10

Smooth Criminal

"Is he alright?" Hotch asked as Gideon walked into the Conference Room.

"He's asleep. For how long, I'm not sure," he said, looking at the board filled with maps and pictures of deceased boys. "Do we have anything, anything at all on this monster?"

"There's only one resource we haven't used," the lead detective for Edenton, Detective Arnold, said. There was an instant uproar.

"No," J.J. said immediately, shaking her head.

"Absolutely not," Emily agreed.

"There is no way we're making him talk about that!" Morgan barked. Rossi shook his head. Hotch said nothing. Morgan stared at him, outraged. "Hotch, you're not serious, are you? We can't do that to him! We can't make him remember something like that!"

"What other choice do we have, Morgan? If we want to catch this guy, this is what we have to do," Hotch said regretfully. Morgan shook his head.

"No, no, I won't let you. I won't let you do that to him," he said firmly. Hotch opened his mouth to speak, frowning. Gideon cut him off.

"Ask him," he said simply.

"What?!" Hotch and Morgan said in unison.

"Ask him what he wants to do. If he doesn't want to talk about it, then he won't. If he does, then he can tell us anything he wants to," he explained.

"I guess we should wait for him to wake up," Prentiss said quietly, calming the tense mood. Morgan relaxed and sat back down.

A deputy walked into the room and whispered something to Detective Arnold. Arnold sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You're kidding, right?" He whispered. The deputy shook his head. He bowed his head again. "Damn it."

"What happened?" Rossi asked.

"They just found another boy."

"What?!" Everyone in the room exclaimed.

"They found the body of another kid. Matt Larsky, 22. They found him near Roanoke River."

"Great," Morgan said, throwing his hands up.

"Morgan, Prentiss, come with me," Hotch said grimly. "If he's killing again it's to send us a message."

"Of course it is. He wants Spencer back," Gideon stated.

"He's not getting him," Morgan said defensively.

"Then let's go."

Roanoke River, Edenton

Matt Larsky had died rather quickly. His beating was brutal and full of anger. The other bodies had literally been tossed away, left to rot in wherever they fell. He took no time bothering with remorse. They were merely toys he got bored with and threw away. Each boy was found clothed with deep ligatures on their wrists; cause of death, exsanguination.

Matthew Larsky was a different matter entirely. He was laid out carefully, neatly. He'd been beaten to death. He was naked, and there were serious signs of sexual assault.

"Without Spencer, he has no outlet," Hotch said, looking at the poor boy. "And he's angry."

"That's putting it lightly," Prentiss said quietly. Morgan was looking at the body too, frowning.

"Guys," he bent down, taking a piece of paper off the ground. He read it quickly, his frown growing to a deep scowl, eyes filling with boiling hate.

He gave the paper to Hotch, hands shaking with anger.

Give me what's rightfully mine. More will die if you don't.

"This killing was for us," he said darkly, "not for him. He's trying to scare us into giving him Spencer."

"That son of a bitch is dead, I swear to God…" He turned around, flexing his jaw and clenching his fists.

This man had done the most horrible things imaginable to his best friend. He'd sworn a long time ago to watch out for Spencer. Not that he was helpless, but he was just accident prone. A few years ago he would have laughed at the thought. Not now.

"Morgan-" Hotch began, warning in his tone.

"What do you want me to say, Hotch?! You saw what that bastard did to Reid; you've seen how he is now! And, what, you want me to be satisfied with him simply being arrested?! No, I won't be happy until this son of a bitch is dead!" He bellowed, his voice echoing through the forest around them. Prentiss and Arnold looked between Hotch and Morgan, waiting.

"Neither will I," Hotch said. Morgan and Emily blanched. "I want this man dead just as badly as you do, but that's not our decision to make. Our job is to catch him." Morgan looked at the ground, taking a deep breath before he spoke again.

"Hotch, Reid will never be able to sleep, or move on unless that man is off of this Earth. He'll be scared for the rest of his life, looking over his shoulder, watching what he says and does, unable to do certain things because he thinks he isn't supposed to. He'll be afraid to make a move or say anything because he thinks he'll be punished. He'll worry about whether he's being a Good Boy or not. And that son of a bitch will come for him every night in his sleep."

"We can't kill him, Morgan. And I don't think Reid would want you to." Morgan shut his eyes, bowing his head.

"I know," he whispered.

"Let's focus on the case, guys," Prentiss suggested. "We need to treat this as normally as possible. For everyone's sake." Hotch nodded.

"She's right," he agreed. "Let's get back to work."

Edenton Police Station

"He's going to have to keep an eye on this place. And if he doesn't know where Spencer is yet, he'll find him very soon," Gideon said.

"Well isn't that just great," Garcia grumbled. "We're gonna make sure this monster stays the hell away from him, right?"

"We'll do everything in our power to keep Spencer safe," Gideon promised. J.J. looked up at the board, at all of the young boys. She wondered if they hadn't found Spencer when they did if he'd be up here now. She shook her head, taking the awful images with it. She glanced out the door.

He was standing in the middle of the room, looking scared, shaking lightly while everyone around him kept walking.

"Spencer," she called. He jumped and looked at her.

God, he looks so tired, she thought miserably.

"In here, sweetheart." He nodded and walked toward her, into the small office. "Why are you up, honey?" She asked gently. He looked at the floor, chewing his lip, which was trembling.

"N-nightmare," he whispered. J.J. hugged him, expression pained. She let him go a few moments later. He sniffed and looked up at the board, at the dead boys.

"Spencer, don't look at those," Gideon said, trying to turn him away. Spencer didn't move. His eyes filled with tears, his lips trembled harder, as did the rest of his body.

"No," he barely made a sound, shaking his head, "no…"

"What's wrong?" Gideon asked. "Do you recognize them?" Spencer nodded without looking at him. A tear fell down his cheek. "Do you know who killed them?" He nodded again, taking a small, shaking breath.

"I did."

--Whoa!!!!--