DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor and I making any money from this story.
A/N: Thanks again everyone who reviewed and added! Glad you're all enjoying so far! Now – onwards!
WANTED – Chapter Three
Reid woke up with a start. He looked around the room. Where was he? He was sitting on a single bed in the corner of a room. The room itself seemed to be a small studio apartment. There was a kitchenette in the far corner of the room, a small two seat sofa and television. In the corner opposite the bed was a door that Reid assumed lead to a bathroom. A quick look out of the window confirmed that he was at least still in Washington.
What the hell had happened? Last he knew he'd been in the squad car with Officer's Rothbarth and Clarridge heading to the station. He looked down and noticed for the first time that his clothes had changed. Instead of the shirt and tie he'd been wearing earlier he was now in a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans with a black zip up jacket lying at the end of the bed.
He picked up the jacket to look at it. When had he got changed? That was when he noticed the gun lying at the end of the bed. He knew it wasn't his, but he had no idea where it came from. What the hell was going on? He thought about calling Hotch, or Morgan, or anyone for that matter. But call them and tell them what? He didn't even know what was happening, apart from the fact that he had been accused of murdering a woman. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He was bought out of his thoughts by the door knocking. He walked over to it and looked through the peep hole.
There was a man standing on the other side. He looked to be about 50's with short, grey hair. He was shorter than Reid and dressed in a casual manner. He was holding a brown paper bag that was full of groceries. He knocked again. "Hello?" He called as he knocked.
Reid wondered what to do for a few moments and then decided to open the door. "Erm...Hi." It came out as more of a question than a greeting.
"Charlie, isn't it?" The elder man asked but continued before Reid could speak. "I'm John. I live next door. Your friend knocked my door this morning." He explained. "Told me you were new to the block and that you weren't feeling well. He asked me to keep an eye on you." He smiled a little. "Figured if you'd just moved in you could use a few supplies?" He offered Reid the small bag of goods.
Reid looked at him for a few seconds utterly confused. And what had he called him... Charlie? And who was his friend? Reid realised the man was looking at him as if he'd lost his mind – maybe he had – and decided it was best to answer the man. "Erm... Thank you." Was all he could think to say. "That's very thoughtful of you." He took the bag off of John and placed it on the small table next to the door.
"You're welcome." John said. "So what brings you to Bedworth Heights?" He asked casually.
"Sorry, what?" Reid asked. Bedworth Height? Was that the name of the apartment block? Was he in an apartment block?
"People here are usually in a, erm..." He shrugged. "Transitional period, shall we say. You know... divorced, fired. Generally down and out." He smiled. "No offence."
Reid did his best to smile back. "None taken."
"See me," John continued. "Wife left me and took all the savings. Pete next door? Drink problem which cost him his job and so on." He smiled again. "You got a story too I'm guessing."
"Something like that, yea." Reid answered, honestly not sure what to say. He had no idea how he'd ended up here. And why did this man think his name was Charlie? "Thanks for the groceries." He said.
John nodded. "No problem. If you need anything I'm next door. Number forty-two." He said goodbye and then left.
Reid locked the door and walked back over to the bed. He lay down, having no idea what to do next.
(((((())))))
Hotch and Morgan rode to the hospital in silence. They were on their way to talk to Officer Clarridge at the hospital. Officer Rothbarth was still in Intensive Care but Clarridge, as it turned out, had only suffered minor injuries.
They walked to Clarridge's room after announcing themselves at the Nurse's station and getting directions.
"Officer Clarridge?" Hotch asked as he walked into the room. Clarridge nodded. "I'm Agent Hotchner, we met back at Quantico. This is Agent Morgan." He said indication Morgan.
"Hi." Clarridge said in response. He was sat up in his hospital bed and wore a sling around his right arm. The bullet, so the nurse had told Hotch, had only grazed Clarridge's upper arm. Although it was a deep graze, he would be released from hospital that evening.
"We're here to ask you about what happened earlier." Morgan said, walking to stand next to Clarridge's bed. "Anything you can tell us would be useful."
Clarridge sighed before he began speaking. "We got to the station parking lot. It's around the back of the station so you can't really see it from the road or the station. I took the suspect..."
"Agent Reid." Morgan interrupted.
Clarridge glared at him but didn't comment. He quickly glanced at Hotch before continuing. "I took him out the car, and Stu, erm, Officer Rothbarth, locked up the car and followed us." He shook his head. "I don't really know what happened next. He took my gun and a shot went off." He was staring into the distance as he remembered. "He turned to shoot me but I managed to get out of the way. He just grazed me. He took off and I followed him a few blocks before I lost him." He shrugged, wincing a little as he did so.
"Is that your official account of events?" Hotch asked.
"It's the same as my statement, if that's what you mean." He replied.
"How long have you been with MPDC?" Morgan asked, still not able to believe that Reid would shoot two police officers and just take off.
"I transferred just over a month ago from NYPD." Clarridge answered. "Stu's been my partner since I transferred."
Hotch nodded. "Thank you, Officer Clarridge." He said before turning to leave.
Morgan thanked him also and turned to follow Hotch. "So what do we do now?" Morgan asked. According to Clarridge's story, Reid had shot the two officers and fled, but Morgan was having a hard time believing this.
"I don't know." Hotch admitted. He didn't want to believe that Reid could but guilty, but he had to admit, although he loathed too, that it was starting to look worse with each passing hour for the younger agent. "Prentiss, JJ and Rossi are out now canvassing the area near the police station, seeing if anyone has seen Reid." Hotch turned to look at Morgan. "I guess we find the UnSub for the first two murders and go from there."
(((((())))))
"This isn't getting us anywhere." Prentiss said, turning to face JJ.
"It's all we can do at the minute." JJ said, thanking another woman for her time. So far, nobody had seen Reid. One woman had offered to save Prentiss' sole from damnation, but apart from that, nothing.
"We have no leads." Rossi said. "Victims had nothing in common apart from their appearance, age and the fact they lived in DC. Geographical Profile wasn't very useful either..."
"The UnSub seems to kill them and dump their bodies wherever's convenient." Prentiss added.
"Hotch'll be finished at the hospital soon." JJ said. "He'll be able to tell us what the Officer said and then we'll just have to go from there." She turned to stop a man who was walking down the street. "Excuse me, Sir?" She flashed her ID badge at him. "I'm with the FBI, were looking for this man." She showed him a photo of Reid. It was his official FBI photo as it was all they'd been able to get hold of as they hurried from Quantico to Washington.
The gray haired man stopped and looked at the photo. His brow furrowed as he looked at it. "Yea..." He said, as if he didn't believe it himself. "Yea that's Charlie." He looked up at JJ, then to Rossi and Prentiss.
"Charlie?" Rossi asked, moving to stand closer to JJ. Prentiss followed suit.
"Yea. The kid just moved in next door to me." He looked at the photo again. "The kid's a Fed?" He asked, noticing the flag in the photo.
"Can you tell us your address?" Prentiss asked, not answering his question.
"Yea..." The man said, reeling it off as Prentiss wrote it down.
"And your name, Sir?" She asked.
"John. John Martinez." He answered. "Is Charlie in trouble?" He asked, "He seemed like a nice kid."
"Thank you for your time, Sir." JJ said.
"You've been a great help." Rossi said, pulling out his phone and dialling. He waited for an answer. "Hotch? We think we found Reid."
(((((())))))
"Ok, got it." Hotch said into his phone. "We'll head over. You go back to Quantico, get Garcia to find out what she can about Martinez." He hung up the phone and turned to face Morgan who was driving. "They found an address for Reid."
"What?" Morgan said, "Where? How?"
"Some guy they showed his photo too recognized him." Hotch answered. "Although he thought his name was Charlie."
"Charlie?" Morgan asked, glancing at Hotch. "Why would he think he was called Charlie?"
"Reid knows we'll be looking for him. Maybe he gave him a false name." Hotch said, not wanting to voice his other theory. If Reid was mentally unstable he could have unknowingly changed his entire self, name and everything. Worse case, if Reid was suffering for some kind of mental break, Charlie could be some sort of alter-ego.
"So where are we going?" Morgan asked, pulling Hotch from his thoughts.
Hotch told him the address and a few minutes late they were outside. The block looked not too dissimilar to others in the area, a little more run down perhaps but not too out of place.
"What's the number?" Morgan asked.
"Forty-One." Hotch said, opening the door and holding it for Morgan.
"Alright," Morgan sighed, "Here we go."
(((((())))))
Reid sat in the bed holding the gun. How had he gotten it? It looked like a Government Issue side arm. He racked his brain trying to remember what had happened but came up empty. He heard a knock at the door and went to look through the peep hole. He walked to the door, gun still in hand. Looking through the peep hole he was shocked to see Morgan and Hotch. What were they doing here? And how had they found him.
He went to open the door then changed his mind. Would they think he had killed that woman? Had he hurt the two Police Officers? Even he didn't know so how could he expect them to believe him when he said he hadn't. But how else could he have ended up here, with a Government Issue firearm that wasn't his? The door knocked again and he heard Morgan call his name. He stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. He took a step back from the door and silently wished they'd go away. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to see them. Not until he knew himself what was going on. Morgan called his name again. A few seconds later, the door came flying open and Morgan and Hotch barged in, guns in hand.
Hotch immediately holstered his gun when he saw Reid was alone. Morgan, however, didn't. "Reid?" Morgan asked, looking him up and down. "Put the gun down, Reid."
Reid looked down at his hand. He'd forgotten he'd been holding the gun. "I will if you do." He said, not able to comprehend the fact the Morgan was pointing a gun at him.
"Come on, Man." Morgan said, "Put it down."
"Morgan..." Hotch said, but Morgan continued.
"Put it down and we'll talk. Ok?"
Reid dropped the gun on the floor. "Can you stop pointing your gun at my head now, please?" Reid asked. Morgan – his friend, a person who was supposed to trust him, had been pointing a gun at him. If he'd done that before they'd even spoken, how the hell was he going to convince someone who didn't know him that he was innocent? If he ever managed to find out what had happened, that it.
"Morgan, put your damn gun away." Hotch said. He turned to face Reid as Morgan did as he was told. "What the hell is going on Reid?" He half asked, half demanded.
"I..." Reid sighed. "I don't know."
"Two police officers are in the hospital." Hotch continued. "One's critical. The other made a statement that it was you who shot them before fleeing the scene."
"What?" Reid said. "No... I..." He shook his head.
"Where did you get the gun?" Morgan asked, looking at the weapon on the floor.
"I don't know." Reid said, staring at the firearm on the floor. "It was here when I woke up."
"When you woke up?" Hotch asked.
Reid nodded. "I don't know what happened." He said in an almost pleading tone. "I just..." He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know."
"You gotta come with us, Reid." Morgan said. "We can help you."
"What?" Reid asked, noticing the tone in his friends' voice, albeit a friend who had pointed a gun at him. "Do you..." He shook his head. "You think I'm crazy?" He almost shouted. "Oh my God, you actually..." He shook his head. "I'm not crazy, Morgan!"
"Nobody thinks you're crazy, Reid." Hotch said. "If we take you to the station we can clear all this up. You have a solid alibi for the first two murders. We can find the real UnSub and..."
"Who's going to believe me?" Reid asked. "Two Officers got shot and I was the only other person there and I don't know what happened. A woman was killed and my DNA was found on her..." He looked at Morgan. "Even you think I've gone mad."
"Reid, I don't..."
"You kicked in a door and pointed a gun at my head." Reid interrupted. "You don't do that if you think persons innocent." He shook his head again. "You think I killed a woman and shot two cops. Who's going to believe me when I tell them I don't even know where I was at the time?" Maybe Morgan was right. Maybe he had gone crazy.
"Reid, nobody..." Hotch began, "I don't think you're crazy, Reid. I know you and you're not capable of this. Come with us and we'll find out what's happening."
Reid sat down on the bed and rested his head in his hands. "What if I am?" He asked. Before anyone could answer, a commotion could be heard from the hall way.
"It's MPDC." Morgan said. "They must have found out you were here."
Hotch looked at Morgan. "How?" He asked, but waited for no answer. "Go." He said, turning to face Reid.
Reid looked at him. "What?"
"Go." Hotch repeated. "They'll just take you in and assume you're guilty. Go and give us time to get to the bottom of this."
"Reid." Morgan said, moving to the window and opening it. "Listen to him. Just give us some time to sort this out."
Reid grabbed the jacket off the bed and moved to the window, looking back to Hotch then to Morgan.
"I'm sorry," Morgan said, holding the window open. "The whole gun thing?"
Reid smiled a little. He turned back to face Hotch and then left. Morgan watched him climb down the fire escape just as the MPDC Offices entered the small apartment. "He got away." Morgan said simply.
The officers, who both had their guns drawn, moved to the window. Reid was still visible. "I can get a shot." One of the officers said, aiming his gun.
"Hold fire." Hotch said.
The officer glanced at Hotch then returned to his sight. He looked quickly at his partner who nodded and pulled the trigger.
Morgan knocked the gun out of his hands and Hotch moved over quickly to pick it up. He looked about the window but Reid was gone. "I said hold your fire, Officer!" Hotch said, eyeing the man.
"I know he's one of you," the Officer who had fired said. "But fed or not, that guys a cop killer." He looked at his partner. "A shooting too good for him."
"Sorry, what?" Morgan asked, nit sure he'd heard right. "A cop killer?"
The officer nodded. "Stu Rothbarth's dead."
(((((())))))
So... any good? I know maybe Morgan wouldn't hold his gun to Reid but it's a story, and the rest of the Team are just as confused as Reid. Also, Morgan's not sure if Reid is, well, Reid and so on :p And like I've said before, I do love a bit of confrontational angst : ) But the question is, did Reid do it? And has he been shot or did he get away in time?