Implicated…A cinny-ster fic

Coffee to die for

As always I do not own any part of CBS, ABC, Criminal Minds or the characters of the show. All original characters are of my own imagination and any resemblance to living or deceased persons is purely coincidental. For entertainment purposes only.

And a huge thank you to a special person who fed this monster and inspired this story. Thank you for letting me have the initial idea and run with in my own cinny-ster way!

And big time thanks to all of you, (you know who you are) who help me daily with reading and suggesting helpful ways to improve the stories I attempt to write. With out the reader and the reviews I would never do this, so Thank You from the bottom of my heart!

Cinny

Chapter 14

After they talked at the police station they made plans to meet later at the BAU.

Morgan, JJ and Emily spent the better part of three hours going through all the shops asking questions, trying to find out if anyone seemed to be watching the places, or if they seen anyone in the service ally behind the stores. They didn't get anything new. They left the book store, saving the coffee shop for last since Reid, Hotch and Morgan had already been there that night all of this began. As soon as the door opened Emily said, "Wow I could really use a cup of coffee."

"You're telling me." JJ inhaled the lovely scent and wished it would have the same affect on her as drinking a cup.

"It won't hurt if we get a "to go" order." Morgan walked to the counter, got three cups and paid. He took a huge sip and immediately felt guilty over enjoying the strong liquid. Reid was going through hell and here he was having a grand time drinking coffee. He walked to the garbage can and threw the almost full cup away. Emily looked at him and she could read Morgan's thoughts. She tossed hers in too. JJ clung to her cup as if it was her lifeline. She downed half of it in one shot. Then she noticed what Morgan and Emily did. She tried to rationalize it. I won't be able to do my job if I am run down and have a caffeine headache. Reid would probably love this and understand. If Reid had gone home instead of stopped here he never would be in this mess. It was like two haves of her brain were having a war with each other and her emotional side won. She walked to the can and threw her cup away.

"Excuse me is something wrong with the coffee?" A waitress asked Morgan.

"No ma'am we are FBI agents and we would like to ask you a few questions." He pulled his credentials out of his wallet flashing them and Emily did the same. JJ moved back to the counter.

JJ was talking to the clerk at the coffee counter and she asked about the waitress that saw Reid here with Lori Brenner. "I don't know she just quit. She never came back to work. No one told me why, or if she called but Todd said she was a no call no show, which isn't unusual."

"Why is that?" JJ asked.

"Well for one thing most of us are students and the pay isn't that great."

"Where you here that night?

"No, Todd was behind the counter." JJ looked at the back door it was at the end of a hall that had public restrooms and a utility closet on the right. "What's back there?"

"Just our cleaning closet and the bathrooms, the door goes out to the service road where we park."

The door opened and a young man stepped inside and when he saw JJ he turned around and went back out. That was strange.

She walked down the hall slowly and as she got to the door she put her hand on her gun. She pushed it open stepping out into the bright sun, blinded her for a moment. The sun was setting and it was directly at eye level. She shielded her eyes and Todd came into view, walking across the parking lot.

"Hey you shouldn't be back here." He said to her.

"Why did you go back out?" JJ asked.

He took the concrete steps two at a time. "I forgot my wallet in the car." He rolled his eyes. He held it up to show her before stuffing it into his back pocket.

JJ looked around, she saw the green dumpster from the crime scene photos, all the garbage was cleaned up and it looked 100 times better. She walked down the steps and Todd followed her.

"You're from the FBI?" He asked.

JJ nodded and He went on. "Damn shame about that girl. She was my friend. He looked down at the ground wiping his eyes. "I m just glad I wasn't the one who found her."

JJ looked at him. He raised his head and looked into her eyes. His eyes were dry and JJ raised her eyebrows, He made a show of wiping tears away when he never had any to begin with. She thought.

She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder pushing her thumb deep into his flesh. He winced when she hit the bite mark, still red and swollen. His face went stone cold and he jabbed his hand low near JJ's thigh, she felt a sharp stick.

"JJ, are you back here?" Emily's voice came from the door. Todd took off as JJ leaned into the side of the dumpster trying to stay awake and on her feet.

Emily pushed the door open all the way and she squinted at the sudden assault of light. As soon as she could see clearly she saw JJ. Her hand was on the dumpster and she was swaying on her feet. Emily jumped off the loading dock instead of going for the stairs. She landed three feet from JJ and lunged at her as JJ began to fall. She caught her and JJ said, "Todd…uns…" before passing out.