Author's Note: I wish I owned Criminal Minds but alas, I am only a humble fan.

Chapter 2 The Reid Effect

"Actually, we want to know about the victim," said Morgan.

"Her name's Sally!" she said in an icy tone and sighed, "I'm sorry, I just don't like her being referred to as that when she has a name. She was my mentor when I was hired and my best friend. My specialty is with large cats and we worked together a lot."

"Did she have any enemies?" Reid asked, "Did anyone ever act strangely toward her?"

"No, everyone loved Sally," said Dr. Tusconi, "She was a fun-loving person, great with the animals, and always willing to lend a hand." She paused, bit her lip as she fiddled with the gold chain around her neck, and continued, "That's why I asked her to take my shift last night."

"You were supposed to work last night?" Morgan asked, glancing at Reid. Spencer knew they were thinking the same thing. Dr. Tusconi was the intended victim and Sally was an accident.

"Yeah, but I got a call from my vet about my Shetland Sheepdog. He had cancer and the vet said he wouldn't make it through the night so I asked Sally to cover for me. We're not supposed to do that because Mr. Twain makes up a schedule based on our pay, but everyone does it. We take the hours out of our pay and give it to the person who covered for us. Please don't tell Mr. Twain, he'll be really upset and start cracking down. I just wanted Leonardo to have someone with him when he…you know."

The doctor's eyes filled with tears and she quickly turned her head away. Once she recovered, she continued in a shaky voice.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" she asked, "If I had been working, Sally would still be alive. She was getting married you know. Oh God, what am I going to tell Rick?"

"How long had she been engaged?" Morgan asked.

"A year, they just finished going through the Church process," explained Dr. Tusconi, wiping her eyes, "The wedding was going to be this May. His name is Richard Slate and I have his address if you want to talk with him."

"Thanks," said Morgan as he wrote it down, "Reid, can I talk with you for a moment?"

Reid got up and followed his partner to the other end of the room. Before Morgan could talk, Reid held up his hand.

"The unsub was after the doctor, not the victim," he said quietly, "So you want one of us to tell the others while the other stays here and tries to get information without scaring her."

"I knew there was a reason you joined us so young," said Morgan with a smile and clapped Spencer on the shoulder, "I'm going back to the BAU so can I trust you to stay here with the doctor?"

"Yeah, no problem."

Morgan told Dr. Tusconi he was going to talk with the fiancée. He also promised not to tell Mr. Twain what happened. Once he left, Reid stood there awkwardly. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't good with thinking of ways to cheer people up.

"So…" he said, looking around.

"So…" she repeated awkwardly.

They chuckled and looked away, blushing slightly. Dr. Tusconi looked at her watch.

"I should give the big cats their lunch," she said, standing up and going to the door. She stopped and turned to face him. "Do you…um…want to come and give me a hand?"

"Oh, sure," Reid said, gathering his bag and following the veterinarian out of her office. Steve looked up as they came through.

"Do you need help feeding today?" he asked eagerly.

"No, thank you Steve," the doctor said, "Dr. Reid is going to help me today."

Steve nodded, a look of dejection on his face. He glared at Reid, as though it were his fault, and went back to his work. Reid followed Dr. Tusconi into another building that contained large cages along the walls. Dr. Tusconi took out a set of keys and unlocked the first door.

"How are my babies doing?" she asked as she entered. Reid poked his head in and saw two tigers lounging. One got up and walked silently over. Dr. Tusconi continued talking in a quiet and soothing tone as she looked he creature over. The tiger then turned its liquid amber eyes toward Reid and let out a low grumble. Dr. Tusconi looked at Reid and smiled.

"Don't worry," she told him, "Raja's just purring. There's a refrigerator down two cages on the left. Inside is a container marked "Raja and Sasha". If you could grab that for me, I'd appreciate it."

He soon returned with the container to find the doctor running her hands up and down the other tiger's large protruding stomach. Raja was looking at Reid and he didn't know what to do so he cleared his throat. Dr. Tusconi looked over and got up.

"You can come in you know," she said, "Raja won't hurt you since you have the food. He never bites the hand that feeds him, right big boy?" She patted the tiger on the head.

Reid entered slowly and cautiously, never taking his eyes off Raja. He handed the container to his companion and she began feeding strips of meat to the tiger. She handed a piece to Reid and he took it with a questioning look.

"You can give that to Sasha," she said, nodding toward the tiger that was lying down, "She's calmer than Raja because she's the female, except don't touch her stomach. She's very protective of her unborn cubs."

Reid nodded and dropped the meat into Sasha's mouth. They continued the feeding in silence until they ran out. Dr. Tusconi petted each tiger and rubbed them behind the ears before closing and locking the doors. She let out a sigh and continued to the other cages. Dr. Tusconi fed the panthers, bobcats, and even lions. At every cage, the cats growled or barred their teeth at Reid so the vet suggested he stay on the other side of the cage. After all the animals were fed, Dr. Tusconi went back to Raja and Sasha.

"Tell me doctor," she said as she looked at the sleeping tigers, "Do they look like blood thirsty killers to you?"

"No, not now at least."

"Raja and Sasha are Panthera tigris tigris, otherwise known as-"

"The Bengal tiger, also called the Indian tiger" said Reid.

"Correct," she said with a surprised smile, "They are extraordinary animals and are endangered because stupid men want them as trophies. How anyone could look them in the eye and shoot them is beyond me. But I'm digressing," she said with a calming breath and continued, "They use their unique coat to blend in with the environment and stalk their prey, as if you could escape anyway. If a tiger's coming at you, the best thing to do is pray it'll be a quick death. They are extremely fast, strong enough to take down a water buffalo, and can climb trees. People think they can escape by climbing but no, tigers are actually good climbers. Now these tigers are unable to climb trees because of injuries they received when they were cubs. Raja was found with several compound fractures in his hind legs while Sasha suffered from a dislocated shoulder. Their injuries still bother them so they never climb the trees."

Reid knew everything the doctor told him, except the part about the tigers' injuries, but decided not to say anything. He had a feeling the doctor was thinking out loud.

"Sally knew all of this, yet she was found in the middle of the clearest area of the den. She could've climbed any one of those trees if the tigers were going after her. But I don't think Raja and Sasha were after her. You may think I'm some stupid, emotional woman Dr. Reid, but I know my animals. Raja and Sasha were both found at very young ages and raised in captivity the rest of their lives, never knowing their real mothers. Apparently they were abused by their owners. So Sally was their mother. She cared for them from cub to adult. They were very protective of her. They would never kill her on purpose."

"On purpose?"

"They can't fight instinct," she said heavily, "Obviously Raja and Sasha would never attack Sally but if she was dumped in their den and covered in blood, they wouldn't be able to resist a meal." She looked at Reid now as she said, "Also, you may have noticed that Raja and Sasha were the only animals here that let you into their den. They are the most gentle and tame animals here."

"I just thought it was the Reid Effect," the young doctor said quietly.

"The what?" she asked with a hint of a laugh.

"The other BAU members say that whenever I come near an animal and it starts barking or meowing loudly," explained Reid, turning red, "I thought I was lucky with the tigers."

"No, Raja and Sasha can scare people quite easily. They just liked you," Dr. Tusconi said. She sighed and changed the subject by saying, "I read in the papers about the other zoo killings and thought it was a coincidence, but as soon as I saw the body I knew it was the same as the others zoos. I also knew someone had killed Sally and dumped her body with the tigers, hoping they'd cover the evidence. I think it was a serial killer that killed Sally."

Reid didn't speak. He was taken aback by Dr. Tusconi's reasoning and her belief in her animals. She had known that the crime scene had more than met the eye. She really understood the psychology of the tigers. She was looking at him expectedly so he rubbed his eyes.

"You're right, it was a serial killer. That's why we're here, we help the police get these kind of people."

"How?" she asked with interest, "Or can you not tell me?"

"No, it's not top secret stuff," Reid said with a smile, "I may be FBI but I'm not a secret agent or anything like that."

She nodded and turned red as she said, "Well I was going to get something to eat so…um…if you're hungry, you could tell me then. Only if you want to that is," she added quickly, "I don't want to push you into talking about it if you don't want to so…yeah," she ended awkwardly.

"Oh…uh…sure, I don't mind at all," said Reid just as awkwardly. Did she just ask him out?

It's not a date, get a hold of yourself, he thought as he followed the doctor into the back area of the kitchens were they had tables and chairs set up for the employees. Once they had eaten, Dr. Tusconi waited patiently for Reid to speak.

"We're the BAU or Behavioral Analysis Unit," he said, "We call ourselves profilers because we use information about the unsub's behavior to create a profile."

"The unsub?" she asked with confusion.

"That's the unidentified subject," he explained, "So we give the profile to the police and they let the people know what kind of person to look for. Each unsub has their own unique personality depending on the case."

"So what's our unsub's personality like?" Dr. Tusconi asked and Reid felt his stomach lift when she said "our unsub".

"It's too early to say and releasing a premature profile can be dangerous," said Reid and she nodded.

"So how does a doctor become a member of the FBI?" she asked, smiling.

"I was taking a course on psychology that Gideon trying to get my other bachelor degree," said Reid, "We had to write an essay on serial killer's reasoning and apparently mine stood out. He asked me to join his team."

"You were in college?" she asked with raised eyebrows, "How old were you?"

"Twenty-one."

"And you said it was your other bachelor degree, how many did you have?" she asked.

"I have another in sociology and three doctorates," he answered sheepishly, "Chemistry, mathematics, and engineering."

"How did you manage that?" she asked curiously.

"I skipped grades in grade school," he said.

"How many?"

"I was twelve when I graduated high school."

"Oh," she said, "I figured you were a smart guy but that's incredible!"

"You could say that," Reid said with a shrug as he felt his face grow warm.

"I know how weird it must've been. I skipped two grades in grade school," Dr. Tusconi said, "I went from kindergarten to second and then my mom saw I was still under-challenged so I skipped third grade. Sure, your mind is challenged but you're seen as the freak. I was always mature for my age, more mature than the kids who were two years older than me so I got along with the teachers very well. However, I literally had no social life outside my family until college. I'm sorry," she said suddenly, blushing, "I didn't mean to go into my life like that."

"No, it's fine," said Reid, "I'd like to hear about you." This was his chance to gather information and maybe figure out why the unsub was after Dr. Tusconi. However, he found he was genuinely interested in what she had to say.

"Oh, okay," she said, shifting her weight in her chair, "Well, as you can probably tell, I'm a very shy and awkward person. I guess when you've spent most of your life not interacting with people in your age bracket you're not the best social butterfly. That's why I wanted to work in a zoo or behind-the-scenes. Um…is any of this beneficial to finding out who did this to Sally? Is that why you want to know?"

"Yes, of course," lied Spencer, "We like to know about the friends of the victim. It helps us rule people out. Not that I'm saying you did this," he said when Dr. Tusconi's eyes went wide, "It's just protocol. Statistically, only about ten percent of serial killers world wide are women."

"I see," she said with a tiny smile, "Well, I'll tell you about my time with Sally then. I just finished veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania and applied to all the area zoos and aquariums, even amusement parks that had animals. I really wanted to stay local because I grew up in this area and love it. I got a call from this zoo and Sally wanted me to come in for an interview. I was ecstatic because this is the oldest zoo in the United States. I was also nervous because I don't give the best first impressions with people but when I got there, Sally made me feel right at home. We talked and she told me it wasn't my grades that brought me to her attention but that I was a member of W-Triple-A."

"What's that?" Reid asked.

"It's Women Against Animal Abusers. I joined in college, hence why I finally got a social life," Dr. Tusconi explained, "It's a women-only organization of doctors, nurses, animal owners etc. that want to fight to stop animal abuse in the U.S. Sally was a member in her home state of Ohio and continued helping here in Pennsylvania. I joined in Virginia and when I moved back here I continued also. Sally and I weren't hard-core members so she had no idea I was in it until she saw my resume and did some digging around. Anyway, we hit it off instantly and she told me later that she had wanted to hire me before the interview started, but she had to see how I got along with the animals. I met with Raja and Sasha, they liked me, and I was hired. I've been working here for the past three years and can honestly say I love getting up in the morning and going to work."

"You said you joined the organization in Virginia when you were in college," said Reid and she nodded, "Where did you go to college?"

"The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg," Dr. Tusconi said, "It was far from my home and leaving my mother and sister was the hardest thing I ever did, but I loved the campus and the people."

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah, her name is Emma," Dr. Tusconi said and Reid noticed her eyes lit up at the mention of her sister, "She's two years, two months, and two days younger than me. She didn't skip any grades though so in school she was four years my junior. She lives in London now with her husband and daughter, Isabella, and is expecting a baby any time now actually. She works at the Victoria and Albert Museum with a degree in art history, but she has a gallery in the city and art is her first love."

Reid smiled and nodded. Suddenly, his phone went off and he excused himself. He said it was from Morgan and answered.

"Hey kid, where are you?" Morgan asked when Reid spoke.

"Grabbing lunch," he replied, "I've got a lot to tell you guys."

"Well you better hurry up then, it's one and we're waiting for you."

"Really?" he asked and checked his watch. He saw Morgan was right and quickly told his partner he'd be there soon. He hung up and went back to the table to find the doctor had cleaned up their trays.

"I had a feeling you had to leave," she said with a smile, "It was great talking with you though, let me know if I can help in any way. I want this man locked up just as much as you all do."

"Actually, if you could come down to the station with me, I'm sure the others will want to ask you some more questions."

"Sure, I'll tell one of the other workers to cover my shift for me," she said and called another friend as they walked to a police car. The officer was more than happy to take them to the station and they were there in less than ten minutes.

"About time Reid," Hotch said as they entered, "Where were you?"

"Please sir," Dr. Tusconi said, "It was my fault. Dr. Reid was just asking some questions and I kept talking. I guess I just needed someone to talk to and he was there."

"The Reid Effect strikes again," Morgan whispered loudly and Prentiss and J.J stifled laughs while Gideon smiled slightly and Hotch remained serious. Reid just sighed and set his bag down while Dr. Tusconi gave him a questioning look.

Author's Note: Another chapter is finished and now you get to tell me what you thought! If I messed up some of the facts about Reid's school background, I'm sorry. If I did, please let me know and I can fix it and re-post the chapter. Also, just so you know, there is no such group as Women Against Animal Abusers. That was something I made up and it will come up throughout the story. One more thing, I am leaving this Friday afternoon for two weeks and will not be able to update. But I promise to have many chapters ready to be posted by the time I get back and I will be posting chapters until I leave. Many thanks to those who reviewed and put me on alert and in their favorites! Don't forget to review! :)