Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, and ads my story to their alerts and favorites. You all own my heart! I apologize that this chapter took so long, but it will begin to peel back a heavier layer of the case.

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Chapter 8

Flames to Embers

The pair were seated at a table near the window. The red and white checkered tablecloths mimicked what you would see on a picnic and told them they weren't in Virginia anymore, as if they needed another reminder. Reid seemed to have no interest in making small talk, or any kind of talk at all, while he didn't even bother to gloss over the menu. He was waiting for JJ to order, while he only got a glass of water. This was odd for him, especially considering he was a talker, and he would clean your plate so fast if there was food left on it. He tried to act like it was no big deal, that no one would notice, but once the waitress was gone, JJ couldn't help but speak up.

"You're not eating?" JJ cocked an eyebrow at him, not used to seeing him turn down food of any kind. She had, in fact, seen him pick up food on his way to investigate a lead, sometimes inappropriately.

"I'm not hungry." Reid's voice was short, reminiscent of a bad lie.

Had he said it differently, maybe JJ would have believed him, especially since he had been up and down so many times last night. Maybe his stomach was a little iffy today. He could have gotten away with it if he was just a better liar. For someone who studied peoples' behavior, he sure hadn't picked up on the lying gestures.

"You haven't eaten since this morning." Gently, she pointed this out. Even when he had, it was a light breakfast. He had a bagel, which may be good for some people, but not him.

"That still doesn't make me hungry." Shrugging, Reid tried unsuccessfully to find something to busy himself with before his behavior was too apparent. Not only was it too late for that, much to his obliviousness, but he knew if he pulled Melinda's file out of his bag one more time that it would be a dead giveaway. JJ knew with as many awkward moments that he'd taken to go over it, that he had to have it memorized three times over by now.

"All right, I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, and you know I hate to sound like your mother, but I'm not past doing it if it means getting some answers. What is going on with you? What's wrong?" She had promised herself that when she had gotten a moment with Reid's guard down, she was going to take it. His guard was always down when he ate, but since he didn't seem to be wanting to do that, she had to go in anyway.

There were no case files around and he hadn't brought it up, so she saw what may be her only opportunity. She was kind about the way she asked, almost pleading with him to just give it up already. Not only was the suspense of what problem the little genius could possibly be having plaguing her, but she also worried about him. Contrary to how she may have made him feel, she still deeply cared for his little socially inept butt.

"My mom would have never asked me that. Not normally, at least, and especially if she was having a bad day. She wanted to, but she was too caught up in her head to be able to think about taking care of me a lot of times." Nodding her head, JJ resigned to the fact that this was going to be harder to drag out of him than she thought. Considering she knew going in that this was going to be difficult, that was quite the compliment to the severity of the situation.

"Wow." Diverting her eyes from him, JJ took a sip of her apple juice. It seemed to be the baby's favorite.

Henry, however, preferred just plain water. Somedays it was hard to adjust to the differences between her growing fetuses. Reid wasn't helping, as she felt like she was dealing with a forever changing teenager, although it did give her a good glance into her future. It was never too soon to start running from it.

"What? What was the wow for?" JJ lifted her head from her drink, shaking it, while looking directly at Reid. She couldn't help but laugh a little at his expense, upsetting him just a little more. "What?"

"I don't know. I'm waiting for you to tell me." She did know why she had said wow. It was because he couldn't stop avoid the subject by throwing in a rant about things that were neither here nor there, but try telling him that. It doesn't work.

"There's nothing to tell." He couldn't even look her in the eyes when he lied this time. She knew she had him cornered if she could just play her cards right.

"You've always been an awful liar. You have to know that." Honesty was the best policy. If she could persuade him to use it, too, they may get somewhere. His eyes never met hers again, though, and it was a bad sign when he made himself look shady.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I never lie. That's not who I am." Within frustration and annoyance, he fought to hold his cool. He didn't handle being pressured well. It over made him bite. He had to have the ability to give up information in his own time, after he had dealt with whatever it was that was going on, which always took awhile.

"Okay, Spence, so what really happened between you and Lila Archer?" Impolitely placing her elbow on the table, JJ leaned her head into her hand, taking a relaxing stance as she questioned her younger former colleague as casually as possible. She did think she was a little crafty.

"I don't know what you're talking about." This time, when Reid lied, he did actually grab for his bag by default. He caught himself midway to pulling it onto his lap. He was going to have to get better at this lying thing he insisted he wasn't doing.

"Funny, because you have an eidetic memory." JJ didn't waver from her cool stance. It wasn't her that was under pressure. The less she could seem as if she was pushing him into saying anything, instead of casually conversing with him, the better chance she had of him accidentally allowing something to slip. That's all she was asking for.

"That was several years ago. That's a long time." Although a fact, one of Reid's favorite things, it was a diversion. JJ remained unimpressed, all the while he thought he was being sneaky and stealth with his faked ignorance.

"Not for you it isn't. You generally seem to remember everything." Cornered and feeling slightly screwed, Reid lashed out, almost as loudly as he had on the plane, making several people look their way.

"Why are you asking me about Lila? What does she have to do with anything?" There were parts of his past that he hadn't wanted to talk about. Lila was a one of those parts, due largely because she was, in her own way, his first heartbreak.

"I'm just trying to prove to you that you do lie." As cool as could be, JJ leaned in and took another sip of her drink. This time, her baby kicked. She held her stomach and made a little face, as it was uncomfortable for her, but Reid never seemed to notice, which was how JJ knew he was more heated than she had expected.

"I'm not lying. I don't know what you're talking about." Shaking her head, JJ tried again. She hadn't wanted to get under Reid's skin in this way and in a public place. She was hoping he'd be calm and eating when she went in for the kill, but if she didn't do this now, she may not get another chance. His head was hot already with all his conspiracy theories.

"Hot blonde, actress, you kissed in her pool while..." With one big outburst, Reid lashed out. Although it wasn't nearly as harsh as it would have been if it was Hotch had done it, it was enough to startle her, because it was coming from him. Sweet, gentle him.

"It was an accident!" He even went as far as to slam one of his fists on the table, doing it automatically in trying to get his point across. He immediately caught himself, but by then it was too late, and he still had some fire left in him.

"It was an accident that her lips touched yours?" Raising the other eyebrow, JJ sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, defensive. She hadn't meant to be, but with his reaction it was her way of protecting her baby, although she knew he'd hardy hurt her.

"Yes! I didn't mean to kiss her! It just happened!" His actions were calmer, and his voice a little quieter, as he'd finally caught on that everyone was looking their way. It still carried the same amount of gusto that it had before.

"So you kissed her? Because after it happened, you told me that she kissed you before you had a chance to stop her. Interesting. I wonder why you didn't want me to know you kissed a girl." In truth, the kiss had been mutual after the eventual point when he realized he had needs, too. He had admitted to Morgan that he had kissed her, but that hadn't been what he had told JJ, because part of him still wanted it to be her that he kissed at that time.

Part of JJ was highly amused by how agitated he was by this, but another part of her, the lesser part, felt just a little guilty for prying at him this way. If he would be more honest with her, when she was only trying to help, she wouldn't have to be. That's what she kept reminding herself of.

"That's what I just said! And it was because it was none of your business!" This time, his voice wasn't as angry, but more pleading, desperate to get her to just drop the subject. He was cracking. She hated herself for feeling triumphant because of that.

"Yep, you're a terrible liar. You used to know that. What is it about this case that's made you forget that?" Her only agenda here wasn't to get into his mind, but yet, find out what was plaguing him. It was bad, that much she knew, because something of any other nature he would have told her about.

"I don't have to sit here and take this. I'm going to do my job and talk to the fire chief." In a split second decision, Reid tried to make for the door. JJ anticipated this the moment he started to stand and got up herself, blocking his way to the door. She had embarrassed herself far too much by now to let him get away, between everyone staring here and on the plane.

"Don't make me make you touch my stomach again in front of this entire restaurant. People are already staring. You wouldn't want the town to know that the big federal agent is afraid of pregnant bellies." It was a horribly unfair card to play, but the Reid she used to know wasn't this defiant. She had to get her leverage somehow. "Sit down and I'll get you some coffee, my treat."

"I don't want coffee." He was indignant, still refusing to sit down.

"You don't? What, is this some kind of new thing that your doctor suggested or something? Was everyone afraid you were going to drown yourself in it?" JJ tried to joke with him, trying to put him back in a comfort zone that they had found over the years. Still, he didn't take the bait. If anything, he just bit back harder.

"I just don't want coffee." He was defensive, if not pensive, speaking quickly. His body language told JJ he was anything but welcoming to her being in his space.

"Reid, are you all right? You can tell me if you're not. I wouldn't ask, it's just that...I'm worried." She was going to tell him why, let him know she had heard him last night, and that his lack of coffee was quite disturbing, yet she decided against it at the last minute. Sometimes Reid was like a small child who had to be soothed into a sense of security before sharing what they swore to not speak of.

"I'm fine. God, JJ, just back off. This doesn't concern you!" JJ jumped back a little. She never thought Reid could startle her in this way, especially after his erratic behavior over the last couple of days, but she had thought wrong. She immediately put her hands on her stomach, feeling that she had upset her baby into kicking and moving around. She was upset, even though she didn't want to be, and she couldn't hide it.

"You know what? Just go talk to the fire chief. I give up." JJ sat down, allowing him to go past her. She was tired of arguing with him.

If he didn't want to tell her what was going on and accept her friendship and help, then she was going to distance herself from the case as much as she could without compromising her job. It hurt her to see him act this way toward her, and it worried her to see him act this way at all. The pregnancy hormones certainly weren't helping with that.

"Thank you." With a snotty tone in his voice, Reid passed JJ. He reached the door, as they were seated at the table just inside of, but felt a pang a guilt, although he didn't know why. This prompted him to have a change of heart, though the sentiment was partially false, since he couldn't understand his own emotions at the moment. "Are you sure? I can sit with you while you eat."

"No, no. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." Never in her life did she think the only thing she'd want was for Reid to be as far away from her as possible. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, but she wasn't a yo-yo. She couldn't hang on this breakable thread and be bounced around.

She watched Reid out the window as he walked with a certain stride she'd not seen in him. It wasn't confidence, although that would have been a change, but more like he was on fire, flaming over something he couldn't control and nothing she could put her finger on. He rounded a corner, and she was sure in a town this small, that she would catch up with him later.

He couldn't care less. He wasn't thinking about her. He was thinking about the case, his friend and everything but the poor pregnant lady who he had just frightened; a longtime best friend, who was only there to help him. Eventually, what he had done and the way he had acted would catch up to his brain, but it wasn't going to be for awhile, and that was perfectly fine by him.

Behind some tree lined sidewalks and a few road signs lay the fire station. Reid walked in, surprisingly carrying some authority, which was rare for him. He walked right past the fire fighters, against their protests, or at least that's how things went in his head. For once, he wanted to be that guy, the heroic one like in a movie that took no prisoners and had no fears; that walked right up to a person and accused them of things of which they knew they were guilty of and didn't feel bad.

And then he remembered who he was and what Chief Cauruthers had told him about approaching Fire Chief Hollis and bummed himself out a little. The truth was, he'd never be that guy. He'd never be someone's knight in shining armor. He'd try, but it wasn't inside of him. He'd always lose out to Morgan or the next guy with some game who came along, and he'd forever be in the background. Sometimes, he wished he had more guts or a different life; that he had an edge, just like every other guy he had met, but he had nothing. He would admit that to no one but himself, because it scarred him, and he didn't want to share that with his peers.

He lifted his head up, as not to show fear. Dominate people like firefighters and other law enforcement agents could smell it from a mile away. Funny that he had done fine with Police Chief Cauruthers, a little too fine, in fact, as JJ had to drag him away to calm himself down. Now, without her, he found he wasn't so brave. It was as if her being near him allowed him to be bad cop, knowing she would be good. Now he was just a shy cop. He was glad he didn't have to work this case alone and suddenly realized sooner than normally possible that the way he had treated JJ was unacceptable. But unless he didn't want to solve the case, he had to push that out of his mind.

With the fire station just feet away, he approached the first person to saw. Clearing his throat, as not to frighten him from washing the fire truck, his eyes to the ground, Reid prepared to go-it alone. It was never his favorite thing to do, and he hated his insecurities. He tried to remember that he was doing this for Melinda, the one girl, that, for some reason, seemed to erase them all away. Maybe it was because she'd always be more broken than him by social standards, yet she had a spirit that couldn't even be bent. It gave him some kind of hope that he was still trying to figure out in his mind.

"I'm looking for Fire Chief Hollis." Normally, he would add his title, introducing himself fully, and his position and his job. In the back of his mind, he kept hearing Police Chief Cauruthers' words telling him to go in easy, and decided to forgo formalities, as not to tip the fire chief off before having a chance to speak with him.

"He's in his office, straight through the back of the station, past the trucks." Without barely looking up at him, the young man passively answered him. Had he known he was an outsider, he may not have done the same. It worked in Reid's favor that he was too into his job to care.

Reid walked quickly and with purpose. Having felt like he had ample permission to interrupt the chief's work, Reid didn't bother to knock. Instead, he simply opened the door, barging in. In retrospect, this approach could be seen as aggressive and was probably not a benefit to his cause.

"Fire Chief Hollis, I'm Doctor Spencer Reid from the FBI." Although his tone of voice was nice, the fire chief stared at him like he wanted him as far from his office as possible. He was non too pleased that this boy seemingly had no manners.

"And?" Raising one eyebrow, the sarcasm dripping from his voice, he did everything to get Reid out of his office as quickly as possible. He had work to do and didn't want bothered by useless crap, FBI or no FBI.

"I'm here to talk to you about Melinda Jolene." Showing the chief he wasn't going anywhere, he shut the door behind him, but didn't bother to sit down. He needed to at least seem somewhat imposing, even though he hardly felt that way.

"Who?" The anger he had earlier, the one he carried from last night, when it seemed that everyone just wanted Melinda to be a thing of the past and no one cared about her, was returning quickly.

"The girl whose bar burned down a little over a month ago." He was nearly fuming inside, and it was soon to come out. It seemed like he was a little short tempered these days, but for good reason. He had tried to hide it from the team, but had done a poor job. He knew that was part of the reason that they were so eager to have him talk to Melinda, hoping it would knock the crabby right out of him.

"Don't know who you're talking about. That wasn't even her bar." By now, the fire chief had gone back to filling out the paperwork that was on his desk, completely and blatantly dismissing Reid and wanting him to know it. He was challenging him, thinking he didn't have the guts to hold his ground if push came to shove, and for good reason. Fire Chief Hollis was a bit of a physically imposing man, despite being a bit older.

"Jolene left it to her, which would legally make it her bar. I'm here to see the original copy of the official report you wrote up about the fire." Reid had a feeling the doctored report wasn't the original one written out. When in the line of duty, one often takes notes, fills out the reports to the best of their ability in the moment, and then fixes them later.

The report the police had probably wasn't the only report he wrote out. The original copy had to be filed away somewhere only Fire Chief Hollis would know where to find it. It was clear he was a controlling man, and someone like him would be unlikely to shred the original report. If he had, it was officially gone and he would have lost control over it. He would have wanted to keep it somewhere for his own reasons, most likely personal ones considering the size of the town and relationships of the folks that lived in it. His personality dictated that he had to. It also didn't help that there was so much junk in his office that it was fortunate he could find his way to the desk. Pack rats rarely threw anything out, but often knew where everything was. The garbage was also empty, crumbled up papers all over the floor. It was a good sign that he'd find what he wanted if he just pushed.

"Your request is denied." That sentence in itself was telling, allowing Reid to know his initial profiling was correct. Sometimes people were so predictable.

"It wasn't a request, and it doesn't exactly work like that. I can get a warrant, if you'd like, but I'd rather make things easy on the both of us and talk about this man to man, public servant to public servant." In an attempt to show he wasn't playing a game, he pulled out his cell phone, fully prepared to call Police Chief Cauruthers knowing he would serve the warrant, but also hating to put him in that position.

"When you find a man, let me know. I'd be glad to tell him the same thing I'm telling you." If this was five years ago, those fateful five years ago, Reid would have put his head down and been embarrassed, or simply walked away. Thank goodness this wasn't five years ago.

"Sir, I really don't think that kind of attitude is necessary. I'm just trying to find out what happened here." Trying to appeal to the all work side of him, Reid attempted to not let his emotions get the best of him and handle this with the most amount of professionalism as possible.

"Her bar burned down. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out." Phone still in hand, Reid crossed his arms, almost smacking himself with his bag in the process.

"Actually, it does, because I am one and I'm also a profiler. Your attitude and body language tell me you're hiding something. You can allow me to see the report, or go back to the scene of the fire with me and explain step by step what you believe happened. It's your choice, but you're going to have to do one or the other or I'll take the legal steps I need to in order to keep you from being able to further hinder an FBI investigation." If this man was able to lie, he would have done so by now. He would have told Reid there was no other fire report, but instead he never denied it. Taking him back to the scene of the fire would inadvertently walk him through what happened that night just by being in the atmosphere of it. His subconscious would betray him when Reid started questioning him.

"Whoa. We don't need to have a problem here, Kid." The disrespect rang through is voice, only he didn't smirk like Reid expected he would do. Although upset with his wording, Reid knew he was cracking.

"I'm not a kid. You can call me Dr. Reid." Speaking just as quickly and as idignitaintly as he had with JJ, Reid put his foot down, letting him know he would not be addressed with such blatant disrespect.

"Dr. Reid, with all due respect, there's nothing for the FBI to investigate. This was nothing but a simple accident." His hand shook at his last few words, another way his body language gave him away. No wonder Police Chief Cauruthers had suspected him of lying in the report.

"Call me skeptical, but I highly doubt that. Give me the original of the report or I will be forced to call my superior." Uncrossing his arms, Reid began to scroll through is phone this time, looking for Hotch's number. He had him on speed dial, but he was just trying to get the fire chief all riled up.

"Fine, if you want to know the truth, that girl set the bar on fire herself. She was hoping for some insurance money, but I guess it must have gone wrong, because she died in that fire." This time, a raised voice, almost a bark, exited the fire chief's mouth. He was getting emotional over this, and Reid knew he was cracking. He knew to push harder.

"No, she didn't." Staying as calm as he could, without losing the sternness in his voice, Reid poked at the issue, tearing apart a sore spot for the chief.

"What do you mean?" Trying to play coy was less than appealing on a man who was already shaking, visibly more out of being upset than angry. Police Chief Cauruthers was right, if he was hiding something, he had a good reason to be. And boy was he hiding something.

"She didn't die. I spoke with her after the fire. She's still alive." Putting his phone away, Reid used the extra hand to lay heavily onto the desk in front of him, driving his point forward with equally impaling actions that he hoped would make the fire chief think twice before he lied to him again.

"She can't be. That's not possible." Fear was the emotion of choice now. If he wasn't so surprised, so upset, Reid would have suspected the fire chief himself.

"Why? Why is that not possible?" Now both of Reid's palms were flat on the desk, his body leaning over it and toward the fire chief. He looked him straight in the eye, not backing down. Finally, the flood gates opened and something went right for him today.

"Because the place exploded. With the amount of kerosene I found doused all over the scene, once that place was lit, it would have exploded nearly immediately. She couldn't have gotten out. There wouldn't have been time." Breathing heavily, a knot in his stomach, Reid tried his best to calm himself, to get out what he needed to get out, to find answers for a friend.

"So it was arson." This was a statement, not a question. It couldn't be interpreted any other way; Reid left no room for it. As soon as the fire chief answered him, though, he got a dose of his own medicine, jumping back and visibly shaken.

"Of course it was arson! A building doesn't just explode like that because someone's appliances malfunctioned. The girl had all electric appliances. Even if she would have left a towel on the stove, the fire would have spread slowly, because the cement floor and metal appliances. Most likely, the sprinkler system would have doused the fire. It needed an accelerant to go up that quickly." The condescending tone didn't mask the anger, the yelling. Reid's heartbeat didn't slow down knowing the truth, only left him more fearful that he was wrong about Melinda being alive. "You're going to arrest me, aren't you?"

Taking a deep breath and realizing what had just been said, the fire chief resigned himself to the fact that this was the end of his career and possibly his free life for awhile. Only a man on the edge, one with a secret too heavy to bear, would crack with that sort of encumbrance, like it was a burden to keep it inside and freeing to let it go. Reid recognized that and went in as a friend now, not a foe, playing off of the situation and what the fire chief was giving him.

"Not if you work with me. If you answer all of my questions, cooperate, and replace the false report with the real one, I won't." It was now that Reid took a seat, having no reason to be imposing, but only wanting to be a friend now. He was switching tactics for ultimate gain of knowledge.

"You're a strange kid. First you come in here on your high horse, threatening superiors and legal action against me, and now that I admitted I falsified the report and gave you all you needed to arrest me, you suddenly don't want to anymore?" Not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth, Fire Chief Hollis was still unable to adjust to the sudden switch in attitude. He suspected Reid had an angle, and he wanted to know it. The unfortunate part of not being a profiler, but being profiled, is that if you had to ask, you couldn't figure it out for yourself, leaving the profiler one step ahead.

"Again, I'm not a kid, and it's Dr. Reid. And although this is an FBI case, Melinda is my friend. I just want to find out what happened to her. I want to make sure she is safe and not on the streets again. If you help me, I'll help you. Why did you falsify that report?" Reid's breathing evened out and he talked in his normal tone, trying to get a conversation flowing. He was done accusing, he just wanted the truth.

"Because I didn't see any harm in it. The girl was already dead, or so I thought, and the place destroyed. The damage was done. We've had not one violent crime here, Dr. Reid. Just a bunch of kids swiping candy and soda from the local stores. The people in this town aren't killers. It...it was an isolated incident." There was still an edge to the fire chief's voice. He still had something bundled up inside of him that he just couldn't let go of, although he was trying hard to act as if it were otherwise.

"I believe someone wanted to be a killer, and I promise you someone will pay. But what I need to know is why you think someone in this town did it?" It was all in the way things were worded, which Reid caught as a fault in the man who sat across from him pretty much from point one.

"Because Melinda couldn't even drive. She didn't go out of town. No one else knew her and no one else would come through here and destroy her bar for shits and giggles." Although still extremely defensive, Reid was glad. In trying to keep his defenses up, his brain was so focused on that, that it wasn't filtering the truth. The fire chief wasn't catching his own wording.

"Why do you assume this was about Melinda? She kept a lot of money in her bar. She never used a bank. That couldn't have been too hard to find out. Besides, bars are robbed all the time, because they usually have a fair amount of cash on hand. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to assume that it was a robbery gone wrong and the perpetrator covered their tracks?" Playing into his hand with his own spike of the attitude, Reid challenged him just a little again, hoping to get more before he was shut down on all together. He knew with someone this emotional that it was coming and soon.

"Dr. Reid, somebody planned this fire. You can't just buy that much kerosene at one place, and certainly not unnoticed." Nodding, Reid understood that no one would decide to rob a place with the plan to burn it down after. No one would go to that much trouble, because there were too many other ways in a bar and restaurant to start a fire without going out of their way to buy that much kerosene. This was personal.

"I'll get our tech on tracing large amounts of kerosene that were bought anywhere in the county, then." Letting the fire chief know he was going to follow up was crucial to Reid. He watched for a reaction, but there was no fear there, no worry. Unsure why, Reid decided to continue the questioning, in hopes of figuring it out. "Why do you want to cover up for a potential killer? Why would you do that?

"Because these people are my friends." Staring Reid down, Reid concluded this may have been the only fully honest thing he had been told inside of these four walls.

"And it looks like one of them tried to kill my friend. Do you see where I stand on this?" Not backing down and wanting the fire chief to be completely sure of that, Reid tried to reason with him, to get him to understand just where it was he was coming from and why this was personal to him, too. Hopefully, they could connect on a more personal level because of it.

"Yes. Do you see where I stand?" Instead, he got challenged again. He was starting to feel like they were two bulls butting horns, one physically more opposing and one mentally, getting them nowhere in the end.

"Actually, I don't. Do you know who did this?" He asked softly at first, but his voice was on edge. When he got no answer in seconds, Reid stood up, yelling just as he had earlier, when it had seemed to work. "Do you know who did this?"

"Sorry to interrupt." At that very moment, the crucial one when information could be passed on or lost, JJ walked in the room. She immediately wished she would have caught herself before speaking, as she was startled by Reid far too many times in the diner to be comfortable being shut in a room with him.

"You're not interrupting anything. We're done here for today, but we'll be back tomorrow. Don't go too far or I will arrest you." Reid's eyes fell on the look on JJ's face, and he made sure not to take his own issues out on her again. Gently, he spoke to her, acknowledging her, and then turned to the fire chief, putting his hand harshly down on his desk to make himself clear.

Turning, Reid laid his hand on JJ's back and carefully ushered her out of the office. She was all too glad to oblige, wanting to know what was going on, yet afraid of sparking some other off-kilter reaction in Reid again. She was on this case, too, though, and as soon as they were out of earshot from the station, heading down the sidewalk and back the way they came, she took a few steps away from him and decided it time to speak.

"What was that all about? Did you find out anything?" She couldn't have imagined he would be persistent if he hadn't found out something, yet she couldn't believe he'd be that angry if he hadn't. Of course, until today, she didn't believe he could have outbursts like this either, but he was getting close to earning a medal for them.

"He falsified the report. There was kerosene found at the scene and apparently a large amount, enough that it would have raised a red flag had someone tried to buy it all at one time, so they would have had to get it from different sources. That tells us it was premeditated and about Melinda, not the bar or the money inside of it. The fire chief himself told me that someone in town did it. I think he knows who, but he's not giving it up. We reached an understanding that I wouldn't arrest him for falsifying the report if he'd cooperate. We'll be back tomorrow to give him one more chance to tell us who, and if he doesn't, I'll have him arrested." When they went back tomorrow, Reid already had all intentions of taking Police Chief Cauruthers. Again, this wasn't a position he wanted to put him in, but he'd do what he had to do to get this case solved, closed, and hopefully get him closer to his friend. The law was the law.

"None of this makes any sense." JJ couldn't comprehend how a girl who was so sweet and giving could be targeted so violently. Sure, she'd never met Melinda, but if she was tugging at Reid's heartstrings like she so obviously was, she had to be pretty special.

"Actually, some of it does. You know how when we were at the scene last night I was looking for something, but didn't know what? I was smelling something strange and I don't think it registered with me right away. The place was all ashes and had been burned down, it was normal for it to smell rancid. I think what I was smelling was the kerosene, but I just didn't know it yet. Subconsciously, I think I was looking for traces of what I was smelling within the wreckage." As things often did after the fact, the puzzle pieces started to come together. Last night he had searched the ground, just looking out and cursing the moonlight internally for not allowing him to see better. Now he knew he was looking for the source of the unfitting smell.

"So this was deliberate? Someone was trying to kill her?" Disbelief blanketed JJ's face. She didn't miss this kind of violence working for the Pentagon. Then again, she didn't miss the politics working with Reid.

"But they failed. I have to keep telling myself that. And I'm going to call and tell Police Chief Cauruthers that, too." Never socially finding his stride with JJ again, or making the effort, Reid pulled out his phone in front of her, dialing the number to the police station. He was onto something, and he didn't have time for friend formalities.

Although the pair were nearing the station where their car was parked, and where they still had to plan out the rest of the day to best suit the case, Reid made a judgement call. The faster he could get the information out there, the faster they could hopefully track down Melinda. Every second counted for a girl like her, one who could be on the streets, hungry and trying to readjust to everything around her. Although Melinda was strong and resilient, there was an emotional toll the kind of tragedy she had experienced in her life brought on. To go from being on the streets to finding everything you've ever wanted in a friend only to lose it, your stability, and end up back on the streets again, could cause a whole slew of problems that Reid simply didn't feel she was equipped to deal that. Her time may already be up, and he very well knew it.