Chapter 14

"Damn, Dave, you're supposed to swallow it not inhale it," Hotch joked as Rossi coughed and sputtered on his coffee.

Rossi held up a hand to let everyone know he was alright. Reid even reached over and patted him on the back a couple times. "I'm," cough. "Ok," cough. Rossi swallowed and finally took a deep breath.

Garcia waited a second and then continued. As she was going over the list of victims, Rossi was willing himself not to show any reaction. Don't look at him. Don't look at him, he kept telling himself over and over. He couldn't help himself and he glanced at Hotch from the corner of his eyes. Shit! Why is he looking at me?

Garcia finally finished and everyone started to work out theories and ideas. "Do the cops really think one man has done all of these?" JJ asked clearly not sure if she agreed.

"Maybe all of the others, but the five guys together? There's no way one man did that," Morgan told them.

Hotch raised his brows as he looked at him. "You think it's totally separate, then?"

"Well, come on, Hotch. Five gang bangers at once?"

"I guess you're right. No man could do that," Hotch told him. Rossi was watching for any kind of reaction from Hotch, and he wasn't getting any.

"So this guy probably has a law enforcement back ground, with the lack of evidence," Blake pointed out.

"He could still be a cop. There are plenty of statistics where cops take the law into their own hands," Reid told them.

"With the public behind him, that could be why there are not any witnesses," JJ mused.

"Or he's just that good," Hotch pointed out and Rossi had to stop himself from looking at him.

"Well, I know this has to be my least favorite list of victims. These guys were convicted of or suspected of some pretty terrible stuff," Garcia told them.

"Even so, no one has the right to take the law into their own hands," Blake told her.

"Well, unless we find some evidence that the cops missed, there's no way we can even begin to figure out who this is," Morgan injected.

"That's what we have the profile for," Hotch told him.

"Maybe he's in the judicial system, like that one guy," JJ started.

"Marvin Doyle, the court reporter," Reid told her.

"Yeah."

"So we have to look at every cop and member of the judicial system in the whole metropolitan area? That's thousands of people," Garcia told them.

"We can narrow it down to men physically fit enough to actually be capable of committing the crimes," Hotch told her.

"I would guess with an age between 25 and 45?" Blake asked and nods from almost everyone she smiled.

"Well, that will narrow it done some, but I'm guessing it will still be in the hundreds," Garcia told them. She didn't mind searching, but she liked her lists to be smaller.

"And there has to have been a stressor," JJ pointed out. "Something made this man turn into a killer."

Rossi again stole a glance at Hotch, but he was focused on JJ.

"Maybe it's just someone who has been wronged by the justice system and decided to take care of things himself," Rossi finally spoke. He knew he had to or they would all know something was wrong.

"I thought we were trying to make the list shorter?" Garcia asked him jokingly.

"Sorry, Kitten, but it could be."

"Dave's right. At this point in time we have no clue who could be responsible," Hotch told her.

"Well, at least now that they've asked for help, we'll be able to see the actual crime scenes," Morgan injected.

"If he kills again. It seems to be pretty haphazard when he strikes," Reid pointed out.

"Well, we'll start with the preliminaries, but unless something else is brought to our attention, we can't just focus on this case," Hotch told them and stood up. "Reid, work the geographical profile. Blake and JJ, you work on victimology. Morgan and Dave, go over the crime scene photos and see if you can actually tie all these crimes to one person."

"What are you going to do?" Rossi asked him.

Hotch gave him a strange look. "I'm going to help Garcia narrow down the list of possibles."

"Oh, ok."

XXX

By seven that night, Hotch walked back into the conference room to the boards set up as a chronological chart of the crime scenes. Rossi and Morgan admitted to not being able to tie any of the crimes together other than through the shear brutality of the murders. "If it is just one guy, he sure is pissed," Morgan told him and Rossi almost choked on his coffee again. Hotch looked at him again, but decided to call it a night. He sent everyone home and walked to his office. Rossi sank down in his chair in his own office. What the hell am I going to do? If Hotch is responsible, there's no evidence proving it. If he's not, and I think he is, what is that going to do to him? What's it going to do to me? Rossi put his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. And if I find any evidence, would I actually turn it over? Could I send my best friend to jail?

"Hey," Hotch said from Rossi's doorway.

Rossi jumped as if someone had punched him. He looked at Hotch. The bruises on his face were starting to turn greenish purple. Rossi swallowed hard. "Hey."

"You want to join me and Jack for dinner?"

"Tonight?"

"No, next week." Hotch studied Rossi for a moment. "Yes, tonight."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? What's wrong with you?"

Stop acting like an idiot, Dave! "Sorry, it's been a long day," Rossi told him as he stood up. "I would love to join you. Well, actually that depends on what you're making," Rossi added with a smile.

Hotch smiled back. "I was just gonna order in pizza," Hotch told him as he led the way across the bullpen to the elevator.

"Sausage?" Rossi asked as he followed.

XXX

The next day the team got a case, and since the 'Dealer of Justice' case was at a standstill, they headed to Alabama to help stop a spree killer. After only three days they were headed back and Rossi could tell Hotch was hiding the anger building in him. He sat down next to him on the jet. "How you doing?"

"I'm fine," Hotch told him a little too quickly.

"Really?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

Hotch gave him a look that almost made him forget to breathe.

"You said I could go with you the next time," Rossi reminded him.

"I don't plan on going anywhere."

"You're not getting Jack?"

"He's staying with his grandparents for a few days."

Rossi wasn't sure whether Hotch was planning on going anywhere or not with Jack not coming home. Maybe he was going to try to get through the anger on his own. Rossi couldn't leave it, though. "So why don't you come over to my place?" Rossi noticed Hotch gripping the arm rests way too tightly.

"No thanks."

"Hotch, I'm not going to let this go. You know that."

Hotch fixed him with his stare. "You really want me to lose it on you, Dave?"

"Are you saying you can't control yourself when it happens?" Rossi asked suddenly very worried.

"I can control myself just fine," Hotch told him coldly.

"Then why would you lose it on me?"

"Because you're pissing me off!" Hotch yelled as he stood up and went to the other end of the jet. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched Hotch. Hotch gave Rossi one more dirty look and went into the galley area and shut the curtain so no one could see him.

Everyone turned and looked at Rossi. Rossi shrugged and looked at them sheepishly. When Hotch didn't come out of the galley, Rossi sighed and went to him. Morgan grabbed his arm as Rossi passed him. "Don't you think you should leave him alone?" Morgan asked quietly.

"I need to apologize. I shouldn't have pushed him."

"I don't think he'll even hear you with as mad as he is," Reid told him.

"I thought we agreed to let him have his space when he got like this?" JJ asked Rossi.

He couldn't tell them why he needed to watch Hotch, so he finally nodded and went and sat back down. He just hoped he could get to Hotch when the time was right.

Hotch didn't come out for the rest of the flight, and he was the first one off the jet. The whole team got up and delayed Rossi from getting off. They thought they were helping Hotch, and Rossi understood them, but his frustration about the whole thing was about to make him go ballistic. "Alright! I won't bother him tonight," he told them and they finally let him off the jet. Rossi shook his head as he went to his car. On his way home, he prayed that there weren't any 'Justice' murders on the news in the morning.

XXX

To Rossi's delight, there weren't any reported murders, and he started to think that maybe he was wrong. He prayed he was wrong. Another case took them to Montana and they ended up being gone for a week. Once they were back home they all went out for a drink to their local bar. The evening was going fine until some guy started hitting on JJ. She tried to make the man leave her alone, but the man just wouldn't take a hint. Hotch stepped in and tried to make the man see reason, but he pushed Hotch and the whole team was up on their feet. Before anyone could do anything, the powerful man punched Hotch in the face. By the time Hotch brought his face back to look at the man, blood was running out of his lip and anger was showing in his eyes. The whole team knew what was about to happen, so Morgan grabbed the guy and started for the door. Reid and Rossi struggled to hold Hotch back so he couldn't follow.

"Jesus, are you alright, Hotch?" JJ asked him as she used a napkin to wipe the blood off Hotch's face.

Hotch shook the guys off his arms. "I'm fine!" he snapped.

Reid shot Rossi a look that told him he didn't think Hotch was fine. Rossi handed Hotch his drink. "Come on, sit back down, and let's try to enjoy the rest of the evening."

Hotch took a deep breath and nodded. They all sat back down and Morgan finally came back. Rossi kept on eye on Hotch, but he couldn't tell if he was getting to the boiling point or not. It worried Rossi that Hotch may have figured out a way to hide it.