Chapter 3: A Journey Through the Dark

"If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time insight into and understanding of many things."

~ Vincent Van Gogh

A few hours later the team had set up camp at the local police department. Reid was busying himself, allocating crime scene photos on a pinboard, while Prentiss, Rossi and Morgan brooded over their increasingly extensive case files.

A heavy silence filled the room, only penetrated by the occasional shuffle, a cough or the turning of a page. "Dammit!" Morgan suddenly burst out, slamming his folder on his desk. He leaned back, sighing. It was going to be a very long day.

Hotch chose that very moment to join the rest of his enervated team. "I've seen the body off to the coroner's office." he informed them. "JJ is still at the crime scene, questioning the pub owner. What have we got so far?"

"Well… there's the staged dead body, obviously, dressed in historical clothing. And then there's the harp, a most peculiar murder weapon…" Rossi replied.

"The unsub managed to sneak in with the weapon undetected, murdered a woman at a public place without anyone noticing, brought fresh clothes with him and had the time to stage the victim. That means he's highly organized", Prentiss continued.

"He spent a lot of time with the victim. He apparently knew that he'd be alone for a while. But how did he create that situation in the first place?"
"I guess I can answer that" JJ cut, greeting her team with a tired smile. " I talked to the owner of the pub, Mr. Hendricks. He went home early last night. Amanda was the last at work and she was to close the pub before leaving. Maybe the unsub waited until they were alone and she was an easy target. Mr. Hendricks informed me that they had an open stage event yesterday, meaning that everyone was welcome to perform on stage."

"That explains why no one paid any attention to him and the harp. Nobody would remember him, because a lot of musicians walked in and out of the place" Morgan concluded. "It would also explain the choice of weapon. But why stage her like that?" It was a truly intricate situation. Morgan's trail of thoughts was interrupted when his phone rang.
"Hey Baby girl. Please tell me you got something for me…"

"Has the oracle of all digital information ever disappointed you, oh unbeliever?"

Morgan felt a tiny smile play around his lips. He had often wondered how Garcia managed to keep up her good spirits almost 24/7 and he was undeniably glad that she did. "Let me think about that for a moment" he replied with mock sincerity. "Don't hurt yourself!" came the curt reply. "I would love to see you struggle, but time's of the essence, so I'll just bluntly blurt out what I found. So, Amanda Wilkins' maiden name is O'Brian. She was born and raised in Ireland. When she was 11 years old, her family moved to North Carolina. Her father died earlier this year, but her mother still lives in Charlotte, on the other side of town. Amanda's husband, Jeremy Wilkins, is a used car salesman. She also has a brother, but please don't ask me to pronounce his name; I'll text it to you. While Amanda never went to college, he studied at MIT, but I haven't found much on him after his graduation. I'll keep digging, though."

"Thanks, Penelope!"
"At your immediate disposal, my loves! P.G. out!" the lively woman bowed out.

"Well… it's something…" Rossi said.

Reid ran through probabilities in his head as he poured himself a cup of much-needed coffee. He felt raddled. The sleepless nights were slowly beginning to wear him out. Even though his headaches had lessened, a constant, nagging feeling of hollowness was beginning to grow inside of him. He just couldn't put his finger on what caused it. He had to get a grip on himself. His personal problems couldn't interfere with his work. Too much was at stake! A woman was dead and her killer was still out there.

Even though they had plenty of evidence, there wasn't all that much to work with. Amanda's Irish origins hinted at connection between her past and the circumstances of her murder.

Spencer returned to their now vacant workroom and started scribbling down trails of thoughts on the whiteboard. They could narrow the list of unsubs down to family members, acquaintances from their past in Ireland and basically anything with a remote relation to the country.

While he forced himself to keep busy, Reid could feel that he wasn't paying full attention to the case. His mind kept trailing off and seemed to move but sluggishly through a fog as thick as the one he'd been walking through earlier this morning. What confused him the most was that he couldn't even quite localize the cause of his absentmindedness. He was just not his usual self.

"Hey kiddo" a voice interrupted his thoughts from behind. The young agent jumped and spilled his coffee all over the floor.
"Woha, Reid! Relax! It's just me!" Derek tried to calm his friend, surprised at the tall man's reaction. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sure… why wouldn't I be?" he replied in his usual precarious manner. "Well, pretty boy, because you just jumped?" Morgan suggested.

"I was just lost in thought…"

"Look, Reid, I know your mind is a most cryptic place that I'm not even trying to understand, but you're nor fooling me. Or anyone else on the team, for the matter. C'mon. What's the going on inside that pretty head of yours?"

"It's just… been a long night. Guess I'm a little tired…" Spencer tried to evade the question.

Morgan held his friend's glance for a while with a stern expression and then released him. He didn't buy it. Oh, his friend was tired all right, but that was certainly not the main problem. Yet he decided to drop the matter for the moment. Now was not the right time for a therapy session and as long as Reid didn't suffer a psychic breakdown, it would have to wait. He was strong, stronger than most people gave him credit for. Derek realised with mild surprise that he wouldn't have made that decision a few years ago. He sometimes still failed to acknowledge that Reid had… grown up, in a way, but also trusted him to be able too keep it together until the case was over.

"Okay." He finally said and left with a last worried glance at his self-declared protégée.

A/N: Sorry for the extremely long silence, I have been insanely busy lately...

I realize that this chapter isn't all that interesting, but I need to provide you with proper background information...I guess...

I hope the next chapter will finally contain some more ... action ^^

Reviews and criticism are still welcome!

marcallie: Thank you so much for your kind words! Ohmy, now I have to be extra careful XD I've never ever been to the USA and I have to admit that I don't know anything about North Carolina... I guess I should finally do some decent research 8) Please let me know if I include any fatal errors!

Magil: A very big "Thank you!" for your encouraging review! I'm glad you liked it so far :)