Author's Note:

The final chapter is fairly lengthy and it was not my initial intention of ending it as such. It just ended up happening this way. This is mostly from Morgan's POV. Thank you to all those who reviewed and subscribed! Hope you guys liked it!

The next morning, Morgan got ready and then knocked on the door to Reid's room. The door creaked open. Instinctively he went for his gun and pulled it out. A sense of trepidation gripped him but he shoved it aside as he cautiously nudged the door open. It didn't take long to clear the hotel room. "What the hell happened here Kid?" He wondered out loud.

A broken mirror. A cup with blood and alcohol in it and two bloodied white towels. It didn't take Morgan long to piece together what had happened. Further investigation revealed that Reid's gun and cell phone were still in the hotel room. The bed was still neatly made. It hadn't even been slept in. He was about to leave the room to let Hotch know what was going when he saw an envelope on the ground. He picked it up and took out the contents.

Dark eyes narrowed at the first letter and then he frowned at the second one. Reid, why did you keep this from us? Please have gone to the hospital and not to look for the unsub or your mother. It took willpower to not crumple the paper out of frustration.

"Morgan, where's Reid?" Hotch asked as he stepped inside, his brown eyes surveying the room behind his subordinate.

"I don't know."

"What's that?"

Morgan handed his boss the letters. "Looks likes this is how the unsub contacted the victims, or at least Reid's mom. It promises her getting her out of the mental hospital and then helping her on the outside. It isn't signed. It does say to the destroy the letter though, so no one will be able to come after her. There are directions for her to wait at night by the fire exit on the south end of the building, explaining that the alarm will be disabled. And the other letter is from Reid's mom to him, telling him not to worry that she's gone some place better to live."

"The unsub must have had direct contact with them somehow and initiated contact first that way."

"Hotch, I'm worried about Reid."

"Me too. I shouldn't have let him come."

"The Kid would have been here, even if you told him to stay home."

Hotch merely nodded, worry lining his brown eyes the only indicator of what he was feeling. After a beat he said, "We'll need to divide and conqueror on this. Morgan, you'll be with me." He turned in time to see Rossi and Prentiss coming to the room.

"What's going on?" Rossi asked, able to read his leader's facial expression like a book.

"Reid's missing. Morgan and I are going to work on that. Rossi, I want you to go back Bennington Sanitarium. We got the sign sheet for visitors for this month. Get one that date backs another month, see if anyone delivered any letters to Reid's mom and also, check to see if they had fire alarms installed recently. And if so, check the other mental intuitions the first three victims were from and see if it they did as well. I think that might be the link we are looking for. Prentiss, take this note and have it processed." Hotch directed his team, as he handed the note over to Emily.

"The note's compromised evidence, we won't be able to use it in court." Prentiss said, eyebrows raised slightly in question.

"I know that. But if there is anything that can help us find Reid's mother or him or both, then I don't care if it's admissible in court or not."

Prentiss nodded, took the note and left.

"If I find anything, I'll let you know." Rossi said and then took his leave as well.

"You don't think he'd go after the unsub or looking for his mom unarmed, do you?" Morgan asked, clearly frustrated at the situation.

"I wouldn't think so. It almost looks as he left in a hurry. I told him not to go anywhere without telling me or someone else." Hotch said, disapproval evident in his voice.

"Okay, say he didn't go looking for either of them. Where did he go and why didn't he come back last night?"

"That's what we are going to try and find out." Hotch replied and left the room. On his way down to the lobby, he phoned the local police department and the local FBI field office and had a forensics team dispatched to Reid's room, just in case.

Morgan followed his boss quietly, cursing himself for not being persistent last night in trying to get Reid to talk to him. If I'd only tried a little harder, maybe Reid wouldn't have gone off on his own.

Hotch was about to walk out front, into the parking lot and then back tracked to the desk. "Excuse me," He said to the clerk behind the counter and pulled out his badge and ID, "were you working last night by chance?"

"No Sir, I just got on a few hours ago. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Do you have surveillance on the premises or possibly outside?"

"We have both."

"Can I please take a look at last night's?"

"Um…let me get my manager." The clerk said and then headed off to back room.

"Hoping to see where Reid went to last night?" Morgan asked, as he waited impatiently, his fingers drumming on the counter rapidly.

"Yes, if we can figure out which way he went then maybe we can figure out where he went to."

The clerk returned with an older, heavy set man with glasses. "May I see your ID Sir?"

Hotch pulled out his ID again and let the other man study it.

"May I ask what this about?"

"One of my Agents is missing and he was last seen at this hotel last night. I was hoping that by getting a look at your surveillance I could ascertain which way he went." Hotch replied directly and honestly.

The man nodded and waved them to the back as he walked away. "Sure, this way gentlemen."

Hotch and Morgan followed after the man and up into the security room, where several TV screens lined the wall.

"We're on floor four. I heard commotion in his room around ten maybe eleven o'clock last night. So, if you could start the video there and let it play that'd be great." Morgan said to the guy in charge of the recordings.

"Commotion? What kind of commotion? And why didn't you mention it sooner?" Hotch looked over to Morgan as he spoke.

"Last night, I heard him scream. I knocked on the door and he told me stubbed his toe on his bed. I tried to get him to talk to me last night, but he wouldn't let me in his room. Obviously stubbing his toe was a lie, given the broken mirror and the blood in his room."

"Broken glass? Blood?" The manager asked nervously.

"Yes Sir, I have a forensics team coming to take a look at it so I'd appreciate it if you're cleaning crew would leave it be." Hotch replied and then turned his attention back to Morgan. "Why didn't you come get me after talking to Reid?"

The manager nodded and left the room.

"Hotch man, how was I supposed to know Reid punched the glass and then tried to clean the wound with Jack Daniels? He said he stubbed his toe, I believed him."

A nod was Hotch's tacit reply and he fixed his gaze on the monitor when the technician told him he had the time in queue and ready to be played. He watched as Morgan walked away from the door and back to his own room. Shortly after, Reid left his room and took the elevator down to the lobby and headed out through the front doors.

The technician tabbed over to the camera outside, so it was on the screen they were watching. It showed Reid heading west on the sidewalk, his head bent down and eventually out of the camera's range. "That's it, all our cameras could get."

"Thank you." Hotch replied, left the room and then pulled out his cell phone and hit a speed dial button.

"Speak to the all knowing Goddess and be recognized."

"Garcia, hack into Las Vegas traffic system. See if there are any camera's on the street in front of our hotel that are west of us."

"Done and done, what am I looking for?"

"Find footage from ten thirty six pm, yesterday."

"Okay. Wait, is that Reid I see? What's going on? Is Boy Genius okay?"

"Reid's missing but I need you to stay focused."

"Oh my God! Right." Garcia was silent a moment. "It looks like he is talking to someone on the sidewalk six blocks from you're hotel."

Morgan waited quietly as Hotch talked with Garcia, and followed his boss down the sidewalk.

They came to a stop at an alleyway, as Hotch flipped his phone closed. "Garcia says Reid went to this alley after some guy."

"Did she get a good look at him?"

"A partial side view. The man is holding an umbrella, obscuring most of his face." Hotch said as he started down the alley way.

A noise in the alley caused them both to reach for the guns and withdraw them partially. A homeless man crawled out of his box and then stopped upon seeing the men with their weapons drawn.

Hotch holstered the gun and took out his badge. "Sir, were you here last night?"

"Yes'ir."

"Did you see either one of these men?" He held up his phone for the man to see and clicked from one photo to the next.

"Perhaps."

"You either did or you didn't." Hotch stated impatiently.

Morgan laid a hand on his boss' arm. "Hotch, I got this. Will this help you remember?" He pulled out a twenty dollar bill. The man grabbed for it but Morgan pulled just out of his reach. "Answer his questions first."

The man grumbled and then nodded. "I saw 'em both. The tall skinny guy was helping the other guy look for his wallet, I think. Then the other guy came up from behind. Dunno wut happened, but the tall kid fell down. The other guy kicked him, said something about waiting for him or somethin' and then he picked up the man on the ground and put him in a van."

"Where did this all happen? Did you get a license plate by chance?" Morgan asked and pulled out another twenty.

The man pointed further down the alley, about ten feet away. "Didn' see no number."

Morgan gave the homeless man the cash.

As they walked to where the homeless man pointed Hotch remarked, "You know he's just going to spend it on alcohol or drugs, right?"

Morgan shrugged. "Got us the information we needed."

They inspected the scene but it didn't tell them a lot. Some scuff marks from were Reid had probably been dragged and some tire treads. By the time forensics got around to processing the scene and getting the results back from the lab it could be too late for their young colleague, if it wasn't already. Something Morgan didn't want to admit or think about. They needed answers now. "So, the unsub used a ruse to lure Reid into the alley…but why?"

Before Hotch could answer his cell phone rang and he answered it promptly. "What have you got Dave?"

"You were right. All the places had a fire alarm system installed on their doors or updated. Same company. I had Garcia check to see who the technician was. Same guy every time. Some guy named Devon Tiller. I had her run the name against our profile and he fits Hotch. His mother was suspected of abusing him, his father left. She had schizophrenia and died under suspicious circumstances when the boy was young. There was no investigation but I'm guessing it was our unsub. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia himself a month ago."

"There's our stressor." Hotch responded. "Any connection to sugar refineries?"

"Yeah, his uncle owned one but it closed down over ten years ago, after it got bad press about using cow meal as an ingredient. Garcia should be sending us the address here shortly."

"Okay, I'll meet you there." Hotch terminated the call and called Prentiss. He brought her up to speed and then asked about the note.

"Forensics couldn't find anything useful. It's passed through too many hands. Though, it doesn't matter now since we've got the bastard."

"Morgan and I are on the way over now, we'll see you there." Hotch flipped his phone closed and concentrated on driving.

It didn't take long to get there, the SUV coming to screeching halt. They already had their bullet proof vests on. Rossi was already on scene, when Morgan and Hotch showed up. Prentiss showed up about two minutes later with SWAT.

The scene in the warehouse was disheartening. Three dead bodies. The first body was swinging from the rafters, the unsub had committed suicide by hanging himself. As the team moved deeper in, clearing the areas as they went just in case, they found the body of Diana Reid. It looked like she had been tortured briefly before the release of sweet death from her throat being slit from end to end. The last body they found was Spencer's. He was hanging limply from a meat hook and blood was everywhere.

Morgan dropped to his knees. "NO! God damn it." He swore loudly. The others put their guns away in silence. He wiped away the tears that threatened to fall and stood back up. He gently took Reid's body down and began trying to revive him, even though it was far too late.

Hotch placed his hand on Morgan's shoulder. "Derek, he's gone." His leader's voice cracked ever so slightly.

Morgan didn't stop until he tired himself out. He caressed the limp body into his lap, and let the tears fall this time.