Thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing and adding my story to your alerts and favorites. You all own my heart and give me the warm and fuzzies.
Phasha18 – Thanks for the review! I wish I wasn't twelve and laughing at my own writing. It's quite sad how funny I think Reid would be reaching over a pregnant JJ. And isn't waddle just a funny word, or is that just me?
Lolyncut – Thanks for the review! Sorry for the confusion. The original case that the BAU had headed out on a year and a half ago regarding a serial killer, which ended in Reid getting kidnapped and Melinda saving his life, is closed. They caught the serial killer. This is now a year and a half later and Melinda's bar recently went up in flames, leaving her missing and the only place she knew gone. Now Reid, having kept in touch with her via phone since, is trying to repay the favor she gave him by saving his life, by trying to find her and make sure she is safe. I hope that clarifies. If you have any other question, please feel free to message me. I don't want to confuse anyone.
Danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! I played with this story six ways from Sunday, trying to figure out a way to make this work without making it too incredibly cheesy, or un-Reid like. I know how this case is going to go down and going to end, but I'm still working on who did it. That probably would have been a good thing to know first, right? I hope I don't disappoint!
Chapter 7
The Truth About Melinda
The tensions of the night that were supposed to relieve themselves upon arrival at the bed and breakfast, only thickened when Reid and JJ discovered one tiny little detail that had failed to trickle past Garcia's lips. The only room left had one bed. It was a queen size bed, but one bed, nonetheless. JJ, knowing Reid was hardly capable of rape and severely turned off by a pregnant woman, offered up a side of the bed exclusively for him. She saw no problem in them sharing the bed. Reid, on the other hand, couldn't bring himself to crawl under the sheets with a woman he had feelings for. In fact, crawling under the sheets with any woman was still relatively new to him, and he didn't know how comfortable he'd ever feel with it, as he saw himself as awkward and probably always would.
Despite JJ's insistence, Reid took the couch in the large, open room, fixed up with a sitting area near the television. The couch didn't pull out, so Reid's tall stature caused his feet to hang over the edge of it quite a bit. JJ tried a few more times to get him to come to bed, but after so many best attempts, she finally gave up, too tired to argue and not knowing what stick crawled up his rear end lately. She figured this was just something he needed to work out himself, although she still planned to approach him about it whenever she felt she'd get the least resistance from him.
As the night went on, JJ became glad that Reid didn't share the bed with her. He had unintentionally managed to wake her up four separate times to go to the bathroom, and once to search through his bag for, from what she could tell, was some type of pill that he proceeded to take. Each time she pretended like she wasn't awake, knowing if she were to say anything to him, he'd probably get defensive given their recent history over the past evening. She wondered how many more times he had gotten up and she had not been woken up by him. Had he been in bed with her, not only did she doubt she could have avoided being woken by him no matter how careful he was, but she doubted he'd fail to notice she was awake, so it ended up being for the best.
When morning rolled around and Reid's phone went off, indicating the bright and early hour of 6:30 am, JJ groaned and yelled at him to turn it off. The alarm continued to go off regardless, and she struggled to get up in her pregnant state. She even threw a pillow at him, hoping to wake him before he woke up the rest of the small bed and breakfast with his classical music alarm ringtone of choice. Even though she hit him square in the chest, he still didn't wake. This pushed her up a little faster, and she waddled toward his phone that was lying on the coffee table in front of the couch. And that's when she realized it. She waddled. Reid was right. She took a moment to sigh as that sunk in, before turning off the alarm. She didn't think today was going to be one of her best days either.
She laid the phone back down on the table and studied Reid for a moment. It seemed like he had finally gotten to sleep after an unrestful night. She hated to wake him, but he was the one who had promised the sheriff that they would meet him at the station at eight am, even though she secretly hated him a little for not making it at a later hour. She debated whether to wake him immediately, as he was the one who had set the alarm for that hour, or get a shower first. She decided to go with the latter, because she doubted he'd feel comfortable knowing she was in the shower in the connecting bathroom and pace the floor, trying to figure out what to do with himself and his own awkwardness that he caused himself. Besides, he was a guy. He needed far less time to get ready than she did, so she would have fought him for the shower first anyway. In case he didn't already know, the pregnant lady always wins, especially when she could force him to touch her tummy if he fought her.
She gathered her clothing and any personal items needed for the shower, not worrying about being too quiet since Reid was meant to be awake anyway. When he still didn't budge, she checked him to make sure he was still alive, just in case. Good news, he was, but he still failed to flinch when she checked his vitals. Not knowing what to do, she still decided to go along with the original plan, spending the least amount of time in the shower as she could, throwing on clothes and vowing to worry about her hair after waking Reid. She could dry it while he got ready, but if he didn't get up soon, they wouldn't make it to the police station, and as sentimental as Reid seemed to be about his friend, she doubted he'd be too happy about that.
After she was dressed, JJ made her way back out to the main room, hoping that Reid had woken up. When she came out of the bathroom and all was quiet, she knew he hadn't. She really didn't want to wake him. He almost looked like a little angel in his sleep, although he had acted like anything but the day before. He looked so sweet, in fact, that she suddenly forgot about his previous actions and started to hate herself for being the one that would have to wake him. It was rare to see Reid so peaceful, without something on his mind or something haunting him. She felt like what she was about to do should be considered a sin against his humanity.
"Spence. Hey, Spence. Reid." JJ bent down over him, slowly calling his name and shaking his shoulder. When he didn't respond to one name, she tried another, but all he did was snore and moan at her a little, before changing positions and falling as still as before.
Seeing as nothing was working, she did what she had to do, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach, being able to feel that her little girl was kicking. She felt bad about it, but she did what she had to do to get him to wake up. And wake up he did, in a state of confusion that quickly turned to disgust, a reaction that was only funny to JJ, she was sure.
"What did you go and do that for? I had my alarm set!" Reid sat up quickly once he figured out what was going on, careful to not knock into JJ while doing it. He made sure to move as far from her as he possibly could in one fell swoop, just to make sure his hand wouldn't be in the vicinity of her stomach so she couldn't try that again.
"And it went off forty five minutes ago. I let you sleep until after I finished my shower because you were really out, but now I have to get you up or else we're going to be late meeting Sheriff Cauruthers at the station." JJ put her hand on his arm to try to get him to see she was not an opponent and wouldn't blind side him again...at least not this morning. She smiled a little as he tried to pull himself away from her gentle touch, but then finally gave in for a moment when he realized she wasn't going for his hand.
"What? I would have heard my alarm." JJ let go of him, reaching for his phone and handing it to him. He looked at it, seeing the time, and then panicked, freaking out again and continuing his unusual behavior. "No, that's impossible! I've never slept through my alarm before!"
"There's a first time for everything, Reid. Don't get all worked up. You're a guy. It won't take you that long to get ready. Go on and get a shower. I'll go see about the breakfast part of this bed and breakfast thing and meet you back up here with food in, say, fifteen minutes. I'll eat while you get ready, and then you can eat while I drive. If we're running a little late, I'll call the sheriff and let him know." Mostly JJ just wanted to make sure she was out of the room for him to shower, leaving him to feel like he had as much privacy as possible.
She knew how strangely uncomfortable he'd be just knowing she was naked and getting a shower. Having her in the adjoining room, only a door separating them, while he was naked and getting a shower, would probably give him a coronary. She would have rather dried her hair in the room while Reid showered, and then stopped for breakfast on the way, but she knew it would be uncomfortable for Reid. Even though she had known Reid for years, she still felt like she should be just a little more careful around him and do what she could to help ease whatever was going on with him until she found out what that was.
Despite the rocky start to the morning, it carried on surprisingly well. JJ was able to bring breakfast back for the two of them. Reid had his private time to shower, and was dressed and drying his hair when she got back. She, unfortunately, didn't have the same luxury with giving Reid his privacy, so she pulled hers back, knowing it would dry itself straight in the warm summer air. As promised, JJ drove to the station while Reid ate. There were several times she thought his guard was down enough to try to prod at him again about his current mental state, but she ultimately decided it was too soon post his problematic morning. All that mattered was that they arrived at the police station with two minutes to spare, and that seemed to ease Reid's mood considerably.
Although Reid had been doing a little better after getting food into his stomach, he immediately became defensive upon crossing through the doors to the police station. JJ could see a little bit of discomfort in the way he walked and the way he bulked at the doors before opening them. She had made sure to have Garcia fully catch her up on the things he didn't tell her about his kidnapping while waiting the full fifteen minutes she had promised Reid she'd give him to shower. Even though Garcia hadn't been there, she knew the story better than JJ and knew that Reid had let the unsub into the police station himself, through those very doors, and allowed himself to be kidnapped. She had a feeling that her bad day due to the discovery that she waddled, was going to mild compared to Reid's day.
Once inside the station, Reid didn't even bother to stop at the first desk inside the door. He continued past it, flashing his badge. JJ followed suit until they reached the sheriff's office. Reid didn't bother to knock. He walked right in, declaring himself.
"Sheriff Cauruthers, I'm here for my eight o'clock appointment." The sheriff looked passive about seeing them, but as if he were fully prepared for it all the same. He seemed to be holding a different demeanor than he had the night before, which JJ was thankful for.
"Have a seat, Dr Reid and, what did you say your name was again?" Reid wasted no time sliding into the chair closest to the window and furthest from the office entrance, leaving JJ to have that one. He set his bag down next to him on the floor, already pulling files out of it just in case.
"Jennifer Jareau. You can call me JJ." She stuck her hand out, shaking it before sitting next Reid.
"It's nice to meet you, JJ. I'm Sheriff Cauruthers. I apologize for last night, and for not properly introducing myself. We've had a lot of kids trying to do stupid stuff on Jolene's property, or Melinda's property, rather. I was on my way home from a late night of doing paperwork at the station when I saw the two of you in a car I didn't recognize and figured there was trouble. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. You have to understand that Jolene's bar burning down has been a bone of contention in this town. Half of the people only miss it because it was Jolene's, and the other half are glad to see Melinda gone. I have more suspects than I know what to do with, and then the FBI rolls in. You can understand how this would be a bad thing for me, being sheriff and all." JJ watched his actions, seeing that he was truly sincere about having gotten into the current plight. He did seem to want to cooperate with the FBI, and JJ took his apology to be good enough for her. Reid, on the other hand, already had his words picked out long before the sheriff opened his mouth.
"I understand you're trying to protect your job, both of them, actually. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not only the sheriff, but the chief of police for this town, which is unheard of anywhere but a place this remote. The problem with that is you live in a small county and an even smaller town. You have exactly two thousand and eighty seven people to serve, which pales in comparison to most counties at such a large margin that it's almost negligible. Because of that and the fact that there were no other major crimes in your county in the last ninety days, Melinda and her bar should have been your first priority. If you wanted to protect your job, you should have actually done it by investigating. If anything happened to her, rest assured that I will take this to a federal level, making a case specifically against you and your failure to uphold to your duties both sheriff and chief of police." Reid, who was normally not one to be aggressive, was ready to pick a fight. He protected those he cared about, which made JJ more curious about this girl. If they truly had only a phone relationship, she wondered what this girl had said to hook Reid so tightly.
"Reid, why don't you go get a cup of coffee?" JJ sneered at him, hating to do it in front of another law enforcement agent, but she was afraid if she didn't put a swift end to this, he was going to ruin any chance they had of the police fully cooperating with them.
"I don't want coffee." He sneered right back, answering her so coldly that she started to feel the breeze from where she was sitting.
"Yes, you do." JJ reached over, grabbing Reid's hand and threatening to put it on her stomach. He shook his head no, she shook hers yes, the sheriff scratched his head at the scene in front of him, and finally Reid gave in. JJ turned to the sheriff, deciding to take this into the hallway, and smiled a fake, albeit sweet smile. "Excuse us one minute."
"No, I don't." They weren't even out of the office when Reid argued back. He had to know this wasn't about coffee, even with his mind that never learn to read between the lines.
By now, even the officers at the surrounding desks knew this wasn't about coffee. To keep away from the glares, JJ pulled Reid back into the nearby hallway that led to the bathrooms, keeping him out of earshot from the bullpen of police.
"Reid, please don't make me call Chief Strauss and tell her that you're out of control. I know you want to investigate your friend's disappearance, but this is not the way to do it. Arguing with the sheriff doesn't usually get you anything but forceful resistance. We talked about this last night." She spoke quietly, just to be on the safe side, but she was firm. Motherhood had taught her a thing or two about taking crap from men. Sometimes Reid was no different from that little angel face of a boy she had at home.
"Fine, but I'm not getting coffee. I'm just pretending to." Reid stomped out of the hallway and toward where they had come in. JJ felt bad upsetting him more than he already was due to reasons unknown, but she was hoping he'd cool off a little. She reentered the office in the meantime, prepared to smooth things over and spin it whatever way she had to in order to get the sheriff back on board with working with them.
"I'm sorry about that. He didn't get a lot of sleep last night." JJ took a seat, making sure to sit back, seeming more relaxed and less defensive than she was feeling. She was on guard for Reid's sake, wanting to make this work, and feeling as if she'd blame herself if she couldn't find neutral ground, since it had previously been her job with the team.
"I was going to say, I don't remember him being that confrontational the first time he was here. In fact, I found him to be polite, knowledgeable, and fantastic to work with. I remember wishing I had several of him. I didn't realize he was that explosive." It was apparent by the look on the sheriff's face that he was stunned by this and taken aback, to say the last. It was possible he was already rethinking working with the pair, and she couldn't say she blamed him.
"He's normally not. I worked with him for several years, and I've never seen him blow up quite like that. Please accept my apology for him, and understand that he and Melinda became friends in the time between him being here and now. He's very concerned for her and upset that no one looked into what happened to her after the fire. Now let me ask you something, you were saying you had more suspects than you knew what to do with when it came the fire, but I thought it was ruled an accident." JJ worked quickly to make this about the case and not personal, being sure to throw in an explanation as to Reid's behavior, hoping the sheriff would understand personal relationships and it would be good enough.
"Officially it was, at least according to the fire chief, but I have my suspicions. I can assure you that I am looking into what happened, but Melinda is an interesting story with a lot of controversy surrounding her. I had my suspicions about what really happened from point one, and I hate to say it, but I had my suspicions about the official report as well. I can't prove anything, and you'll have to talk to the fire chief and see if he tells you anything different. As for Melinda, she's an admitted grifter, a loner by nature. Until your friend came along and said he spoke with her after the fire had taken place, I assumed her dead. You saw that place, even the appliances were melted. There would be no way for us to know for sure, because if the fire was that hot, there would be nothing left of her. She'd be ash too fine to identify. Now that I know she didn't perish in the fire, I don't even know where to begin looking for her, but I do want to help you. As much as the town gave Melinda a hard time, and as much as she probably thought I didn't care for her either, it wasn't true. I thought she was a nice girl, and I actually admired her dedication to Jolene. I thought she deserved to inherit that bar, and that no one would have taken care of it the way she did. I never thought she had anything to do with Jolene's murder. Jolene was all she had, and she loved her far too much to even think about harming her, but because of the way things were in town and the fingers being pointed, I had to investigate her like I would any other lead I got. I always felt horrible about that, but I could never show it. It's my job as a sheriff to be impartial." JJ sighed in relief, knowing the sheriff was not going to be their problem like she had feared last night upon their first meeting.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I thought you were just like everyone else in this town. She told me some of the things people did to her, the way they treated her, and I just figured you were the same since you never did anything about it." JJ hadn't been the only one appreciative that the sheriff was non judgmental, or surprised.
Neither she nor the Sheriff were aware that Reid had come back from outside and was standing just outside of the door, wanting to listen in as he caught the sheriff talking about Jolene. He stood quietly, not wanting to interrupt him speaking candidly in a way he was worried the sheriff would not do around him. Once Reid heard what he had to say, his entire thoughts on the sheriff shifted, and he knew he had to eat crow.
"I never did anything about it, because she never came to me about anything that had gone on. I knew how people treated her because I heard whisperings, but unless I physically saw it or she reported it, there was nothing I could do to help her. I wish I knew her reasons for not coming to me, because I tried to make her understand that she could, but I don't. I assume it's because she thought I was one in the same." Sheriff Cauruthers, glad to see Reid was not going to fight him the whole way through this like he had feared, opened his hand to the seat where Reid was once sitting. "Please, join us again. As I was just telling your colleague, I have my suspicions that the fire was arson. I suggested you talk to the fire chief. I was also wondering what I could do to help find her, since I don't even know where to begin to look."
"We think she was coming to me. Do you know of any mode of transportation she could have used? As far as I know, she didn't have a drivers license and wouldn't have risked driving without one, but Jolene's car is gone. I can't explain that." Reid saw an open opportunity to not only let Sheriff Cauruthers in on information they already knew and get the case started, but to inquire about things that had been plaguing him surrounding the condition of the property the night before.
"I can. About a year ago, a young girl in a neighboring town lost both of her parents. It was a really tragic story. The parents were pretty far in debt, and as a result she ended up losing her home and most of her belongings, her parents' vehicles included. Melinda took her in, let her live in Jolene's house and finish out the school year, and when she got a full ride scholarship to college a few months ago, Melinda gave her the car as a present. She knew she couldn't navigate college without it." Reid's face scrunched up, trying to work this out in his mind. Surely she would have told Reid about someone living in Jolene's house, if nothing else. He was baffled, yet still had one more question that would not be so easy to explain.
"And the house?" He was a little more desperate than he'd like to admit to hear how a house that bared no legs, got up and took off without a trace.
"After the girl moved out, Melinda realized it was doing her no good sitting there unoccupied, unlike a house should be. It wouldn't be what Jolene wanted. She came to me and asked me if there had been any house fires recently. I told her about a family at the edge of the county line who lost everything in a house fire. Because the wife had accidentally set the fire, the insurance refused to cover it, so all they were left with was land and no money to rebuild. She did some research and found out that the house could be moved to their property, and that if that was done, their three children could stay in the same school district and not have to change their lives. She thought the family, especially the children, deserved some stability, so she paid to have the house moved to their land. The family was beyond grateful because they were living out of their shed with no running water and no electricity and had been for almost two weeks before she came along." Reid paused, a little hurt that she hadn't let him in on any of this. He thought he knew her since she always told him he was the only one she had to talk to, but now he was beginning to doubt that. In his pause, JJ jumped in, just as confused, but for a different reason.
"And no one liked this girl?" JJ was baffled, but before she could get any kind of rhetorical response, the cat finally let go of Reid's tongue, and he was able to trump her with his own inquiry.
"She never told me about any of this." The hurt in Reid's voice rang as clear as a bell. As the sheriff chose to verify it, surprisingly defending Melinda in the process, JJ reached over and rubbed his arm. As long as she didn't try to put his hand on her belly, he was okay.
"That doesn't surprise me. The only reason I knew was because the title of the car passed through the town records, and a little research told me the story of that. As far as the house, she came to me about it. Melinda wasn't a flashy person. She didn't like people to know about her good deeds, because she never thought anything she was doing was notable. If she had something she could share with you or she could do a good deed, she did it, because that's what Jolene taught her, and that's who she was. Most of what she did was out of town, since she didn't care to give to those who disliked her so much, and I can't say I could blame her. Although I doubt she would have hesitated to help someone in town had there been a true tragedy. It just turned out that, ironically enough, her bar was the only tragedy this town had seen aside from the serial killer from a year and a half ago. In that case, her good deed came in the form of saving your life. She asked me if there was anything else she could do, but there wasn't." Reid became thoughtful for a moment, thinking back to the night he had met her. The pieces started falling into place instantly.
"You know, even when she saved my life, she refused to admit it. She told me I was being dramatic about the situation, and that she had done nothing but help out law enforcement." He knew now that he was her good deed, and her keeping up with him was her way of making sure she protected what she had done and know she had done well.
He didn't feel dejected like he thought he should, because somehow he knew she came to deeply care for him over time, and this explained her reasons for keeping so much to herself. Suddenly, she made sense to him, which was more than he could say for any other woman on the planet. But even still, he wished she still would have shared more with him, because he thought he was different, that she was letting him in more than she was. Maybe that was just the part of him that wanted to be different in her eyes.
"That's just who she was. She did what she did because she felt it was the right thing to do, and not for the notoriety. I admired that about her, and it doesn't surprise me that she didn't tell you about the things she had done. Quite honestly, she probably never will, and if you were to ask her, she'd either blow it off or deny it just like she had done to you regarding her saving your life." Sheriff Cauruthers was very accepting, almost blasé, about this, as if it were just the norm for her. Reid began to feel better about him still, seeing that he was telling the truth and his words were proving so. What he said added up.
"What else can you tell us about the fire?" Reid pondered what he had to say, which gave him all the more reason to pass over the personal stuff and continue probing him for information. The quicker he got all the information he could, the quicker he could find her.
"I can tell you that it was technically more of an explosion than a fire. The whole town heard the place go up. There was a loud bang, and we were there thirty six seconds after we heard it. Half the town surrounded the place. It took all the cops we had just to keep the rubberneckers back." Sheriff Cauruthers sighed, already regretting the next thing he had to say. "Dr. Reid, you've seen the scene, but I was there directly after the place went up. Are you positive the person you spoke with on the phone was Melinda?"
"She didn't say anything that would made me think it wasn't. She sounded like herself, down to her specific vocal tone and the way she worded things." The question had been brought up before. Each time he was able to replay their conversation in his head, and nothing had stuck out to this point. It was worrisome, though, seeing the scene and being presented with evidence that was against her being alive.
"I don't want to bring this up, but I need you to be sure. The way that place exploded...Dr. Reid, she wouldn't have had time to get out. Even if she did smell the smoke and it woke her up, she would have barely gotten out of bed before..." He trailed off. He watched Reid's face, feeling bad about what he was saying and knowing that he didn't want to rub in what Reid already knew. "Look, even if she would have had time to get out prior to the explosion, we were there so soon after that we would have seen her. I don't know how she would have gotten away on foot that quickly. Are you sure it was her you talked to?"
"I thought I was, but you're making me question myself. My instincts have never be wrong, though, and my instinct up until I saw the scene and you presented me with more facts than I had prior to questioning me about this, was that it was her." He'd like to think that he would have known had it not been. Not only was he a profiler, but he didn't have many people in his life. The ones he did, he tended to pay specific, specialized attention to.
"So then we work with the theory that you did talk to her. The first thing we need to find out is where the phone call came from. If you give me her cell phone number then I can go ahead and have our tech trace the call." This was the one thing they hadn't asked Garcia to do in the rush to find out if she boarded transportation. After that, they were on a plane and off in their different directions. If anything could give them a clue to her whereabouts, this could, although the call was placed a little over a month ago.
"You'll need a warrant for that." Reid's leg was moving a million miles an hour, up and down and up down, nervous, and not wanting to wait for a warrant. He didn't care how long it would take for one to be issued, it was too long. He should have made Garcia check her cell records regardless. He felt like he was failing.
"I can do that. It shouldn't take too long." Sheriff Cauruthers began to get up from his desk, prepared to leave the room and go through the proper procedure necessary for the warrant. JJ rose from her seat.
"Never mind that. I'll call our technical analyst, Garcia. She can bypass all of that. Reid, give me your phone. I'll get her number out of there." Reid pulled his phone off his pants, handing it over to JJ. She took it out of his hand and swiftly left the room so the two could talk and hopefully move forward with the case while she did her business. She knew Garcia wouldn't mind being bothered again with one teensy little thing from her girl.
"Legally?" Sheriff Cauruthers was still trying to process how they were going to bypass something they would normally need a warrant for. He had been curious previously when the team was there, as to how they would get records without paperwork, but he didn't question it then because the information was needed so desperately. He would now, though.
"We don't discuss that." Reid glossed over his question, prepared with more of his own and ready to hit a little harder now that they could talk man to man. "I have another concern that I'm unsure you'll be able to put at ease for me. I know Melinda didn't use banks. She didn't believe in them, so she kept her money in a safe in the bar. Would there be any way to tell if she was able to get money out of the structure prior to the explosion?"
"Like I said, Dr. Reid, if she escaped it would be a miracle. I don't see how she would have had enough time to unlock a safe on top of it. If she did get out at all, and that's a big if, I would run on the assumption that she's without money. There's no way to tell for sure, being as everything has been reduced to ash, though." All they had were assumptions, and that was something Reid never liked or knew how to work with. He needed facts, and he couldn't stand living in a gray area when it was his friend's life in the balance.
"I figured as much. Sheriff Cauruthers, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, but if you knew the fire was technically an explosion, meaning the official report which stated it was a fire was most likely falsified, and that there was any chance that Melinda was missing as opposed to dead, why didn't you call in help? Why would you just assume a woman was dead when she could be out there alone, broke, and, for all we know, in trouble because that fire wasn't an accident? What if someone took her, and then set fire to the place hoping you would think she was dead? There's so many possibilities, so many things that could have happened to her, and instead of calling in help, you did nothing." Instead of becoming aggressive like he had before, he pleaded with Sheriff Caruthers this time, hoping to appeal to the moral side of him that should have known better. Reid believed in doing no wrong and upholding the oath you took as an officer of the law.
"I understand why you're upset, but you have to understand that this goes beyond my legal duties. This is my town. These are my friends. I have an obligation to them. I promise you that I've been looking into this case on my own, silently and off the clock. I want to get to the bottom of this and know for sure what I'm looking at before I called in any other law enforcement agencies. Right now, I just don't know. I feel like there's been tampering, and I have my suspicions, but I couldn't go on assuming things and calling in the calvary before I had evidence. You know as well as I do that superior law enforcement agencies need evidence. You wouldn't even be here if Melinda wasn't your friend, and if you wouldn't have been convinced it was her that you heard from post the fire. You had reason to assume her missing. I had reason to assume her dead. I didn't have anything to take to higher law enforcement, so I was looking for something, anything. As soon as I had it, I would have." JJ walked back into the room toward the end of the conversation, hearing enough that she knew she wanted to extinguish the conversation, just in case it gave Reid's emotions another reason to get fired up. She knew better than even Reid that the sheriff had a point, since she had been one going through the cases and hand picking them for the team in her former job.
"Had this case come across my desk, I would have moved it to the bottom of the pile. It's not that I wouldn't have wanted the team to help, but hundreds of cases come across my desk and this one is, quite frankly, low priority. It involves one person and one incident with no evidence that anything more sinister has taken place or anyone was ever in imminent danger by the hands of another human being." Both Reid and Sheriff Cauruthers just stared at her as if to ask her if she had a point. Obviously, they had their own bond going, and she just shouldn't try to help anymore. She moved on to more pertinent information. "The phone call came from Vail, Colorado. It was the only call registered on her phone before it was turned on a few days later. Garcia says you can thank her by bringing her back one of those pens with the little person inside that skis back and forth when you move it and says Colorado on it."
"Where am I supposed to find one of those?" It never seized to amaze Reid when Garcia came up with a ridiculous, but child-like request when doing a favor for the team. He realized she was on her own high profile case, and she was going out of her way to help them, but did she have to request such unusual things?
"I don't know, Spence. Try the airport." JJ was amused by Garcia's request, but more amused that this time she was just going to let Reid figure it out for himself. Normally she fielded Garcia's request silently. Since she was no longer with the BAU, and she knew Morgan and Prentiss had picked up her slack, she thought it would be a good time to give Reid a taste of how you truly please Garcia.
"Here, she can have mine. She does good work." Reid reached over and grabbed the pen, curious, having never messed with one before.
"You seriously have one of these things, huh?" He held it in his hands, appalled anyone would own something this ridiculous, yet unable to keep from moving it back and forth to see the little man ski.
"I like my hometown souvenirs. I'll just get another one from the gift shop in town." Reid nodded, placing the pen in his bag. This was weird, even for him.
"Thanks...I think." It was sad to admit, but JJ found a little in amusement in Reid's plight to avoid the random chotskies that Garcia appreciated so much. Useless things made no sense to him.
"No problem. If Melinda was in Vail when she spoke with you just days after the fire, it would certainly seem to cement the thought that she was headed to you, Dr. Reid, being as Vail is east of here. There's also a lot of traffic on the main road headed for Vail, so she could have easily gotten a ride there. I just don't know where to go with that information." They had a missing person whose last known whereabouts were from a month ago, a fire that they didn't know if it was accidental or on purpose, and a lot of questions caught in between. When someone could literally be anywhere in the United States or possibly Canada and no one even knew for sure if they were still alive, sometimes even the best police work wouldn't help a thing.
"Me either. Would it be possible for your department to make some phone calls to the local department in Vail and let them know the situation, as well as send a picture of her for circulation throughout the town so we can find out if anyone's seen her?" Having been at this long enough, Reid knew the only place they could start was at the beginning. He would get the police unit started on tracking down the last place she was seen, which would be the beginning of their journey to finding if it was indeed her that had called him, while he and JJ worked on the very thing that sparked this all, the fire.
"I can make the calls, but I can't say I have a picture of Melinda." Reid nodded, looking at JJ,
"I do. JJ, can I have my phone, please?" She handed it to him. He hit a few buttons and pulled up a picture, then handing it over to Sheriff Cauruthers. "Thanks. Here. She sent this to me last month. You could send it to your office email account, and then email it out to the other law enforcement agency from there."
"I don't know how appropriate this picture is, Dr. Reid." Reid scrunched up his face in confusion as the phone was handed back to him.
"Why not? It seems completely appropriate to me. Plus, it shows her tattoo, which would be an identifying mark It's also the most recent picture I have, meaning it's the one she would most likely get identified by." He looked at the picture again, seeing nothing wrong with it.
"Let me see." He handed his phone back to JJ, knowing she would agree with him. It was just a picture from a friend. "Reid, this picture is not appropriate. Do you have another one?"
"I don't know. She sent me a couple of them. Just sort through my pictures. There's not many on there that aren't case related. I still don't see what's wrong with that picture." He was becoming that whiny little child he had succumbed to in the last day, but JJ ignored him, saying what she could to move him off of the subject before he dwelled on it, so that he could focus on the situation at hand.
"I'll explain it to you later. Here you go. This picture should be more suitable." JJ found a headshot of Melinda. She had little makeup on and her hair was down and messy, making her easily identifiable if she was on the streets, dirty and sans any kind of materials used to enhance her image. She was beginning to get a better idea of what it was Reid saw in her and what he probably wanted to see of her.
"Would you like to put an APB out on Melinda and circulate this picture through law enforcement agencies throughout the country? If she's still out there, someone had to have seen her." Reid shot down the idea immediately. If that's what he wanted, he would have done it already. It was the worst idea he could think of, which is why he had come the whole way out here to search her out, JJ in tow.
"Let's just start with Vail. I'm concerned if we circulate the picture and the police approach her, she's going to get scared, considering her past, and we'll have more trouble finding her. The last thing I want is the police involved, especially since we don't know how she's getting by. Could you possibly circulate it through the trucker community, too? If she's coming to me, she's most likely hitchhiking, and if she is, she's probably hitching rides with truckers. They'd be more likely to pick her up. Make sure you specify when sending this out that she is not wanted and not in trouble. No one in uniform is to approach her. They are to call me immediately and only me, and if someone without a uniform does decide to approach her, they're to let her know that I am looking for her and have her call me. Here is my cell phone number. We'll see what comes back from that and go from there." Reid began to gather himself, standing, and urging JJ to do the same. Now that he had a plan for the day, he was prepared to act on it. He was beginning to see how tough Hotch's job was and was relieved to not normally have to have this much responsibility. If something went wrong, he didn't realize how much blame would fall on him and how much fell on Hotch each time the team as a whole failed.
"What are you going to do?" Expecting Reid and JJ to stay and help him circulate the picture and field calls, Sheriff Cauruthers was shocked when the pair rose from their chairs and prepared to leave.
"Go and talk to the fire chief. I plan on finding out exactly what happened at the bar that night. If the fire was arson, it will give us a whole new direction to head in. We have to know for sure what we're looking at, though, before we can come to any further conclusions. Call me if you get any leads." Reid slung his brown bag over his head, coming up beside JJ and putting his hand on her back for a second, which was his way of making sure she was okay. She shook her head and they started out the door.
"Will do. And Dr. Reid, I would advise you to approach Fire Chief Hollis with caution. If he's covering up something, there has to be a reason. He's primarily an honest man." Sheriff Cauruthers called after them, making sure they knew what they were walking into before they were blindsided. He was concerned Fire Chief Hollis would feel cornered, and he did the best he could to forewarn them. He wasn't a volatile man, just one who would go to great lengths to protect the town. He saw feds as a threat.
"That's what concerns me." With that, JJ and Reid departed from the police station, feeling as if they may actually get somewhere on this yet.
JJ found relief in the fact that Reid found a way to control his emotions, reaching common ground with Sheriff Cauruthers. She was concerned about what would happen if she had to be the woman in the middle between her own friend and former colleague, and a sheriff who was forced into an investigation without a choice to his own wants. They had literally come into his town and took over, and JJ was trying to take the edge of that, but there was no way around the facts. They had gotten lucky this time that the sheriff also happened to agree with them. Things could have gone a lot worse.
Even though, JJ knew Reid's head was filling up even more with conspiracy theories, feeling as if his former ones may have been validated. Despite all that was said, he now had more reason to believe someone was hiding something. He didn't believe this fire was an accident, not for a second. Melinda loved that bar the way she loved Jolene. She would have never risked anything happening to it, or her home. She was too careful, too meticulous. His gut told him this was arson, but he didn't even know where to begin since the scene was burnt to a crisp. He knew he'd have to go back and visit the scene. He was looking for something the first time they had been there, he just didn't know what. Maybe if he went back, he'd find it.
As they walked down the street toward the fire station, a place Reid knew the whereabouts of from being there before, he noticed the sun high in the sky. He looked down at his watch, and then over at JJ. Although their time in the police station had only felt like minutes, the morning had wasted away. She'd not had anything to eat or drink since entering the station, nor had she complained. She still wasn't planning to, but he knew she had to be hungry. Putting his hand on her back, Reid veered her toward the closest diner without so much as a word, not being hungry himself, but not wanting to make a big ordeal of it. Reid planned on allowing her to eat and move on with the case, but JJ had too many questions for him, and other plans.