I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Reid slowly walked past the alley where he was attacked. He looked down and shivered. It was over though, and he couldn't let it haunt him. He quickened his steps and entered Innocence Investigations.

The place looked shinier compared to the last time he had been in there. The floors looked like they had been recently waxed and the windows gleamed in the sun. If Colleen was trying to change the environment cosmetically, she was already succeeding.

"Dr. Reid?" A security guard said. "Can I see some ID?"

"Sure," he said and present his staff card.

"Thank you," he said. "Have a good day."

He took the elevator up to the second floor and found Verity waiting outside her office. She smiled.

"I so desperately want to hug you but I've heard you're not a hug person. Welcome back!"

"Thanks," he said.

"I'm going to take you to work with Henry on an attempted sexual assault case. We thought your background in reading people might help and we have a viewing booth set up for you to watch the deposition."

"Sure, that sounds great," he said.

He followed her down the hall, they made a turn and Verity knocked down Cecily Philips.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Cecily said as she picked up files.

"Nonsense, it's my fault," Verity said as she picked up files.

Reid helped too. They had special banking notations on them.

"Are you working on an insurance fraud case?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "You know how it goes, bury the little guy with paperwork and hope she misses a needle in a pile of needles."

"I thought that was a needle in a haystack?" Verity said.

"It makes more sense the other way actually," Reid said. "A needle in a pile of needles is much harder."

"Right," Cecily said.

Reid looked to Verity. "Can I help Cecily sort through this? Then I'll work with Henry, I promise."

"I just started on this last week, Spencer," Cecily said. "It is not just faulty testimony I'm looking for. I'm also looking for finance errors."

"Cecily, used to work for an insurance firm until she got sick of how many people weren't getting what they needed," Verity said. "This is why we assigned the case to her."

"I'm good with numbers too," he said. "I have a PHD in math."

"Whatever you want, Spencer," Verity said.

"I promise I'll look at Henry's case but first I'd like to work with Cecily."

"That's fine," Verity said. "I'll tell Henry. He has other things to work on too."

"Thank you so much," Cecily said. "As much as I hate to take you away from Henry, this will move much more quickly with your help."

"Your welcome," Reid said simply and they carried the piles of paperwork to her office for further sorting.

Even with Reid's help, Cecily was ready to fall. She forgot how exhausting insurance work can be. He had already found things she had missed though, and while they weren't details that could get her client out, they did give her reason to file more subpoenas for testimony. More information was needed to create a fuller picture.

Cecily added cream to her coffee in the break room. The aromas soothed her soul.

"So, you stole Spencer from me," a voice said.

She turned around to see Henry Gale watching her with his own mug.

"Sorry," she said.

"What did you do? Watch Spencer come into the building and time it so that you fell perfectly into him?"

"No," she said. "Verity ran into me."

"Is that the story your sticking with?"

"I'm really sorry and you can have Spencer right now," she said anxiously.

Henry burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding. Have him all you want. You probably need him more than I do."

Cecily sighed. "Your humor is not my taste."

"I'm not going to go all Braedon Krug on him or you Cecily. I have other problems besides work. I have a nine-year-old son failing math and a very pregnant wife on bed-rest only orders. I think Braedon's problem was that this job was the only thing he had going for him. Same for you too, and Colleen."

"So, by your logic, we should all acquire other stressors, to become less inclined, to turn homicidal?

He laughed. "Sure. You need to live a little Cecily. Enjoy."

"I need to get back to work," she said walked out of the break room.

"Tell Spencer to take his time," he called out.

"I will," she said.

Spencer did manage to carve out a half hour to watch some of the deposition. He found out that the woman wasn't lying about the attempted assault, but it was a different person who did it, as he determined when she emphasized a specific name.

Cecily kicked off her heels once she got into her apartment. It had been a successful day. She poured herself a glass of wine and microwaved a frozen dinner. She couldn't have made the same progress without Spencer's help. Luck was on her side.

She wondered what Spencer was doing right now. Did he know how to cook meals like she did but didn't like to cook? Did he like to cook? Did he have the news on or did he like to listen to NPR. Why did she suddenly care?

She shook her head. "No," she said out loud. "I am not developing a crush on him."