Strange Encounter - a Criminal Minds fic

Chapter 18

"What do you mean, gone?!" Spencer heard Emily's voice before he saw her. His stomach dropped when he registered what she had said. He ran down the hall into the bullpen and saw a young officer seated in front of Emily and Hotch. He made a beeline to them.

"Emily..." He couldn't bring himself to ask.

Hotch gave him a look a couldn't quite read. "Conference room."

Spencer started to follow him before he noticed something gleam on the officer's finger. Germaphobia be damned, he gabbed the cop's hand and held it up. "Where did you get this ring?" 

"I dunno, some guy outside of the cafe gave it to me. Said he found it on the ground and I - Hey!" Spencer had personally removed it from his finger. He held it up in front of Hotch and Emily, JJ walking over when she heard the commotion. 

JJ eyed the ring in Spencer's fingers. "Hey, isn't that Amelia's? Why do you have it?" She looked between them all. 

Spencer stared Hotch in the eye and knew he was coming to the same realization that he had. Hotch turned to the officer.

"Officer Karney, I need you to describe the man who gave you this ring."

"Uhh, maybe a little shorter than me so about 5'10? White guy, maybe mid to late twenties. Other than that I'm not really sure, he had a black hoodie on, hood up, over his eyes."

The four agents all looked at one another before running into the conference room where Derek and Rossi sat. 

"Goddamit!" Spencer slammed his fist on the table.

Derek walked over to him, "Kid, what's going on?"

Emily had already dialed in Garcia over the webcam. "Penelope, I need you to pull surveillance from all available cameras by the coffee shop, Cherry and 8th streets, as well as all nearby major roads so Arch Street, Race Street.."

"Got it, pulling them up now. What am I looking for exactly?"

"You're looking for Amelia and Christopher Regino." Spencer spit out. He stood at the opposite end of the room and starred at the screen ahead emotionless. JJ hesitated before walking over and laying a hand on his shoulder.

"We're gonna find her Spence.. and catch that son of a bitch." He shrugged her hand off and walked a few feet away without saying a word. 

"Got it.. oh god."

They all looked up at the screen. Bile rose in Spencer's throat as he watched Christopher hold a gun to the small of Amelia's back and force her into the back of an SUV in the alley of the cafe, watched as he zip tied her hands and, while her back was to him, injected her with something in her neck. As she started to slump forward, he slipped the ring off of her thumb and slammed the door. He disappeared from the frame then, probably when he went to give the cop the ring.

"Fuck!"

"Reid. Get some air. Now." Hotch sent him a look across the room, motioning to the door. Spencer stormed out and slammed the door behind him. He walked out to the sidewalk and paced, kicking the low wall nearby. 

How could Emily have let her leave with that completely incompetent asshole? What was Christopher doing to her right now? How were they going to get her back? He turned around and was met by Derek.

"Look Reid, if you wanna find him you need to calm down."

"Do not tell me to calm down, Derek. Me, you, this whole team promised her this wasn't going to happen and we did and now-"

"And now there's nothing to do except figure out where he took her, and to do that we need to walk you through a cognitive."

"What? No way, I'm not-"

"Kid, will you let me finish a sentence? When she told us about their date you were listening but also studying her. Not as an agent, but as.. a friend. We need you to walk back through and pick up any hint as to where he could've taken her."

Spencer studied Derek's face. The last thing he wanted to do was be walked through a cognitive, but he knew he was right. Without saying anything, he turned around and walked back in the precinct. He went and found JJ and pulled her into the office.

"If I'm doing a cognitive, you're gonna be the one to conduct it." She nodded, and sat down across from him seated on the couch. 

"Alright Spence.. the day we walked Amelia through her date, what do you initially remember?"

Spencer shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not liking being the one out of his element. He knew they needed to do this though so he let out a deep breath through his nose as he shook his head. He thought back to that day, seated next to Amelia.

"I grabbed her hand. She was nervous.. embarrassed about what had happened. I could tell cause she was fidgeting with the ring." His hand went to the ring he had put in his pocket, feeling a pang of fear at Amelia's current state.

"Okay, you can picture her. Are you looking at her face?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to read her as she talks but she keeps looking down and her hair falls around her face. She's talking about.. he wanted to.. make out with her." He balled his hands into a fist on his lap.

JJ noticed this small action. "Spence, breathe.. okay. She was talking about how he wanted to make out with her. She did, and thought it would end. But then.."

"He wanted her to be his girlfriend, she said no, and then she suggested another date to try and.." His eyes opened and he looked at JJ.

"What if.. what if he's living out what he has been obsessing over for the past three years?"

"The second date that never happened.." JJ realized where he was going with this. She watched as he ran out of the room and quickly followed after him. They rejoined the others and Spencer went up to the camera to talk to Garcia, everyone gathering around realizing that he was on to something.

"Garcia, look up all nearby theaters. Find ones in a close proximity to us currently but also to Lia's house, then cross reference the chains and figure out which are closed due to COVID."

"Okay, searching, searching... Alright I've got five, three near you guys downtown, one in Manayunk approximately 15 minutes from her house and one in Plymouth Meeting about 20 minutes from her house."

Spencer looked at his colleagues. "For the second date, Lia said they planned to see a movie. The playlists read like a soundtrack, and from the scene at his previous address and her bathroom at home I think this guy will play this out theatrically."

"So, maybe he took her to a theater, create the second date he never got to have." Emily mused aloud. Spencer nodded, waiting for confirmation from his team that this lead was one to follow. 

"Garcia, send the addresses for the two out of the city. He wouldn't have been able to easily get her into a closed theater downtown if she's knocked out, too many witnesses. Spencer, Derek, JJ go to the one closest to her house. Dave, Emily and I will head to the Plymouth Meeting one." Hotch said. 

Spencer finally had a shred of hope having a tangible plan of action. Hotch walked over and grabbed his arm as he went to suit up. "Keep a level head out there. I should't be letting you in the field right now but I know you'd go anyway, so just.. be smart." 

Spencer gave a short nod. "I will, Hotch."

Spencer secured his FBI vest and doubled checked his holster, following Derek and JJ out to the SUV. He climbed in the backseat and tried not to let in the dark thoughts that were creeping in. He glanced forward to look out the front and met JJ's eyes in the rearview. He knew she had also grown to care about Amelia, and could sense her unease. She put a hand back, and Spencer looked at it before grabbing it in his. She gave it a light squeeze. "Let's go get our girl.