"Will this work?" The officer led Reid into an empty office.
Reid looked around the room. It was small, but quiet. There was a desk and chair pushed up against a corner.
"Does that phone work?"
"Sure does."
"Then it's perfect." Reid set his bag on the desk. He pulled out the stack of photos Lansing had given him and began taping them to the walls.
"Is there something I can do to help?" The young woman offered.
"Are there any photos from the crime scene?"
"Yes."
Reid pointed to the adjoining wall. "Could you spread them out on the wall?"
The two worked in silence. Reid could feel the tension in the room. It was almost palatable.
"Is there something wrong, Officer Fielding?"
"I hate cases like this. They just get to me. I know they shouldn't."
"Being disturbed by a case is very common." Reid replied. "Especially a case where the victim is a child. In fact, there was a study conducted five years ago on stressors that cause mental and emotional breakdowns in persons that work in high trauma conditions -- police, emergency room doctors. The goal of the study was to identity situations that might warrant the need for intervention to prevent complications."
"You mean post traumatic stress?"
Reid nodded. "Excluding direct attack, the most common factor was a situation in which the victim was a child, particularly a prepubescent child. I myself have and periodically still suffer from a recurring nightmare in which I am attempting to reach out to a child surrounded by a vague yet foreboding darkness. I try to pull the child to safety but no matter how much I try, the child is always just out of reach." Reid suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling. It's a bad habit. I have all this information in my head and I say things before I remember that people aren't interested."
"Actually I find it fascinating."
"You do?" Reid turned to find Morgan and Greenway standing in the doorway.
The young woman looked at the pair curiously.
"Officer Fielding, Agents Morgan and Greenway." Reid intervened.
"You work with Agent Reid?"
"Yes Ma'am." Morgan gave the young woman a slightly wolfish grin. Not surprisingly, she blushed. Most woman had that reaction to Morgan. "Jesus, Reid." Morgan examined the photos on the wall. "Poor kid."
"I told Hotch I could handle this." Reid said, protesting.
"Maybe you can. But if this thing goes ugly, you'll need back up. Besides, it never hurts to have more than one set of eyes looking over the evidence."
Greenway looked at the photos. "Is it just me, or does this kid remind you of someone. Or rather someone ten years ago." She turned and looked at Reid, her point made clear by the look in her eyes.