PSYCHOPATHY; criminal minds [S. Reid]

Chapter sixteen//Game of Chess

I WAS FALLING MORE AND MORE FOR SPENCER REID EVERYDAY. Hotch had talked to him a couple more times about us but Spencer still refused to leave me on my own. He'd started bringing dinner over from a different takeaway each time. Sometimes they were nice but occasionally we threw them away and opted for the left overs from the night before.

I sat on the floor in front of my sofa, a wooden chess board out on the coffee table. I was determined to become so good at chess that I could beat Spencer and his overly smart brain but I wasn't appearing to be very successful.

A knock on the door pulled me from the game of chess against myself. "It's unlocked!" I called and the door was opened and in walked Spencer and Prentiss.

"Hey." I smiled up at both of them as I stood from the floor and took the coffee that Emily handed me with a thank you.

She nodded to the chess board and the messily placed pieces, some of which had fallen over when I stood and knocked the table with my legs. "I didn't know you played." Emily said, looking back to me.

"I've been teaching her." Spencer told Prentiss, drinking from his coffee as he moved to stand beside the other brunette.

"Really?" Prentiss raised her eyebrows and her voice was teasing.

I tilted my head at her, a faint smile tugging on my lips despite the fact I tried to hide it. "I've been practicing. I want to be able to win a game against Spencer one day." I nodded my head to the tall man.

Spencer wore a brown sweater waistcoat over a white long sleeve button up shirt and a dark brown tie. His trousers were black suit ones and on his feet he had his usual converse and brightly coloured socks that slightly showed between his trousers and shoes.

"Good luck with that." Emily scoffed with a smile. "We should get going, Hotch will want to get started as early as possible." She added and the three of us were on our way out of the building and to the SUV, driving to the police station.

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Prentiss and Reid led the way into the police station and over to Hotch and the rest of the team who were on the phone to Garcia, her cheery voice speaking through the speaker phone.

"Thanks, Garcia." Hotch said before ending the call and turning to the three of us that just arrived. "Daniel was spotted again three times last night." He didn't waste anytime getting to the point.

JJ walked over to the board with the map of Washington, pointing to it with a ball point pen. "The first time was here," she pointed at a corner not far from the local Walmart, "at around 12 last night by the manager of Walmart who was heading home late."

"The second time was here," She moved the pen to point a few streets away from the first point. "He was seen at about 1:30, and then the last time," this time the point was down the road from the Institute. "At 2:30."

"He's moving slowly." Emily noted. "It only takes about, what? 20, 30 minutes to walk from Walmart to the Institute."

"He's taking his time." Spencer explained.

I shook my head. "No, he's lost. He doesn't know his way around Washington." I corrected, my eyes focusing on the map and the three points that were labelled with red dots.

"Then it can't be difficult to catch him." Morgan said, seeming pretty confident.

I scoffed a little. "I said he was lost, not stupid. If he sees one cop, he'll turn the other way. He's always had a fear of cops, he never like the ones that would sometimes visit the Institute." I explained, now looking between each person.

Hotch nodded, "we'll bare that in mind then." He turned around and picked up something off the desk behind him. "Here," Hotch handed it to me.

"What is this?" I asked as I took it from the man's hand and slightly held it up. It was a small round device with a button on it and a small light just above said button. Looked like a rape alarm.

"Daniel is likely to try and contact you, most likely in person." Rossi began, "if he does, you press that button and it sends Garcia your location and we can track you."

"So keep it on you at all times." Hotch added sternly, proving that it was crucial I did so.

I nodded, slipping the button into my pocket of my blazer. After that, the team talked a little while longer, giving an updated profile of Daniel to the rest of the police in the station and then locating them around Washington.

After a little while, I decided it was time to leave having some errands to run before I turned in for the night.

First, I had to collect some of my belongings from my old apartment that they had in boxes at the station. I took them, with Emily helping me carry them to the SUV before she dropped my off at the apartment and helped carry them upstairs.

After she left, I got a cab to Target, deciding to stay away from the Walmart that Daniel had been near last night.

It was fine. Everything was normal and I got my shopping with no difficulties. Until I left the shop and turned the corner with my shopping bags in hand.

I was startled to the spot, my feet basically digging into the concrete pavement when Daniel himself quickly stood in front of me.

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