Mini Reid (Book 3 in the Boss's Niece series #Wattys2016)

To San Diego

We all sat in the private jet. Spencer and I sat across from each other, playing a game of Texas Hold 'Em. JJ sat next to me and Derek sat next to Spencer. So far, I was losing. I keep forgetting that my husband was a genius and was from Vegas.

I looked at my cards. Full house. I decided to throw Spencer off and make him think I was bluffing. I bit my lip and looked at my cards as if I had garbage.

"Man. I guess I'll go all in." I said, pushing in the last of my change.

"Bold move, Dr. Reid." Spencer said.

"The only question is, are you bold enough to do the same?" JJ asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Spencer looked at his cards, considering it. He shrugged and pushed his change in.

"All in." he said.

I was about to lay my full house and, finally, win, but Penelope popped up on my laptop, placed on our table. Spencer and I laid our cards on the table, face down, and listened to what she had to say.

"Hey, mama. What do you got?" asked Derek.

"I got whatever you want, Chocolate Thunder." Penelope replied. "But that's something for another time. Anyways, back to the real matter at hand. Our victims have more in common then just being married. They were all around the same age. The men, 30-35, the women, 25-30-"

"Making our UnSub, what, 30?" I said.

"Just about." said David.

"Also, The Witlocks and the Hudsons lived on the same block while the Powers lived only one block away." Penelope continued.

"So the UnSub lives close." Derek said. "Must've known them by passing them on the streets or by some club or something."

"Can you look up the backgrounds and see what clubs they went to, what sports they play, and see if there are anything repetitive?" I asked Penelope.

"Oh, of course! Anything for you my sexy, sexy doctor. I'll get on that right away. Garcia out." she said and then was gone.

I turned back to Spencer.

"Your thoughts, Dr. Reid?" I asked.

"So, the victims are all around the same age and live in the same area. Our UnSub is particularly with age and place. Something in their past that has something to do with married couples and possible rape." he said.

"Maybe they were married themselves? They got raped or their significant other did. They died or committed suicide or something afterwards. When the kidnappings began, it could've been an anniversary, which would've been the stressor." I said.

Spencer looked down at the table and nodded.

"Yeah. Totally what I was thinking." he mumbled.

"Ha. Boy Genius was out smarted by Girl Genius." Derek said.

Spencer blushed. I laughed and placed my hand in his. He looked up at me and smiled.

"We'll be landing soon. Morgan and Rossi, you two go to the first home. Blake, you go to the second. Reid and Mel, you go to the third. JJ and I will go to the police department and start setting up." Uncle Aaron said.

Spencer and I looked at each other and smiled.

Derek grabbed Spencer's cards and flipped them over to reveal his crap hand.

"He was bluffing. He had nothing." Derek said.

JJ and I laughed and Spencer hit Derek in the arm and turned to the window, arms crossed.

•

Spencer and I walked into the house of the second victims. We were met by a woman with puffy red eyes, obviously crying.

"Who are you?" she asked. "More police?"

"Kind of." I replied. "My name is Dr. Melanie Reid and this is my partner, Dr. Spencer Reid. We're from the FBI."

Spencer and I showed her our IDs.

"We're here about the kidnappings that have been going on." I continued.

"Oh. Well, I'm Amelia Irving, Jenny's sister." she said, extending her hand to me. I shook it. She repeated with Spencer, who declinded the handshake. Maybe he hasn't fully changed.

"I was the first to get the news about her, well, you know, her-"

"Murder." Spencer jumped in.

I quickly hit his arm, which went unnoticed by Amelia. Spencer looked at me, rubbing his arm. I gave him a "she's mourning, shut up" look.

"Sorry." he said and backed away.

I put my hand on Amelia's shoulder. She turned and led me out back. We sat down on the patio. She looked at her hands, never at me.

"Where's Harry?" she asked.

"We don't know. We're looking for him, honest. And when we find him, we'll find our UnSub." I replied.

"What's an UnSub?" she asked.

"Unknown Subject." I replied. "It's a BAU, Behavioral Analysis Unit, term."

We sat in silence. Amelia looked at me hands, then up to me. Her eyes were full of tears.

"Are you married?" she asked, gesturing to my wedding ring.

"Yes. To Dr. Reid, actually." I said.

"I thought that." she said. "How long?"

"6 months. We met when I started working with the BAU. We dated for a bit before he finally proposed. A year and 3 months later, we were married."

"How old are you two?"

"I turned 30 last month. Dr. Reid's 32, turning 33 in a month."

Amelia started crying.

"Jenny was 29. Harry is 31." she sobbed. "They were high school sweethearts. Amy was new to school and Harry showed her around. A week later, they were officially together. After they graduated, Harry proposed."

"That's sweet." I said. "Are you married, Amelia?"

"No. I was engaged, but I broke it off a month later."

"Mel."

Amelia and I turned to see Spencer at the door.

"Can I see you for a second?" he asked.

"Sure." I replied.

I put a hand on Amelia's knee. She looked at me and nodded. I nodded, too and got up. I followed Spencer inside and to the front door.

"No signs of forced entry. So, the victims must've knew the UnSub." he said.

I focuses hard on the door. Spencer disappeared and, suddenly, I was at the party the night they got kidnapped.

For those of you who don't know, if I focus hard enough, I can put myself into the UnSub's, or the victim's, shoes.

"Who are you, the UnSub or the victim?" Spencer asked, though I couldn't see him.

"I'm Jenny. Go outside and knock." I said, waving an arm in the direction he was, even though I still couldn't see him.

I waited, then, there was a knock.

"I'll get it!" I called, like Jenny would've to be heard over the music.

I walked to the door and opened it. At first, I imagined the UnSub as a mean looking guy. Someone who'd scare you.

"If he looked like trouble, Jenny wouldn't have let him in." I said.

"But," the still unseen Spencer said. "if he looked friendly, maybe even was a friend-"

The UnSub quickly changed into a clean cut, friendly looking fellow. Someone that Harold probably knew.

"Hey man." I heard Harold say as he walked up to the door and high-fived the UnSub. "Come on in."

The UnSub passed and then I came back to reality. Spencer stood outside the door, looking at me.

"Are you back?" he asked as I blinked quickly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm back." I said, rubbing my eyes. "So, the UnSub might be someone that Harold knew, maybe like a sports buddy. Someone they knew and would have let in."

"Someone at the party, maybe." Spencer continued. "That would explain why there was no forced entry."

"We should get to the police station and see what everyone else got." I said. "I'll be out in a second."

When Spencer left, I went back to the patio. Amelia was still sitting down, looking out over the beautiful garden in the backyard.

"Hey." I said. "Dr. Reid and I are leaving. I wanted to let you know and I wanted to tell you-" I trailed off as she looked up at me. "-please be safe. Be safe and we promise to find the bastard who took Jenny."

I was about to leave when Amelia said, "I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about."