Chapter 12

“Hi sweetie, how you feeling?” Catherine’s mom hugged her tightly as Cat pulled up to the funeral parlor, meeting up with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend Chad.

“I’m alright mom. As alright as I can be. Hi Chad, nice to see you again.” She didn’t particularly know Chad that well. She figured that as long as he made her mom happy then it was alright with her. Her mother gave her another tight squeeze as they walked hand in hand into the parlor, Chad following behind them. There was soft classical music that could be heard as they signed the guest book at the front of the room. Cassandra had been placed in a lovely dark wooden casket with gold trimmings. The abundance and flowers for the service was incredible. Her father had picked out a very large funeral home on account of the service that was held was open to all students at George Mason as well. The rather large room as still packed.

Catherine could feel tears stream down her face as she eyed the closed casket. A deep dark part of her had wondered why it wasn’t her in there instead. Why had Cassandra been first and her second? Why was she still living?

Spencer….             

Spencer got himself up out of bed and fixed his clothes, smoothing them down as best as he could. He really needed a cup of coffee and a hot shower. He left her apartment walking up to the company car that he had driven in last night. He checked his phone. 12 missed calls, ten of them from Morgan, one from Garcia, and one from JJ. He decided to address the most persisitent one first.

“REID! What the heck man! We’ve been trying to get a hold of you almost all day and all morning. What happened man? We checked in with the local hospital to see if you were there but they said that nobody by that name had even come in.”

Reid swallowed. “Yeah, at the last minute I decided to take her home, she seemed well enough to be up and talking so I figured all she needed was a good night rest and some water. I stayed with her throughout the night to make sure she was alright.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Reid could almost hear the smirk Derek was making on the other side of the phone.

“Derek, it’s not what you’re thinking. She was really sick and I accidentally ended up falling asleep.”

“Hey, whatever you say man, just as long as you and her are alright. I panicked when I didn’t hear a word from you. I had Garcia do her snooping and she turned up empty. We all worried.”

“I’m sorry Morgan, I’m really sorry, but listen could you do me a favor? I need to get some stuff done today before work tomorrow and I could really use a hand. Could you tell the team that I’m alright so I don’t have to call every single one? I need to hop in the shower and get some coffee. “ Reid started the car as he sped off toward his own apartment.

“Yeah, that’s no problem Reid. See you tomorrow bright and early. Hotch has already told me we have a pile of cases waiting for us. JJ even went in early today to get a head start on the paperwork.”

Reid sighed. He so was not ready for a long filled work week. There was a click as Reid hung up the phone and sped off toward his apartment. He would drop off the company car tomorrow. He parked outside of his apartment complex. It was still pretty early in the morning, about 10 AM. People were running in and out of the apartment, heading to work even on a Sunday.

He took out his key and placed it in the slot, opening up his apartment door. This apartment screamed Spencer Reid. Books lined the shelves all around the living room. He opted for the apartment that had a slight nook in the corner, in which he placed a couch with another book case. It was his favorite place to just sit and unwind after a long week of work and drink coffee and read books. The walls were a simple off white and the floor was just a sophisticated dark wood. He shivered, he had turned down the head when he had left yesterday and now it was freezing. He cranked it up a few notches as he made his way into the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. His kitchen was simple, a fridge, a coffee maker and a really small table for two.

As the coffee was being made he slipped out of his clothes and into a hot shower. The hot water woke him right up and felt good on his aching muscles. He had been sleeping in that slumped position in Catherine’s bed for quite some time.

That’s so weird… I’ve never slept in anyone else’s bed before. I must have been really tired. He sighed, washing the soap out of his hair and off of his body.

Toweling off he got out and got dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt. He didn’t plan to do anything today, so it was normal to just laze around. Maybe he would read one of his favorite books while listening to music. He grabbed a cup of coffee as he made his way over to the couch. His thoughts kept drifting back to Cat. He really liked her… and she really liked him. He hadn’t felt this way about anybody before, except maybe JJ at one point in time. Him and JJ shared a special connection that couldn’t be denied. He had even once come close to telling her his feelings, but had decided against it. She had just started seeing this guy named Will, and she seemed really happy, and he would never take that away from her. Now she was married with a small boy and his feelings had faded into a sort of brotherly relationship. He cared for her like no one else could and would do anything for her. But Cat… Cat was different. She was young, unique, bubbly, and fun. He wondered what her likes and dislikes were, what she liked to do for fun, what she hated, what her family was like, what her childhood was like. He realized that as more and more questions surfaced he actually didn’t know her that well at all.

And I want to get to know her better… Should he invite her over for later? No. Today he just needed a day to himself. To recuperate after everything that happened last night. He didn’t know the next time he would see her again, but it wouldn’t be anytime super soon, since this work week was going to be mad busy. It would be okay though, their story wasn’t finished yet. He at least didn’t want it to be anyway.

“32 year old victim Mark Sheant was found dead in his home with his wife Loraine Sheant in Eastport, Maine at 11:32 AM, they were found by the UPS guy when he went to get them to sign for a package, and the door opened when he knocked. Two gunshot wounds were found in their forehead, specifying the cause of death. They had no children. There was no forced entry and no evidence of anything missing except for a video cam-corder and some pretty heavy AV equipment. Mark worked for a local TV news station and had access to all old wires and equipment.” JJ placed the case file on the table, flipping through the screen of the crime photo scenes as she addressed her colleagues. The couple laid in a bloody mess, one on the floor in the kitchen and the other in the living room, sprawled out in a pool of blood on the couch.

“They must have known the unsub, otherwise there would have been a forced entry. He had to either cunningly get into the house with different motives or he had to have personally known Mark or his wife.” Emily stared at the photos, speculating. “Were there any defensive wounds?”

“No, they either didn’t have time to react or didn’t exactly know what was happening when they were shot. There were no defensive wounds, not even skin under the fingernails from scratching. Absolutely nothing. Everything was clean.” JJ flipped through the crime scene report, making sure her statement was correct.

“Is it possible that the unsub worked with Mark?” Derek asked, his hands stroking his scruff.

“Mmm, not likely”, stated Reid. “If that were the case he probably wouldn’t have had to kill Mark for the objects he had stolen. He could have simply borrowed them with a highly believable story. The question is why did he steal the things he stole? What is the need for the AV equipment?” Reid looked over the objects that had been stolen, some of it almost foreign to him. Garcia would know what it all was for.

“The equipment he stole was for a huge network set up, just like mine.” Garcia pointed out, her eyes scanning over the list of objects stolen. “It would allow him to connect to many networks at once, while also broadcasting from a specific location. If he was tech savy enough, which I assume he is for knowing what objects to steal, then he would be able to broadcast and block his location at the same time, even from me.”

“Most illegal underground porn companies or even sex trafficking will have that kind of equipment so they can broadcast live webcam shows and only allow certain people to access the live feed.” Spencer spitted out what little he knew about that kind of technology.

“So we might be looking for someone who had some sort of addiction to porn, or an illegal sex trafficking situation.” Hotch eyed his co-workers, flipping through the pages of any other detail they may have missed. “We might not know his motive until he strikes again. Garcia I’m going to need you to figure out  serial numbers of the objects that were stolen and to also analyze any automatic porn sites that have a banned list of people kicked off of them because illegal videos. Rossi and Morgan will go inspect the crime scene and Emily and JJ and Reid will question the local neighbors, seeing if there is a connection between the Sheant’s  and any other people, this includes neighbors, co-workers, past lovers, extended family.” The team stood up, ready to board the jet.