Decisions (4th Book in the Boss's Niece Series)

Offer

We decided to keep Wendall the night, like I suggested. We knew that there wouldn't be any more kidnaps or murders if we kept him because our female UnSub wouldn't be able to lure the girls without him.

I sat, looking at the pictures of the victims. They all had brown hair. Tristy's was long, but Brittany's was short. Tristy's hair had been cut. Maybe to look like our UnSub? They were dressed up in what we believed to be our UnSub's clothes after all.

"Hello there Dr. Reid." Sergeant Jackson said.

"Please, Sergeant. Call me Mel." I said.

"Mel. Right. Sorry." he said. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to see if I can find a connection or anything that'll point us to our UnSub." I said. "What about Wendall? Has he said anything else?"

"Just that he wants to talk to you again, but Agent Hotchner has said no." Jackson replied. "What was it he said to you when you left?"

"He asked me if I loved my daughter and when I said yes, he said 'Yeah, that's what he said, too' which made me think he had a family member, like a sister or maybe his mom, that might've been abused by their dad or a boyfriend or maybe he was abused himself."

"But what about the underaged prostitutes?"

"I don't know. If he does have a sister, maybe she was raped or his mother was raped by her father or his friends or something. We had a case like that once before. A woman was raped by her husband's friends while he watched."

"That's sick. You never think these things will ever happen."

"Until it does." I agreed. "It's scary, but you get used to it when you have a job like mine."

We went silent. I leaned against the desk and looked at the pictures. I tilted my head, as if that would give me a better view of the pictures and give me a connection.

"Listen, Mel. I wanted to ask you something." Jackson said. I looked up at him.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, it's more of an offer then a question really-"

"You realize I'm married right?" I said.

Jackson laughed and said, "No, no. I am, too. That's not what I was going to ask. I was gonna say that I wanted to offer you a job here in Philadelphia."

I turned and looked at him in surprise.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yeah! I mean, it's no FBI or anything but it's double the pay for half the time. You could spend some time with your family."

"That's great, but how would I work for Philadelphia all the way in Quantico?"

Jackson began to laugh. I looked at him, puzzled, wondering what I was missing. Once he finished laughing, Jackson looked at me again and his face changed.

"Wait, you're serious?" he asked. I nodded. "Dr. Reid-"

"Mel." I corrected him.

"Mel, we want you to move here to work."

That's when it seemed like the whole world was collapsing down on me. I couldn't leave Virginia. That's where Haley was born. It's where Spencer and I got married. It's our home. My mind went to Spencer, too. How would he react? He can't up and quit his job to move here with me. He was great at his job and what would he do here? Sit and watch Haley all day?

"Mel?" Jackson said.

"I'm sorry. I zoned out." I said. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying this is a big opportunity. You've shown a lot of leadership skills and we want you has head. Like I said, it's no FBI, no action, no traveling as much, but it's a lot less gruesome then the FBI."

I began to zone out again, but pretended I was listening. What would Uncle Aaron say? What would anyone say? They were going to hate me when they found out. They were gonna get mad if I left.

Or would they? They seemed pretty okay with Emily leaving. But that was after she faked her death. They had lost her once and were getting used to her not being there. If I just up and left, what would they think?

"So, what do you think?" Jackson asked as if voicing my thoughts.

"Hm?" I said. Jackson raised an eyebrow and I quickly realized he asked me something. "Oh, uh. I'm not sure."

"Well, you don't have to give an answer right away. You can think about it, even when you go back to Virginia. Just know this role can close fast and we'd be glad to have you on our team."

I noticed how he emphasized "our" team, as if saying they'd rather me there then on the FBI. Jackson gave me a smile and walked off. I watched him go, surprised. I couldn't wrap my mind around what happened.

"What was that about?"

I jumped as Spencer appeared beside me.

"What? Nothing. We were just talking about the case." I said. "A-Any word from Garcia?"

"Not yet. It's getting late. Let's go to the hotel and get a fresh start in the morning."

I nodded. Spencer wrapped an arm around my shoulder and kissed my head as we walked to the parking lot and into the SUV. I let Spencer drive because I was so tired and more focused on the offer then anything else.

What was I going to do?