Lead the Way - Chapter 030 - 4x07 - Memoriam
When I first saw Memoriam I was bored. It was so unrealistic that Reid's father was a pedophile and a murderer, I didn't care about a boy that died 20 years ago and I was so! over Reid being in distress. Remember that was the time before we saw Demonology. We still knew so little about Emily, but Reid... well Reid was just starting to bore me.
Naturally when this episode came up and I had to "rewrite" it I wasn't thrilled. But as I watched it over and over again I noticed all these looks between Emily or JJ or should I say the non-looks. Seriously, I was so surprised by what I found and how well it fitted with my little theory that it quickly became one of my favorite episode chapters! If you have the time rewatch the episode after reading this chapter. It will blow your mind!
November 12, 2008 this episode written by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie aired. Because it was the way it was cut that made me reappreciate it I feel the need to add that Guy Norman Bee was responsible for that. These are the people responsible for the plot, the Unsub, Reid and the subtext.
Lead the Way - 030 - 4x07 - Memoriam
When JJ woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find her bed empty. Emily had gone. Hot tears threatened to make their way out but JJ quickly pressed her eyes shut.
Last night she had once again shown Emily her aggressive side and once more Emily had pulled back. At first, everything had seemed alright. After this draining case all JJ had wanted to feel was Emily.
She had wanted to touch her, to hold her, maybe sleep together, but the second the door closed behind them, JJ had turned around. Emily had looked stunning in her blouse and pants all day long and now in the half light of her room all JJ could see were her lips. Those red, soft lips. And then Emily opened her mouth to speak and she knew if they started talking now, it would take her forever to taste her.
It had been an aggressive move but Emily didn’t seem to mind. Her touch had been gentle, her kisses passionate but never rough or forceful. It hadn’t been like she made love to her but she hadn’t been “taken” either.
JJ wondered if that had been because Emily was a woman or because she was Emily. And then Emily had pushed her away. Telling her she could touch her, once she was ready. JJ knew that she was ready. All she could think about was how ready she was. She wanted to feel Emily’s soft skin, she wanted to explore her body and she wanted to see how it would feel to make her lover moan.
Would it be that much different from what she had felt before? Would it be better? Could women only give and take, but never do both at the same time? JJ had so many questions, so many things she wanted to ask, to know. Emily, however, was gone. She felt a painful sting in her heart as she heaved herself off the bed.
“Of course!” she exclaimed, only seconds later. Naturally, the profiler had to get out of her own room this morning when the team was flying back to Quantico. That had to be it. Or maybe she had taken up too much space in the tiny bed with her huge belly. Surely nothing had happened last night that Emily had not agreed to?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the alarm rang in Prentiss’ room the next morning she had barely slept two hours. She got dressed and paid her bill before the other agents could see the enormous tab she had run up. Her head felt as though it was about to explode and Morgan’s cheerful demeanor certainly didn’t help.
Turning away from the coffee dispenser she said:
“Morgan, can you… please, can you… my head.”
“Love that. It’s alright. You know these things are rigged, right?”
She so didn’t care. As long as she could sit down.
“Ugh.”
“Late night?”
‘No shit, Sherlock.’ Covering her face she said: “I hate Vegas.” And it was true. If they had been in any other city she would never have allowed herself to admit that she loved JJ and she would never have had so much Scotch. She had left JJ in the middle of the night, something she certainly would have to explain at some point, her head felt as though it had been split in two and she didn’t even want to consider the emotional aftermath of her private meltdown.
“Come on, Prentiss, how can you hate Vegas? This is a grown folk’s playground.”
As if on cue JJ walked up to them. “Anyone seen Reid?”
Emily chose not to look up. JJ didn’t need to see her bloodshot eyes.
“I know he stayed with his mom last night,” Morgan replied.
“Well he should be here by now. He knows the departure time.” JJ had noticed how Emily refused to look at her and tried to focus on anything other than her. Rossi and Morgan were fully awake and she didn’t want to give them any hint at what had happened last night.
“This thing still has credit on it.” As she moved forward to push the button on the machine, Emily finally spoke.
“JJ, I swear to God.” It wasn’t what she had hoped for though.
“What?” She glanced at Rossi who signed that Emily had apparently had too much to drink. Wondering what the brunette had done after she had left her room, JJ opted for an amused look to hide her doubts.
“Oh, here he comes right now,” Morgan said, as Reid came running into the lobby.
“What did you do? Sleep through your alarm?”
“Sorry to keep you guys waiting.”
“Hotch is already at the air strip. How fast can you pack?” She turned away from Emily, deciding that she had time to wonder what had caused her hangover on the plane.
“Actually, I’m gonna stay for a couple of days.”
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, I just… I’m… I haven’t seen my mom for a really long time, so I’d like… ah… a few more days.” JJ wasn’t convinced at all and as she looked past Emily at Rossi and Morgan who clearly shared her skepticism, she noticed that Emily turned away from her.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Take a few days. Do what you need to do.” Even when she passed her to leave the hotel Emily chose to look at Reid rather than her. JJ wondered if she regretted what happened between them. ‘God, I hope not.’ She noticed how tired Reid looked and said: “Hey… uhm… take care of yourself.”
“You too. Both of you.” He pointed to her pregnant belly and she smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morgan shook his head and pulled over.
“What are you doing?” JJ asked. Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan and she were sitting in a black SUV on their way to the airport.
“Did any of you believe Reid?” No one answered. “That’s what I thought. Remember his dream on the plane, coming here?”
“Yeah,” Rossi smiled.
“There might be something to it.”
“What do you mean?” Emily tried to focus, despite her splitting headache.
“I found a case. A boy named Riley Jenkins. Guys, I think Reid knew this kid, or at least knew of him.”
“And now he’s going to look into it.”
“He’s clearly affected by something. I don’t think it’s a good idea to let him do this by himself.”
“JJ?” Rossi turned around to look at the press liaison.
“We have no urgent cases. I was going to suggest desk duty for you while I’d continue training Jordan.”
“Morgan and I will stay behind with Reid. You and Prentiss go meet Hotch at the airport and help us from Quantico as much as you can.”
Before Morgan was back on the road, JJ was already on the phone making the necessary arrangements.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Quantico, Emily had just hung up on Detective Hyde, who had wanted to make sure that the FBI was really interested in the Riley Jenkins case, when JJ said:
“Emily. You remember Agent Todd?” JJ wasn’t looking forward to Emily ogling the new agent, but she was the most qualified of all the agents she had interviewed for the position.
“Oh yeah, hi.” Her hangover was obviously gone after she had slept so deeply on the flight.
“Welcome back.”
“Thanks. I’ll be shadowing JJ for the next couple of weeks.”
“Big shoes to fill.” Why was Emily complimenting her now of all times? Couldn’t she have said something like this on the plane? When she could respond? JJ had to resort to humor to defuse the situation.
“Big ankles at least.” She avoided looking at Emily and stared at her feet.
“Come on, you look great.” Naturally, Jordan had to say something reassuring.
“That’s what I keep telling her.” ‘Seriously Emily? Couldn’t you have figured that out this morning?’
“Do you have kids too, or…?” Hopefully they would raise a son together, but obviously Emily couldn’t say that.
“Er… no. I think JJ may have snared the last viable donor.” Again JJ could not believe her ears. “snared”? “viable donor”? “last viable donor”? What game was she playing at?
“Tell me about it.”
To make things worse, Hotch walked up them asking, “Donor for what?”
“Nothing, I’m just reacquainting Agent Todd here with the layout.” JJ made a point of looking past Emily at their unit chief.
“Good to see you again, SSA Hotchner.”
“Oh please, Hotch.”
“Hotch. So, where is the rest of the team?”
“Another case came up while we were in Las Vegas and they stayed behind to look into it.” JJ looked at Emily to see if she had a good explanation for any of this, but she noticed that the brunette still refused to look at her. “Excuse me,” the unit chief said, leaving abruptly.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Jordan asked: “I thought you worked cases together.” Lacking any real reason JJ simply said, “This one’s different.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During their investigation Reid grew suspicious of his father, thinking he might be involved in the kid’s death. Even though Rossi had concluded from the MO that the killer they were looking for was a pedophile, Reid still wanted to go ahead with the investigation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jordan and JJ were in her office going through stacks upon stacks of case files, when Jordan asked:
“So many cases! How do you determine which ones get priority?”
“Ah… It’s basically murder triage. I look for cases where the threat of losing another life is most imminent.”
“Without the other agents giving you a working profile?” Jordan sounded dumbfounded. JJ remembered how Hotch had asked if she wanted to take the classes and become a profiler a couple of years back. She actually preferred her own job, even if no one knew that she still had to profile somewhat.
“That comes later. This job does require a little bit of profiling, just… don’t tell them that.” She laughed. “Here, let me show you.”
“Okay, family in Atlanta. Mother, twin daughters, stabbed in their sleep and… ah… Sioux City, Iowa, two men with no apparent connection both found drowned in their own bathtubs exactly one month apart. Where would you go?” Hopefully she would make the right choice. JJ wasn’t sure she’d have time to look for and train another candidate.
“I’d have to take a closer look.”
“What does your gut tell you?”
“Sioux City looks like a serial; another victim could die within a month.”
“What about Atlanta?”
“That’s a family annihilator. Father snaps, takes out the flock, puts any relative in the area in immediate danger; I’d take the team there first.” She had done well, but it would take far more for her to actually do a good job than to just guess right. They only had until she gave birth, which was scheduled to be in three weeks.
“Good. Now do that with that whole entire stack right there.” As she leaned back she felt a sharp pain run through her belly. Her son sure was feeling wild today. Jordan noticed her wincing and asked:
“You okay?”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As expected, Reid’s father denied them access to his files and his computer, but his security system was no match for Garcia. She didn’t feel comfortable digging through her friend’s father’s data, but it was at his request.
As soon as she had gathered information, she called Morgan. Emily and Hotch were with her but that didn’t stop her from flirting with her best friend.
“Yeah, talk to me, baby girl.”
“I’m not interrupting boy time at Crazy Horse Too, am I?”
Emily wondered briefly if she should point out that the strip club had been closed in 2006.
“You know that’s not my thing. I’m more for in-room entertainment.” Morgan could play this game just as well.
“I can’t help you there, but I do give good phone.”
Hotch looked angry and Emily smiled at him. How could this annoy him? To her it was a ray of sunlight in an otherwise often depressing line of work.
“Let me hear what you got.”
“Reid, we’ve been all up in your father’s business.”
“What did you find?”
“Well, let me tell you first what I didn’t find: no kiddy porn, no membership to illicit websites, no dubious emails, no chatroom history…”
“What about his finances?”
“We went back ten years, no questionable transactions that we could find,” Hotch answered.
“Well, he did buy a ticket to see Celine Dion, six months ago, but I think we can overlook that.” Those kind of schmaltzy songs never lived up to Emily’s taste. She had one guilty pleasure, which she would certainly not reveal to any one around her, but besides that one single singer she never listened to love songs. The lyrics never spoke to her.
Garcia turned around smiling. It was so like Emily to be too tough to appreciate the love and schmaltz in a Celine Dion song. ‘You Goth!’
“He’s smart. Is it possible that he kept things under the table?”
“Well, of course, but… from what we can tell, Reid, he doesn’t fit the profile.”
“We can tell you other things about him, if you want to know.” Emily suggested.
“I’m listening.” Reid didn’t sound as strong as he might have liked.
“Ah… he’s a workaholic, he actually logs more hours than we do. He makes decent money but he doesn’t spend a lot of it. He has a modest house, he drives a hybrid, he doesn’t travel much, he stays away from the casinos… and according to his veterinary bills, he has a very sick cat.” Hotch took over.
“He appears to spend most of his free time alone and goes to the movies a lot and he reads. And from his collection of first editions it seems his favorite author is…”
“Isaac Asimov. I remember that one.” Reid was growing restless. They could just as easily be describing his own life.
“He does have one other major interest.” Garcia now pointed out. “On his home computer he has archived like a gazillion things on one common subject.”
“What?”
“You, kiddo. He’s got like everything that’s been published online, every article you’ve been quoted in, pieces you’ve written for behavioral science journals, he even has a copy of your dissertation.”
“He’s keeping tabs on you.” Rossi said. “That’s saying something.”
“Yeah, that he googled me. That makes up for everything. I’m going to get some air.” Angry, he stormed out of the hotel.
“You guys still there?” Morgan asked.
“I thought we were giving him good news.” Garcia sounded disappointed.
“What else can we do?”
“Look up a name for us, if you would. Gary Brendan Michaels.”
“Do you like this Gary guy for the Riley Murder?”
“Somebody does.” Rossi said cryptically.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Reid learned in a hypnotherapeutic session about a suppressed memory where he saw his mother watch his father burn bloody clothes, he confronted her. Diana could not remember what he was talking about, but she refused to consider that her husband could be somehow responsible for Riley’s death.
On the way to the PD, Reid and Morgan watched Lou Jenkins, Riley’s father, come out of the building. Detective Hyde needed a little convincing from Morgan, but eventually he agreed to bring in William Reid for questioning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Talk to me, Garcia.” Morgan said, answering his phone.
“So, this Gary Michael you asked me to track down seems to have peeled himself right off the grid.” Jordan and JJ were in her lab and she was enjoying the company. It wasn’t often that she got to share her office with her team-members, but remembering Gideon, that was probably a good thing anyway.
“What did he do? Skip town?”
“Maybe took a new name too, because everything in his name lapsed from non-use in the year after the Riley Jenkins murder.”
“Maybe he didn’t want to stick around for the investigation.” While answering, JJ caressed her belly hoping the pain would subside and she could ignore the obvious.
“In addition to the indecent exposure rap he also had some sealed juvenile stuff: lewd behavior, trespassing…”
“Trespassing?” That didn’t fit with the rest of the offenses.
“At a nursery school,” JJ added. Now it made sense.
“Hard to believe the cops never pegged this guy for a suspect,” Jordan said, and JJ nodded in agreement.
“Any other evidence to find him?”
“You betcha. They swabbed him in 85 for the exposure beefs, I’m sending up the data in VICAP and CODIS.”
“If he’s offended again over the past 20 years under a different name…”
“Which, considering his type, he probably has…”
“He will pop up somewhere.”
“Alright, keep me in the loop.” With that, Morgan hung up.
“Later.” JJ breathed out and winced. Her caressing had not helped.
“What’s with the wincing? You okay?”
JJ shook her head and said: “I’m fine.” This could not happen now. She still had things to figure out before the baby could come.
“Are you sure? I noticed this earlier.” Even through the pain, JJ had to admit that Jordan’s total ignorance was sort of sweet.
“Earlier? How often?” There was the dreaded question, but she would not lie.
“Ah… in the last hour? I’d say every ten minutes.”
“JJ why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because I’m not due for another three weeks.”
“Newsflash, you’re in labor.”
“No, no, no, no. ‘Cause Reid needs us right now, and… ah…”
“Uh-uh. You need you right now. Come on. Get up.” As they ran into the bullpen area Garcia shouted out:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m not a doctor- I don’t even play one on TV- but I think young JJ is going into labor.” Much to her dismay, JJ saw that Emily had just gone to get a cup of coffee. Since yesterday morning she hadn’t found a way to talk to the other woman and now all of a sudden she was ready to look at her, talk to her, and she had the nerve to ask:
“Are you okay?”
JJ had half a mind to shout out: ‘No I’m not okay! You left me in the middle of the night after the first time I had sex with a woman and now my body feels as if it’s going to be ripped apart. I’m not freakin’ okay!’
Instead she decided to say something she knew would sting Emily at least a little.
“I need to call Will.”
Emily felt the sting alright. Blinded by anger she shouted out:
“Agent Todd? I hope you’re ready, because your job starts right now!” Give her something to think about…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As it turned out, Reid’s father wasn’t responsible for Riley Jenkins murder. Gary Michaels had killed him and Diana Reid had felt that something was up with Michaels. She pointed it out to Lou Jenkins who killed him in revenge. Diana followed him into the house and got her clothes bloody helping him dispose of the body. William burned her clothes later but could not stay with her knowing what she was capable of.
Lou Jenkins was brought in for the murder of Gary Michaels and Reid could fly home, knowing the truth.
Naturally when this episode came up and I had to "rewrite" it I wasn't thrilled. But as I watched it over and over again I noticed all these looks between Emily or JJ or should I say the non-looks. Seriously, I was so surprised by what I found and how well it fitted with my little theory that it quickly became one of my favorite episode chapters! If you have the time rewatch the episode after reading this chapter. It will blow your mind!
November 12, 2008 this episode written by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie aired. Because it was the way it was cut that made me reappreciate it I feel the need to add that Guy Norman Bee was responsible for that. These are the people responsible for the plot, the Unsub, Reid and the subtext.
Lead the Way - 030 - 4x07 - Memoriam
When JJ woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find her bed empty. Emily had gone. Hot tears threatened to make their way out but JJ quickly pressed her eyes shut.
Last night she had once again shown Emily her aggressive side and once more Emily had pulled back. At first, everything had seemed alright. After this draining case all JJ had wanted to feel was Emily.
She had wanted to touch her, to hold her, maybe sleep together, but the second the door closed behind them, JJ had turned around. Emily had looked stunning in her blouse and pants all day long and now in the half light of her room all JJ could see were her lips. Those red, soft lips. And then Emily opened her mouth to speak and she knew if they started talking now, it would take her forever to taste her.
It had been an aggressive move but Emily didn’t seem to mind. Her touch had been gentle, her kisses passionate but never rough or forceful. It hadn’t been like she made love to her but she hadn’t been “taken” either.
JJ wondered if that had been because Emily was a woman or because she was Emily. And then Emily had pushed her away. Telling her she could touch her, once she was ready. JJ knew that she was ready. All she could think about was how ready she was. She wanted to feel Emily’s soft skin, she wanted to explore her body and she wanted to see how it would feel to make her lover moan.
Would it be that much different from what she had felt before? Would it be better? Could women only give and take, but never do both at the same time? JJ had so many questions, so many things she wanted to ask, to know. Emily, however, was gone. She felt a painful sting in her heart as she heaved herself off the bed.
“Of course!” she exclaimed, only seconds later. Naturally, the profiler had to get out of her own room this morning when the team was flying back to Quantico. That had to be it. Or maybe she had taken up too much space in the tiny bed with her huge belly. Surely nothing had happened last night that Emily had not agreed to?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the alarm rang in Prentiss’ room the next morning she had barely slept two hours. She got dressed and paid her bill before the other agents could see the enormous tab she had run up. Her head felt as though it was about to explode and Morgan’s cheerful demeanor certainly didn’t help.
Turning away from the coffee dispenser she said:
“Morgan, can you… please, can you… my head.”
“Love that. It’s alright. You know these things are rigged, right?”
She so didn’t care. As long as she could sit down.
“Ugh.”
“Late night?”
‘No shit, Sherlock.’ Covering her face she said: “I hate Vegas.” And it was true. If they had been in any other city she would never have allowed herself to admit that she loved JJ and she would never have had so much Scotch. She had left JJ in the middle of the night, something she certainly would have to explain at some point, her head felt as though it had been split in two and she didn’t even want to consider the emotional aftermath of her private meltdown.
“Come on, Prentiss, how can you hate Vegas? This is a grown folk’s playground.”
As if on cue JJ walked up to them. “Anyone seen Reid?”
Emily chose not to look up. JJ didn’t need to see her bloodshot eyes.
“I know he stayed with his mom last night,” Morgan replied.
“Well he should be here by now. He knows the departure time.” JJ had noticed how Emily refused to look at her and tried to focus on anything other than her. Rossi and Morgan were fully awake and she didn’t want to give them any hint at what had happened last night.
“This thing still has credit on it.” As she moved forward to push the button on the machine, Emily finally spoke.
“JJ, I swear to God.” It wasn’t what she had hoped for though.
“What?” She glanced at Rossi who signed that Emily had apparently had too much to drink. Wondering what the brunette had done after she had left her room, JJ opted for an amused look to hide her doubts.
“Oh, here he comes right now,” Morgan said, as Reid came running into the lobby.
“What did you do? Sleep through your alarm?”
“Sorry to keep you guys waiting.”
“Hotch is already at the air strip. How fast can you pack?” She turned away from Emily, deciding that she had time to wonder what had caused her hangover on the plane.
“Actually, I’m gonna stay for a couple of days.”
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, I just… I’m… I haven’t seen my mom for a really long time, so I’d like… ah… a few more days.” JJ wasn’t convinced at all and as she looked past Emily at Rossi and Morgan who clearly shared her skepticism, she noticed that Emily turned away from her.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Take a few days. Do what you need to do.” Even when she passed her to leave the hotel Emily chose to look at Reid rather than her. JJ wondered if she regretted what happened between them. ‘God, I hope not.’ She noticed how tired Reid looked and said: “Hey… uhm… take care of yourself.”
“You too. Both of you.” He pointed to her pregnant belly and she smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morgan shook his head and pulled over.
“What are you doing?” JJ asked. Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan and she were sitting in a black SUV on their way to the airport.
“Did any of you believe Reid?” No one answered. “That’s what I thought. Remember his dream on the plane, coming here?”
“Yeah,” Rossi smiled.
“There might be something to it.”
“What do you mean?” Emily tried to focus, despite her splitting headache.
“I found a case. A boy named Riley Jenkins. Guys, I think Reid knew this kid, or at least knew of him.”
“And now he’s going to look into it.”
“He’s clearly affected by something. I don’t think it’s a good idea to let him do this by himself.”
“JJ?” Rossi turned around to look at the press liaison.
“We have no urgent cases. I was going to suggest desk duty for you while I’d continue training Jordan.”
“Morgan and I will stay behind with Reid. You and Prentiss go meet Hotch at the airport and help us from Quantico as much as you can.”
Before Morgan was back on the road, JJ was already on the phone making the necessary arrangements.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Quantico, Emily had just hung up on Detective Hyde, who had wanted to make sure that the FBI was really interested in the Riley Jenkins case, when JJ said:
“Emily. You remember Agent Todd?” JJ wasn’t looking forward to Emily ogling the new agent, but she was the most qualified of all the agents she had interviewed for the position.
“Oh yeah, hi.” Her hangover was obviously gone after she had slept so deeply on the flight.
“Welcome back.”
“Thanks. I’ll be shadowing JJ for the next couple of weeks.”
“Big shoes to fill.” Why was Emily complimenting her now of all times? Couldn’t she have said something like this on the plane? When she could respond? JJ had to resort to humor to defuse the situation.
“Big ankles at least.” She avoided looking at Emily and stared at her feet.
“Come on, you look great.” Naturally, Jordan had to say something reassuring.
“That’s what I keep telling her.” ‘Seriously Emily? Couldn’t you have figured that out this morning?’
“Do you have kids too, or…?” Hopefully they would raise a son together, but obviously Emily couldn’t say that.
“Er… no. I think JJ may have snared the last viable donor.” Again JJ could not believe her ears. “snared”? “viable donor”? “last viable donor”? What game was she playing at?
“Tell me about it.”
To make things worse, Hotch walked up them asking, “Donor for what?”
“Nothing, I’m just reacquainting Agent Todd here with the layout.” JJ made a point of looking past Emily at their unit chief.
“Good to see you again, SSA Hotchner.”
“Oh please, Hotch.”
“Hotch. So, where is the rest of the team?”
“Another case came up while we were in Las Vegas and they stayed behind to look into it.” JJ looked at Emily to see if she had a good explanation for any of this, but she noticed that the brunette still refused to look at her. “Excuse me,” the unit chief said, leaving abruptly.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Jordan asked: “I thought you worked cases together.” Lacking any real reason JJ simply said, “This one’s different.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During their investigation Reid grew suspicious of his father, thinking he might be involved in the kid’s death. Even though Rossi had concluded from the MO that the killer they were looking for was a pedophile, Reid still wanted to go ahead with the investigation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jordan and JJ were in her office going through stacks upon stacks of case files, when Jordan asked:
“So many cases! How do you determine which ones get priority?”
“Ah… It’s basically murder triage. I look for cases where the threat of losing another life is most imminent.”
“Without the other agents giving you a working profile?” Jordan sounded dumbfounded. JJ remembered how Hotch had asked if she wanted to take the classes and become a profiler a couple of years back. She actually preferred her own job, even if no one knew that she still had to profile somewhat.
“That comes later. This job does require a little bit of profiling, just… don’t tell them that.” She laughed. “Here, let me show you.”
“Okay, family in Atlanta. Mother, twin daughters, stabbed in their sleep and… ah… Sioux City, Iowa, two men with no apparent connection both found drowned in their own bathtubs exactly one month apart. Where would you go?” Hopefully she would make the right choice. JJ wasn’t sure she’d have time to look for and train another candidate.
“I’d have to take a closer look.”
“What does your gut tell you?”
“Sioux City looks like a serial; another victim could die within a month.”
“What about Atlanta?”
“That’s a family annihilator. Father snaps, takes out the flock, puts any relative in the area in immediate danger; I’d take the team there first.” She had done well, but it would take far more for her to actually do a good job than to just guess right. They only had until she gave birth, which was scheduled to be in three weeks.
“Good. Now do that with that whole entire stack right there.” As she leaned back she felt a sharp pain run through her belly. Her son sure was feeling wild today. Jordan noticed her wincing and asked:
“You okay?”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As expected, Reid’s father denied them access to his files and his computer, but his security system was no match for Garcia. She didn’t feel comfortable digging through her friend’s father’s data, but it was at his request.
As soon as she had gathered information, she called Morgan. Emily and Hotch were with her but that didn’t stop her from flirting with her best friend.
“Yeah, talk to me, baby girl.”
“I’m not interrupting boy time at Crazy Horse Too, am I?”
Emily wondered briefly if she should point out that the strip club had been closed in 2006.
“You know that’s not my thing. I’m more for in-room entertainment.” Morgan could play this game just as well.
“I can’t help you there, but I do give good phone.”
Hotch looked angry and Emily smiled at him. How could this annoy him? To her it was a ray of sunlight in an otherwise often depressing line of work.
“Let me hear what you got.”
“Reid, we’ve been all up in your father’s business.”
“What did you find?”
“Well, let me tell you first what I didn’t find: no kiddy porn, no membership to illicit websites, no dubious emails, no chatroom history…”
“What about his finances?”
“We went back ten years, no questionable transactions that we could find,” Hotch answered.
“Well, he did buy a ticket to see Celine Dion, six months ago, but I think we can overlook that.” Those kind of schmaltzy songs never lived up to Emily’s taste. She had one guilty pleasure, which she would certainly not reveal to any one around her, but besides that one single singer she never listened to love songs. The lyrics never spoke to her.
Garcia turned around smiling. It was so like Emily to be too tough to appreciate the love and schmaltz in a Celine Dion song. ‘You Goth!’
“He’s smart. Is it possible that he kept things under the table?”
“Well, of course, but… from what we can tell, Reid, he doesn’t fit the profile.”
“We can tell you other things about him, if you want to know.” Emily suggested.
“I’m listening.” Reid didn’t sound as strong as he might have liked.
“Ah… he’s a workaholic, he actually logs more hours than we do. He makes decent money but he doesn’t spend a lot of it. He has a modest house, he drives a hybrid, he doesn’t travel much, he stays away from the casinos… and according to his veterinary bills, he has a very sick cat.” Hotch took over.
“He appears to spend most of his free time alone and goes to the movies a lot and he reads. And from his collection of first editions it seems his favorite author is…”
“Isaac Asimov. I remember that one.” Reid was growing restless. They could just as easily be describing his own life.
“He does have one other major interest.” Garcia now pointed out. “On his home computer he has archived like a gazillion things on one common subject.”
“What?”
“You, kiddo. He’s got like everything that’s been published online, every article you’ve been quoted in, pieces you’ve written for behavioral science journals, he even has a copy of your dissertation.”
“He’s keeping tabs on you.” Rossi said. “That’s saying something.”
“Yeah, that he googled me. That makes up for everything. I’m going to get some air.” Angry, he stormed out of the hotel.
“You guys still there?” Morgan asked.
“I thought we were giving him good news.” Garcia sounded disappointed.
“What else can we do?”
“Look up a name for us, if you would. Gary Brendan Michaels.”
“Do you like this Gary guy for the Riley Murder?”
“Somebody does.” Rossi said cryptically.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Reid learned in a hypnotherapeutic session about a suppressed memory where he saw his mother watch his father burn bloody clothes, he confronted her. Diana could not remember what he was talking about, but she refused to consider that her husband could be somehow responsible for Riley’s death.
On the way to the PD, Reid and Morgan watched Lou Jenkins, Riley’s father, come out of the building. Detective Hyde needed a little convincing from Morgan, but eventually he agreed to bring in William Reid for questioning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Talk to me, Garcia.” Morgan said, answering his phone.
“So, this Gary Michael you asked me to track down seems to have peeled himself right off the grid.” Jordan and JJ were in her lab and she was enjoying the company. It wasn’t often that she got to share her office with her team-members, but remembering Gideon, that was probably a good thing anyway.
“What did he do? Skip town?”
“Maybe took a new name too, because everything in his name lapsed from non-use in the year after the Riley Jenkins murder.”
“Maybe he didn’t want to stick around for the investigation.” While answering, JJ caressed her belly hoping the pain would subside and she could ignore the obvious.
“In addition to the indecent exposure rap he also had some sealed juvenile stuff: lewd behavior, trespassing…”
“Trespassing?” That didn’t fit with the rest of the offenses.
“At a nursery school,” JJ added. Now it made sense.
“Hard to believe the cops never pegged this guy for a suspect,” Jordan said, and JJ nodded in agreement.
“Any other evidence to find him?”
“You betcha. They swabbed him in 85 for the exposure beefs, I’m sending up the data in VICAP and CODIS.”
“If he’s offended again over the past 20 years under a different name…”
“Which, considering his type, he probably has…”
“He will pop up somewhere.”
“Alright, keep me in the loop.” With that, Morgan hung up.
“Later.” JJ breathed out and winced. Her caressing had not helped.
“What’s with the wincing? You okay?”
JJ shook her head and said: “I’m fine.” This could not happen now. She still had things to figure out before the baby could come.
“Are you sure? I noticed this earlier.” Even through the pain, JJ had to admit that Jordan’s total ignorance was sort of sweet.
“Earlier? How often?” There was the dreaded question, but she would not lie.
“Ah… in the last hour? I’d say every ten minutes.”
“JJ why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because I’m not due for another three weeks.”
“Newsflash, you’re in labor.”
“No, no, no, no. ‘Cause Reid needs us right now, and… ah…”
“Uh-uh. You need you right now. Come on. Get up.” As they ran into the bullpen area Garcia shouted out:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m not a doctor- I don’t even play one on TV- but I think young JJ is going into labor.” Much to her dismay, JJ saw that Emily had just gone to get a cup of coffee. Since yesterday morning she hadn’t found a way to talk to the other woman and now all of a sudden she was ready to look at her, talk to her, and she had the nerve to ask:
“Are you okay?”
JJ had half a mind to shout out: ‘No I’m not okay! You left me in the middle of the night after the first time I had sex with a woman and now my body feels as if it’s going to be ripped apart. I’m not freakin’ okay!’
Instead she decided to say something she knew would sting Emily at least a little.
“I need to call Will.”
Emily felt the sting alright. Blinded by anger she shouted out:
“Agent Todd? I hope you’re ready, because your job starts right now!” Give her something to think about…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As it turned out, Reid’s father wasn’t responsible for Riley Jenkins murder. Gary Michaels had killed him and Diana Reid had felt that something was up with Michaels. She pointed it out to Lou Jenkins who killed him in revenge. Diana followed him into the house and got her clothes bloody helping him dispose of the body. William burned her clothes later but could not stay with her knowing what she was capable of.
Lou Jenkins was brought in for the murder of Gary Michaels and Reid could fly home, knowing the truth.