Who Am I? - Criminal Minds

Chapter Three

"Reid's smart; he'll think of something. In the meantime, we need to work around the clock in order to find him." Hotch tends to dive into his work in order to distract himself from a tough time, and this was one of those times.

"Detective, you're a witness. Prentiss, give him a cognitive interview. JJ and Morgan, search the perimeter for evidence. Rossi, you and I will go over the profile and narrow down the possible geographical area."

Everyone follows the command and splits up with their partners.

Prentiss guides Detective LaRoe into the kitchen and gestures for him to sit down while she does the same.

"Agent Prentiss, I don't think this will help; I wasn't even in the room when Dr. Reid was taken. H*ll, I didn't even know he was missing!"

"It doesn't matter, Detective, every little detail is helpful right now." Emily is careful to stay calm, she needs him relaxed and focused for the interview.

"Okay," LaRoe sighs.

Emily nods and begins the interview. "Close your eyes." The detective does as he's told. "Now...you said you went into the kitchen for coffee?"

"Yes, I already said that." LaRoe is getting irritated; he didn't want to do this interview in the first place and having to repeat himself is a personal pet peeve.

"Okay, just relax. You went into the kitchen for coffee, what happened next?"

"Nothing, we came back and he was gone."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. Go back to the kitchen. You're drinking coffee with your buddies; what do you hear?"

"Besides our chatter? Nothing." LaRoe says after thinking about it halfheartedly.

"Think beyond that. In the living room, what did you hear?" Emily calmly clarifies.

He decides to just go along with it, since he obviously isn't getting out of it. After thinking for a moment, he finally says, "The slight creak of the door, some faint footsteps, a soft thud, a sort of dragging sound, and the door closing."

A look of realization crosses his face. "Oh my God....I knew he was in trouble and I did nothing. I just sat there and laughed it up without a care in the world," he exaggerates. He was actually quite stressed at that moment because of the investigation and failed attempts at the arrest.

"No, Detective. you didn't know that at the time. You either didn't hear it or didn't think anything of it." Emily lays a reassuring hand on his shoulder before she gets up and walks into the other room to tell Hotch about the interview.

Morgan squats down and carefully combs the dirt with his eyes. So far, he and JJ hadn't had any luck investigating the premises. They decided to start looking outside first because it was getting crowded inside.

"I think I got something," JJ mumbles after she parts some weeds to reveal a mark in the dirt. Morgan walks over to her and gets a closer look.

"Looks like a footprint," Morgan says.

"Or what's left of one," JJ finishes for him.

"Well, we'll see what Garcia can find." A sudden burst of light explodes from his phone for a split second as he takes a picture of the half-print in what little light the moon offers.

His phone immediately starts ringing. "Speaking of which..." He answers the call with a, "Hey, Baby Girl, whatcha got for me?"

"That half print of a shoe you sent me? It's size ten in men, and the tread is from an athletic equipment brand called Sports Ware," she proudly proclaims. "But why did you need me to find that out for you? I thought you guys left to make the arrest an hour ago?"

"We did. And Daley wasn't there. So we went to the house where the first victim was found, and it turned up empty again."

"Oh gosh, you guys have to keep me up to date on all of this!" She says with mock stern.

"Up to date? As of right now, a serial killer who has the upper hand is on the loose and Reid's missing."

There is silence on the other end of the call.

"Penelope?"

"Oh, God....Oh, God....Not again...This can't happen! Not again!" Her voice sort of dies off at the end, the entire sentence is a staircase: raising one pitch higher each phrase, the tears threatening to fall freely.

"Penelope, I know, I know. We're looking." Morgan tries to soothe her, instantly regretting alarming her.

When Reid was taken by Tobias, Garcia had seen more video of Reid's torture than any other member of the team, excluding Agent Jason Gideon, who vanished into thin air not long after.

All those horrible clips of Tobias punching and slapping him around, of Reid crying and begging for his life, and his last desperate gasps of air right before he died is all she could think about. A tear escapes from her left eye.

"Find him. Bring our little genius home." She hangs up before she lets loose a waterfall of tears. Garcia may not be extremely close to Reid, but this team is her family, since she never really had one. Both her parents died when she was young. This team is her world, and she would do anything for them.

Morgan puts his phone back in his pocket and continues to look around the bushes and house.

"Just admit it," JJ interrupts the silence.

"What?" Morgan looks up at her.

"Just admit you still blame me for the first time." After a moment's silence, she adds, "I still do."

"JJ, Reid told you he didn't blame you at all."

"I know, but I do. But what do you think? You never said whether you did or didn't blame me the first time."

"You were there and he wasn't, that's the truth."

"I want an opinion."

"The truth is my opinion." With that, they both drop the subject and continue to work.

~~~~~ . : . ~~~~~

Reid wakes up in a fuzzy spinning reality. He had been blacking in and out all day. The soft glow from the rising sun offers enough light to see.

He can vaguely make out his surroundings. Contrary to what he believed before, there is a small window appearing to have thick glass near the ceiling, and he already learned there is a door. But other than that and the occupied chair, the walls and floor are bare.

His head is spinning and he still feels drowsy, despite the hours of blackouts and sleep.

He licks his lips and uses as much force as he can muster to yell, "Hello? Can anybody hear me?" The words came out slurred, though.

The answer to his question is dead silence, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Will I get out of this alive? What is going to happen to me? Where am I?

His cluttered thoughts repeat themselves over and over again for hours, until the sun is high up in the blue sky.

Finally, the door creaks open and a head topped with groomed dark brown hair pops out from behind it. "Oh, good, you're awake!" He walks toward Reid. "You ready?"

Reid fights to hold his head up; his neck feels as thin as a toothpick. "For....for what?" He struggles to move his mouth properly.

"Don't you remember yesterday? I said we're going to have fun." Despite the words, only pure sadistic evil dances in his emerald eyes. "Well, I am, at least."