Scared to Death

Lilith woke up to her alarm going off. She reached over and shut it down before looking at Reid's sleeping body next to her. She smiled sadly at his red eyes from crying all night and stroked his cheek lovingly.

"Reid…" She whispered and shook him awake. He looked around confused for a moment before smiling up at Lilith and kissed the top of her hand softly.

"We need to get ready for work" Lilith explained as they both reluctantly entangled themselves from each other and drove to work. Reid went and sat at his desk, re-reading the letter repeatedly while Morgan and Lilith sat in silence as well.

"He left everything, except the photographs" Garcia explained as she walked out of Gideon's office with a box.

"He always said those were like his family" Reid muttered making Lilith place a hand on his shoulder in comfort while sharing a worried look with Morgan.

"What should we do with all of this?" Garcia asked walking downstairs. Lilith watched as Strauss walked past them without a glance and knocked on Hotch's door.

"Come in" Hotch said putting down the photo he was holding that his son drew him.

"How is everyone?" Strauss asked.

"We're adapting" Hotch said simply.

"His resignation is official. Jason Gideon is no longer an agent in the bureau" Strauss said formally.

"Is he going to guest lecture?" Hotch asked.

"No. He's gone. His years of service are appreciated. We're looking for his replacement" Strauss explained handing Hotch a pile of folders.

"That was fast" Hotch commented.

"Well, the bureau doesn't like to leave posts empty for long. I'd like your input" Strauss admitted.

"I appreciate that" Hotch said thankfully before JJ walked into the office.

"Sir, we're gathering" JJ informed him sparing Strauss a quick look.

"Is everything ok?" JJ asked Hotch as they walked into the conference room where the rest of the team were waiting.

"Ok, we have 4 victims in Oregon. 2 male, 2 female" JJ said handing Reid and then Lilith a folder.

"I got this" Hotch said suddenly interrupting JJ.

"Uh, sure" JJ said unsure before handing Morgan a folder as well.

"I know that we've all been wondering what this was all about. And, uh... you know I've known Jason for many years, and I can tell you I have no idea. But it doesn't even matter. What matters is we're here, and we're gonna continue. Portland field office uncovered a mass grave with 3 bodies, killed 6 months ago, nearby they found another body. Causes of death range from burning alive to asphyxiation" Hotch explained as he flipped through the photos.

"No sexual assault" Lilith read from the file.

"Well, the torture's clearly sadistic" Morgan stated.

"The lack of sexual preferences could make it hard to tell if the unsub is male or female" Reid added.

"Typically, female serial killers stick to the same M.O. It looks like this guy's all over the place" Lilith commented.

"Most recent victim is Jenny Wittman. Asphyxiated. Discovered yesterday" Hotch explained.

"How long was she missing?" Reid asked.

"She was never reported missing" Hotch stated surprising and confusing the team.

"What about the others?" Reid asked.

"Only one" Hotch explained.

"One of 4?" Reid asked confused by the statistics.

"Rick Holland was reported missing 9 months ago, but the search was called off" JJ explained.

"Family discovered his car at the train station. But more importantly, they received e-mails from him saying that he needed time to figure things out" Hotch added.

"And his family bought that?" Morgan asked shocked.

"Well, I guess the alternative was too hard to accept" Hotch stated.

"Reaching out could be a sign of remorse" Reid theorized.

"Psychopaths don't apologize for their behaviour. This guy's covering his tracks" Lilith explained.

"Well, it's working" Morgan commented.

"So... 3 victims he buried in one grave and then only Jenny Wittman in the other" Lilith said walking over to the board and pointing at the crime scene photos.

"You thinking it's a pattern?" Morgan asked.

"Uh, it's hard to tell" Lilith admitted.

"If there is, it's one down... 2 to go" Hotch added as they left the conference room.

…..

"Aaron, how are you?" Lilith asked walking over to Hotch before the team arrived at the jet. Hotch smiled weakly at Lilith.

"I miss them" Hotch admitted and Lilith nodded.

"Reid and I can come over for dinner when we get back if you like?" Lilith offered and Hotch nodded.

"That would be great. So you and Reid are okay?" Hotch asked and Lilith smiled and nodded.

"Good" Hotch said honestly before the rest of the team arrived on the jet.

"Can we go over what Portland found?" Hotch asked the team as the jet took off and Reid went to get a cup of coffee.

"One female and 2 male victims found buried together in the same grave. All 25 to 30. All had been dead... 6 months?" JJ explained as she handed folders to each of the team members and Reid handed a cup of coffee to Lilith smiling shyly at her. Lilith touched his hand gently in thanks as he sat down across the table from Hotch.

"That sounds like 3 different M.O.S" Lilith commented.

"Uh, Gary Taylor; the phantom sniper, was all over the map, just like this guy. He changed his M.O. As his need to control the situation changed" Reid stated.

"What about the fresh grave?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, female, 28, dead roughly 48 hours. She was asphyxiated" JJ explained.

"It's a good thing this guy's dump site has been compromised" Morgan said

"As soon as the unsub knows that, he may feel pressured that we're onto him. It could push him to make a mistake" Lilith added.

"Hey. You" Garcia said softly making Reid look around confused.

"Uh, down here" Garcia laughed.

"I knew that" Reid commented as he turned the laptop with Garcia's face on it around to face the team.

"Good thing you're handsome, doctor. Attention team members- this killer guy continues to stoop to an all-time low of lows by posing as his victims. He's also manipulated 2 of the families into thinking that everything was ok, even after they were reported missing. One of the fake e-mails was from their daughter. She said she met this guy and was taking him to her favorite place, Australia, for a couple of weeks. Family contacted the Australian authorities after too much time had passed" Garcia explained.

"This guy sure knows a lot of personal information about his victims" Morgan said.

"How did he get access to their e-mail accounts?" Lilith asked curiously.

"Screen name was the same, but the domain was different. The families never noticed. When I find more pieces of the puzzle, you'll know. Garcia out" Garcia said before disappearing off the screen.

"This guy's creative. Let's go over the details one more time just to make sure we haven't missing anything" Hotch said as they grabbed the files to go over them again before the jet landed and they drove to the local station.

"You must be the B.A.U. Special Agent Bill Calvert" Bill introduced once the team had arrived at Portland, Oregon.

"Hi. Jennifer Jareau. This is SSA Aaron Hotchner. These are agents Morgan, Fallon, and Dr. Reid" JJ introduced.

"I appreciate your help on this case" Bill said honestly.

"So, you're from Boston, huh?" Morgan said noticing his accent.

"The accent's kind of hard to miss in Oregon, right?" Bill joked.

"We'd like to look around Jenny Wittman's apartment" Hotch said.

"I'd take you myself, but I'm waiting to meet a family, so I'll have another

Agent drive you out there" Bill said.

"Thank you" Hotch said.

"I'll stay behind and work victimology" Lilith stated.

"Great. I could use some extra hands. We'll call you if we find anything" Hotch said leaving with Morgan and Reid.

"So, we'll just set up here?" JJ asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, this is fine. Right here" Bill said.

…..