Chasing Reality

5

"Is there anything I can do?" I ask.

"Um, maybe a cup of coffee." Penelope smiles, not looking away from the computer.

I nod walking out of her office. It's been almost a month since I've started here and I feel like I've been doing the same useless stuff since day one. Getting coffee and snacks out of the vending machine. They've let me sit in on one meeting about a case. I thought I signed up to help people not be the coffee bitch.

I poor some black coffee and add all the little stuff she likes, hell I know how everyone here liked their coffee because that's all I do!

I reenter the office and Penelope is vigorously typing on her computer. "No! No! No!" She says.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Mercer, is that you?" I hear a voice over the phone.

"Yeah." I say.

There should be a stack of files on the left side of Garcias desk. The top one she be labeled Thomas Thorrin" I recognize the voice as Morgan.

I look at the various papers on her desk and finally found the one he is talking about.

"Okay, got it." I say grabbing them.

"Look through them, try to find a connection, and fast! We have less than 12 hours to find this unsub." He says.

"Okay. I'll get back to you as soon as I find something." I open them.

I didn't know much about this case. But I knew enough to know kinda what I was looking for. After almost an hour of reading something hits me.

"They were all on the same golf team!" I stand up quickly.

"That's it! What's the instructors name?" Garcia asks.

"Mike Phan." I say.

Garcia dials Morgan's phone number and it goes to voicemail.

"Damnit!" She says dialing a different number.

"Hello?" Right away i can tell its Reid.

"Dr. Reid. I've got something! I was looking through all the files and it turns out all of the victims were on the same golf team in 1993." I explain.

"His name is Mike Phan, it turns out his wife left him and took his kid with her 7 months ago." Garcia says, reading off her computer.

"That's right around when the first murder happened. Wait, is there anyone else on that team that is still alive?" He ask.

Garcias fingers move like lightening bolts and picture pops up of the golf team.

"Frank Lauren." I say.

Garcia reads off his address, "Thank you guys, I knew we just needed a fresh pair of eyes on this case. Good work. " he says before hanging up.

Oh how I wish I could be there.
*
When they got back it was late the next day. I don't know why I expected them to say something to me.

They didn't. Not single word, they grabbed the rest of their stuff and headed for home. I feel almost hurt then I remember, it's my job now.

I gather my stuff up and get ready to go home. I think the sad part is I like being here more than I do home. Something about the safety of it.

"Hey." Reid stops me just as I was about to walk out the door.

I smile at him, his hair tucked behind his ears and dark circles under his eyes. He looks tired and pretty adorable.