A/n hey everybody. Here is the next chapter. My most sincere thanks to everyone that has reviewed this so far, or added it to their alerts. This chapter is short, but there will be another addition soon.
Disclaimer: Only my original characters belong to me.
"I don't need statistics Dr Reid. There is something fishy going on there, and I need your help to figure out what it is!"
"Mrs. Warburton… why don't you tell me why you're so concerned."
Leia leapt down from the old lady's lap and crossed the room to sit down at Reid's feet. Her white face turned up to his and stared at him.
"Stella told me the last time that I visited, that a friend of hers had died the week before," Mrs. Warburton finished her drink and began to fiddle nervously with the tumbler. "She said that her friend had a very bad case of rheumatoid arthritis. She ran around in one of those scooter things. She was in pretty good health. And before you ask," Mrs. Warburton held up one wrinkled hand to cut him off when he opened his mouth. "She had all her marbles."
Reid went pink in the cheeks. "Now Mrs. Warburton, you should be a profiler. How did you know that's what I was going to ask?"
"You psychologist types always ask that question. The next thing you'll want to know is if she hated her mother!" She quipped. Her hands had quit shaking he noticed.
Reid laughed. "Ok… you're right."
"The point is that Stella's friend also had a heart attack and so did three other women. They were all widows like me and Stella. All of them had chronic illnesses, but none of them were terminal."
"Mrs. Warburton, I can't -"
"Dear boy, would you please call me Esther. Mrs. Warburton makes me feel like a high school teacher."
"I thought you were a high school teacher."
Esther smiled up at him. "That's true, but no one likes a smart ass." She reminded him and he laughed again.
"Alright… Esther… please call me Spencer. No one calls me by my given name anymore and I kind of miss it." He admitted with a blush. "Now... I can't look in to this based on the hunch of one of your friends. For one thing, I need to look at medical records and I can't even ask as a professional courtesy without a good reason. I'd have to get a warrant or a subpoena. There are no autopsy reports to look at because they wouldn't have done an autopsy unless there were suspicious circumstances."
"But Spencer... There has to be something you can do!" She pleaded. Tears were welling up in her eyes. Leia meowed before running over to Esther and jumping back up on her lap.
Great… now the cat is ganging up on me too!
"I'll see what I can do. I can't promise anything." He assured her. "Now tell me about the other two ladies. What kinds of illnesses did they have?"
"You're a very sweet young man." She gave him the details as she knew them. She gently pushed Leia off her lap and got laboriously to her feet. Reid leapt up to go open the door for her.
"Your mother raised you right." She pinched his cheek and he blushed.
"Yes ma'am… I'll talk to my boss first thing on Monday. If we don't have an urgent case, I'll see what I can find."
"Thank you dear boy," He showed her out and watched her till she stepped into her own apartment and shut the door.
He went back inside and sat down on the couch next to his cat. "Why can't I say no to little old ladies and cats," He asked her? Leia meowed and jumped down to the floor. She gave him a stare and then left the room.
"Great… don't you just love a closed mouth cat?" He yelled after her.
He spent the rest of the evening and the next day trying to decide what he was going to tell Hotch. His boss was going to want facts, not speculation.
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Monday came without Reid deciding what he was going to do, or what he was going to say to Hotch. The drive to work seemed too short, and for once the elevator was right there when he pushed the call button.
Morgan and Emily were in the bullpen and Morgan greeted him enthusiastically.
"Hey kid… How was your weekend?"
"I told you not to call me kid." Reid snapped.
"Hey… I'm just fooling with you. Are you okay my man?"
"Yes…" He dropped his messenger bag on the desk and stowed away his ready bag. "Do we have a case, has JJ been in?"
"No… we're on paperwork." Emily responded.
Reid looked at his desk and noticed his stack looked twice as big as Morgan's. "Why is there more on my desk than yours," He demanded.
"I don't know my man." Morgan grinned. Reid just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and glared at Morgan.
"Ok… fine… I might have slipped a couple on your desk." Reid didn't say anything. "Alright… I'll take them back.
Morgan took five files off Reid's stack and sat down behind his desk. "You're in a foul mood," He grumbled.
"Yes… I am… Get used to it!" Reid left the bull pen.
"What's his problem?" Morgan asked Emily.
"The fact that you even have to ask that question scares me." Emily said, and then turned back to her own stack of work.
"Whatever," Morgan shot back before immersing himself in his work.
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Hotch looked up when a tap came at his door. "Come in," He said.
Reid came in and sat down. "I'm sorry to bother you sir, but I wanted to ask your help with something that came up over the weekend."
Hotch put aside the file he was looking at and gave his full attention to the younger agent. "What's on your mind Reid," Hotch asked?
Reid explained the conversation he had with his neighbor. "I don't know if there's anything going on, or if I'm just a sucker for little old ladies."
"Reid… I know you wouldn't come to me with this if it wasn't important to you. I have to ask you something. Are you sure you're not doing this because your mother is in a sanitarium, and you're worried that something might happen to her, while in care."
Reid flushed a bit, but he looked Hotch in the eye. "I thought about that myself. I thought all day yesterday that I was agreeing to look into a possible wild goose chase because of my own guilt."
"You've never let your mother's condition color your judgment Reid."
"Yes I have… Remember Randall Gardner. I overreacted to his threat and dragged my mother out here when I knew she hated to fly. It took her weeks to get back to the place she was after I did that to her."
Hotch stood up and went around his desk. He leaned against it and looked at Reid, who looked miserable.
"You did the right thing… If you hadn't brought her here, we might not have saved Rebecca."
"I know Hotch… What can I do? I can't just go over there and question anyone without proof."
"I trust you Reid. You'll come up with some kind of plan." Hotch reached over and placed a hand on Reid's shoulder. "I know if there's anything wrong there, you'll figure it out."
Hotch squeezed his shoulder and went back to the chair behind his desk. "There's nothing hot today. If something comes up, then you'll have to work it on your own time."
"I know Hotch. Thanks for your advice."
"Sure thing let me know if you find anything."
"Okay…" Reid left the office and didn't see the smile Hotch had on his face. When he was sure that the young man was out of earshot, he picked up the phone and made a call.