PSYCHOPATHY; criminal minds [S. Reid]

Chapter thirteen//Mr Colson

SPENCER HAD TOLD ME WHAT HOTCH SAID TO HIM. But yet, he still came over every now and then and, slowly, we stopped watching tv together. Tonight, when he knocked on my door, he held the first twilight book in his hand and a smile on his face.

"I thought we could read this together." He had said and I invited him in, the two of us soon getting comfortable on the sofa.

Spencer handed the book to me and I started reading it out loud to him, resting it on my thighs as I lay my back against the arm rest.

"I'd never given much thought to how I would die..." I began and we stayed like that for a chapter or two before shifting our positions.

Spencer then read some, being sure to be careful with every turn of the page. I watched his face as he read and took notice of the little flexes in his jaw as he spoke or the way his eyes zoomed across the page or the way his tongue slid over his lips every now and then.

Another three chapters had passed and we shifted again, with each shift getting closer to each other. I was now curled into myself beside him and lazily rested my head on the back of the sofa, nearly on his shoulder.

Whilst Spencer read, his voice becoming more coarse as he went on, I felt myself drifting off to the sound of him speaking. As I dozed off, my head fell onto his shoulder but I was too tired to move it and he made no attempt himself.

When I woke up in the early morning, Spencer's head had fallen back against the sofa with the book hanging off the edge of the cushions. I had been laying beside him with my head next to his thigh and my legs stretched out down the sofa, Spencer's arm stretched across the back.

An hour or so later, Spencer had also woken up and was getting himself ready quickly to head to the station. Hotch had called and asked for Spencer to pick me up and bring me with him- of course Hotch not knowing Spencer had spent the night last night.

When the two of us arrived at the station, Emily immediately sent me a knowing look which pulled me over to her.

She wasted no time getting closer to me and whispering, "Hotch may let it slide over his head because he's busy but I know for a fact it should have taken you guys at least another ten minutes to get here if Spencer was picking you up."

I furrowed my brows slightly at her as if to say "I have no idea what you're talking about," but of course I did. The team were smart, Spencer and I were just lucky that they were too busy with an escaped psychopath to notice.

Getting another knowing look from Prentiss, I spoke just as quietly as she had. "It's nothing. Spencer's just been keeping me company. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm apparently a target of a schizophrenic, narcissistic psychopath." I said, half joking.

"Oh," she raised her eyebrows, "Spencer." Her voice was teasing and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Yes, Spencer."

"There was another spotting of Daniel earlier this morning. A man, Matthew Daily, said he saw him on the streets." Hotch explained which took Emily and I away from our jokey, somewhat teenage girl with a crush moment. "Prentiss, Reid, I want you two to go and talk to Mr Daily." He then spoke again, "and Dr. Davis, I need you to take Morgan and show him Daniel's files. You're looking for any relatives or childhood friends that know him."

I nodded and moved to stand near Derek Morgan, the two of us leaving the at station shortly after Spencer and Emily.

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Morgan stood behind my chair, his right hand resting on the wooden desk in front of me. "So, no one has come and visited Daniel?" He asked, looking from the computer screen to me.

"No. Never."

"Wow." He quietly exclaimed. "He's out there, with no one but the voices in his head that are telling him to do god knows what."

"Actually, I suspect the voices in his head is his father and mother. They'll be contradicting each other." I explained as I clicked buttons on the screen, going through each file that belonged to Daniel Butcher.

"Like a devil and angel on his shoulders?"

I nodded. "Exactly like that. There's no way to know for sure but from what he's told me about his past, that's the most likely case."

I clicked through a couple more files. Daniel Butcher -> 2007-2012 -> Contacts.

"Okay..." I said quietly to myself as I read through the contacts we had. "Says here Daniel's parents had a close friend but that's the only other contact we have for him."

"What's his address?"

"16, Northall Way."

"Is that far from here?" Morgan asked, looking down at me.

I shook my head. "No. It's not far at all."

Morgan gave a single nod and tapped the table. "Great. Let's get this back to Hotch and the team."

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Morgan and I had gone back to the station and Spencer and Emily explained how Mr Daily had seen Daniel Butcher sat on the sidewalk outside a shop, begging for money like a homeless person would.

The team had split in two; JJ, Rossi and Morgan going to where Daniel Butcher had last been seen and Hotch, Reid and Prentiss to the address I had found. Hotch had asked for me to go along with them.

"Davis, I want you to talk to Mr Colson. Ask him about Daniel, Daniel's sister and their parents. We need any information we can get." Hotch told me before we followed him to the front door.

"Mr Colson, it's my understanding that you knew the Butcher family, yes?" I asked once we had been welcomed in by the man and were standing in his kitchen.

"I didn't just know them. The mother was a good friend of mine. It was tragic when she passed."

"Were you aware that Daniel Butcher was in care not far from here?"

Mr Colson shook his head. "No. I would have visited if I'd known." His eyes were going quickly from me to the detectives that stood around us. "Is this about those missing women?"

"Yes." Hotch suddenly spoke. "So I suggest you start telling us the truth."

Mr Colson looked caught out, he looked half confused and half scared. "I-I." He stuttered on his words.

"We have records of you visiting Daniel Butcher the last three days before he escaped." I told him, my arms crossing over my chest. "Why did you go from never seeing him, to seeing him for three days straight?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He shook his head, his words coming out faster than his mouth could move.

"Mr Colson, we'd like you to come to the station with us to answer some questions. Preferably with the truth this time." Hotch stepped forward so he was now beside me and towered over me, his voice so deep it echoed in my ears.

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