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Chapter 92 - Restoration

Elijah was laid on Fleur's couch, he'd decided to come over since Morgan was already at work.

"I like that he's doing other things on the side." Fleur shrugged.

"Fixing up houses, huh?" Elijah hummed.

"Mhm, renovation." Fleur corrected.

"Well, I bet he'll have a blast with that."

"I think Rossi's with him." Fleur nodded.

"A real renaissance man, my dad." Elijah stretched as he sat up.

"So..How are you doing?"

"Uh, yeah.. Yeah, I'm fine."

"..Recieve anything in the mail?"

Elijah bit his cheek,"You too..?"

"Yeah." Fleur sighed,"Guess it was our turn."

"He knew something he shouldn't have." Elijah crossed his arms,"I didn't really.. Sleep."

"Yeah, me too. I went through to Addy's room and just lay there." She nodded as she sat beside him.

"I'm scared, Flo." Elijah sighed

"So am I.." Fleur leaned her head on his shoulder.

Elijah rubbed her back,"He messed with the wrong family."

"Oh, definitely."

"He clearly doesn't know how good a shot you are."

"I'll even use the gun he gave me." Fleur hummed.

"He got you a gun?" Elijah raised a brow.

Fleur sighed, reaching under the couch and lifting out the box, showing a gun.

"It's a replica of my gun from the Doves."

"C.L... For Cosette, huh?" Elijah shook his head as he looked over the gun.

"Mhm." Fleur nodded,"He could've been creative and changed it to F.H."

"He's just trying to prove that he knows everything about us." Elijah crossed his arms.

"What did you get?" Fleur looked at him.

"A Bible and some pills." Elijah shrugged.

"Fuck." Fleur sighed.

"Reid hid them somewhere until we need to bring them in, just so I'm not tempted." Elijah told her.

"Good, you better not be tempted..If you are then you come straight to me."

"I promise, I will." He assured her.

Fleur looked over at the phone,"The work never stops."

"Want to take my car?" Elijah asked, already knowing they would have a case.

"If you're willing to drive."

"It would be my pleasure."

"Shall we?" Fleur stood up, holding out her arm.

"We shall." Elijah hummed, linking arms with her.

"Then let us ride." Fleur chuckled.

*********************************

"So.. Two men have been killed on the South Side of Chicago in the last ten days." Garcia began as Morgan and Rossi walked into the Conference Room,"The first is Michael Crowley. He was a repairman who was out jogging pretty late at night. Second, Anthony Rango. He was a convience store owner."

"No known connection between them." Hotch added.

"Both men were beaten to death with fists of fury. Rango suffered a crushed larynx and something called a Le Fort fracture?" Garcia continued.

"It's a bilateral horizontal facial injury." Reid explained.

"Looks like there was also a blunt force trauma to the back of the head." Morgan looked up from the file.

"So they were blitz attacked to gain control, then it was essentially fisticuffs." Fleur read the file.

"And they were both literally caught with their pants down." Garcia added,"Like, their jeans and their boxers both down to their ankles."

"But there's no sign of sexual assault or robbery." Alex sighed.

"So it was a message." Rossi nodded.

"Either they led secret lives or someone wanted to symbolically demean or embarrass them." Hotch explained.

"You can't really tell if was done pre or postmortem." Elijah tilted his head.

"Aren't these your old stomping grounds?" JJ looked over at Morgan.

"We can go say hi to your family." Fleur smiled.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna let anybody know I'm in town. At least, not until we're done with this. I don't need any distractions." Morgan sighed.

"With the level of hands on violence, the UnSub is filled with rage. And he's probably just getting started. Wheels Up in thirty." Hotch nodded.

*********************************

"Alright, let's go over victimology." Hotch walked over with a cup of coffee,"Both of these men were medium-risk victims."

"They were average Joe's making a living in a below average area." Rossi nodded.

"The first victim, Crowley, was a telephone repairman who'd lived in the neighborhood for years." Blake sighed.

"Victim number two, Rango, owned a convenience store for about twice as long, and he had pretty much the same routine every single day." Reid sat down.

"So each had a pattern." Elijah pointed.

"It looks that way. They both had regular work hours." Fleur nodded.

"Crowley's wife said he varied his workout route. This was the first time that he ran this way." Morgan shook his head.

"He seems more like a victim of opportunity, while the store owner's death seems planned." Hotch mentioned.

"The pants pulled down means the Unsub's message is personal." Blake crossed her arms.

"You know, 98% of the area is black, but the two victims he attacked were white men who'd lived in the neighbourhood for years. Maybe he wanted to shame them in some way." Reid suggested.

"This doesn't look like a hate crime." Morgan disagreed,"The pants pulled down is sexual, it's not racial."

"Garcia, did you get any information about the sexuality of the victims?" Hotch asked Garcia on the phone.

"As far as I can tell, Rango was straight. He was married thirty years, two grown kids. No internet or credit card history suggests otherwise." Garcia told him.

"What about rhe jogger?" Morgan asked.

"If he was living on the DL. I can't find the D or the L." Garcia shook her head.

"Somehow the UnSub linked the two." Rossi shook his head.

"Morgan, you know the neighborhood. You, Blake and Howards go to the minimart. The rest of us will go to the P.D." Hotch instructed.

*********************************

"How far away from here did you grow up?" Alex questioned Morgan.

"Five blocks. The park we just passed is where I used to play football. The bus stop on that corner, that's where I played kissy face with my first girlfriend." Morgan answered, giving Fleur a little nudge.

"How old were you?"

"He was ten." Fleur chuckled.

Morgan looked around at the mess and blood as the entered the minimart,"Wow."

"Yeah. Our UnSub blitz attacked the owner. He must've regained consciousness and put up a hell of a fight." Alex nodded.

"Yeah, it looks that way." Morgan took put his phone and called Garcia,"Babygirl, see if the owner of the convience store had any military defensive training."

"Oh, I will as long as you promise to bring me some of my future mother-in-law's peach cobbler." Garcia hummed.

"Don't worry, Pen, I'll grab enough." Fleur hummed.

"Alright. Wow, Mr Esp, Rango was an amateur MMA fighter in the local 'Over 50' division in his spare time." Garcia hummed,"He had a ten in one record, he was training for a big fight in June."

"Tough, old man, thank you." Morgan hung up.

"So we were right?" Blake raised a brow.

"But to intentionally pick a fight with a martial artist?" Fleur asked.

"Maybe our Unsub didn't know?" Blake suggested,"Rango could've been a victim of opportunity, like the jogger."

"It looks like our guy needed a drink after the beat down. He must've worn gloves, otherwise CSI would have taken them in for prints." Morgan pointed.

"So he could have been an addict." Blake nodded,"Maybe that explains the impulsive nature."

"You ever known an addict to leave a full register?" Morgan looked at the register.

"And this guy was mission oriented. He even stole the discs before he keft." She sighed as she checked where the CCTV would be kept.

"Candy and soda were the last things bought." Fleur looked at the recently bought.

"There were probably kids in here. They were lucky they didn't get hurt." Blake shook her head.

*********************************

"Detecive Gordinski." Reid, Elijah and Hotch walked into the station.

"Captain, actually. I was promoted two years ago." Gordinski corrected.

"You remember Dr Reid, Agent Deans?"

"You remember Dr Reid, Agent Dean's?"

"What's it been, six, seven years?" Gordinski turned, holding his hand out to them.

"The number of pathogens passed during a handshake is staggering. It's actually safer to kiss." Reid told Gordinski.

"Ah, yeah.. I do remember you." Gordinski nodded slowly as he shook Elijah's hand,"And you're pretty hard to forget."

"I try my best." Elijah hummed.

"Any developments in the investigation?" Hotch asked.

"While you were in the air, another body dropped outside of a local diner on Halstead. Guy's pants were pulled down, he was beaten to a pulp." He sighed.

"We had some team members headed to the morgue. We'll redirect them to the diner instead." Hotch nodded.

They soon headed to the Conference Room to set out and go over their evidence so far while they waited for the others to arrive.

"Derek Morgan." Gordinski turned to him as he, Fleur and Blake entered the station.

"Where's Hotch?" Morgan asked.

"He's in the Conference Room." He pointed.

The trio made their way through just as Reid was speaking.

"The M.E found glass shards from a Helgeson Vineyards wine bottle in the back of victim number three's skull." Reid nodded.

"I know what this is about." Morgan told them,"..This is about Carl Buford."

"What do you mean? Buford's in prison for life." Hotch blinked.

"The words 'look up to the sky' were found in both the minimart and the alley." Morgan sighed.

Fleur gently took his hand, giving it a small squeeze.

"It's what Buford used to say to me." Morgan admitted.

"Who's Carl Buford?" Blake asked slowly.

"Carl Buford was an expert..At spotting and exploiting vulnerabilities in adolescent boys that he coached at the community center. He had the entire community thinking he was a hero. Parents, teachers..Cops." He glanced back at Gordinski,"I mean everyone. After my dad died, he locked onto me. And he manipulated me into compliant victimisation. Now, you remember how I told you that I got into it with that local gangbanger when I was younger? Somehow Buford got it all expunged. I didn't understand why a guy who barely knew me would do that. But Buford gave me his time. He taught me how to play football. And then he took me to his cabin on the lake..I was a kid. I was a kid from the South Side, I'd never been to a cabin, much less a lake."

"Morgan, you don't have to do this." Elijah shook his head.

"They need to do, Eli. They need to know this guys MO." He sighed,"Buford built up my trust. Then he would lower my inhibition with Helgeson wine. He called it his Jesus juice.. Then he would molest me. And everytime he would see that dead look in my eyes that said I wanted him to stop..He just said, 'you better man up, boy'. 'Look up to the sky'."

"Did you ever tell anyone about that phrase?" JJ raised a brow.

"No."

"We're probably looking at someone who Buford abused." Rossi nodded.

"The victim could harbor a great deal of anger if he didn't deal with his own abuse. And with the right trigger, it could develop into this kind of rage." Hotch explained.

"Where's Buford now?" Blake questioned.

"We got him locked up for homicide in 2006, but because of the statue of limitations, we never got him for molestation." Morgan explained.

"Buford ran the community centre for years. An offender like him could have hundreds of victims." Reid shook his head.

"Alright, let's talk about victimology." Fleur sighed.

"Each of these men had had interactions with kids right before they were killed." Hotch began.

"The killer switched from white victims to African Americans." Rossi nodded.

"You'd think if they were surrogates for Buford, he'd kill only black men." Hotch commented as he called Garcia.

"Hello?" Garcia answered.

"Garcia, I need you to compile a list of all the boys who played football at the community centre twenty to thirty years ago." Не told her.

"Okay.." Garcia typed.

*********************************

"The man that we're looking for is an African American male in his late thirties to early forties and he's from this area." Morgan began the profile,"He most likely attended the local community centre in his youth."

"He's athletic and he's powerful which explains his ability to overcome his victims with aggression." Hotch added.

"His perfect timing and selection say his intelligence level is high, and his victim selection shows us his murders are not planned in advance." Blake continued.

"He may have a drinking problem, which makes him more unpredictable and exacerbates his anger." Fleur sighed.

"The fact that he doesn't steal from his victims shows us that he's mission oriented." Rossi added.

"This says that the substance abuse is a coping mechanism, from the fact that he never adequately dealt with his own victimisation." Morgan continued.

"By exposing his victims and scrawling the phrase Buford used during his sexual assaults at the crime scenes, he's telling the world that he sees his victims as child molesters, which is his justification for killing them." Elijah explained.

"This is an example of projection and polarisation, a black and white thinking which when coupled with impulsively, anger and outbursts of violence indicates that this UnSubs most likely suffering from an extreme case of borderline personality disorder." Fleur continued.

"BPD is one of the most common disorders suffered by adults who were victimized by children." JJ told them.

"This represents the borderline between anxiety and psychosis. We believe this Unsub's perspective has become so warped that he's likely experiencing stress related paranoid ideation, mostly likely brought on by a recent traumatic event that triggered that rage." Reid nodded.

"He's killing men just after they innocently interact with children children." Morgan went on,"So set up patrols in parks, schools, ball fields and even family events. But do not try to confront this man alone."

"We believe he is armed and extremely dangerous. Thank you." Fleur sighed.

*********************************

"I don't want you going to see Buford." Hotch shook his head at Morgan.

"Hotch, I can handle it." Morgan sighed.

"Another man was found beaten to death." Rossi and Gordinski walked in.

"Same MO." Gordinski added,"Ten blocks from the last murder. That's four in two weeks."

"Take Blake with you." Hotch told the others.

"Hotch, come on. We gotta do this now." Morgan urged him as the other two walked up,"I finished my counseling two years ago. I can do this."

"Fine, but Fleur and I are coming with you." Hotch sighed.

Morgan nodded as he walked out. Soon enough, the three of them were at the jail. Fleur and Morgan slowly walking into the room where Buford sat.

"Derek Morgan." Buford looked up at them.

"Got yourself a new look, huh?" Fleur looked down.

"I am Mohammed Alam, now." He nodded,"Of all my boys, you're the last one I thought would come back to me."

Morgan sat down, looking at him as Fleur stood behind him.

"Four men have been killed in the old neighbourhood, Carl."

"Allah views murder as a sin and an abomination." Buford shook his head.

"At each crime scene the words 'Look up to the sky' were found." You remember those words." Morgan nodded.

"They escape me." He shook his head,"I've been very busy filling my brain with knowledge. I'm a Malcom X Islamic scholar now."

"I know you remember that cabin. And me and every other boy that you took up there remembers it, too." Morgan sighed.

"The man you harbor so much rage for is no longer here." Buford hummed.

"Well, he's sitting right in front of me. You're just hiding behind a religion that hasn't figured you out yet." Fleur crossed her arms.

"She's got a mouth on her like you did, Derek. Like you still have." Buford shook his head,"Always liked that mouth. You were always direct. Whenever I see you on TV, I tell everyone, that's my boy. I'm proud of you."

"I don't give a damn how you feel." Morgan held out a pen,"You see, what I need is a list of everyone you've victimised."

"You still like mint chocolate chip ice cream?" Buford tilted his head.

"The U.S Attorney has offered immunity. They won't charge you with molesting any of the boys on this list as long as this list is complete." Morgan nodded.

"Or was it butter pecan?" He questioned.

"You leave one name off that list, this deal is dead." Fleur walked forward.

"Are you threatening me, Miss?"

"With my hand on the Qur'an." She raised her palm up.

"See, right now, you're in here for serial murder. And I bet that gives you a whole lot of credit out there in the yard. Am I right?" Morgan pointed,"But what do you think would happen if the brothers in here learned what you were really guilty of?"

"So let me be direct, Mohammed. Start writing." Fleur warned.

Buford glared up at them but he did pick up the pen and begin to write,"Some people are easy to remember, but others sort of fade into the background. That doesn't mean they weren't special. They just weren't like you, Derek."

Derek stayed silent and sure enough there was a full page of names.

"I'll give you the list on one condition." Buford held it down,"All I want is a handshake. That's it. A gentleman's agreement. What do you say?"

Morgan waited before he took Buford's hand, holding his hand tightly.

"You were always special, Derek. You may have me in here, but there's a whole lot more me out there, boy." Buford told him

Morgan pulled his hand away, taking the paper before the two of them walked out to Hotch.

"You didn't have to shake his hand." Hotch told him.

"It's a long list, Hotch." Morgan sighed.

"This Unsub's devolving." Hotch shook his head,"He'll stand out. He won't be hard to find."

"I'm gonna use the head before we go." Morgan walked off.

*********************************

"I have arrested every one of these kids. I never once thought they were getting molested." Gordinski sighed as he read over the list.

"Some victims of sexual abuse tell their parents and others act out." Hotch explained.

"I cross-referenced the list of special kids from the centre with the list of victims Morgan got from Buford." Reid told them,"I've come up with a half a dozen names of people who fit the profile and the physicality to be suspects."

"Did you give that list to Garcia?" Hotch asked.

"She's pulling their histories right now." He nodded.

"Yeah, babygirl. How's that list coming along?" Morgan asked as he called her.

"Okay. Of the five that fit the profile, one sticks out like a tiger in a room of kittens." Garcia begna

"What name's that?" Fleur asked.

"Keron Bender. He's a former linebacker. He was on Buford's community centre team. He's a few years older than Derek. He's come up on hard times. By that, I mean he has three arrests for domestic violence, two for meth possession and aggravated assault, and he lives smack in the middle of the kill zone." Garcia informed them.

"Send that address right now. Let's go." Morgan nodded.

"Sent." Garcia hummed.

*********************************

After speaking with Bender, he informed them that Buford had another favourite.. Rodney Harris, the local gangbanger that Morgan had history with.

"Rodney's not on this list." Morgan sighed.

"Buford played us." Fleur realised.

"He was one of the biggest drug dealers in this neighborhood six years ago." Morgan looked over at Gordinski.

"Yeah, but he fell out. He's not running that anymore." Gordinski shook his head.

"Rodney's the one you had all the trouble with, right?" Hotch turned to Morgan.

"Yeah, that's right. This is all starting to make sense now. Buford probably let him deal drugs close fo the center just to keep him quiet about what Buford had done." Morgan nodded slowly.

"And Rodney looked at you and saw everything he could have been." Fleur shook her head.

"But what made him snap now?" Gordinski looked at them.

"Yeah, Garcia, see if there's a connection between Rodney Harris and any of our victims." Morgan called her.

"I already did that, babe, and I'm coming up empty." Garcia sighed.

"What about Rodney's extended family?" Hotch suggested.

"Okay, um.. Oh, that's a connection. Micheal Crowley, he's the first victim. He was a swim coach to Tyler Harris. That's Rodney's estranged son. So Sheila, Rodney's ex-wife pulled Tyler from the swim team. Turns out she made quite the scene, rightfully so, because Crowley had molested him after a swim meet." Garcia sighed.

"So Crowley was killed out of revenge." Morgan realized,"Rango and the others, who had simple interactions with children, were just surrogates for Carl Buford."

"You got got an address for Rodney?" Fleur asked.

"I traced Rodney's cellphone and it's pinging at the current adress of Sheila Goode. That's Rodney's ex-wife." Garcia told them.

*********************************

They had arrested Rodney, before Morgan went in front of the press and told the world exactly what Buford did to those boys. Fleur and Derek then visited Derek's mother for a few hours before finally boarding the plane.

"What is that, guys?" Reid tilted his head.

"It's my mom's peach cobbler." Morgan hummed as Fleur placed the tray down.

"Woo! Garcia's gonna be a happy woman." Elijah smiled.

"You didn't save us any?" Alex gasped.

"Come on, there's enough for everybody. We'll heat it up when we get back." Morgan assured her.

"Derek." Rossi nodded,"You did a brave thing back there."

"I appreciate all of you for having my back." Morgan looked around at them all.

That's when Morgan sat down, his phone ringing.

"This is Derek Morgan..Yeah?..When?..Okay, thanks for your call." He slowly blinked before announcing,"Carl Buford is dead."

The team sat in silence, not knowing how to react to the unexpected news.

*********************************

"Derek?" Fleur walked into the kitchen.

"Hm?" Morgan turned to her.

"How are you.. Feeling? After what happened."

Morgan sighed,"I.. I don't know."

"It was bound to happen.. Once the news was out." Fleur nodded.

"The news that I let out."

"The news that was true and deserved to be released." Fleur assured him.

"But now he's not- He deserved to rot. He got off easy." Morgan crossed his arms.

"I know." Fleur sighed.

"I just.. I don't know what to think anymore."

Fleur took his hand and kissed it,"You're so strong."

"You're one of the reasons I am strong, babygirl." Morgan told her.

Fleur hummed,"Now, let's try some of this cobbler?"

"Yeah." Morgan smiled softly,"I know it'll be just as good as I remember."

"I love your mom." Fleur chuckled.

"She loves you more than she loves me." Morgan pointed.

"As she should, I'll make a great daughter-in-law."

"I don't blame her in the slightest." He chuckled.

"I'm still waiting." Fleur joked, holding out her hand.

"In due course, princess." Morgan winked.

"Due course better be soon."

"We'll just have to see."

Fleur hummed,"I'll grab some plates."

"I'll get it heated up." Morgan nodded.

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