A Spencer Reid Story: Love and Loss

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Reid flipped through his notebook, taking small notes as he questioned the Sheant’s next door neighbor’s, the Links. He asked them if they had seen or heard anything suspicious at around the time of death of the victims. Mrs. Link shook her head, fear stained in her eyes. She couldn’t believe something like this could happen in her neighborhood.

“No, they were really good people. They were trying to have a baby for at least a year now, but Mark was impotent and he didn’t really want Loraine to acquire a sperm donor, because he wanted it to be his own.”  Mrs. Link went on, her voice shaking. “I didn’t know anyone who would want to hurt them. They were such a simple family, like you or me. Buying groceries at the store, renting old movies, going to work, coming home, they just did normal things.” She shook her head, smoothing down her black hair as she fidgeted, telling the story.

Mr. Link stood up from the couch, catching Spencer’s eye. He seemed quiet, pondering. Did he know something that Mrs. Link didn’t?

“I thought…. Now… I’m not sure. Really, I’m not. But I thought Mark might be having an affair.” Mr. Link look pointedly at Spencer, who quickly jotted this down in his notes. Mrs. Link gasped.

“Adam! You never told me that! Why didn’t you say anything!” She pouted, giving him a demeaning look. Mr. Link sighed.

“Because, I told you, I didn’t know if it’s true. I just… one night I saw him coming home with someone else while Loraine was at work. It was so dark though, I couldn’t even see what they looked like. I could just see how close they were and that he put his around them. They went into the house and that was that. When I woke up the next day, the car was no-where to be seen, and Loraine was already home. I thought nothing of it… until now.”

“Do you remember what kind of car it was, Mr. Link?” Spencer stared at him. This could be very useful to the case. It could be an upset lover who was angry that Mark didn’t leave his wife.

“No, I couldn’t even tell you what model it was. Just a simple car. It was so dark, it was around 3 AM. I was only up because I needed to use the bathroom and get a drink of water, and I got distracted by the headlights I saw outside.” Mr. Link shook his head. “Damn shame too. If that was really the cause of all of this…damn shame.”

Spencer closed his notebook. He probably wasn’t going to get any more information out of the Links. Perhaps Emily or JJ had gotten more from the other neighbors that they were at.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Link. Call the police if you remember anything else or if you see anything else suspicious. Thank you.” After giving his card, Spencer left the house, merging back onto the street where countless workers of forensics, police, and others worked around the clock to secure the area as they searched for any evidence possible. Spencer spotted out Emily and Hotch discussing. He walked over.

“Are you telling me that the Sheants didn’t talk to anyone?” Hotch asked Emily, as she flipped through her notes.

“It doesn’t appear so. They couldn’t give me any recent accounts of even seeing the Sheants outside of their house.” Emily seemed exasperated as she spoke. She crossed her arms, not looking Hotch in the eye. Spencer pulled out his notebook.

“The only thing I was able to get from the Links was that Mark might have been in an affair with somebody. Mr. Link said he saw a car one night while Loraine was out of town on a business trip. Mr. Link confirmed that he saw Mark get out with someone but he couldn’t describe him to me or describe the car. It’s quite possible the murder scene is the result of an angry lover who was upset that Mark wouldn’t leave his wife for them.”

“We’ll have to get Garcia to snoop through the phone records and access his computer to see if there were any files or emails that transpired between Mark and someone else.” Hotch told Emily and Spencer, as he reached for his phone to dial her up. He began to walk away as he talked, leaving Emily and Spencer to discuss and compare notes. This was a very strange murder. Everything was so precise and so clean. At first Spencer had figured it was just a robbery, but the motive was unclear yet, the murder scene was just too clean. Usually a robbery was messy, and late at night so as not to wake anyone up. Time of death had placed this scene in the early evening, when the Sheants were sure to be awake. They needed more time to figure this out.

“I’m going to have the team converge a little later. I don’t think there is anything left for us to accomplish for today. It’s already getting late. I suggest we head back to the hotel for the night, discuss, and get to bed.” Hotch issued his orders, the group nodding in agreement. Spencer felt tired, it would be nice to unwind and just look over the case files in a hotel bed.

They reached the hotel which was only about 20 minutes away from the actual crime scene. They all parted ways, Hotch and Rossi deciding to go to the main lobby to talk more about the case and motive. Emily and JJ went into their rooms and Morgan decided to hit up the hotel bar, presumably, stopping there first before he would join Hotch and Rossi. Spencer decided to just unwind in his room, the starting of a headache starting to hit him. He loosened his tie as he sat on the bed.

Ring ring ring ring

He sighed, picking up his phone.

“Dr. Reid.”

“Um… yeah… hi Spencer. It’s Cat. I know you’re really super busy and all and I don’t want to bother you, and I’ve tried like a million times to talk her out of it, but my mom really wants to talk to you. To thank you I guess for-“ suddenly her words were cut off.

“Dr. Reid? Yes, Hi this is Catherine’s mom. Janet. I never got to thank you for saving my daughter’s life. Being at Cassandra’s funeral really made me realize how close it could have been to Catherine being in that casket. I wanted to thank you. You simply most join us for dinner sometime. I will cook my famous dishes and we can meet properly. I hope I didn’t disturb you and your work. Cat tells me what a busy man you are. It really is admirable, what you’re doing at such a young age. Well thank you again, and I’ll be sure to continue to ask Catherine when she is bring you over. Here she is again.” Reid smiled, shaking his head trying to keep back laughter.

“Oh my gosh Spencer I am so sorry. I tried to talk her out of it but she just wouldn’t let me and she actually grabbed my phone and was dialing your number without me even knowing! And then-“

“It’s really okay Cat, that was sweet. Tell your Ms. Menson thank you and that I do hope to meet her sometime as well, but I really must go, I have to look over the case files and I need to unwind a bit. How are you? Still feeling okay?” he questioned her, taking off his shoes in the process.

“Yeah I’m fine. Just a little bit rough after Cassandra’s funeral and all. On the bright side George Mason has decided to award me a 4.0 for the semester, on account of emotional distress with my roommate dying and all. But yeah, I’m fine. Good luck on your case work. Call me anytime. Talk to you later Spencer.” And with that there was a click on the phone as she hung up. A 4.0? That was nice, that would definitely help her chances when entering other fields.

He rested back on his bed closing his eyes for a few brief seconds. Without even thinking, exhaustion took over as he fell into a light sleep.