Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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The BAU team, minus their resident genius, was gathered in the conference room. "Where's Reid?" Garcia asked.

"He's looking after Fletcher. They had to go over to the hotel and get clean clothes for the boy. He's got an awards ceremony this afternoon for the science fair. Reid thinks it's important that he attend." Hotch told them.

"Poor little guy, he sure has a time of things doesn't he?" Emily responded. "I'm glad Reid did what he did. I think those two really need each other."

"Now, down to business," Hotch interrupted Prentiss in his usual stern manner.

"Okay," Morgan began as he sat twirling his pen in his hands. "We're looking for someone who was a witness to Theresa's verbal exchanges with Rafferty, someone who had something to gain from his death."

"Or definitely something to lose if he lived," Emily added.

"I'll go over Rafferty's laptop and see what he was working on," Garcia said. "I'll also upload all the pictures he took and I'll see what the hotel security cameras can give me."

"I guess the rest of us are off to interview the people at the hotel, the ones Rafferty photographed, the staff and anybody who witnessed Theresa and Rafferty together," Rossi interjected.

"I'll talk to some of my contacts in the press," JJ suggested. "Maybe we can get a better feel for who the guy was and who'd have enough to lose that they'd try to kill him."

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Reid packed some of Fletcher's clothes while the child was in the bathroom changing. He'd put underwear, socks and pajamas in the suitcase and opened another drawer to find a neatly folded pile of tee shirts and sweater vests which he added to the others. Opening the closet he took out shirts, blue jeans and two pairs of cords. He looked at the packed items and the implication was not lost on him.

Reid had never thought of himself as anyone's role model. How could he, he thought? He was a stammering, fact spouting, socially inept, drug addicted nerd with a lousy sense of fashion. He certainly didn't want to pass those qualities on to Fletcher. Had he made the wrong decision when he'd decided to be Fletcher's guardian? Had he been too hasty, too caught up in emotion? The boy would be much better off with someone like Hotch, who would guide Fletcher like he did the team, with strength and fairness, or Morgan who could teach the young genius how to be socially accepted and physically tough, or even Rossi with his vast life experience and his laid back sense of humor would be a better choice. Well, it was too late to think about that now. Maybe he'd try to get Fletcher involved in some kind of activities with his teammates and the boy would gain more from them and less from him.

While Reid was caught up in these thoughts Fletcher emerged from the bathroom clad in navy cords, a striped shirt in multiple shades of blue and a navy sweater vest. Reid stood facing a miniature version of himself. He supposed he should be flattered but he didn't want his relationship with Fletcher to produce a carbon copy of himself. He was sure the world wasn't ready for that and he wanted Fletcher to develop his own unique personality and style.

"Do you really think I should go?" the boy asked. "I don't really feel like it. How can I be happy if Theresa's locked up? It doesn't seem right."

Reid sat on the bed to get himself more on level with the child. "You worked hard for this and if Theresa could be there she'd be cheering you on. She'd want you to go and maybe you'll have an award to show her next time you see her."

"She's going to be okay isn't she? She's really afraid of the police, especially after what happened when that guy kidnapped me. She's going to be so scared Spencer. What if they say she did this and keep her in jail?"

"Do you trust me?" Reid asked the child.

"Yes," the boy nodded.

"Then trust that my team is going to dig until they find out who did this. My friend Garcia, you've never met her but you're going to love her, is better than anybody with a computer and whatever's out there to find about who killed this guy, she'll find it. We found you didn't we?"

"Yeah," Fletcher agreed.

"And we'll find who killed David Rafferty but first you and I have some business at the science fair."

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"What exactly did you see?" Emily asked the Jorgensens who were staying in room 310.

"Well, that pretty Mexican girl got off the elevator saying she wanted him, the man that was killed," Bernice Jorgensen elaborated, "to leave her alone or he'd be sorry." She looked at her husband for verification and he nodded. "Then," she continued, "the man said it was a lovers' spat and she'd get over it."

"We didn't think anything more about it," Ralph Jorgensen added. "You know how it is, I mean Bernice and I have had our share of spats too but when we saw her at the elevator last night she said they weren't lovers and she just wanted him to leave her alone."

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"Can you tell me what you saw and heard, Mr. Wright?" Rossi asked the gospel star.

"I saw Rafferty talking to the young Latino woman in front of the elevator. He was leaning in towards her and talking quietly so I couldn't hear what he said to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and the woman pulled away and yelled at him. Everyone could hear what she said. She told the guy not to touch her and that she didn't like him and she didn't want anything to do with him, not that I blame her," the singer added. "Then she said he should leave her alone or he'd be sorry. She got on the elevator and left the lobby."

"Not a fan of David Rafferty's were you Mr. Wright?"

"No, I disliked the man immensely."

"Because he tried to ruin your career by publishing pictures of you buying marijuana in the Informer?"

The singer nodded, "That's only part of it, the smallest part actually. I did something that I knew was legally wrong for reasons that I thought were morally right. All I wanted was to make my grandfather's journey to his maker as pain free as possible. The medications they were giving him weren't working so I bought the marijuana and it helped." He paused for a moment. "Then those pictures showed up in the Informer and my record sales dropped but more than that it was the looks I got from the people around me that said they didn't trust me like they did before; that they doubted my sincerity and my faith. I know it doesn't sound very Christian but I'm not surprised someone killed him. David Rafferty got what he deserved."

"Mr. Wright, where were you when Mr. Rafferty was killed?"

"I was at a little church about three blocks from here, praying."

"Can anyone verify that?" Rossi asked.

"No sir, I was alone."

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While Rossi was talking with Dale Wright, Morgan was having a similar conversation with Marvin Learner, who gave roughly the same account of the altercation between Theresa and Rafferty.

"You didn't like Rafferty very much, did you?" Morgan asked.

"Did anyone?" Marv replied, "He was a scum sucking asshole. It's my job to protect Dale and I'm good at it. I can protect him from men twice my size but how can I protect him from photographs and words written in some crappy tabloid?"

"The pen is mightier than the sword I guess," Morgan replied but the sentiment seemed lost on the bodyguard. "Where were you at the time of the murder?"

"I was in my room. Dale wanted to go to church. He likes to go to church alone. He seems to think he doesn't need me, that the Almighty will protect him."

"Were you alone?"

Marv Learner gave Morgan a meaningful look and sighed, "Sad to say, I was."

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Rossi, Morgan and Prentiss met in the lobby and went over the substance of their interviews when Stan Westin, the head of hotel security, came rushing up to them. "The cleaning staff think they may have found the murder weapon," he told them.

"Where?" Rossi asked.

"On the third floor, behind the ice machine."