"Damnit!" Reid yelled as he slammed the car door. Riley was a little startled. She rarely heard him swear. He gripped the steering wheel, his eyes ablaze with intensity. "I can't believe this… just… god damnit!"
He slammed his hand into the steering wheel. His other hand went through his hair. He took several deep breaths; Riley waited until he calmed down before speaking. "It's okay, Spencer."
"No, Riley, it's not okay. How can this be okay? We're finally close on this and we have to quit because of politics! This guy is going to get away, he'll kill other people, he could kill…"
Riley pretended she didn't know where his unfinished thought was headed. She had an idea. "Maybe it's not over."
"Yes, it is. I have to leave in the morning."
"You're not leaving until the morning." She corrected. "I'm not saying we can solve it tonight, but we can at least follow up on the lead, and then I can… I can pass on what we found to Levinson."
Sensing he wasn't convinced, Riley continued, "You know the case files. We know what to look for. If we work all night, we might find something."
Reid suddenly looked at her like she was crazy. Maybe it was a dumb idea, but Riley wasn't ready to give up either. And it wasn't the thought of her life in danger that pushed her to speak up. Reid clutched the keys, thinking it over, "If we do that… I'll be exhausted in the morning."
"Is that a no?" She despondently asked.
Reid started the car; with a conceding shrug, "I can sleep on the plane."
…
3 hours ahead, Garcia was getting ready to call it a day. She was bidding her time with a Tetris game with plans to meet Kevin for dinner in a half an hour. It was a shame the Seattle case would go unsolved, but at least her babies would be back tomorrow. Not to mention, she was dying to know the gossip between Reid and Riley. A ten minute conversation didn't reveal anything juicy, but she could still sense more than just a lingering attraction between them. Garcia didn't have to be in the same room to see that, let alone a profiler.
There was only five more minutes until she was off the clock. She began to prepare to head out. Clicking out of open windows and shutting down the screens, her peripheral vision caught a flashing off to her left side. Garcia turned, amazed. CODIS had gotten a hit off the blood from Riley's jacket.
The case was over for the BAU, but Garcia was sure the Seattle police could use the help. She clicked to see. It was only a partial match. She scrolled over the page, reading the results.
"Oh… my God," she muttered. Her hand reached in search for her headset. Once she had found it, her fingers dialed while her other hand slipped it on.
Morgan wasn't answering. How they could that be? Hanging up, she tried JJ. Someone would pick up… eventually.
…
"Do you even know where we're going?" Riley asked as he pulled onto the interstate.
"Your office," He said. "We need your computer and we need Garcia."
"What are you… what's your thinking?" She wondered.
"We need the medical records of the other victims. Garcia will need to track those down for us. We can't do anything until we get those, but we can continue working on the numbers until then."
"But your work is all over the white board back at the precinct, how do you know which methods you've already used and I just realized that's a stupid question." She shook her head, letting out a laugh of embarrassment. She looked around, noticing the exit they were pulling on. "I never told you where my office is, Spencer."
"I know," he answered. "I knew the address; I pointed it out on a map of downtown Seattle. I know where it is."
"Mm," She muttered. "Some people would call that stalking."
"It's not really stalking if I did it before you left." Reid explained.
Riley nodded. "I guess you're right." Smiling at him, she noticed he looked just a pleased as she did. She didn't want to ruin this, but her mouth spoke before she could stop. "I'm going to miss this."
"What?" he asked.
Her smile paled slightly, feeling tears forming. "This."
Reid understood. Riley expected him to get angry again, but he kept calm. To her shock, he reached over and took her hand. "I am, too. But if I can't have you… I can't be your friend either." He paused. "It may be selfish, but… I can't be just a companion, helping you with your life and your problems when I can't even be apart of it. Imagine the day you call me and tell me… you've met someone. And you're crazy about him, and you're sure you could never feel this way about anyone." Another pause, longer this time. Riley was at a lost for words. "I want you to find someone. I want you to feel for someone the way I feel for you. I want you to be happy… but I can't stand by the sidelines and watch it happen, especially when you know how I feel. And especially when I know no one else will love you the way I do. You'll never be as happy with someone else as you would with me."
Unexpectedly, she replied, "You're right."
Reid was shocked. Before he could reply, his phone rang, pulling away his attention. Quickly he checked it. "Garcia," he said, handing it to Riley.
She quickly answered, putting it on speaker. "Garcia?" she said. "What's wrong?"
"Where in the name of sanity is everybody!" She yelled. "I've tried Morgan, JJ, Emily, no one is answering their phone!"
"Everyone's off, Garcia," Reid explained. "They probably switched their phones off and went to eat or something."
"Okay, then, why aren't you with them?" Garcia asked. "No, wait, scratch that, my news is better. I have a partial match off the blood from Riley's coat."
"You're kidding?" Riley exclaimed, looking to Reid. "To whom?"
"Maria Engles." She said.
The only sound for several seconds was the hum of the engine. "Maria Engles, you're sure?"
"Absolutely." She explained. "The DNA is male and shares 7 out of 13 alleles with the victim. It's a direct sibling."
"Oh my God," Riley uttered.
"That was my reaction." Garcia said.
Riley didn't notice. "I know who the killer is. I know who he is."
"Who?" Reid and Garcia asked together.
"Jimmy Engles!" She exclaimed, looking directly to Reid. "He didn't hear about me in the hospital on Monday, he knew I was there because he put me there. He said he did Maria's ultrasound himself and she was coming to meet him the night she disappeared. Remember, Rossi and Hotch told us Addie had… cysts on her ovaries, he must have done her ultrasound, too. And he must have done a few for Alex. Mrs. Beck didn't recognize Maria, she recognized the last name. It all makes sense."
It didn't necessarily mean it was him. Reid had been doing this job long enough, though, and circumstances like this were rarely a coincidence. "Garcia, do me a favor."
"What?" she asked.
"Look up the medical records for all of the Undertakers victims; find out if they had any conditions or suspicions that would require an ultrasound. Call Seattle Mercy if you have to confirm Dr. James Engles was involved with the cases. And one more thing… do not tell the rest of the team what we're doing."
There was a long silence "I could get in trouble for that." She replied slowly. "But… it's not the first time I've broken the rules. I'll call back when I know something."
"Thanks, Garcia," Reid said.
"Be careful my beauties!" she exclaimed, hanging up.
"My office, then?" Riley asked.
Reid shook his head. "The numbers can wait. We don't have any information to pull in Engles yet… but we can talk to his mother."
"You want to bother a grieving mother to inform her that her son may have killed his sister?"
"I think she might already know." Reid explained. "She wasn't concerned about finding her daughter's killer. She also said she was greatly interested in the Undertaker case. What if… what if Jimmy Engles confided in his mother what he was doing and then… after Maria got pregnant, she ordered her son to do something with her."
"Well… he claimed his mother was mentally unstable… and that's hereditary…" She looked to him. "It makes me wonder how you got to be so wonderful."
Reid was glad the car was dark, feeling himself blush. "So I'm right, huh?"
"Excuse me?"
"You said I was right? Before Garcia called, you said I was right."
Riley let out an annoyed sigh. "Okay, maybe I did."
A satisfied smile crossed his face. "And how does admitting that feel?"
"Like I drank vinegar." She replied, trying not to smile herself.
Their eyes locked for a moment. Reid wasn't sure if any good could come from ripping open this wound again, but it was blood he wanted to spill. He continued watching her, trying to work up the courage to speak. Finally, he opened his mouth. "I'm not-"
Everything that happened next seemed to occur in an instant… A flash of light, a loud crash and a scream was heard and Reid's world disappeared. The next clear thing he remembered… he was still in a car, a moving car, but he wasn't driving.
His head felt split open and he opened his eyes with a painful groan. He felt sick, like he was going to vomit. There was very little light in the area. The sky outside the dirty windows was turning dark. He groaned again, trying to get up… but he could barely move. He smelled dirt and gasoline… and blood.
There was another body next to him… and it felt warm. He looked to the left; his brain taking several seconds to register the curly black hair.
The light was coming from behind them. It illuminated in Riley's brown eyes, pinpricks of light twinkling in her irises. The three stitches in her temple had been ripped out; new blood had streamed and began to clot. A new bruise had formed right above her eyebrow, just above the original one. She was breathing oddly and shivering.
His voice soft and hoarse, "What happened?"
"Shh," she said. Her wrists were bound with twine. Twine; the word sparked in Reid's mind. Riley reached her arms upward, resting them gently on the painful spot on the top of his head. Reid flinched slightly, the sleeve of her blouse absorbing the blood in an effort to help clot. "Just… try and stay awake." She whispered.
