Chapter Three

Morgan and Rossi, along with Chief Akton entered the meeting room to see that Emily and JJ had already made it back from their visit to the ME. The three of them sat down around the large rectangular table which occupied the centre of the room. Reid looked up from the file he was studying to see Morgan wafting cool air onto his face, sweat beading Rossi's forehead and the Chief looking a little damp. "It could be worse." He commented.

"What do you mean?" Prentiss enquired.

"The heat. The highe…"

"Kid!" Morgan said loudly. Reid looked a little dejected at his flow of information being halted. "I know what you're going to say. The highest recorded temperature of Pasadena was a scorching 106⁰ in 1962. However, today it is only 104⁰."

A deep frown creased the youngest team member's brow. "But how could you possibly know that?"

Morgan chuckled, had it been anyone else apart from Dr. Spencer Reid he may have been a little offended but as it was he knew his friend too well to take that comment to heart. "The chief beat you to it."

"Oh." It was all he could say before the ringing of the phone interrupted him. He reached forwards and pressed the answer button. "Hey Garcia, you're on speaker."

"Well don't I have bundles of information for you my darling crime fighters." She almost sang.

"What you got for us baby girl?" Morgan smiled. Chief Akton was left wondering how he should act in this situation. Never before had he met a team who interacted in such a way. He decided the best course of action was to say nothing at all unless it was completely necessary.

"Ok so victim number one by the name of Steven Jones, 38, has lived in Pasadena for the last twenty eight years. His parents relocated here from Eau Claire, Wisconsin when he was only 10. He met his wife at the University of Houston where they both studied law. She dropped out after the first year to pursue a career to become a chiropractor. He completed his course with top marks and then he became one of the youngest men to have owned his own firm. His financial records are squeaky clean." To the untrained ear it would have sounded like she had just rattled all of that information off in one breath. "Now Mr Bates is somewhat different. He was sixty years old with no surviving family. His brother died five years ago in a road collision. Mr Bates was born in Pasadena and lived in the same house all of his life. He became the Pastor of the Southern Congregational Methodist Church almost twenty five years ago. His financial dabbling's were that of the regular working class American."

"So we're no closer to finding a link between the victims." JJ sighed.

"Ah, you speak too soon my fair JJ. When I realised that there wasn't a pattern I began to dig a little deeper and I discovered some very icky skeletons in their closets." The team shared a knowing glance. They suspected what was coming. "They were both accused of crimes and had them expunged from their records."

"Did you know anything about this chief?" Rossi asked pointedly, he would hate to find that the Chief had deliberately left out any details of the case.

"No. I had no idea. I was transferred here five years ago from Arlington. The first time I knew of these men was when I saw their corpses at the dump sites." The Chief explained and cursed his own stupidity. "I didn't think to run a criminal background check on a victim."

"That's alright sir." Garcia's voice floated out once more. "That's why I'm here, well not physically at least, but I can catch anything that slips through the net."

"What were their crimes?" Hotch asked wanting to get the conversation back on track.

"Right. Before Pastor Bates became just that he had too much to drink on a night out with friends. He got in his car and knocked over a little girl. He got off on a technicality under that stature of limitations. Apparently, he had an epiphany which told him to say goodbye to his old ways and just like that he was a born again Christian. When he joined the church that particular entry on his record vanished. Mr Jones instigated his own slate to be wiped. About two years ago he was accused of rape by his personal assistant. She dropped the case before it even reached the courts."

"Thanks Garcia. That's all for now." Hotch ended the call.

"So we have another self-appointed vigilante. Great." JJ sighed.

"Could this have a religious aspect?" Morgan broached the subject carefully.

"What makes you ask that?" Prentiss questioned, frowning slightly.

"The killing of a Pastor is quite poignant, especially considering that he was killed less than a mile away from his place of worship. There was also the placement of the body."

"I highly doubt this has anything to do with religion Morgan." Reid spoke and everyone turned their eyes upon him which made him glance down nervously. "Had the unsub wanted to preach about religion they would have most likely have hung his body from the bars of the jungle gym in a typical crucifixion pose. In most cultures an upside down cross is considered to be a sign of the anti-Christ, which would therefore be contradictory. I think this has more to do with a final humiliation. After all when we take in to account that Stephen Jones was found stripped of his clothing it makes more sense considering what his crime was."

The team nodded in understanding. The information had slotted into place nicely and left hardly any room for deviation. "What did you get from the crime scenes?" Hotch requested.

Morgan went first. "Both victims were dumped in parks. Steven Jones was located in Golden Acres Park which is around 3.2 miles away from this police department. The park itself is a fair size and the nearest house is far enough away for them not to hear the engine of a car. Martin Bates was dumped in Sherwood Park which is only 1.2 miles away. This area was significantly smaller than Golden Acres and was directly opposite housing. I noticed that at the back of the park was another residential area, with only a large house on the land. However, that too was also far enough away. I asked anyway and the owners couldn't give me anything." He finished his segment by informing them of his theory of how the unsub could have gotten the body from the vehicle.

Rossi took his cue and retold everything Elle Verde had told him. They called Garcia to run a check on the plate number and she replied a split second later with some unfortunate news. "I got bubkiss, the plate's a fake. As for the make and model of the car, it's still too broad, even with my excellent abilities. If you can come back to me with the profession of the unsub I could narrow it down a lot but until then I can't help."

"Garcia can you get us a list of clients that Mr Jones dealt with personally?" Hotch asked and just as he finished his sentence the bubbly technical analyst informed him that she had completed the task and had emailed the list to his phone. "Thanks Garcia. Chief if you could get some of your men to start making their way through the list and try to figure out if Mr Jones had any disgruntled clients that would be a massive help."

Chief Akton obliged the request enthusiastically. Whilst Hotch sent the file to print Prentiss and JJ added the information from their visit to the mix. Once the list had printed the Chief left the room to get the task started as a matter of urgency.

"So the unsub is literally draining the life away from them." Rossi pondered.

"Could the act of killing them this way be a sexual release for the unsub?" Morgan asked.

"We can't know for sure but it seems unlikely. The ME said there wasn't a scrap of DNA on the body." Prentiss added.

"Just you're regular sadist then." Rossi commented and the others laughed at the dark joke.

"The unsub is most likely male." Hotch spoke as he took his seat once more. "Women tend to be more gentle with their kills, preferring to use poison or asphyxiation. If he isn't killing for sexual release then it must be something more to do with a sense of power that comes with ending a life."

"He's a cocky son of a bitch, I'll give him that." Rossi snorted. "Dumping them in parks would ensure that his victims are found."

"In the late eighteen hundreds vigilantes used to hang their victims along the side of highways or from bridges as a warning of what their justice entailed." Reid rambled. "Of course some of their crimes wouldn't necessarily have warranted a death penalty these days. Most of them were cattle thieves."

"Why hasn't he claimed them yet? If he is a vigilante surely he would want recognition for his retribution." JJ chimed.

"I suppose that part is a waiting game." Emily suggested.

From that point on the continued to work furiously with the information that they had. Morgan and Prentiss left the station at around two o'clock to interview the family of Mr Jones. They had to ascertain his time of disappearance so they could determine how often their unsub struck. The slightly trickier task of gathering that information about Pastor Bates fell to Hotch who left not long after in his suburban. Reid was left in the meeting room with the various crime scene photos and geographical map to see whether he could figure out any more occurring patterns. Rossi and JJ got working on what was left of the list Garcia had sent them.

When the clock struck four Reid stood abruptly in the meeting room. He frowned as he glanced down at the photograph in his hands, showing the various puncture wounds littering the pastor's chest. He had a hunch as to what those marks represented but he needed more information to be sure. He pulled on his blazer, slung his satchel over his shoulder and left the room with a brisk walk.

"Hey Spence, where are you going?" JJ called from a desk to his right.

"I've got a theory on something but I need to get a couple of facts right before I can confirm it with the rest of the team. I'm just going to the library across the street." He span on the spot but continued to walk backwards as he explained his departure.

"What's this blasphemy?" Rossi smirked next to her. "Boy genius doesn't know something."

Reid just smiled as he turned back around and he could still hear his two colleagues laughing at the joke as he made his way back out of the glass doors. It was quite fortunate that the public library was situated only a stone's throw away from the police department as Reid much preferred to quickly scan the pages of a book rather than to rely upon the unknown author of information that resided on the internet. The average person may not mind searching sites the likes of Wikipedia for half-truths but Reid needed information he sought to be correct if he was to succeed in his endeavour.

Five minutes later he found himself in front of one of the libraries almost prehistoric computers. Without sitting down he quickly searched a couple of keywords that brought up 37 different books that held information on the subject. Using his incredibly fast reading ability he scanned the entire list and picked out the reference numbers of the books that were the most relevant. Having become familiar with the Dewey decimal classification system when he was five years old it took him mere minutes to find the correct shelf and then the correct books. In total he pulled out ten dusty hardbacks and set them on one of the tables provided. He decided to start with the thickest book first. He opened its cover, turned to the correct page and placed his finger on the first line before he began to read. He made steady progress and was only interrupted every now and again by an infectious yawn.

Four hours later …

"Excuse me?" A small male voice shook Reid from his slumber. He raised his head from the tenth book and looked toward the elderly man with bleary eyes. "Sir? We're closing early tonight."

"Right, okay, sorry." He said in quick succession. The man shuffled off and Reid rubbed his eyes as he looked down at his wristwatch. It was 7:30 pm. He jumped up, berating himself for falling asleep, grabbing the books and hastily putting them back in their correct places. He shuddered as he stepped outside. The sun had set which had caused the path he now walked along to be bathed in shadows. Not liking the inherent absence of light he moved quickly forward back toward the police department. His hunch had been proven correct and he needed to inform the team of his theory. He reached the car park, noticing that the street lights were not functioning, when his phone began to ring. He jumped in fright and laughed despite himself. He dug around in his bag as he moved across the empty lot and pulled out his glowing phone. He pressed answer.

"Yeah?" He said

"Hey, pretty boy. When are you deciding on joining us?" Derek's voice jokingly asked as Spencer looked right and left as he continued on his way. "No, seriously kid. We're calling it quits for the night."

"It's ok. I'm heading back now but I have someth…" A huge force collided with Reid and he was sent spinning into the air. He connected with the asphalt painfully. Struggling to see he could just about make out the plate number of the car that sped off from the scene. Darkness was closing in fast as he reached out for his phone. "Mor..gan."

Ohhh a cliff-hanger…

Okay so this isn't as action packed as some of you had hoped I bet but it is full of suspense. Also, for some reason this chapter was extremely hard to write and it has stressed me out but I'm glad it is finally finished.

I have some of the next chapter already written so if I can finish it I will hopefully upload it tomorrow night.

Thank you tannerose5 for your reviews. They were greatly appreciated and so were the follows and favourites.