His Lost Boy

Chapter Eight

Morgan walked into the meeting room with a yawn, sliding a protective arm around Reid's waist before sitting down. They were alone since Rossi, Prentiss and JJ hadn't shown yet, and Hotch was getting coffee.

"New cologne?" Reid asked, taking advantage of their alone time to bury his face in Morgan's neck.

"Yeah, do you like it?" Morgan asked, scratching his neck as he yawned again.

"Mm.. I don't know, doesn't smell like you." Reid scrunched up his nose. He smiled when Morgan leaned in to give him a kiss.

"If we could tone down the PDA it would be greatly appreciated." Hotch walked in holding a mug of coffee for both him and Reid.

"Don't be a jerk, they're cute." JJ followed behind with Prentiss. Hotch only did a quick eyebrow raise in acknowledgement to her comment.

"So what's the reason for waking us up at this hour?" Morgan slid a hand down Reid's back subtly, keeping it there for some much needed physical touch.

"An ear was found, along with a finger."

"An ear. A finger." Morgan looked pissed he couldn't spend this time in bed with Reid. He took a sip of Reid's cup of coffee, much to Reid's dismay, and then Morgan's when he tasted the sugar to actual coffee ratio in it.

"The wives body parts." Rossi walked in, sitting down as well.

"How do you know that?" Hotch asked confused as he passed around photos. Rossi pointed at the huge whiteboard with a picture of it, scoffing.

Reid squirmed in his seat as Morgan tightened his hand around Reid's waist. The sheer size of Morgan's hands were insane, his hand covered almost half of Reid's waist alone.

"That's... interesting. Was it delivered to the husband?" Prentiss questioned.

"It was delivered to the police, the station." Hotch noted.

"Has the ME been able to determine if the removal of the ear and finger was done post or antemortem?" Reid asked.

"Not yet, they're working on it, but-"

"Based on the bruising on the antihelix up to the helix I'm guessing she's still alive. Based on the ear." Reid interrupted, somehow he had acquired a magnifying glass and was currently looking at the ear close up.

Everyone looked at him confused, no one spoke up before Reid did himself.

"What? I'm a doctor."

"Yeah but not a medical one, I'm gonna wait to get the ME's opinion on that-"

And as comedic as it was, a police officer knocked on the door and handed Hotch the file. "The ear removal was antemortem." He said quietly.

Morgan sipped Reid's coffee again. "Comic." He excused his comment with a cough.

Hotch shot him a glare before continuing. "Based on that the investigation will continue as before, just now we know the kidnappers have sadistic tendencies and will harm her." Hotch stood up.

"That's all."

Morgan scoffed loudly. "That's all you woke us up for? At the dead of fucking night?"

"Yes, due to the fact that the victim has been harmed I suggest we start immediately. Do you have a problem you'd like to discuss with me, Morgan?" Hotch placed the file on the desk, speaking calmly. Reid muttered something to Morgan about it not being worth it.

//

"This is so weird." Morgan yawned, they had been working for hardly three hours.

"Which part of it? The ear or the connection to the serial killers?" Reid asked, not paying attention to him as he went through a stack of files.

"They've never sent an ear before." Morgan kissed the top of Reid's head before getting himself some more coffee. When he returned Reid was smiling.

"You're awfully affectionate today." Reid tried to suppress a smile, but failed miserably.

"I just lo-"

"Reid, Morgan. Conference room." Hotch said as he walked by.

Morgan sighed dramatically as he stood up, Reid following him.

Hotch closed the door, rolling down the curtains.

"What the hell-" Morgan looked confused. Hotch handed Reid a file.

His eyes widened.

No, that couldn't be possible. How could it be possible? She was buried, in the ground at this point.

"Adriana Ortiz." Reid repeated, handing Morgan the file.

"The finger was down postmortem, which confused the ME, so I asked her to check if the blood matched the ear. It didn't. But the blood on the finger did match someone else in the system." Hotch explained quietly, almost whispering.

"How the fuck." Morgan cursed as he read the file, his brows furrowing.

"A few months ago, when Adriana was in the morgue, her finger disappeared. The ME didn't report it, as she didn't notice. She was preparing to send her over to her families desired funeral services."

"Elijah cut off her finger." Reid put two and two together.

"That's the assumption I believe, yes."

"We assumed the finger and ear were connected, we're pretty sure that Elijah took advantage of the security cameras being off when the kidnappers dropped off the ear."

"The cameras were only off for 4 minutes and 23 seconds." Reid countered.

"Elijah saw the kidnappers." Morgan noted, swallowing hard.

"And vice versa." Hotch agreed.

"We don't know if Elijah has changed his appearance in the last few months, we find the kidnappers, we could find Elijah."

"Hold up, I'm just confused on why Adriana Ortiz. She was what? 27. A elementary school teacher, living in the good parts of DC. Her parents immigrated when she was 4. Clean record, and just an average life. She's the stereotype of Latin American women these days." Morgan scoffed, reading the file again.

"To give a message. He could've killed Reid if he wanted to." Hotch spoke, his voice still quiet in the dimness of the room.

"She somehow fits into this. When we get back to the precinct can I run a background check?" Reid looked at Hotch hopefully.

"Fine, outside the books. This can't be known to anyone besides us three." Hotch took the file back from Morgan, closing it.

"That's all."

Hotch opened the blinds, excusing himself.

Reid stood there in shock, trying to figure out what was going on when he felt an arm around his waist, pulling him against Morgan's chest.

"Bad timing." Morgan kissed the top of Reid's head.

"Very bad timing." Reid mumbled in agreement.

//