Chapter 36

Spencer stood outside the courthouse the next morning awaiting the arrival of the transport van which was bringing Matloff to his trial. They were running a bit late he thought as he glanced at his watch again.

He noticed Mr. Corbett sitting in his car as the penitentiary vehicle pulled into the lot. When he saw Corbett leave his car, heading towards the van, he moved quickly to head him off.

Shit… he thought to himself trying to formulate exactly what he wanted to say to Corbett to stop this…

"Mr. Corbett," he walked right up to the man, standing in front of him and blocking him from getting to Matloff.

"It won't help…" he told the father. "Think about what this will do. Think about Darci…" he spoke quickly, grabbing the man's arm and steering him away from Matloff.

"I am thinking about her!" Corbett ground out, still watching Matloff.

"If she knew what you were about to do, and depending on your belief system, maybe she does- Do you think she'd want this?" he asked.

"Give me the gun…" he warned Corbett, giving his arm a quick squeeze for emphasis. "You want him to suffer, but he'll be dead. He won't feel anything, you'll be in prison and you will regret it, believe me," he stated, his voice turning hard.

Corbett finally looked into Reid's eyes.

"I'm already in prison…" he said, his voice trembling. He lifted his hand away from his jacket pocket and Spencer reached in to remove the revolver.

"How did you know?" Corbett asked.

Reid transferred the weapon into the waistband of his pants. He looked into the other man's eyes.

"Your affect, your behavior… you were too calm yesterday," he told him. "You called me by my first name…" Spencer bit his lips together, his nerves finally calming down after getting the firearm from Corbett.

"If you are so good at predicting things, how come you couldn't have stopped him before he took my Darci?" Corbett asked, his voice rough with emotion.

Spencer held the man's gaze, wishing he had an answer for that. He blew out a tense breath instead and looked around quickly.

"Look, I shouldn't say anything… but there is some new evidence," he admitted to Corbett.

"What evidence?" Corbett asked.

"Come inside. We are introducing it today…" Spencer told him. He turned towards the courthouse, waiting for the man to follow.

Inside the courtroom, Hildebrant started the session by calling Nina Moore to the stand.

"What is your relationship to the defendant?" she asked the woman.

"I am his birth mother…" Nina responded.

Cece questioned Nina a bit, leading up to the receipt of the physical evidence they now had against Matloff.

"I received an envelope with no note, nothing… it was a necklace- the return address was from Roanoke, where I knew Brian lived. About two months later I got another, then a watch- I thought they were estate jewelry," Nina cried on the stand.

"Your Honor," Cece addressed the judge. "The people offer into evidence exhibit's 'F' through 'H'. Are these the items you received in the mail?" she asked Nina.

"Yes."

"And the watch in this bag- do you see it in this photograph?" Hildebrant asked, holding up Darci's picture.

"Yes, that's it."

"Let the record reflect that the witness has identified the watch in this photograph as worn by murder victim Darci Corbett," Cece showed the evidence to the jury.

Spencer saw Mr. Corbett's face contort in pain as he sat straighter in his seat.

"I have nothing further," Hildebrant stated. Matloff's lawyer stood.

"We ask the court for some time to review, your Honor…" he asked.

"Allowed. Court is adjourned until 9am tomorrow for cross to allow the defense time with the new evidence…"

Reid groaned inwardly at the new delay… he caught Hotch's eyes and saw his supervisor shrug slightly. He'd hoped they'd be heading home today also…

Aaron stood after the defense left, looking over at the desk where Matloff had been taking notes. He saw a tear drop smudge on the writing. Heading out into the hallway after the DA, he caught up with her.

"I don't want to jinx this, but after today I may owe your team a round of drinks," she told him. Hotch looked over to Reid, drawing him into the conversation.

"I think Matloff is getting his memory back. There was a tear on his notes…" Hotch told them.

"He was reacting when his mother was on the stand. I saw he was trying to keep it hidden…" Reid agreed.

"You don't have an emotional response like that without a connection…" Aaron stated.

"I don't know if it will even matter…" Cece shrugged.

"Don't you want to know who you are putting away?" Reid asked. He noticed the court guards start converging into the back of the court house.

"We are heading there now…" one guard was saying.

"What's going on?" Cece asked, watching the responders move quickly.

Spencer caught Hotch's eyes in concern. They followed some of the guards as an alarm started ringing.

Heading back into the holding cells, Hotch spoke to the other guards around them.

"What happened?" he asked them.

Reid noticed the female guard who had brought in Matloff and moved over to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noting the gash on the guard's head as another guard held a towel and pressure to the wound.

She looked up at Spencer. "He got my gun," she warned him, her eyes apologetic at the escape.

Reid nodded once, his lips thinning into a tight line. "We'll get him back," he told her, moving away to make room for the medics who now entered the cell.

He headed back to Hotch's side. They left the building going outside to meet up with the local police who had arrived on scene.

Hotch spoke to the chief.

"He stuck a gun in this law clerk's face and stole her car… late model Nissan. We have an APB out for it. We closed off all the roads," the officer told them.

"Don't forget access roads, he knows them all," Hotch reminded him.

"You know this guy, right? Where will he be heading?"

"It all depends on who he is," Spencer stated. He saw Hotch move through the crowd quickly after Matloff's lawyer.

"Hey- Hey!" Hotch called out to the man. "Did you know?" he asked the attorney.

"Know what?"

"You talked to him every day! Did you know he was getting his memory back?" Hotch practically shouted at the other man.

"I don't know what you are talking about…"

"Hotch," Spencer interrupted him. "Hotch! He can't help us. Matloff is a paranoid personality. Even if he was aware he wouldn't have told anyone," he reminded him.

"Get over to the jail and take a look at his cell. Just look for anything- anything that could give us any clue as to where he could be headed…" Hotch told Reid.

"Right- alright…" Spencer turned away to their SUV. He pulled his phone out, connecting it to the Bluetooth system as he called Scarlett to inform her as to what was going on…

He heard her voice come over the line as he drove away.

"Hotch has everyone on conference boy," she told him. "I'll put you on speaker…"

"Assuming he's got his memory back, where is he heading?" Hotch's voice entered the conversation.

"The obvious answer is his birth mother," Morgan stated. "All of his victims were brunettes just like she is… Typology suggests he was projecting his rage at her."

"She's with us in protective custody," Hotch said. "That's not an option…"

"If he doesn't have a specific target, he'll either run or go on a spree," Rossi interjected.

"Did we do this? The brain test? Did we trigger those memories?" Scarlett asked, chewing on the corner of her thumb in nervous concern.

"He is who he is, Red…" Rossi soothed her conscience. "It had nothing to do with us…"

Spencer heard the worry in Scarlett's voice and silently agreed with Dave. "I'm heading into the prison now," he told them over the speaker. "I'll call you back if I find anything of use…"

Scarlett took the phone off speaker and put it to her ear. "Alright boy," she said softly. "Find something…"

"I'll try," he said. He disconnected the call and headed up the walkway to the gates in a rush. He flashed his credentials and explained the situation to the guard. Another guard met him at the next set of gates.

"Dr. Reid? We were told to expect you. SSA Ryan called ahead and we've already cleared you to save time. I'll take you to Matloff's cell…" the man said.

Spencer wondered briefly when Scarlett had gotten the chance to talk to the guards, and followed them quickly, grateful for the expedience.

When they reached the cell where Matloff had spent his time since recovering from the coma, Reid set to work, pulling on a pair of gloves and searching hurriedly through the cell.

Under the thin mattress of the cot, he found a legal pad with writing on it. He read over the words, committing the text to his memory, flipping through the pages.

The fourth page in, he saw a pencil drawing. He studied it closely as he pulled out his phone once again.

Scarlett answered the line as she paced the office floor once again. Rossi picked his head up to look at her when he recognized the ringtone as Reid's.

"Go boy… what'cha got?" she asked in rush, eager to help.

"A picture… he drew a picture on one of the legal pads he was given during the trial… I'm texting it to you now. Do your thing beautiful and tell us where it is… It has to be where he's going…"

Spencer noticed the strange look on the face of the guard at his right. He put the phone on speaker, blushing slightly as he realized he'd used the endearment while talking to Scarlett on work hours. He shrugged at himself and met the guard's eyes.

"Uh- Agent Ryan has an eidetic visual memory. She studied the maps of the area on the case file. If this is anywhere in that area, she'll know in a minute," he explained.

The younger guard just grinned. "You call all your coworkers beautiful?" he teased a bit, noticing the agent's blush.

"Yeah… uh, no… Agent Ryan is my wife," Spencer shrugged again, embarrassed. "And she is…"

"I'll take your word for it…" the guard chuckled.

Reid blew out a tense breath, reminding himself to get a better handle on this 'work versus personal life' vocabulary.

Back at Quantico, Dave watched Scarlett bring up the hand drawn picture on her phone. He noticed her eyes take on a faraway look to them as they tracked back and forth over pictures she was seeing in her mind's eye. When her gaze cleared, she met his look.

"Got it…" she startled a bit when she turned quickly and was face to face with Rossi. He grinned and she smiled back at his teasing look, stuck her tongue out at him before turning to the map on the board.

Scarlett pointed out a spot on the map, lifting the phone to her ear.

"Linville Falls, pretty boy. It's very close to the area where you found Darci Corbett's body…"

"I'll call Hotch," Rossi offered.

"Okay- I'll meet him there," Spencer said, turning to leave the cell.

"I am about halfway between there and you," Scarlett responded. "I'll meet you in the middle…" she said, figuring her knowledge of the area would come in handy for the search.

"Right. See you there," Reid said, disconnecting the call.