A/N: Hey peoplez~! I was supposed to post this on New Year's Day as a new year's present but… thing… =D…You'll probably notice that a few characters will be out of character, like most of the characters in chapter 2 (eheh) but hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter all the same =3 (at) CMSP, yes, I actually kinda like him too xD, I tried to make him like Gordinski from the episode profiler profiled but he just came out a little more… jolly =) Thank you heaps to everyone who added this to their alerts and/or favorites and reviewed, I really appreciate it =D
Without further ado, BEHOLD chapter 3! (Fail)
REVIEWS=LOVE
Chapter 3 - Trails
Hotch shook his head, "We'll have to give this to Reid," The team looked at one another in amazement.
"Hotch, you crazy?" Morgan said, shocked, "We don't know what could be in this thing,"
"Yes, we should give the letter to-" Prentiss started.
"Look, despite the possible risks this envelope might contain," Hotch cut across Prentiss who slightly annoyed, "We don't know what the guy who sent this letter is capable of, he might have injected himself into the investigation and could be watching what we're doing, or he could be bluffing and attempting to make us panic. Either way, we can't take any chances, we'll need to give this Reid,"
"Hotch…," JJ muttered.
"It's going to Reid," Hotch said in a final sort of way.
The team could only stare at Hotch as he walked into the interrogation room and sat down across Reid, who looked up. He didn't look as bad as they last saw him, the injuries seemed to have started healing, and he seemed to also look more comfortable now that Moran wasn't there with them.
"Dammit, Hotch" Morgan, said feeling annoyed, "Do you even know if this is the right thing to do…"
"Hotch has incredible profiling skills," Rossi said simply, "He knows what he's doing,"
Morgan sighed before feeling his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it and answered it, seeing Garcia's name on the screen.
"Talk to me, Baby Girl," Morgan said, hoping Garcia had found something that could really help them.
"Morgan, I'm so sorry," Came Garcia's voice from the other end of the line, sounding upset.
~(CM)~
Reid sat looking down at his hands, feeling annoyed and angry. Why did that stupid Moran have to push him to the ground when he arrested him, was it even necessary? As a result of being pushed face first onto the concrete ground, a layer of skin had been ripped off his right cheek, causing his face to sting with pain. And when he refused to "confess", Moran had just lost his temper and punched his right eye painfully. Thankfully the officer in the corner had pulled him out of the room at that very moment. He still flinched whenever he saw or heard the man.
Hearing the door open, Reid looked up to see the man from before (Agent Hotchner was it?) walk in and sit across him. He was holding an envelope in his hands, Reid's eyes lingered on it, wondering why he had brought it in.
"Reid," Agent Hotchner said slowly, "You remember the reason you are here , correct?"
Reid felt a stab of annoyance hit him, oh no, no, he totally forgot. He was sitting in an interrogation room with a bloodied cheek and black eye, feeling scared and annoyed because of an overreacting officer who constantly called him a liar. No, there was no way he could remember.
"Yes, sir," Reid replied, looking away so that Agent Hotchner couldn't see that he was thinking that. There was silence for a moment.
"Reid, the sanitarium your mother lives in…" Agent Hotchner started slowly.
"What about it?" Reid said feeling more annoyed, looking back at him.
"When two of my agents went to visit, a doctor gave them a letter, telling them that someone gave it to her,"
"So?"
"They were told to give it to you," Hotch said placing the letter on the table, turning it around so that Reid could read the words written at the front.
Staring at the words, Reid felt a sudden pang of fear cross his chest. It wasn't the words 'Spencer Reid' that had scared him, it was the handwriting. He remembered the exact handwriting, he had seen it, years ago, but he still remembered the way he always wrote down those E's, like it was some kind of signature. No, no it was just a coincidence, he was sure heaps of other people had the same handwriting, there was just no way it could possibly be…
"Reid," Agent Hotchner said, cutting across Reid's train of thought.
Reid took a deep breath and looked at up Agent Hotchner who was staring at him expressionlessly.
"Yes?" Reid said, looking down at the letter.
"Open it," Agent Hotchner instructed.
Hands shaking, Reid lifted the envelope and slit the top open in one quick movement. He stared at the piece of paper poking out of the opening.
"Read it," Agent Hotchner said.
Taking a deep breath, Reid, pulled the paper from the envelope and unfolded it. What he saw written on the paper was enough to paralyze him with shock and fear.
On the paper, written clearly in blood were the words 'Hello Spencer'.
~(CM)~
Hotch slid the letter across to Reid so that the words faced him. Reid's face paled when he looked down at him name written down on the envelope. Wondering what could have shocked him, Hotch instructed Reid to open and read the letter. He watched Reid's facial expression as he read the letter. His eyes widened in shock and he paled even more. When Reid didn't say anything Hotch decided to break the silence.
"Well?" He asked.
Reid looked up, looking scared and shocked.
"Well what?" Reid managed to mutter just audible.
"What's on the letter?" Hotch said looking pointedly at the letter clutched in Reid's hands.
Reid looked away and placed the piece of paper onto the table. Hotch stared at the words 'Hello Spencer' written in blood, horrified but refusing to show it on his face. Instead he looked up at Reid who was avoiding eye contact.
"Reid," Hotch said slowly.
"What?" Reid muttered still avoiding Hotch's gaze.
"Know who could have done this?"
"Done what?" Reid said aggressively, suddenly looking at Hotch, glaring.
"Sent this letter with those words written on it," Hotch said, feeling slightly surprised, but again refusing to let it show.
Reid looked away, determinedly avoiding Hotch's look. Hotch continued to stare at Reid when he refused to answer. Finally looking down, Reid answered.
"How am I supposed to know?" Reid muttered finally.
"Reid, I know," Hotch said, his voice starting to sound a little aggressive, "Judging from the way you reacted when you saw your name written in handwriting on the envelope, I take it as you recognize the writing as someone's you might know or fear. When I questioned you about it, you avoided eye contact and became aggressive when I accused you of knowing who it could possibly be,"
"Oh really!" Reid said suddenly, aggression showing in his voice, "You profiling me now? You using your profiling skills on me now?"
"Reid?"
Reid blinked in surprise and looked down studying his hands, red in the face.
"Sorry, sir," He muttered.
"Well?"
Reid looked up and looked at Hotch.
"I don't know who did it,"
Hotch and Reid stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity before Reid finally looking down at his hands again. He whispered something inaudibly.
"Excuse me?" Hotch said.
"I said which unit of the FBI are you part of?"
Hotch blinked, why was he suddenly asking this?
"The BAU,"
Reid smiled slightly and looked up at Hotch again.
"I've always wanted to join the BAU as a kid," Reid said softly.
Hotch blinked at the sudden change of subject.
"You wanted to become a profiler?" Hotch asked, deciding to go along with the change of subject.
Reid nodded, "Ever since I was 12,"
"So you've profiled me?" Hotch said challengingly.
Reid smiled.
"Of course,"
"So what've you got?"
"Not much, but enough. Your ring finger acts awkwardly every time it moves. It feels awkward with the ring on it, which means you're either new in a relationship or divorced, most likely divorced, from the way the finger still does seem to have experience wearing a ring. Either way, you seemed to have recently, or maybe a year ago, left the relationship, but you still wear the ring, so you haven't gotten over her yet. You also probably have a young toddler around the age of 4 or 5,"
Reid smiled as if challenging Hotch to point out anything wrong in the profile. Hotch had to admit to himself, he was surprised and quite impressed; Reid had actually noticed the small movements on his ring finger and thought about it, putting two and two together correctly. Hotch released a tiny of a smile.
"Did you apply for the BAU?" Hotch asked.
"I was going to…" Reid said.
They sat there for an awkward moment before Hotch lifted himself up and grabbed the letter and envelope from the table announcing that he was going and leaving the room quickly.
~(CM)~
Morgan confronted Hotch as he left the interrogation room.
"Hotch, we got a problem," Morgan said.
"What is it?" Hotch said looking at him questioningly.
"Garcia just called," Morgan said quickly, "She couldn't find anything about the victims, she said it just seemed like the files were erased or something,"
Hotch stood there, stunned.
"She couldn't find anything at all?"
"Nothing…"
"And get this," Prentiss said, "Garcia said that when she first got the names of the victims before we came here she searched their names and all the files were there,"
"…So someone must have erased them when they found out that we started investigating…" Hotch said.
"Which means it is someone who injected themselves into the investigation," Rossi said looking thoughtful.
"So Reid has an accomplice?" JJ said, "I mean, IF he is the unsub," she added quickly when Prentiss and Morgan gave her identical looks of skepticism.
"If could just be someone who's trying to hinder the investigation, but they don't have any connections to the murders," Prentiss said.
"I'm somewhat doubt that…" Rossi said.
"Either way, we know it's someone with advanced tech skills…" Hotch concluded, "Morgan, contact
Garcia, we need to know the possible IP or any information we can get our hands on about who could possibly be the person who hacked into the system.
"Gotcha, Hotch," Morgan said, grabbing his phone and dialing the tech room number.
"Speak and be recognized,"Came Garcia's voice from the other end of the line, still sounding slightly upset.
"Hey gorgeous, remember the files that were wiped from the system about the three victims?" Morgan asked, putting the phone on speaker.
"How could I not?"
"Think you could find out anything about the hacker? Trace his IP? Anything?"
"Oh sweetheart, don't you think I've already tried that?"
"What do mean?" Hotch said quickly.
"Hotch when this sort of thing happens, I always immediately try everything I can to find the guy who does something this stupid. But today has got to be the most frustrating day of my friggin career! This guy has not only wiped away all the files about your victims, but he's completely wiped away anything that I could use to trace him!"
"So this guy is definitely a professional hacker…" JJ said.
"Or he could be a technical analyst!" Hotch said suddenly.
"What?" Prentiss said looking at him while the team followed suit.
"Think about it," Hotch explained quickly, "We think he could have injected himself into the investigation, and he's also got the skills to wipe away all those files and leave himself completely undetectable,"
"Who could keep tabs on the investigation and wipe away all those files and wipe away any trails?" JJ said.
"Moran's tech guy…" Rossi muttered before walking quickly away from the team towards Moran.
A/N: ooooh~! They're finally getting somewhere =) But there won't be much of the team in the next chapter, cuz in the next chapter we look into Reid's past ;D I'll try update soon =3
BTW, yes I know Reid's profile of Hotch might have been a bit… blunt but come on xD
Review? Pweaseeeeee? -Puppy face-