Disclaimer: See chapter 1
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The dispatcher was having trouble understanding the caller from 260 Emerson Street. "You've got to come quickly, she's on the ground. Oh and the baby. Her husband's an FBI agent; he'll know what to do."
"What's your name ma'am?"
"Louise," the woman replied, "but you've got to hurry. Poor Allie and the baby, someone has to call Spencer." Louise Crenshaw's hands were shaking as she held the phone and tried to make someone understand her next door neighbor needed help.
"Okay ma'am, we're sending someone."
Louise hung up her phone and ran out of her house as fast as her 80 year old legs would carry her. She'd grabbed a clean dish towel from the kitchen. She hurried, wishing her arthritis didn't hurt so much and she wasn't so out of breath. She finally reached Allie on the grass. She pressed her dish towel to Allie's head wound and waited for help to arrive. "Allie dear, wake up," she said and then she noticed something sticking out of Allie's blazer pocket, her cell phone. She knew how to use one. Her son had gotten her one but she always seemed to forget to charge the darn thing. She supposed her memory was going along with everything else. She saw the speed dial for Spencer's cell and pushed the button.
Reid was finishing a consult for a detective in Denver when his cell rang. Reid looked at the call display. "Hi my love, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Spencer, oh thank God, it's Louise. You've got to come. Allie's on the ground and there's blood and she took the baby."
"Louise, what are you talking about?" Spencer said urgently into the phone.
"Some woman was beating on Allie with something metal. She's on the ground and she's bleeding. I called 911. She took your little baby."
"I'm on my way Louise."
"Reid what happened," Morgan asked as he saw his friend's face go white.
"That was my next door neighbor. Some woman attacked Allie and she says she took Joanna," he said as he was running for the elevators.
Morgan and Prentiss were on his heels and Hotch, who had come out of his office just as Reid was relaying the gist of the phone call, put his cell to his ear, "JJ, get to the parking garage ASAP. Reid's in trouble." He knocked on Rossi's door and informed him and the two ran for the elevators.
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Louise Crenshaw was holding her dish towel to Allie's head when the police cruiser pulled up in front of the house. Louise could see one of the officers talking on the radio on his shoulder. "Oh, thank God you've come. She needs help and the baby."
"What baby ma'am?" asked one of the officers, who was short, stocky and bald.
"Allie and Spencer have a little baby named Joanna. I saw the woman take her. She hit Allie with that," she pointed to the tire iron that had been discarded on the grass. Officer Woodland looked at it but did not touch it although he did notice blood and dark hair on one end of it.
Allie began to moan. "Ma'am, ma'am can you hear me?" the tall blonde Officer Jeffries asked.
Allie tried to lift her head but it hurt so much and then she heard a loud noise as a siren indicated the arrival of the ambulance. The paramedics grabbed their gear and began to attend to Allie while Officer Jeffries helped Louise Crenshaw to her feet and she silently thanked God she had put her depends on that morning. Officer Jeffries led Louise to the police cruiser to get her statement.
"You don't have to ask me all these questions young man. I called Spencer. He'll be here soon. He's an FBI agent. He'll know what to do. He's a doctor you know."
"I thought you said he was an FBI agent?" Officer Jeffries looked confused.
"Well he is, but he can be both can't he?"
"What kind of doctor is he?" the officer asked.
"Engineering," Louise replied as she put her index finger to her lip, "oh and mathematics and something else that has something to do with science."
Jeffries shook his head. Why did he always get these batty old birds that had no idea what they were talking about. There probably wasn't even a baby.
"Joanna," Allie said as the paramedics tried to assess her condition, "is Joanna alright?"
"Ma'am, if you could just keep still and let us examine you," one of the paramedics said as he flashed a pen light in her eyes, "pupils equal and reactive," he told his partner who was trying to dress the head wound. Allie screamed when he moved her left arm. "Squeeze my hand ma'am," he asked and Allie tried to obey the command. "No hand grasp left arm, it might be broken, let's splint the arm. The paramedic removed the arm splint from his bag and applied it to Allie's left forearm.
"Please, tell me if my baby's okay?" Allie begged the paramedics.
"What baby?" the paramedic dressing the head wound asked.
"My baby, Joanna," Allie screamed, "she's in the back seat of the car." One of the paramedics looked at the other and then at the empty back seat of the car that's door was still open. They looked at Officer Woodland and he silently shook his bald head.
Another siren heralded the arrival of CSU. Two technicians with their kits exited the vehicle. They surveyed the situation. Officer Woodland was trying to wrap the area in yellow crime scene tape. The CSU techs took out their cameras and started taking pictures. A crowd had begun to gather as curious neighbors left their homes to investigate why so many emergency vehicles were on their street.
The police, the paramedics, the CSU techs and the crowd all heard Allie Reid's strangled scream, "Somebody tell me about my baby."
Officer Woodland crouched down beside the woman. "Ma'am, your neighbor said that the woman who attacked you took your baby."
"What," Allie cried, "No, Joanna, Joanna." She tried to sit up but everything around her began to spin. "Spencer, I need Spencer, please, please get Spencer."
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"Can't you drive any faster Morgan?" Reid asked as he sat in the passenger seat of the SUV that sped down the I95 toward McLean. Hotch, Rossi and JJ followed closely behind in a second vehicle.
"Reid, I'm way over the speed limit already. It's a ways to McLean, you know."
"I know that Morgan. I drive it every day. Let me drive."
"No way man. You are way too wound up. You'll have us in an accident."
They heard Prentiss on her cell. "Yes, I see, thank you." She closed her phone and spoke to the men from the back seat. "I just talked to McLean police. A Louise Crenshaw called 911 saying she'd seen a woman beating on Allie with what proved to be a tire iron. Allie was unconscious on the lawn. She has a big gash in the side of her head. Paramedics are working on her and CSU is there. Mrs. Crenshaw said the woman took the baby."
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Emerson Street was deluged with more lights and sirens as two SUVs pulled up to the Reid home. Officer Jeffries noticed a young guy in gray cords, a white shirt with its sleeves rolled up topped with a maroon sweater vest jump out of the vehicle before it had come to a complete stop. The man was ducking under the crime scene tape when Officer Jeffries stepped forward to stop him, only to be stopped by a stern looking man in a black suit. FBI credentials were shoved in front of his face. "Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief of the BAU," he nodded in Reid's direction. "SSA Dr. Spencer Reid is Al…the victim's husband."
"I told you so young man but you didn't want to listen to an old lady," Louise Crenshaw stated from her place beside the police cruiser.
"I'm sorry," he shrugged and looked at Hotch, "first she says the husband's an FBI agent and then she says he's a doctor. I asked her what kind of doctor and she says engineering and then she says mathematics and then she says some kind of science. How can I take her seriously when she tells me something like that."
"For your information Officer…Jeffries" Morgan said while he looked at the man's nametag as he stood in front of him, arms crossed, "Spencer Reid has doctorates in engineering, mathematics and chemistry."
Emily approached Louise, "Mrs. Crenshaw, I'm SSA Emily Prentiss. I work with Spencer. I wonder if you could tell me what you saw. How about you come over to the SUV and sit down. You must be tired and I'm sure this has been a stressful experience for you." Emily led the woman who seemed grateful for her kindness to the SUV as Officer Jeffries sheepishly hung his head.
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"Allie," Spencer was down on his knees beside his wife. He took in he bandaged head and her splinted arm.
"Spencer," Allie screamed through her tears. "Thank God you're here. She took Joanna. She took my baby. I didn't…I didn't know who she was and she just attacked me like she hated me. Oh my God, do you think it's because of the letters. This is all my fault."
"Shh, nothing's your fault," Spencer kissed his wife's cheek. "I'm going to find Joanna, okay. I'll find her and I'll bring her right to you," Reid said through his own tears. "You have to let these people look after you so I can look for Joanna, okay?" Allie nodded. Reid nodded at the men who lifted Allie on the stretcher. He walked beside the stretcher as the paramedics wheeled her to the ambulance. "I'll see you soon okay?" he bent and softly kissed her lips, "I love you."
After the doors of the ambulance closed, Reid turned and rushed to the front door of his house with Morgan, Hotch and Rossi following quickly behind him. Reid ran down the stairs to his office and opened what looked like a wooden storage cabinet in the wall to reveal four monitors of the security cameras Andy Cummings had installed. He rewound the two that gave views of the front of the house. He didn't have to rewind far until he saw Allie pull into the driveway. A blue Firefly pulled up to the curb on the other side of the street. He saw Allie get out of the car and open the back door to release Joanna, totally unaware of a woman coming quietly behind her until she pushed the car door on Allie's legs. The men watched as the woman swung the tire iron at Allie as she stumbled to get her balance and tried to lead the woman away from her baby. Tears streamed down Reid's face as he watched the assault on the woman he loved. A strangled moan escaped his lips as Allie finally fell to the ground and the woman was clearly visible, the bloody tire iron in her hand. Reid froze the image as the men stared in shock at the face of Sharon Webb.