Innocent Son

Chapter Three

Another body had been found by the time we landed. The unsub was escalating and escalating quickly. At that point it was difficult to profile motive besides the clear and blatant transphobia. We knew there was something deeper based on the torture he inflicted, but we didn't know what. From experience? Probably daddy issues of some kind. The longer you worked the job the more you realized the monsters you were catching were all too similar.

Hotch and Rossi had gone to the latest crime scene together while Prentiss and Morgan were sent off to the medical examiner's to take a look at the victims. Reid, JJ and I were tasked in interviewing the families. I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the families. We weren't really aware of how accepting they were of their trans children, or if they even knew their children were trans.

The first family we had interviewed was the mother and father of Nathaniel Ray. Both of them were very accepting of him and used his name and pronouns without hesitation. It warmed my heart to know he had a family who loved and accepted him so much.

The second was the sister of Eden Byrne. She told us that her parents had disowned Eden when she came out as trans. She'd been living in San Francisco for five years and in that time had found housing, changed her name and was able to start hormone replacement therapy. I asked when the last time Eden had talked to her parents, but they had died two years after they kicked her out.

Avery Browne's parents were just as accepting as Nathanial Ray's. Avery had come out as trans when he was nine years old and had been transitioning for the past decade. His parents told us how proud they were of their son. They even showed us photos of the three of them sporting trans pride colours at the local pride festival.

The Callahan's, however, were not even aware their daughter had transitioned. Unaware and terribly transphobic, it took a lot out of me to work with them.

"When was the last time you saw Jane?" I had asked. It was harmless. I asked when the last time they saw their child was.

"Who? I came here to talk about my son, Justin." The father's name was Greg. He was tall, his hair was cut short and greying. He wore round, wireframe glasses and a tan button up shirt. He looked like any dad would. I looked over at JJ and Reid, who were sitting beside me. None of us were quite sure what to say, but we knew this conversation wasn't going to be easy. I could already feel the knots in my stomach being tied tighter.

"She changed her name a few years ago, were you aware of this?" JJ opened the file and pushed a photo of Jane across the desk. She was beautiful. Firey red curls and freckles sprinkled across her face. Piercing green eyes that looked exactly like her father's. His same eyes widened with surprise and then anger.

"I don't know who this is." His voice cracked as he spoke and was visibly upset. "If you just brought us here to make a fool of our son's death, we'd like to leave." He spoke for him and his wife, Rachel, who sat quietly next to him. She was fidgeting with the buckle on her purse. Her hair was bright red just like Jane's. She didn't seem angry or upset. She just looked sad. Heartbroken that her child was taken from her. Every so often she would wipe a tear that trailed her cheek with a tissue she had in her hand. The dynamic of the household was clear. Jane wasn't able to transition at home or with her parents' knowledge.

"We understand it's a lot of information to handle, but we need to know what happened to Jane and why." JJ spoke again, reaching for the photo. She pushed it forward closer to the mother, who caught attention of it. Her eyes widened just like her husband's but instead of turning to anger, they softened. A sort of ease was released when she saw the photo. All three of us caught her reaction to the picture.

"Why do you keep calling him that?" He was becoming increasingly more frustrated with us.

"Sir, we will continue to use your daughter's name and pronouns because that is who she was and who she wanted to be." I paused before continuing, but not long enough for anyone to interrupt. "I will honour that even if you will not." The last words were dry and sharp. Like I had pinned them to his shirt.