puzzles of a heart | spencer reid ✓

five

In the early hours of the dawn, the rear deck sealed off and the BAU spaced around all corners of the enclosed space, the peach tinted sky was simply the backdrop of tragedy. The blood had been cleaned and the body secured into a grim body bag, what was left was the container of evidence; namely, the slippers which had trodden in blood and a piece of scrunched up paper found in the victim's hand.

Spencer and Rossi were sat together on a ledge, voices low and brooding, the evidence placed in front of them and secured down by the folders to avoid the erratic wind from blowing it astray. Across them, Aaron and Derek attempted to retrace the steps of the unfortunate victim, who had been found by the reclining seats, drowning in a pool of her own blood. Her identity remained a mystery at this moment in time, and Valeria herself was browsing through the guest list of the cruise on the laptop safely cradled in her lap, attempting to match the descriptions of the girl she had seen with her own eyes to the thousands of passport pictures on the screen.

"No luck?" JJ shuffled her feet, hesitating before taking a seat next to her. Even in the faint light signalling the beginning of a fresh day, JJ was unusually beautiful with her loosely tied ponytail and cream coloured blouse tucked into her cargo pants.

Valeria was intimidated at once and met her blue eyes awkwardly. "Nothing yet."

"Hotch sent me over," the blonde nodded over to their supervisor and Valeria tensed up, straightening her back and half-tilting the screen of the laptop at the mention of his name. That explained why she came over, and Valeria had an impression that JJ didn't particularly like her enough to initiate casual conversation.

"Uhm, what's up?"

JJ pursed her lips. "Why were you and Spencer at an empty deck in the middle of the night?"

Straight to the point, are we? Not a hello? Not a thank you? "We just wanted some fresh air, that's all."

"At three? At the back of the cruise? A rather odd choice." Her eyebrows perked up at the blatantly horrible excuse, her expression indicated rapid impatience and a rising suspicion.

"Well, we didn't want to see anyone." Valeria tried to reason with her voice steady; a lame attempt.

"Quinton, I'm not playing with you right now." JJ's light eyes were hard and petulant. "This is a serious inquisition, why were you and Reid out so late?"

Valeria had to tell the truth; she doesn't have a choice in the matter, it was either saving her own dignity or Spencer's career. "Fine, I wanted to explore the boat a little bit! Don't blame him, please, it was all my idea and he only went because he knew it wasn't safe for me to go alone. I promise you and you know this is true because you know him better than anyone. Anyway, he told me all sorts of protocols I'm breaking and I ignored him." She sought her hardest to not let her voice waver, "I was foolish and this won't happen again, JJ."

"Funny, he said the same thing."

"It's the truth." Valeria let out a visible sigh of relief, and imagined the giggles the two would share over back in their hotel room. Her mind wandered dangerously to the closeness of their kisses, and she had to regather herself quickly before focusing on JJ once more.

"You see, I'm getting two versions of a story here and I'd like to know the truth."

Her short-lived victory was ended instantaneously. "What do you mean?"

"He said he wanted to scout around the area to see if he could spot anything suspicious and took you with him." JJ folded her arms in accusation, looking all smug and assured at Valeria's dumbfounded expression with a smirk.