Fingertips | Spencer Reid

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

2,281words

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: if you could have dinner with someone who is already dead, who would it be?

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-Dr. Spencer Reid-

The moment we walked into the victim's apartment, a strong smell hit me, something burnt. I walked around, trying to find what it was just in case it was flammable and we would- you know... explode.

On the corner of her room, there was a canvas, almost destroyed entirely because of the fire that had ran through it. By the looks of it, the Unsub let it burn for a while and poured water on it to stop it once he was satisfied with the result.

"Reid!" Morgan's voice rang through the apartment.

I took the canvas with me as I made my way to where his voice was, frowning at the sight "He killed her in the kitchen?"

"Cleaned around each of the squares so there was no blood out of the lines" he looked around "Didn't paint over anything this time. It was more precise, calculated"

"He also spent quite some time in the apartment" I pointed at the canvas "He set this on fire and waited to pull it out. Also, cleaning blood isn't something that is done in five minutes"

"Oh my God" a man's voice came from the living room. Who was he?

"Sir, I told you to wait outside" an officer tried to pull him back out

"I knew something was wrong..." he cried "I should have come earlier..."

The both of us walked outside with the man so we could speak where there was no blood and he could get distracted.

"What was wrong, Sir?" Derek spoke.

"She- she always picks up the mail" we looked at him waiting for more information "Every day, when she gets home from work, she stops to check on her mailbox. They are next to my reception area and she always stays for a little bit to chat with me. People in these buildings are not always so nice with the receptionist- but she was"

"How long has it been since she went to get the mail?"

"The last time was last week... Tuesday. She was happy because a friend of hers had written back"

"You didn't see her after that?" I asked.

"I'm not here in the mornings, my shift starts at five in the afternoon. I didn't see her arrive on Wednesday; I just guessed she was sick. But then Thursday, and Friday and the Weekend and-" he broke down "I should have done something"

"Sir, there was no way you could have known what was going on in here" Morgan tried to reassure him. He stayed outside to speak a little more with the man and I went back inside.

We needed to find who the victim had been with or spoken to in the last few days prior to her death. She most likely knew the Unsub, as there were no signs of forced entry.

I gave a quick call to Garcia, allowing her access to the victim's computer so she could check the emails and schedule. In the meantime, I grabbed the mail that was set on the small table next to the main door. Scanning quickly through them, I found only two personal letters: acceptance into a program and a friend's letter.

This must be the letter from a friend she was excited about...

Before I started reading, Garcia called "Hey, I found these emails..." she made pop into the computer screen "They all go out, but this person never replied. Still, the messages go something like-"