July 27 2017 & 30, 2017
Two hours and a hot shower later and Penelope was back to her usual self...almost. This could not be this hard. Once they'd had one piece of evidence for Nadie's murder, they'd been able to unravel the entire case in a single night! She sighed, practically slamming her mug of peppermint tea down on the table. She chewed on her nails - a nervous habit, courtesy of Emily. Of course that clue had been provided by Reid. Just like the clue in the Hankel case. Why was it that Reid always had to solve his own cases? She was a fellow genius, she could solve this. She could do it, damn it!
Think, Think, Think. She drummed her fingers against the keyboard, biting her lip. She had Lindsey's cell phone number, but it was a burner. She was sure she could crack this case. She had always managed to dive headfirst into cyberspace, and she always found the treasure chest motherload, but to do that she needed a roadmap and for that she needed...parameters. Maybe a fresh set of eyes would help.
She pulled her glittery cell phone out of her purse again, finger hoovering over Derek's number. She so badly wanted to call her Chocolate Thunder and pick his brain, but Boy Wonder apparently didn't want him to be called. Last time, Emily had emphasized the importance of Reid maintaining control over the one part of his life that was still in his control. He hadn't wanted to talk to Morgan for whatever crazy ego reason his brain had conjured up. She stared at Morgan's name on the screen, debating. To call, or not to call.
"Hey, Baby Girl." What the?
Penelope spun on her heels so fast she almost tumbled over her desk chair...there was her hero, magically appearing on her webcam frame. Derek Morgan, lifting his baby boy up to the web cam.
"Hi, Hank!"
"So, a little bird named Emily told me you had a bad day."
Visitation.
The one word could send an inmate through a myriad of emotions: guilt, longing, happiness, despair. There were days of longing for it, and days of dreading it. There were even days where an inmate might prefer to stay in his cell, rather than to have all of his hopes and dreams dangled in front of him - like carrot on a stick. But when a friend - who KNOWS he isn't on your visitation list - shows up after a multi-hour trip, well it would be rude NOT to come.
Upon entering the jail visitation room, Spencer Reid had to do a double-take: booth seating with no partitions? There was a single handcuff dangling by a long chain mounted to the wall. Still, he thought as the guard changed the cuffs, this wasn't too bad. He only had to wait a couple of minutes before a very familiar face came into view. He didn't have his usual exuberance, but his strained smile was still a welcome sight.
"Morgan!" He had to cross his shackled legs under the table to stop himself from attempting to stand for a greeting.
"Hey, there, kid." Morgan took the seat opposing him as he'd obviously been instructed. "How are you holding up?"
"Pretty good, it's been better since Rossi sent a surprise."
"Do tell." It was a pleasant surprise just to see a smile on Reid's face...hopefully he wouldn't have to wipe it off.
"Rossi sent me his latest manuscript for editing. Told me to write down 'everything' I know -"
Rossi must have lost his mind, or Reid's mental state was worse than he was letting on. "Let me guess you've finished two notebooks full of 'notes'."
Reid was grinning from ear to ear. "Yup, sounds about right." He didn't need to tell Morgan that he'd been up to the small hours of the morning adding notes to the margins when he'd run out of pages. It had felt so good to get his brain back in gear. "He said I'll get a new chapter every week."
Rossi was letting Reid write his next book? Rossi never let anyone near his manuscripts with a 10 foot pole, never mind what his publisher would think about that. "Reid - why? I told you when I left that if you needed any help all you would have to do is ask. And you obviously need it."
Reid opened his mouth to deny it, but snapped his jaw shut just as quickly. "Do you have pictures of my littlest godson?"
"Do I have -?"Morgan smiled broadly. He pulled a stack out of his jacket pocket. "Boy, do I have pictures for you!"
Morgan allowed the obvious attempt at deflection, keeping an eye on his watch timer while Reid poured over the photos. It would do the kid's mind some good to have actual pleasant conversation - and nothing did that better than babies.
"Morgan, he is the cutest little thing."
"Cuter even than Henry or Michael?" Reid's look of mock outrage would have been a perfect photo. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
Reid turned his attention to the next photo. "Wait is he-?"
"Yup, climbing all over the furniture and scaring Savannah half - Reid? Reid, what is it?"
Reid stared at the smiling baby, proud of having climbed up on the chair all by himself. He looked so happy, such carefree innocence. Innocence that could be snuffed out like a single candle lighting up the room. He put the photo down, his eyes fixed on Morgan. "You need to leave."
"Reid, I came all the way from Chicago to see you and i still have 53 minutes left and I'm not leaving a second sooner. Why the change of mind?"
"It's not a change of mind, Morgan. There's a reason I didn't write to you in Millburn and there's a reason I didn't write to you this time." He held the picture up. "There's also a reason you left the Bureau."
"Hank? What about him?"
"J.J. and I went to interview Cat to get my mom back when I was released from Millburn and - she threatened him."
"Cat threatened Hank? Reid, she wouldn't. I mean, she got her vices but she's never hurt kids. You said so yourself."
"She was trying to figure out who else she could hurt to get to me and he came up. Mind you, I told her his name is Bobby -"
"-but she still knew about him."
"Exactly. If anything happened - I didn't mention it before because Lindsey was caught that night but under the circumstances.-
"Then I have double the reason to help out. You let me worry about my family. You have enough on your plate right now. Anyway, this isn't totally a social call."
"What do you mean?"
"What happened is you owe Garcia big time, brother. She did a ViCap interview with Lindsey."
There were many possibilities flying through Spencer Reid's slightly dulled brain, but that was not one of them."She what? Garcia interviewed Lindsey in prison?" Reid's eyes went wide. "Garcia doesn't even look at crime scene photos if she can avoid it. Why would she -?"
"Because she cares about you. She wants you home safe and she will do anything she can to prove you're innocent."
"How, though, IA banned the team -"
"From the evidence in the case -"
"-and the suspects."
"But Cruz approved the interview since she isn't officially a suspect."
"She did all of that for me?" he whispered in awe. He knew she would leave no cyber stone un-turned, but to go to a prison? She'd been in tears when she'd come back from visiting Greg Baylor - and that had been for her own peace of mind.
"And I think she's onto something." He picked up the stack of photos and plucked two of them out from the center."Do you know either of these people?" One man and one woman. Reid picked up the one of a tall man with cropped black hair and a small mustache. "Johnny. I met him...at a club meeting."
Morgan's face was frozen half way between a cheer and a groan. "Club meeting?" Their old nickname for 'Narcotics Anonymous'. 10 years on and the topic was still taboo. Damn, again. "How long have you known him?"
"He first came about three years ago. He'd had a relapse after his girlfriend left him and he'd been reassigned to Quantico. Why? You don't think -?"
"I do think."
"It can't -" Johnny couldn't be the mole. He just couldn't be.
"Reid, I don't know why you have so much faith in him, but listen to me. It IS him! It makes even MORE sense now! He transferred from the Detroit office and he worked with Shaw before his arrest."
"He wouldn't."
"He works at the BOP. He visited Shaw at Millburn three days before your transfer. He's the one who put the PC block on your file, he's also the one who arranged for them all - Durerson, Frazer, AND CAT - to be transferred out on the same flight. It's him, and his name isn't 'Johnny', it's Joel Matthews."
Reid stared at the picture, trying to wrap his mind around the thought, but it just didn't compute. Reid had confided to him, things that even the team had never known. As much as the team cared, there were things Johnny - Joel - knew that had never even crossed into conversation with the team.
"Reid, it makes sense." Or as much sense as anything did these days.
"No, it doesn't. If he wanted to destroy my career for - something, he could have -" Could have turned Reid in for his past drug use.
"He'd have to incriminate himself on drug charges, Reid, he couldn't do that." Mutually Assured Destruction. There was a reason it was called 'MAD'. "I don't know why he chose that extreme route, Reid, but he did. He's the only suspect who fits the -"
"-criteria," Reid scoffed. "Like me? If you look at my record now, I look like a -"
"DON'T SAY IT." Like a serial killer.
"How did you do it? How did you find him?"
"Garcia got Lindsey's cell phone number. He called her hours after your arrest and his phone pinged at the Brownsville crossing."
"Is it all behavioral evidence or do you have anything forensic?" Anything that could top the evidence against him?
"Not yet, but team is digging deep. We'll find it, whatever it is."
There it was again, empty promises.
"So what do we do, now?"
At least he had stopped fighting it. "We keeping digging until we find enough dirt to bury him under. Now for the good news." He picked up the photo of the woman, looking apprehensive. "Recognize her?"
"Can't say that I do."
"Well, meet the first victim."
"You got an ID? How? There wasn't enough DNA to make a full match."
"True, but the final autopsy report noted a third kidney and therefore a -" He waved an imaginary baton in Reid's direction.
"A kidney transplant patient."
"Bingo! All Garcia had to do was cross reference missing women with the age and approximate height with prescriptions for Mycophe -something."
"Mycophenolic acid? It's a common immunosuppresent for renal patients."
"And that genius brain is back. That's correct...and there was only ONE that fit all criteria."
"So let me guess, they're going to contact the family for a mitochondrial DNA test which doesn't require as much sample as an exact match."
"Crossing all fingers. Hopefully the ID can be officially made. Julia Kelting, here, is going to be your 'get out of jail free' card -"
Reid froze at the name.
"Reid? Reid, hello. Earth to Reid?"
Reid's eyes darted around the visitation room, it was too crowded, too risky. "I don't - think." He was stuttering and white as a sheet. "I think you should talk to -"
"Reid, don't tell me to call your lawyer! I'm trying to help you." He wasn't going to doubt Reid knew something, his behavior change was textbook for a...a guilty man. "Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not."
"You just changed your story. You said you didn't know her, now you're acting like you've seen a ghost. What's going on? What are you not telling me?"
"It's true, I never met her. She was a PhD student working with Dr. Ramos for her degree in Neuroscience."
"That's a lot of info on someone you've never met before." Almost verbatim info that Garcia had given him. Please tell me you read her books. Morgan wasn't sure he could stomach any more incriminating evidence. Reid was biting his lips, his eyes darting between Morgan and the photo. "Go on." There was no doubt that Reid was withholding something.
"She was supposed to meet Dr. Ramos and I for a meeting at my mom's facility in Houston. She never showed up. Dr. Ramos suspected foul play but there was no evidence. After that, I met her in Mexico. I used my personal passport to attract less attention at the border. I was trying to keep her safe. For all the good that did."
"When was this?"
"October 17, 3 pm. When and where did she go missing?"
Morgan closed his eyes in defeat. Reid could not have given him a worse answer. "She left campus at 2 on the 17th, it's less than 10 miles from your mom."
Reid looked away, slumped in defeat. "So my alibi is that I was meeting the OTHER woman I was accused of killing. The jury will love that." Just what he needed, another nail in his coffin.