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

Interviewing the Families

*Mel's POV*

"Hey you!" I said as Spencer walked through the door. "You're just in time. The families are here. You and I are gonna be interviewing Gregg's family."

He gave me a soft smile and nodded.

"Your head still hurt?" I asked.

"No." he replied.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Mel. Don't worry."

I nodded. I believed him if he said he was okay.

"How was your visit with Sammy?" I asked.

"Good! He's doing a lot better. Him and his mom." he said. "Let's go talk to Mr and Mrs. Michaels, shall we?"

I smiled as Spencer snaked his arm around my waist and I led him to the room where Mr and Mrs. Michaels were. As we entered, they both stood up.

"Hello. My names Melanie Reid, this is Spencer Reid." I said, introducing us. "You're Gregg's parents?"

"Megan and Danny." Mrs. Michaels said.

"Pleased to meet you." I said, shaking Megan's hand. I turned to Danny and offered him my hand, but he didn't take it. He had his arms crossed.

"Can we just get this over with?" he grumbled.

A bit shocked, a sat down across from them. Spencer sat on the desk.

"When was the last time you seen Gregg?" I asked.

"That morning. He went off to school with his friends and his sister, Natalie." Megan said. "Natalie said that Gregg wasn't waiting for her when she got out of school, so she figured he was already home or out with friends. When he didn't come home that night, we went out looking for him. Danny found him at the park."

"How old is Gregg?" Spencer asked.

"He turned 18 the day before he disappeared." Megan replied.

Spencer and I looked at each other.

"The same day he came out." I said.

"The worst day ever." Danny muttered. He stood up quickly and left without saying a word. I watched in shock as he left. I looked back at Megan, who was in the brink of tears.

"He wasn't supportive." she cried. "Danny told Gregg that he wasn't his son anymore because Gregg was gay. When he found him dead, he said-" she let out a sob. "-good."

I glared at the door. I was ready to go out and yell at Danny. Who is happy that their son is dead?! Just because he's gay doesn't mean he's not a person!

Spencer must've realized what I wanted to do, because he put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and took a deep breath.

"Are you two married?" asked Megan. I looked at her and nodded. "Children?"

"One on the way." Spencer replied.

"If your child came out of the closet, would you hate him or her?"

It was silent. It wasn't that we were thinking about it, we both already knew the answer. It was that it was a sad moment. I was so sad for her.

"No." I finally replied. "How could you hate the person who is basically a mini you?"

Megan gave me a pained smile and said, "He does."

She began to cry. It broke my heart. I quickly took her hand and looked her in the eye.

"We're gonna find this bastard. And when we do, he'll pay, okay?" I said. Megan nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes.

•

*Morgan's POV*

JJ and I walked into the room with Mark's parents.

"What happened with Mel and Spence?" she asked.

"Caught them making out next to the coffee counter." I said. She have me a weird look that I laughed at. "She'll tell you later."

We sat down across for the Fellows. They both sat far apart from each other and signs of tears still streaked down their faces.

"Mr and Mrs. Fellows?" JJ said.

"Robin." Mrs. Fellows said. "And this is Cody."

"Pleased to meet you." I said and shook their hands. "SSA Derek Morgan, SSA Jennifer Jarou."

"Please, call me JJ."

They shook our hands. I asked the first question.

"When was the last time you two seen Mark?"

"I seen him two days before he was kidnapped." Robin said.

"We're divorced." Cody explained. "Since Mark was 18, we let him go with whoever he wanted whenever he wanted. He wanted to go with me that day he came out."

"Why?" JJ asked.

Cody looked at Robin, who looked down at the desk. Tears started falling down her face.

"Robin remarried about 4 years ago." Cody started. "The man has a son. His name is Collin. Collin-"

"Collin told Mark that if he didn't tell everyone that his coming out of the closet was a joke, he'd kill him." Robin quickly butted in. "Collin didn't support Mark. He was also the one who found him."

"And what'd he say when he found him?" I asked.

"He said, 'At least they did the job before I could'." Robin remembered before beginning to cry again. Cody put a hand on her back.

JJ and I looked at each other in surprise. How could anyone be happy that their brother, gay or not, was dead?

•

*Rossi's POV*

Hotch and I walked into the room where Cameron's parents were. They looked up at us with tear stained eyes. Cases like this were always hard. A parent shouldn't out live their kid.

"Are you the FBI?" Mrs. Williams asked.

"Yes. My name is Unit Chief David Rossi. This is SSA Aaron Hotchner." I introduced us.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Rebecca. This is Jackson." Mrs. Williams said. "What happened to our son?"

"He was killed. We believe it was because of his sexuality." Hotch replied.

Rebecca buried her head in her hands and let out a sob. Jackson rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

"When was the last time you seen Cameron, Mr and Mrs. Williams?" Hotch asked.

"The night he died. He said he was going out with friends." Jackson replied.

"What friends?!" Rebecca shrieked. "One of his best friends was Dylan and he threatened Cameron when he came out!"

"He has other friends, Becca." Jackson said.

"Wait." I said, drawing their attention back to us. "Go back to that part about Dylan threatening him."

"Dylan was one of Cameron's best friends. Dylan was never particularly...supportive of any gays. When Cameron came out, Dylan threatened to kill him. He said that he thought Cameron would try to rape him or something if they stayed friends." Rebecca explained. "He never gave Cameron a chance."

"When Cameron went missing, we sent out a search party. We found Dylan standing in front of his body. We just assumed-" Jackson trailed off. "We didn't know about he other murders."

"So you called the police?" Hotch asked.

"They said they called the FBI because of the other murders with the same MO." Jackson said. "Dylan was so shocked, but he said he was glad Cameron was gone because now, he doesn't have 'to watch his back'."

Hotch and I looked at each other.

"I'm sorry for your loss. We'll find this guy." I said.

We got up and left.

Morgan, JJ, Mel and Reid were already out as well. We went up to exchange what we found.

"Gregg's father was a homophobe who is glad his gay son is dead." said Mel before we were even over. She was obviously peeved. Reid quickly put an arm around her to calm hr down.

"He also found Gregg at the park." he added.

"Same with Mark's step-brother. He was glad Mark died and wasn't the least bit supportive of hi being gay and was the one that found him dead at the park." Morgan said.

"Cameron's best friend is the same way. He was the one to find him, too." I said.

"So, our victims were all homosexual teens who just came out of the closet who had someone close to them who wasn't supportive, found them dead and was happy they died." Hotch summarized. "Looks like there's more to this then a hate crime."