Chapter 35
"You are limping," Scarlett told Spencer as she handed him the crutches. "You are hurting..." she told him, not meaning his leg.
Spencer's brows furrowed for a brief moment. He took the crutches from her.
Scarlett stood before him, waiting for him to say something, wishing he would say anything, just to talk to her…
He saw the hurt in her eyes.
"Katy…" he took a step towards her, reaching for her…
She felt his fingers just touch her hand when Rossi came out of the cabin.
"I need to check on something," Dave said as he passed them. "Come on, you're with me," he told Reid.
"Right, uh, yeah- okay…" Spencer looked over his shoulder at Dave and then back at Scarlett.
"I gotta go…" he said quietly.
"I know," Scarlett nodded, pressing three fingers into his palm before stepping back. She felt him squeeze her hand tightly before dropping the contact.
She turned back towards the cabin, starting to walk away.
Spencer watched her for a moment longer, waiting… but she didn't look back. He turned away, following Rossi.
Scarlett stopped as she reached the porch, turning around to look at him once more. Spencer didn't notice as he climbed into the passenger's seat.
They drove in silence through the wooded roads of West Virginia. Spencer stared out the window for a while before he turned to Dave.
"I just always thought I'd see him again," he told Rossi.
Dave looked over at Spencer, meeting his eyes briefly. "I know."
"I'd really like to play one more game of chess with him…"
Rossi remained silent, allowing Reid to vent some of his feelings.
"I know I'm not being very rational," Spencer said, looking down at his hands. "And I know I haven't seen him in a really long time…"
Reid licked his lips, swallowing against the lump in his throat. "But I think about him all the time- and I knew he was always out there… and now," he scowled, fighting against the tears he heard in his voice.
"Now, it just feels… empty," Spencer said, biting his lips together. "I never even introduced him to Scarlett… I never told him about Norie…" he huffed out a breath.
"I never even told him I was going to have a son," Spencer said quietly.
Rossi felt Reid's grief. He tried to think of something to say to help…
"Yeah. But time will pass, and you'll forget how much it hurts. Then there will be something that will fill the empty space…"
Spencer looked over at Rossi, his face indignant.
"I don't want to fill the empty space," he scowled. "I don't want something else…" he started to say more then stopped short.
I don't want something else that can hurt me… he thought. I can't let it. Never again… he reminded himself.
Spencer changed the subject.
"Where are we heading?" he asked.
"Back to where it all began… We're going to the original offices of the BAU," Dave smiled a bit, understanding that Reid wanted to talk about something else.
"We were called the Behavioral Science Unit- the B.S. Unit, some called us… We still have some original records in one of the bomb shelters turned offices. I think we may even have some dehydrated food still down there, if you're hungry," he grinned.
Spencer listened as Rossi explained what he and Morgan had found in the cabin.
Once they reached the offices, they began searching records for clues.
"Here it is…" Dave pulled out one of the first case files that he had worked. Spencer read through the records within seconds, catching up to speed on the case.
"You never caught him?" he asked Rossi.
"There was never a fourth body."
"So he wasn't obsessed with the seasonal killing," Reid stated. "Maybe your search forced him into hiding."
"He was too fixated to stop cold turkey… we thought maybe he got locked up or moved away," Rossi shrugged.
"You never saw the signature again?"
"No. But I believe Jason saw something, something that made him drive all the way back to Roanoke," Rossi pulled out his phone.
"Go ahead, Dave…" Hotch answered.
"Hotch, I think this is it, but I've got to fill every one else in," Rossi said as he explained to the team what he'd shown to Reid.
"If the unsub was never locked up, why would he go after Gideon?" Scarlett asked.
"I think Gideon may have found something that made him look back into this case," Dave told her.
"Garcia, back in the late seventies, the unsub targeted twenty something brunettes," Reid's voice came over the speaker. "Where there any female bodies found in the Roanoke area that fit that description in the last couple of days?" he asked.
Penelope started typing. "Let me check the crystal web ball…"
Scarlett saw a news article flash onto the screen.
"Uh, yes- an unidentified woman in her fifties turned up in a shallow grave near Salem just outside of Roanoke County…" she told them.
"Was she strangled?" Dave asked.
"There was no sign of foul play…" Penny stated.
"Was there a dead bird in her hand?" Spencer asked.
"What? Ugh, no… not that kind of fowl play either," she answered.
"What's the significance of the bird?" Hotch asked.
"Those little brown birds were the unsub's obsession," Rossi answered.
"So, Gideon sees the article in the newspaper, and it piqued his interest…" JJ said.
"Well, why wouldn't it?" Scarlett said. "It has mine… what are the odds that the same ritual in the same woods making headlines again?"
"And if this woman was the same one he'd taken all those years ago? He'd held on to her for thirty seven years?" Garcia asked.
"Guys, what if that's why he stopped killing? What if this victim met the unsub's needs and that's why he held on to her?" Spencer asked.
Scarlett leaned forward on the desk. "Then he's going hunting again… and he will kill again until he finds another perfect match…"
"We will meet you both in Roanoke, Dave," Hotch said as he disconnected the call.
Scarlett looked over at Penelope. JJ rested her hand on Scarlett's shoulder. "I'll stay here with Garcia," she said. "You go to Roanoke with Spence…"
Scarlett gave JJ a quick hug. "Thanks. Take care of each other," she said, and reached over to hug Penny.
"We will little one," Garcia leaned into the hug. "You take care of our boys…"
Scarlett followed the others out to the SUV to make the trek down to Roanoke.
Penelope conference them all together into a call.
"The sheriff's department just sent me the crime scene photos…" she told them.
"Gideon arrived too late to have seen the body- that must have been why he stayed overnight," Hotch said.
"He didn't see these photos, but he had a hell of a hunch," JJ said.
"Which is why he wouldn't have gone to the sheriff without more evidence," Scarlett stated.
Dave thought about that. "Wait a minute. Check in Gideon's wallet. He carried pictures in there…"
JJ pulled open the wallet. "There are a lot of them…"
"This would have been an older one, like a yearbook picture…"
"Tara Burnett, Roanoke High class of seventy-six," JJ responded.
"That's it. She was one of the last to go missing, right before the unsub went under. We spoke to her mother…" Rossi told them. "Garcia, I need to know if her mother is still alive, and an address."
"Done and done," Penny answered. "Address sent to your GPS.
"Okay, Dave, check out that lead… see if Gideon spoke with the mother… Morgan, go talk to the ME and see if you get any answers from him about that woman, see if it could be Tara, and Ryan and I will check out the scene where he'd left the body. Garcia, book us rooms here for tonight and you and JJ start heading back…We'll all meet at the hotel tonight and discuss what we've found…"
Later that evening, the team spoke over a late dinner while they discussed the case. They had a strong lead, and would follow it first thing in the morning.
Scarlett went with Reid to the second floor room that they were sharing. He was leaning rather heavily on the crutches as he pushed open the door.
She noticed and stepped up behind him, resting her hands on his back.
"Sit down, boy, please. Let me check your leg…"
When Spencer avoided her touch by stepping forward, Scarlett dropped them quickly.
"Sorry…" she said softly, dropping her hands away from him. He'd started pulling away from any touch, liked he used to do when she'd first met him.
"It's fine… it's nothing, Katy. I'm just tired," he looked into her eyes; saw that she looked worried and slightly pale.
"You have to be tired, too…" he said gently.
"Come here, crazy girl," Spencer sat down on the bed, reaching for her hand and pulling her towards him.
Scarlett watched his eyes warily, holding back, afraid to touch him.
"Please…" he asked. "Just, uh…" Spencer shifted his gaze away from hers.
"Just, for now… while I can, just let me hold you, Katy. Please…"
Scarlett felt her heart trip in her chest at his wording. "While you can?" she asked in concern.
She moved to stand between his legs, lifting his chin and looking down into his eyes, seeing his fear there...
"I'm not going anywhere, sweet boy," she promised, trailing her fingertips from the corners of his eyes and over his cheeks.
"I will always be right here…" she lowered her lips to his forehead, kissing his brow.
"I swear…"
Spencer leaned into her touch, taking the comfort she was offering. He held her tighter, drawing her down onto the bed with him.
With a tenderness borne from his own fear of losing her, he made love to her, pouring all of his heart into the connection.
Spencer held her close afterwards, watching her once she drifted off to sleep. He studied her face, memorizing as much as he could in the time he had…
"Forgive me," he whispered, brushing his hand over their baby. He shuddered as he heard his own voice echo in his ears.
They'll only leave you… She'll be better off without you. Leave first…
He moved quietly through the room, grabbing his go bag from the floor, and refused to look back.
Scarlett woke the next morning with the dawn's earliest rays… She sat up in the bed and looked around the room, noticing the emptiness immediately.
Sighing softly, she curled her legs up to her chest and cried.