gut feeling

six: charlie

"Alright, love, it's just you and me now." 

Spencer sat on a plain chair in the middle of another dirt room, and felt a sickening moment of deja vu. Instead of a single bare bulb over his head, there were two lanterns casting a dim light across the room. 

"Talk as long as you can." He told himself. "Stall, and maybe someone will  escape. Just distract her. Theorize in front of her, think out loud, ramble-- you're good at that."

"I guess so." He answered, looking up to meet Queenie's gaze. She squinted at him.

"Everybody seems more out of it than you. Why aren't you tired?" She asked. 

"I'm younger. More spry, you know." Spencer said shortly. 

Queenie snorted and shook her head. "No, that's not it..." She finally waved a hand. "Well, in the end, it doesn't matter too much. Shall we begin?"

Spencer nodded hesitantly.

"Okay. I know you aren't the mastermind of this team--"

Spencer squinted at her.

 "--So don't be afraid that this will take too long." She finished.

"I'm not afraid."

"...Okay? I mean-- I didn't ask, but okay."

There was momentary silence as Queenie sat down on a dirt step. 

"So. What do you know about me?" She asked.

"I know your name is Queenie."

"And?"

"You and Harvey are together in some way. If you got married, it wasn't official. It isn't in the system."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. What else?"

"You were involved in the mafia. Why did you leave it?"

"I'm not the one answering questions, love. Any questions you have, you can try to answer."

Spencer thought for a moment. "Were you in trouble?"

Queenie raised her eyebrows, as if reminding him of what she had just said. He smiled awkwardly and looked at the floor.

"Okay, then, you were in trouble. Better?" He looked back up at her, and she nodded. "That's why you lived with Cecil Foreman for so long, and that was also around when you adopted your son."

She stiffened, only enough for a profiler to notice. 

Spencer decided to play off of it.

"But... if you were in trouble... why would you adopt a son at the same time? Did you think that they'd go easy on you? Or that the danger had passed?" He thought out loud, looking up at the rocky dirt ceiling. "He was almost two years old when he died... and you had been hiding for two years..." He glanced at Queenie, who was beginning to raise her eyebrows. "Wait..." Spencer looked to Queenie, a look of shock on his face. "You didn't adopt because you thought you were safe, you hid because you were pregnant-- right?"

He paused for a second, and then remembered that he was supposed to be stalling. 

"Or maybe, you really did adopt. What was the mafia's stance when it came to children? Oh yeah, you won't answer me. So you--"

Queenie cut him off. "Alright, that's enough ideas." She said softly. "I wasn't asking for your thoughts, I just want to know how much is out there about me and Harvey." 

"Is it just me, or did she say that really gently?" Spencer asked himself.

"Okay. Keep going." She added.