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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: FATHER AND SON ( aka 04x07: memoriam )
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DALLIS HAD TO WONDER if the set-up of William Reid's office reflected the inside of his brain. Everything was entirely impersonal. No photos, no embellishments. A black leather couch was nestled beside the door. Beneath the window was his desk, large and imposing. He sat behind it, using it like a shield against his son and the strangers staring him down from their positions around the room. Dallis had perched herself beside Rossi on the couch, gazing with knitted brows at the shelves lined with thick leather bound books. Next to them was Morgan, who leaned forward in one of the twin armchairs with his elbows pressed to his knees. Reid was the furthest away. He hovered in the path to the exit, ready to leave at a moment's notice.
"You don't look like me anymore," William contemplated Reid. "You used to. Everybody said so."
"They say some people look like their dogs, too," Reid muttered, and Dallis had to swallow back a snort. How she loved when sassy Reid made an appearance. He didn't show his face often but when he did it was nothing if not memorable. "It's attributed to prolonged mutual exposure. Elderly couples, also. They unconsciously mimic the expressions of people they've been around their whole life, so it kind of makes sense that I wouldn't really look like you. I haven't seen you in twenty years."
Dallis wondered if she looked anything like Jackson. She had her mother's hair, her eyes too. When she smiled, the corner of her mouth ticked upward and mirrored the smile Hope plastered on for her children everyday without fail. Dallis didn't keep a picture of her dad to know if she shared his attributes. Whether or not she did wouldn't really change anything.
"So are you in town for work?" William swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat.
It was Rossi who answered. His arm brushed against the back of Dallis' neck from where he sat with it extended across the couch cushions. "We're just wrapping up a case."
"A five-year-old boy was abducted and murdered," Morgan shared, testing how William reacted.
"I read about that," William sighed. "Ethan Hayes, right? That's terrible."
Reid hummed in agreement. "That case got me thinking about Riley Jenkins. You remember Riley Jenkins?"
"Of course."
"I've been having dreams about him for a really long time. But when I came back here for this case, it jogged something and the dreams changed. I saw his killer, and it was you."
"Interesting dream."
Dallis idly tapped the pads of her fingers against her crossed knees. "You don't sound surprised, Mr Reid."
William merely smiled. His teeth had been whitened -- probably from a cheap store-bought toothpaste -- but the front two visibly overlapped. He fixed his tie again, careful to maintain his image when his hand then moved to slick back his hair. "I stopped being surprised by Spencer's mind a long time ago."
