One hour later, the two profilers sat at the dining room table, their team arrayed behind them and two police officers across from them. It had been Morgan who’d had the foresight to call the police as well as calling the team. “Any evidence against him is good, sugar.” He’d told Spencer after making the necessary calls. “Plus, this is something we might actually be able to peg him for. He could go to jail for breaking and entering at the very least.”
“They can’t pin him for the rest of this, Derek.” Spencer had argued with him. The whole situation had him more agitated than ever. “The phone call wasn’t recorded and there were no witnesses. It will come down to being his word against mine. Despite my credentials, any lawyer would exploit the fact that I’m claiming domestic violence and could say this was entrapment. They might try to infer that I invited him over here and set the whole thing up.”
This, as Spencer looked at the officers across from him, seemed to be exactly what the police were thinking. He could read the skepticism and disbelief in their body language as they settled at the table and were given a brief description of what had happened. One officer—Spencer saw his nametag said Officer Zach Ashland—looked from Spencer to the rest of the team. “I’m sorry, Agents, but we need to ask you to step away for a moment so I can speak with Mr. Reid.”
“Dr. Reid.” Aaron corrected automatically. The others had all been ready to say the same thing. “And the others will leave. I understand why they have to. I, however, will be staying.”
“Pardon me?”
Aaron didn’t even flinch. He stepped up behind Spencer’s chair and rested his hands on the back of it. “Not only am I his Unit Chief and therefore responsible for him, but I’m also his legal counsel. He won’t be questioned alone.”
It was easy for Spencer to see that Morgan wanted to protest having to leave. They both knew it was necessary, though. They were going to be trying to make sure that this wasn’t some plan hatched between the young couple and so they would question them separately to see how their stories matched. “Go, Derek.” He murmured. Under the table, he briefly touched Morgan’s leg. “Hotch is with me. I’ll be fine.”
After a long look, Morgan nodded his head. He rose slowly from his chair, staring at the two officers as if he was trying his hardest not to say something to either one of them. Dave and Emily both stepped up on either side of him, shepherding him from the room and out toward the front porch. The living room was crawling with other officers who were inspecting the bullet hole in the wall as well as the broken front door. Most likely one of them will step out on the porch with Derek and get his statement as well Spencer thought to himself.
He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. That knowledge allowed him to look over at the officers without flinching. But he also knew that his personal life was about to come under great scrutiny. That alone was enough to make him want to squirm. His tension eased just a little when Aaron sat down beside him. His boss—his friend, really. A good, good friend—sat close enough to be supportive without completely being in Spencer’s space.
“Ok, Dr. Reid, can you walk us through what happened this morning?” Zach asked him. He pulled out his pad and pen and waited patiently, his eyes on Spencer.
Taking a deep breath, he focused on a spot over Officer Zach’s shoulder, focusing his vision on that spot as he started to speak. “I woke to the sound of pounding on the front door. Still in bed, I didn’t bother getting up. At first I decided that I would let Derek answer the door before I remembered that he wasn’t home.”
“And where was Agent Morgan?” The other officer—Officer Ty Gillian—asked him.
“He went for his morning run. I told him to go.” Spencer added before they could ask. “I know we were all supposed to be in pairs, but I assumed we’d be fine.” That part of the explanation he gave to Aaron, looking over at him. “I knew he’d have his phone if I needed him and I figured I’d be safe here. It was stupid, I know.”
Aaron nodded at him while Zach said “Continue. What happened next?”
“I was tired and didn’t want to answer the door, so I stayed in bed. I knew that if it was any member of my team, they would have either already called or would call from the porch, so I wasn’t too concerned about who could be on the other side. Then I heard the sound of wood splitting followed by a voice shouting ‘I know you’re here, Reid’. Just as I climbed from bed, Michael walked into the bedroom. ‘I knew it’ he told me. ‘I knew you were fucking him. You Goddamn whore’.”
His eyes were trained on that spot over Zach’s shoulder again, so he missed the looks the two officers were giving him. He didn’t know that his voice changed when he recited what Michael said to him compared to how he sounded when he recounted the rest of it. He just kept telling his story.
“I put my hands up to try and show him I was unarmed, though that would have been obvious to him as I wasn’t wearing any clothes. He told me ‘Did you really think I’d just let you walk away from me? That I wouldn’t figure it out when you didn’t come home last night? Get dressed. Now. I ought to fucking kill you right now and leave you’re fucking body for your boyfriend to find. You’re damn lucky I’m understanding. Get dressed; we’re leaving. I’ll deal with you once we get home’.”
Ty moved his hand, cutting in to Spencer’s words. “That’s quite a description of what he said to you. You said you were tired, Dr. Reid. Is there a chance you might have misheard anything?”
For a brief second Spencer’s eyes flickered to Ty’s face and then down to the table. His leg was bouncing slightly underneath the table, a nervous move he wasn’t even aware of doing. “I have an eidetic memory, Officer Ty.” Spencer cocked his head, looking briefly up at them again, trying to force himself to look at their faces. It was difficult, because the more nervous he grew, the harder it was for him to meet someone’s eyes, but he knew that he would be viewed as guilty or as if he was hiding something if he refused to look at them. “While that mostly pertains to things that I see, it is not entirely exclusive to visual stimuli. Those are the words he said, verbatim. Not to mention that I was no longer tired at that moment. Knowing that Michael was in the house sent my body into fight or flight mode, thus triggering a release of adrenaline to my system…”
A touch to his arm from Aaron was enough to have Spencer cut off the ramble that had been getting ready to come out. He looked gratefully at him. Aaron looked over to the officers. “We have plenty of documentation to Dr. Reid’s memory. If necessary, I can provide copies of the pertinent information for you at a later date.”
“Thank you. Continue, Dr. Reid.”
So, even more nervous than before, Spencer told them the rest of the incident. They waited until he was finished before starting their questions again. “You fired a shot in the wall near the suspect’s head?” Zach asked him, raising one eyebrow.
“He didn’t believe I would defend myself. I never had before, so he was laboring under the assumption that I wouldn’t this time as well. If I had not fired a warning shot, he would have come straight to me. I knew that I would not be able to defend myself competently if he came within striking distance.”
Ty wrote something on his pad. “And why is that, Dr. Reid?”
That had Spencer’s eyebrows winging up. Seriously? He really has to ask me that? Hasn’t he looked at me at all? There was a slight bite to his tone this time when he answered. “Aside from the obvious injuries I sustained recently?” He asked sarcastically. “You may also add in the fact that I’m quite a bit smaller in stature than him and I am not as muscular as he is. I know his strength intimately. I’ve felt it often enough to accurately judge the amount of damage he is capable of. He would have overpowered me easily.”
“Overpowered you, a trained FBI agent?” The skeptical question came from Zach. In that moment, Spencer decided he disliked Zach far more than he did Ty. At least Ty was pretending to do his job. Zach was deliberately mocking.
Before Aaron could speak up for him, Spencer turned his glare over to Zach. “Proper training only takes you so far against your opponent. Other factors need to be added to the equation. Weight and muscle mass, to mention two. But my hand to hand training is not what is central. I did not engage him simply because it would not have been prudent to do so.”
“Prudent?”
“Prudent. By definition, having good sense in dealing with practical matters.” He defined instantly.
A flash of anger crossed Zach’s face. “I know what prudent means, Doctor.”
“Then why did you ask?” Spencer looked over at Aaron for a second before looking back to the cops. Realization dawned slowly. “Oh, you mean you want to know why it would not have been prudent? You need to better phrase your questions, officer.” Without waiting for the angry response he was sure was coming, he continued. “I have a Colles fracture on my wrist, taking one hand out of the equation. I would be defending myself one handed. The bruise on my face would be an easy point for him to strike and take me down from the pain of it. Not to mention the five other bruises or the four scratches that I sustained on the case, as well as the strangulation marks on my neck. Any one of these points would reduce my chances of withstanding the physical pain he would seek to inflict. When you add up all variables, the answer is rather obvious. As I said, it was not prudent to engage him a physical fight.”
Folding his notepad and laying it on the table, Ty cocked his head for a moment. “Variables and equations? Do you look at it as a math formula?”
“Of course.” The question seemed ridiculous to Spencer. Of course it was a math formula. “Essentially that’s all that these types of situations are. You factor in all the different variables and use them to determine the proper equation that will lead you to a desirable answer. Almost everything can be broken down to a mathematical formula.”
“Is this all the questions you have for him?” Aaron interrupted.
Zach also folded up his notepad. “For now.” He answered. But his sharp glare moved to Spencer again. “But we’re not done. I’ll tell you two right now that something about this all isn’t sitting right with me. You better hope your friend’s story matches, Dr. Reid.”
When Zach rose, so did Aaron. He wore his most serious expression and his voice carried that note of authority that never failed to make officers and agents all over jump to attention. “Are you threatening my client, Officer Ashland?”
“Not at all, Agent Hotchner. I’m simply warning him to be honest with me. “He turned back to Spencer. “Keep available, Dr. Reid. We’ll call you down to the station if we have any more questions.”
When the two officers left the room, Spencer stared at the table, trying not to clench his hands into fists. His one hand would not handle that too well. It was a difficult thing, though. Even when Aaron touched his shoulder, he kept his gaze locked on the table, not moving. “Reid, are you ok?”
Without thinking, Spencer said the first thing that came to mind. “I think I need to go see a movie.” He used their code word to describe his NA meetings. Right now he needed to go to one. Just saying it brought to mind how badly he needed to go. The need he’d been pushing back was trying to worm its way forward again. His entire body seemed to pulsate with the desire to use. In his mind he heard the sweet siren call, promising him relief from pain, both physical and mental. No thinking, no feeling. Just peace. It helps.
The grip on his shoulder squeezed for a second. “The instant Morgan’s done, we’ll find you one.”
Spencer automatically looked over at the clock on the wall. “Twelve point three miles away is a…theater. The movie starts in twenty two minutes and thirty seven seconds.” He had stolen a moment while waiting for the police to arrive to text Garcia and ask her about local NA meetings. He knew she wouldn’t say anything to anyone and she wouldn’t judge him for it.
“We’ll make sure you’re there.” There wasn’t any recrimination in Aaron’s voice. Just strength and support. Spencer appreciated that more than he could say. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Spencer pushed up out of his chair. The hand on his shoulder dropped away, but Aaron stayed by his side. “Come on, Reid. Let’s go find Morgan and get you over there. The rest of us will wait outside until you’re done before we head over to Dave’s.”
“You guys don’t have to wait, Hotch.” The two made their way toward the living room, still side by side.
Aaron let their arms brushed together in a friendly sort of way. “We’re not leaving anyone alone right now, Reid, so don’t even think of protesting. If there’s somewhere nearby, we’ll grab a bite to eat or some coffee while we wait. You’re not going to go through this alone. Not any of this. No matter what, your family is here for you. Maybe it’s about time you got used to that.”