Reckless

Chapter 21

The human remains on the table in front of her were so far decomposed, Toni couldn't even determine the gender of the unfortunate individual. They looked and smelled exactly as bad as one would expect from a recently unearthed body that had been decomposing under the wet dirt for the last five years. According to the medical examiner, the body was that of a young woman who was in good health when she died. Her teeth indicated that she had proper dental care, which immediately made her stand out from the rest of the unsub's victims. She wasn't a drug addict or a prostitute.

During her time with the FBI, Toni slowly became immune to crime scene photos. But she didn't think she'd ever get used to seeing a dead body in person. Even with the mentholated gel under her nose, the room reeked of wet dirt and rotting flesh. Toni lingered at the foot of the hard stainless steel exam table, holding the filigree silver locket that was found still wrapped around the neck of the young woman's remains in her hand. The photos inside were long gone. But the quality and value of the locket itself confirmed JJ's theory that the young woman wasn't in the business of selling her body before she died. An expensive piece of jewelry like that would have been stolen or pawned by anyone in that line of work.

Toni wrinkled up her nose as Spencer leaned closer to the exam table. She cringed as he leaned closer, getting within inches of the mustering remains. Toni watched a wayward lock of his hair nearly brush against the woman's remains, fighting back the urge to vomit. All the coffee she drank on top of her already upset stomach wasn't helping matters.

"It looks like she was stabbed multiple times," Spencer observed.

The medical examiner nodded as he confirmed that the young woman was stabbed over and over again. This was another deviation from the other victims, all of whom were killed with a single stab wound after being bound with burlap and barbed wire.

"She was probably his first victim," JJ concluded. Toni nodded her agreement. She still wasn't convinced that the killer was a man, but it was looking more and more likely. And either way, it was likely that the unsub had a connection to the first victim. Identifying the dead body in front of them was the obvious next step in the case. Toni was almost as eager to get their first real break in the case as she was to get out of the morgue.

Sucking in a hard breath of fresh air, Toni handed the silver locket over to Luke. He snapped a few pictures of it with his phone, forwarding them to Penelope before he called her. She answered his call on the first ring, greeting Luke in a way that suggested she was expecting to talk about something other than the case.

"If it isn't the giver of orgasms. I thought you'd be sleeping late after all the sexy talk we had last night…"

Toni slapped her hand over her mouth, trying to stop her snort of laughter from escaping. She glanced at JJ, who also looked to be fighting back laughter. Spencer was too engrossed in the medical examiner report to notice what was happening, which made the whole situation even funnier.

"You're on speaker," Luke warned, his face already turning about five different shades of red.
"Oh!," Penelope exclaimed. "Well just so you know, I charge extra for groups."

"For fuckssakes," Luke huffed. He extended his arm, handing his phone off to Toni so he could get his water bottle out of the car. Toni choked off her laughter by reminding herself of the actual reason for Luke's call. They were trying to identify a body.

"There was a silver locket on her," Toni said. "The medical examiner said she was in her early twenties and died about five years ago. I know it's not a lot to go on…"

"I've found more with less," Penelope promised. Toni could hear her fingers flying across her keyboard as she spoke. "Give me a minute. I'm searching for young women that were reported missing around that time. Yamika is a pretty small town so if she was local, she shouldn't be too hard to find…"

Toni bit back another grin as she extended her arm, offering Luke his phone back. He took it, leaning back against the side of the car as he waited as impatiently as the rest of them for what Toni desperately hoped would be their first real break in the case. As luck would have it, they didn't have to wait long.

"Yahtzee!," Penelope exclaimed. "I found her! Wendy Baldwin. She went missing five years ago." There was another quick flurry of tapping fingers before Garcia spoke again. "Unlike the other victims, she doesn't seem to have any history of sex work. She was active in her local 4-H group and enrolled in college at the time she disappeared. Her parents still own a local feed store. I'm sending you the address and their names as we speak."

"Thank you Penelope," Luke told her, a tight smile playing at the corners of his lips. He ended the call before she could say anything else to embarrass him.

As Toni rounded the bumper of the bureau issue rental car, she noticed JJ was close behind her. Toni paused before she opened up the driver's side door, glancing back at the slender blonde. JJ's body language and the slight expression of concern on her face made it obvious that she wanted something. Toni spared her a moment to ask whatever it was, hoping that it wasn't anything to do with her and Spencer.

"Are Alvez and Garcia… dating?," JJ asked.

Toni laughed before she leaned in a little closer to JJ. Given that it was just broadcast on speakerphone, Luke's business wasn't exactly a secret. But pretending it was prime gossip made it more fun. "I don't know about dating," Toni whispered. "...but they're definitely fucking if that's what you're asking."

JJ leaned back. The expression on her face made Toni want to start laughing all over again. She just got done looking at the mustering remains of a murdered woman, yet Toni's use to the word fuck offended her. "You're not upset?," JJ asked, once she recovered from Toni's obscene remark. "I mean… he just sent you flowers."

Toni shook her head. "Oh no, not at all. We're just friends," she promised. "But thanks for looking out."

JJ let out a heavy breath of air, her obvious relief showing on her face. Toni was fairly certain that most of her concern was for Penelope. Toni knew the two women were close. But she still appreciated JJ checking on her. Having anyone on her team besides Luke actually care about her feelings was a welcome change from the task force. She was pretty sure having feelings at all was against their department policy.

Toni climbed behind the wheel of the car, looking back to make sure everyone was seated before she put the vehicle in gear. Spencer caught her eye, flashing a heated smile her way before he purposely broke eye contact with her. The look immediately made Toni's insides tingle. She grinned as she watched him reach for his coffee. They were supposed to be behaving professionally while they were actually working the case. Like they were nothing more than colleagues. That's what they agreed on. But if Spencer wanted to play games, giving her his little I know what you look like naked smiles, then as far as she was concerned, it was on.

"Hey Reid," Toni said, still half turned around in her seat. "I really like that tie," she remarked. "Is that a half windsor knot? Maybe later, you can show me how you tied it."

Spencer was mid-sip on his coffee when Toni spoke. Given that the same tie he was wearing was wrapped around her wrists not more than a few hours before, the sexual innuendo in her words was not lost on him. Spencer snorted, inhaling the sip of coffee he was planning to swallow and then spitting most of it back out. JJ had the misfortune to be sitting next to him, putting her in the line of fire. She protested with a quiet squeak of shock, swiping the mixture of coffee and spit off the front of her shirt before it could soak in.

"Spence, are you okay?," JJ asked.

"I'm fine," he lied. "I think the milk in this coffee went sour."

Toni reached back, offering Spencer her phone to order more coffee. But it wasn't until JJ watched him unlock Toni's phone without asking her for the passcode that she noticed something odd seemed to be going on between them. "How do you know her passcode?," JJ asked.

Spencer stopped tapping at Toni's phone momentarily. He reached over, snagging JJ's phone from her hand. After he unlocked it using her passcode, he tossed it back into her lap. "I know everyone's passcode," Spencer announced. It wasn't the quickness of his response, but the monotone of his voice when he spoke that made Toni laugh. Her chest was still shaking as she backed them out of the parking space, heading for the address Luke entered into the GPS on his phone.

It felt like a lost cause, but Toni began to attempt to get herself into the proper headspace for what they were about to do. Thinking about Spencer's necktie around her wrists while they told Wendy Baldwin's parents that their only daughter was dead did not sound like a good time. At least not to her. And the only thing Toni hated more than looking at dead bodies was telling the families of the deceased that their loved one was not only dead but murdered in some sort of horrifically gruesome way. But as Toni began to clear her mind of inappropriate thoughts, the man that was the object of her fantasies spoke up from the backseat.

"Toni?," Spencer said. "There's texts coming through on your phone from someone named Lying Ass Turkey."

Toni ignored Luke's loud guffaw from the passenger seat as she replied. "Text him back and tell him to fuck off," she instructed.

"Do you want to know what he said first?," Spencer asked.

Toni shook her head. "Absolutely not."

She knew she really ought to just block her ex. Hearing from Fletcher gave her anxiety. But she found that having him blocked didn't help lessen the stress. If her ex thought she was ignoring him, he was not above resorting to extremes to get her attention, including showing up at her workplace or Romeo's school. When he was blocked, Toni spent too much time worrying about whether or not Fletcher was trying to message her. It was better to just let his messages come through and deal with him that way. Based on what she read about narcissistic personality disorder, Toni knew he would eventually find someone new to focus his attention on. After that, she hoped he would stop bothering her.

After he replied to the texts from Toni's ex, Spencer went back to getting their coffee orders. He was tapping in Luke's americano with sugar free syrup when the phone in his hand started buzzing. "The lying ass turkey is calling you," he announced, glancing towards the front seat to check with Toni before he declined the call. "He's calling again," Spencer said. He refused that call as well, but it became clear after about a minute that whoever was on the other end of the calls was quite persistent. He was a little surprised by how much it was pissing him off. Not only were the calls kicking him off Toni's coffee app every time one came through, he also didn't like the idea of someone harassing his girlfriend. Spencer managed to submit their coffee order before the phone started buzzing for the fifth time.

"Give the phone here," Luke suggested, holding out his hand for the device. Spencer considered handing him the device. But before he could, Toni reached for it.

"Just give it here. He's not going to stop until I answer," she lamented. Spencer reluctantly placed her phone into her open palm, feeling another surge of irritation when it stopped buzzing and immediately started again even before Toni could swing her arm back in front of her.

Toni answered the call with the clipped bark of her last name. "Ramirez."

"Hey beautiful," the voice on the other end of the line cooed. "Long time, no talk." Toni gritted her teeth to the sound of her ex husband's voice. The memory of being intimate with such a vile person actually turned her stomach.

"I'm on a case, Fletcher," she said, trying her best to hold back every foul word she knew. "So make it quick."

"That's right," he replied, his voice dripping with insincerity. "I heard you transferred to the BAU." Toni bit down on her lip. How the fuck did he find that out so fast, she wondered with irritation. She knew Fletcher had friends inside the bureau. But she didn't think he was still keeping such close tabs on her. "I suppose you had to leave the task force after you got your partner butchered… and then fucked him."

Toni pulled the phone away from her ear, gripping it as she silently mouthed every obscenity she could think of. Having to deal with her ex was bad enough, but doing it in front of Spencer was even worse. Not only was it embarrassing, Toni was worried about what Spencer would think of her. If there was one thing Fletcher was good at, it was making her look like the crazy one in their relationship. Often, he did this by taunting and gaslighting her until she exploded. If he was feeling extra spicy, he'd record her outburst so he could play it back later as proof of his lies.

When Toni was done silently cursing her ex out, she replied with as little emotion in her voice as she could manage. "I don't have time for this," Toni replied. "So tell me what you want, or I'm hanging up."

"You haven't changed," he taunted. "You never did like much foreplay before you got down to business." There was a long pause which Toni used to grip the steering wheel and force herself to take a deep breath. "When are you getting back into town?," Fletcher asked.

"That's none of your business," Toni huffed. She took one more breath, letting it out slowly and then speaking even slower. She punctuated every word with its own pause. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"I thought we could meet up for coffee and catch up," he replied, his voice full of smooth confidence. It was almost like he hadn't just blown up her phone and insulted her only a moment before. The way he was able to slip seamlessly from one entirely different persona to the next still shook her, even now.

"I'm not interested in catching up," Toni replied. She'd have a coffee with the Crimson King before she sat down at a table with her ex. Just the sound of his voice was enough to get the rage boiling inside her. For whatever reason, it pissed her off even more when he was pretending to be nice than when he was just being a blatant asshole.

"Oh," Fletcher cooed. "Are you seeing someone new?"

Toni sucked air in through her gritted teeth. There's no way he knows about Spencer, she told herself. He's just fishing, don't take the bait. "That's none of your business either," she stated.

"That's not a no," he taunted. "And you're being awfully quiet…," Fletcher added. There was sudden glee in his voice when he asked his next question. "Wait… Is he there? With you? Put him on the phone, I want to ask him if he can still taste my dick when he kisses you."

"That's it," Like snipped, reaching over and snatching the phone from Toni's hand. "Listen motherfucker," Luke cursed. "We just left the medical examiner's office. We're on our way to tell the parents of the victim that their only daughter is dead. This isn't the time for your bullshit, Fletcher."

"Luke!," Fletcher exclaimed. "You are there! How's my wife treating you? I've been meaning to ask you… if you squint your one good eye when you look at her, does it make her ass look any slimmer? Or does it still look like it's a mile wide?"

"You motherfucker," Luke cursed. Unlike Toni, her ex was able to get a rise out of Luke immediately. From the laughter that was drifting through the other end of the call, she knew that's exactly what he wanted.

Toni reached for her phone, taking it back before Luke could start making actual threats of violence. Fletcher recorded all his phone calls. And he'd be sure to email a doctored recording of anything Luke said right over to the bureaus internal investigation team. Nothing would come of it. But that's the last headache Hotch needed right now.

"Fletcher, this is your last chance to tell me why you're calling," Toni warned. "What Luke said is true about where we're going." What she really wanted to do was throw her phone out the window. But if she did that, he'd be waiting on her doorstep when she got home.

"I've got some papers I need you to sign," he said. "From the divorce."

"The divorce was final a year ago," Toni countered. "If there's something in the court paperwork that got missed, you can email it to my lawyer." Toni guessed this was just more of his bullshit. What Fletcher really wanted to do was to talk her into meeting him in person. From there, he'd try to charm her into sleeping with him. Just the thought of his hands on her made her stomach churn.

"This isn't for the court," Fletcher countered. "It's for the church."

Toni's brows furrowed together in confusion. Her ex was the furthest thing from religious. She couldn't think of any reason why Fletcher would need paperwork for the church. Not unless… "Are you getting remarried?," Toni asked.

"Well now that you mention it," Fletcher replied. "I am. She's Senator Murphy's daughter. And her father won't give his blessing unless we can get married in the catholic church." Toni rolled her eyes. How anyone could sound so smug and mean it was beyond her. "So I'll need you to sign some papers for the church. It's just a formality of course."

Toni noticed that her ex didn't even bother to mention his fiance by name. Her only importance to him was clearly her father's political connections. Fletcher wasn't even trying to hide it. Toni often thought back and wondered how such an obviously disgusting person managed to convince her to marry him. She tried to give herself a little leeway, reminding herself that all narcissists were skilled in the art of love bombing, including him.

"Are you asking me for an annulment?," Toni confirmed.

"Technically, yes."

This time, Toni was unable to stop her laughter from bubbling over. She couldn't care less about her ex getting married again, but she'd rather die than do him any favors. "I've got a better idea," Toni suggested. "Go fuck yourself." With that, Toni hung up her phone. She tapped at the screen, setting it so his calls would go straight to voicemail for the rest of the day at least.

Toni left the car running as she pulled up in front of the coffee shop. She hopped out before anyone else could offer to run in and pick up their order. Honestly, her face was red with embarrassment after her outburst. She needed the walk into the shop and back to regain her composure. Toni only made it onto the sidewalk before she felt Spencer's hand on her arm. He tugged her to a pause just long enough to circle his arm around her shoulders. Toni glanced back at the car. Luke knew about their less than professional relationship. But JJ didn't. Not yet at least.

"She'll see," Toni cautioned.

"That's okay," Spencer said, tucking her into his side as they continued down the sidewalk towards the entrance to the coffee shop. "Are you alright?," he asked.

Toni pondered the question, giving it actual thought. She was angry. And embarrassed. But really, she felt mostly alright. She wasn't to the point where she wasn't reacting to her ex's nonsense anymore. But a year ago his comment about her ass would have brought her to tears. She'd come a long way since then. "Fletcher gets his kicks by provoking people and making them explode," Toni explained. It was his worst quality by far, but also the one that made him so good at what he did for a living. "I'm used to him."

"You shouldn't have to get used to that... Is Fletcher his last or his first name?," Spencer asked.

"His first." Toni said, giving Spencer a curious glance. The way he was talking, it was almost like he planned to do something about what he just heard on the phone. It surprised her a little. She supposed she thought he was too passive to start shit with her ex. "His last name is Flynn."

"Fletcher Flynn as in Fletcher Flynn the defense attorney? The one that got Isa Ankerland off on that murder charge even after he was convicted of killing his wife ten years before that?" Spencer's question must have been rhetorical, because he barely waited for Toni's nod of confirmation before he continued. "I guess that explains why he thinks he can get away with acting like that." Spencer released his hold on Toni's shoulders as he reached for the coffee shop door and opened it for her. As they entered he asked her another question. "Why do you have his name as a turkey in your phone?"

Toni smiled. She liked that Spencer didn't ask her why she had him as a lying ass in her phone. That was plainly obvious. "When I was deciding if I was going to file for divorce, my brother Miguel told me that I was an eagle. He said I'd never learn to fly if I kept lying down with a turkey."

Her brother's words made Spencer laugh as hard as they made her laugh the first time she heard them. Her oldest brother was a man of few words, but he really had a way the ones he did say. Spencer reached for her hand, wrapping his around it and tugging her towards the counter. The smile on his face instantly lightened her mood. But Toni didn't smile back until he spoke. "Come on mi águila, let's get our coffee."