Change of Location
The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values: - Norman Thomas
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.
He sat at a desk in the interview room. The wrong side of the desk. His hands were in his lap twisting madly. He was being talked to by someone he didn't know but he knew full well that 'the team' was behind that glass listening to every word he had to say.
"So you are dragged outside and told to get into the life boat. The three of you."
"Yes – and then they brought out Fl fl Flanders and – and – we, I thought he was getting in the life raft too but they shot him and he fell overboard. He sank."
"Where was he shot Dr Reid?"
A small shake of the head. "I'm not sure. It looked like a head shot, but, well, I don't know for sure." More manic twisting. "I would really like a coffee."
"Was there any animosity between you and Agent Hotchner at this point?"
"No – well – I wanted to go and look for Flanders and he wouldn't let me. That's all really, but I wouldn't have found him. I'm not that good a swimmer."
He told him of the days clinging onto the raft. How it had turned over, how he thought they would die and how they eventually ended up on dry land. He told them how they had gone looking for fresh water and how Rosa – who seemed to know things – found water, but Hotchner said they couldn't drink it.
"I was so thirsty. I drank anyway. Agent Hotchner left me there alone."
He then spoke of being taken back to the complex and then of the time he spent being questioned about Aaron.
"What information did you give them Dr Reid."
"Well – none obviously.
"Can you explain how they got hold of Agent Hotchner's personal information?"
"I would imagine the same way they got mine."
"And you got your personal information how?"
"I don't know! But they had it."
"And you say you had been drugged?"
A nod, "I could hardly move."
"Do you remember Agent Hotchner being in the same room as you?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember what was said, can you remember the conversation."
"It was not how it looked. I was drugged and had a gun to the back of my head. I didn't tell them anything."
"Do you remember the conversation."
"No – I was drugged. I don't remember."
"So Dr Reid, how do you know you didn't divulge confidential information?"
"Because I know I didn't."
"But you said you didn't remember."
"I – I remember I said nothing. Look I wouldn't say something to jeopardise the life of another person. I would never give out personal information on a Federal Agent."
"You said you couldn't remember."
"Am I under arrest? Because if I am I think I need to hear my rights and find a lawyer, if not, then I am going."
"No no you are not under arrest Dr Reid, but I need you to think carefully. I am going to get you your coffee and when I am gone I want you to think. Try to work out how some goons in the middle of nowhere would know who you are and have your personal information and how the same people had Agent Hotchner's personal information, because it seems a bit strange to me."
The man got up and left the room. Spencer wanted to look up at the window he knew his friends were standing behind. Surely they must know he didn't say anything? They must know. They couldn't possibly believe he would betray Aaron like that.
Did they really know all about him – had he imagined that? Was it all some weird twisted dream? The more he sat and thought about it the more he thought he maybe had imagined it. Maybe he had said something. Maybe this was all his fault. Aaron got tortured? The man who always protected him was tortured because of something he said?
Spencer put his head on the desk and started to think back. There were a lot of empty spaces in his memory. A lot of times he could have been talking and a lot of times he should have been wondering where the hell Aaron was, but he was too self absorbed in his own well being. Thinking of Floyd. Too busy and too selfish to worry about the man who was his protector?
But then again hadn't he attacked him with the bat? Or had he really imagined that too? He had been told it wasn't Aaron. Why had he blamed Aaron for everything. Why had he told them his personal information?
Even if he hadn't. He was definitely guilty of ignoring the fact that Aaron was missing and not trying to rescue him from whatever or whoever had him and now it looked like Floyd was ignoring him even after his speech on dating and starting over he had spent the past week drugged and unavailable and he still hadn't thought of reporting what had happened to Aaron to anyone. He was glad they got him back, but in what state? They said he had been tortured.
They left Reid to sit and stew in his thoughts which ping ponged back and forth between reason and guilt. It rested finally and he sat in the silence staring at the blank wall awaiting the return of the man asking the questions.
-o-o-o-
He pulled up the bike and kicked down the stand and immediately knew that something was very wrong. The lights were out. Spencer never turned out all the lights. Another vehicle had been parked out here. He could still smell the fumes and then of course the smell of Derek Morgan. Floyd stood and scratched his head for a minute and then walked slowly towards the door.
He could smell deep anger.
Floyd unlocked the door and entered. He didn't turn on the lights, but pulled a flashlight out of a drawer in a small table standing next to the door. He turned it on and stood holding it at an angle.
"What the fuck went on here?" He muttered to himself. Again he could sense anger. No fear. Just pure anger and confusion. He shone the torch around the room as he walked slowly in. He noted the coffee mug on the small table and he noted how it had hardly been tasted. It was in Reid's special white mug with a big 'R' printed in black on the side. There wasn't another mug. To double check, he stuck his finger into the cold liquid and tasted it. Definitely Spencer's drink.
Again he shone the torch around. The telephone note pad. The pen was not where it belonged. It was laying across the pad. Spencer would never leave it like that unless there was a reason. He walked over to the telephone and looked down at the scribbled note.
'I'll be back asap. Spence.'
Floyd didn't move the pen he just stood in the darkness looking at the note. Something was wrong. The way the note had been written. They lightness of the pen on the paper. It just looked wrong. Floyd crouched and still not touching anything shone the torch over the pad at a different angle. He could see quite clearly something else written, the words from the page above which seemed to have been torn out. Floyd could see the jagged edge. They didn't tear out the pages, they turned them over. He stayed where he was looking at the page.
'Keep away Floyd. I've been arrested. I don't want you looking for me.'
He could read it clearly. He had left a message for him and Morgan had removed it.
Floyd picked up the phone and dialled Morgan's number from memory.
-o-o-o-
Derek was standing leaning on the wall in a corridor. He didn't want to think that the bloke he thought of as a brother would sink as low as it seemed he had, but he also knew that the influence Floyd had over him had completely destroyed that person. They guy was still a genius and he was still Spencer, but the magic ingredient which had made him that special person had gone. This person sitting with his head on the table or staring at the wall wasn't the person he had known. The sparkle had gone. That excitement which always seemed to surround him had been eroded. When his phone vibrated in his pocket he pulled it out and answered it without checking the name. Too lost in thoughts.
"Morgan." A long pause. "Hold on one minute." Another long pause. "I haven't arrested him Floyd – no – no you listen to me. He is here to answer some questions. I am…stop interrupting and just listen to me." Another pause. "Answering questions." He was pacing up and down the corridor now. "I am not going to give you that information." Now leaning on the wall. "Hopefully you can ask him yourself later – stop one minute and let me talk will you. He is not under arrest – yet – he is answering questions. I will bring him home after if I can. I'm not telling you where he is Floyd I don't want you coming down here causing trouble." Listening. "You will cause trouble. You cause it wherever you go." Listening again. "I can't make you promises but I will do my best and yes I know you don't like me Floyd but this isn't personal believe me. This really isn't what I would class as fun." A big sigh. "I will call you or Reid will call you." He disconnected his phone and stood looking at it. A puzzled look slowly crossing his face.
-o-o-o-
It was Morgan who brought Reid his coffee. He sat it on the table and slid it over to him. Reid pulled his gaze off the wall and looked at Derek.
"Are you going to ask me?"
Derek sat down with his own coffee and sat with his elbows resting on the table. Reid kept his hands down on his lap.
"Ask you what?"
A shrug. "You didn't come in here for small talk Morgan. I know how these things work."
"I'll just jump right in there then. No warm up. Did you give confidential information pertaining to Agent Hotchner to someone?"
"I might have."
Derek just sat looking at Reid who was looking back at the spot on the wall.
"You might have?"
"It is possible I may have, but not very plausible. I was drugged and dehydrated. I had been beaten and deserted by my friends, so yes Morgan I may have said something. I don't remember."
A deep breath from Derek
"Did you lie to someone to cover Flanders knowing that Agent Hotchner would be harmed as a result?"
"Yes."
Again Morgan just stared at Reid.
"Were you asked to give over information about Agent Hotchner and his family?"
"I don't remember; it is possible that I was asked. I really don't know."
"Is it true that you had some sort of falling out with Agent Hotchner over something?"
Reid bit his lip. "Yes."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"He attacked me. He attacked me with a baseball bat. He tried to kill me. He smashed my jaw and…." Reid trailed off – the more he said the more stupid it sounded. "Morgan." Reid's eyes locked with Derek's. "I'm not going to say I didn't do it because I really don't remember, so yes I might have done that."
"Be more specific Reid. You might have done what?"
A small shake of the head. "It just doesn't feel right. I am sure I wouldn't have said anything to jeopardise Hotch, but I don't know. I might have done. I was not feeling very inclined to be friendly towards him at the time. I thought he had attacked me. I felt he had abandoned me to be taken by the UnSubs, I was drugged and tired and sick. I might have said something. I won't deny it. If Hotch says I did, then I guess I must have. I can't remember."
"Saying that you can't remember isn't a very good defence."
"I am aware of that."
"You will do down for this Reid. Are you fully aware of what you are saying?"
A shrug. "I know the system Morgan. I understand fully."
"You have admitted you lied and put a Federal Agents life at risk."
"I know. Just read me my rights and let's get this over with shall we. I'm sure you don't want to spend the night here. Do I get a phone call?"
-o-o-o-
The room was wrecked. The only things not destroyed where the books on the shelves and the coffee mug still standing undrunk on the small table standing amidst the smashed furniture. Floyd was crouched on the floor when the phone finally rang. At first he just looked over at the phone sitting on the floor next to the demolished phone table. Then he reached out and snatched it from the cradle.
"Yes?" A pause as he listened. "Spence, you didn't do anything." A pause. "No – no Babes you didn't – why did you tell them that?! I will sort it." Listening. "No! They can't. Listen Spence, you didn't tell anyone anything. You didn't do it. Tell them you didn't! I am coming down now." a breath as he listened again. "No babes. It's not. I will be there." Pause. "Don't say that! Just don't. I will sort it." A deep breath. "I always behave. Hold on in there. Don't sign anything. I will be there. Wait for me."
He slammed the phone down and wiped his hand over the blood coming from his nose. He looked around the floor for a while then seeing something made a dash and grabbed his keys off he floor.
-o-o-o-
Floyd got to the precinct in less than half the time it should have taken him. He parked up the bike virtually in the door way and rushed in. To say he was in a mild panic would have been wrong. Floyd doesn't panic.
"Can I help you sir."
"The Feds…there are Feds here I am here to talk to Agent Derek Morgan and Agent Aaron Hotchner. I don't know if they are expecting me. It's important I have information they need."
"If you would like to take a seat sir. I will see what I can do for you. Can I have your name please?"
"Flanders. They know me. They will know why I am here."
He walked in a circle. Then he paced up and down. He stood and considered sitting and then walked to the desk again.
"I have let them know you are here. Please take a seat."
"I don't want to take a fucking seat. I want to talk to Hotchner and Morgan."
"Please take a seat sir."
"Screw you. Screw this place! Screw your poxy chairs! Just get me those Agents." A deep breath. "Control Floyd control."
He turned and threw himself into on of the orange plastic chairs and sat cleaning his teeth with his fingernails.
"Floyd Flanders?" A voice from the other side of the room. Floyd looked up at a uniformed cop. He nodded and stood. "This way." He followed the cop through a door and across a busy office and then was shown into a room at the end. Morgan and Hotchner stood there with Rossi.
"You wanted to say something?" Rossi asked. "About Dr Reid."
Floyd took a deep breath. "He did nothing wrong."
"You can prove that of course." Rossi again.
"I know it." Floyd started pacing again. "He wouldn't do it. You know he wouldn't do it.
"Well the information was obtained from somewhere. Who else knew it? Yourself and Reid and you were still missing at the time so it leaves one person." Morgan was talking now. "And he has as good as admitted it was him."
"Well it wasn't. I know it wasn't. So let him go and let me take him home." He walked over to Hotch. "There was someone else and you know there was."
"Rosa? You are talking about a little girl. Your daughter."
Floyd was pacing again. "And she has as much loyalty in her bones as – as – something - I don't know. She has a big mouth."
"Then we need to talk to Rosa. Where is she?" Rossi was asking.
"How the hell should I know where the fuck she is? I just know Spencer wouldn't have done it. He couldn't have done it. It's not in him to do something like that. His loyalty has never once been in question."
"Why do you not know where Rosa is?" Hotch was asking now.
Hands slid into pockets. "She's with her mother."
"I thought her mother was – dead." Aaron's voice again.
"That scrawny stringy whore wasn't her mother. She was just something I was screwing. She was paying me. I'm not going to go into that further with you. That wasn't her mother. It was a – step mum. Rosa is with her mother."
"Give her a call. Get her here."
Floyd's hands in his pockets were in fists. "Are you aware of the restraint I am having to use right now? Get me Spence. I need to take him home. He didn't say anything. He is incorruptible. It is why I love him so much – his loyalty is undeniable and he should never have been suspected of such a thing."
"He lied to protect you once Floyd. It could happen again. His loyalty – as you call it – is to you. Get Rosa here so we can talk to her."
Shaking the head. "I can't call her. They are travellers. No phones, like the Amish. They don't have such things. I don't know where she is."
The Agents stood looking at Floyd who was still standing with fists in pockets and hadn't threatened anyone – yet.
"There is doubt. You cannot prove it was him. He would never admit to such a thing. I find it highly improbable that a man of Reid's experience will tell all, and a child of ten will keep her fucking mouth shut!"
-o-o-o-
They stood in the remains of the lounge.
"Don't you ever admit to something you didn't do again."
"What happened to the furniture this time?"
"I – we can replace it."
"Great. I will order it online tomorrow."
"Or we can go into town and do shopping and crap."
"Spence." Floyd turned to look at Reid. "Fancy going out tonight? Have a meal – or catch a movie?"
"Floyd – are you asking me out on a date?"
"I guess so."
"Sure then – a date. Firstly you stink and I need to wash my hair. Fancy taking a shower?"