Detective Reid (Criminal Minds / One Chicago FanFic)

Chapter 18

1 Month Later

Intelligence Unit, 21st District Police Department, Chicago Illinois

Lauren walked into the familiar brick building after a month finally being cleared by Dr. Halstead yesterday afternoon. Even though Voight told her to take all the time she needed off she was going mental sitting around her apartment looking forward to crappy reality TV shows and her daily call from Spencer who'd been calling daily since he went back to Virginia for work 2 weeks ago. 

"Nice to see you back Reid," sergeant Platt said as she walked into the department. "Thanks, Serg," Lauren said sending her a small smile as she walked over to the stairs and punched her code in, and scanned her thumb and palm before the gate unlocked letting her up to the bullpen. 

The detective took a deep breath as she emerged at the top of the stairs where her team was all sitting at their desks. "Heyyy look who it is!" detective Dawson said with a smile on his face as he noticed Lauren's appearance. Dawson stood up walking over and pulled her into an embrace, "Hey Toni," Lauren said as the rest of the team stood up hugging her and welcoming her back including Jay who was happy to see her. "You cleared to come back?" Jay asked her as Lauren nodded. "Your brother signed off on the papers yesterday, I'm good to go," the brunette replied. 

"We were starting to think that you never gonna come back, enjoying all that free time," Ruzek replied causing Lauren to laugh out loud as she sat on the edge of her desk. "By enjoying my free time you mean watching the train wreck that's Dr. Phil and what the hell is the deal with 90 day fiance? You can't possibly marry someone you've known for 90 days. When did TV get so horribly pointless?" Lauren ranted. 

"No way, Welcome back!" The voice caused Lauren to look up as Mouse ran up the last few steps into the bullpen over to the brunette lifting her off her feet as he engulfed her in an embrace. "I thought you said you were gonna come back at the beginning of next week?" Mouse asked her confused as he let her go. "I'm going bored out of my mind and I'd rather be here, with my team. The ones that saved my ass, so thank you all for that," Lauren said thanking them awkwardly. "So I'm guessing now that everything's cleared up the Feds want you back," Atwater said. 

"Well we don't always get what we want, and I'm content with where I am," Lauren replied. "Reid, what are you doing back so soon?" Voight asked walking out of his office and noticing the detective. "I'm cleared to be back and I can't spend another day in my apartment bored out of my mind when I could be here," Lauren replied. "Alright but do me a favor and stick to the desk for a day or two, I don't need you dropping on me," Voight told her. 

"Okay," she replied not bothering to argue knowing he could just send her home. Voight went back into his office and Lauren took a seat at her desk. "Wow, no sarcastic remarks?" Ruzek asked Lauren who shrugged not in the mood to make a sarcastic comment. "Okay, so where are we?" Voight asked the unit as he walked out of his office. 

"All right, Darren and Jeni Carlson. Both 48 years old. Lifelong residents of Chicago. Both their daughters were in public high school. Their son was 10 years old. Tough kid, beat Leukemia. Lastly their daughter Polly she's 12 years old, she's our only survivor," Detective Ruzek said going over the case on the whiteboard. 

"Darren used to work for the city planning department, "Ruzek added, "Jeni was a manager at a commercial printer. They had about a dozen LLCs in their name," Dawson said. "Yeah, they were definitely hustlers. Darren manages a few rental properties. I got patrol knocking on doors right now. We might just be looking for an aggravated tenant," Atwater said. "Yeah, Jeni was raising money to buy a fast food franchise. I'm looking into their investors. They also had a $50,000 advance from a company called Horizons." Dawson said. 

"Horizons?" Lauren repeated recognizing the name causing the team to look in her direction. "that's a pyramid scheme, They do these seminars to teach leadership skills, but It's a total scam," Lauren replied. "So we got nothing on the POD cameras, yet boss. Neighborhood watch didn't see anybody fleeing." Ruzek said.  "We got the .40 caliber shells left at the scene. None of em match the ballistic database so far," Atwater added. "So it's either a single shooter, or they only discharged 1 weapon," Dawson said. 

"There was no sign of forced entry, they knew who their killer was," Ruzek added. "It's possible, Look what I want to understand is who exactly the Carlsons are in business with. These people are scrambling to do right by their family, somewhere along the line it went bad. And let's not assume the kids are just collateral damage. I mean they have 2 teenage daughters," Voight said. "The surviving daughter is our only eyewitness. She's on a 3 day psych evaluation at Med," Dawson said. 

"Her aunt and uncle in St. Louis are her closest family, They're gonna be on the first flight tomorrow," Ruzek said. "Polly, 12 years old. Got nobody in the city," Lauren said sadly looking at the young child. "Well, she's got us," Voight said in return to the detective. "Reid why don't you help Mouse comb through the teenage daughter's social media," Voight suggests. "Alright, let's get some coffee and start cyber stalking some teenage girls," Lauren said to Mouse as she stood up walking into the break room followed by Mouse. "So do you think they're into My Chemical Romance or Justin Bieber?" Lauren asked him as she poured mouse a mug of coffee before her own handing him one of the mugs. 

"I'm not even sure today's generation even knows who My Chemical Romance is," Mouse replied. "So you were a scene kid?" he asked as he added sugar and cream to his coffee. "In high school, I listened to a lot of The Goo Goo Dolls, Papa Roach, Billy Tallent," Lauren listed as she added sugar and cream to her coffee. "So you were a scene kid," Mouse stated, "I wouldn't have called myself a scene kid but I definitely wasn't listening to Madonna," Lauren said as she walked out of the break room and went down the stairs heading to Mouse's office to help him cyber stalk a couple teenagers to make sure they didn't play a part in this entire family being slaughtered leaving behind a 12 year old who witnessed the entire thing. 

"So, how are you holding up?" Mouse asked her after they got to his office and started searching through the multiple social media accounts both teenage daughters had. "Um fine, I guess," Lauren replied keeping her focus on the screen in front of her feeling Mouse looking at her from across the room. "Look I can't really imagine what your going through and I get that it's a process you know but if you ever wanna talk. I'm here," Mouse said before he turned back to his screen. "I'll let you know, but thanks. Seriously," Lauren said looking toward him.