memento vivere - supernatural & criminal minds

chapter 2

Chapter 2
Extreme Aggressor

Jude and Spencer stood behind Hotch on the steps of David Woodland’s home. He was Heather’s brother and only familial contact in the area, and therefore their best chance at a lead. David answered the door with a wary smile, running a hand through the pile of tight ginger curls on his head.

The agents flashed their badges with practiced synchrony and he let them in, excusing himself to collect Heather’s dog from the backyard. Spencer and Hotch stood politely in the center of the living room as they waited, but Jude paced curiously around until a golden retriever bounded across the carpet. The dog fired a sharp bark at Spencer and he flinched.

“Sandy, no,” David chastened, reaching for the dog’s collar. Jude turned her attention to the rug to keep from laughing. “I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s what we call the Reid effect,” Hotch assured him. He gestured to Spencer, who only looked mildly offended. “It happens with children, too.” Sandy released a softer bark, padding across the carpet to coil around Jude’s feet. She crouched to scratch behind the dog’s ears, smiling as her tail thwacked happily against the ground. “I’m Agent Hotchner, this is Special Agent Wesson.” She waved from her position on the floor. “And Special Agent Doctor Reid.” 

“You look too young to have gone to medical school,” David commented.

“They’re PhDs,” Spencer clarified. “Three of them.” 

“Are you a genius or something?” The disbelief on David’s face was something Jude had gotten used to. At the academy, when she’d heard about Spencer’s degrees for the first time from one of the other students, she hadn’t believed it either. Then she’d watched him struggle with just about every aspect of the physical fitness course and his accolades made more sense.

“I don’t believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified,” Spencer shrugged, “but I do have an IQ of one-eighty-seven, an eidetic memory, and can read twenty-thousand words per minute.”

“Yes, he’s a genius,” Jude summed up, rising to her feet. Sandy barked unhappily and nudged Jude’s hand with her nose. “You love attention, don’t you?” Jude smiled and continued running her fingers through the dog’s thick golden fur.

“Yeah, Heather loves this dog,” David said wistfully. “I feed her when Heather’s away. Usually, she’s fine, but…lately, she won’t eat. It’s almost like she can sense something’s wrong.”

“Not sense, smell,” Spencer corrected. “Our apocrine sweat gland releases secretions in response to emotional stress.”

Hotch simplified. “Sandy’s worried because she knows you are.”

“David, does your sister drive a Datsun Z?” Spencer asked. He’d drifted over to the TV stand and was examining the stack of Heather’s unopened mail that sat atop it.

“No, but she’s in the market for one. How’d you know?”

Spencer lifted a Datstun Z magazine from the stack of papers and passed it to Jude. “There’s an immediate relationship established between a buyer and a seller, a level of trust,” he began as David guided Sandy from the room. “If I want to coax a young woman into my car…”

Jude knew where he was going. It was why she’d brought Morgan with her when she purchased her car a few months ago. “You offer her a test drive.”

***

Jude’s forehead slipped from the palm of her hand and landed on the table. She was curled up in an office chair with a cup of bitter coffee in front of her; it had gone cold during the fifteen minutes she’d spent listening to the team talk in circles. They were due to deliver the profile in less than half an hour.