Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds
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Evan entered the house slamming the door behind him. Janice came out of her office saying, "You're home, what was the slamming of the door in aid of mister?"
"Oh nothing, everything's great," the boy said sarcastically, plopping himself on the couch and crossing his arms defiantly.
"Hey hey hey, what's with the attitude? When you left yesterday, you were thrilled about spending time with Spencer, now you look like a bear. What happened?"
"Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, big time G man, savior of the world, studly boyfriend and as of this morning, fashionable dresser, that's what happened."
"Could you be a bit more specific, I take it you're mad at your brother."
He told his mother about the shopping trip and how he and Allie had convinced Spencer to get some things for himself. Janice nodded; so far this seemed like a good thing. God knew Spencer needed to improve his wardrobe.
"So he comes out of the store wearing the clothes he just bought. I had seen Bethany Cramer and was talking to her when Spencer and Allie came up to us. As soon as Bethany saw Spencer, she never noticed me again. It's like I was nothing. She only wanted to talk to," his voice rose and took on a distinct whine, "Spencer! Of course, he didn't mean to do anything. He's like 'Oh gosh, I was totally unaware I'm a chick magnet,' yeah right."
Janice had to fight hard to suppress laughter as that thought of Spencer popped into her head. Although if she was twenty years younger…Oh my God, she couldn't believe she thought that. He was her stepson!
"Honey, it's not his fault. It's a thing with young girls. They often get a crush on an older man. It makes them feel grown up, like they're not little girls anymore, they're women. Mine was a young apprentice carpenter who worked with my father. I was just a young teenage girl but in my mind I was a young woman and I was in love with that young man. For a couple of weeks that is. There's nothing Spencer could have done to stop it. Bethany will come to her senses eventually. So, show me what you got!"
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The kid had finally come home. There was just him and the mother inside. He really didn't want to have to hurt the mother as well. He needed to think.
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The team was assembled in the round table room discussing the death of Melanie Masterson. Hotch had already been in when Reid showed up to do some research and possibly go on some interviews. Hotch suggested getting the team together to give Reid a hand. "If this case could be concluded, it wouldn't take Reid away from cases assigned to the BAU."
"Melanie Masterson was a very successful caterer to the elite of Washington society." Reid started his presentation of the case. "She was a twenty-nine year old graduate of the Wharton School of Business. She worked under Barry Sparks for a couple of years until he had a stroke last year and then she took over his business. She was well known on the Washington social scene for being able to give the client exactly what they wanted, from a showy bash designed to make the papers to a quiet function for a few people. She was on a first name basis with most of Washington's power brokers and rumor has it she knew where a lot of bodies were buried so to speak."
"That could make her a very dangerous woman in this town," Morgan ventured.
"Obviously she was a danger to someone," Emily agreed.
"Garcia is going over her most recent catering jobs and we'll have to question the people involved. That could add up to quite a few people considering the size of some of the functions she handled," Hotch informed the others.
"I have a meeting this afternoon with Keesha Jackson; she's in public relations and worked with Masterson a lot on planning social events. Maybe she can give me some insight into the woman," Reid stated.
Hotch handed out the team's assignments, "Okay, Morgan and Prentiss, check with Garcia and see if you can find anything in the catering jobs she's done or in her financials. JJ get a hold of your contacts in the media, her functions were probably covered. See what scuttlebutt you can dig up."
"Right," JJ replied, and went to make some phone calls.
Morgan and Prentiss got up to go find Garcia, while Reid was getting his papers put away to go meet with Keesha. "Thanks for the help Hotch. I know it's really not a BAU case, however, since the body was transported across state lines, it does fall within our purview."
"You're right Reid; we're totally within our rights investigating this murder. We'll all meet back here later and compare notes."
At the door, Morgan turned around and said, "By the way Reid, nice threads, you're really stylin today man."
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Janice was quite impressed with all Evan had gotten on his shopping trip. She was glad Allie had gone along to help with choosing her son's clothes.
"Evan, I hadn't expected you to be back until late tonight. I had planned to go to my bridge club since we couldn't meet last night, we agreed to meet tonight. Maybe I should cancel."
"Mom, you don't need to cancel. I'm almost fourteen; I'm definitely old enough to stay by myself. Jeez, I'm not a little kid anymore. When will you understand that?"
"Okay, okay, you're on your own, what will you do for dinner?"
"Well there's always macaroni and cheese or pizza." The boy smiled broadly.
"Oh, you and your pizza. Okay you can have pizza."
"Thanks Mom," Janice was glad to see Evan was smiling again. She hoped he'd forgiven Spencer. They had such a wonderful relationship.
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"Hi Keesha, I hope you don't mind me asking you a few questions about Melanie." Reid was back in the Jackson home, where last evening had started out so nicely and ended so sadly.
"No Spencer, I want to do anything I can to help. I liked Melanie a lot."
"Keesha, do you know of anyone who might want to harm her?"
"Well, we talked a few times about some personal matters. Melanie was seeing a man, he's married. She never told me his name but she said he could be living in the white house one day. I told her I thought this relationship would be nothing but heartbreak for her but she insisted she was in love. Perhaps she got in the way of his political aspirations. You know the public would not look favorably on a presidential candidate having an affair."
"You're sure you have no idea who the man might be. Did she happen to say where she met him?"
"No she didn't. She handled so many high profile affairs that Washington insiders attend; he could have been at any number of her functions."
"Yes, I understand. Thanks for your time. If you think of anything, please call me," he gave Keesha his card. "I'm sorry about your friend."
"Thank you Spencer, please just find who did this."
"I'll do my best." Reid said, as he left the Jackson home and headed back to Quantico to meet with the team.
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Morgan, Emily and JJ were already in the conference room when Reid arrived. Garcia joined them shortly after. Hotch and Gideon were working on another matter.
Morgan said they had looked into Masterson's catering business and she catered everything from birthday bashes to political functions. She was a hot name on the Washington social scene.
Emily added that although she made big money there were no irregularities noted in her finances.
JJ said she had talked to some contacts in the media and stated, "It was well known that Masterson did so well because for a price, she would get the client whatever he wanted. Her party favors were extraordinary, if you know what I mean."
Reid related the substance of his talk with Keesha and if what she said was true, Masterson was sleeping with a presidential hopeful who might be willing to do anything, including murder to keep that quiet.
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The mother had left a short time ago. That meant the kid was alone in the house. The way the kid moved around, this might be his only chance. He got out of the Lexus and headed toward the house, then stopped dead and did a double take. Had he actually seen what he thought he had seen? What the hell was going on?