Chapter 4
Injustice
Owen had shot a 19 year old young man. Good news was that Jordan was alive! I stood there with Reid, Hotch and Owen's councilor.
"As Owen's councilor, what can you tell us about Jordan and Owen?"
"Not much. They started dating last year when Owen moved to special ed."
"Junior year…isn't that a bit late?" I asked.
"Yes, if he'd been put there for academic reasons."
"What was the problem?" Hotch asked.
"Bad attitude, lack of effort. Owen applied himself in some classes, he did very well. But it didn't last….here."
He opened the door and we walked inside.
"The problem wasn't lack of effort or bad attitude. The A's in math and science tells us he's a gifted student. The D's in English and History, that tells us he has difficulty reading. And the F in Geometry, that indicates a severe problem with spatial relations. That's further confirmed by his atrocious and illegible handwriting."
I looked at it and then took the file and looked through that as well.
"All consistent of a brilliant, but severely learning disabled child."
"Yeah but his standardized tests didn't support that kind of intelligence."
"Da loca standardized tests! A spacial relations handicap affects your hand-eye coordination! He could fill in an answer bubble easier than he could hit a baseball." I said a bit frustrated.
"Which is why he stayed away from sports." Hotch added.
"Sports was a sore spot with his father." I looked at him. "I mean, he joined the wrestling team freshman year just to appease his old man, but uh…..that didn't work out."
I blinked several times and crossed my arms.
"Excuse me?"
"He was probably the smartest kid in class, he just couldn't prove it."
"Being the smartest kid in class is like being the only kid in class."
"He missed all of it."
"But schools like this can't meet the specialized needs of every student. He gives it everything he's got, over and over again, and continues to fail. And the whole time, the whole time they tell him it's his fault!" Reid said.
"I mean, it makes sense." said the councilor.
I shook my head.
"No it doesn't! An undiagnosed learning disability does NOT add up to this level of violence. Not without severe emotional abuse. You know that." I said.
My patience was almost gone. He sighed.
"You'll need to see this."
He pulled up a video. Owen was in a towel and someone was behind a wall with a camera.
"Guys I'm not so sure I can do this."
"It's just us. It's not like you don't masterbate at home, right?"
"No I do it man. I can't do it when you're watching me man."
I covered my mouth with my hand.
"He didn't know he was being filmed." said Reid.
"You want to be on the team, you gotta do it."
"We all did it."
"Okay, I'll try it."
"Stop!" I said.
"Owen didn't tell you about this?" Reid asked.
"He didn't have to. It was posted to the school's networking site. We pulled it down immediately."
"Once it's on the internet it's out there forever! Owen knew that." Reid said.
"Did Owen tell his father about it?" Hotch asked him.
"Not at first. But when he quite the wrestling team his father confronted him about it. I mean, he blamed Owen for the whole thing."
"Owen joined the team to get his father's approval. How were these boys punished?"
"Owen identified them, but on film all we have is their voices. I mean, even if they admitted involvement they'd just have to say Owen didn't have to do it."
"He didn't know he was being filmed!" Reid said.
"Look….it's his word against their."
I was beyond angry.
"I mean, parents would get involved, the school board, lawyers. I mean, cyber bullying is a hot issue right now. The whole thing would've ended up on 60 minutes. How's that gonna help Owen?"
"What did you tell him?" Hotch asked.
"I told him that dealing with bullies is a part of growing up."
"Sound familiar." Reid said.
He looked at Reid.
"Boys have a way of sorting these things out for themselves."
"Yeah they sure do." he leaned closer to the councilor. "Right now, Owen is out there sorting it out with an Assault Rifle!"
"Reid!"
Reid walked off and Hotch looked at me. I nodded and went after him.
"Dr. Reid." I said.
He didn't stop so I sped up. I got in front of him.
"I understand you're upset. Believe me when I say I am too! But making these people angry won't help Owen."
He just stared at me. I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and cleared my throat.
"I know what it feels like….."
"No you don't! Look at you! You're smart, pretty and nice!"
"I wasn't always that way! I didn't start looking like this until I was sixteen! You don't know my life, and I don't know yours. But right now we have a job to do. You need to remember that."
I walked away before he could say anything else. When we got back to the station Garcia called and we gathered around the computer.
"A new empeg was just posted to the school's networking site."
She pulled it up and I saw several boys in their underwear, hands over their heads. A song was playing but I didn't know what it was.
"It was a joke man! We didn't mean anything by it!"
"It was 3 years ago! No one even remembers it."
"I do."
"No, Owen."
"Don't! Don't! Please no…."
Owen shot them all. My hand flew to my triquetra pendant and I closed my eyes.
"Garcia is there anyway to trace the mpeg to the computer who sent it?" HOtch asked.
"It was sent from Jordan's PDA, but Owen's hacked the sim card."
"He's anonmyized it." said Rossi.
"It stops the phone from transmitting it's current position. Hackers do it to stop roaming charges. It's good for one call, and then the carrier turns off the service."
"So even if it's turned on and he's using it we can't track it?" Emily asked.
"Bingo."
"Have the cell company leave the service on in case he sends anything else."
"Yes sir."
"Let's bring in Sheriff Hallum and see if he recognizes the background."
The lyrics of the song made me start to think.
"Hay un hombre que va en torno a tomar nombres ...Y él decide a quien liberar ya quien culpar. Todo el mundo no va a ser tratado de la misma." (There's a man going around taking names….he decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won't be treated the same.) I said softly.
"Delavage?"
I slowly turned.
"Johnny Cash. From that song Owen was playing on the video. He's been taking names."
"He's acting out his revenge fantasies." JJ said.
"The family, school and social dynamics do fit perfectly."
I shook my head.
"He's not collecting names."
"He's collecting injustices." said Emily.
