“I’ve worked with them, and I’ve worked with you, Paige,” he said. “I honestly trust your instincts more than I trust those of any of the profilers working at the BAU. And things are happening too quickly. I know how you’ll react under pressure. I know that if anyone can work this out, it’s you. Yes, I could get another profiler, but I don’t want that. I want the best, and I honestly believe that’s you.
Paige felt slightly embarrassed at that kind of praise, but also strangely proud. She wanted to prove to Christopher that she could do this, that she could live up to everything that he thought of her. She wanted to show him that she could be everything that he needed her to be.
“But I’m in the middle of my training,” Paige tried. “I’m not sure I would even be allowed to leave to do something like this.”
Administrator Podovski cleared his throat. “Agent Marriott and I have already had this discussion. The academy accepts that catching a killer is the most important thing. We are prepared to release you from your studies on a temporary basis. You would have to make that training up, though.”
Paige nodded; she could do that.
“And you will have to remember that you are not yet an agent,” Administrator Podovski said. “You do not have the power to arrest people. You will not be carrying a weapon. I will not have a situation where a trainee is running around the streets, shooting people.”
Paige was fine with that. Those parts of the curriculum were the ones that she had the biggest problems with anyway. She would leave that side of things to Christopher if it came to it, although she suspected that he would want her close by, whatever they did.
“What do you say, Paige?” Christopher asked. “I can’t force you to do this. You’re not a trained agent yet, so I can’t go around giving you orders, but I really need your help on this. I think with you and me, we have a real chance to catch this guy.”
When he put it like that, Paige knew that she didn’t have a choice, not really. She couldn’t just stand by if other women might be killed. She found herself nodding.
“All right,” she said. “I’m in. Where do we start?”
“At the murder scene.”