" An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country. "

— George Bernard Shaw

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13.2 ; IN THE ART.

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, the sound of Caroline's phone buzzing against the hotel nightstand woke her up from a restless sleep. Gideon called to request her presence at Lila's movie set. As she had rubbed the sleep from her eyes, he explained that the unsub had contacted her directly this time through a handwritten letter. Before Gideon could even finish telling her all the details, she had put on her clothes, threw her hair up in a ponytail, and was out the door.

It took her all of twenty minutes to get onto the movie set. Caroline now sat in the young actress's trailer, watching her cling to the black robe she wore. Her eyes darted anxiously from Caroline, Detective Kim, Derek, Gideon, and Reid, all of whom were standing inside her trailer with somber expressions. Caroline picked at the corner of the note as she reread it for the fourth time.

Lila—

I've always been so good to you.

Why would you go to the police?

Gideon, who had been reading over her shoulder, said, "I'm intrigued by this particular version of the verb 'to be'. It's the past participle, denoting a steady state of being with a preceding adverb 'always'."

"In English?" Detective Kim requested with a wide-eyed look.

"That is English, actually," Reid told him. "He's discussing verb tenses—"

Morgan put his hand on the young doctor's shoulder and shook his head. "That's not what he meant, Reid."

Caroline sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "What they mean is, our stalker sounds like someone Lila knows based on the tense of the verb."

"Maybe it's time to get her off the street," Morgan suggested as he leaned against the doorframe.

"You know, there's been no physical threat to her," Reid remarked. "She might be safe just staying put as opposed to anywhere else."

From the corner of the room, Caroline heard Lila grunt. Everyone glanced over at her, momentarily forgetting she was in the room. "I'm standing right here, you guys," she snapped.

Gideon stared at her for a moment, taking in her tense mood before speaking. "If we did remove you," Gideon told her, "we'd have to take you to an undisclosed location. I'm sure your stalker knows where you live."

Lila shook her head. "I'm not having the whole show close down. I only have one more scene to shoot."

The room went quiet. Even Spencer didn't have anything to say.

"With all due respect Ms. Archer," Caroline said in a soft voice, "but I hope you realize what kind of situation you're in right now. Working might be out of the question."

"Look," the actress huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "last night I decided that I wasn't gonna be afraid of this lunatic." She paused as the production bell rang, signaling the start of the next scene. She glanced at Detective Kim. "Am I safe here?"

"The set's cleared of everyone except essential personnel, and we have increased security at the gate," the young detective told her. Even Caroline could hear the wariness in his voice.

There was a knock on the trailer door before a young blonde woman poked her head inside. She adjusted her headset as she nodded to the actress. "Lila, they're ready for you."

"Thanks, Mags," Lila told the blonde assistant before turning towards the agents. "I'm staying at work. End of story." The trailer door shut behind her with a soft click.

Caroline set the unsub's note down on the table in front of her as she rubbed her head. Not wanting to be afraid, she understood. But making herself more a target by staying at work? Caroline didn't understand that at all.

"I didn't want to say anything in front of her, but his anger about her going to the police suggests he might alter his agenda," Gideon informed Detective Kim, who nodded with a grim look on his face.

Caroline paused as she thought back to last night. "Lila didn't go alone."

Gideon turned to her, eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Lila didn't come to the department alone. Her manager brought her."

Gideon slipped off his glasses and folded them into his shirt pocket before standing. "Reid, Morgan, Lucas, stay here and keep an eye on her."

"I'll hang back, too," Detective Kim volunteered as Gideon headed towards the trailer door.

Morgan frowned as he called out, "Where are you going?"

The older profiler paused with his hand on the doorknob. "I'm going to talk to the manager."

➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴

Caroline rested her back against the small coffee counter in the middle of the bustling set. She had never been on a real movie set before. Women in thin bikinis were running all over the place (which Derek was enjoying far more than he should as an agent on the job). People were pushing through the crowds carrying heavy rigging and equipment everywhere she turned. It was so loud on the set that she began to wonder if they had to edit out the noise in the background of the scene after they finished filming. She remembered when she had been eight, maybe nine, when she had wanted to be a movie star. Now, she was glad she had stuck to profiling instead of this mess.

Lila glided up beside her, reaching for the coffee machine. She watched the profiler observe the chaos around them as she made herself a cup.

"You get used to it," the young actress told her.

Caroline glanced at her, frowning. "What?"

She gestured to the set behind her. "The noise, the chaos. It comes with the territory."

"Oh. Right."

There was a long pause as Lila poured coffee into her cup. She extended the pot to the blonde profiler. "Coffee?"

She shook her head. "No thanks, I'm good."

Lila carefully placed the coffee pot back before tearing open a little packet of sugar and shaking the contents into her cup. "You know, I can't survive unless I drink at least four cups of coffee. I must be a caffeine addict or something."

Caroline nodded as she feigned interest. She watched as the actress absentmindedly stirred her coffee, almost like a nervous tick.

"Can I ask you something completely inappropriate and unprofessional?"

Caroline paused and glanced over at the young actress. Her face was open and a little nervous. She felt something tug deep in her stomach but she ignored it. "Sure."

"It's just that I really can't stop thinking about Dr. Reid. I—I mean, Spencer."

Caroline blinked as a stone sunk in her stomach. "What?"

"He's just so cute, you know?" Lila gushed. "When I met him at the gala the other night, I thought he was a total geek, but he's actually really sweet. He's got that adorable nerd vibe."

She felt the urge to vomit. "Uh-huh."

"So I guess I was just wondering if he was seeing someone?" Lila asked quickly, chuckling anxiously.

At that moment, Caroline completely understood what the term "deer-in-headlights" felt like. She couldn't even move her mouth to speak. It felt weird to give another girl advice about Spencer. Foreign. Wrong.

"Hello?" Lila waved a hand in front of her face. "Anybody in there?"

Caroline blinked, snapping herself out of it. "Oh, yeah. Uh, sorry. I was just...thinking about something."

"What about my question?"

"What question?"

Lila laughed breezily. "Is Spencer dating anyone?"

Caroline swallowed. "Uh, no. No, he's not."

A big smile spread across the actress's face. She had to resist the urge to smack it off her face.

"That's great news," Lila smirked. She looked over at the young profiler who now felt utterly empty inside as a thoughtful look crossed her face. "You know, when I met you two in the gala, I thought you two were a thing."

"Me and Spencer?" Caroline murmured softly, avoiding the actress's curious gaze.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure everyone there thought it. You two just—"

She glanced up at the actress, her throat going dry. "We what?"

The actress shrugged. "I dunno. He just seems to...orient himself around you. Like you two gravitate towards each other." She turned back to her coffee and began to stir it again. "But I guess I misinterpreted or something."

For a split second, Caroline could feel the biting words rise up her throat and fill her mouth. She wanted to say something, anything, to her. She wanted to tell Lila to stay away. That Spencer was her Spencer. That the actress should back off and look the other way.

But she didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. What gave her the right to? Spencer was her friend and that was it. It doesn't matter how she felt about him. How she feels about him. They were just friends.

She couldn't selfishly put her feelings above his. She just couldn't.

"And speak of the devil," Lila whispered to her as she watched Spencer approach them. The actress self-consciously straightened her robe as she faced Caroline who had felt like she had been slapped in the face. "Act natural, yeah?"

When Spencer made it over to the coffee counter with a bottle of Coca-Cola in hand, he gave her a smile in greeting. The best Caroline could muster was a small tug at the corner of her lips. He gave her a concerned look.

Lila turned to face him and she cleared her throat, crossing her arms across her chest. "Spencer."

The young doctor blinked and tore his eyes away from Caroline to look at the actress in front of him as if he had been yanked out of a daze. She took a deep breath.

"I, uh, just wanted to say sorry if I was, um, insensitive last night," Spencer told Lila shyly, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Caroline's heart took a freefall to her stomach.

When had they talked last night?

The actress shrugged, staring up at him through her eyelashes. "You were only doing your job, right?"

Spencer paused in the middle of taking a sip of his drink. He slowly lowered the bottle from his lips and swallowed. "Yeah."

The actress gave him a stunning smile. "Then there's no need to apologize."

Caroline's stomach was rolling. She could feel the heat in her face. Why was she still standing here? Why wasn't she moving?

Lila took a sip of her coffee then stuck her tongue out in disgust. She plucked Spencer's drink out of his hands and gave him a coy smile before taking a drink. "You don't mind sharing with me, do ya?"

Spencer stared at Lila with a dumbfounded look on his face. "I—uh...I guess not."

The set bell rang three times and Caroline had never been more grateful to a bell in her whole life. Lila swept her coffee into the trash can as she handed Spencer back his drink. She reached for her robe and shrugged it off to reveal the tiny swimsuit she had on underneath. Spencer's eyes widened.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Lila said to Spencer with a smirk before sauntering onto the scene. Spencer started to chug his drink, looking away from Lila's direction. All the color drained from Caroline's face.

Morgan, who had been silently listening in on the conversation nearby, approached the blushing doctor and the pale agent. He rested a hand on Spencer's shoulder.

"You don't mind sharing with me, do ya?" Derek asked him, his voice going up two octaves higher as he mimicked Lila. Spencer choked on his drink.

"Shut up," the young doctor muttered to him as he wiped off his mouth. He turned on the balls of his heels and started to walk away.

"Go get 'em, lover!" Derek called after him, watching Spencer get flustered as he turned the wrong way before going the opposite direction.

Caroline still stood in the same place, her feet rooted to the floor. She stared blankly at her hands, her mind in a surreal state. Derek glanced over at her and he frowned at the look on her face.

"Care?" Derek murmured to her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded weakly. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Derek frowned even deeper, unconvinced. Suddenly, as if a light switch had gone off in his head, he looked behind him at where Lila was filming her scene then to the spot Spencer once stood. Her friend chuckled then huffed out a puff of air.

"Caroline."

"Yeah?"

Derek grinned at her. "I'm still holding out for you two."

She looked up at him, clasping her hands in front of her to keep calm. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

She didn't reply as Derek walked off to give her some space. She didn't know what to say. Or what to think. Or why she felt like her heart had just been ripped out of her chest and stomped on right in front of her.

If she was being honest, she didn't know why she felt anything at all.

➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴

Spencer jogged his leg up and down as Lila drove down the L.A. roads to her house. He tried to stop the anxious tick, but it wasn't working well. Ever since Gideon called an hour ago to inform them that they had found Lila's manager dead, they had been put on high alert. Spencer had strict orders from his superiors not to tell the young actress about the death of her manager. The fact that he had to hide something made him anxious enough. However, what really made him nervous though was Caroline.

He checked in the rearview mirror to where the young agent sat, her hands resting on her knees. Her face was calm, even. When she felt his eyes on her, she glanced at him through the mirror for a second before she resumed staring outside the car window. It scared him to see her eyes so empty. Lifeless.

When Gideon had told Spencer to take Caroline back to Lila's house, his stomach had churned. She hadn't spoken to him all day. He didn't know what was wrong or why she was upset, but he knew that she was. The feeling had been nagging at him all day, tugging for his attention. But what could he do if he didn't know what was wrong?

Lila finally pulled into the driveway of her house, where two police cars were stationed. Lila stared at them after she parked the car and turned the engine off.

"What's going on?" She asked Spencer. He could see the fear in her eyes.

"Nothing," he said as calmly as he could manage. "We're just being precautious."

Relief flooded into the young actress's features. "Oh. Okay."

The two agents and the young actress slipped out of the car and headed up the stone pathway to the one-story glass house. Caroline walked alongside Lila up the path and began explaining the plan.

"We're going to go over some security measures with you," she told Lila, her voice soothing and calm. He watched Lila's tense shoulder relax as Caroline spoke to her. Spencer had always admired how she could talk to others, calm them in times of high stress. It even relaxed him just to hear the sound of her voice.

Lila unlocked the front door and opened it for the young agents. Her house had an open, contemporary feel with large glass windows overlooking the L.A. valley. Spencer set his bag down on the couch as Caroline continued to debrief Lila.

"You should probably change all your phone numbers," she suggested to the actress.

She started to pull off her shoes. "I'm unlisted."

"Anytime you call an 800 number or an 888 number, your phone number's put into a databank that's sold to telemarketers," Spencer informed her. "If someone gets your cellphone number, they can go online and research all your records."

Lila blinked at him, then shook her head. As she walked into the kitchen, she said, "Spencer, hanging out with you can be really depressing."

The young doctor ignored her comment as he followed her into the kitchen, Caroline silently trailing him. "You should also probably carry a piece of paper and a pen with you wherever you go in case you see any suspicious license plates that often reappear."

When he walked into the kitchen, he paused when he saw the large mural above Lila's couch. It looked like a bunch of photos all jumbled into an amalgamation of colors and shapes.

"It's a photographic collage," Lila told him, smiling at the artwork. "I like it because it's like life, you know? Like obscure, difficult."

Spencer just squinted at the collage. He still didn't see what was so wonderful about art. It was just a canvas with photos.

Despite himself, he glanced over at Caroline who had been silent ever since they came into the house. She was leaning against one of the granite kitchen countertops with a thoughtful expression as she gazed at the collage, the first sign of emotion he's seen out of her today. He wondered what she thought of it.

"You, uh," Spencer cleared his voice as he averted his eyes from Caroline, "should also get a dog. Like a guard dog of some sort."

Lila gave him a small frown as she gave him a half-shrug. "Allergic. Earl grey or chamomile?"

"What?" Spencer furrowed his brows in confusion.

The actress laughed. "Would you like some tea?"

He frowned. "Uh, no. No thank you."

She shrugged at him before turning to the other profiler in the room. "Caroline, would you like some?"

She nodded slightly. "Yeah, sure."

Lila disappeared further into the kitchen and came out moments later with two cups of tea in her hands. She handed one cup to Caroline, who politely thanked her, and kept the other for herself. The two girls silently drank the tea as an awkward silence filled the air.

The rest of the afternoon went by quietly. Lila hung out in her bedroom while Caroline and Spencer stayed downstairs, waiting for a call from Morgan or Gideon. Neither of them spoke, not even when the sun sank from the sky and night began to fall.

He hadn't even realized how long they had been sitting together until the sound of his phone ringing cut through the silence. He fumbled for the phone in his pocket, then checked the time. 9:37 P.M. Four hours had passed by already?

He hit the answer button and brought the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Reid, it's Morgan." His friend's voice was rushed, tense. "Listen to me. You got to watch your back over there."

"What? Why?"

Caroline looked over at the young doctor and saw the confused look plastered on his face. She sat up, immediately on alert. He clamped down on her wrist to keep her from standing up.

"We just found a bunch of close-up photos of you and Caroline at this guy Joseph Martinez's studio. Looks like he could be the unsub. He had a ton of photos of Lila and Natalie, plus a call sheet for Lila's show."

"He took pictures of us?" Spencer whispered into the phone as he met Caroline's wide-eyed stare. Shivers ran down his spine at the thought of someone watching him and Caroline together.

She shook her hand from his grasp. "Spencer, what's wrong?"

"Yeah," Morgan muttered. "We're on our way right now, but I need you guys to be real careful until we get there, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah we will," he told Morgan slowly before the line cut off. He slipped his phone back into his pocket before turning to Caroline. She frowned at him.

"Morgan is on his way," he told her. "They went to a paparazzi's house and found photos of Lila and Natalie."

"Okay. What else?"

He cleared his throat. "They found photos of you and me. He thinks we might be targets."

Caroline scoffed. "Perfect. Just what we need."

She stood up and began to peer into the darkness outside the windows in the living room.

"I think I'm going to do a quick perimeter check," she said, still facing the window.

Spencer shot up from the couch. "Right now?"

"Yeah. Right now."

"Caroline, wait for—" She slipped outside the patio door before he could finish his sentence. He huffed out, "—me."

He waited for her to return on the couch. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed and Spencer started to get anxious. Lila's house wasn't that big. It shouldn't take her more than ten minutes to secure the perimeter.

He stood up and began to pace. Caroline could handle herself, he kept repeating to himself as he walked through the kitchen, She'll be back in a minute.

But, deep down, he knew she wouldn't be back for a while. She was avoiding him and he knew it.

Spencer stopped in his tracks in front of the photographic collage Lila liked so well. He stared at it again, tilting his head. He looked and looked but saw nothing there. He felt nothing. For the first time in a while, he was confused. Frustrated. What made this stupid piece of artwork so special?

"Feel anything yet?"

Spencer jumped back, his hand immediately twitching to his gun holstered on his hip. Lila stood beside him with her hands placatingly in the air and a playful smile on her face. She was wearing a pale silk robe with no shoes, her eyes glinting in the light.

"Whoa, did I scare you, Dr. Reid?" she teased him as she lowered her hands.

Spencer cleared his throat as he slowly took his hand off his gun. "No, you didn't. I was just, uh, looking at the collage again."

She smirked at him. "And?"

"There's definitely something...appealing about it," he lied, trying to school his facial features into a neutral expression.

"Well," Lila chuckled softly, "it's a start."

She walked away from him, heading for the back door. Spencer watched her tug off her robe as she opened the back door.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, cautiously taking a step towards her.

She shrugged off her robe, revealing a black two-piece bathing suit, before tossing her cover-up carelessly by the door. "Going for a swim."

"What?" Spencer exclaimed as he followed her outside. "No. Lila!"

Before he could stop her, she dove into the pool, splashing water on his shoes. He took a step back, scowling as he wiped them off in the grass. Her head bobbed up from the blue water, her blonde hair now darker from being wet. She gave him a broad smile.

"Lila, you cannot do this," he told her. Is she insane? There's a psychotic stalker coming after her, and she wants to go for a swim in the pool?

"Five minutes," she argued with him, her head bobbing up and down as she floated in the water. She pointed behind him. "Go get a suit in the house."

"What? No! I'm not gonna grab a suit!" He yelled over the sound of her splashing. "Are you kidding me? No."

"Join me," the actress demanded.

"No, I'm not gonna join you!"

She pouted as droplets of water ran down her face. "Why not?"

"Are you serious?" Spencer exclaimed. "You're being stalked by a psychotic killer who shoots people in the head!"

Lila twirled in the water, letting her hair fan out around her. "I'm not gonna stop living my life. I'm just not."

Spencer sighed, running a hand through his hair. They were completely exposed out here. If the unsub were here, they'd have no cover. He could sneak up on them from the bushes and get them both before the young doctor could react.

"Lila," he pleaded, "I'm begging you. Will you please get out of the pool?"

She began to float on her back, letting the water lap at her sides. She gently kicked her legs in the water and started to swim in circles. "Really, Spencer, you should live a little."

"Live a little? I've known you for 48 hours, I feel like I've already aged 10 years."

Lila scoffed. "I can't be that bad."

"No, you are that bad."

She stared at him for a moment before sighing. She swam up to the edge of the pool and rested her forearms at his feet. "Fine. Can you help me out at least?"

She extended a hand out to him. He sighed in relief as he reached down and grasped her hand. Suddenly, her second hand whipped out of the water and latched onto his outstretched hand. She started to pull down on his hand, causing him to go off balance. He fell head-first into the pool, drenching him completely.

He pulled his head out of the water, his hair dripping in front of his face. His button-down shirt clung to his chest. He shook out his arms before slicking back his hair from his face. Lila's laughter cut through the quiet night.

"Yeah, very funny. Laugh it up, Lila," Spencer said as he wiped the water off his face. She laughed even harder. "Hilarious."

He reached down to his gun and pulled it out of his holster. "Great," he groaned as he waded over to the edge of the pool, "my gun's wet."

He placed his gun on the stone edging, then started to laugh along with Lila. He must've looked ridiculous in his soaking wet clothes. He sure felt ridiculous.

"My clothes," he groaned, wringing out his tie.

She giggled. "You should've worn the suit."

Before he knew what was happening, Lila was standing in front of him, the blue glow of the water reflecting on her face and eyes. He was frozen as her eyes met his, her eyes even bluer than the pool water. She captured his face in her hands then leaned forward and kissed him.

For a second, he wasn't even sure what was happening. He felt her hands slide down his slick neck, her lips against his. Then, it hit him. She was kissing him. Lila was kissing him.

He knew he should've been enthused, elated even, that a pretty actress wanted to kiss him. His whole life he's just been the genius nobody looks twice at. He didn't have romantic encounters. He should be focused and trying to kiss back but all he could think was that Lila wasn't Caroline.

The thought jarred him and he pulled away from Lila, keeping her at an arms' length away. "This is completely inappropriate," he told her gently. "This isn't—"

"What? This?" She kissed him again, this time a little softer. Her hands threaded through his hair, gliding him closer to her in the water. This time, he tried kissing her back. He tried to be passionate and soft, but it felt awkward. Wrong. She was scared and he was supposed to be protecting her. Or, at least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Spencer shook his head, pulling away for a second time. "There's this thing called transference—"

Lila pouted, her hands resting lightly on his shoulders. "You don't like me?"

"What?"

"You don't like me, do you?"

"I—I didn't say that," Spencer explained quickly. "It's just I'm a federal agent, you know. I'm supposed to protect you."

She giggled as she pulled him closer to her. "Then keep me close."

"I'm just, uh, I'm a little bit worried," he rambled as Lila kissed the corner of his mouth and worked her way down his jaw. "You know, we're—we're in a pool. And it's a—we're pretty much exposed."

"We have cops," she reassured him. "We have cops posted out front. There are coyotes out back. And right here it's just you and me."

But it wasn't just him and her. There were cops, an unsub, and Caroline. Caroline was here somewhere. She still hadn't come back from the perimeter search. She was out doing her job, unlike him. His job was supposed to be making sure Lila was safe, not to be kissing her. She didn't know what kind of danger she was in. She doesn't even know about the death of her manager.

Her manager. She had a right to know.

She leaned in to kiss him again, but this time, he pulled away completely. "Stop. I'm sorry. I have to, um—I have to tell you something."

Lila sighed exasperatedly as she stood across from him. "What?"

"I didn't want to tell you this before 'cause I was a little bit worried," Spencer explained anxiously. "I don't know how to say it, but I can't not tell you."

"What is it?"

He cleared his throat. "Your manager, Michael..."

She frowned. "What?"

He took a deep breath, the silence hanging in between them like a fog. He had to tell her sooner or later. Might as well be now.

"Gideon went to check on him," he whispered, "but he got there too late."

Lila's face slowly dropped as the words sunk in. She slowly shook her head, as if she was in disbelief. A tear slid down her already wet cheek. She began to turn her back on him.

"Lila," Spencer murmured.

"How could you—how could you not tell me?" Lila demanded as she whirled on him.

"I was afraid you'd be upset."

"You—!" She groaned in frustration before she hissed, "You knew what you knew, and—God, how could you not—"

Spencer whispered, "I'm so sorry."

She shook her head before she swam to the edge of the pool, the tears falling down her face more freely now. She reached up to hoist herself out of the water. Spencer reached out to help her and she snapped, "No, don't touch me!"

He held his hands up defensively and slowly backed away from her as she stood on the stone edge. He watched her stomp to the back door, and when she opened the door, his heart dropped to his stomach.

Standing in the glass doorway with a towel was Caroline, her eyes locked on him. She silently handed the towel to Lila as the actress stormed back into the house. The blonde agent's eyes never left his. He could tell by the way she was standing there, frozen, that she had seen them together. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing.

But the look in her eyes is what rooted him in place. Never had Spencer ever seen such a betrayed, hurt look in her eyes before. And, God, he hated it.

Then, without a word, Caroline turned and headed back into the house, leaving him to sit in the pool.

➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴

Once Spencer had managed to pull himself out of the pool, Morgan had found Joseph Martinez in the bushes on the edge of the backyard. The paparazzo had been taking pictures of him and Lila the whole time they were together. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the violation he felt at the fact that someone had been taking photos of an intimate moment in his life.

He stood near the edge of the pool with Elle, still dripping and shivering wet. She had been giving him the side-eye for the past five minutes and he had finally had enough.

"What is it?" Spencer snapped. Elle simply rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue at him. She gave his wet clothes a long glance.

"I fell in," he told her simply, staring at his shoes to avoid her penetrating gaze. Any annoyance he felt melted away into guilt.

Elle snorted. "Yeah, and I'm sure there's plenty of photos of it."

He felt someone tap his shoulder. He looked over and saw Caroline standing beside him, offering him a handtowel for his soaked gun. He took it gratefully and began drying it off.

"Thanks, Care," he told her.

She didn't say anything. In fact, she didn't even look him in the eye.

He opened his mouth to say something, to apologize, but Morgan walked into the backyard with Martinez in tow. He pushed the paparazzo in front of the agents collected by the pool.

"Stop shoving me, man," he groaned at Derek as he adjusted his wrists in the handcuffs.

Morgan rolled his eyes before stating, "You're a suspect in the murder of Wally Melman, Natalie Ryan, and Jeremy Collins."

His eyes went wide. "Murder? What? Whoa, whoa—"

"Shut up with the whoa!" Derek snapped at him. "We know for a fact that you have hundreds of photographs of Lila Archer and Natalie Ryan on the walls of your studio. You have Miss Archer's daily schedule on your desk."

"Hey, look, every paparazzo's a celebrity stalker," Martinez told them. "If you don't stalk 'em, you don't get the shot. If you don't make the shot, you don't sell no pictures."

"Well, this one is gonna cost you," Elle said as she reached for his camera. She yanked out the film from the camera and Martinez jumped.

"That's just wrong," he complained as Elle handed the film to Caroline, who began to tear it into small pieces.

Morgan scoffed. "Tell it to your lawyer."

"I'm still being locked up?"

"That's right," Morgan said as he grabbed the paparazzo by the back of his shirt and began to tow him away. "At the very least, you're trespassing."

Elle glanced at the two younger agents and gave them a curt nod before following Derek outside. Once they were gone, silence fell between Caroline and Spencer. She was staring at the torn film clasped tightly in her hands.

"Caroline, I—"

She stopped him by grabbing his hands and stuffing the thin film into them. Her hands lingered for a second before pulling away.

"You're welcome," she whispered. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would erase the look in her eyes, but he didn't know what to say. She turned her back on him and headed into Lila's house without a second glance at him.

He held the photographer's film limply in his hands. His heart was pounding, and he knew it wasn't because he had kissed Lila. No, he knew it for a fact because he didn't have the crushing weight of guilt on his shoulders after he kissed Caroline.

Caroline.

He had to find her. He had to tell her that he was sorry and that he would do anything for her to just talk to him again. He kept seeing the betrayal in her gaze and it was eating him alive. He would do whatever she wanted, so long as she would look at him like she used to—with happiness and trust.

He walked over to the iron patio table nestled near the glass door and slid on the grey hoodie Caroline had laid out for him earlier. He finished drying his gun before he holstered it and headed back inside. This time, he was going to talk to Caroline and explain. He was going to make her talk to him.

But, before he could make it upstairs, the sight of Lila sitting on the couch with her knees pulled to her chest and tears staining her cheeks stopped him dead. He swallowed and shuffled his wet shoes on the floor. He may not be attracted to her romantically, but that didn't mean he didn't care for her. She had been nice to him and he cares whether or not she's okay.

Spencer cleared his throat. "Lila?"

The actress didn't move from her position as he sank down into the chair across from her. She sniffled but didn't respond.

"Look, I know I'm the last person you want to talk to right now, but are—are you okay?"

She wiped at the tears underneath her eyes. "Michael was like family."

Her voice sounded raspy and strained from crying. He took a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's just so hard to trust people out here," she choked out. "You don't—you don't know who to believe. Everybody wants something from you." She looked up at him with watery blue eyes. "That's why I thought you were different."

He flinched underneath her gaze. "I know I should have told you."

"I told him not to."

Spencer and Lila both whipped their heads up to see Gideon standing in the entrance of the living room with his arms crossed pensively over his chest. The young doctor wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but he could tell by the look he gave him that the mentor had overheard more than he should have.

"He was only following my orders," Gideon told the actress with a soft voice like any loud noise might shatter her. When she didn't answer, the older profiler nodded to him then left them to talk.

A moment of silence passed before Lila whispered, "You know, the last time I was able to fully trust someone was at Julliard?" She chuckled darkly as his eyes flashed to the photo collage hanging above her. "Before I was a somebody."

He squinted his eyes at the artwork as images started to appear in the collage, the pictures floating together to form coherent photos. "Julliard," he whispered to himself before he turned back to Lila, who was frowning at him. "Didn't you say you used to live on Houston Street?"

"What?"

"You were a waitress," he said as the images became more pronounced to him. "You lived on Houston."

She rubbed her nose as she sniffled again. "Yeah. So?"

Spencer slowly rose from his seat and approached the photographic collage. The actress, upon seeing the look on the young doctor's face, stood up as well to examine the artwork.

"I need to take this thing apart," he told her.

She flinched away from him with wide eyes. "What?"

"I'll put it back," he promised as he leaned forward to inspect it closer. "I...I think I see images of you."

"Images of...me?"

"Caroline!" Spencer called into the house. There was a moment's pause before he heard the sound of her running down the stairs. She saw the look on his face the moment she was on the last step and her face went calm, the face of business.

"What's up?" She asked as she came over to them.

"Get Morgan and Elle," he told her. "I think I've found something."

➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴

It took Spencer and Caroline less than ten minutes to disassemble the photographic collage and match up the images inside of it. Elle, Morgan, and Lila watched as they worked, all three seemingly tense. As they worked, they began to realize that this photographic collage did have one common theme: Lila.

Pictures of Lila smiling, of her dancing, of her movie releases and model shots, had been hidden all throughout the collage. Morgan shook his head in disbelief.

"Lila, it looks like someone's been stalking you for years," he told the young actress. She covered a hand over her mouth in horror.

"Yeah, this tells your whole life story," Caroline said as she helped Spencer fit the last remaining picture together. "Movie premieres, theater playbills. Everything since college."

The actress shakily pointed at a picture of a nice, well-built stone house in the middle of a lush green valley. "That's our country house."

"Who gave you this collage?" Derek asked.

She nodded to the upper right corner. "He did."

Elle leaned forward and pointed to the black-and-white photo of a man in his late-twenties. "This guy? Who is he?"

Spencer blinked at the photo. He couldn't believe it.

Caroline noticed his odd reaction. "Reid? What is it?"

He gestured to the man in the collage. "That's Parker. The guy I went to high school with. Parker Dunley."