Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. Feel free to read and review, but please don't copy.
AN- The date has been set for the Fancon (formerly known as Author's Note Convention) and I am excited! I'm hoping to be able to go this year. For those wondering Fancon is where fanfiction authors and readers come together for a day of fun. And the money raised goes to charity.
Anyway, the ladies putting this together are holding raffles before the event and several wonderful authors (including yours truly) are participating in Stories-4-Charity. There are authors from several different fandoms participating. You pick the author and give them a story prompt and they write the story. All the details are at fandom dash con period com.
Previously on Criminal Minds- Spencer snuggled his Ewok to his chest, closed his eyes, and let the soothing sound of his family's singing lull him to sleep.
CM
Hotch strode into the police station with one mission in mind; to end this case. Enough of Spencer's second childhood had been wasted on illnesses and work already. He refused to allow the boy to miss out on the joy and wonder of the Christmas season. They were solving this case…today. And solving the case began with… "Prentiss, I want you and Garcia to stay here and go back through all the evidence; see if we've overlooked anything." The BAU leader ordered. "Morgan, you're with me. We're going to get the Sheriff and head out to Mr. Mein's home."
"Yes sir" the trio answered, nodding their heads.
Hotch stepped a little closer to the ladies of the group. "Stay together" he sternly whispered. "We more than likely made a few enemies this morning with that officer being locked up for attacking Reid and I won't have a member of my team being hurt because of it."
"You've got it, Hotch" Prentiss replied. "We'll stick to each other like glue."
"That's right. We won't even go to the little girl's room by ourselves." Garcia added.
"See that you don't." Hotch warned before turning to Morgan and muttering, "Let's go."
Prentiss huffed, crossing her arms as she watched the two profilers march off. While she knew Hotch hadn't meant that comment as a reproach, her friend's slumped posture told her that that was exactly the way Garcia had taken it. Resolving to have a little chat with their boss after the case was over, the miffed agent threw an arm around the tech analyst's shoulders. "Hey Pen, he didn't mean anything by that." She assured as she steered her friend towards their temporary headquarters. "He's just stressed and…"
"And worried about us," Penelope finished, giving the raven haired lady a smile. "I know. And I understand really I do. It's just…"
"You still feel guilty about Reid getting hurt." Emily stated with a sigh. "You shouldn't, Pen. What happened wasn't your fault."
"Yeah I know that; up here" Garcia said, pointing to her head. "It's just gonna take a while for it to sink in down here." She placed her hand on her heart.
Prentiss smiled. "I guess I'll just have to help you get there then."
Penelope returned Emily's smile with one of her own. "You won't get an argument from me. I need all the help I can get." she responded before sitting down in front of her computer and powering it up. "You can start by bringing me that stack of papers over there."
Prentiss rolled her eyes but followed the request. "Here you go, Pen. Now let's track down this SOB."
"My thoughts exactly" Garcia muttered. Fingers flying, she began a new search. This unsub was going down!
CM
The BAU's black Durango followed the Sheriff's vehicle up the snow covered dirt drive. It stopped just shy of the white, wooden farm house's porch and the doors on either side of the SUV opened. Hotch climbed out of the driver's seat and swiftly scanned the dilapidated two story for any sign of life. Finding no lights on, footprints leading to the porch, or smoke coming from the chimney, he frowned. It appeared as though Mr. Mein had not been home for some time. Then again they may have stumbled upon the site of another disappearance. Pulling out his gun, the BAU leader turned to his colleague. "Morgan, go around back." He ordered. "See if there are any signs of Mr. Mein having been here recently. And be careful; something's not right."
Morgan nodded before pulling his weapon and stalking around to the back of the house.
Hotch and Sheriff Mendenhall trudged through the snow to the front porch and ascended the four rickety stairs. They skirted the large hole between the steps and the faded welcome mat, stormed to the door, and pounded on it. "Fred! Fred, its Sheriff Mendenhall!" the policeman called out. "Come on out, Fred! I need to talk to ya for a minute!" Getting no response, Jake raised his hand to knock again only to freeze as the FBI agent's com suddenly buzzed.
"Hotch! Get back here now!" Morgan shouted as he readied to kick in the back door. "I found them!"
"Wait for back-up!" Hotch yelled into his com as he and the Sheriff raced around the porch. They wove their way around all the junk piled on the side of the wrap around porch. Skidding to a stop beside the muscular profiler, Hotch followed the man's gaze grimacing at the sight that met his eyes. A naked body hanging from the rafters was clearly visible from the long, rectangular window in the door. The headless corpse had been cut open and gutted like a deer.
"Holy Mary Mother of God!" Jake exclaimed. "Is, is that…"
"Sheriff" Hotch called, taking a step over to block the man's view of the body. "Go back to your car and put out a BOLO for Fred Mein. I want all your men looking for him."
Jake nodded. "Wh-what should I t-t-tell them?" he stammered.
"Nothing" Hotch answered. "Telling them anything at this point would do nothing but anger them and that might cause problems when he is captured."
"Understood" Sheriff Mendenhall said. He glanced towards the doorway. "I'll, I'll be right back.
Hotch nodded and then turned to Morgan. "Kick it down." He ordered.
"No need to" Morgan replied, pushing the unlocked door open. Raising his weapon, he followed Hotch into the dark house. They crept down the hall clearing rooms as they went. The duo searched the entire house for their unsub before going back to the body in the hallway. Spotting a sack sitting against one wall, Morgan pulled out his gloves. He bent down and carefully opened it. "I found the head." He announced. "It's Mrs. Warthen."
Hotch paused his examination of some wall hangings to look at the other agent's find. "The missing women weren't his first victims." He noted, gesturing to the masks that were actually skinned human faces.
Morgan made a face. "Now, that's just wrong." He muttered.
"And that's not the worst of it." Hotch informed him as he warily eyed a chair a few feet away from him; a chair that was covered with human skin. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "We're going to need help going through all this."
"You want me to call Prentiss?" Morgan asked.
"No, I'll make the call." Hotch countered before turning and walking out to the porch. He took out his cell phone, flipped it open, and punched the button for the team member he needed. It was answered immediately. "Dave, how's Spencer?...That's good. Tell him to get dressed in his warmest outfit. I'm sending the Sheriff to pick you three up. He's going to stop by the station to get Prentiss, too. Have JJ stay there with Garcia…I know but we need him here…We don't have a choice, Dave. We need his expertise…I know…We'll just have to be there for him when the nightmares hit." Aaron chuckled. "Tell him he will need the IPad. The no talking rule is still in effect…Alright, go get him a snack. We'll see you soon." Flipping his cell closed, Hotch let out a deep breath and then headed back into the house. They had a lot to go through.
CM
A couple of hours later the team minus JJ and Garcia were carefully going through the house room by room and cataloguing all evidence they found while they waited for word on Mr. Mein. They had only managed to completely search the kitchen and the living room but the evidence list was already staggering. Human remains were everywhere. They had been shaped into chair covers, lamp shades, and masks. There were even bowls made of human skulls. Hotch had seen some horrific crimes over the years but nothing of this magnitude. The man had to have been murdering victims for years. How had the police missed it? How had this man been able to kill all these years without being detected? And why didn't the community notice all the people going missing? They couldn't have all been vagrants. Some had to have…the buzzing of his cell snapped Hotch out of his thoughts. Grabbing his phone off his belt, he flipped it open. "Hotchner…We'll be right there." Aaron strode across the room to the senior member of his team. "Dave, they found Mr. Mein babysitting for a couple right outside of town. He's being taken to the station as we speak."
"You want me to handle it?" Rossi questioned.
"No, I think we should both be part of this one." Hotch replied. He waved Morgan over.
"Yeah Hotch?" Derek asked.
"We're going to interview Mr. Mein. Keep an eye on Reid for me. If it seems to be getting too much for him, have Prentiss bring him back to the station." Aaron instructed.
"You can count on me." Morgan assured his boss.
"Thanks" Hotch said. "We'll call once we're finished."
"Same here" Morgan tossed back. He said his goodbyes and then walked over to the littlest profiler. "Whatcha got so far Pretty Boy?"
Reid eagerly handed the borrowed tablet to his friend.
Morgan took one look at the screen full of scribbles and had to bite back a laugh. He could make out a handful of letters but that was it. The scrawl was utterly unreadable. Unwilling to hurt the boy's feelings, he said, "That's a lot of facts, kid. How about giving me the cliff notes version?" He grinned as the boy's eyes left him to scan the room. "Hotch and Rossi went to interview the suspect. It's safe. Come on Pretty Boy. Fill me in."
"Otay" Spencer agreed. "The fiwst and maybe most impow'ant fing is fat all the wemains seem to be female. See?" He held up two items; a lip shade pull and a belt made of what appeared to be nipples. "I believe he wanted to be a woman; his mofew specifitally. Em'ly and I found a body suit made of human tin.(skin)"
"That's, that's…I can't even think of a word to describe how messed up that is." Derek grumbled.
"Uh huh, and its pwo'bly going to get wowse." Reid advised. "We've only been in two wooms."
Morgan shuddered. "Considering what we've found so far, I'm not sure I wanna know what else there is."
"I don't know. It's tind of int'westing in a mowbid sowt of way." Reid stated. "I haven't seen many…"
"Hey! What do you two think you're doing?" Prentiss demanded as she marched over to the profilers.
Morgan's nothing was quickly echoed by Reid.
"Uh huh, right" Emily skeptically said. Taking a page from JJ's playbook, she put one hand on her hip and pointed with the other. "You stop talking and both of you get back to work."
Nodding, Reid grabbed his tablet and hurried over to the other side of the room.
Prentiss gave Morgan the stink eye. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she growled, tapping her foot. "Get busy. It's freezing in here."
"Yes ma'am" Morgan replied. He gave his friend a mock salute before getting back to work.
CM
Several hours later a weary BAU team trudged into their nice warm home for the night. As it turned out the interrogation of Fred Mein had been one of the easiest Hotch and Rossi had ever experienced. After giving him the steak dinner he requested, Mr. Mein had explained the murders of the town's two missing women. He'd also detailed numerous trips to the town's cemetery to dig up graves. Thankfully, they had learned that most of the remains in his house had come from those midnight trips.
By the time Fred had finished his confession the State Police and the local FBI had arrived. Hotch and Rossi had handed their prisoner over to them and headed back to the farmhouse. They'd helped the small police force catalogue and remove the evidence until it had gotten too dark and cold. Then and only then had they retired to the warmth of their temporary home.
Dropping onto the couch the weary duo gazed around at their friends. Rossi glanced from one tired face to another before slapping his knee and standing. "We've all had a long day. Let's get something to eat and hit the hay." He suggested.
"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Emily muttered.
"Me too" JJ seconded, nudging the sleepy boy beside her. "Come on Spence. I'll warm up some more of that soup for you."
Reid shook his head. "I want the chiten wings." He said.
"Chicken wings it is." Morgan agreed, scooping the youngster up. He carried him into the dining room and settled his best friend in a chair. "Sit right there. I'll be back with your wings in just a minute."
"Otay, fants Mowgan" Reid called, grinning as the others slowly filed into the room.
Seeing Hotch frown and open his mouth to reprimand their youngest, Rossi quickly stepped in. "Aaron, have you made any plans for tomorrow evening?"
Hotch raised an eyebrow at the obvious distraction but he went along with it anyway. "No, why?" he asked.
"I was thinking we could invite Dr. Sawyer over for an early Christmas dinner." Dave replied.
Spencer grinned. "Tan we Hotch? Tan we?" he excitedly inquired.
"I'll make you a deal. If you can go the rest of the evening without talking, I'll call and invite Dr. Sawyer to dinner tomorrow night." Aaron bargained. "Deal?"
Nodding, Reid shook the offered hand.
"Great!" Rossi exclaimed. "Now that we have that settled let's eat! I'm starving!"
Snickering, the family worked together to get the table set and the food ready and then tucked into their meal.
AN- The items the team found at the house were actually found at Ed Gein's home along with several other gruesome trophies.