Three hours earlier in Pittsburgh

Brian was working on a file for a client when the intercom buzzed.

"What is it, Cyn?"

"Carl Horvath is here; he asks if you have a moment to talk to him."

"Sure, send him in."

Carl came in just as Brian stood up and walked from behind his desk to shake hands with the man.

"What can I do for you, Carl? It's not every day I find you in my office."

"You know about the murders on and around Liberty Avenue the last couple of weeks?"

"Yeah, am I a suspect?"

Brian smirked; he knew damn well that he couldn't be, and that Carl knew that, too.

"Of course not; I know you and Justin weren't in town the night of two of the three murders, and the last one you were at our house for dinner when I got the call. No, the problem is I'm getting nowhere fast and I have finally managed to get my captain to agree to let me call in the FBI profilers. The only catch is he won't let them work at the precinct and he won't give them any help."

"Shit, what an asshole. What can I do to help?"

"I was wondering if you knew about a place they could work; they are 6 people and need somewhere with a table, room for bulletin boards and preferably access to a toilet and a coffee maker."

Brian thought for a second. Then, he grabbed the phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, Carl is here and he has a problem."

Brian explained to the person on the other end of the line and when he was done, he listened for a minute before answering.

"I figured you'd say that; I'll let Carl know."

"That was Justin. We agree that they can work at Britin; we even have room for them to stay there. Just ask if they'd be willing to pay for room and board, we'll have Vivian serve them three meals a day and all the coffee they can stomach."

"That's mighty generous of you, Brian; are you sure it's not going to be an inconvenience? We have no idea how long it's going to take to crack the case."

"It's no problem, Carl. I'm at the office most of the day and Justin is in his studio; we'll only see them for dinner and breakfast, it's really no big deal."

"I'll call them and ask for their help, then; thanks again. I'll call when I know something more."

"That's fine; we'll talk later, just one thing. Could you maybe try to keep it quiet that they are staying with us? I don't think they'd appreciate the entire family showing up and trying to stick their collective noses in the case."

Carl laughed and nodded.

"That's a good point; I'll keep it to myself, I won't even tell Debbie."

Brian smiled and showed the older man out before going back to his work.

At Britin, Justin walked into the kitchen to talk to Vivian, their housekeeper/cook/mother hen. He came in just as she entered through the door from the utility room. She had her arms laden with shopping bags and Justin hurried over to help her carry them to the counter top.

"Brian just called. Carl needs help on a case and he is going to call the FBI profiler team and ask them to come here. We offered that they could stay here, since the Pittsburgh PD isn't all that interested in helping. That means we will be 6 extra for all meals for the next unknown while."

"You don't think you could have told me this before I went to the grocery store?"

"I'm sorry, but we just heard not 15 minutes ago."

"Yeah, yeah, that's all fine and dandy. Now you can unpack this while I go back to the store. How many people are we talking?"

"Six and Carl is going to be here for lunch most days until they catch this bastard."

Vivian nodded and then she went back out the door she had just entered, leaving Justin with the groceries. He hurried to unpack them and then he went back to his studio.

When Brian called a little later to confirm that they would indeed show up, he was relieved; he didn't much fancy telling Vivian that they wouldn't come after all.

Two hours later, at noon, he put his brushes in cleaning solvent and a cloth over his latest painting; he didn't like when people looked at his unfinished pieces.

He then went upstairs to take a shower and change into something that wasn't covered in paint. Vivian had lunch ready for him when he came back down and he ate while she started baking something, he wasn't sure what.

A little before two PM, the doorbell rang while Justin was upstairs making sure everything was ready in the rooms. He heard Vivian open the door.

"Hi, Vivian."

"Detective Horvath, so nice to see you again. Come on in, you can show everybody into the den. I'll just get Master Justin for you."

Carl laughed and clapped a hand on Vivian's shoulder.

"You have a mean streak a mile wide don't you?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about."

With an obviously false innocent smile, she left to go find Justin while Carl led the BAU team into the den.