Disclaimer: See my profile

a/n hey all! Here's the next chapter. Please enjoy

The White Queen

"I'm driving!" Emily grabbed the keys from Reid's hands.

"No… You don't know the way." He argued as they got off the elevator at the ground floor of the field office.

"Program it in the GPS if you have to." She insisted. "You're not driving."

"Why are we arguing about this?"

"Because you're upset, I can see that. I don't blame you but I need you to keep your head together."

"Mason Parker did this." He said getting into the passenger side of the SUV he'd rented with Rossi.

"You don't know that!"

"Who else could've pulled this off?"

The sun had begun its fiery descent into the desert when they pulled out onto the street from the garage. He pulled on his sunglasses against the glare, happy to hide behind them.

"We can't assume anything Reid. You know better then that."

He ignored her and stared out the window. First his father and now his mother, he should've seen this coming. He should've alerted her doctor. How could he have missed the fact that everyone involved with Riley Jenkins was a target? Why had he let his feelings for his dad, cloud his judgment.

"This isn't your fault?"

"Emily… You've said that before to me and you were right, I know that now."

"So…"

"This time you're wrong it's my fault. I shouldn't have let my feelings for my dad get in the way of logic."

"So what… you think if this case were just another anonymous person, you would've known that Mason Parker was Gary Michael's brother from the first minute."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying."

"I should've paid more attention."

Emily looked over at him out of her dark sunglasses. He looked back and wondered what she was thinking. A part of him wanted to believe her that it was his fault, but he knew better.

Dr. Norman stood waiting for Reid as he and Emily entered Bennington twenty-eight minutes later. The white face of Dianna Reid's son had his stomach churning. This shouldn't be happening to either of them.

"Dr. Reid." He held out his hand.

"This is SSA Emily Prentiss, a member of my team. Emily, this is my mother's doctor Edward Norman."

"It's nice to meet you Agent Prentiss."

"And you too," She shook his hand with surprising strength. "What can you tell us about Dianna Reid?"

"She was in the activity room all morning writing in her journal. She's writing a book." He looked up at Reid. "Did you know that?"

"No?"

Dr. Norman forced himself to ignore the tears that had entered Reid's tone. He watched Emily reach over and touch the young man's arm briefly. Then she turned her dark eyes on him with a look that clearly said. "He's devastated, make it stop." Then the look was gone.

"Yes… She's turned your cases into a series of short stories about modern Knights of the Round Table thrown back into medieval times. She's let me read some of them and they are quite good."

"Dr. Norman… Can you tell us the rest of her movements?" He asked, changing a subject that was obviously painful.

"Right… She went up to her room after lunch. I went in to speak to her two hours later and she was gone. I think I might know how she got out of here."

"What is it?"

Even though Dr Norman had only seen Dr. Reid a few times in the last four years, he could see that the young man held on by a thread. How much could one person take before they crumble like over-toasted bread?

"There's one member of the staff missing. His name is Raul Suarez Del Toro. He was hired here about a month ago."

"Did you do a background check on him?" Emily asked.

Dr Norman felt a twinge of annoyance at the question even though he knew Dr. Reid had to ask them. "Yes… We put all of our people through extensive background checks. He passed them all with flying colors. He was born in California. He went to school to become a nurse. He got along very well, especially with your mother. He loved books, couldn't get enough of them."

"It sounds like he targeted her." Emily said.

He watched Dr. Reid jerk at this comment and saw the look Emily gave him. He cleared his throat and spoke to the young agent. "I don't think he came here with the intention of harm."

"Did you find anything in her room?" Emily asked.

"Yes… It's the oddest thing I've ever seen. I didn't touch it. Come with me."

He led them from the small reception area through two large wooden doors that needed a code to access them. The hallway just past the entry way muffled their steps with chocolate brown carpeting. The walls were painted light beige that he sometimes found a bit depressing even if it was meant to be warm.

They turned left and climbed up several steps to the second floor by passing the day room. He noticed Reid's body automatically turns in that direction as if his mother might be in there, that all of this was a terrible mistake. He saw the young man right his path nearly without a hitch in stride.

"Her room is down at the end of this wing of the hospital." He said to Reid even though he knew the young man knew exactly where the room was located.

Her room was strangely empty as he led the agents inside. For years he'd become accustomed to entering and seeing her there in a chair near the window, reading, looking at picture albums, or writing in her journal.

"There it is…" He pointed to her neatly made bed and the pillow sitting in the middle as though someone had dropped it there.

A chessboard lay there with the pieces arranged as if the game were over. The white king stood directly in the middle of the board surrounded by black pieces. The white queen was missing. "I don't see the queen," Emily said thoughtfully as she snapped on gloves.

"The crime scene people were here. They took pictures and dusted for prints. I asked them to leave this here as it was for you to see it."

Reid bent over the chess set for a long minute. No one spoke as he studied the board. The silence in the room became like a heavy blanket holding Dr. Norman down and smothering him with its power.

"He's telling me he has her." Reid looked over at Emily, his hoarse voice breaking the silence like a hammer on glass. "He doesn't want us to look elsewhere."

"Who?"

Dr. Norman looked from one to the other as they stared at each other. They looked like they were talking without speaking. It was an odd sensation to witness.

Reid seemed to notice Dr. Norman for the first time. "You know what happened the last time I was here."

"Yes… your mother told me. It's the only way I'd let her leave the building with your father."

Reid flinched, but his voice stayed steady. "Somehow, Gary Michaels' brother either witnessed what happened to him or he put the pieces together. He's out there! Picking off the people one by one that had anything to do with his brother's death."

"I see… What can I do to help?"

"I need to get another member of my team on this. She'll do a through background check on Suarez Del Toro."

"We already -"

Reid interrupted him as he pulled out his phone. "I know Dr. Norman. I don't blame you or Bennington for my mother's disappearance. There's only one person I blame."

Dr. Norman almost lost the battle against flinching back from the anger in the young man's eyes. "Alright… I'm going to talk to the nurse on duty. Perhaps she knows something that will help us."

Garcia punched the incoming light on her phone with a pounding heart. "Hey sweet cheeks…"

"Garcia… I need you to do a run on Raul Suarez Del Toro."

"Give me a minute…"

Her fingers flew over her beloved keyboards probing into anything that had the name in public record. Information popped up on her screen as fast as her eyes could process it. Then…

"I found something you're not going to like handsome."

"What?"

"Raul Suarez Del Toro had a clean record until he came to Las Vegas a year ago. He's got some hefty gambling debts. It looks like a case of sheltered boy come to city of Sin and got into a lot of trouble."

"Let me guess… He owes markers to Mason Parker. He must have had his people get into his records so that the background check didn't pop up a flag about his debts."

"It would be easy if you know what you're doing." Garcia said.

"Only if you are you," He said.

"Thanks for the compliment baby cakes, but there are other hackers out there that are as good or better then me, as much as it pains me to admit that.

"Thanks Garcia…"

"No problem sweet thing. You hang in there. We're going to find your parents and everything will be okay."

She hung up her phone, hoping that she hadn't just made a promise she couldn't keep to her best friend.

"Was that Dr. Reid?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah… I need you to help me find out everything we can on a Raul Suarez Del Toro. I want to be able to tell Dr. Reid what side of the bed he sleeps on and the name of his high school history teacher."

"Yes ma'am…" Martinez saluted.

"I wish the rest of the team recognized my superiority." Garcia added half kidding, half-serious.

"Come on… Let's get hacking." Gabriella said.

Reid's phone rang as soon as he disconnected with Garcia. "Dr. Reid… I trust you've made it to Bennington." A voice said that he didn't recognize.

"Who are you?"

"What is it Reid?" Emily said.

"Call Garcia." he mouthed silently. "Trace back this call."

"I'm surprised you don't know who I am."

"Okay… You want to play games!" Reid said. "Fine… I'm talking to Mason Parker."

"You disappoint me Dr. Reid. I'd have thought you'd have discovered my true name by now."

"I know who you are. You're Gary Michael's brother."

"Very good!"

"I want to speak to my mother!"

"No! I don't think so. You have two hours to find me and come alone."

"You know I can't do that."

"Don't disappoint me Dr. Reid." Mason Parker barked into the phone. "You're mother and father wouldn't like it."

"Don't touch them…" Reid began, but the connection had been broken."

"Reid!" Emily grabbed his arm.

"What?"

"Garcia traced your call. We have an address on Mason Parker."

"Give me the address."

"No… You're not going after him alone." She said. "We're getting back up."