(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)
I am back and with another chapter. Hope you guys enjoy.
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(Revised 3rd April 2020)
"Erin! Doorbell!" Dave pushed the suds from his eyes and listened for a moment. He heard a loud chatter from the hall and assumed it was Erin and the mailman. Since they'd gotten the guy a malt whiskey for Christmas they could never seem to take their mail without some kind of conversation.
Dave shut off the water and stepped out of the shower onto a cautiously placed bath mat. He dried off quickly and drew on his dressing gown. He shrugged it over his shoulders and glanced at his partial reflection in the steamed mirror. He grumbled at the hard wrinkled looking back at him and the years of pain etched in the skin. He turned away from the mirror and opened the bathroom door, releasing the steam from the cramped room.
When he walked into the kitchen he found Erin fully dressed, sitting at the table with a slice of toast in her hand. On the table was her half-empty mug of coffee, a rack of toast, and a crumpled looking package.
"Morning," mumbled Dave as he sat down and took a piece of toast of his own. He quickly smothered it in butter and took a bite nearly the width of the toast itself.
Erin set her own piece down and motioned to the package.
"Did you order something on amazon again?" she asked, one of her eyebrows quirked suspiciously. "I know it's convenient but-"
Dave raised his hand to stop her. "Haven't been on there in a week." He both loved and hated how much they were sounding like an old couple.
"Oh." Erin glanced at the package. "It's for both of us."
"Want to open it?" Dave slid his butter knife toward Erin and she sent it back his way.
She lifted her crumb speckled plate and shook her head. "I've got to clean this up. It's probably for you anyway."
Rossi took another bite of toast as he watched Erin walk to the sink. He dusted off his hands after his shoving the rest of the bread into his mouth. He took the butter knife and ran it across the tape sealing the box shut.
He pulled the box open and squinted down. Erin glanced over her shoulder and frowned when Dave pulled out a second box, wrapped totally in dusky brown paper.
"Hmm," mumbled Rossi as he turned the second box on its head and pressed his head close to it. Erin, who was now watching closely, braced her hands against the counter.
"Is it dangerous?" she asked. Dave pulled the box from his ear and shook his head.
"I don't think so."
Dave very carefully sliced through the brown paper, pulling it away from the box it had been wrapped around. He looked up at Erin who was staring back at him with a look of concern. Gently Dave lifted the lid of the box and he sighed in relief.
"What?"
"There's just a bag." Dave pulled out the small bag with little embroideries around the base. It was bunched together and tied off with a string.
"That's... sweet," mumbled Erin, still unconvinced.
Rossi started to loosen the string. He had no idea what the thing inside could be or how it could be for the both of them.
He dropped the string back into the box and peered into the little bag. He paused when he caught a glint of what was inside.
"What?"
He squinted and shook his head lightly.
Erin leaned over to try and get a look. "What is it?"
Dave looked at her with a scowl and he lifted the bag up to the light. After a moment he upended the bag on the table, letting the things inside fall out.
Both he and Erin leaped back from the table when five tiny, milk-white teeth clattered out of the bag.
"What is that!?" Erin's voice was high and shrill. She panted heavily as she gaped at the teeth. Dave stared openly, his mouth parted and rough puffs of breath leaking out.
"David!"
Dave looked up at his wife then back at the teeth. "I think... they-"
Erin shook her head violently. "No. No, don't say it!"
Dave shut his mouth and looked down at the baby teeth on the table. There were old brown marks of blood marring some of them.
"Oh god, who sent them."
Dave grit his teeth. "He did. That... monster."
"We don't even know t-that t-th-they're his..."
"You know they're Spencer's," Dave said incredulously.
Erin shook her head. "We should check. I-I'll send them to the lab."
"They're Spencer's, Erin."
"Stop it."
"And that man... the one who did this, he's still out there."
August 15th 1986
Erin pushed the eggs around the saucepan, barely giving them time to sizzle. She paused upon hearing the shower turn off. She listened as he husband opened the door and shuffled down the hall, his footfalls barely audible.
Erin turned off the ring and moved to the kitchen table. She'd set three places again. She dropped the pan on the counter and clutched her face. Scolding tears peppered her palms and she dragged in a deep breath.
"He's gone," she whispered. She walked numbly to the table and without entirely feeling the cold metal, she removed the knife and fork from Spencer's place. She pushed the mat into the middle, hiding it under a slowly fading vase of flowers.
When she managed to put the extra cutlery away Dave was there. He looked from the disregarded pan to the cutlery in Erin's hand and the lost look in her eyes. He sighed and walked toward her, his hands resting on hers as she shut the drawer.
"We don't have to go to work today," Dave whispered, pressing his face against Erin's neck.
Erin turned and looked at her husband as seriously as she could with puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "You have to find him," she whispered, putting her hand against Dave's chest.
Dave pulled Erin into another hug. He stared at the opposite wall where a photograph of Spencer hung. It was taken at daycare, with Spencer laughing at the camera as he stacked blocks. Dave squeezed his eyes shut. "I promise I'll find whoever did this."
Dave stared at the blank wall in his office. He knew they were his son's teeth. They found three teeth after the fire. The body was burned to nothing but the teeth had been removed antemortem and placed in a small safe. There were two teeth found in the safe for every murdered child. Dave remembered looking at the evidence and finding his son's first baby-teeth in the box. They were the smaller teeth in there. Dave remembered watching them grow in, cuddling his boy when they pushed through and he was sobbing and knowing anything he could find.
The bodies were missing all their teeth. Dave always knew the sicko had kept the rest.
Dave stood up suddenly when he saw someone through his blinds. He went to the door and opened it as an older man stepped forward.
"David."
"Richard, how are you?"
The man half-smiled and walked into the room, letting Dave shut the door behind.
"Back pains getting worse but what can you do. Nothing cures age."
"Ain't that the truth," Rossi muttered, coaxing the gentleman into a chair. He glanced at his blinds and saw Erin making her way over. She was walking with flustered steps but she tried to appear natural before the bullpen.
Dave let her in and shut the door behind her quickly.
Erin went over to the man with a frantic expression.
"Well?" she asked. "Were they his?"
Dave put a hand on Erin's shoulder and guided her down into a chair.
Richard sighed inwardly and opened the envelope he'd been holding.
"I compared it to the dental records your son had back in... 198...5."
He licked his thumb and pulled out a piece of paperwork from the envelope. Erin snatched it up as he fumbled for the other. Dave leaned against her to read as she did, her hands shaking the paper and blurring the words.
"The teeth must have been well kept. I could conclusively match them to Spencer's."
"Oh god." Erin looked up at the doctor, her hand rising to clutch her mouth. He pulled out a few more bits of paperwork and held them up for Rossi. Dave took them numbly.
"You're sure. It's been... Richard, that was back in 1986, he's kept them since then. They're definitely Spencer's?" he whispered.
"I didn't want them to be his but they were a match. I think you might want to reopen the case."
Dave closed his eyes. "It was hell the first time."
"And with him still out there the hell never ends. Do me a favour, David, next time you send something down to the lab, make sure it's that son of a bitches corpse."
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