CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT REID !

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       CASEY NOTICED AS REID HAD ARRIVED LATE AT THE BAU ROUND TABLE. Everyone else seemed to notice as well. "Hey, you okay?" Emily asked as she scanned through the pictures of the latest crime scene on her tablet. (Garcia had recently gotten the team tablets with the exception of Reid who liked the files more).

       "Yeah. Why?" Reid asked. "You're never late." Morgan stated. "Have we started the briefing yet?" Reid asks. "Just about to." Garcia told. "Then I'm not late." Reid says.

       Garcia sits down. "Attention, intrepid BAU adventurers. The land of Bermuda shorts, white leisure suits, and sansabelt slacks requests your presence."

       The team then takes opportunities guessing.

        "Arizona." Morgan guesses.
        "Vegas?" Rossi asks.
        "Palm Springs." Emily says.
        "Miami." Casey adds.

       "Please." Hotch tells in his deep tone, indicating to focus on the task at hand instead of guessing.

       "I was going to say Miami," Casey internally congratulates herself for guessing the location correctly as Garcia speaks. "But point well made about the dizzying number of locales with unfortunate fashion tendencies. Here we go."

        Garcia shows the pictures on the screen. "Shells in the eyes and mouth. You don't see that every day." Emily stated. "Not even in Miami." Rossi commented.

        "Three victims, the last one found with a..." Garcia starts and then Morgan finishes. "A decapitated cat?" Casey looks down at the file. "Poor cat."

       "All were found within a mile of each other in a mostly Latino neighborhood in Miami called Allapattah." Hotch continued. "Eduardo Guzman, homeless. He was shot to death 7 days ago. Yanira Espinal, prostitute, bludgeoned to death three days ago. And then Victor Cabrera, he was an unemployed janitor. He was slashed with a machete yesterday, as was his cat." Garcia tells.

       "You know, considering the homeless man lived in that alley, all of the victims essentially were killed in their homes." As Rossi speaks, Casey directs her attention at Reid, who looks as if he's tired and doesn't want to engage with anyone. "This took some time. In the open." Morgan told and Casey looked back at her tablet.

       "You know, cowrie shells and ritual offerings are common to a number of Afro-Caribbean religions." Reid speaks, keeping his head low and Casey was starting to get concerned for her friend.

       "But the upside-down cross looks like satanism." Emily points out. "The first two victims had fingers missing, but on this one, he took both hands. He was practicing before he could officially do anything." Casey told. "All of this could have been religious?" Ashley asks. (She had become part of the team since Hotch had decided to sign her on, Casey had the opportunity for looking after her).

       "This could have specific religious meaning or it could just be part of the unsub's signature." Reid told. "Either way, his timetable's accelerating." Hotch says. "We have a day, maybe two, before the Miami P. D. has another body on its hands."

        Hotch tells the team to be ready in 30 minutes and Casey looks towards Reid and approaches him. "Hey..." She starts and Reid squints at the girl. "Are you okay?"

        "Fine, why?" Reid asks, rubbing his left eye. "Well, you're squinting at me and you didn't look up once." Casey told. "I'm fine." Reid assured, grabbing the files and suddenly walking away and out of the room.

        Casey watched as he walked away. "Is he okay?" Ashley asks, coming up to Casey. "This is definitely payback for always ranting to him." Casey commented and the the two leave, going up to the jet.

         Hotch had separated the team into groups. He and Emily would investigate the crime scene, Ashley and Rossi would get set up at the PD while Morgan, Reid and Casey went to go to the local community center.

        The sun was ultimately so bright in Miami, Casey had to wear her sunglasses to cover it all up. Reid and Morgan had gotten the same idea as they walked through the neighborhood. Morgan and Casey realized that it had been too quiet and that Reid wasn't rambling like he normally would be.

        "Hey," Morgan spoke, looking towards Reid. "What's the matter with you? You're not gonna give us a bunch of facts about the area and the demographics?"

       "The Allapattah neighborhood is named after the native American word for 'alligator'." Reid stated. "There you go. There's the kid I know." Morgan said. "All right, 5372 Seminole Street." Morgan stopped in his tracks. "This can't be it."

       "Maybe we're lost?" Casey assumes and Reid goes up to a man who's skinning a dead animal. "Excuse me, sir. Do you know where the community center is?" The man points ahead. "It's down there. This is Seminole Alley." The man speaks Spanish as she keeps on skinning the animal.

        Reid rubs his eye in pain and Morgan and Casey begin to notice. "Reid, you all right?" Morgan asks. "Yeah. I'm fine. A lot better than that goat." Reid begins to walk off and Morgan and Casey look down and see what he's talking about. "Yeah, you got that right." Morgan comments.

         Morgan, Reid and Casey all spoke with Mr. Mercado and got new info about the latest victim. Taking a look around, they realized that the community definitely didn't trust outsiders. A day later, they had discovered that Mr. Mercado was found murdered along with his Chihuahua. His tongue was on a dish and his head was planted like there had been some kind of shrine to it. They went to go speak with a professor who knew a thing or two about the religion and the culture this community had.

          The three had decided to go back to the community center once Garcia found out that the victims all attended the community center. They had arrived at the time that a man had been doing some type of ritual that required a loud chant with a group of people and the sacrifice of a chicken.

        The man doing the main chant turned around and took notice of the three strangers invading the space. "We're with the FBI. We're not here to cause any trouble. But, sir, please put that knife down." Morgan assured. The man tossed the knife to the ground.

       The man looked towards a teenage boy and gave him the chicken as he approached Morgan. "This is a House of God. You have no right to be here." He told.

      "We would like to ask you some questions. If you could just come voluntarily, there will be no trouble." Casey assured. "We're not here to create a spectacle." The man kept staring over at Reid and caused Casey to look over her shoulder at the man behind her.

       "I will go with you." The man told. Although, he wasn't saying it to Morgan or Casey, he was looking straight at Reid as he said so.

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       Garcia had given them the scoop of the man also known as Julio and told them that he grew up in foster care, he did fifteen years in Apalachee Correctional for attempting to murder a police officer and was also a member of a violent street gang known as Los Machetes. But he got his act together once he got out in 2003.

      He had been put into an interrogation room and he kept staring at the mirror, it was like he was staring into someone's soul. "This guy's been eyeballing the mirror since he got here. Let's see what he has to say." Before Morgan could go into the room, Reid stops him.

      "Wait, Morgan. I think maybe I should go in first." Reid suggests. "What?" Morgan asks. "Do you remember at the community center, he said he would come with me." Reid tells.

       Rossi looks at Hotch. "If they already have a rapport..." Casey looks at Reid. "You want me or Morgan to go with you?" She asks. "No, I'm all right." Reid says, walking into the interrogation room as he grabs the file from Morgan's hand.

        Hotch tells Rossi to go down to the community center and to take Seaver and Prentiss with him to go investigate it. Casey informs Rossi of the teenage boy she saw when she was there.

        Hotch, Morgan and Casey, with the lead detective, watched as the two had a conversation and were just glaring at one another. Morgan went in to interrogate and the man started tapping on the table and began to chant words of a language that Casey didn't recognize. The man went back to sitting in his sole spot and didn't move as Reid and Morgan exited the room.

        "What the hell was that?" The lead detective questioned. "I think I just witnessed a classic case of transpossession. It's a form of religious hysteria. He wholeheartedly believes he was being occupied by some form of deity." Reid explains.

       "He wasn't faking it?" The detective questions. "Up close you can see physiological signs. His body actually changed in response to the belief." Morgan told. "There have been a lot of studies of this phenomenon. There was one case where an 80-year-old woman was able to lift a grown man above her head when she believed she was occupied by her Saint." Reid explained.

       "Detective, did you understand what he was saying at the end?" Hotch asks the detective. "Brother, look, I'm a Puerto Rican Catholic that grew up in Orlando. That wasn't any language I ever heard."

       "I remember the words. I'm sure he'll be able to translate them." Before Reid heads back in the room, Casey stops him. "You sure?" She asks. "That I remember them?" Reid questioned. "That you want to go back in." Hotch clears.

       Reid nods and goes to the interrogation room. Hotch looks at Casey. "Is he all right?" He asks. Casey shrugs, "Honestly, I don't know." She admits. "Something weird was definitely going on in there." Morgan added.

Rossi, Prentiss and Seaver arrived back and told the the four that Julio's assistant ran off and they had discovered heroin in his room. Morgan and Casey decide to go in.

"Your helper, the kid that took over your ritual when we brought you in here?" Morgan began. "Elian." Julio confirmed. "My associates just found sale-weight heroin in his room. And an Nganga." Morgan told.

Julio sat up. "Where is he?" He asked. "He's running." Casey stated. Julio banged his hands on the table and stood up in anger. "Hey. Calm down." Morgan told.

"Please, I gotta find him. He's got nobody but me." Julio begged. "Do you think it's possible that Elian is our Palero?" Reid asked. "No. No, he's a good kid." Julio assured. "Then why did he run?" Casey asks.

"He must be using again. His mama and papa were junkies. I took him in, got him clean, taught him right from wrong. Please. I gotta find him before he gets hurt." Julio told.

"The entire police force is out looking for him." Morgan told. "He's of the streets. He's gonna go so far under, he'll be gone for good. I'm your best chance to find him." Julio said.

"You know, you can't protect him if he did this." Casey said. "I'm not protecting him." Julio said. "Then what are you not telling us?" Reid questions.

"If you want to help Elian, you're gonna have to give us something that we don't know." Morgan approached closer. "I'll ask the Orishas to help find this killer." Julio grabbed a water bottle from the table and poured the water in his hand and chanted as he threw the water on the ground. "The Orishas are with us now."

"Okay, we have four victims, all with cowrie shells in their mouths and eyes." Reid stated. "Eleggua is called to find justice." Julio said. "Two of the victims had fingers cut off. One had both hands removed. And one had its head left on the scene, but the brain was missing." Casey explained.

"They took the brain and left the head?" Julio questioned. "The head was left at the crime scene." Morgan said. Julio shook his head. "No, that is not Palo. A Palero would not leave the head."

"He also left the tongue." Reid shows the picture of the tongue in the dish. "There is no use in the religion for a tongue that is not pierced with needles. It means nothing just to put a tongue in a dish." Julio said.

"Elian is an angry child, but he would not do this. Please, let me find him before it gets worse." Morgan, Reid and Casey all exchange a look before they decide to let him go. "Thank you for your help." Reid says.

The man stares at Reid and stops him as he collected the pictures from the table. "Your head is spinning because it's full of ghosts. You think you can do this work day in, day out and you don't carry it with you? It's eating your soul." With that, Julio leaves and Casey furrows her brows, along with Morgan.

"Ghosts?" Reid shrugs in response.

The team had pieces together that the professor that Reid, Morgan and Casey met had been a part of the murders and was their unsub. They had all found the address and Casey, Morgan and Reid decided to try his office first. They met up with the rest of the team at the residence and began to talk.

They left Reid upstairs to do investigating and they try to call him downstairs but there's no response. "Reid?" Casey decided to go upstairs to see why he wasn't responding and found the lights were turned off and Reid was nowhere to be found.

Hotch tried calling him and he didn't answer and he called Emily to see if maybe he was back outside but he wasn't there either. Casey looked down, noticing her foot bumped into something and she picked up what she bumped into. "Uh, guys?" The letters 'FBI' were sprawled out on the vest that Casey bumped into.

"Reid's vest?" Hotch asks. "Well, this is not good." Rossi commented. "Why would he take it off in the first place?" Casey questioned.

Casey took a look around in the room. "Come on, Reid. What did you figure out?" Rossi's eyes thwarted to a frame of a photograph and Morgan joined beside the man and looked at the frame.

"Wait a minute, Rossi. That's the building right out here." Morgan said, looking across the street. That's what Reid figured out. And the unsub was there. And so was Reid... without a vest.

"Reid. Reid!" Casey dropped Reid's vest on the ground and was the first to run out of the room as the team had followed. Casey zoomed across the street and got her gun ready and Morgan kicked the door down.

"FBI!" Morgan yelled, along with Hotch. "We're going to need an ambulance." Julio was tied up, Elian was unconscious and Professor Walker was injured... thanks to Reid. "Elian's been overdosed with heroin."

"Get an ambulance." Hotch said and Morgan grabbed the professor and put his hands behind his back. "You have the right to remain silent. Use it."

"Do you think he'll come to see me in jail? Do you think he'll visit?" Walker questions. "Who?" The professor looks at the team. "My father.He'll hear about this, right? I'll be pretty famous."

"Oh, he's gonna hear about it, all right." Morgan takes him out of the room and Reid and Julio have an exchange before Julio leaves. "What do you need protecting from?" Hotch approaches Reid. "I have no idea." Reid says.

"Are you all right?" Hotch asks. "Yeah. Oh, yeah, I--I am. I pretended to have a headache in order to distract him." Reid stated.

"Pretended." Casey spoke.
"Yeah, pretended." Reid says.
"Reid," Before he can walk away, Reid feels Casey grab onto his bicep to stop him from walking away from him. "Tell me what's wrong." She practically pleaded.

  "Not now." Reid slightly shook Casey off of him and the girl watched as he walked away and then she looked back at her boss in confusion. She was starting to feel concerned about Reid and wondering why he wasn't speaking to her about what was going on.

The team flies back home on the jet and Casey goes back to her apartment, ready for some shut eye. She sets her security system back up again before heading off into her bedroom.

Before she could fall in a deep slumber, her phone vibrates and she decides to check in and she sees that it's a text message... from Reid.

doctor smartie-pants📚🧠
Hey, I didn't want to worry you and I feel bad for not saying anything to you after the case. I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay but I can't really talk about it right now. Eventually, I will, but for now, I just need some time.

          Casey gives him a small response.

take all of the time you need.
i'll be waiting for a rant haha  :)

two updates on a weekday-
wow
anyways
this kinda sucked but oh well
drama definitely coming soon hehehe
-mya <3