The Interregnum

by Helena Fallon

Sequel to 'The In-Between Times'.The consequences of the financial cuts mean many changes for the BAU.Gideon has left and has his own road to travel.Max,Arthur and Don still have roles to play in the lives of the team and their absent colleagues.

10. Chapter 10

The Interregnum: Chapter 10

By Helena Fallon

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Please note that because the Criminal Minds series has been inconsistent about Penelope Garcia's background I'm going to stick to the original where she has a stepfather and step brothers.

Spencer drove the short distance to the College Park complex in record time because the streets were deserted. He had expected a few drunken Christmas revellers en route but he didn't see another vehicle or human.

Barbara Phelps looked relieved to see him. It was her first Christmas at the unit and she had drawn this late shift. It didn't worry her too much as she had no boyfriend to miss and her family had seen her Christmas Eve and the early part of Christmas Day. She had attended church with them in Philadelphia before heading back to Maryland and this overnight shift.

"Sorry about disturbing your night," she said as Reid strode through the department doors looking all alert but he smiled at her and Barbara thought that the men generally in this unit were a nice bunch to work with.

"Nature of the job unfortunately but Rick has the worse call," he said and headed for the coffee that he could smell.

He soon returned with his bright red mug brimming with his favourite beverage.

"Now what do you know?" he asked as he sat down on a chair near the main reception desk that Barbara had been manning.

"Had a call at 23:48 from the Baltimore Holding Facility. A Grant Bullimore said that Brian Rankin, one of our suspects, had been injured in a fight but at first the guards had not taken the incident very seriously because he was on the segregation wing and usually the people there don't hurt each other. But when the guards finally entered the area they found two men were hurt but Rankin seemed quiet compared with his assailant who was making a fuss because he was bleeding from a head wound."

"There was a delay in the guards entering the unit?" Spencer picked up on the suspicious details.

"Yeah, it seems a bit fuzzy to say the least! But it seems that only one guard was covering the section when the trouble broke out. The guard called for help, because they are supposed to attend these incidents in twos, but his partner had to make a visit to the men's room so he couldn't get to them until he came back."

"So during this time both men had stopped fighting?" asked Reid incredulously as this didn't sound like a normal prison fight.

"I think so, Bullimore said that they were very undermanned and so the segregated prisoners were getting their Christmas 'association time'. The out of cell time was later than usual with a slight change in routine. It had been decided that all the sections would have a film shown in their wing as a treat."

Spencer raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I know it sounds very civilised doesn't it. But there were only 6 men together on this small wing and none had violence as their crime so the authorities thought, as they were basically all sex offenders of under age victims, they wouldn't be antagonistic to one another. Bullimore kept telling me that none of the prisoners had shown any aggressive tendencies since entering the facility."

"Oh boy, now that was an incredibly stupid decision by the authorities and someone is going to have to face an enquiry."

"Yeah, that was what Rick said before he left," agreed Barbara.

"Do we have any CCTV on the incident?" Spencer asked because he wanted to see for himself what had happened.

"The prison authorities are dragging their heels and it appears that the recording is very grainy because they were using very old tapes. They have not upgraded that part of the Holding Facility so it's not DVD but video and much used tapes to save money. The police are sending it over because I said we had state of the art enhancement programmes and we'd like to see what we could do with it."

"Good thinking," praised Reid and Barbara smiled briefly at the compliment.

"Well you have followed all the procedures so don't worry but it stopped you having a quiet shift," Reid said with some sympathy for the woman.

Barbara shrugged, "I saw my family earlier, I've had some Christmas's when I've been hundreds of miles away and I actually volunteered for this shift so I had something to do."

"Yeah, I've done the same in the past. It seems more important for the agents with young families to have the time with them doesn't it?" Spencer added, "So what are you reading?"

Barbara reached down and brought out her hefty much thumbed paperback tome, "I confess that I tend to read 'Lord of the Rings' over the Christmas period, and its become a sort of ritual now because I've have been doing that since I was 15!"

Reid grinned broadly at her confession, "Be careful, if Robert sees you he'll corner you for some in depth conversation…You know like the real significance of Bilbo Baggins's encounter with Gollum and the power of the 'Hobbit weed'!"

Barbara burst into laughter, it was not the sort of light-hearted conversation she was expecting from the young and talented Dr. Reid from the BAU. But the phone rang and Barbara was suddenly the sober agent.

"Crimes Against Children Unit, Agent Phelps speaking…Yes, Rick, Spencer's here," she said and passed the phone over to the man.

"Hi Rick, what have you found out?"

"A bloody mess. The regime here was very lax as they don't usually have problems over the Christmas period. They seem to think that the 'Goodwill to all men' filters down to the prisoners on remand. Anyway, the men on the segregation unit were brought together for a treat of a Christmas DVD, 'Casino Royale' apparently, after a later than usual Christmas dinner together. The man in charge for today, Bullimore, has been doing this for over five years and says that they have never had the 'special time' abused by the prisoners before. The staff usually put up a couple of picnic tables and the men bring their chairs from their cells so they can sit together in the corridor for the Christmas dinner and later they bring in a television on a trolley and watch a film. They are usually a bit tightly staffed being Christmas and they try to let the guards with small children have the day off. It all means that they were effectively working on a shoe string relying on the goodwill of the prisoners!"

"I've got the idea, so what happened? We are still waiting for the security tape of the incident," explained Spencer.

"Dinner had passed quietly, everyone was behaving in a very civilised fashion so they wheeled in the large staff television and put the film on. They were the last group to have the treat and I guess by this time the staff was very complacent about security. An hour into the film, Austin Shields suddenly lunged at Rankin and there was blood everywhere! He'd plunged a sharp wooden stake into him, they had to remove it at the hospital because they thought it best not to touch it as it had been rammed in deep and with considerable force to break the skin. The hospital said that it looks like a long slender wooden handle that has been sharpened at one end to a spike. The police think it was a paint brush, the sort like you get in an artist's paint box."

"Yeah, I understand, so the fine bristle end could have been removed and then the wood sharpened to become the weapon," Spencer clarified but he could imagine it all too well remembering the assortment of artists' brushes that Jo used. "How did Shields get it?"

"Well now that is interesting," Rick's voice sounded as though he'd been told quite a tale and from the tone he didn't sound too convinced about the validity, "Bullimore says that Austin Shields is something of an artist and has been painting with watercolours and poster paints. The staff had checked all of his painting stuff when it had been brought in for him, so that nothing metal would have got past the metal detectors, but I looked at the large palette box of watercolours. I reckon the palette had been lifted out of the plastic box and the sharpened brush handle had been stuck underneath the palette so it wouldn't be noticed when inspected. There were still signs of sticky tape that could have held it into position. Shields has been a model prisoner so the guards probably thought him no trouble and gave it a cursory inspection before letting it be passed on to him."

"Have you spoken to Shields?" Reid asked.

"He'd been taken into solitary and the local police had tried to question him but he's clammed up. I'm going to have a go when I've finished this call because the hospital said that the intestinal repair was going to take hours."

"Right, I'll get Barbara to find out as much as she can about Austin Shields and his associates and I'll get on to Adam Priest and Roy as they will want to be kept informed of these developments. Let me know if you want me to come and help with the questioning."

Barbara Phelps was already summoning up data on her computer screen but Shields had no prior history of violence and was on remand for distributing photographic images of young boys in the Annapolis area. The boys in question had been his girl friend's sons aged 5 and 7 and it had been the boys' mother who had informed the police about his behaviour.

Meanwhile, Spencer had gone into the deputy's office and found the number for Adam Priest, he dialled it and hoped that the man was still up. The phone was picked up within seconds and the voice sounded very alert.

"Adam Priest,"

"Spencer Reid, sir,"

"Spencer, what's wrong?"

"Brian Rankin has been stabbed and is under-going surgery as we speak. The assailant, Austin Shields, is a fellow sex offender on the same section but he's so far refused to speak to the police but Rick's going to interview him."

"Oh…that's all we need. Right well, you'd better tell Roy of these events and try and find what connection Shields may have with any of the others of Rankin's associates. Don't disturb Danielle unless you feel it's really necessary, who's on duty in the unit?"

"Barbara Phelps."

"She's a solid sort. Lets hope Rankin survives, stomach wound did you say?"

"Yes, a wooden sharpened paintbrush handle rammed into the intestines …"

"Sounds nasty and deliberate…a set up job to silence Rankin by the sounds of things so we'd better watch him carefully. I'll arrange with the authorities for a guard at the hospital for when he comes out of surgery. I'll be in about 6:30 and we'll see how things have developed by then. See you later."

"Yes, good night."

Spencer then called Roy's number. A sleepy man picked up the phone.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Roy, but this is Spencer Reid …"

"Spencer!" Roy repeated groggily and reached through the fog of his sleepy mind to surface to the moment, "What's happened?"

"Rankin's in surgery having been stabbed by a fellow inmate in the segregation unit."

"Oh Christ! That's all we need. Does Adam know?"

"Yes, I rang him first and he wanted you informed aswell, although I was going to call you anyway."

"Are you in Baltimore?"

"No, Rick's on site and was going to interview Austin Shields, the inmate who stabbed Rankin."

"Austin Shields? Not a name I know, I think he was one of Andrea's cases. Is he in Danielle's data base from the Club?" Roy asked now all very alert.

"I'm running his picture against Danielle's files as we speak. He's not in the list of men identified so I'm running against the individual photo images but the picture recognition takes longer than you think…especially when you want an answer," Spencer replied ruefully.

"Has Danielle finished cataloguing all that film material we had from Gerald and Nigel?"

"She had finished the Gerald material but there are still some stills to try and identify from Nigel's collection," Reid replied observing the screen. "He's negative for Gerald's material," he informed Roy. Then he held the phone in place by his shoulder as he taped the keys to activate the other programme containing the data identified from Nigel's visits.

"What's your take on this as a profiler, Spencer?" Roy asked.

"I can't see an obvious motive at the moment for the attack unless we can make a connection between the two men. As far as we know, Rankin has shown only an interest in underage girls and certainly no interest in boys who appear to be the target of Shields. Shields has only had one visitor since being in the Baltimore Facility and that's his brother, Gary."

Barbara suddenly tapped on the door and Spencer looked up in expectation.

"Shields brother, Gary, is a driver for Wallace Torte's family business. Torte was involved in the Philadelphia Clubs racket that gave us the tip off for the Rankin club. The Torte's have a legitimate delivery company, distributing car parts from a centralised warehouse to smaller repair garages. In the past couple of years they have expanded to a mail ordering service for the spare parts aswell. Gary Shields is one of Torte's drivers delivering to the smaller garages and some special direct deliveries to private homes. Torte's wife has taken over running the business while her husband is awaiting trial."

"Did you get that Roy?"

"Loud and clear, so we have a connection, a bit tenuous but I bet if we lean on Gary we might get something."

"Yeah, I'll call Rick and tell him what we've found… it might help to get Shields talking."

"Spencer, I don't want to tell you how to do your job but Tony and Carl were in on the co-ordination of the work with Philadelphia and it may help to call them in on this because they know the people running things that end."

"Thanks for the advice Roy, I'll give them a call and see if we can start making some firm connections."

Spencer ended the call and rang Rick with the information he had so far. Rick seemed to know the Torte name and again tentatively advised getting Tony and Carl in too.

"Yeah, that's what Roy suggested but I wanted to keep you in the loop as to what we have this end."

The security tape was delivered to the office and Barbara took it to the technician on duty to see if he could enhance the quality. The young man, who looked as if he was straight from school with his fresh countenance, was like an eager puppy because he'd had quite a boring shift so far.

Within the hour, Tony and Carl had both arrived at the office and were mulling over what they knew about the Torte Spares Delivery Company.

"It was originally owned by the father-in-law and that's why the wife has taken control of it again, she still has the controlling share in the business. In effect her father left it to her and Wallace seemed happy to just use it as a front. He's deep in the club side. He put up money for his friend, Michael Wells to buy the building that housed the club upstairs. Wallace Torte claims he believed it was a legit packing business for golfing supplies and was just helping an old golfing friend to set up a business as a sleeping partner. Torte's defence is he just took a cut of the profits, 20 per cent each year, but he'd nothing to do with the running of it and he didn't know about what was going on upstairs at night." Tony explained as he sipped freshly made coffee.

"Do you believe him?" Spencer asked.

"On paper that's just what it looks like…a business venture where he took a cut for buying the building, a sort of rent but the Serious Organised Crime Squad in Philadelphia were digging hard against him. But we don't have him ever going to the building at night and that is of course when the club was operating." Tony replied.

"So unless we can actually prove that Torte knew what was going on there then he's likely to get off. He had to provide a half million bail and surrender his passport. His wife provided the money and he's kept to his house since and not drawn any attention to himself," Carl added.

"Are his calls being monitored?"

"Yeah, but I don't think anything suspicious has come up, seems to be mostly calls to his son, who's studying in California, and his lawyer." replied Carl reviewing on screen the file of surveillance that had been sent to them from the Philadelphia Field Office.

"So that leaves the wife," stated Spencer unemotionally, "She's running the business therefore she would see her drivers, no need to risk phone calls, and it would all seem so natural if she was giving the brother orders…"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a suspicious mind?" asked Carl with a twinkle in his dark eyes.

"It comes with the profiler tag!" Spencer bounced back.

"So would you gentlemen like to pay the Tortes a visit and Gary Shields?"

"We'd just love a trip to Philly…Can we take Barbara aswell because of the woman?" asked Tony.

"Of course, we'll call up the next junior on the list."

"Sure likes his power doesn't he?" said Carl with mischief to Tony and the three men grinned as Spencer Reid headed to the bullpen area to give Barbara her latest orders and to find out who was to replace her on the desk.

The tall and willowy redhead, Colleen O'Rouke replaced the 'mousy' Barbara on the desk. Spencer worked in the deputy's office looking at the material Danielle had not catalogued yet in the hope that Austin Shields, or his brother, would be among the clients. Neither of the brothers could be connected to Rankin by the visual material the unit had. Spencer felt very tired by 6 o'clock when Adam Priest walked through the door.

"How's it going?" the Agent in Charge of the Complex asked.

"Well I've been going through the visual evidence we have for the Rankin case and I've not found Austin or Gary Shields as clients of Rankin's club. There is a tentative connection with Wallace Torte because Gary Shields works for the Torte business as a driver …that seems to be run these days by the wife. Tony and Carl have taken Barbara Phelps with them to interview the Tortes and Gary Shields in Philadelphia. Rankin is out of surgery and is in intensive care. He lost a lot of blood and he's very weak after a five hour operation so he'll be in no fit state to be interviewed because of the sedation…Probably be at least a couple of days before the doctors will let us near him but he's under guard now. The audio-visual technician is trying to enhance a grainy video-tape that recorded the incident…" Reid noticed the china blue eyes flash at that detail.

"Apparently the monitoring cameras have not been up-dated in that part of the building yet."

Adam shook his head and wondered what else could go wrong with this.

"Has Rick got anything out of Austin Shields?" Adam asked hoping for some good news.

"Not a word. Apparently he's just silently sitting there refusing to say anything about the incident and has not responded to Rick trying to needle him with our theory that his brother gave him the orders to stab Rankin."

"Is Rick on his way back?"

"No, he thought he would keep asking questions at the prison. He wanted to speak to all the other prisoners who were there and the two guards who should have been covering the unit. The police had been taking statements but he felt that things were just not feeling right!"

Adam sat quietly mulling over the details and then suddenly said, "When did you get married?"

Spencer grinned, "Christmas Eve, it was at Jo's parents house, just immediate family."

Adam smiled warmly and his blue eyes twinkled in delight, "Great news, congratulations…Has any one else noticed?"

"No you're the first!"

"They'll kick themselves when they do but it's a case of minds concentrated on the problem in hand and familiarity breeds contempt!"

"So your mind is not on the case!" quipped Spencer.

"No, I don't work with you every day so I'm more likely to see a ring! It's big enough to see…Like I said, they'll be annoyed with themselves…I wonder how long it will take them to notice?"

The two men laughed together and Spencer thought how friendly College Park was and he couldn't imagine himself back at Quantico drinking coffee with the Director, or Strauss come to that, laughing about how his colleagues had not noticed his wedding ring. However, part of his mind thought that Hotch would have noticed had he still been at the BAU and probably Barry and Anderson and then there was the all seeing Garcia…not much escaped Garcia! Adam Priest left soon after, advising Spencer to catch up on a few hours sleep while he could.

Aaron Hotchner had made a point of deliberately not logging on to the computer on Christmas Day. It was now another day and after breakfast he slipped into his study while Hayley was clearing away the breakfast things and Jack was happily still content to play with the train set. It had been well worth the money for the attention that his son had given the track and the engines. They were amazed at the language that was suddenly coming from their son as he talked about the journey each engine was making around the lay out.

Hotch worked his way down the usual seasonal greetings from absent friends and scattered colleagues and stopped at the one from Spencer and Jo a little puzzled, he'd not expected a message from Reid because they had received a Christmas card.

"Jo and Spencer wish to announce that they married on Christmas Eve in a quiet and brief legal ceremony held in the study of the Petersen home. There were only immediate family present together with the judge, who officiated, and his wife. We enclose a photo taken of the occasion.

We hope that you are enjoying the seasonal festivities.

Jo and Spencer Reid."

Hotch grinned at the attachment and printed it off.

"Hayley!" he called to summon his wife's attention.

Penelope Garcia had volunteered to work in 'general cover' for the Christmas Day period because she could not get home to be with her extended family in Los Angeles where the Garcias' now lived. Usually it was a pleasant experience working the Christmas shift because staff brought in extra treats and everyone made the effort to be kind and chatty with anyone who had given up their time to allow those with children to enjoy the festivities. In the evening, she had met up with one of her diet buddies, Janine, and they had gone to a Homeless Shelter in Washington where Janine worked and helped with the meal and entertainment. This all meant that Garcia hadn't bothered to check her personal messages until the next day, just like Hotch.

She was pleased to see that there was a message from her 'Junior G man' as she still affectionately thought of Reid. She clicked and was stunned by the content….

"Wow!!!" she yelled to the walls of her apartment, "Our Genius has married…and Oh my…He looks good in a suit! Oh so that's what Jo looks like….But she's dark haired…I always thought he'd go for a blond, but that figure…all woman…thata girl! What a fantastic colour for a wedding dress. It's just beautiful…."

She suddenly reached for her phone and dialled a familiar number, a sleepy female voice answered.

"Garcia…please tell me this is not a case."

"No…it's far more important than a case…I've had an e-mail from Reid…"

"Mmmm so?" the sleepy voice interjected.

"J.J. wake up now this is fantastic…"

"What is?"

"Spencer has married Jo!" the excited Garcia loudly announced.

Jennifer Jareau lay in her bed trying to take in the news she thought her friend had just told her…

"Reid's married? To Jo?" her sleepy mind finally slipping into gear and she began to regret the third glass of claret she had drunk the previous evening.

"Who else would he marry?" said Garcia and asked suspiciously, "Have you got a hang over?"

"Mmm… well not quite, but I probably had one glass too many of a very fine claret. I wonder if he's sent me a message too?"

It was certainly an incentive to try and get up as Garcia was still prattling on in the back ground about the photo he'd attached.

The Morgan family was revelling in the fact that Derek had got himself engaged to a very respectable and really nice woman. The Morgan women were in the kitchen with Angela preparing yet another wonderful meal and Morgan was making the most of being the spoilt male recipient. He was thoroughly enjoying the attention that he and Angela had been getting since he'd been home but he now found a few minutes to log on to his messages. It was satisfying to receive the congratulations following his engagement news. He had received a nice message from Reid at the beginning of the week so he was a little puzzled to find another message listed from him. He smugly thought that Reid and Jo had probably followed his own lead. He clicked on the message and his eyes widened with the news and his face split into a broad grin.

"Hey Momma! You remember Reid? He's married…" he yelled and the four women all scurried to his side to stare at the message on the computer screen.

Morgan sat and stared at the typed words and thought about the young agent who had skipped the engagement stage but that was typical of the man who had just gone for what he thought was the most important bit.

"No photo?" Mrs Morgan asked.

"Probably just sent out a general message, I'll send our 'congrats' and ask him for a picture…I don't know what Jo looks like either." Derek's fingers raced over the keys and hoped that Reid was going to answer his request before the day was out or the suspense would be hell with the women all wanting to know.

Spencer Reid snatched a few hours sleep on the couch in the deputy's office. Katie had it put there when Danielle had her first pregnancy and it had remained at the far end and was occasionally used during long enquires. He came to at nearly 10 o'clock and felt much more alert. He went to the Men's Room to freshen up and got a mug of coffee before going to find out what had been happening from Colleen.

"Hugo, the tech who's been playing with the video, has put a better image of the incident on DVD. He brought it in about 40 minutes ago but Adam had been here when it arrived and told me not to disturb you. Adam had brought in some freshly made rolls as well so I put them in the fridge along with the cheesecake his wife had sent in." Colleen reported to the senior agent.

"Cheesecake?"

"Yeah," Colleen grinned, "It's real civilised here isn't it …but she made several so each of this wings working offices could have one as a treat. I know we're on skeleton staff, and it's only about 30 of us all told, but it was thoughtful."

"Very, my former boss's wife might have done that if her husband had been working in the office just for the unit. But I couldn't imagine even the section head making the effort because its just so big at Quantico," Spencer remarked and went to the kitchen to find what food had been left in the fridge.

After making another coffee he loaded a plate with a chicken and salad roll and cut himself a generous slice of lemon cheesecake. He began to realise why the people here wanted to keep it quiet that the College Park complex was a gem of a posting. He went back to the office and decided to check his e-mails while he ate. He sent Morgan the requested photo and thanked them for their best wishes and briefly said that he was at that moment at his desk due to an incident so his own Christmas plans had been disrupted. Various other acquaintances had requested a photo too and he spent several minutes dealing with these and now regretted not sending the attachment with the original announcement to all the recipients. After 20 minutes of e-mailing, Spencer felt guilty but the food and brief diversion of his e-mails made him feel more refreshed to return to the case in hand.

He played the DVD that Hugo had brought in and began to watch the scene of the late activities on the segregation wing. It was as the other prisoners had originally reported a totally unprovoked attack. Austin Shields was a big man, the well-developed muscles and bulk implied his twin addiction to steroids and weight-training. The weapon had been pushed in his sock until he had judged the time right to bend down as if to scratch his leg. Then he'd pulled the wooden weapon out of it's hiding place and swiftly plunged it, with all his force, into the intestines of the man he'd been sitting next to. The fellow prisoners had been taken by surprise but it was not Rankin who had lashed out at the assailant but another prisoner. Rankin was in too much pain and two of the prisoners had gone to his aid, while another ran to the barred gate to shout for help. The man who had lashed out at Shields was an enormous Black American and looking down the list Reid identified him as Edward Mann, on remand for sex with a minor, namely his girl friend's daughter. Mann seemed to effectively keep Shields from getting any closer to the fallen prisoner, whose blood was spreading soaking his clothing, the tip of the stake just visible. Reid realised why the prison staff, all of whom were trained in first aid, didn't touch the wound and the para-medics seemed to agree with their initial decision.

Looking at the response time to the incident, there was a delay of three minutes before the first guard responded and he didn't go into the wing but assessed the situation from the barred gate and then called for his partner. Three more minutes passed before the other man appeared and during this time the first guard had used his cell phone to call for medical help and further guards. It was 8 minutes before 6 other prison personnel arrived and 16 minutes after Rankin had been stabbed before the para-medics got to him. It was just as Rick had surmised, there was a definite complacency amongst the staff because of the lack of trouble previous years. The response time to the trouble had been appalling and why had the 'security cameras' not been monitored properly because an operator should have picked up the incident and summoned help. There were a lot of questions to be answered by the prison authorities.

Reid leaned back in his chair. It looked like a very bad wound and an obvious attempt to kill and it still could, the post operative period was no guarantee that Rankin would survive the attack. The agent reviewed the facts of the Rankin case. Roy and Katie had been so sure that Rankin was more important than he made out and from this attack it was obvious that some one wanted him silenced, either permanently, or to scare him enough to hold his tongue. There was just a tentative connection of running a similar venue to the Philadelphia set up but Roy still reckoned that Rankin treated his girls well compared with the Philadelphia club. It must be something big for an unknown to risk a charge of murder… Reid felt uneasy, there were too many unknown operators pulling the strings…and at the moment even the strings were invisible until you got an inexplicable incident like this.

He turned his mind once more on the Shields connection. Austin's crime was photographing small boys and selling the porn he produced but it appeared that he was only operating in a limited geographical area. The police had made a cursory look at the files on Shields' computer but had not discovered any indication on his machine that he had put the images on the internet. Perhaps he had used a different outlet, another computer, like a friend's, or sold the images to someone who put the images out there for a wider audience. The file noted that the computer had been passed on to their Field Office but there was also a backlog of work for the Computer Forensics people. Suddenly Spencer began to think about taking a look at the hard drive himself. His mind raced on; perhaps Austin Shields had a secret stash on an external memory that was encrypted for use on a specific machine. Reid could think of several possibilities because just photographing his girlfriend's sons seemed too tame alongside his amateurish method of distribution. This man was a trained car mechanic and had worked at the same garage for ten years and seemed to have been considered a good and reliable employee. Something wasn't quite right, it was too simple and why should he attempt to murder Rankin. The original offence would have led to a few years in prison and being put on the Sex Offenders Register but it was a first offence so why take on a possible murder rap?

"Hello Spencer!" said a familiar voice and Reid looked up to see the dark Latin looks of Rick standing before his desk with a mug of coffee in one hand and a beef roll with relish on a plate in the other.

"Hi… was just thinking!" mumbled Reid who had not heard Rick come into the office.

"Yeah, I could tell from the far away look that the Genius was at work," replied Rick with a grin.

"How did you get on?" asked Reid once more trying to focus on the more immediate details of the case.

"I'm appalled by the lax procedures in that holding centre. I went and questioned the camera operator, he finally admitted that he was chatting to his girlfriend and missed all the action. If you ask me it's probably a case of telephone sex!" Rick sat down and took a swig of the coffee and savoured the taste. "Shields's maintaining his silence. The two guards are shook up, the second one really had to go to the men's room and hence the delay when his partner called for his help. The other guard at least had the sense to call the central control room for an ambulance and get more help. He did follow procedures by not entering until his partner joined him but they were very lucky. Can you imagine something like that at some of our more hardened prison establishments…They were fortunate in having just 6 well behaved prisoners and only one who turned assailant and another who cuffed him and kept him away from the injured man."

"Yeah, I've just been watching the enhanced recording of the incident. Mann was the only one who could have taken on Shields because he matched his size, the others look weaklings beside Mann."

"You should see him in the flesh... He's BIG!" Rick's voice grew with the expression and his large dark eyes popped alongside the words. Reid couldn't help a smile creep across his face.

"So you think only Shields is really involved in the incident?"

"Look, like I originally reported, the place has been lax in its search procedures but if they usually have fairly tame inmates then they slip into complacency. My gut feeling is that the authorities didn't knowingly help but anyone aware of the lax procedures could have seen that the regime could be taken advantage of. I think we will find more leaning on the brother."

"Tony and Carl are on their way to see him and the Tortes…they've taken Barbara Phelps with them aswell."

"Good, she's got good instincts when it comes to women…She's pretty hard on them but she gets results by her tenacious digging."

"But you were looking deep in thought when I came in?" Rick said after a few more sips of coffee.

"I was thinking about Shields and if he was in deeper than just dealing in the photographs. It was such a localised area unless we have only just picked up on him and he's really been active for some time and so far had been good at covering his tracks," said Spencer who was watching Rick carefully for his reaction. Rick was chewing on his roll and thinking about Reid's suggestion.

"We didn't find any hard evidence and he wouldn't have been caught if it had not been his girl friend who reported him. Her eldest son told her what Shields was doing to the brothers and she went straight to the police. Poor woman was terrified that her children would be taken away from her, but basically she was duped by Shields's charming ways. Katie spent sometime interviewing her and wrote a report in the woman's favour so social services were kept at bay. But if he has been doing this for some time then there are other women out there who he has duped to get at their sons…and perhaps daughters, but he seems to like boys."

"You traced some other women then?" asked Reid feeling that there was something more to this.

"The police traced two former girlfriends, both with boys. They both said that they broke off the relationship because they moved away, the excuse being for better work. They certainly got work but it wasn't a step up from what they had been doing."

"So they didn't want to get involved and refused us access to their sons," Reid pressed wanting to know how far they had gone.

"Exactly. We can't do anything unless these parents trust us. They usually don't want their children reminded of the things done to them and feel getting away to another town or city and starting afresh will help their children forget, but as we know the children often remember. With the women involved, Amanda spoke to one and Melanie the other. They were advised to get some counselling for the children but that would mean admitting that something had happened and they had introduced a monster into the home."

"It must be very hard for those mothers," Spencer sympathetically added, "The guilt for the mothers must be enormous, not just for what they see as their own lack of judgement, but because they also feel that they have failed to protect their children and the very trust their child puts in them to keep them safe."

"That's just it, Spencer. These were not bad mothers, they were just deceived and sex offenders who prey on children are very skilful at targeting the single woman with children and no apparent family unit to offer extra support. Often these women have had partners who have left, or they're divorced, trying to hold down jobs and be a good parent. They are ideal prey for such a man; he may seem to be a caring, charming man who is proving to be so different to the former partner. He's good with the son, she may see the man as a good role model for the child because the real father's not around…You see how easy it is? It's one thing to read about all of this in a text book but the reality on the ground it really can screw the way you look at life if you're not careful."

Spencer Reid nodded and thought how the world of the CACU saw darkness and suspicion in so many places. It was so sad because there were a lot of innocent and genuine men who fell in love with women who had children but they were not paedophiles. He thought about his immediate neighbours who both had children and were very relaxed with him because he worked at this unit and therefore was 'safe' for their children to talk to. But he had also heard Melinda and Craig cautioning the confidently chatty Lydia not to talk to strangers…and Melinda had confessed that Lydia had a worrying tendency to talk to anyone. It was a child's innocence but unfortunately there were adults who were capable of destroying that innocent world.

Rick and Spencer decided to take a further look at the computer that had been in Shields's possession when arrested while they waited for the reports from their colleagues following the Philadelphia line of enquiry. Spencer explained, as they headed towards the Computer Forensics department, that perhaps steganography (the art and science of hidden messages) held the key to breaching the impenetrable wall they had found in this Rankin case. It was an area of computing that fascinated Spencer but he'd never revealed his level of expertise in the subject to the Bureau before.

To the north of Washington was a very exclusive clinic, called Lavinia House, it dealt only with alcohol abuse and drink dependency problems. It was very expensive but the clientele were guaranteed their privacy within its grounds and it had an excellent reputation for the de-tox and counselling procedures it offered.

Once Max had been alerted to the possible problems that Katie Cole was experiencing he had made initial plans, backed by the Director, to discreetly offer Katie a spell at Lavinia House. She was not the first, nor would she be the last, valued member of the Bureau to succumb to the pleasures of the bottle that began with only the odd drink some evenings only for that to become a drink every night, then several drinks a night. Sometimes this drinking became the morning routine before going to work too; some agents needing their chosen drink to cope with the hangover of the previous nights binge, while others needed a drink just to face the stresses of the job. Alcohol dependency could affect anyone in a stressful position, while others slipped into the need for a drink to keep depression at bay or loneliness and sometimes to help them to forget a particular incident. Often there were a number of reasons for the gradual slide, these could be purely personally based while for others they were more job related or a combination of both. But once things started to be noticed in the work place then it was harder to deal with the problem quietly.

Max was a great believer in trying to pick up on these things early, nipping things in the bud held a better chance of helping the 'drinker' to cope with the growing problem. Ideally, it would be best for the excessive drinker to stop drinking alcohol completely but not all managed to do this and it also very much depended on the stage that the dependency was picked up. Max liked the 'earlier the better' approach and every year he gave all department heads a talk about the signs and the need to not turn a blind eye. The odd occasion after a really bad incident just might be the way certain agents coped but the tendency to rely upon this method to cope with aftermath stress was dangerous. The Head of Psychological Services always stressed that his people were there to help, not to destroy an agent's career, and many agents remained in their work after a run in with too much drink.

Arthur's observations at the Christmas get together had confirmed Reid's fears. Both of the psychs were pleased that the younger man had the sense to share his concerns about his new boss. On the Wednesday before Christmas, Arthur had confronted Katie and the older psych had watched how subdued the woman had seemed which made him believe that depression was probably an underlying cause in her case. Arthur had gone to her office fully prepared to have a battle with the woman but she had admitted that she was drinking sherry at night to get to sleep and then finishing off the bottle over breakfast before work. It was a good sign that she didn't put up any resistance compared to other agents and personnel Arthur had dealt with in the past.

Katie had agreed to the plan put to her. That evening she would leave with Arthur and be taken to the clinic where treatment could be started immediately to break the destructive cycle she had fallen in. The CACU would be told that she had a meeting with the Director the next day and she'd leave a little earlier than usual to pack her case at home and wait for Arthur to transport her to Lavinia House. Then the unit would think that Thursday was spent with the Director but the unit would later be informed by Ida, the Director's secretary, that Katie had not seemed well and she had come down with a high temperature. Ida would further add that they all thought it was flu so not to expect her back at work for at least a week.

When Danielle had taken this call she had confided in Ida that she was not surprised that Katie had succumbed to whatever was doing the rounds because Katie didn't get enough rest so she was a prime candidate to get flu.

As Max remarked it was the perfect cover because there was a lot of flu about and then it would be very easy to extend the week off work to another week if she then developed a chest infection. It was the little white lies that helped to keep up appearances so that personnel could keep their dignity amongst their own staff while trying to sort out the problem.

The Bureau, although discreet, made a point of not wanting to lose well trained people if they could help it and support after a spell at Lavinia House was essential to the success of the counselling that would be started there. From now on, Max and his people would keep an eye on Katie and continue discreet counselling sessions once she returned to work.

However, as Katie now sat in her comfortable room at Lavinia House this future seemed very far away. She had been here since Wednesday evening and, now five days later, she was over the worse of the original detox. It had come as a shock to her just how badly she reacted to the detox procedure. She was an experienced psych and knew what was going to happen, she had read the books and had even in the past recommended people for help here but she had never thought that one day she would be walking through its doors. It was a strange situation for a trained psych to find themselves as the patient rather than the practitioner because part of the patient couldn't totally switch off the psychologist part of their brain. It was like standing apart from what was happening to yourself but at the same time knowing that as a patient you needed to go through these stages of treatment.

So far she had to admit that the knowledge that the first 48 hours, without an alcoholic drink, were going to be the worse still came as a shock. It was only with this physical reaction to the withdrawal that Katie fully realised just how dependent she had become on her evening glasses of sherry. However, she also acknowledged to herself that the withdrawal symptoms could have been far worse had the dependency been more acute. Now on her fifth full day here, she was feeling humbled by the care that was being given to her and that a young man had been responsible for bringing her problems to her employers. It was strange, she smiled to herself at the irony of it all, there was Spencer Reid who had to keep having random drug tests because he'd been given against his will a highly addictive drug. But she had been slipping into an unconscious routine that had lead to a dependency upon a glass of sherry before bed but that had somewhere along the line become the drink as soon she came through her door.

Alcohol was not illegal unlike the drugs that others were tempted to try, but she had still been the lonely drinker at home, never at a public function. She had admitted to Faith, her counsellor here, that her subconscious was trying to keep it all secret with her deliberate behaviour of soft drinks only at social gatherings and agency functions. The two women had discussed the 'secrecy' angle of this and Katie explained in a detached way that she could now understand what she was doing but she had never questioned herself over her actions while she was involved in them. Katie thought about the conversation she had with Faith an hour ago in the consult room….

"Can you remember when you started to have a glass of sherry before bedtime?" the white haired Faith asked. She was Katie's age but her once black hair had turned white over the past decade although she was confident in her own image to let the world see her age naturally. It was still long and straight and pulled back from her face and held in a black hairclip at the nape of her neck. Faith had large dark brown eyes and a long face with high cheekbones that implied some native American Indian ancestry. She sat opposite Katie in a matching easy chair looking totally relaxed in a pale blue cashmere sweater worn with navy slacks that encased her long slender legs. Faith was a good 6 inches taller than Katie but she didn't slouch enjoying the clotheshorse figure that still allowed her to wear fashionable clothes and she liked modern chunky jewellery. Thick shiny black bangles graced her right arm and she wore large silver and sapphire drop ear-rings in the shape of large silver discs with a sapphire in the centre.

Katie thought hard to try to pinpoint the time that her sherry drinking had begun.

"I think it was about a month before Joseph and I broke up. I remember snapping at him because he made a remark about the sherry."

"What did Joseph say?" Faith probed gently knowing that she was forming a good idea as to what lay at the bottom of this woman's drinking.

"Oh…something like…'You're developing quite a taste for sweet sherry'…I snapped at him. It must have been a defensive reaction now I think about it, I wasn't analysing my actions but subconsciously I must have known I was beginning to get into a pattern. It's a form of self denial," Katie replied sadly and could see where all this was leading.

"Yes it was and just because you're a psychologist doesn't make you immune. Some people get into a pattern of heavy drinking and it doesn't tip into alcoholism because they can still limit their intake. However, you know that a true alcoholic gets to a point where they cannot stop…they just cannot limit their intake and then they must try to abstain for the rest of their lives. But heavy drinking still holds it health risks which I know you're very aware of but we never think those risks are going to personally affect us."

"Yes, I really should be grateful for Arthur and the FBI for pulling me up on this," Katie said feeling very subdued as the consequences for her career had begun to hit her with the easing of the withdrawal symptoms.

Faith nodded and smiled at her patient's self-awareness, Katie was a very astute woman and a very strong personality.

"Why do you think you started needing the sherry in the first place?" Faith continued while the woman still seemed willing to talk on this personal level.

"I'm not sure I remember. Perhaps it wasn't really just one reason but work was pretty heavy and there was a lot of staff having days off due to a stomach bug going round the College Park departments. I guess I was tired but I couldn't relax enough to sleep and Joseph didn't seem to be helping," Katie replied and looked up to observe Faith's reaction.

Faith didn't say anything but gently nodded, hoping that the woman would continue.

"I think our relationship was just fizzling out. The demands of the job can be hell on a relationship because of the nature of the work …we can be called out at anytime if a child is in danger. There are not many men who can cope with it, they expect a woman to put up with their working hours but not the other way round. It sounds very sexist doesn't it but I'm talking the reality here not the ideology of feminist equality. In the real world, women are still the ones juggling family and career around their partner's career!"

"But you don't have a family and you said yesterday that, even though you were sterile, you never wanted to adopt."

"That's right, I enjoy my own work too much. Working for the good of children is very satisfying and I'm the doting auntie for my brother's sons. I don't think I would have been a very good mother, I would probably have ended up employing a nanny and still committing myself to the work I enjoy."

"At least you're honest about it, Katie. Not every woman is cut out to be a mother and I'm sure that you've met enough in your work to know what damage such women can do by their benign neglect of any children …and I'm being generous with the word benign!" Faith clarified in a rueful tone.

"Oh yes, we have some women in the Bureau who should never have had children. They have produced the 'heir and a spare' and are then able to return to the work they enjoy feeling that they have done their familial duty."

"So you think you began having this evening drink as something to wind down with and perhaps because you knew something was failing in your relationship but you didn't want to confront it or were too tired to?"

"Something like that…" Katie admitted, "I've had other relationships end in a similar fashion but I just couldn't confront Joseph with it. In the end, I came home to find he had gone and I can't say that I was particularly upset…I think I felt more relieved if I'm totally honest. I'd grown bored with him and he with me, there was no future in it but I just hadn't the energy to end it."

"So with Joseph gone and a heavy workload you didn't make the effort to socialise after work but drifted into the pattern of having your drink alone at night."

"Yes," Katie solemnly agreed and thought how pathetic she sounded.

"You know what I'm going to say don't you?" said Faith softly at the intelligent and likeable woman opposite her.

Katie looked up and smiled ruefully at the counsellor.

"Oh yes, I've let the work take over my life and really I need to get the work and private life back into balance and not have any drink in the house to stop me being a secret drinker."

"Yeah, something like that but we both know it's easy to say but to put that all into practice is what we have to work out." Faith replied knowing that in her work at this clinic she dealt with people who were very aware of what they should do and it was often more of a question of their addiction to the work they did. It was all very well to be dedicated but one's work was not and should never be your sole purpose in life.

Katie stared out at the rained drenched garden from her window. Faith was a good counsellor but Katie wondered how long she would be here and what was happening back at the unit. Yesterday she had seen some of the other patients here, all known by their first names only, as she was allowed to join the communal dining area and common room. It was a good sign it meant that her initial de-tox was on track and now they were trying to get her eating properly to build up her strength. Katie had recognised a few of her fellow patients, the recognition may have been mutual but no-one alluded to their personal drink problems. It was like being in an exclusive club were the rules were to never talk about work or why you were here. Those well-known faces shouldn't have surprised her really, as she knew that drink related problems could affect anyone and yet there was this underlying secrecy about this existence. There was a knock on her door and Katie was surprised to find her private time disturbed,

"Come," she called.

Max Pentall walked in and smiled, "Merry Christmas and how are you feeling?"

"Well considering that I spent the proper Christmas period getting over the de-toxing…Good! Yeah I think I'm coping so far," she admitted.

"The staff here are very impressed with your co-operation but the Director and myself don't want you back at College Park just yet. Faith is very pleased with your response to the programme so far because you seem to have a very good understanding of how you got here."

"Oh yeah… Secret sherry drinking and self denial," she replied honestly.

"Katie you work in a very stressful unit and you have been the head of that unit for a long time," Max replied evenly.

"Are you implying that I'm ineffective in my job?" Katie suddenly fiercely interjected.

"No, not at all," Max soothed noting her feisty mood and how insecure she must be feeling at the moment, "In fact the Bureau is very impressed with your work and achievements at the CACU."

"Really, Danielle is very competent and Dr. Reid has impressed Adam,"

"But not you?" Max asked mildly and wondered if Katie was feeling so insecure that she might lash out at Reid when she returned for mentioning his suspicions to Arthur.

Katie stopped and thought about his question. "Actually Reid hit the ground running and he's worked very hard and taken advice when offered by all those more experienced agents in the unit. He's got an even temperament and acknowledges that he has had to take a lot on board over the real CACU work on the ground."

Max nodded and he was relieved to hear her thoughtful reply.

"Reid is only with the CACU to cover for Danielle's maternity leave. It was you who requested him," Max reminded the woman before him. He thought she suddenly looked older and sadder today than he'd ever seen her.

"Yes, I did and I think Reid was a good choice and he has worked hard and fitted in very well."

"Good," answered Max with a smile, "I have some news for you about Reid,"

Katie's brown eyes looked at Max and he thought he noticed a momentary flash of fear in them before they settled to the more usual steady look.

"Reid married his Jo on Christmas Eve, at Jo's home, it was a very quiet affair."

Katie's face lit up in genuine pleasure, "Oh that's good news, they are a steady couple together and he's always ready to tell people that he was pleased that Jo came with him to Maryland."

Max nodded, "Yes, they make a good couple, they compliment each other well and I think she helps him keep the work in perspective. But Reid won't want to stay with the CACU once Danielle has had her baby, he sees himself more as a BAU profiler than CACU specialist."

Max saw that Katie seemed to relax at that re-assurance and he thought again how insecure Katie must be feeling but she really did have two very loyal deputies.

"Do they know that I'm here?" Katie suddenly asked.

"Arthur told Spencer the truth but it was agreed that no one else was to be told. Spencer Reid had been concerned for your welfare, Katie, and he didn't just sound off his concerns to all and sundry. Reid is a very sensitive and private person himself who respects other people's privacy so he only spoke to Arthur about his concerns and Arthur spoke to me. I had to tell the Director in order to get you booked into this fine establishment and you know it's the best! Even Adam has not been told the truth, everyone back at College Park think that you have a bad bout of the flu. Your brother and his family think you are working on an important case but that you hope to see them in the New Year. You see we really do try to keep the professional image of our agents intact. Over the years, we have found that it is best left to the individual agent whom they take into their confidence about their time here. We do have special support groups within the Washington area for our personnel who have alcohol problems but you are not like some of the people I know. There are alcoholics who still hold down responsible positions but they also admit that they need their fellow alcoholics support and that their path lies along the abstinence route."

"You sound as if you're saying that I'm not an alcoholic,"

"Do you think you are?" Max flashed back at her.

"No, I think I started to drink because of the work related stress at the time and the breakdown of my relationship. I'd got into the routine and in the end I was drinking without thinking about why," she said firmly and marvelled how she spoke clearly and realised how the counselling session with Faith had already worked some positive magic for her.

"Yes, I think we caught things early in your case but I don't want you going back to that routine that started the 'sherry drinking' in the first place. I want us to think about the things we can do to help you have a different routine once you go home," Max said gently.

Katie looked at this powerful man, who had a reputation for being the 'eminence gris' at the Bureau, and realised that he really was trying to help her.

Meanwhile, back at College Park, Rick and Ronald Felton in the Computer Forensics department were beginning to understand what the genius was capable of.

End of Chapter 10.