Reid's Baby Sister (Criminal Minds/Spencer Reid's Sister Story)

Chapter 4

Spencer's POV

Monday 23rd September - 12:26

Everyone was back in at the station and searching for links from new information but in the middle of everything, Hotch asked me to follow him to an empty office. "What is it, Hotch?" I questioned, afraid of what he was going to say. To outsiders, Hotch looked stern and humourless but to the team, looking at our boss, we knew that he was showing concern and worry towards me as if he thought I would do something irrational. "Reid, you can't stay on this case." "What?! But Hotch, I'm needed here." I argued back. "Yes but you are too close to this case and it will affect your performance, I know you didn't sleep last night." He knows me too well but I wasn't giving in. "Hotch, that is my sister out there. She was the only person I had after our Mom lost it. You didn't stand down when it was your family and with an UNSUB like this which has already taken 8 victims, we need as much help as we can get. Do you really want to take me off the case right now?" He sighed as he took in my words. I knew he didn't want to but it was protocol. He paused for a while, thinking of the out come of his actions. "Alright. You can stay on it but if I see any indication that you can't do this, you're off the case." "Thank you." And with that we went back to work.

My theory had been correct as Penelope was able to find indications that the under aged girls had been with the three grown men. She had found that Jake Miller had a rare band T-shirt that he took a selfie with and Jessica wore the same shirt in a hotel room. Her parents denied she owned she owned and they thought she was at a friends house that day. Another, Emily Robertson was seen wearing the some necklace that Robert Hill had bought in the same week with his credit card and finally, Tiffany Stuart and Flynn Dickson have been spotted in clubs together but Tiffany was under a fake identity. Even though Cass doesn't have social media, Lewis had put a few pictures of the two of them together on Facebook that could have been taken the wrong way by an outsider and captions saying things like, "Heading to meet Little Cass for Starbucks" or his most recent, "Moving in with Cassy Reid today, can't wait!" He seemed like a nice guy and judging by the pictures, he made Cass happy and was a true friend, something that she struggled with.

We thought we had enough for a profile so gathered everyone to inform them. "We believe the UNSUB has a history of sexual offence seeing as his victims were dating each other. He sees himself as a god like figure as he acts to punish his victims who have sinned although he goes purely on assumptions. His passed six victims were correct but his current victim and the last male were misunderstandings which shows he is ruthless and does not look into the relationships very far before he makes his move. He also doesn't get off on seeing the girls in this state, he does it as if it is he is trying to make an example of them and then shows it off to get our attention." Hotch finished for Emily to take over, "He watches them over social media and brings them back to a secure area which has meaning to them. If you come into contact with the subject, caution is advised as he is able to use excessive force." Just as we finished, an officer came rushing in with a package. "Agent Hotchner! The UNSUB has made contact!" The team hurried over to the officer. "What do you mean?" Hotch questioned, staying composed. "This package was left in front of one of the precincts but it was too small to be a bomb so we inspected it." The frantic man pulled out a pen-drive, "We made sure it didn't hold a virus and it shows the missing girl. The package read your name on the front." I paled as he spoke. If he looked so grim about my sister, this could not be good. The package read 'For Agent Hotchner and his Team' on the front. "How does he know your name?" JJ asked uncertainly. "Maybe Cassandra told him, I told her about all of you. She is smart, she could be trying to send us a message while manipulating him." I answered her as we walked to a computer.

Inserting it into the PC, we only found two files. Clicking on the first one, we were greeted with a sickening sight. Cassandra sat on an old wooden chair in a dark concrete room, her hands tied behind her back. Her hair was a mess and her sunken face was covered in cuts and bruises along with the rest of her body. She was only in her bra and I was resisting the urge to hold my hand over the monitor to obscure their vision of her vulnerable body. Her eyes looked dead but concentrated but it took a moment for me to realise what on. Then I saw it. Her foot was tapping off beat very subtly. I watched it as the UNSUB, face unseen, began to address us. "Hello Agents of the FBI. As you know, this young girl is Cassandra Reid. She means something to one of you so maybe, you will finally get the message. Do people like you realise what hurt you cause to the innocent? Do you realise how hypocritical it is to turn a blind eye now after all the suffering you caused? Well, if not, this is what happens."

I was puzzled by what he meant by us hurting the innocent but I flinched when he pulled out a belt and stuck her in the back, causing her to scream in pain and stop tapping for a moment. JJ and Emily looked shocked, Rossi stunned and Hotch and Morgan furious. I on the other hand was frozen, a haze of red covering my eyes and pure hatred rising. Strike after strike, she yelled out but focused on tapping and I memorised every bit of it. With every hit, more blood covered the leather material. The striking finally stopped when he noticed her foot. "What is that?!" "I-It's nothing! I-It's a n-nervous twitch!" Cass stuttered, she was never a good lier. "DON'T YOU LIE TO ME BITCH!" Next moment she was slammed backhand across the face, causing her to fall out the chair. My hands were in tight fists and began to turn white. "Maybe another round will teach you a lesson about crossing me." He grabbed her hair and dragged her away from the cameras view and my heart began to beat faster as I knew what fait awaited her. "NO PLEASE! IM SORRY, PLEASE DONT!" And the video stopped.

We just sat there taking in what we just saw. "Reid... Are you alright?..." Emily asked, noticing how pale I was. I couldn't bring myself to speak and just nodded. "Well, at least we got something from that," Morgan tried to get focus back on the case to distract us, "He blames us for something that happened and he's ambidextrous." "What do you mean?" Hotch asked for him to elaborate. "Well, when using the... Weapon, he used his right hand but when he slapped her and grabbed her hair, he used his left. He favours his right for using weapons and items but with physical contact, he prefers his left." I was lost in though to the tapping, she doesn't have a nervous tick. "Reid, aren't you going to give us statistics or something?" "Sorry. 90% of the population is right handed and the remaining ten are either left handed or ambidextrous but people with true ambidexterity only take up 1%..." I trailed off, my thoughts still to her feet. "What's on your mind, pretty boy?" Morgan questioned knowing I was on to something. Then it clicked. "Cass, you little genius..." I whispered as I rushed to the board we had been working on and grabbing a marker. The team looked confused again so I explained as I decoded the message. "Cassandra was always into codes and cyphers as a kid so she learned a few of them. In the video, she was tapping her foot but he noticed and didn't believe her, she was always a bad lier." They didn't quite get it so I stopped and turned to them. "The tapping wasn't a nervous tick or a coping mechanism, she was using morse code. She must have convinced him to use a camera and it gave her an opportunity to contact us."

I continued to write each word from memory until it was complete. I read it out loud for the rest of them. "Short blonde hair, green eyes, stubble, mid 30's, charged for child sex or paedophilia, home environment, basement, trap door, he knows the house, guilt, girl humiliated, possibly dead, called sinner." "Okay so in other words, our UNSUB is a recently released sex offender who feels guilty because of the suffering the girl went through after he was convicted. With this description and the new information about him, we can find him." Rossi mused. "Actually, we could probably find him through his handedness and eye colour alone. Only 2% of the worlds population has green eyes and along with ambidexterity, that is almost an impossible match." I informed. We got Garcia on the phone and told her the new information, "Garcia, search the database for local released sex offenders or paedophiles in their mid 30's with blond hair, green eyes and is ambidextrous." "Okay sweetness, let's see." It only took a moment for her to find him. "Shawn Hughs. He was put away 7 years ago for having a romantic relationship with a minor when her father found out about them. He was released two months ago. I'll send you the address and a picture." Once we got the address, we hurried out to find them before it was too late. I'll find you Cass, I promise.