Head In the Game

Chapter 5. Just Ask

"Is that actually comfortable?" Reid asked. Alice was sitting sideways in a coffee table chair. Chair courtesy of the Chicago P.D. Her legs were slung over on armrest, her back arch over the other. She was reading a case file upside down.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm having a hard time believing you."

"Try it." He was sitting in his chair like, well, as one sits in a chair.

"I don't think I bend that way."

"Your loss," she said and flipped a page, "Hey, the husband of the last victim..." She paused, waiting for him to fill the space. It was as if she was getting used to him interjecting with the specifics. Pretty quick for that, given that it was only day two.

"Henry Nelson," he supplied.

"How tight is his alibi? Because it seems like he's unaccounted for during the actual time of the murder."

"Local P.D. said he was on a business trip."

"Yeah, but the trip was only an hour away. And the last event at this conference that he signed in for was at four p.m. Time of death was seven o'clock. He could have left early."

"You should call Garcia."

"I should? No, I think you should do it."

"Why?"

"Just cause."

"What, are you scared of her?" Alice let her case-holding hand fall to the side and out of her sightline.

"I'm an FBI agent with a PhD in abnormal psychology and countless hours of field experience," she said pointedly, "I'm not afraid of making a phone call to a technical analyst.

"Yes, you are. But why?"

"Can't you just make the call? You're wasting precious time here."

"You could just answer the question." Alice huffed.

"I don't know, she's kind of intimidating. And you all know her and each other so you can joke around and call each other nicknames. I just got here. Yesterday."

"So you're scared to call her because you don't think she'll call you a nickname," Reid summarized.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm not laughing."

"You're about to." Reid was obviously holding back a smile.

"Just call her," he said. She rolled her eyes but did as she was told.

"Hey, um, hi Garcia." Reid couldn't hear what Garcia was saying but Alice made multiple gestures to him as if to say "I have no idea what to say," and "What is she talking about?"

"We were just wondering if you could tell us anything about Henry Nelson's whereabouts on the day of his wife's murder. Anything after four o'clock?"

Alice fell silent and drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair as she listened. She caught Reid watching her and stuck her tongue out. He felt the strangest feeling flow over him like water, puddling in his hands and his chest.

Then she mouthed the word "coffee?" and gave him her best puppy dog eyes. Through a quick game of charades, he ascertained her exact drink order and went to retrieve it.

By the time he returned, she was off the phone. Her focus was back on the case file, this time in the leg of her crisscrossed legs. He handed her the coffee.

"Thanks." Her eyes met his briefly but immediately leaped to something behind him. Her face melted in quiet wonder.

"Look," she said, "It's snowing." He followed her gaze out the window. In a weird optical illusion, he saw her eyes twinkling in the falling snow.