❛𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬❜ - 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐝

ACT TWO

Spencer Reid was a bit of an oddball in, well, everything.

He'd been picked on at school for knowing far too much, and while he was a bit more respected as the years went on, he never could quite shake the label of being the youngest brainiac in the room who just couldn't read social cues sometimes.

When he got into the FBI, he was always just a little too excited to work on a case, which didn't quite help his reputation. The way he stammered on about numerous gruesome ways killers could dispose of or handle their victims still threw people off sometimes, but it wasn't as if he could help it. Spencer was far more interested in his job than anything else, which was why on the rare occasions they had days off, he kept his schedule open in case they needed to be called in because he didn't want to be anywhere else.

Not that he had options, anyway. His hobbies were a bit too niche for him to have things readily available to book.

"Spencer."

A nudge to his shoulder caused him to look up from the whiteboard, raising his brows at Morgan in curiosity. "Hmm?"

"We're talking to you, kid," he laughed, and only then did Spencer register Rossi and Emily spread around the conference table as well. Hotch had stepped out for a call while JJ was busy contacting the families of those reported missing, and the rest of them convened to discuss everything they found out from the day. "You've been staring at the whiteboard for ten minutes straight."

Spencer blinked, his mouth curving in a small 'o' shape he glanced back at the whiteboard. "Oh, I wasn't staring. Well, not just staring." He angled his body to face them, though the hand that was still holding the marker pointed out details on the board. "I was thinking about the change in victimology. Switching from runaways and prostitutes to college students isn't that uncommon in unsubs. There's this phenomenon called 'opportunistic evolution' in criminal behavior, it mirrors those of predators in the animal kingdom when they change hunting strategies on what prey is most abundant. One could say that—"

"Reid, we get the concept," Rossi spoke up from the head of the table, lounging in his chair with a cup of hot coffee in his hand. A case file was splayed open in front of him, and he looked tired already. Whether that be from the day they had or Reid's unprompted ramble, they couldn't tell. "We're taking a breather from the case."

His head reared back slightly, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Already? It hasn't even been 24 hours."

"Yeah, well, Rossi figured we'd wait for a bit because the consultant he called in is due to arrive any second now," Emily shared, her own coffee on the table in front of her. She was less relaxed than Rossi, her back bent over the table a bit, but she appeared more casual than tense. "You know anything about her, Reid? I'm sure you've read her file somewhere before."

He had. He sort of had a thing for puzzles and mysteries, and Vivienne LaForteza fit that description in human form. There wasn't anything personable on her file, which wasn't odd given the main focus would typically be on what one accomplished during their time working for the government, but what Reid remembered most about Vivienne other than her decorated file was the fact that she seemed eerily similar to a ghost.

Being somewhat of a literal genius, Spencer kept a close eye on anything that could benefit his intellect, and he had heard of the woman whose career started at 15. He read about every case she was involved in, even if she'd only been mentioned near the end, and he knew when a case was solved by her even when her name wasn't anywhere near the file. Spencer found her a fascinating person to observe on paper because, well, that was the only way one could find out about her. Being in the Cyber Division, she rarely ever had to be out on the field, and photos of her didn't circulate even on the internal sites, so all Spencer could do was read about her accomplishments and wonder about the genius he hoped to meet one day.