The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

55. Suspension lifted

———

"It sucks for you right now, huh?" Tony exhaled as he got out of his car, meeting Hotch in the middle of a parking lot.

"Can you help us?" Hotch asked, getting right to the point.

"I can tell you that nobody who ever worked at Fort Meade is responsible for the hack." Tony shook his head.

"Well, of course not. He'd be too psychologically unstable for you to hire him. But he was good with computers, so you watched him." Hotch gave a profile of the unsub, watching as Tony shook his head and clenched his fists.

"Stop. Stop talking." He demanded.

"You monitored him as he broke into adoption records..." Hotch continued, seeing how uncomfortable Tony looked.

"I can't be having this conversation." He exhaled.

"...and decided who he wanted to hurt." Hotch tilted his head.

"I took an oath." Tony growled.

"And you kept tabs on him as he stalked these men and women just like you did through their computers." Hotch kept going.

"Just like you did. I took an oath." Tony raised his eyebrows, now starting to get sick of the conversation.

"And then he learned what he needed to learn to turn them into killers." Hotch stopped giving the profile, watching as Tony exhaled with relief.

"My oath is to protect the laws of this country and not to spy on U.S. citizens. I cannot help you." Tony insisted.

"Don't tell me that. You already know who it is." Hotch shook his head, exhaling.

Hotch watched Tony look around, making sure that there was no one around to see what he was about to do.

"If I were to cooperate with your investigation electronically or otherwise, I could be fired. You understand? Fired. So I'm sorry. You'll have to find another way." Tony explained as he pulled out a note pad and pen, beginning to write something down. Before long, he handed a piece of paper to Hotch with a name.

"Tell Penelope I said hi." Tony asked as he got back into his car, watching Hotch walk away.

———

"Peter Lewis. Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. To call him a math genius would be an understatement." Penelope explained as she worked from her computer, Rossi next to her.

"Where was he in the foster system?" Hotch asked, calling Penelope from his car.

"He was not in the foster care system. He had two very biological parents and they ran the foster home until it- Oh dear." Penelope gasped, hating the shitty WIFI hotspot.

"Looks like we found Mr. Scratch." Rossi exhaled.

"So one of the boys in the house said Peter's dad would dress up as the devil and the other kids would follow suit. This has to be where all the victims stayed before they were adopted and their names were changed." JJ was shocked.

"Did Lewis' father serve any time?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, the case was pending, and then he was killed in jail for being a paedophile. Peter's residency is still listed as Florida." Penelope explained.

"Then he broke into the FBI files to find out who went into Witness Protection. Did any of the kids from the home go into WITSEC?" Hotch questioned, still driving.

"That would be a...no. No, none of them." Penelope spoke, confused.

"Who the hell is he still hunting?" JJ asked, confused.