unedited

TWENTY TWO. 

DAISY HUNG BACK, LOOKING OVER THE SHOULDERS OF HER COLLEAGUES AS THEY STARED INTO THE INTERROGATION ROOM. William Reid sat at the table, looking around the small area as a way to pass the time. He and Spencer didn't look alike, which was something Spencer had mentioned in his office only a few hours ago. Something about prolonged exposure, and how they hadn't had any of that in their relationship. 

"You still think he did it, don't you?" Derek stepped up beside Spencer, who hadn't said much since they brought his father into custody. 

"Why shouldn't I?" the genius muttered.  

"Well, for one thing," Morgan began. "Gary Michaels fits the profile. For another, he fled town after Riley's murder. He's a better suspect than your dad, Reid."

"He's a convenient one," Spencer responded shortly. Daisy tucked her hands in her back pockets and looked through the one sided glass. William was more withered than his son in the face, and he held himself completely differently. Spencer had a strange aura about him - one that wasn't confident in how he presented himself physically, but in his intellect. "Someone slipped the file under my door, Morgan. What am I supposed to think?"

"Maybe they're trying to help," Daisy suggested, leaning against the desk, her eyes not moving from William. She could feel Spencer looking down at her as if to say, 'really?', but she didn't return the gaze. "I don't know, Spence. He's hiding something, but I don't think it's that he killed Riley Jenkins."

"Maybe they're trying to protect him," Spencer said, his eyes travelling back to his father. 

"You're talking about someone helping to cover up the murder of a child," Rossi's voice was low, calm. "Who would do that?"

"Do you remember how resistant Detective Hyde was when I asked him to bring in my father?" Spencer asked. Daisy pursed her lips, thinking back to when Spencer put William forward as a possible suspect. The detective they were working with had been reluctant, speaking of how he didn't want to 'ruin reputations'.

"So, what?" Derek inquired. "You're accusing a cop now?"

"It was a police file," Spencer reasoned. 

"It was an old police file," Daisy pointed out. "Anybody could have accessed it."

"He told me to go back to the Fountain View, have a drink by the pool, and think about things," Spencer pressed on, not wanting to give up on his theory. 

"You can't possibly still be mad about that."

Spencer shook his head. "I'm not mad, I'm confused. I never told him we were staying at the Fountain View."

Spencer then left the other three, walking inside the interrogation room and sitting opposite his father. 

★☆

"He's dead?"

"They dug him up seven years ago when some new construction broke ground in the desert," Derek relayed the information he had received from Hotch over the phone concerning Gary Michaels, the man who William Reid admitted killed Riley Jenkins. 

"Whoever killed him was smart enough to bury him across state lines," Rossi continued. "Vegas P.D never made the connect."

"How was he killed?" Daisy asked, fumbling with a pen she had found. She needed something to do with her hands, as all the thinking she'd been doing meant she was getting incredibly fidgety. 

"Judging from the fractures, they think he was beaten with something," Derek answered, shrugging. "A pipe, maybe."

Rossi grabbed the pen from Daisy's hands, sick of her clicking it. "Or a bat."

"Bat?" Spencer repeated, before he looked off in deep thought. 

The closing of a door caught the attention of the agents, and they all looked back to see William Reid walking out of the interrogation room with the permission of the assisting detective. Derek sighed. "Maybe it wasn't Riley's blood on those clothes your dad was burning."

"If Michaels was murdered, maybe it was a local parent," Daisy suggested, earning nods from her coworkers. "It could've been your dad trying to protect you, or a friend of his doing the same for their kid."

"Quantico is faxing over everything they got," Derek checked his phone, before he started making his way up to an empty conference room. "Otherwise, we can find all the files we need on the body from the detectives here."

★☆

With the fingerprint left on the body of Gary Michaels scanned through the AFIS system, Derek eventually got a call with the match being one of the subjects they had interviewed earlier on. It wasn't someone Daisy had met, but she knew he was closely associated with William Reid. Lou Jenkins, Riley's father. 

It was no surprise that the man who ended Gary Michaels' life was the father of the true victim: little Riley Jenkins. 

Daisy jumped out of the SUV, her sneakers creating a dust cloud as she hit the ground. She rolled up the sleeves of her cardigan, walking beside Rossi as they approached a construction site. The agents looked over to the other entrance of the workplace, seeing a small black Sudan pulling up. It was the car of the Detective. "We've got company, guys."

"What's he doing here?" Spencer muttered, clear distaste on his tongue. Having butted heads with he man the whole time they'd been there, he was less than pleased with the intrusion. 

The detective stepped out of the car, squinting in the sunlight. Rossi cleared his throat. "We notified your captain about this, detective. It's all legit."

Detective Hyde walked in front of them and stopped, his hands on his hips. "I'm not trying to stop you. I just want to be the one to bring him in. It'll go easier."

Lou looked up from where he was mulling over paperwork with his colleagues, his eyes widening as he saw the group of law enforcement less than a hundred feet away. 

Detective Hyde exhaled in defeat. "He's my friend."

"Yeah, we figured that much," Spencer cut him off rather rudely. "You, Lou, my father."

"You slipped us the Michaels file, didn't you?" Rossi asked, though it was more rhetorical. 

"You were after the wrong guy," Hyde mumbled. 

"But you knew who the right guy was all along?" Daisy lifted her hand to shield her eyes as she asked the older man. Her voice wasn't as harsh as Spencer's, but there was a certain authority to it that made the detective uncomfortable. 

"And what Lou did to him," Derek continued. 

"There wasn't any evidence," Hyde tried to reason, but the agents, moreso Spencer, wasn't having any of it. 

"Did you even look?" the Doctor asked, unimpressed. 

Hyde just stared at the young man with a knowing smile. Derek sighed. "You want to link him up, go ahead. But he rides in with us."

Hyde's shoulders relaxed. "I appreciate that."

He turned, walking over to Lou, who met him in the middle. It seemed the man knew what was coming. 

★☆

"Agent Alvarez."

"Yes?" Daisy turned around from where she stood watching Derek and Spencer interrogating Lou. She politely smiled at Detective Hyde, noticing there was a frail woman standing behind him, her arms tightly wound around herself. Behind her, was William Reid. "Afternoon, ma'am...Mr Reid."

The woman nodded, avoiding Daisy's eyes. Hyde scratched the back of his head, sighing. "This is Diana Reid, and you've met William."

"Spencer's mother?" Daisy inquired, her eyebrows narrowed. She looked back at the woman, Diana, and tried to figure out if she should shake her hand. She settled for a wave. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms Reid. My name is Daisy Alvarez, I work with Spencer. You did a great job, he's fantastic."

"Thank you," Diana's lip twitched a little, the same as Spencer when he received a compliment. William looked down at the ground.

"I'd like to step into the interrogation room," Hyde stepped forward. Daisy pursed her lips together, not entirely happy with his suggestion. Hyde saw her reluctance, and nodded to Diana. "We have new information concerning the murder of Gary Michaels, and I believe it will help Agent Reid see it from a new perspective."

"Doctor Reid. And what information?" 

Diana swallowed. "I told Lou about Gary Michaels. I'd seen him playing with Spencer in the park and...I-I didn't know what else to do."

Daisy looked over at Hyde, then closed her eyes for a moment. "I'll bring you guys inside."

Hyde muttered something under his breath and allowed Daisy to lead him, Diana and William to the door, where she opened it, giving them access inside. Spencer was in the middle of yelling at Lou, which was very out of character for him. At hearing the door open, his head snapped around and he glared at Daisy and Hyde. "Do not interfere with this interrogation, Detective. This is not your case anymore!"

Diana stepped through the space between the federal agent and detective, coming into her son's line of sight, William hanging behind her. The words immediately vanished from Spencer's throat, and his eyes widened. Diana hesitated, her hands clutching her bag. 

"Spencer, it was me."

★☆

ugh this chapter was so boring to write 

anyway hope y'all enjoyed 

and thank you!!! we got #1 in aaronhotchner and #9 in criminalminds today!!!!! omg!!!! and !!! we hit 20k???? WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!!?!? thank you hehe