Chapter 2: A Thousand Questions

A new case came in a few hours after Reid and JJ left for the airport. As Matt, Tara, Alvez, and Rossi filed into the conference room they couldn't help but notice that two of their teammates were conspicuously missing.

"Ok, now that everybody's here, let's get started," Emily said.

"Wait a minute, we're not all here." Tara pointed out.

"Yeah, she's right." Matt agreed. "Where are Reid and JJ?"

"They won't be joining us. Reid was just notified of the death of an old friend, also the fact that this friend gave birth shortly before her death. It's a long story and I promise I'll explain everything to you guys later but right now, we need to get started."

"First the fiasco a few years ago, then he was abducted and almost sacrificed by a cult, now this…" Tara said.

"Yeah… that's why I sent JJ with him. I didn't think it was a good idea for him to go alone. That's said, it's important that the rest of us hold down the fort while they're gone, so let's get started."

Sensing that was her cue, Garcia grabbed the remote, stood, and began the briefing.

"Alright my pretties, this time you're jetting to Beatty Nevada. It's a smaller city about two hours northwest of Las Vegas. In the last two weeks, three women, all with dark hair in their late twenties to mid-thirties, were found. They were all stripped naked, bound, strangled, severely beaten, and sexually assaulted. They were all dumped on side streets or in allies, basically lightly traveled public places. It's still pretty early out there so the latest victim was only found a half hour ago."

"And as soon as locals were sure she was connected to the others, they called us," Emily added.

"Right off the bat, it's pretty obvious we're looking for a male offender. Men get off on this kind of violence, women don't." Tara said.

"He could've chopped them up and/or buried them, even just dumped them in more isolated areas. It wouldn't be hard in a city surrounded by desert, but he chose not to. It's important to him that they're found quickly, and in as compromising a state as possible. He's getting off, not just on the violence, but on humiliating these women" Rossi theorized.

"And once and Unsub like this gets started, it only gets worse. Wheels up in twenty."

Meanwhile, JJ and Reid were in the air, flying to Las Vegas. Reid was sitting by the window, JJ was in the seat to his right. She watched as he stared hopelessly out the window. JJ could only imagine what must be running through his mind.

"Spence, it's gonna be ok." She said.

"How JJ? How, when we don't even know how Becca died?" He asked.

JJ couldn't think of what to say, so she just looked at him, trying to appear reassuring. Finally, she asked: "How close were the two of you?"

"We were best friends, she was pretty much the best friend I ever had outside of our team. What I don't understand is why she never told me she was in trouble you know? The social worker said that based on the letter, Becca knew she was dying, but I talked to her the night before. She seemed fine. She didn't mention anything about being in trouble, or that she'd just had a baby. I had no idea she was even pregnant. Now all of a sudden, when it's already too late to help her, she asks me to raise her daughter? None of this makes sense."

"Well, I don't know her, but I do know you. The fact that she chose you to adopt her baby, Spence, mothers, especially mothers of newborns, she's trusting you with the one thing, the one person she loved more than life itself. She asked you to do this for her, for a reason. So I have to believe that whatever was going on, there's a reason she didn't want you to know but it wasn't that she didn't trust you."

"I just… I need to know what happened, and I need to make sure that nothing happens to Becca's daughter." He replied.

Just like that, his mind drifted back to the last time he'd seen her.

3 years earlier

When Spencer walked into the dimly lit dining room of Thompson's Grill, it looked empty at first. The sign on the door had said open but there didn't seem to be anyone there.

"Hello? Becca?" He called out.

Suddenly, Becca popped out from beneath the bar. She was wearing a red tank top with a black, sleeveless leather vest over it. Her black hair was cut at shoulder-length and heavily layered, and her blue eyes were framed by thick black eyeliner. She had a glass in one hand, and a dishtowel in the other.

"Well, if it isn't one of my favorite people." She said with a smile. She walked out from behind the bar and wrapped him in a tight embrace. "Where have you been? It's been forever! We miss you around here…" she told him as she squeezed before letting him go.

"Becca, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who still lives here who actually misses me." He replied.

"Dude, if I'm your only friend, that's just sad. I don't say that to insult you, I mean if that's true, then that just proves what I've thought for years, that ninety-five percent of the human race sucks."

He chuckled. "You might be right about Las Vegas, but fortunately you're far from my only friend."

"Good. I was about to ask you whose butts I need to kick." She said as she set the glass down on the counter with a thud. "So what brings you back to town anyway? Your mom?"

"Yeah, actually I'm in the process of moving her to a different facility. I came down to get the rest of her stuff. I thought I'd come say 'hi', before I left town."

"Well, I'm glad you did, want something to eat?"

"Sure."

"Let me guess, the usual?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Spencer, I've known you since I was four. You've ordered the exact same meal every single time you've come in here for the last twenty years. You, my friend, are a creature of habit if there ever was one. The only variation is whether you want a soda or something with alcohol."

"How about water?" He asked.

Becca laughed. "Really? Are you changing things around just to disprove my theory?"

"…Maybe…"

She smiled. "Alright, coming right up, do want an orange slice?"

"Isn't it usually lemon?"

"Not here. My house, my rules, and the first rule is…" she paused for dramatic effect, "weirdness is a good thing."

He smiled. "Alright then. Yes, put an orange in it."

"Way ahead of you." She replied, filling a tall glass with ice water and getting an orange out of the cooler to her left. Before slicing it she turned to the kitchen door behind her, opened it a crack, and yelled into the kitchen. "Hey Pop, I need a turkey club with fries, extra sauce no cheese." Then she finished what she was doing and handed Spencer his water.

"So, how's everything going?" He asked.

"Great, I'm teaching graphic design as an adjunct professor at Alta. I only still moonlight here to help Pop out, since Mama can't."

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "I know you loved it when you were a student there."

"I did indeed." She said. "Don't think I don't know the real reason you're asking Spencer. It's better now that I have my own place. I'm only here about twenty hours a week, almost all of which is spent down here and not up in our old apartment so, I hardly ever see her these days."

"You just told me that things are great, but you just said that like it's a bad thing." He pointed out.

She sighed. "I guess, if I'm honest with myself, I kinda feel guilty about how much happier I am not being here as much."

Present Day

"Spence? You ok?" JJ asked, drawing him back to the present.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. W-why do you ask?"

"You've been staring into space for the last half hour like you were somewhere else. What were you thinking about?"

"The last time I saw her. It was when I was moving my mom from Bennington to Houston. I went to look for her at her family's restaurant. Even after she graduated from college, she still worked there part time helping her dad out. She was there, we talked, I had dinner. She seemed fine, happier than I'd ever seen her. Actually, it was like the life she wanted was finally coming together. Now I'm just wondering what changed." He said, glancing over to meet JJ's eye.

She knew that look. Help me understand.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean, she's fine, her career's finally headed where she's always wanted it to go, she's cut almost all ties with her abusive mother and then…this… Even with the letter, social services wouldn't have even notified me about the baby if they knew who the father was, so she either didn't know herself, or doesn't want him in daughter's her life for some reason. I'm guessing it's the latter. Becca was… a little rough around the edges but sleeping with and getting pregnant by someone she didn't know just doesn't fit. Then she gives birth, immediately abandons her child, and dies suddenly of no apparent cause on the steps of a church? None of it makes any sense to me."

"I asked Garcia to look into the last few years of your friend's life so we can try to figure out what happened to her," JJ told him. "We should have some answers by the time we land."

"Thanks for coming with me JJ." He said.

"Of course."

"Really…I… I don't know how I'd get through this without you…"

"I'm right here Spence. Whatever happens, I'm always on your side."

"You're the best." He replied, smiling for the first time since hearing the news.

"So, you think she knew who the baby's father is?" JJ asked.

"Yes. Which means there must be another reason why social service can't find him, I don't think she wanted whoever he is to know about the baby."