Resident Genius 2.0 (Spencer Reid)

26. Unhinged

SPENCER
I sat in a rental car, my eyes looking through a pair of binoculars. It had been over 2 weeks since I saw my mother's dead body, which meant that it had also been over 2 weeks since I figured out that the doctor had killed her. My hair was a mess, almost down to my shoulders. I had the outline of a beard and moustache, but really only stubble. My eyes had clear dark circles underneath them, indicating that I hadn't slept at all, which was true. I was so angry that my adrenaline didn't go away, diminishing any chance of me sleeping.

Every time I glanced at my phone, I was reminded of the hundreds of calls and messages from Hotch. He had tried to call me, but ended up leaving lots of voicemails and messages.

I ended up turning off my phone, just in case Garcia was convinced by Hotch to try and track me. I watched as the lab tech walked down a secluded alleyway, his phone against his ear. Getting out of the car, I put a mask over my face and prepared the needle in my gloved up hand. I never trusted doctors and their prescriptions, so a few years back, I learned how to make Diphenhydramine. It helped with the nightmares I endured after being kidnapped by Tobias Hankel.

I walked quietly enough to prevent the technician from turning around. Getting close enough, I jabbed the needle into his exposed neck, pushing the liquid into his system. I pulled needle away, breaking the needle itself from the syringe hub connected to the barrel. I dropped it in the closest dumpster and slowly walked away, watching as the lab tech fell to the ground and started seizing before his body stopped moving all together.

I calmly walked back to the rental car, driving off. I'm not going to lie. Killing that lab technician gave me a sense of relief, knowing that the person who willingly helped to cover up a murder was dead.

———

HOTCH
I sat at my desk, looking at all the read and unread messages that I had sent to Spencer over the past few days. His mother must have been very sick if he hadn't been bothered to respond. I decided to message him one more time, but as I started to type, my phone buzzed, signalling to me that I was getting a call.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner." I answered the call, putting my phone to my ear.

"Hi Agent Hotchner. My name is Melissa Connor. I'm the police chief from Las Vegas. We uh, have a case that you might want to look at." Police Chief Connor spoke, sounding nervous.

"Before you reject me, here's what you need to know. Two victims so far. Both male. Both of them injected with high amounts of a drug called Benadryl. M.E says that the amounts injected could cause seizures and death." Connor explained.

"Okay. Send me a file on the deaths. I'll have a look into it." I exhaled before the line ended. Within 30 minutes, the appropriate file had been faxed to me. I picked up the pieces of paper and organised them into a pile, putting the pile into an unused case file.

I spent a good hour looking through the case, something about it seeming familiar. I was tempted to show the case to the team, but I knew they'd freak out if they saw it. It was the use of Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) that seemed similar. Dialling Garcia's number, she quickly picked up.

"What can I do for you, my liege?" I heard Garcia's voice.

"I need you to get me the file on Jackson Davidson; the case with the Diphenhydramine injections." I requested.

"No worries, sir. It'll be on your desk in 5." Garcia explained before the line went dead. As requested, Garcia walked into my office 5 minutes later, the file in her hand.

"Here you are, sir." She handed me the file before leaving. I put the file on my desk next to the file faxed to me by Chief Connor. The moment both files were side by side, I realised why the case file seemed familiar. Just like the Jackson Davidson case, the victims were injected with Diphenhydramine, but unlike the Davidson case, the amount injected into the victim's systems was enough to actually kill them.

Leaning back, I called Chief Connor back.

"Agent Hotchner. I didn't think I'd hear from you so soon." I heard the surprise in Chief Connor's voice.

"I've reviewed the file, and I do believe that there is a case here. I will review this with my team, and we'll hopefully be on our way soon." I informed Chief Connor.