Chapter Text
He was sprinting to the conference room when his phone started ringing in his pocket, though he was too preoccupied to notice. His detour to refill his morning coffee caused him to be late for the meeting, and he tried to quietly make his way into the room as he slinked to his seat. The files he'd been balancing were finally able to spill onto the table, and he quickly flipped open the top folder in time with the presentation on the board. Thankfully for his ability to read as fast as he could, he was able to get caught up with everything easily enough.
“Glad you could finally join us, Dr. Reid.”
The authoritative voice broke his reverie making him wince. A lopsided smile made its way to his lips, “Sorry, Hotch. It won't happen again.” He heard Morgan and Rossi snicker across the table.
Hotch nodded once and motioned for JJ to continue.
“As I was saying, the latest victim, Cindy Murphy, was found 3 days after being reported missing. And, just like the others, was found with lacerations around her neck and abdomen area. Reports have also come back showing that Cindy was raped and beaten multiple times before the unsub finally killed her.” JJ clicked through a few slides, various images of her body were shown. “The local authorities are under the assumption that—”
The sound of a cell phone ringing cut her off.
Reid jumped as his phone rang loudly in his pocket. “Sorry, I thought I turned it off.” Mumbling, he reached in and silenced it, not bothering to take it out completely. He nodded an apology and fidgeted in his seat nervously.
Funny. The only people who would call him were currently in the room with him.
Reid felt a light blush bloom on his cheeks. It seemed anything that happened to him was always fuel for his teammates jokes. JJ turned back to the screen, but was cut off from speaking once again when the phone started ringing immediately thereafter.
Hotch gave Reid a warning look, to which the frazzled profiler once again silenced his phone as quickly as he could. He glanced over at the rest of the team, all giving him questioning looks. Prentiss's eyebrows furrowed together, Morgan sat next to her mirroring the same look.
“I, uh, sorry. It must be a wrong number calling. I don't know anyone else who would—” Reid was interrupted as the phone started up. Again.
“You sure about that, Genius?” Morgan smirked.
Reid ignored him, taking his phone out and hesitating once he took a look at the number.
Hotch noticed the slight hesitation, “Reid?” He sat back in his chair. “Everything alright?”
“I'm not sure.” Reid's fingers hovered over the 'end call' button, worry clearly written over his features.
“If you need to step outside for a minute...” Hotch left the statement open, eyeing him carefully.
Reid blinked a couple of times, his own eyebrows knit together in frustration. He glanced up at his team quickly before looking back down at the ringing phone. “You know I wouldn't unless if it was important.” He half smiled as he pushed himself up from the table. He didn't wait to exit the room before answering, “Hey, Is everything ok?”
Behind him, Emily was mouthing 'who is it?' to the rest of the team as he closed the door behind him. They all shook their heads with uncertainty.
Instead of continuing with the presentation, the group watched curiously through the blinds as Reid paced frantically back and forth outside. He'd pause occasionally and nod his head a couple of times, then would continue to pace.
“Must be someone important for him to leave in the middle of a debrief.” Rossi commented offhandedly. “Girlfriend?”
Hotch glanced over at Dave, back to the empty chair next to him, then back up at the brunette biting his lip outside. He was about to order JJ to continue with the presentation when Reid scrubbed a hand over his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Something was wrong.
Reid nodded, said a quick goodbye, and stood for a few seconds as he tried to compose himself as best he could. He opened the door just enough to poke his head in. “Hey, uh, Hotch, could I talk to you real quick?” He averted his gaze from everyone else in the room, though he could feel their questioning stares on him.
“Excuse me.” Hotch said to the group as he stood up to join his subordinate. “Reid, what's the matter?” He asked once the door was closed behind him, though he knew the wood was thin enough for the others to hear if they really wanted to. And, knowing them, of course they did.
“I think I might have a different case.” Reid cut to the chase. “That was the Sheriff from Beacon Hills.” Hotch nodded. “He says there have been bodies turning up left and right, all pointing to potential animal attacks, but he thinks otherwise.” He cleared his throat. “Mainly due to the fact that when the tests come back, the animal hairs they found came back positive as being Canis Lupus, also known as wolf.” He waited for a response, and when he received none he continued, “Wolves haven't been in California for over 60 years.”
“As interesting as that sounds, Reid, I don't think they would need the help from the FBI for wolf hair.” He turned to go back into the conference room.
Reid placed a hand on his arm, stopping him. “There's more. He said that other bodies have shown up that have been severed in half completely with what appears to be a sword. They're found hung up in trees bound by the wrists.”
Hotch contemplated the information, “How does he know they're related?”
“They've found wolf hairs on those bodies as well.”
Aaron glanced back at the team still waiting in the conference room. As if sensing his doubt Reid interjected, “He'd only call me if it was important. Please, Hotch.” The older man glanced back at him, “I haven't talked to him in a year. Other than my mom, we generally don't keep up frequent contact in my family.”
The word 'family' caught Hotch's attention and he looked down at the hand still holding onto his arm and nodded.
“Alright, let the others know.”
---
“There are more of you?” Prentiss asked after the group had been brought up to speed and the investigation documents had been sent over.
“Why are you surprised?” Reid frowned.
Emily shrugged, “No reason.”
“Those are some seriously messed up bodies.” Garcia piped in as she looked over the mangled corpses. “Whoever did this is some sick whacko.”
“They all are, Baby Girl.” Morgan said and swiped the photos from her. “Shouldn't you be getting back to your computers?”
Garcia feigned hurt, “Ouch. Don't expect any love from me sugar!” She stood up to leave, “Good luck my lovelies, you know where to reach me!” She gave the 'call me' sign to Reid and winked. He looked at her perplexed then continued to gather up the files in front of him.
“Alright, once we've gathered everything we'll leave. Make it quick.” Hotch said and exited the room, headed for his office.
“So, Spence, when were you going to tell us about your extended family?” JJ asked as she helped collect the folders from everyone.
“I don't know.” He answered. “To be honest I sometimes forget I have more family.” He paused in contemplation, “Though I should be getting a call in a couple of months for my birthday. If I'm lucky I might get one for the holidays.” He didn't notice the empathetic looks everyone gave him while he spoke, “The only one, other than my mom, that I really keep in contact with is Stiles, but even that is less frequent than it probably should be.”
“What's a Stiles?” Rossi asked as they all walked to the bullpen to gather the rest of their things.
Reid smiled, “My younger cousin.”
---
Sheriff Stilinski was at the station when he got the call of another body showing up. It was the 5th one in 2 months. It mirrored the attacks from the fiasco just a couple years prior, back when Derek Hale moved back to town. He ran a hand through his hair as he glanced at the clock.
The help he'd called in from his nephew would be arriving soon enough. He was anxious to finally put the case behind him.
As if on cue, one of the deputies walked in, “Sir, the team from Quantico just showed up.”
“Good, tell them to come with me.” He said as he stood up from his desk. He grabbed his jacket as he exited his office. “Another body's been found.” He stated in a hurry, “You can ride with Anderson over to the scene.” He nodded towards the deputy who had informed him of their arrival. He did a double take when he spotted Reid. “Geez Spencer, when's the last time you ate?”
“Good to see you too..” Reid mumbled, adjusting the strap on his satchel and quickening his pace to catch up with everyone else.
Morgan laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, “He's got a point.”
Reid took advantage to look around the city during the ride over, certain buildings looked vaguely familiar while most of it felt foreign. He didn't have long to sight see as the SUV came to a halt. They were stopped at the edge of the forest, the yellow taped off area visible a few yards up the hill.
“Sorry about the rush out the door.” The Sheriff said as he walked over towards Reid, the leaves crunching under each footstep. “I guess introductions should be made. He looked to the man standing to the right of Spencer, “I'm Sheriff Stilinski.” He held out his hand.
“SSA Aaron Hotchner,” Hotch replied and shook the offered hand. He turned towards the rest of the team, “Over here we have SSA Derek Morgan, SSA Emily Prentiss, SSA David Rossi, and our Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau.” Stilinski nodded to the group as they were named off.
Morgan was the first to speak once they made it to the body, “This makes the body count five, right?”
“Unfortunately.” The Sheriff scrubbed a hand over his face. “Though this one is a lot closer to town compared to the rest.”
“How far away were the other victims found?” Hotch inquired.
“Few miles into the woods, give or take. This is the first one I've seen this close to a main road.”
“Perhaps the unsub is getting more brave about killing closer to more populated areas?” Reid offered explanation.
“Or it could mean they were in a time crunch to dispose of this particular body.” Morgan looked around the area as he spoke. “I mean this is already the fifth one, and it's considerably closer. That's a big leap from a couple miles out to just a few yards from a main road.”
Hotch nodded, “Morgan has a point. Plus look at the ground, compared to the other photos we've seen, this is the cleanest crime scene. It's evident that the other victims were attacked and left in the same spot as their bodies were found. The ground here looks untouched.”
“So they killed her somewhere else and disposed of the body here.” Prentiss looked around. “If that's the case, then the other half of the body could be anywhere.” She said as she noted the lack of lower body.
“Hey Hotch take a look at this.” Morgan summoned him over and pointed to some scratches on the victims arms. “Does that look like an inscription to you?”
Reid followed close behind, looking over Hotch's shoulder as he leaned in for a closer look. “It looks like it says 'stop her'.” Reid was the one who spoke. He straightened up and turned back to the Sheriff, “Did the other bodies have writing on them?”
Stilinski shook his head, “No, this'll be the first.”
“Stop her? Do they mean the victim or someone else?” Rossi chimed in from where he was crouched on the opposite side of the body.
“How soon can the body be brought in for further examination?” Hotch asked. “There might be more writing that's hidden.”
“The M.E. Is on the way, Sir.” A deputy standing close by answered.
“Alright, we should head back to the station to go over everything else you have.” Hotch spoke to Sheriff Stilinski, who in turn nodded in agreement.
“Jacobson and Blake,” Stilinski pointed to two of the officers standing off to the side, “Stay here and wait for the M.E.” They nodded. “And keep the area clear of a certain bystander.”
As though he'd spoken a code word, officer Blake answered immediately, “Sir, we got a call from the station, he's at the school.”
“Good.” The Sheriff visibly relaxed before tensing up at Blake's next words.
“Apparently he blew up the Chemistry Lab. On accident.”
The FBI team carried looks ranging from concern and question, to slightly frightened as they looked at the Sheriff and his deputies. His shoulders sunk slightly, and it was then Reid noticed the bags under his eyes, exhaustion clearly evident in his features. It caused him to look much older from the last time Reid had seen him.
“Great..” He looked up at Hotch and his team, “I better go check this out, you guys alright to go back with Anderson?”
“We'll be fine.” Hotch answered. “But if this is related to the case, I can send Reid and Morgan with.” He offered.
Stilinski shook his head, “No it's unrelated. Just my idiot son causing trouble. Again.” He stormed off to his cruiser. “Meet you back at the station after I get this resolved.”
Hotch looked at Reid and raised an eyebrow, silently questioning him about his family.
Reid just shrugged, unsure of what else to say other than, “Physics Magic?”