Reckless

Chapter 34

"Do we really think he's coming back here tonight?," Toni asked. She shifted in her seat, trying to find a position where she was comfortable but still able to see out the front windshield of the vehicle. "The cement around that body we found was still wet. I bet he doesn't even have his next victim picked out yet."

There was a possibility that the unsub might come back to the scene even if he wasn't leaving another body behind. It wasn't unusual for killers to revisit their kill sites or their burial ground. But with the amount of law enforcement that had been crawling over the place all day, he'd have to be exceptionally stupid, extremely cocky, or both to come back now.

Alvez shrugged his shoulders as he poked through the bag of convenience store snacks he brought along for what was looking like it might be a long night. Finding the package of beef jerky he was looking for, Luke ripped it open and pulled out a strip. He ripped off a small section and reached into the backseat of the SUV to feed Roxy. Given that she was accustomed to a specially ordered fresh food diet, she was quick to snatch up the small chunk of salty dried beef.

"That dog better not fart in this car," Toni warned. When all she got from her former partner was a laugh, Toni's voice increased in pitch and volume. "I'm not kidding! Luke, I swear to fucking god!"

"Be quiet," Luke replied, trying his best to sound serious. He put his finger to his lips and shushed her. "The unsub is going to hear you."

A soft chuckle escaped her even though she was doing her best to hold it in. Toni shifted in her seat, attempting to find a position where she could be comfortable and still have a good view out the windshield. She didn't enjoy a stakeout even in the best circumstances. With her dislocated shoulder and bruised hip still causing her pain, sitting in a dog fart car for hours was sounding like the worst kind of torture.

"We should have made the local precinct cops do this," she huffed. Toni reached for her bag, fishing out a few ibuprofen tablets and chasing them down with a large swallow of iced coffee.

"Yeah," Luke agreed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "They've been doing a bang up job so far."

Toni laughed again, louder this time. Before they arrived, the crime scene was so far from secure that the unsub was able to drop off an entire 55 gallon drum full of concrete with another dead body inside. Not only did the local police not catch him, they didn't even notice. Sadly, it wasn't the most incompetent police work Toni had ever seen. But it was bad enough that Hotch didn't trust them to watch over the dump site without supervision.

Even after the sun sunk down past the horizon line, it was still well over 80 degrees out. Thankfully, they were close enough to the coastline that a cooler breeze was coming in off the water. The night was clear, giving them a good view of the waxing moon. Toni rolled the car windows down and cut the engine. She and Luke sat in comfortable silence for a while, passing a container of salted almonds back and forth between them. Even Roxy, who was usually on high alert, eventually settled down in the third row seat. The soft rumble of her slow even breathing was making it hard for Toni to keep her own eyes open.

"Hey," Luke hissed, thumping the back of his hand against her thigh. "Wake up." Toni's eyes sprung open.

"I wasn't sleeping," she insisted, earning her a soft chuckle from her companion.

"How did it go with your brothers and the professor?," Luke asked. The reason for his question was obvious. They needed to talk about something to keep them both from falling asleep.

Toni covered her mouth with her hand to hide a yawn. "Well, he's still alive," she quipped. She reached for her coffee, draining what was left in the cup before she shifted herself into a more upright position in her seat. Then Toni gave Luke an actual answer to his question. "It went well, I think. Benny likes him, but you know how he is. He likes everyone until they give him a reason not to. Carlos said he thought Spencer seemed like he was good with Romeo, so that's a good sign." Toni wished Spencer could have stayed a little longer and gotten to know her brothers better, but she understood his mother was having what she assumed was some sort of medical emergency.

"Your brothers don't like him as much as they like me," Luke told her, laughing when his joke made Toni roll her eyes.

"That's because you're just like them," Toni declared. She meant it as a lighthearted joke. Or maybe even a compliment. She loved her brothers. They were her favorite people in the world aside from her son and Lucia. And Luke. Spencer was working his way up the list as well. But the smile suddenly disappeared from Luke's face. His expression turned pensive as he stared out through the moonlit windshield.

"Is that why you were never into me?," he asked. "Because I remind you of your brothers?"

Toni sighed. This was the conversation she'd been avoiding for over a year. Now that both of them were happy in other relationships, she hoped she might never be forced to have it.

"You do more than remind me, you're basically one of them," Toni admitted. She loved Luke, just not in a romantic way. Being with a guy that reminded her of her brothers didn't exactly get her hot and bothered. The one time they did have sex, it was awkward and emotionally charged in the wrong way. She let him take her to bed because she felt like what happened to him was her fault.

"I guess I thought you didn't want to be with me because of how fucked up I look now," Luke said, tracing the long jagged scar on his face. He caught the edge of his eyepatch and flipped the edge of it up slightly, making it snap back against his tanned skin.

"What?," Toni gasped. "Luke. No. That's not it at all. You don't look fucked up." Toni swiped at her hair, brushing it back away from her face before she turned to face him. Toni reached across the seat and gripped his hand with hers. "You were in such a bad place. And my divorce completely fucked up my head. That's why I didn't want to keep sleeping together. It had nothing to do with your scars."

Luke smiled as he hugged Toni against him. The embrace was as awkward as sleeping with him had been. But Toni leaned into it anyway, more relieved than she expected to finally get some closure on what happened between them.

"I'm starting to think that maybe things worked out the way they were supposed to," Luke said, releasing his hold on her and leaning back into his seat.

"Does that mean things are going well with Garcia?," Toni asked. She sort of already knew the answer to her question. Everyone could see the way they looked at each other. And when they didn't agree, they bickered like an old married couple. Plus, Luke got a funny smile on his face anytime someone even mentioned her name, this being no exception.

"She makes me laugh," he declared. He paused before he added, "I asked her to move in with me."

Toni's mouth dropped open. Luke had never lived with anyone besides his dog in all his adult life. This was a huge step. She also found it funny in an ironic way that he and Penelope were moving faster than she and Spencer were, despite the fact that they had a child together. But before she could offer her congratulations, Toni spotted the headlights of a vehicle coming towards the dumpsite.

"Holy shit," she hissed. Maybe this stakeout wasn't a waste of time after all, she thought.

When the vehicle got closer, Toni could tell it was a pickup truck. There was a company logo on the side, though it was too dark to make out what company it was. The driver of the truck pulled into the dump and circled around to a more secluded area off to the side. He shut off the headlights first, cutting off the engine after he cracked the windows.

Toni felt Luke's hand on her arm as she reached for the car door. He gestured towards the far side of the dash, warning her to shut off all the interior lights before she opened the door. The last thing they needed to do was have the dome light warn the unsub that they were coming. Once Toni shut off the lights, both she and Alvez eased their way out of the vehicle. They stood together in front of the hood, watching the parked truck for any signs of deviant behavior.

The driver got out. Toni couldn't see much. She could tell he was a man that looked to be about average height, but not much more. A woman climbed out after him, or at least it looked like a woman. It was hard to be certain. Both of them walked towards the back of the truck, the taller figure leading the shorter one.

"Should we go down there?," Toni asked. Her hand was already resting on her gun. Luke shook his head, signalling for her to wait just one more minute. There was a chance this wasn't the unsub. And if it was, they wanted to catch him doing something they could arrest him for.

Just when Toni felt like she couldn't wait another second, the woman let out a loud scream. Unfortunately, Toni and Luke weren't the only ones that heard it. Roxy launched herself into the front seat of the rented SUV and flew out though the open window like a deranged rocket. She raced towards the noise with Luke chasing behind her. Toni pulled her weapon, following behind them at a slightly slower pace. If she had to fire, she didn't want to be so close to Luke that he would block her shot.

Toni couldn't see when Roxy made contact with the mysterious driver of the truck. But she could hear it. The man let out a terrified yelp, which was followed by a lot of aggressive barking and growling. The woman that screamed was screaming again, but for an entirely different reason. Toni hurried towards the sound. She stopped near the back of the truck, tucking her gun away almost instantly. Roxy didn't catch the unsub, she caught two teenagers with their pants down. Whether the young woman's scream was one of ecstasy or because of her partner's lack of skill remained a mystery. Toni didn't care either way. She was just glad she and Luke were the ones that caught them and not the murdering unsub her team was hunting.

"Get dressed," Luke ordered. He lowered the flashlight he was shining on them, keeping the area lit but not wanting to blind them with the bright beam of light.

"Don't you two know three dead bodies were found in this lot?," Toni scolded.

"Yeah," the girl reluctantly admitted. "We saw it on the news."

"Then what in the hell are you doing here?," Luke demanded.

The young man cast a nervous glance towards Roxy before he answered. "We thought that no one else would be out here," he explained.

"No one should be out here," Luke chided. "Because this whole area is a crime scene."

"Are we going to get arrested?," the girl asked. Her eyes were wide with fear as she glanced back and forth between her boyfriend and the two FBI agents.

"No," Toni answered. She turned towards the frightened young man, projecting as much authority into her words as she could. "But I want you to take her home right now. Before we call both your parents."

Luke laughed as the young couple sped away out of the dumpsite. Toni shook her head as they walked back to their own vehicle. She was almost to the driver's side door when she heard the distinct sound of a branch breaking somewhere deeper into the wooded area behind the SUV. At first Toni thought Roxy must have taken off in that direction, but when she looked she saw the dog was standing perfectly still at Luke's side. He was quick to click his flashlight on, shining it in the direction of the sound. Toni followed his example, pulling her gun out and pointing both it and her light into the woods behind the rental vehicle.

"FBI!," Luke hollered, identifying himself as law enforcement. "Come out with your hands up!"

Toni took a few more steps, increasing the space between her and Luke as she moved in the direction the noise came from.

Luke signaled to Roxy, encouraging her to bark. She wasn't a huge dog, but she had an extremely intimidating bark. "Come out or I'll send a dog in after you," Luke ordered.

There was a long silent pause, filled only with the sound of their breathing and Toni's feet shuffling carefully forward across the overgrown grass. She took one more step before the night exploded in chaos. Whoever was behind their suv took off running, thundering through the woods. Toni took off after the person, quickly being passed by Roxy. The night filled with the sound of branches snapping and bushes being trampled. The beam of Toni's flashlight bounced as she ran. The small wooded area opened up into a small overgrown parking lot. Roxy's barking was drowned out by the sound of a dirt bike engine. Roxy reached the bike moments after the man they were chasing. She latched onto his pant leg, ripping the fabric as he peeled out of the lot. Toni had her gun trained on the man, but she didn't fire. For all they knew, he might just be another horny teenager or someone that was simply looking to explore the area where a body was found. Being creeped out by the way he was hiding behind their car while they relaxed inside wasn't enough reason to shoot him.

By the time Toni and Luke got back to their vehicle, the dirt bike rider was long gone. They both agreed they might as well head back to the hotel for the night. If that was the unsub, he wasn't coming back tonight. And if it wasn't, the amount of chaos and noise most certainly alerted the real killer to their presence on site.

Toni fell asleep quickly, waking up a few hours later to the sound of her phone alert. She checked her messages, rushing herself out of bed when she realized they got a break in the case. Traces of chlorine were found on all three dead bodies. That, combined with the access to a cement truck, led Garcia to believe that the unsub must work for a pool installation company. Unfortunately, given that they were in Florida, there were quite a few of them in the area. But there was only one that worked on the pools where the murdered women lived. And out of those three locations, there was only one worker that was assigned to all three jobs.

His name was Stuart Barker. He was slightly younger than they profiled, but most of the other details seemed to fit. Like the victim's sons, he was raised by a single mother. His older sister disappeared a few months earlier, suggesting that she might have been his first victim. He also had a blue Yamaha YZ450F titled in his name.

"Check it out," Toni said, keeping her voice down as she ticked her head towards the faded blue dirt bike that was parked just inside the open garage door. It looked like it might be the same bike they saw last night, but Toni wasn't completely sure. She moved closer, lowering herself down to examine a chuck of ripped denim that was caught near the bike's foot peg. Glancing up, she made pointed eye contact with Luke before she nodded her head.

"How do you want to play this?," Luke asked, moving closer to Hotch so the man could hear his voice without him having to raise it. With the confirmation on the bike, they had enough to storm the place. But brute force came with its own risks. They didn't know who else might be in the house or if their suspect was armed.

Hotch signalled to Rossi and JJ, sending them towards the back yard. At this point, he was planning to simply knock on the door and see if the suspect's mother might allow them inside. But before he could take more than a few steps in that direction, a terrified scream rang out from the rear of the house.

Toni rose to her feet, drawing her weapon as she ran towards the rear of the home. She struggled with latch on the white picket fence, forcing it open so she could push through the opening. Luke had gone around the other side of the house. Hotch was behind her. Toni heard Luke yell for someone to stop. This was followed by the sound of rapid footsteps heading in their direction. Toni juked to the side, sticking her leg out directly in the path of the man Luke was chasing. His shins barked against her leg, sending him sprawling and tumbling into the grass. Hotch pinned him to the ground, cuffing him before he could cause any further trouble.

In the backyard, they found the cause of the screaming they heard from the driveway. The suspect's mother was tied up in a hole he'd dug in the dirt. Cement was slowly filling the area. If they hadn't arrived when they did, she would have been slowly suffocated like the rest of her son's victims. Crime scene techs scoured the area after the BAU packed up. As they were boarding the jet to head home, Hotch got a call informing him that they found Stuart Barker's sister under the cement patio closer to the house. Or more accurately, they found what was left of her.

Toni settled into her seat before she pulled out her phone. She texted Lucia first, letting her know that she'd be home soon. Then she called Spencer. His phone rang once before she was transferred to his voicemail. Toni hung up, opting to send him a text instead. Call me when you can. Toni tucked her phone away and leaned back against her seat. With how little sleep she got the night before, it was easy to let her eyelids flutter shut. They popped open a moment later, when she heard Hotch making a phone call of his own. She usually wouldn't take much notice of who he was calling. But when she heard Spencer's voice coming through the other end of the line, it caught her attention. He answered a call from Hotch, but sent her to voicemail. Toni hated to admit it, but knowing that he took a call from someone else hurt her feelings. And she spent the rest of the ride home letting all the possible reasons for it bump around in her head.