Chapter 4: Another piece of the puzzle

Last chapter:

"Yes I realize that but still… It didn't feel right to go snooping around his privacy." Garcia said mournfully. "I did find some stuff, but the kid's history is very shrouded…"
"Just tell me what you know." Hotch said gently.
"Well…."

"Most of what I found is from official records, school records and such, which is really weird, I mean, he's got a laptop so he does not have some kind of technophobia, you would think he at least was a member of a website, or a library, for heaven's sake!... with all those book he reads. But there is nothing after he's eleven or so besides his university records and published works and stuff, nothing personal. I couldn't even find an email address. Also, I couldn't find a medical record from before he was eleven, hell, the only thing I found from before he was eight is a birth certificate, and I only found school records from his orphanage time. Someone erased every trace of him from the web, he has to be a member of something... Do you think he did it himself?" Garcia asked.

"He can certainly work with a computer, when he was showing us a file he was typing in commands quicker than I could read them, it seemed as if he had to break in his own computer." Hotch stated looking thoughtful.

"Maybe his protection on his computer... if he has such advanced protection there's a good chance that he erases his web trail while he is surfing, if you could get me his laptop, I could try to hack his computer." Garcia said not looking happy with the prospect of doing that, despite the fact that she suggested it.

"I'll try to get it, but I think he took it home last night, I doubt he'll just leave it here." Hotch speculated. "What did you discover in the files you've found."

"For one, he did not go to school until he was eight, apparently his father did not send him to school when he was living there, the year that he had been living on the streets is completely blank besides library cards from 4 libraries in Virginia, peculiar though his father never reported him missing." Garcia started.

"Is his father still alive?" Hotch asked curiously.

"Yes, but according to his medical records, he will not be alive for much longer, he has advanced lung cancer." Garcia continued. "As expected, his school grades are impeccable but he did get suspended from High School three times for skipping class and got in a lot of trouble, apparently he was always late and…" Garcia squinted at the screen: "Hah, he refused to take PE, he almost got kicked out of school for that one but instead he was forced to tutor other students, ah poor kid, tutoring brats who are 6 year older than him." Garcia said, clearly amused. "The medical records I do have are from after he got emancipated; they show that he had been underweight for a long time, he had to look at what he ate for months to get his weight to a healthy level, there's no cause given. Beside malnutrition, he had a bad case of pneumonia and a concussion with bruises when he got beat up one time when he was 12. Ha, after that he took martial arts lessons in college, according to this he rather excelled at it, way to go kid!" Garcia continued.

"Anything else?" Hotch asked.

"You know he had 5 PhD's, well right now he's doing 2 more and over the years, he also took some courses, he did the exams of those courses, but there's not really a diploma." Garcia said.

"What courses?" Hotch inquired.

"Oh, mostly languages. In total he has PhDs in Psychology, Ancient languages, History, Mathematics, Physics and Medicine. Right now he's doing PhDs in Chemistry and Psychiatry, and he's also specializing in Quantum Physics. As for his additional courses, he followed courses for Italian, Greek, French, German, Russian and Dutch lenguages, and a course in toxicology" Garcia said awed by all of this.

"He can't be in that many classes!" Hotch exclaimed.

"No, a lot of this is done by sending him textbooks, he studies them, attends a few classes and he does his exams when he chooses to do so, that's how it's possible that he has so many degrees in only 4 years. That's how he's doing his courses right now too." Garcia explained.

"Right, thank you Garcia, let me know if you find anything." And with those parting words he walked to the door, intent on starting the day and trying to find out more about Hephaistion.

"Sure thing Hotch." Garcia said distractedly, already busy typing away at her keyboard.

--

SSA Aaron Hotchner walked in to the conference, seeing Reid, Hephaistion and Gideon already there.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked, addressing the three of them.

"Yes, sir." They mumbled back, then Reid focused back on his coffee and Hephaistion went back to reading another book. Gideon was watching Hephaistion with a pensive expression, probably also trying to understand the kid. Hotch too took a well-appreciated cup of coffee and sat down, intent on enjoying his caffeine while they waited for the rest of the team. He did not have to wait long, JJ and Morgan came in almost immediately after Hotch sat down, JJ making a beeline for the coffee machine. After a few minutes Prentiss walked in and immediately glared at Hephaistion, Hotch sighed at this, apparently she hadn't changed her ridiculous opinion over night.

"Right, JJ what have you for us?" Hotch got straight to the point now that everyone was here.

"A serial killer in Miami." JJ began after she finished her coffee. "So far there are four victims, all young-adults. The first victim Nathan Perelli, 19, second year college student, studying English. Then Kirk Strand, 17, still in high school, an average student. Evan Harper, 18, just started as a student in an art academy and last Brian Mos, 20, sport scholarship for Miami University. All of the victims were found a week after their disappearance by fishers a few miles off the coast." JJ continued.

"Right, everybody get your bags, it seems like we're going to Miami. Wheels up in half an hour." Hotch declared. Everybody quickly stood up and got their bags and Hotch left the conference room to get his bag too.

--

On the jet:

Everyone was going over the files to see what else linked the victims together, or why the unsub chose these particular victims.

"So, what have we got so far; they're all about the same age, all male, all students. Their appearance isn't alike so that can't be it." Morgan summarized.

"They all seem quite popular and outgoing." Hephaistion noted. "Perhaps they frequented the same club or restaurant?" Hephaistion suggested.

"Seem popular and outgoing, on what do you base that?" Prentiss asked in contempt, still set on humiliating the irritating kid.

"Their school reports show that they had a lot friends, did not get in too much trouble, and had average grades." Hephaistion explained slowly like talking to a child.

"That doesn't prove anything." Prentiss retorted.

"This is behavioral analysis, since you work here too you should know that from these facts you can come to my conclusion." Hephaistion said irritated.

Just as Prentiss was about to respond, Reid spoke up: "He's right, Emily, it's a logical conclusion."

"Keep out of this, Reid, what do you know, you're just like pipsqueak over there." Prentiss said, her voice laced with contempt. Reid looked wounded that Prentiss would suggest that he was bad at his job.

"Prentiss, keep your opinion to yourself, we got a case to solve!" Hotch said angered by her behavior.

"Yes, sir." She said grudgingly.

"Alright, now what else do we know? What about the geographical profile? Where the bodies dumped from a boat or did they float that far to the sea?" Hotch asked.

Hephaistion began typing away at his computer and then stated: "The unsub must have had a boat."

"What makes you say that?" Morgan asked confused on how he knew that.

"What? Oh, I looked up the tides. If you watch the time that they were found, it's not possible for them to drift that far, in fact, they were dumped much farther in to the sea but because of the fact that the unsub did not try to sink them, he must have expected them to be found eventually." Hephaistion explained.

"Okay, good work Hephaistion, that narrows down the suspects at least." Gideon said.

--

In the Miami Police department:

"Hello, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, this is my team: SSA Jason Gideon, SSA Derek Morgan, Special Agent Emily Prentiss, Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid and Dr. Hephaistion Winters." Hotch introduced himself and the rest of the team, deciding to add Hephaistion's title to at least try and get them to take him seriously.

"Hello, my name is detective Wirest, I've been working on this case from the beginning." The detective introduced himself while looking skeptically at botch Reid and Hepahistion.

"Can you show us where we can set our things up?" Hotch asked impatiently.

"Of course, of course. Follow me." Wirest said while showing them to a rather small room, but it would have to do.

"Thank you, could you order one of your men to deliver all files concerning this case to Dr. Reid and Dr. Winters. They'll look into them while the rest of the team interviews the victims families." Hotch requested.

"Yeah, sure." He said while looking even more skeptical at the two young doctors. "But we already questioned the families of the victims."

"We would just like to ask them some questions, see if we can find out anything else." Gideon stated politely, knowing very well how easily insulted the local police was sometimes.

"Very well then." The detective said clearly disgruntled.

--

"You found anything?" Reid asked Hephaistion. They had looked over every file at least four times just to see if they've missed anything, despite the fact that they both could remember everything they read word by word.

"No, nothing." Hephaistion replied disappointed: "It doesn't make sense, there has to be another connection besides the fact that they are all students. When are the others coming back? maybe they've found out something more"

"They'll be here any minute now, Hotch just called but he didn't sound very enthusiastic, so I doubt it." Reid answered just when the rest of the team walked in with indeed disappointed faces.

"Find anything interesting?" Hephaistion still asked.

"No, nothing peculiar," Morgan said: "you were right though, the parents say they were all well liked and outgoing." He continued with a small smile.

"Yeah, I know, it's mentioned in the initial reports but they too don't say much more." Hephaistion responded distracted by looking through the pictures the team had taken from the victims rooms.

"You're not going to find anything in those pictures, Hephaistion. It's just the room of teenage boys, nothing weird or unusual." Gideon said when he noticed Hephaistion looking at them intently.

"Yes, there isn't anything unusual about them but…" Hephaistion said hesitantly.

"What but?" Gideon asked curiously.

"Well, those posters, dvds and books they had, they're all a bit similar in style." Hephaistion continued still in a hesitant tone."

"So, they're typical teenage boys stuff! They probably are what's popular with kids these days, you should know that, that's your genius observation?" Prentiss commented.

"That's just it, typical teenage boys like metal or hard rock, of some kind. These are nothing of the kind." Hephaistion said, now with a bit more confidence. "Their rooms are also a bit more organized and neater than a typical teenage boy's room."

"What are you saying Hephaistion?" Gideon asked even more curious to the boy's thoughts.

"Uhmmm… have you asked the families of the victims about their errr… sexual orientation?" Hephaistion asked, actually blushing a bit.

"No, I don't think we did... Why do you think they are homosexual or bisexual?" Gideon asked.

"Just... their choice in music and films, the music is calmer then the stereotypes, also the films are mostly romantic, normally they'd be action." Hephaistion explained.

"We'll go back and ask, you come with us Hephaistion, maybe you see something else we didn't notice." Hotch said, grateful with Hephaistions help.

--

A short drive later; Hotch, Morgan, Prentiss and Hephaistion were back at the first victim's house. "Hello ma'am sorry to bother you again but we have to ask you one more question about your son, and Dr. Winters here would like to have another look in your son's room." Hotch said when Mrs. Perelli opened the door.

"Of course, come in, I'll do anything I can to help you catch the person who killed my son." The woman said immediately. "His room is upstairs, second door on the right, Dr. Winters." And with that Hephaistion disappeared upstairs.

"Isn't he a bit young to work for the FBI, agent Hotchner?" The woman asked when he was out of sight.

"He is a bit younger than usual, but he is emancipated and I assure you that he is fully qualified to work for us." Hotch said gently: "Madam, has your son ever had a girlfriend or a boyfriend?" He asked delicately.

"Yes, he had a boyfriend about a year ago, it was a shock for us but we did not really mind. Why?" She said, confirming at least one of the four to Hephaistion's suspicion.

"It's just something to take into consideration ma'am." Hotch replied: "We'll be going now, thank you for your help." He said when Hephaistion came back.

"It was no problem, let me know if you need to know anything else." She said friendly.

"We will, Mrs. Perelli."

Once outside Hotch spoke to Hephaistion "You were right about this one. Found anything else?"

"Not really, the only thing that I found was a collection of photographs of his and what I presume was his boyfriend." Hephaistion responded.

"Yes, the mother mentioned a boyfriend." Hotch responded: "Let's see if the rest of the victims fit your theory."

--

"Mr. Strand, sorry to bother you again but could we ask just one more thing and look in your son's room again." Morgan began when the second victims father opened the door.

You could clearly notice that the man was disgruntled by their presence by his more than annoyed tone of voice when he said: "Haven't you people bothered us enough?"

"It won't take long sir, just let Dr. Winters here look in your son's room and answer a few questions, it won't take all that long" Morgan said, trying to appease the grieving parent.

"Doctor Winters?" The man said sarcastically while raising a mocking eyebrow when he noticed Hephaistion. "How would it help you find my son's killer by letting some kid snoop around in his room, go back to school kid." The man continued mockingly, now looking directly at Hephaistion.

Prentiss snorted in an obvious agreement.

"Even one of your agents agrees with me, the murder investigation of my son isn't some training camp!" The man shouted angered.

"Please, Mr. Strand, we're just trying to find out who murdered your son, Dr. Winters can help us with that, he's already fully qualified to help us sir." Morgan said trying to placate the man after shooting Prentiss a warning look.

"Very well then but be quick about it."The man said, finally cooperating.

"Do you know if your son was interested in boys instead of girls?" Morgan asked, directly coming to the point while Hephaistion went upstairs.

"What?! No, my son would never be one of those disgusting fags." The man exclaimed: "Why would you think that?!"

"We're trying to find things the victims had in common sir." Morgan said calmly although he was furious on the inside, how could people be so prejudiced.

"Well, if any of those kids was a disgusting shirt-lifter, then they had it coming." The man continued insultingly.

"Thank you for your cooperation sir, we'll be going now." Morgan gritted out between his teeth, trying hard not to punch the guy.

--

"Well even if the kid was gay, he obviously would not have told his father." Hotch said, also angry that the man would be so prejudiced. "I really don't like people like that."

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion." Prentiss said, defending the guy.

"No, Prentiss, that's just pure prejudice." Hotch said still angry. "What did you find Hephaistion?" Hotch continued before Prentiss could argue further and make him even angrier.

"I… I think we can safely say that Kirk Strand is interested in men." Hephaistion replied blushing.

"Why? What did you find?" Hotch asked, clearly not understanding Hephaistion's mortification and Morgan's amusement.

"I…uhm… I found his…errr… gay porn collection on his computer." Hephaistion said while blushing even more.

"Oh." Was all Hotch had to say. "Err… well yes… we can be sure of that. How did you get access to his computer? It was password protected." Hotch questioned when he recovered from his embarrassment, last time we were there Morgan called Garcia about it but she said she didn't think she could hack his computer if she wasn't there and even than it would be a challenge, he had a pretty tight knit security system on it.

"I… uhm… I kn…knew how to g…get through the s…sy…system." Hephaistion replied, clearly nervous.

"Did you?" Hotch said trying to encourage the boy to explain how he knew to break into a rather difficult security system.

"Yes." Hephaistion replied short and firmly, clearly not wanting to explain it further.

"Very well then." Hotch conceded: "Let's see if your theory proves to be correct with the last two victims."

--

"Could you get your parents, Ms. Harper." Hotch asked the little sister of the third victim when she opened the door.

"Yes, sir, I'll be right back." The girl replied in a sad voice.

"Hello, how can we help you now?" Mr. Harper asked when he and his wife came to the door.

"Yes, we would like to ask you a few more questions and perhaps your daughter can show Dr. Winters your son's room." Hotch said while nodding to Hephaistion.

"Yeah, sure, come on in." Mr. Harper replied. "Casey, sweetie, can you show the nice Doctor to Evan's room." The man said, addressing his daughter.

"'Kay, daddy." The little girl said quietly before she turned to Hephaistion. "Follow me."

"I'll get right to the point, Mrs. and Mr. Harper, do you know if your son was gay?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, yes, he was." Mrs. Harper said immediately. "Why does that matter?"

"We think the killer was targeting homosexual students, I'm sorry Mrs. Harper." Hotch explained.

"Oh god, you mean… that someone killed my baby just because he liked boys more?" Mrs. Harper asked mortified. "Who would do such a thing?"

"I'm truly sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Harper, there are some very prejudiced people out there." Hotch said mournfully.

"Is that all you needed to know, agent Hotchner?" The man said.

"Yes, that is all, thank you for your cooperation." Hotch replied.

The little girl and Hephaistion came back down. "Mommy, mommy, sumthin hurt the doc when he was on the computr." The girl said, having trouble pronouncing everything correctly.

"I'm sure he's fine." The woman told her daughter, thinking she was imagining things.

"Thank again for your help, Mrs. Harper. We'll be going now." Hotch said, trying to figure out what the girl meant.

"It was no problem, say goodbye to the agents now Casey." The woman said

"Goodbye, agents, bye bye doctor." The little girl said.

Once outside Hotch asked: "What did the girl mean with the computer hurting you?"

"Nothing, she was imagining things, sir." Hephaistion said with a completely blank expression.

Hotch made a disbelieving noise but decided to let the matter go for now. "Let's go see if the last victim follows your assessment." Hotch said instead.

--

"Can we ask you a few questions, Mrs. Mos?" Morgan asked when she opened the door.

"Of course, come on in." She said. "Who's this, he wasn't here last time?" She asked when she noticed Hephaistion.

"This is Dr. Winters, he's here to look in your son's room to see if we missed anything." Morgan explained.

"Oh, of course, it's the first door on the right, dearie." The woman said, practically cooing over Hephaistion.

"T… t… thank you ma'am, I'll g… go and take a look." Hephaistion said quickly before practically running upstairs, completely missing Hotch's and Morgan's amused looks, and Prentiss' mocking one.

"Do you know if your son liked boys instead of girls, ma'am?" Morgan asked the woman.

"I… well… he never told me but I saw him once, kissing a boy, I don't know why he never told us, I think he was embarrassed." The woman said.

"Very well ma'am, that's all we needed to know." Morgan said.

"I'll go get Hephaistion." Hotch said, curious as to what the girl have meant.

Hotch walked upstairs and into the last victim's room. He saw Hephaistion on the victim's computer, he was grimacing in pain.

"Are you all right Hephaistion?" Hotch asked concerned.

Hephaistion looked very startled but he quickly masked his expression and turned to look at his supervisor. "I… I'm f… fine, sir." He said nervously.

"You didn't look fine."Hotch pressed the issue.

"I'm fine!" Hephaistion replied more forceful now.

"If you're sure…" Hotch said doubtful. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes, he had a boyfriend, there are mails and pictures of him on the computer." Hephaistion replied, a bit more relaxed now that they were back on familiar ground.

"Okay, let's get back to the station." Hotch said, planning on questioning Hephaistion about the issue later.

"Very well." Hephaistion replied, following Hotch outside.

--

Back at the station:

"Hephaistion was right, all the victims were gay." Hotch announced when he walked into the room they were appointed."

"How did you know that anyway, huh kid?" Prentiss said, angry that the kid was right again.

"It was just a theory, as you say I'm a teenager myself, I just noticed a few details that were different.

"Right… a teenager yourself, bet you're a nancy boy yourself too." She said tauntingly.

"I… I… I don't know what you're talking about." Hephaistion said, looking very pale.

"You are! Aren't you! The kid's a shirt-lifter, you're really a freak aren't you." She said spitefully.

"I… I…" Hephaistion stuttered. "E… ex… excuse me." He said before running out the door.

"PRENTISS! What the hell are you doing?!" Gideon shouted, outraged at her behavior.

"Putting the kid in his place." She said sneering.

"Don't be ridiculous! He's done nothing wrong, and the only thing you've done is insult him! If this happens one more time, you're off this team. Do you understand?!" Hotch said, furious at her.

"But…" She started to argue.

"No buts, Prentiss, do you understand?!" Hotch cut her off before she could say anything.

"Yes, sir, I understand." She said grudgingly. And with that Hotch and Gideon walked out of the room intent on finding the upset youth.

--

Eventually they found him in the boys lavatory. Hephaistion was sitting in the corner, softly crying. He couldn't help it, Prentiss was right, he did like boys, even after all that happened to him. He never had a boyfriend or anything, but girls just didn't interest him in that way. He was disgusted by himself, how could he be like that, after all that happened, he didn't understand. He couldn't help it either, he tried being normal, he truly did, but he couldn't. Guess his father was right all along… he wasn't normal, he was a freak.

"Hephaistion." Gideon said gently to the boy, who hadn't noticed them. Hephaistion head shot up and he had a completely unguarded expression in his eyes and on his face, so many emotions, it was a startling difference for the two agents, Hephaistion was always hiding most of his emotions. They saw confusion, hurt, fear but most of all they saw self-loathing in his eyes and expression.

"Hephaistion." Gideon repeated, trying to get the kid's attention.

"Yes?" Hephaistion croaked, his voice breaking with that one word. "Do you need me for something?" He asked confused, trying to figure out why his two supervisors were here.

"No, we wanted to know if you were okay." Gideon said gently, he saw the disbelief on Hephaistion's face, clearly not many people have ever asked him that.

"Okay? Yeah sure, why wouldn't I be okay?, I'm fine." Hephaistion said, already trying to mask his emotions again.

"You weren't fine, Hephaistion, please tell us what made you so upset." Hotch asked.

"It was nothing, I was being ridiculous." Hephaistion said. "I'm sorry for my reaction, I won't let my emotions control me again."

"No, it doesn't matter Hephaistion, you don't have to keep everything to yourself, you can tell us what's wrong." Gideon said, trying to get him to confide in them.

Hephaistion didn't answer, he just looked at his hands in shame.

"Is it because of what Agent Prentiss said?" Gideon asked.

"It's… I can't help it… I don't… I don't do it on purpose, I tried to change it, I really did, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Hephaistion stuttered out, feeling miserable. He wished he was alone, he wished he had the privacy to do what he needed to cope with everything; hopefully he could wait until they went home, these people were too perceptive, he would not be able to keep his secret, they would surely call him insane if they found out about it, it was just a way to deal with things.

"You've done nothing wrong, Hephaistion, you don't have to be sorry, there is nothing wrong with liking boys or being different." Hotch said, hoping that the boy would believe him.

"I'm not normal, I was never normal, I don't… I don't want to be a freak." Hephaistion was mumbling, lost in his memories.

"I doesn't matter, Hephaistion, you're not a freak, you're just different, it's not a bad thing, okay?" Gideon say trying to convince the distraught youth.

Hephaistion still looked doubtful but answered in a small voice: "Okay."

--

Sooo, this was the fourth chapter, quite long if I say so myself. Next chapter they'll catch the bad guy and Hephaistion's computer mystery will be explained, also the reason why his normal emancipation was denied…. Curious??

Anyway please REVIEW, I love reviews, flame if you must but please tell me what you don't like about it. I don't know if you got all the hints in the last part of this chapter but there will be more about that later.

With thanks to my beta: Victoria