Untouchable

Memoriam (S4E7)

"I had another nightmare," was the first thing Spencer said when Lydia answered his call the next morning.

They'd had a discussion the night before about what was going on. As Spencer had put it, 'it didn't seem like that much of a deal until it affected his work'. Lydia was one to talk about not communicating, so she listened quietly and told him they could try to sort it out more when he got back. He told her he was staying with his mom for that night, which was honestly nice for her to hear. Lydia understood Spencer's mixed feelings about visiting his mother, so she was glad he was going to get some time that was peaceful.

But now, he was calling her at 5 AM Vegas time, likely from his mom's room in the hospital. Whatever was going on could not be put off until he got back. "What happened?"

"Same basement, same washer, same shoes and pants, everything. But there was someone standing over the body this time."

"And did you recognize them?"

There was hesitance on the line. Fear felt like it was a string between their cellphones.

"Yeah, I... Lydia, I think my dad killed Riley Jenkins."

Fuck. "Spencer, are you..." She cut herself off. Of course he wasn't sure. But he wouldn't have told her if he wasn't fairly suspicious too. "What makes you think so?"

"He was standing over Riley's body! Something happened to make my mind show me this. My subconscious is trying to tell me something!"

"Okay... That's okay. How do we fix this?"

"I need to stay in Las Vegas. I just... I have to figure this out."

"I'll grab the next flight out," Lydia replied, matter-of-factly.

"Lydia, you have class-"

"You haven't spoken to your father in 17 years and you're going to accuse him of sexually assaulting and stabbing a child? No, sir. Not alone you won't. My classes will deal. They always do."

"What if I don't figure this out? I can't call you away for some pointless endeavor-"

"Spencer, stop. I'm coming. This is just like any other case. We can't guarantee we'll solve it. But isn't the potential of bringing a murderer to justice worth it?"

"I... Are you sure?"

"I'll be there soon, love."

"...thank you."

~ ~ ~

Lydia rushed through the airport and hopped into a cab, heading straight for the hotel. She was crazy worried about Reid. There was no way to process the idea of someone you love being a murderer. She hoped it wasn't true, but she didn't know what would be easier for Spencer to accept. He tried to play it off, but Lydia knew he harbored an anger for the man. It could cloud his judgement.

She gave the hotel room door a solid knock, hoping Spencer would be back from the police department by now to let her in. He had warned her he was going to pick up as much information on the Riley Jenkins case that morning and meet her at his room.

"Hey," he breathed, upon seeing her face on the other side of the door.

"Hey. Where do we start?" she began stepping inside with him and stopping short to see other people inside. "Rossi, Morgan. I thought you two would be on your way back to DC by now?"

"We didn't want pretty boy to have to deal with this alone. But it looks like he was already on top of that."

She gave Morgan a wide smile. "This isn't exactly my forte. I'm mostly emotional support, so any help Spence can get would be great."