Morgan and Reid were quiet in the car, still uncomfortable about what had happened the night before. They were both thinking about what it could mean that the other man had been hard.

When the silence had started getting oppressive, Reid finally couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you think of Britin and its owners?"

Morgan breathed a sigh of relief; he had been about to crack, too, but hadn't come up with something to say.

"The house is amazing; can you imagine living just two people there, in all that space?"

"No, I really can't, but with all the guests they apparently have all the time, I can imagine that they don't feel that it's that much."

"I know, that's another thing that'd drive me crazy, having all those people stay at my house on a regular basis. They must really love their family."

"Yeah, the made up part of it at least, and Justin's mother and sister; the rest of his and all of Brian's real family is another story. Can you imagine anybody treating their son like that?"

"Which one?"

"Either!"

"No, I really can't, but then, I'm not a homophobe or an angry, violent drunk."

"No, you're really not."

Reid heard the admiration in his own voice and turned his head to look out the window so Morgan wouldn't notice his blush. Morgan had heard the admiration, too, but really didn't know what to make of it. He was getting more confused by the second by Reid's behavior.

He decided to ignore it for now; he couldn't think properly about this with Reid sitting so close to him, anyway. He was afraid to read too much into it and make a complete fool of himself, thereby ruining their friendship. They also had to concentrate on work right now; they had two interviews to do.

"Who should we talk to first?"

They were getting closer to Pittsburgh and had to make a decision as to where to turn.

"I think we should go to the bookstore and talk to Cody Bell first; that way, we may catch Chris Hobbs at lunch with all his colleagues."

Morgan stared at Reid for a second before turning his eyes back to the road.

"Remind me to never piss you off; you are ruthless."

"Yeah, well, homophobes who take to violence are just something I cannot accept. It's not logical; do they really think that if they beat up a gay man they prove they are manly men? Or do they think homosexuality can be beaten out of a person? The only thing they prove is a lack of impulse control and a latent homosexuality they are scared of and detest in themselves."

Morgan was stunned, but then he thought about it and it made sense; Reid hated violence in all forms. That probably stemmed from all the abuse he had to endure as a child prodigy in a Las Vegas high school.

If what Morgan had started to suspect about Reid was true, that would give him added incentive to hate homophobia. The fact that Hobbs had attacked Justin from behind was just the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Morgan agreed and asked for the address for the bookstore. Reid gave it to him and then proceeded to give him directions since Morgan really wasn't familiar with Pittsburgh and Reid had studied the map of the city and knew it by heart.

Morgan parked the SUV right outside the store and they went inside. They saw a woman behind the counter and showed their credentials while asking for Cody Bell. Her eyes widened and she pointed wordlessly to the back of the store.

They thanked her and walked further in among the books. They saw a man they knew to be Cody Bell; they had seen a picture of him. They took out their credentials again and introduced themselves.

"What do the FBI want with me?"

"I assume you have heard of the murders on and around Liberty Avenue?"

"Sure, everybody has, at least everybody in the community."

He didn't lower his voice, unapologetic about being gay; Morgan and Reid had to at least respect that much.

"We would like to know where you were on the nights of the murders."

"WHAT? I'm a suspect? Why would I go around killing gay men? If they were straight, I could understand."

They both stared at him like he was crazy, which he most likely was, but he just shrugged and looked unconcerned.

"Look, I was arrested for beating up some straight fucker who was messing with me and my boyfriend. I was in jail on the night of the first murder, so I couldn't possibly have done it."

He shrugged again and Morgan took out his phone to call Garcia just as it rang.

"Morgan."

"Derek, I'm so sorry, I just looked a little closer at Cody Bell and it turns out he was in custody on the night of the first murder, so he can't be our guy."

"Yeah, he just told us, baby girl. Next time, could you maybe give us this kind of information a little sooner? You did find out where some of the others were, why not Bell?"

"I know, I'm sorry, but it didn't occur to me to look at the police records until about half an hour ago. He's the only one with any kind of record, except for Gary Sapperstein and Chris Hobbs, but we knew about those beforehand."

"Ok, mama, you're forgiven."

Garcia could hear the teasing tone in Morgan's voice and knew he'd let her hear about this slip up for a long time to come. That was ok, she could take it, besides, she'd much rather have him tease her than have it all be too serious all the time. In their line of work, it could way too easily get morose and somber if they didn't do something to prevent that.

Morgan turned back to Reid and Cody Bell and nodded slightly at Reid.

"Thank you for your time; sorry for the inconvenience."

Reid didn't exactly sound sincere, but Cody didn't seem to notice; he just waved a hand dismissively and went back to work. Morgan and Reid left the store and went back to the car.

"What did Garcia say?"

"She had just thought about checking police records half an hour ago and she called as soon as she found out; it's just bad luck that we decided to talk to him first, otherwise, she could have saved us the trouble."

"True, but I actually wanted to meet him; I don't think I've ever met a gay vigilante before."

Reid looked speculative and Morgan nodded while he chuckled lightly.

"I don't think I have either."

He started the car and looked at Reid.

"Where to next?"

Reid guided him through Pittsburgh and they ended up at the construction site where Hobbs was currently working about 15 minutes into the lunch break. All the construction workers were sitting on pallets and crates eating when they arrived.

"I'm agent Morgan and this is Dr. Reid, we're from the FBI, which one of you is Chris Hobbs?"

Everybody looked at the guy sitting almost in the middle and the two agents looked at him and put the credentials away they had flashed as Morgan introduced them.

"We'd like to talk to you about the murder of three men on and around Liberty Avenue. Do you have a few minutes?"

Morgan felt a perverse sense of satisfaction from the way all his colleagues looked at Hobbs and the slow fury he saw in the other man's eyes.

"What the fuck would I know about anything that goes on in that part of town?"

"We just want to know where you were on the nights in question, nothing more."

Reid told him the dates and Hobbs laughed, looking relieved.

"My wife was in labor the second of those dates; she had the baby the next morning and I was with her at the hospital all night. The first of those dates we were at her parents' house for a baby shower, and the weekend after, we got my son christened."

Morgan and Reid thanked him for his time and then left again, but not before they noticed how some of the other men started to look like they wondered why Hobbs was even a suspect in the first place.

When they were back in the car, Reid put his hand to his face, covering his eyes.

"That was so unprofessional, we should have pulled him aside and asked him; he could get in trouble with his colleagues for this."

"Yeah, but you know, I don't really have it in me to regret this, not after what he did to Justin."

Reid nodded and took his hand away from his face again.

"Let's go back, see if Vivian has anything we can eat for lunch; I'm starting to get a little hungry."

"Good idea, genius, I'm a little hungry, too."

Morgan turned the car towards Britin and they drove in silence, but it was a companionable kind of silence, the kind you can only have with people you genuinely like and trust.

They arrived at Britin just as Justin came out of the office looking pale and shocked.

"What happened?"

Morgan and Reid were next to him in a hurry.

"He sent us an e-mail, one for each of us."