Honesty - Criminal Minds || Spencer Reid Fanfiction

1. Agent Brenda Melanie Joyner

"I always wondered why God was supposed to be a father," she whispers. Fathers always want you to measure up to something. Mothers are the ones who love you unconditionally, don't you think?" ~ Jodi Picoult

The Leader
He'd been through his fair share of cases, but now as Aaron Hotchner walked through the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit, he suddenly couldn't wait to be at home in his apartment with a glass of whiskey and his son.

He opened the door of his office and laid his go-bag under the desk where it always lay before he was aware that he wasn't alone in the room. He turned in surprise to see a young woman sat on the sofa facing his desk.
"Are you SSA Aaron Hotchner?" She asked in a lazy English accent. She had rib-length blonde hair, a little wild and thick, and piercing blue eyes.

Somewhere within him, a spark of recognition ignited.
"Yes I am, how may I help you?" He asked, approaching the woman as she got to her feet.
"I'm Agent Brenda Joyner, I believe you knew my mother." She claimed as they shook hands. Hotch realised how firm her handshake was and he stood impressed as he took in her familiar features.
"I wasn't aware that Kate had a daughter." He said in a detached tone, trying hard not to remind himself too much of Kate and the last time they'd been together in New York.

"Nor were a lot of people, sir. I never knew my mother, my grandparents raised me in England." Hotch was surprised by this; Kate had a daughter who she never associated with? Surely she would have told him about that?

"What can I do you for, Agent?" He asked, not comprehending what he had to do with Kate Joyner and her unknown daughter.
"Well you see, I never met my mother but I saw pictures and had a few of her belongings. She left mostly everything to me and that included a box of letters from every birthday and holiday she wasn't there for." Hotch was nodding as he travelled to his desk and sat down behind it, where he felt most comfortable. He was aware of the team clearing up to head home for the night and he envied them, to say the least. He had a feeling that despite the hour, Kate's daughter wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

"I'd never known who my father was, my grandparents told me they never knew him. But when Kate passed and I began reading her letters, she detailed often who he was and how they met, and finally, my grandparents told me who he was when I became of age." Hotch was nodding as the woman spoke and sat with his back straight, his hands clasped on the desk in front of him.

"Do you need help in tracking him down?" He asked, trying to fathom just why Kate's daughter was here telling all of this to him. He tried to remain patient, Christ, in his line of work, Hotch always had to be patient.

"There's no need," She smiled, her hands in the pockets of her tight black cigarette pants. "I've already found him." Hotch frowned.

So why was she here?

"Well congratulations, Agent. But forgive me," Exhaustion tainted his patience and he tried to maintain an even tone of voice. "I don't understand what any of this has to do with me or my team?" The woman smiled broader and pushed a file towards him that was already sitting on his desk.

"The Californian Warrior," She said as Hotch opened the file and saw pictures of mutilated women. "I believe he stalks his victims for weeks previous to his attack before he strikes, holds them hostage in their own home for the seventy-two-hours that they're alive before brutally killing them. He then takes them to a secluded area where he dismembers them, then he dumps them in the vicinity of his next victim, like a warning," Hotch was nodding along to all of this, seeing the crime photos and cringing. "I believe there are more victims than the four in that file, purely because a man of that calibre doesn't become so brutal in twelve months. He's most likely late thirties and probably unsuccessful. Most likely unsuccessful in law, or law enforcement considering all women were lawyers. He's probably using the ruse of a maintenance guy of some sort in order to stalk his victims and gain access to their homes. I believe he's currently stalking his next victim and if the pattern's correct there'll be another body by Monday."