I had no idea what he was thinking. Reid was muttering, recalling various clues, other riddles.

"The youngest holds the key. Sits in the window. Secrets. Adventures."

He grabbed the photo of the note. "Would it be night, but always clear day. Bright lights."

Then suddenly his face went pale."it's never night in Las Vegas."

Las Vegas? "Excuse me."

He reached, no leapt, to the phone. "I need to be connected to the field office closest to Las Vegas, Nevada immediately."

As he spoke, there was something about his voice. He was clearly tired, but there was more. Fear, panic, worry. Maybe all three. Hidden just below the surface.

I just stood there, no idea what I should do. I just stood there, hearing everything.

"Hi, this is Dr Spencer Reid. I'm with the Behavioral Analysis unit at Quantico. I need my mother picked up and brought to Virginia under protective custody as soon as possible. We're searching for an unsub that shot one of our agents today and I think he might know my mother and I believe he might be in danger."

Listening, my stomach churned. It was like when I realized that I'd been hacked. Like when I had to admit my mistake and listen to Gideon and Hotch lecturing me. I wanted to do something to help, but what? What could I do to help Reid? Nothing. Morgan talked a lot about how unsubs do what they do because they feel impotent. That was totally how I was feeling about this whole case.

"She's at the Bennington Sanitarium."

No big shock, a guy like Reid, working at the BAU. Of course his mother would be a doctor working with nutcases. Runs in the family.

"Her name's Diana Reid. She's a patient there."

Or she's one of the nuts.