, man."
Reid plastered on a weak smile, and looked down. "That's what they keep telling me." A brief pause. "Hey, I'm… I'm gonna go for a walk."
Morgan still got nervous when he heard that, but he had to trust the kid.
He had to work extremely hard not to doubt Reid when he watched him walk out the door and into the night.
