"I shouldn't be giving you this," Reid argued.
"Come on, I have to have something to do when I'm locked away from society for a couple weeks. No one'll know," McDowell reasoned.
"Aren't there cameras and microphones in here?" he asked, glancing around.
"Yeah, but they don't check the footage unless something suspicious happens. I don't think a conversation with a coworker and potential bodyguard is considered suspicious," she pointed out.
Reid sighed but handed over his case file and McDowell began flipping through it. She paused and examined a picture of one of the victims.
"Look at her eyelid. It's swollen," McDowell pointed to the picture.
"She was brutally beaten ante mortem, " Reid said.
"Yeah but her other eye is swollen and there's bruising around it. There's no bruising around this one," she explained.
Reid quickly pulled out his phone and called Morgan. "Are you still at the ME?" Reid asked into the phone.
"I'm right outside, I just left," Morgan answered.
"Check the eyelids of the second victim. They're both swollen but only one of them has bruising around it," Reid said.
"All right. How'd you pick up on that?" Morgan asked, but Reid stayed silent.
"Hotch told you we're not supposed to let McDowell work on the case, kid," Morgan chided.
"We hit a dead end. I needed a fresh perspective," Reid said, glancing at McDowell.
She looked up from the case file in her lap and smirked, like she knew what they were talking about even though she couldn't hear Morgan's end of the conversation.
"And I'm sure she provided just that, right Reid?" Morgan remarked suggestively, and Reid's cheeks flushed pink.
McDowell noticed and raised an eyebrow questioningly, but Reid quickly turned away from her and hissed into the phone, "That's not what I meant."
Morgan chuckled and replied, "See ya, lover boy," before hanging up.
Reid sighed and ended the call, shoving his phone back in his pocket.
"Please tell me that wasn't Hotch," McDowell said sarcastically, and Reid answered flatly, "No, Morgan."
YOU ARE READING
Criminal Minds One Shots
FanfictionA collection of story blurbs containing cut material and alternate scenes from my book Unknown- A Criminal Minds Fanfic but also some random Criminal Minds stories featuring the members of the BAU and the character Charlie McDowell. Not all stories...
