Bullet From A Gun (Criminal Minds)

Telling JJ

Chapter Four

‘I don't remember the moment I tried to forget, I lost myself is better not said, now I'm closer to the edge.’ -30 Seconds To Mars: Closer To The Edge.

“So… victimology?”
Jennifer Jereau wiped her long blond hair away from her face as she looked at her co-worker and best friend, Spencer Reid. She couldn't help but notice how intensely he was staring at the map in front of him; she assumed he was insuring that the geographical profile was correct.
“Huh?” he said, his head snapping up quickly. Then she realised he was miles away, lost in his own head.
“Spence,” she sighed, thinking about how odd he had been lately, “What's going on?”
He gulped, toying with the silver watch that he wore over the sleeve of his gray sweater, “Did you know that it’s been six years?”
She was confused, she counted back six years, 2006...Then like a train, it hit her.

Tobias.

“Oh, Spence...I-”
He cut her off, “No, it’s not even the fact that it’s been six years. It’s just lately, with everything that's happened to Emily.”
JJ felt like he had punched her. She flinched at his words of mentioning the time when she had lied to him and nearly drove him back to drug taking.
He didn't notice this as he continued, “And then the headaches… I just felt like that was the icing on the cake you know, but then I got that...that call, reminding me.”
She cocked her head to the side, “Call?”
He started to get extremely uncomfortable, “Excuse me.”

Stupid, stupid Spencer, he scolded himself as he walked to the coffee machine of the North Las Vegas Police Department. The last time he was there, he had found out that his Father had left because his Mother witnessed a crime. Remembering this, he got an urge to go see his Mom...

When the case is over, he promised.

He sat down, cradling his mug full of that heavenly liquid mixed with the perfect amount of sugar. His mind went back to the phone call, the one that had ruined his mood.

“Spencer?”
Looking at the caller ID he smiled; he hadn't talked to his mentor from Beltaway clean cops for a while, “Hey John.”
“Well, hello stranger, I was wondering how you’re holding up.”
“Been up and down, how are you?”
“You know me kid, always fighting fit. Well anyway, I noticed that it’s time you got your five year medal.”
“What?”

Spencer Reid was speechless. He had forgotten; he had other things to worry about. He knew he should be proud, but he was upset. He didn't want there to be a need for him to get a medal. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his first year one, now rusted and worn. He shouldn't have had to get this...
With tears in his eyes, he hung up. He yearned so bad to talk to JJ, yet he couldn't. She had lied to him about Emily. No, it would be safer to handle this myself; less chance of pain, he thought bitterly.

JJ looked out of the glass window of the FBI section of the NLVPD towards Reid. He was hunched over his cup of coffee, lost in his thoughts again. Her mind was turning with possible chances of who had called him but she decided to start with victimology.

Hannah Jones, the missing woman, was thirty. She had the same cascade of brunette hair and perfectly even features and she had a twelve year old daughter. Her past with heroin worried JJ; if the UnSub was drugging his victims before he killed them, she would have to go through a lot of psychological pain…

So, the UnSub is taking pretty, tall and skinny, 30-35 year old women, with dark brown hair, then leaving them in a place that meant something to them.

Glancing at Reid again, she rang Hotch and informed him of the geographical profile and the victimology, her mind secretly not on the case...