Don't own Criminal Minds.
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They had barely made it into the trees when Reid heard someone walking behind him. He pulled out his gun from his holster and turned at the same time. Who he saw behind him made him lower his gun almost immediately. "Lila? Why are you in here?" He not only saw Lila but Storm, Krista, and Robert behind her.
"Spencer, if you're going in then I'm going in." She said in determination.
He looked over at Storm and Krista and asked them the same question. The answered simultaneously, "She's our best friend if she goes in we go in."
Reid then looked at Robert and said, "Let me guess, because you're going out with Krista you had to follow her in here." Robert just shook his head looking sheepish. "Fine, just stay behind me, ok?" He didn't like it in here. He was already on edge because being in the woods brought up his memories of Hankel. He closed his eyes and mentally put the memories in the back of his mind. He looked at Ben and said, "Ok let's go." He didn't notice that he was holding the gun a little steadier in his hand.
They walked a little longer. Soon they came to a stop in front of a few bushes. Ben pointed towards them, "The body is just behind those bushes. I'm sorry I can't—"
"Don't worry, I understand, trust me." Reid walked toward the bushes, making sure that Lila and the rest didn't go with him. He stepped through the bushes and looked around. There was no body.
"Um… Ben are you sure it was here?" Reid asked in confusion.
"Yes," Robert spoke up for the first time in a while. "We marked where the body was on this tree here." He pointed to an oak tree that had the bark peeled off of it on one section and the words 'HERE'.
Reid hadn't seen it at first because Ben had been in front of the tree and after that he had been too preoccupied with a body that wasn't there. They walked back to the house in silence except for Krista who kept muttering to herself "It was there, the body was right there. I saw it with my own eyes."
When they got back inside the house the sun was setting. Lila and Storm took Krista into the next room to talk. Krista was still muttering to herself about how she had seen the dead body. Storm had told Lila that Krista was the one who had found the body. In a more audible tone Krista said more to herself then to best friends, "I'm going crazy."
Lila squatted down next to her and said, "No you are not going crazy. If anything is going to make you go crazy it is going to be me and Storm."
"But the body is gone, how will the authorities believe us?" Krista cried into her hands.
"Spencer believes that there was a body there. I believe that there was a body there." Lila said trying to convince her friend that she wasn't going insane.
That was when Reid came into the room. "Um… Lila, Krista, Storm, would you guys be willing to stay here for a few days? I would like to go to the police and see if there is anyone missing who looks like the guy."
Krista looked at him in surprise and asked in bewilderment, "So you believe me?"
"Yes Krista and I want to check into it, but he may just be a hiker and he might not be missed for days."
"Aren't you FBI?" Storm asked Reid. "Couldn't you get hold of the case and investigate it yourself?"
"No not really, the FBI has to be called in first and there isn't enough evidence that suggests that the FBI needs to get involved just yet." Reid said. He opened his mouth to say a fact about the FBI but stopped himself in time. Instead he said, "So would it be ok for us to stay a little bit longer?"
"Yeah, I want to know what's going on and who's messing with my friends." It was her motto that if you messed with her family, you were messing with her, and the people in the house were all her family.