Distance.
“Brookes, I need to see you in my office. Pronto.” Dave announced to our division of escritoires. Sorry, David. Wait, Officer David Delanco. It’s just hard to remember sometimes. As I walked into Delanco’s office, I brushed off my black pantsuit. I hate these things. “You can go now boys, Brookes and I need to talk.” He said and the two security guards exited.
“What’s so important that you needed me right at the moment because, for your information, I was trying to indulge myself in a ninety calorie brownie.”
“Em, this is serious.”
“My apologies, sir.”
“We recruited a new member for the team. His first assignment is working with us on Tommy Jones’ case.”
“And his name, sir?”
“Reid. Dr. Spencer Reid.” an unfamiliar voice said from behind me. I turned to see a tall brunet - haired man with brown eyes standing directly in front of me.
“Hello, I'm Emmy, Emmy Brookes.” I extended a hand towards him as he took it and shook it slow and gently.
“What’s it for?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said your name was Emmy, it’s got to be short for something, right?”
“I'm sorry, it’s short for Emelia-Rose.”
“Reid, Brookes.” Delanco snapped at us.
“Sorry, sir. Where’s our first destination for the Jones’ case?” Reid 's unsure voice spoke.
“First you two are going to talk to Tommy’s mother and then you’ll talk to his soccer coach and if you get any leads from them, call back to headquarters. Oh, and take the car.” Delanco said as he threw me the keys to one of the team range rovers.
“Thanks Dave.”
“It’s Delanco, Agent Rose.”
“Again, my apologies, sir.” I replied before trotting to the elevator with my new partner by my side.
“So, our first stop is downtown to Tommy’s Parent’s House to talk to his mother. Did Delanco say anything about why we couldn’t do anything to get information from his father?”
I stopped in the middle of the car park,”Yeah, he did, Reid. Uh, Tommy’s father is dead.” As soon as the words left my mouth, Reid stopped walking, to the point where he was three feet directly in front of me.
“Oh, I didn’t realize. That actually makes a lot of sense considering that the boy’s been kidnapped, a missing father figure might sometimes cause the boy’s thoughts to wonder and for him to think that his father might someday come back. Sometimes, young children who are stricken by loss might wander off and mistake another individual for that missing figure.”
“Wow. I’ve never met another person with such a high I.Q.”
“Another? You’re saying that you, just like I, have such a resilient mental capacity that you thought you’d never meet another being, rather a person, sorry, that shared the same level of intellectual balance?”
“No, Dr. Reid, I was just implying that I never dreamed it possible because the odds of meeting another person with even an I.Q. that was a small percentage, such as down to the thousandth, is about one in, well the average world population being 11.9 billion, so 11.9 billion.” I said as I finally found the right car. “So who’s driving?”
“Whoever doesn’t drive has to read the map and the case files.”
“So I’m driving. I can’t read in a moving car. It’s a problem I developed over the years. I’ll get severe nausea. Anyway, let’s not damper the mood even more.”
“Anyway, the Jones’ lived in a suburban home so it’s possible the boy’s kidnapper knew Tommy, maybe even attended one of his soccer games.”
“Maybe the un-sub was the father of one of Tommy’s teammates. It’d make since because if he had a son on the same team, it’d give him purpose to be there, whereas if he showed up alone, he’d be more detectable.” I said as I turned out of the parking lot.
“Yeah, oh, turn right.”
“So, where did you work before coming here?”
“I worked a small period for a different agency in Chicago.”
“How long?”
“Oh, about eight months.”
“Cool. I worked in Baltimore for about six.”
“Make a left onto Johnson. By the way, what’s the usual time we wrap things up here?”
“About six thirty, why?”
“I was just wondering because I just realized I still need to find a place to stay. You know any good hotels?”
“That is a negative, Dr. Reid, but, I do know that I have some extra rooms in my apartment that are welcome to you, if willing to accept.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“No, I insist. I have so much extra room and it’s really no inconvenience to me whatsoever. I promise.”
“Fine. Just don’t leave me stranded in the parking lot of the FBI okay?”
“So, in other words, wait for you after work?”
“Well, yes, Agent Brookes, if you’d like me to put it that way.”
We drove for about twenty more minutes before we reached the Jones’ residence. To no surprise his mother was waiting on the front porch for us, trying to hold herself from tears. I gave her a small smile, trying to give her some hope. My smile instantly fell as I almost plowed her cat with my car. Oops.
