𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓪 𝓳𝓪𝓷𝓮 ➢ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎-𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉

They were woken up in the middle of the night once again, finding another body. This time, Morgan came into their room and woke them up, shocked to find them on opposite ends to the bed instead of cuddling like he'd imagined.

Mara shot up at Morgan's voice, calling for the only person supposed to be in their room. "Reid?"

She reached out and grabbed his arm, shaking him gently. "What?"

"Get up." 

Reid didn't move. "Did you have another nightmare? There's room on my side-"

"They found another body." Mara cut him off, Morgan raising his eyebrows at Reid's sentence.

They got dressed and met the team downstairs, Morgan and Emily already at the new crime scene. "It's Carol, the tavern owner."

Mara thought she might be sick. "We put her son in jail because we thought he was the killer."

"We didn't think he was a killer, he was a suspect." Hotch answered.

"Hotch, you know this isn't going to go over well with the kid," Mara replied. "He's gonna hate us for keeping him in there while he could have been protecting his mom."

"I know, Tate," Hotch replied shortly. "Morgan and Emily are leaving the crime scene to go talk to him."

After Morgan and Emily talked to Josh, they called Hotch and reported what they learned tonight. Then, they put Garcia to work. 

"We said the kills were all over the map," Reid said, the claw hands coming out. "The UnSub lacks sophistication and shows immaturity in his kills because he is immature. He started with animals because that's what he was taught ever since he was a child. And when he got bored with animals, he moved on to more challenging prey: people."

"I found something uber weird." Garcia said from the phone.

"Go ahead." Hotch replied.

"In Joshua's college application essay, he talks about the impact that being an older brother had on his life."

"I thought he didn't have any siblings."

"He doesn't and yet he's talking about how hard it was to leave him behind when he moved to Anchoarge, to leave him unprotected."

Mara dialed the teachers number on her phone, turning her back to the group. "Was there a student that Joshua may have taken under his wing before he moved away? Someone you may have suspected was being abused?"

"Oh, my god," the teacher said from the other end of the line. "Owen Porter. He's not a student anymore, he's home-schooled. Joshua and he were attached at the hip when they were younger."

The sheriff stepped forward. "I've been called out to the Porter house several times. Domestic disturbance. Owen and his mom always covering for the dad."

Everyone ran out to the truck, heading to the Porter house. "He's targeting people trying to leave down. In his mind, when people leave, he gets hurt. He resented Carol for taking Joshua away, so he killed her to make sure he never left again."

Hotch knocked on the door, Mara and Morgan by his side. "Mr. Porter, is your son home?"

"What's it to you?"

They moved inside, looking at Mrs. Porter as Reid checked the back for Owen. "Turn that off."

"Did you know?" Hotch asked Mrs. Porter. 

"She don't know what you're talking about!" The husband replied.

"Not until last night," she replied. "He came home covered in blood."

"He's not here," Reid said as he came back into the living room. "But the window's open."

"It's not the first time you've washed blood out of his clothes, is it?" Mara asked Mrs. Porter.

"Don't answer them, Martha!"

Mara turned to the husband. "Sit down and shut up!"

Hotch stepped forward. "I promise he will not lay a hand on you again."

"No," Mrs. Porter answered. "It wasn't the first time."

"Mrs. Porter," Mara said gently. "I understand you're only trying to protect Owen, but you can't anymore."

"He's always been different," she said, her voice shaking. "He's not like us. When he was a little boy, he used to go out into the woods and come home covered in blood."

"Why didn't you tell anyone, Martha?" Mara snapped. "How could you just sit there and do nothing while people died?"

"How did Owen react when Joshua was sent away?" Hotch asked as Reid set a hand on Mara to calm her down.

"He wanted to leave, too," she answered. "But I couldn't let him."

"Mrs. Porter, do you have any idea what social isolation does to a child?" Reid asked her.

"I was afraid of what he might do if he ever left here."

Hotch's phone ran, the sheriff on the other end. Once he returned, he directed everyone into the trucks.

"Joshua managed to shake the deputy," he said to everyone. "And someone reported a hunting party going into the woods."

Reid's eyes widened in realization. "They're hunting Owen."

They moved through the woods, guns raised, searching for their UnSub and hoping the group wouldn't kill the young boy.

Mara and Reid moved to the harbor, where Reid thought they'd end up while Morgan, Rossi, and Hotch followed them through the woods. 

They found them on a boat, Owen about to push away from the dock while the group had a standoff with the police. Mara and Reid's gun were pointed at the group, arguing with them until the rest of the team stood behind them, outnumbering them.

Owen pulled a gun from his belt and Mara pulled the trigger before she could even think about it. Owen fell onto the floor of the boat, blood coming from his shoulder.

"You shot him?" Joshua snapped at Mara, angry they took his target down.

"He'll live." Mara replied.