JJ, PENELOPE AND I WERE AT SPENCER'S DESK WHILE HE DID SOME PHYSICS "EXPERIMENT". He was all excited about it and we were not very sure why. We don't question what makes him happy, though. If he's happy, that is all that matters.
"Nothing's happening." JJ let out.
"Watch!" Spencer urged with a huge smile plastered on his face.
All of the sudden his concoction fizzed and the cap went flying. Emily was walking in and it hit her square in the head. We all gasped and tried not to laugh.
"I'm so sorry, Emily." Spencer let out sincerely.
"What was that?" She asked as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Don't you recognize a rocket when you see one?" Penelope asked sarcastically. I shook my head and chuckled.
"I-I was merely demonstrating a physics law. I-I didn't mean to hit-" Spencer started but Emily cut him off.
"Oh, show me!" She said excitedly. Another reason why she is a perfect fit for this team.
She joined the rest of us and waited for Spencer to do something.
"Alright, uh, turn around please." He said to us. It never fails.
"Turn around?" Emily questioned.
"Yeah, he's not gonna show you how it's done." I replied and turned around.
"A magician doesn't reveal his secrets." Spencer responded.
"I thought you said it was physics." Emily defended. I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. I have tried every different excuse to reason with Spencer but it never works.
"Physics...magic." Spencer drawled on.
"Trust me. It will not do you any good to argue with him." Penelope let out and faced Emily the other way. She looked at me and I shrugged in defense.
After a few seconds, Spencer spoke, "Alright, turn back and observe."
We watched it fizz and spring into the air. We all gasped. The amused gasps turned into fear when it landed right at Hotch's feet. With how he has been acting lately, I do not want to cross him.
He looked at all of us standing there. The girls and I all dispersed to make it look like we were busy and left Spencer to explain.
"Physics magic?" He asked Spencer.
"Yes, sir." Spencer replied timidly.
"Reid, we talked about this."
"I'm sorry, sir."
After a beat, Hotch gave Spencer back the rocket. "Really starting to get a distance on those." He let out. I let out a sigh of relief.
The girls and I walked back over to Spencer's desk.
"So, he does have a sense of humor?" Emily asked.
"Sometimes." Spencer shrugged.
"Hey, where's Morgan?" Emily asked.
"He's in Chicago. He goes there every year for his mothers' birthday." I replied and she nodded.
Today was slow. Slow days are mainly filled paperwork and finishing case files to be submitted. Sometimes paperwork days are a nice way to catch my breath.
—
I should have known it was too calm. The calm before the storm is not just an idiom in this career field. Just hours after I got home, all hell broke loose.
I got a call as soon as I fell asleep from Hotch that I was needed back in the office immediately. I have come to learn the urgency depending on the call. When JJ calls, it is not as bad. When Hotch calls, you worry. He didn't say what it was over the phone, just that it was an emergency recall and to have a to go bag ready. I prepared for the worst.
When I got there I joined Spencer and Emily who were standing there almost as confused as I was. "What's going on?" I asked them.
"I have no idea." Spencer replied. Emily also shrugged.
When Hotch saw that we were all here, he came over to us and started to tell us. "We're going to Chicago."
Chicago? That's where Derek is. Why are we needed there?
This just caused more confusion. We looked at him for more of an explanation.
"Morgan was arrested for homicide." Gideon revealed.
Our jaws dropped to the floor. Derek being a murderer? I mean obviously this is some kind of mistake. There is no way he killed anyone. This job is the most important thing to him. He would never ever jeopardize it. He was here before me.
We wasted no time in getting to the jet and getting to Chicago. No one had time to even process what was happening. This is close to our worst nightmare. We see people get wrongfully accused every day but never one of our own.
We did not know anything about why he was arrested other than the fact it was homicide. The jet ride was dead silent.
—
As soon as we walked into the police station, Hotch took charge. "Special Agent Hotchner, FBI. I'm looking for Detective Gordinski."
Some other man came over to us. "How are you guys doing? Wally Dennis, CPD." He said all cheerfully. Oh, these people are going to give us a run for our money. I can feel it.
"Where's Agent Morgan?" Hotch demanded. He is not making nice.
"Detective Gordinski's in with the suspect now." He replied. The suspect? I was about ready to make some punches.
"I need to see him." Hotch said hardly.
"When my partner's finished talking to him." Wally pressed. This was the literal battle of the alpha male.
"I have your superintendent's personal cell number, and in the interstate's of not running Roughshod over another police agency, I've resisted calling him so far. I need to see Agent Morgan now." Hotch stated.
Wally huffed. "I'll get Gordinski. He's the primary." He replied, defeated, and walked away.
"I don't like them calling him a suspect." I let out when he was gone.
"Me neither." Hotch replied.
Finally after a few minutes, Gordinski walked out. God, I could just tell he is an asshole by the way he walked out so entitled.
"Detective Gordinski, CPB." He said and shook Hotch's hand.
"You think an FBI agent, a BAU profiler committed a homicide?" Hotch asked right away.
"Actually, three homicides at least, over 15 years." He replied. I hate this man already.
"You think he's a serial killer?" I asked incredulously. I am utterly appalled.
"This is ridiculous." Spencer spoke up. For Spencer to express his opinion so openly shows this is an absolute waste of time. Morgan didn't do anything. I've spent years working with him and he's never ever shown homicidal tendencies. He would not be allowed in the field if he did.
"Has he been charged with anything?" Hotch asked.
"I got 72 hours for that." He replied.
"I'd like to see him." Hotch replied.
Hotch walked away with Wally and left the other asshole detective with us.
"Agent Gideon, right?" He asked him.
"Yes." Gideon said shortly and shook his hand.
"I owe you a big thank you. I had no suspects at all until you looked over my case for me and sent me this profile. Everything in it points to the son of a bitch, Derek Morgan." He said to him. All of our eyes widened at this. Emily and I shared a look of complete disbelief.
"I profiled him?" Gideon asked as he read through it. I'm sure it wasn't his intention to.
"It's all right there."
"Detective, a profile's just a guide." Spencer tried.
"Yeah, well this one guided me to him." He said back. I do not like his tone. I don't even have to know about his history to know that one, it sounds like he's been trying to pin something on Derek for years and two, he's a racist son of a bitch.
"They're really more useful in the elimination of suspects rather than the inclusion." Emily added.
"That's not the way you presented it to me." The detective said to Gideon. Yeah and it is clear you could never make it by being a profiler.
"Well, if I confused you, I'm sorry."
"I'm not confused at all."
Confused, no. Blatantly wrong, yes.
"Look, whatever it is in here that made you consider Agent Morgan a suspect has to be a coincidence. You can't rely solely on this." Gideon told him.
"You're right, I'm not." Was all he said before he went on a tangent. "15 years ago, I was a new detective. One of my first cases was a black kid. 12 or 13 years old, found strangled in a vacant lot near here."
"Boy was a John Doe, right?" Gideon asked.
"Still unidentified to this day." He replied. That's definitely not right.
"Wait, a 12 year old kid that no one reported missing?" I asked.
"Ever. Four years ago, another body turns up, same M.O. worked that case just as hard and came up with just as much nothing. Nobody in the area had ever seen the kid before."
"No one's looking for these kids?" JJ asked.
"Then a few months back, I attended a seminar that you taught at CPD headquarters. I told you about my case. You said to send the files and you'd look them over. This is the profile that you worked up. There are about 3 million people in Chicago. Your profile said I was looking for a black male, 25 to 35, with a knowledge of the area. Nonthreatening to children, either knows them or is normal enough that he doesn't scare them. A probable criminal record. It also says the way the body was placed gently on a mattress, not just tossed on the ground, indicated someone who was probably consumed with guilt, especially for the first victim. Your exact words are: 'With a guilt-ridden offender, the BAU postulated the first victim is the most important, and the unsub may still visit the place of the crime or even the victim himself.' Care to guess who visits my first victim every time he's in town?"
"Can't be just visiting the victim. There has to be more than that." Gideon told him.
"Sure. You said the unsub might try to inject himself into the investigation to keep tabs on it. Morgan has called our headquarters many times since he joined the Bureau. Always about this case."
Sometimes I truly wonder how people get so far in their jobs when they think so small.
"So, wait, he talked to you about it?" Spencer asked.
"Headquarters. He'd never call me." He replied. I wouldn't either if I was him. "After I got your profile, I checked airline records. Turns out Derek had just left Chicago when the other body turned up."
I rubbed my head. All of this is circumstantial.
"Then yesterday someone comes up dead and the last person he was with was Derek Morgan. In the boy's pocket we found on of his FBI business cards, his cell number was written on the back of it. In fact, every time Morgan's in town, he hangs out with kids."
Why would the kids murderer put his card in his pocket to lead the police right too him? Morgan is in the FBI for godsake. They don't just let anyone in.
"This is all just coincidence." JJ said.
"Hell of a lot of coincidence." The detective replied. I seriously do not like his tone.
"It's purely circumstantial." I sassily remarked.
"So's a fingerprint. Did I mention that Morgan found the body in 1991? Hidden way back in a vacant lot? Now, don't you teach that when a body is hard to find, the person finding it is always a suspect?"
I literally threw my head back. I was about to scream.
"There are key pieces of the profile that don't fit, detective. Uh, the age, 25 to 35, Morgan was 15 at the time." Spencer told him.
"Also says that age is the hardest to predict. And I should never exclude someone simply because of a discrepancy with the age."
"What about the speculation that since he didn't manage to leave any evidence at the scene of the crime and he most likely has a criminal record or previous law enforcement knowledge? Derek wasn't even in the Bureau yet when the first body was found." Spencer asked.
"He may not have had knowledge of law enforcement, but Derek Morgan definitely has a criminal record." He basically shouted. I looked at him like he had 5 heads.
Finally the detective left us alone so we could all talk.
"We're dealing with a desperate detective here. Three dead boys, no evidence at all, so he applied the profile directly to someone he already suspected. It's easy to get tunnel vision that way." Gideon told us. God bless this man for being so calm right now. On the outside I may seem calm, but on the inside I was ready to explode over the stupidity here.
"One begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts. That's uh, one of Sherlock Holmes favorite quotes." Spencer let out.
"We need to figure out who really killed these boys before they charge Morgan." Gideon said.
"What do you need us to do?" I asked.
"Last victim was someone Morgan was seen with. Conveniently, Morgan was already a suspect in the other two." Gideon said.
Oh my god. All signs point to Morgan because it was done like that purposely.
"Someone set him up?" I asked.
"We should consider Morgan a victim. Parks, you and Prentiss talk to his family, learn about him. Especially around the time of the first murder." Gideon ordered.
"Do we have an address?" Emily asked.
"I can take you." Wally said. Emily and I looked at each other with nothing but annoyance.
"Oh, that's okay." I said. I do not want him there. He's biased.
"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Gideon said quickly. I swallowed my pride.
"Right." I let out.
"Okay, lead the way, Detective." Emily spoke.
With that, we were off.
On a lighter note, I'm really happy Emily is on the team. Her and I have gotten pretty close. I'm close with Spencer and Penelope but this feels different. I can't describe it. I enjoy working with her. We make a pretty good team.
—
Soon enough, we made it to Derek's family's house. The first thing they asked is if he's okay. We assured them he's fine and that Hotch is there with him.
"Did he tell you that Gordinski's been harassing him since he was a kid?" His sister, Sarah asked. No one said it but I assumed.
"Why's that?" Emily asked.
"You'd have to ask that bastard-" Her mom cut her off.
"Sarah!"
"It's true, mom."
"Sure it is." Wally said behind me. This is exactly why I didn't want him coming.
"What are you even doing in my mother's house?" Sarah yelled.
"They asked me." He replied. Not true.
"That's false." I replied.
"I don't understand how someone could think he did this." His mom let out.
"Someone may be trying to make it look like he hurt those kids." Emily replied.
"And the police believe it?" Sarah asked.
"Just following the evidence." Wally let out. I turned to him with eyes that said shut up.
"But he's an FBI agent." His mom defended.
"Someone may be trying to make it look like this was Derek." I added.
"But Derek loves kids. Every time he's here, he goes to the youth center." His mom said. This is something.
"Youth center?" Emily asked.
"The Upward Youth Center."
"Does that have some sort of significance for him?" I asked.
"The youth center saved his life." She told us. We need to look into this. "My husband, their father, was killed when he tried to stop a robbery. Derek was with him, he was ten. A year or so later, he started getting into trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" Emily asked.
"He started running around with older kids. They would give him money to run errands for them." She said and I made a face. She knew exactly where my mind went because she clarified. "Not drugs. No, Derek would never disgrace his father's memory-" She continued but was cut off.
"But they were gangbangers. So people started looking at Derek like he was one of them." Sarah interjected.
"One night, him and the other boys were attacked by some boys from another gang. Big fight. And one of the boy's head split open." His mom continued.
"And that was the first time Gordinski arrested him. Now, he wasn't a detective yet, just a street cop, but from that night on, no matter what happened in the neighborhood, he'd pick Derek up for it." Sarah told us. Interesting. I sensed there was some history.
"Probably because he was involved." Wally said. If he doesn't shut his bald head up, I swear to god.
"The hell he was!" Sarah sassed back.
"Stan's never arrested anyone who didn't need arresting." Wally snapped back. He is defending him like he is his boyfriend.
"He did with Derek."
"Until Carl Buford stepped in." His mom continued.
"Carl Buford?" I asked.
"He runs the youth center." Wally replied.
"He took Derek under his wing. Mentored him. Became like a surrogate father. He taught him football and that changed Derek's life. He got a scholarship to college, with it he got his degree." His mom said.
We need to talk to Carl.
"Where is Carl Buford now?" I asked.
"He still runs the youth center." Wally replied.
"We'd like to talk to him. Detective, do you think you could take us over there?" Emily asked.
He nodded and then took us there. We checked out his office. He had recognitions from everyone. Literally everyone respected him. He isn't here, though.
Come to find out it's because he showed right up at the police station. Now, that doesn't sit right with me. He was the reason his criminal records were expunged but he's the reason the detective knows Derek was with the kid who died.
In all the years I have been in this field, I know when I see someone who is guilty. I need to be able to with this job. This whole situation has Carl Buford written all over it. He is the supposed local hero. Of course he'd frame someone else.
Emily and I went back to the station to tell Hotch everything but he already knew the majority of it. Hotch agreed with us about Carl.
We were all talking in the station when all of the sudden, Wally yelled "What, did we turn him loose?"
"What?" Hotch asked.
"He's gone." Wally snapped. Derek is gone? Damn you, Derek. He probably figured it out.
Gordinski was pissed. He was telling his officer Morgan was a threat. I am not having this.
"You have to tell your officers that Morgan's not a threat." I urged.
"Like hell I will."
"But this-"
"Lady, as far as I'm concerned, he is a threat, okay?" He yelled. I refuse to be spoken to like this. I am his superior.
"That's Agent Parks to you. We may be on your turf, but I am still your superior. Do not speak to me that way, okay?" I snapped and turned around. I saw Hotch watching the conversation.
Oops.
"Look, I'm sorry if I was out of line but-" I started defending myself.
"You weren't. They're beyond reason." He assured.
"We just have to find him first." I replied.
"Any ideas?" Gideon asked.
"His mother said that Buford practically raised him after his father died. He mentored him, took him on trips, spent all this time with him. Basically became a surrogate father." Emily explained.
He's definitely heading to see Buford.
All of this makes too much sense now. Carl was grooming him. I know there's more to it but I don't want to think about that. It's time to just prove Derek had nothing to do with this.
Hotch and Gideon went with the detective to go get him. The rest of us stayed at the station and waited for him to get back.
When they did come back, Carl was in cuffs and Derek was free. He walked in and we all smiled at him. I went up and hugged him first. I have worked with him for so long, he is like my protective older brother. Him being accused like this stung.
"Couldn't get rid of me that easily, Parks." He let out.
"No but I was about to get rid of that slimey detective." I replied and he raised his eyebrows like he felt the same way.
He then hugged the rest of the group and called Penelope who was thrilled to know he was okay. Mentally, I'm not sure if he was. Whatever happened at the youth center was rough but he is Derek Morgan. He'll be okay.
The rest of us went to board the jet home while Derek stayed for a couple extra days. I do not blame him. He needs some family time.
On the jet, Spencer and Gideon were playing chess, as per usual. Spencer was losing. JJ sat in the corner trying to get some sleep. Hotch was doing paperwork. Emily sat across from me.
"How long have you and Derek been close?" Emily broke the silence and asked me.
"Well, when he was done flirting with me, I'd say about 4 years." I replied with a chuckle.
"Flirting?" Emily asked with a wide smile.
"Yeah, that's typical when a woman joins the team for Derek. When he found out I don't date men he backed off immediately." I replied. She nodded in realization and amusement.
"Other than you, he has probably been the most welcoming since I joined." She spoke.
"Has it gotten better?" I asked her.
"After that mini argument with Hotch, he has been better with me." She said. I nodded.
"I think there is something going on in his personal life because he has been harder on us, too."
"Trouble at home?" She questioned and looked over in his direction.
"Probably. He has a wife and a son but he's always busy. I can't imagine it's easy." I let out.
"Definitely not. I grew up with my mom in this field. I know it's rough ." She sighed.
Soon, we both drifted off into sleep. It's been a long day.