tw: mentions of murder, sexual assault, statutory rape and suicide.
•✩•
"Stabbed thirteen times in the abdomen." Hotch said as he walked back to the group, pulling his latex gloves off as he did.
Amari nodded, "Definitely personal."
"These people couldn't have all wronged the unsubs in such a way that they'd seek revenge. The numbers don't add up." Spencer furrowed his brows.
"Well then we look for something the victims have done to wrong others." Derek replied. "Our suspect list isn't someone whose close to the victims, they're close to people the victims have wronged."
"Right," Emily nodded. "But we'd better look closely at the first victim because there's no way the unsubs know people who all have problems with current or past teachers."
JJ listened and then pulled out her phone. "I'll update Garcia."
Amari and her walked to the car as the rest of the team carried on poking around the scene.
"Hey Pen." Mari smiled when she answered the phone.
"Hi my loves, give it to me." Penelope's cheery voice sounded through the phone.
JJ spoke first, "Look specifically into the background of the first victim. One of the unsubs are most likely close to someone the victim has wronged."
"Alright," she drew out the word as she typed. "I'll hit you back when I have something. Garcia out."
"We better get back to the station," Hotch walked towards them with the rest of the team.
Everyone got into whichever SUV was closest and they sped to the police station. They walked inside and instantly drew the attention of the whole department. Amari smiled awkwardly as she walked with Derek to the conference room they had been given, partially hiding behind him from all the prying eyes.
"I hate it when they stare at us, it gives me the shivers." Spencer wriggled his fingers and then balled them into a fist in an effort to get rid of that terrible feeling.
Mari nodded and looked out the glass doors of the conference room to see that people were still staring.
"And they don't stop either." She muttered and looked up at Derek.
He shook his head as a small smile formed on his lips and moved to stand in front of her so that she couldn't see the people outside and they couldn't see her.
"Better?" He asked softly, his voice cracking lightly from how deep it had gone.
Amari gulped as she looked up at him. His face was inches away from hers and if she'd taken one step further, her body would be pressed up against his.
From the opposite side of the room, Spence joined Aaron and Emily as they set up the board. He looked back to see what Amari was doing and sighed when he saw Derek push her in front of him so that he was blocking her from the view of the police station.
Emily and Aaron followed his gaze and noticed how close they were standing.
"And thus the sexual tension begins." Emily said softly, not wanting them to hear.
Aaron laughed and turned back to the board.
Spencer, on the other hand, just nodded. "Yup."
Aaron turned back to the two of them, "You know, it doesn't take Mari very long to get over someone."
"That is true." Spencer agreed.
"I give it a month." Aaron spoke.
Emily grinned, "Placing bets, huh? On when they'll start a relationship or when they'll sleep together...again?"
"That is inappropriate Emily." Spencer had to suppress a grin as he pointed it out. "We're talking about a lovely, innocent, relationship. Oh and, one and a half months, Derek is going to be extra cautious since she just broke up with Chase."
"To be fair, she doesn't have a lot to get over. He cheated on her with my wife."
Both Emily and Spencer stared at Aaron since they didn't know how to react.
"What? Too soon?" He asked in confusion.
"Uh..." Emily said awkwardly. "I'm going to say two weeks. They're practically already making out."
They looked over at Amari and Derek and they were now seated at the table and going over the case. Amari was reading out something from the files and Derek was giving all his attention to her. He had his chin rested in his palm as he watched her speak, sometimes adding in something, but mainly just watching her go over the case and watching her eyes sparkle after every bit of information she connected.
"Fifty bucks?" Spencer asked.
"One hundred." Aaron responded. "Makes things interesting."
Spencer sighed, "Fine. You know how many books I could be buying with that money?"
Aaron looked him in the eyes, his deep brown eyes shining with boredom. "No."
—
Back in Quantico, Penelope was doing as much research as she could, on all the victims. She had just finished unsealing a document from the first victims past and her eyes went wide as soon as she read it.
"Oh my gosh okay." She breathed out before checking for something similar in the rest of the victims backgrounds.
When she found it, she was appalled. After discovering that snippet of crucial information, she began with making connections to the victims. When she finally had a solid lead, she immediately called her team over in Philadelphia.
"Hey babygirl. Give me something." Morgan's ever so flirty voice answered back.
"It's terrible." Penelope's voice quivered. "What they did."
"Who Pen? The unsubs?" Amari asked from next to Derek.
"No. The victims." Penelope sighed. "Victim number one, Victoria Mendel, high school teacher. She was fired from her past jobs for making inappropriate comments towards students. There's also some evidence that she—she..."
Amari's face fell. "No."
Aaron rubbed his palms over his face. "Garcia, you're not saying."
"I am, sir." Penelope said softly. "There is evidence here to suggest that she took advantage of one of the kids."
The team fell silent.
Derek cleared his throat, "If there's evidence to suggest that in this victim, there should be evidence in others."
Amari nodded and looked up at him, "Right. Also, find out who Victoria Mendel's victim was and cross reference them with a pair of siblings, cousins, anyone with a connection to each other and the victim."
"Alright." Penelope said, her tone dejected.
She ended the call and the team was left in silence.
"I, uh, I need to get some air." Derek muttered and walked out the room.
Spencer frowned as he watched him go. He looked at Amari and saw her face full with worry and nudged her.
"Go." He whispered.
Amari looked up at him before nodding and left in the same direction Derek went in. The team didn't mind it as long as the two of them were together and Derek was actually being comforted by someone, so they focused their attention back on the case.
Outside, Amari found Derek standing a little ways away from the entrance of the police station, hidden from the view of people inside, but he was fairly easy to spot once you walked outside.
She walked up next to him and he looked to his side to meet her eyes. He could feel her hand brush against his and linked her pinky finger with his. She stayed like that for a moment before lacing her fingers through his and holding his hand tightly.
Derek took a deep breath. "I know that we couldn't possibly have known about it, but I wish we could have done something for them."
Amari's eyes softened as his voice grew soft and sad. She looked up at his face to see his lips pulled into a frown, his eyebrows turned up in sadness.
"Hey, all that matters now is that we find the unsubs and hopefully put an end to all this. I know it's not going to stop every person of authority who is inflicting abuse on someone, but it's a start."
Derek nodded and lowered his head, setting his gaze to the ground as he sighed.
"Come here." Amari said softly before she tugged him to her and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He responded immediately and wrapped his arms securely around her waist, pulling her off the ground slightly as he did so as she buried her face in his neck.
She relaxed as he hugged her to him tightly. His scent was intoxicating, it must have been his cologne, for she could bask in it all day.
Derek needed this. A hug. Sometimes he felt like all the team saw him as was the strong one. Strong people usually don't get a lot of hugs. No one knows how weak they truly are on the inside.
They let go of each other after a few minutes, not wanting to make it awkward.
"We should get back inside." Amari said softly.
"Yeah," Derek cleared his throat. "We should."
They walked back inside in silence and avoided the teams prying eyes when they walked back into the conference room.
"Lincoln Matthews. He was twelve years old." Aaron was the first one to speak.
"Twelve bullet wounds." Spencer whispered.
"He was Mendel's victim. There's not enough evidence to convict her, it's circumstantial at best, but it's there." Hotch carried on. "It's no coincidence that he ended up committing suicide exactly two years after the allegations towards Mendel were put to rest."
"Oh my god." Emily said softly as they pinned Lincoln's picture to the board underneath Mendel's picture.
"Victim number two, Clark Penn." JJ read from the file as she walked to point at the victims picture. "And Poppy Hayes. Fourteen years old. Penn was stabbed fourteen times in the abdomen. This time, there weren't any rumors. Poppy came forward, but later than she was supposed to and without any evidence or witnesses and just Poppy's word, with Penn denying the claims, they couldn't press any charges."
"So they just let him walk?" Amari asked, appalled.
"It looks like it. He was vilified in the press though." JJ answered. "Victim number three has a similar story, but they were rumors."
Derek nodded and took a seat at the table. "So we look into Lincoln Matthews. Our killers knew him."
"Tell me again how we know we're dealing with a pair?" Amari asked.
"Security footage from the night Clark Penn was murdered put two hooded figures standing over Penn's body." Emily replied. "All we know is that they're both male judging by their body shape."
Amari sighed. "They could be brothers, cousins, friends, father and son? Anyone really."
Immediately after that, Aaron's phone rang and he answered it to hear Penelope on the other line. He put it on speaker and placed the phone on the table.
"Garcia, what have you got for us?"
Penelope sighed, "It was not fun going through this kids life like this. But I did find something. Lincoln has a brother. Owen. He was a few years older than Lincoln and he said some very nasty things about the teacher after Lincoln's death."
"Like what?" Derek asked.
"Um, he talked about how it was Mendel's fault his brother was dead. That he'd get to her one day. Some pretty harsh things." Penelope replied.
"Send us his file Garcia." Aaron told her.
"Already sent. He fits the profile to a tee."
Spencer nodded. They had presented a preliminary profile shortly after seeing the video footage. After they'd discovered the most recent body. The unsubs weren't wasting any time so they had to put one out as soon as they could.
"She's right. Early thirties. Never married, never had a steady job. He doesn't appear to be the brains behind the operation but he definitely looks to be able to strangle a person to death," Spencer told them.
"Any leads on his whereabouts Pen?" Amari asked.
"Not as yet. I know he's never left Philadelphia. Uhh, he moved out of his parents house at eighteen and moved in with two friends of his. I checked them out and they're nowhere near Philadelphia. On the tenth anniversary of his brothers death, he just disappeared."
"Could you find him?" Emily asked.
Penelope frowned as she watched her screen as she ran through data bases, credit card bills, phone bills, anything that used to be connected to this man.
"I can try."
"That's all we need. Chances are he'll slip up without his partner." Aaron replied.
"How do we know they're not together?" JJ asked.
"They only come together for the murders. Their only motive is revenge and since Owen is not working with someone who's family, I'm guessing they don't exactly live together." Amari replied.
Aaron nodded. "Exactly. For now, we put out a BOLO for Owen Matthews and carry on working the case."
Amari went with Hotch as he arranged everything and came back in half an hour to the team buzzing with new information.
"What's going on?" Amari asked after her and Aaron walked inside.
She offered a friendly smile to the two detectives sitting with the team before focusing on what Derek was telling them.
"Garcia found an old apartment that belongs to one of Owen's old roommates. We think he may be hiding out there."
"Man, I swear that woman has magical powers." Amari said under her breath as she geared up.
"We've just received the warrant to enter the premises." Another detective ran in with the piece of paper.
"Let's go." Aaron's hard voice rung out through the air.
—
Two hours later, they had Owen Matthews in custody. He was more than willing to confess to his crimes, stating that he knew he was going to get caught either way. The only thing he wouldn't give up was his partner.
At first, he denied having a partner at all, but after they had informed him about the video evidence, he stopped talking completely.
"I hope they know what they're doing in there." Amari chewed on her bottom lip as the team watched from behind the mirror as Aaron and Derek interrogated Owen Matthews.
Spencer offered her the chapstick he kept for her.
"Classic alpha male technique. One of them would have been enough but Matthews has had more than enough time to sweat." Spencer replied after she had taken it.
"We need him to crack now." Emily leaned against the back wall as she watched the three people inside that room.
Spencer nodded, "Exactly. Let's just hope it works."
Inside the interrogation room, things weren't going as well as they'd hoped.
"Boys. I've told you everything you need to know. Now you're just being selfish." Owen's mouth twisted into a sickening grin.
"Give him up Matthews. You realize that once you're transferred out of police custody, you're going to be the one rotting in prison and he's going to be out there." Hotch all but growled.
Owen shrugged.
"You don't care? You're going down for his plan." Derek carried on. "You were just going to shoot them, weren't you? That's why there was a gun at your residence."
"I told you, that gun is completely legal." Owen bit out through clenched teeth.
"He's showing more emotion about the gun than his partner." Amari noticed. "When talking about his partner, he's relaxed. When Aaron brought up his gun, he clenched his jaw, balled his hands into fists, I even saw his nostrils flare slightly."
"He doesn't want his partner to be found at all." Emily stepped forward.
Spencer's eyes suddenly went wide. "It's his brother."
Amari looked up at Spencer. "What?"
Spencer ran his tongue over his bottom lip as he gathered his thoughts. "I was going over Lincoln's autopsy with Garcia earlier. Something didn't make sense."
"How did he—you know." JJ asked.
"Sleeping pills." Amari said sadly.
"That's it. The pills." Spencer muttered.
The girls didn't have a chance to ask Spencer what he was talking about before he walked determinedly out of the room and straight into the interrogation room.
"Diphenhydramine." Spencer spoke confidently.
"Excuse me?" Owen scoffed. "Who is this clown?"
Spencer gave Hotch a look and the two men stepped back as Spencer took a seat. "Dr Spencer Reid."
"A doctor. Wow." Owen chuckled. "What's a medical doctor doing here?"
Spencer ignored him. "Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine. One of the main ingredients in sleeping pills."
"What's it to you?" Owen asked.
"Antihistamines aren't only used in sleeping pills. They're also used in allergy medication. Ever heard of the pill Banophen?" Spencer asked.
Owen shook his head. "Can't say that I have, doc."
Spencer clasped his hands together and rested his arms partially on the table. "Banophen is the allergy medication your brother used to take. Two pills, one in the morning, one in the evening. Daily."
"Where are you going with this doc?" Owen grinned evilly.
Spencer leaned forward as his face hardened. "I think you know where I'm going with this, Mr Matthews."
Owen didn't say anything in return as Spencer stared at him.
"You see, being on a prescription as long as Lincoln did meant that he built up a certain tolerance to the pill. Specifically, to diphenhydramine. Which means he couldn't have overdosed on the sixpills that were missing from the container." Spencer said lowly.
"Reid, are you saying—?" Aaron cut in.
Spencer broke his gaze from Owen to look at Aaron and Derek. "Lincoln Matthews is alive. And he's the mastermind behind all of this."
The three of them looked back at Owen, who had a smile growing on his face. They watched as he started chuckling softly and gradually got louder.
"You'll never find him." He laughed. "You won't."
Amari couldn't do anything but stare at the scene in front of her.
"Son of a—we need to call Penelope." She said while her gaze was glued to Owen.
Emily nodded. "And find out who they buried if Lincoln Matthews is alive."
Amari, JJ and Emily all looked at each other with worry etched across their faces.
At that moment, the three men walked in.
Aaron met Amari's eyes. "Things just got a whole lot more complicated."
•✩•
well hey there !
it's been quite some time since i last updated this book :)
i don't know how i feel about this chapter but i hope you enjoyed it !
— J <3