Retribution, A Spencer Reid/Criminal Minds Fanfic

Chapter 54. Questionable Evidence

Carol Bescardi could hardly breathe.

She cast surreptitious glances around the office where her workstation was tucked into an anonymous, unimportant corner. It seemed inconceivable that no one had noticed the momentous discovery she had just made.

The Reid child, possibly the Holy Grail of psychic research, was within reach.

But no heads had turned. No peal of thunder had shuddered a message of powerful portents in the offing. No one had seen the hectic spots of color that blossomed on Bescardi’s cheeks as her physiological response to the news shot her blood pressure skyward.

For once, she was glad to be surrounded by blank-minded drones. There was no chance of anyone interfering, because there was no chance of anyone grasping the significance of M.C. Reid’s existence and proximity. After mastering her rapid breathing and dabbing the slight sheen of perspiration that had appeared above her upper lip, she went in search of more meaty findings.

Half an hour later, Bescardi sat back in her chair and gave herself a moment to digest the serious lack of data on Dr. Reid’s baby.

The records were so average she almost believed there could be another M.C. Reid living at the same address as the one she’d procured from the baby’s maternal grandmother. There were measurements that didn’t interest her at all. A notation said that a hepatitis B shot had been given and a slight case of diaper rash had been addressed.

Bescardi almost seethed with frustration. Clearly, whoever Dr. George Evanston was, he was not bright enough to grasp the enormity of the opportunity that had dropped the Reid specimen into his lap. She didn’t know much about pediatrics. Babies in general were boring creatures not worthy of her attention until they had developed into either bovine peasants who might serve as lab fodder and who would swell the ranks of the bulk of humanity, or exhibited some trait or anomaly that invited study.

The Reid child fell into the second category.

Surely the creature’s behavior is unlike that of her peers! How could it not be?!

Bescardi narrowed her eyes at the uninformative screen before her. Either this Dr. Evanston was hiding something, or he was another simpleton who’d managed to slip into the sciences without intelligence or anything else of merit to recommend him.

Then her eye tracked to the final line of the data on M.C. Reid. An appointment had been scheduled for a two-month checkup. Apparently a round of immunizations were in order at that point in a baby’s development.

Bescardi’s eyes flicked to the date.

Three-and-a-half weeks from now.

Her respiration and pulse escalated again. She knew where and when the Reid child would be.

But so much to do! She swallowed an anxious lump. And so much to risk.

She hadn’t felt such a surge of energy and the need to scramble to set up an appropriate lab space since she’d roped Dr. Reid and his female companion into attending that ill-fated psychic retreat. Nor had she felt such a frisson of doubt regarding possible consequences since she’d realized her mistake when drugging that lamentable watchdog and abandoning him in the woods.

Bescardi had to remind herself that if David Rossi had been Reid’s chaperone, as she’d expected, her calculations of dosage would have been correct…perfect, in fact.

It’s not my fault they sent the watchdog. And it’s not my fault the man obviously couldn’t keep a decent amount of weight on his bones.