Reid My Mind

22. Mackie

10,000 emerald pools - BØRNS

"Are you wearing Reid's sweater?"

"Hello to you too, Morgan," I sighed, walking up to him. Morgan bounced his glance from me to Reid, now just in a button-up and a tie, then back to me.

"Why?" We were about to present the profile to the officers.

"One of the officers spilled a bucket of water on me," I revealed. My jeans were still damp. Prentiss snorted.

"Oh, that must have been Mackie," the police chief said, "She was getting water to clean some graffiti off the side of the station."

"Graffiti?" Hotch asked in his normal stern tone, but metaphorically I could see his ears perk up.

"Yeah, a couple of hours ago. On the side of the building."

"What did it say?" Prentiss asked.

"I don't quite remember. Let's see... Mackie, Mackie come over here," the chief said, directing the last part to a familiar face.
Mackie walked over, looking sheepish when she made eye contact with me.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about that earlier. With the water," she said. She was kind of cute: dark complexion, neat hair, pretty eyes.

"It's really fine, I promise," I told him. Reid stepped closer to me, arms crossed. He didn't look quite as forgiving.

"What did the graffiti on the side of the station say, Mackie?" the chief asked.

"Uh, let me check." She pulled something up on her phone.

"Did you take a photo?" Reid asked, interest piqued.

"Yeah. I thought it was strange." She showed it to him.

"That was a smart move," Morgan told her.

"Through me you enter into the city of woes," he read.

"Dante's Inferno," I said. He nodded.

"It's got to be our unsub," Prentiss said, "There's no way we've got two 14th-century-literature-obsessed delinquents in the same town." Reid handed me the phone.

"This is an escalation, though," I pointed out.

"Why's that?" the chief asked.

"Well, this quote references the inscription on the gates of hell. That and he wrote in on the police station, which is decidedly bold." I gave the phone back to Officer Mackie.

"It might indicate a dislike of the police force if he's comparing it to hell. Do you have any disgruntled employees or ex-employees?" Reid asked.

"Sure, I'll put together a list."

"Do you want the photo? I can text it to you," Mackie said to Reid. Was it just me or was she a little eager?

"Sure," he said, lost in concentration.

"What's your number?" she asked. I bristled.

"If it's a police officer, could that be the connection between the victims? Maybe they were all worked on my the same person." Prentiss suggested.

"Have Garcia check it out," Hotch instructed. Morgan pulled out his phone and called her. I didn't take my eyes off of Mackie who was typing Reid's number into her phone.

"Alright, let's deliver the profile."

By the next day, we had already found our unsub. I stood in the station waiting for Rossi to get the guy to admit to his crimes.

"Really, already?" I asked Prentiss as she approached me before she could deliver the news.

"Yep, it's got to be a new record. What was that, four minutes?" she marveled. I leaned against a file cabinet swirled the dregs of police-station coffee.

"I didn't expect him to confess that quickly."

"Rossi's good. Played to his ego. Don't tell Rossi I said that," Prentiss said.

"I guess, our work is done. We can finally get back to temperatures above freezing."

"You're such a baby," she laughed.

"I'm having a week. I had a headache when I woke up on Monday. My car barely started on the way to the office. And now, I got a bucket of ice-cold water thrown on me. Outside. In Alaska. In one of the coldest cities in the U.S., I need a hot shower."

"That's fair. I could use one myself, to be honest. I'm going to go tell JJ."

Just then, Reid walked up from behind her, filling the space where Prentiss had been standing.

"He confessed?" Reid asked. I nodded my confirmation.

"Good." He started to say something, but just as he did Officer Mackie interjected herself.

"I heard you got the guy already," she said, directing her comments entirely at Reid, "That's pretty amazing."

"It's not too hard with unsubs like this. They're so desperate for recognition that they can't wait to tell us what they've done," Reid replied. Always so humble. And matter-of-fact.

"Wow," she said. She fluttered her eyelashes. I was beginning to feel that three was a crowd.

"I guess you see the worst of humanity. Does it ever get to you? Seeing all that violence?" She was completely ignoring me. It was almost comical, except for the fact that it kind of me want to punch her in the face for some reason.

"Um, sometimes," Reid said. He shifted hills weight from one foot to the other.

"And even towards kids. What makes someone like that?" she continued.

"I'm going to go start packing up," I said as politely as I could manage and tried to excuse myself.

"Oh, wait, Maya, I needed to talk to you about something," Reid said before I could make my escape. Uh oh. What did that mean?

"Okay, um," I started.

"We can talk in the conference room. So we can clean up," he supplied. He took a step in that direction. Mackie, who was still standing there, looked rather disappointed.

"It was nice meeting you," I said to her. Reid turned back as if he had forgotten she was ever there.

"Thank you for your help," he added.

"No problem."

I followed Reid into the conference room.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked when he didn't immediately say anything.

"What? Oh, I just didn't want to answer her questions." I let out a beat I hadn't registered holding, followed by a laugh.

"Wow, Dr. Reid. That was cold," I joked. I began taking down the evidence boards.

"I know. I hope I wasn't too rude," he said, serious.

"That Mackie chick seemed pretty into you," Morgan remarked on the jet home. Reid and I were sitting together as per usual and Morgan took the seat across the aisle.

"Who?" he asked.

"The police officer who gave David an impromptu shower?" Morgan pressed.

"Oh, yeah. She keeps texting me," Reid said as if puzzled why anyone would do such a thing.

"Cause she's into you." I stayed silent. I thought Morgan was right and I was secretly gratified to have someone second my suspicions about Mackie's eagerness to help Reid.

"Oh," Reid said simply.

"You going to do anything about it?" Morgan asked, clearly unfulfilled by Reid's curt response.

"No."

"Is it because–"

"Shut it, Morgan," Reid said, sharply. Morgan smirked.

"Because what?" I asked.

"Nothing," they both said at the same time, Reid with the nervousness of a secret, Morgan with the satisfaction of information.