#and also so much potential for gut-wrenching angst holy wow

[paradimeshifts7]

Playing around with the idea of a Steddie Criminal Minds AU — maybe each chapter plays like an episode, like a monster of the week kind of thing. Wrote a little bit just to see how it’d feel: 🔍

———

It was never easy to see.

It never got any less gut-wrenching, regardless of how many bodies piled up in memory. And as far as crimes scenes went, this one really was relatively tame. No disfiguration. Fingers and toes intact. Skin still on the body. Certainly not nightmare-inducing, given what they were used to dealing with.

“Jesus, overkill much?” Max grimaced, hands braced on her hips as she surveyed the body from top to bottom.

“What did the initial ME report say?” Steve asked, crouching down to examine the form sprawled on the dirt, half covered with leaves and shoveled dirt in a haphazard fashion that told Steve the ubsub must have been in a hurry.

“Multiple stab wounds to the torso, initial cause of death is blood loss.” She sighed, folding her arms across her chest. “I don’t get it. This guy is way outside our unsub’s victimology. And this is the first time he’s left the body for us to find — right on the side of the road. This is a pretty busy stretch, too.”

Steve produced a blue rubber glove from his back pocket and pulled it on over his right hand. Reaching carefully across the body, he gently pulled back the blood-stained button up to expose the chest.

“Well, it’s definitely our guy,” Steve remarked, eyes catching on the bloodied red ‘X’ carved across the skin. “Unless we’ve got some crazy copy cat on our hands.”

“Who even is this guy? All of his targets have been female, this is a huge departure.”

“I don’t know. But our unsub is definitely accelerating. Two kills in one week.”

“This was found with the body,” one of the local policeman informed them, coming closer to offer a beat-up looking leather wallet to Steve.

Steve stood, slipping his cellphone out of his pocket. With a practiced motion, fingers moving with little thought, he placed the call, setting it to speakerphone and taking a few steps towards Max.

“Hit me, baby cakes,” Eddie chirped over the line.

“I’m gonna need everything you can find on a…” Steve trailed off, glancing down at the wallet now propped open in his gloved hand, “Richard Morten.”

“Maybe if you ask nicely-“ Eddie cooed, all sugar and syrup, but Steve jumped in before he could finish.

“Munson, we don’t really have time.” Steve glanced towards Max, whose lips had quirked into the barest hint of a teasing smile.

“Right. Okay,” Eddie said, clearing his throat before he continued. Steve could hear the clacking of his keyboard in the background, practiced fingers jumping wildly from key to key. “Richard Morten, of Colorado fame. Married father of two from the Boulder area, he’s been working as a lineman for the past ten years outside Savannah with his family.”

Steve frowned, studying the picture on the man’s driver’s license, rifling through the various items inside with his gloved hand. Credit cards, a punch card to what he assumed was a local sandwich shop, insurance card, and a picture of two little blondes in red and green Christmas sweaters.

“Anything stand out on his rap sheet?”

“Nada. Guy’s squeaky clean. The worst I can find is a late tax return in 2007, and a parking ticket from last month.”

“What about his family?” Steve asked, leaning the wallet towards Max so she could see the picture.

“Wife Andrea, daughter Ruby, 5. Son Isaac, 8. Everyone checks out. Totally normal working class family. The American Dream, you could say — if you believe in that kind of stuff. They even make regular donations at their church, I’ve got the receipts.”

“What would our unsub want with this guy?” Steve asked, walking himself back through the profile, trying to make this piece of the puzzle fit. “There isn’t anything to punish here.”

Max bit at the corner of her lip, eyes darting around the crime scene, wandering in small steps until she stopped abruptly and turned back towards him.

“Maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have,” she said, vague recognition coloring her features. “Eddie, did you say he was working as a lineman?” She was already walking away, and Steve had to chase after her to keep up.

“Yeah. Since 2012. Went to lineman school after getting laid off in 2011. Looks like his wife went back to work to help support the family while he got certified.”

Max stopped at the foot of a telephone pole nearby, neck craned to look towards the top.

“Steve, come look at this.” Steve took the last steps necessary to meet her where she stood, glancing upwards. “Think you could see the dump site from way up there?” She jerked her chin towards the top of the pole.

“Eddie, can you see how far the dump sight is from mile marker…89?” Steve asked, craning his neck and squinting to make out the white lettering on the mile marker post next to the crime scene.

“Piece of cake, sweetheart,” Eddie replied, muted clacking noises springing to life once again. “That would be…12.3 miles.”

“Not close enough to see anything sketchy happening,” Max said, head rolling to the side in contemplation.

“Let’s roll with this for a second, though,” Steve pushed, the inklings of a theory prickling at the back of his mind. “Say he was working on a line, and he did see something. Maybe our unsub moved him. He would’ve left behind some kind of equipment, right? Our guy might be good, but he’s not that good.”

“Way ahead of you, hot stuff. Checking for police reports about abandoned lineman-related equipment.” There was a brief pause before he began again. “Once again, you are right on the money, my friends. There was a police report filed this morning about an abandoned pick up and a ‘bucket truck’, whatever the hell that is, a few miles down the road. A lot closer to the dump sight, actually. About 2 miles.”

“Our unsub probably spotted him when he was dumping the second body,” Steve nodded, gaze drifting back to the body lying not twenty feet away.

“Forensic countermeasure,” Max agreed. “But it’s weird. He takes the body a little ways down the road to throw us off, but makes no real effort to hide it.”

“He’s playing with us. Guy might be smarter than we thought.” He locked eyes with Max, getting the distinct impression that this case was about to get far more complicated than was originally anticipated. “Thanks, Eds.”

“Anytime, baby girl,” Eddie managed to say before Steve hung up, the tone of his voice betraying the playful grin that no doubt adorned his face — dimples on his cheeks like twin canyons.

“Since when are you ‘baby girl’?” Max scoffed, subdued disbelief in her tone matching the eyebrow that crept up on one side of her forehead.

“I don’t pretend to know why Munson does what he does,” Steve halfway grumbled, feeling a telltale heat rise to his face as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned in the direction of the car.

“Are you blushing right now?” Max teased, trailing after him, but he only picked up the pace, reaching the car before she did.

“Absolutely fucking not,” he snapped, pulling the driver’s side door open roughly. “Get in the car.”

“Oh my god, you totally are!” She tittered, lips pulled back in a taunting grin. Steve rolled his eyes, sliding into his seat.

“In the car, or I’m leaving your ass!”