[CM] THE CASE

No matter what the future holds, you are my light. ——"The Queen in the Wind"

"Griffith? What a rarity."

Holding a few books, Griffith nodded to Elle.

The cake shop has not opened yet, Elle ran out from the back kitchen, very surprised: "Aren't you going to work today?"

She was the only one in Griffith's social circle who didn't know what was going on.After leaving BAU, she intentionally or unintentionally cut off contact with her former colleagues. Griffith didn't want to tell her the long story, just said vaguely: "I resigned."

Elle raised her eyebrows, but didn't ask any further questions - this was their tacit understanding.

"Are you planning to eat and drink here for free?" Elle teased, pointing to the book in his hand.

Griffith smiled sheepishly: "Actually, I'm here to help."

"Help?" Elle looked disbelieving, "What can you do?"

"I've served plates in Chinese restaurants before and I didn't charge for it," Griffith said.

"Okay, come on." Elle said decisively.

The back kitchen of the cake shop is busy, Griffith put on the spare uniform, listened to Elle's command, and put the bread and cakes from the back kitchen into the window.

Elle, who has been staying behind the checkout counter, seems to have given up on being a chef and has instead hired a professional pastry chef.

"I tried countless times, really countless times." Elle said that she was still very disappointed about this incident, "and then found that if I was alone, the store would go bankrupt, so I left it to professional people. bring it on."

Griffith was also disappointed: "I thought I could taste the pastries you made yourself."

The pastry chef stood at the door of the back kitchen very indifferently: "Have you finished decorating the cake for the ten o'clock appointment?"

Elle: "...No."

The master didn't say anything, leaving her behind.

Griffith looked at her suspiciously: "Tyle doesn't seem easy to get along with, how did you find him?"

"We used to be classmates." Elle said briefly, "Help me see, I'm going to make cakes."

So Griffith took over the cash register.

The peak hours of the cake shop are before work in the morning and after get off work in the evening, and office workers also come to buy sandwiches at noon. Griffith still spends most of his time reading.

That's what he took from Reid's bookshelf.

His reading speed is very fast. Unlike Reid's photographic memory, Griffith can find the key points in a short time-this is an important skill he mastered during his study, because those piles of documents are very energy-consuming.Helpfully though, Reid took a lot of notes on the book.

Sometimes he writes notes, sometimes he just draws sentences.If he encounters an incorrect one, he will mark it with a cross very angrily. Morgan has said that one of Reid's hobbies is to find fault with science fiction, so it seems that he also made a lot of calls to the magazine.

Much like Reid's style.

At lunchtime, Elle dismissed the grumpy chef, handed Griffith a sandwich, and sat next to him.

"What do you want to ask, let's start."

Griffith laughed. "How do you know?"

Elle shrugged.

"So," Griffith put the book down, and Elle finally saw the title he'd been hiding, "can you tell me about S...Reid?"

Elle looked at the "schizophrenia" in the book, and suddenly became a little nervous: "Wait, you resigned because of what happened to Reid, right?"

Griffith froze, realizing Elle had misunderstood.His face was a little red, and his fingers kept scratching the cover of the book: "No, no, it's my problem. It's just, me and Spence, our relationship... well, we're together."

Elle: "..."

She couldn't turn the corner, so she said dryly, "Oh, really?"

Then they looked at each other and were silent for almost a minute. Griffith looked down and tore open the wrapping of the sandwich - he was indeed a bit hungry.

"Oh, oh." Elle tried to shift the focus to another matter, "Uh, you mean to ask about schizophrenia, right?"

"In Spence's case, rather." Griffith swallowed his sandwich.He didn't think it was polite to talk while eating, so he rewrapped the sandwich.

"I only read this in textbooks before, and I don't know much about it. I went to see his mother with him before, and I feel that she is in good condition, or she may be in a nursing home, with specialists and medication." Griffith Slowly talking about the information he knew, "It's just that getting sick is always a probability, and I'm still worried about him."

Elle sighed: "To be honest, I don't know much. Reid always thought that he would fall ill. He must have checked a lot of information. It's just that after a person has identified something, no amount of information can be checked He will become more and more firm in his guess, this is a misunderstanding, and he may not be able to get out of it."

Griffith looked at those books in silence, as if seeing the whole picture of that person clearly for the first time.

"From a psychological point of view, to a certain extent, people's psychology will affect their physiology. In some cases, it is not impossible for symptoms to appear out of nothing." Elle said and became serious. In his mid-30s, he had nervous headaches, and I suspect that Reid might actually have this symptom under the influence of this anxious state of mind."

"I know," Griffith said, "I thought so too."

But such things as inner demons need to be faced by themselves.

Both of those present have struggled with their own demons and know how difficult the process can be. Elle patted Griffith on the shoulder and said, "There's not much we can do. When I left BAU, I wanted to leave that environment and pressure. But Reid, he couldn't leave."

Maybe every time he visits his mother, what he sees is his own future.

"Reid? Are you listening?"

Reid was taken aback: "Sorry."

He rarely lost his mind during work hours, so Gideon gave him a few more glances: "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm very good." Reid instinctively wanted to avoid his scrutiny, but also felt a little self-conscious, so his eyes were only slightly wrong.

It's a pity that there is nothing to hide from the eyes of experienced profilers.

They were in a meeting, and Gideon didn't say much, continuing to focus back on the profile.And Reid touched the quiet phone in his bag, feeling like a thousand ants were crawling in his heart.

Griffith didn't answer the phone.

Griffith rarely puts his phone on silent, he's home alone, and he's always quick to answer calls.This is the first time.

But mainly because, when he said hello to Griffith in the morning, Griffith got back late.

"...that's about it," Hotch said, "Half an hour to start profiling, you guys..."

"Well, sorry, I may have to take a leave of absence." Reid said, "I have something to do, I'll be back tonight."

Gideon stared at him.

Morgan immediately said: "I want to go to the scene and have a look."

So that leaves Emily, Gideon, and Hotch for the profiling release.

Reid looked at his phone, he received a message: "Okay, see you later."

"Do you know what organs Jack the Ripper took from his victims?"

Garcia asked leisurely while eating fried noodles.

Emily racked her brains on the other end of the phone: "Uh...uh, I don't know."

Garcia picked up the noodles that fell on him and threw it into his mouth: "Kidney. How disgusting and terrible."

Emily continued to wonder: "Well, do you have anything else to say?"

"I just found out about an unsolved case that happened four months ago in Galveston, Texas, where the same organs were taken from the victim." Garcia's tone was very proud.

Emily immediately took a note and wrote down the address.

Garcia sucked on the chopsticks: "I'm so good."

"Yes, you are very good." Emily smiled, "Thank you."

Gideon watched her put down the phone: "What's wrong?"

"Garcia said he found a case four months ago in Galveston, Texas, where the victim, like the one here, lost a kidney."

"A lot of people here went to Galveston after the hurricane," Gideon put his hand on his forehead, "maybe he went there too. I want Morgan, Reid and you to go there tonight, okay?" ?”

Emily nodded: "I'll send them a message."

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