Mini Reid (Book 3 in the Boss's Niece series #Wattys2016)

Theodor Was Found/Autopsys

*Spencer's POV*

"No forced entry." I said as Mel and I entered the San Diego police department. Hotch and JJ are standing, talking to a woman.

"Not at the first house either. Morgan just called." said JJ.

"What about Blake?" Mel asked.

"Right here." Blake replied, walking in. "And no forced entry at the Powers' house either. Which means they let the UnSub in."

Mel walked over to a board, which was already set up. She wrote "entry granted" on the board and turned around.

"So, if there was no forced entry, that means that the victims knew our UnSub. My first theory was correct." she said.

"The second?" Hotch asked.

"I don't know yet." she replied. But, with saying that, her phone vibrated. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the message. Once she read it, her face expression softened, like she was going to cry. She placed her phone on the table, message opened for us to read, and wrote something under the picture of Theodor Powers.

We all looked at the message.

From: Derek Morgan

Breaking news. Theodor was found in the park.

I looked up at the board. Mel had written, "Murdered".

"We need to find the Hudson's before they're killed next and before another couple is kidnapped." she said.

"What do we know?" Blake asked.

"All the victims are around the same age, live in the same area and are dumped at the same park, meaning that the UnSub is somewhere near their ages, live near them and has some sort of history with the park." I said.

"If the UnSub does live in the same area, that means that they knew each family somehow. Maybe they were even at the Hudson's party the night they were kidnapped." Mel added.

"Which would explain why there was no forced entry." Blake said.

"Can I get a map of the neighborhood or something, please?" Mel asked an officer that was standing by. "I want to mark the houses of the victims, see if there is any connection or anything that could help with the case."

"Right away, Ma'am." the officer said and scurried off.

Mel pointed a thumb his way and raised an eyebrow.

"He's new." the woman that Hotch and JJ were talking to said. "My name is Sergeant Ella McCane, but please, call me El."

"El?" I said.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who thought of Elle Greenaway, the agent who worked at the BAU before Prentiss joined. She was shot during a case. She was on edge and shot an UnSub. She resigned shortly after.

"Here you go." the officer said. He had returned with Mel's map.

"Thank you, officer-" Mel trailed off, waiting for a name.

"Oh! My name is Frank Cooper." replied the officer.

"Thank you, officer Cooper." Mel said, nodding. Cooper stood, awkward, for a moment before leaving to join another group of officers. Mel laughed and rolled her eyes as she stretched the map out over the table.

"So, this is the Witlock's and the Hudson's neighborhood," she said, putting her finger on the map. "And this is the Powers' neighborhood." she put another finger on the map.

"Garcia called." Rossi announced as he and Morgan entered the room. "The autopsies for the first three are in and Theodor's autopsy will be in some time tomorrow."

"Alright. Looks like I have another job." Mel said, clapping her hands together.

I laughed. Ever since she started at the BAU, Mel had always went to the morgues and picked up the autopsies. She always wanted me to go because she knew I wouldn't make fun of her if she started getting sick. She still found dead bodies sickening sometimes.

"Let's go, partner." she said, taking my hand in hers and leading me out of the police station.

"Wait." Hotch said, catching up to us. "You two are a married couple who are in our UnSub's victim's age range."

"So?" Mel asked.

"Please be safe and don't get too friendly with anyone."

Mel turned to me and smiled.

"We'll be safe." I said.

"Don't worry Uncle Aaron." Mel said.

Hotch nodded and let us go. I looked at Mel and gave her a questioning look.

"He wanted me to call him Aaron." she replied. "Now stop being a slowpoke or I'll pull your arm off."

She tugged on my arm, causing me to walk faster. I laughed and followed her out of the police station and to one of the SUVs parked out front.

"I dare you to drive." she said as she tossed me the keys.

I caught them, almost dropping them as I did so.

"That's a dare I'm willing to take." I said, climbing into the drivers side. Mel laughed as she climbed into the passenger side.

I started the SUV and drove to the morgue.

•

*Mel's POV*

Spencer and I drove to the morgue. Once we got there, I took a deep breath and opened the SUV door and got out. We walked to the doors. Before entering, Spencer took my hand.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready." I said, nodding.

We pushed open the doors and walked in. There was a man at the counter, looking at something. When the doors opened, he looked at us.

"Hello there." he said. "How may I help you?"

"We're from the FBI. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid and this is Dr. Melanie Reid. We're here for the autopsies on Mary and Jonathan Witlock and Amy Powers." Spencer said.

"Oh right. Come with me." the man said.

We followed him to the back where the bodies were. In the middle of the room were three tables with white sheets over them. Mary, Jonathan and Amy. The man gave me the three files in his hand.

"The doctor will be here shortly. Feel free to examine the bodies until she arrives." he said before leaving.

"Thanks!" I called after him.

I put the files on a nearby table and read through them in one minute flat.

"30 000 words, Reiders!" I called over my shoulder to Spencer. "Beat that."

I heard him laugh and I chuckled myself.

"Let's start with our only male. Jonathan Witlock." I said, opening Jonathan's file.

"Right here." Spencer said, pulling the sheet off of Jonathan. "What's the autopsy say?"

"Found in the park right next to his wife. He was naked and stabbed three times in the chest, but the cause of death was his neck being cut open."

"Overkill."

As I read through the file, there was something else that I seen that made me sick. My hands shook as I walked over the Spencer.

"There's, uh, something else here." I said, passing him the file.

He took it and read over it. His eyes became wide.

"His genitals were cut off." he said.

"Gross." I muttered.

"Theodor had his cut off, too."

Spencer and I turned to see a woman wearing a white robe walk in.

"Hello. My name is Dr. White." she said. "You must be from the FBI. I was told you were coming."

"Yes. Doctors Melanie and Spencer Reid." I said. "Pleased to meet you Dr. White."

"Doctors? Both of you?" Dr. White asked.

"Dr. Melanie recently got her PhD in Biology and I have three PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering and two BAs in psychology and sociology." Spencer explained.

"And, before you ask, Dr. Brainiac over here doesn't like labels, but you can call him a genius if you please." I added when I seen Dr. White open her mouth to say something.

"Okay. Well, have you two gone over the women yet?" she asked.

"No. We just started going over Jonathan." I replied. "Is there anything else about him that we need to know?"

"No ma'am. That's about it. There has been signs of sexual assault on the females. Also, they weren't killed as brutally." Dr. White said.

"Reiders, come here and look at this." I said. "Their hair has been cut to the same length. Maybe they're done up to look like someone."

"Overkill on the males, what looks like remorse on the females, but they're sexually abused. This seems...weird." Spender said, reading over the files.

"What case isn't weird, babe?"