❛𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬❜ - 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐝

ACT FOUR

FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA — MARY WILKINSON'S RESIDENCE

Mary Wilkinson lived with her parents, which Caulfield recalled easily, so it didn't take long for the team to arrive at the quaint farmhouse.

When they got out, Rossi thought that having five people show up on their doorstep may spook Mary or her parents, so he told the three to stay near the car. At the same time, he and Caulfield walked up to the patio, where Mary already met them halfway, and pushed open the screen door to look at the two of them — Caulfield being a familiar face and Rossi being the pair of fresh eyes who had years of experience when it came to reading people.

The sun was out, but it wasn't glaring down on them, so Emily tilted her head back, taking her time to observe the scenery and letting the warmth soak into her skin. Morgan already had his sunglasses on, leaning against the closed driver's side as he checked his phone to see if Penelope sent any updates through.

Vivienne, however, took a few steps away from the car. Much like Emily and Morgan when they first got out of the car, she had observed Mary Wilkinson when she met Rossi and Caulfield at the door. She saw the woman's frown and the way her eyes had shifted to the team waiting at the car, but the lack of confusion from FBI agents knocking on her door kickstarted Vivienne's mind into organizing a map of possible scenarios to explain it.

Her arms crossed over her chest and her head turned, slowly taking in the vast fields that surrounded them. It had been a while since she'd been on the field with anyone but Callaway, but if he had been there, he would've already known that Vivienne's first instinct whenever she arrived at a new place was to survey the surrounding area. It was a habit of hers that didn't rest even when she was in her office; Callaway had more than once caught her looking around the space she just entered seconds prior, as if expecting something new to pop up when everything was as routine as could be.

"You don't have to be so nervous, Vivienne."

She blinked, her gaze leaving the road they'd driven up from to see Morgan's friendly expression. The corner of his mouth was raised slightly as if he was amused, but it wasn't similar to what she'd seen him do when Reid, JJ, or any of his original team were in the room. She guessed it was because they weren't exactly close enough just yet.

"Sorry?"

"There's not another house for at least two miles," he explained, cluing her in on how he noticed her scanning the area. "You can relax."

"I didn't realize," she murmured, almost embarrassed at being caught before she faced them again. "I'm sorry."

Morgan raised his brows curiously, snapping his phone closed. "Something on your mind?"

Emily's attention shifted to her then, just as curious, and Vivienne's shoulders came up subtly in a shrug. "I was just thinking."

"We got time."

Morgan had a rough sense of what she was thinking, but he already had an inkling that Vivienne didn't share information unless she was asked to. It went against what he heard about her before she joined them for the case, but he already determined that that was because, in the Cyber Division, she was in her element; Vivienne had already proven herself capable of backing up her theories and people came to her for answers when they were already at the end of theirs. It was already her role.

Here, Rossi had called her in as a consultant, but the BAU were the FBI's best minds, which meant a dynamic already existed before Vivienne was even considered a resource. Morgan was quick enough to notice that Vivienne could pick up things as soon as she walked in, and he had no doubts that she likely read up on them prior to her arrival. It made sense that she didn't feel comfortable being proactive; she respected them enough to not want to overshadow or step over them.