Caution to the Wind

Chapter 11

Chapter Summary: The team goes to great lengths to save Spencer and his mom. Follows S12E21, "Green Light," and S12E22, "Red Light."

The team was trying their best not to get discouraged, but after over three months of trying to hunt down Scratch and exonerate Spencer without much success on either front, things were feeling pretty bleak and pretty hopeless. Spencer's trial had been pushed back, which, on the one hand, gave the team more time to find Scratch and his mystery accomplice, but on the other hand, meant Spencer would be spending even more time at Millburn, where he had a target on his back and was struggling to keep it together. When Emily and Fiona went to the prison to visit him and discuss his new trial date, he was frantic and restless and rambling.

"Reid, are you okay?" Emily asked.

"It's my mom; she's in trouble," Spencer replied.

"Okay, um, JJ can go check in on her later today—" Emily began.

"No! No, it'll be too late! It's already been over twelve hours since she was here," Spencer insisted.

"Okay, Spence, I still don't know what you mean," Emily said, "What happened when Cassie brought your mom to visit you?"

"Cassie didn't bring my mom," he said, "It was Lindsey, from Witness Protection. She pretended to be my mom's nurse. Now, I haven't figured out the mechanics yet—replacing Cassie, winning my mom's trust, getting past prison security guards—but I will; I just haven't figured it out yet."

"Reid..."

"You remember that? You remember, right?" he asked, his voice frantic and desperate, "Her father, that case, April 2007?"

"Okay, maybe you think you saw her—" Emily began.

"Her father's Jack Vaughn, former hitman for the Irish mob," he continued, "He and Lindsey were in Witness Protection; Lindsey and her friend Katie were abducted; Katie was killed, and Jack murdered the unsub in front of me—Do you honestly not remember any of this?!"

"Yeah, I do. I'm sorry, I forgot," Emily said, "But, Reid, how could she possibly—"

"I don't know!" he cried, "I don't know! That's why I'm telling you this. I don't know, but I know what I saw."

"Okay, and I-I believe you," Emily said, "But that still doesn't explain why she—"

Spencer slammed his fists down on the table and stood up from his chair. "You're not listening to me!" he yelled, "I know what I saw, alright? Now find Lindsey! Find Lindsey, please!" He continued his pleas as a guard dragged him out of the room.

Emily remembered Lindsey Vaughn—somewhat. She remembered the case, but she hadn't thought about it in ten years. It didn't make sense why she'd be behind this. The daughter of a hitman who briefly dealt with the BAU team a decade ago? Who had no clear discernable reason to hold a grudge against the team or against Spencer? Who didn't fit the profile of Scratch's usual victims and accomplices? But Spencer was adamant: Lindsey Vaughn had been in that motel room in Mexico, and now she had Diana Reid. Emily had no choice but to believe him. She rushed back to Quantico to share this new information with the rest of her team.

"Any chance he's wrong?" Rossi asked.

"Well, Reid did smell Scratch's drugs before the murder," Emily said, "And he said that there was another woman in the room with them."

"Well, if Lindsey took Diana to visit, where's Cassie?" he asked.

"We don't know," Emily replied, "Her phone goes straight to voicemail; she's not returning texts, either. JJ said that has never happened. Walker and JJ are on their way to Reid's apartment now."