Chapter 431: Reid's Spring (Final)

"Should I shoot you down from that tree, or will you come down on your own?" Jack called up to the man perched on a high branch.

The man was hidden in a large oak tree near the back wall of Lila's yard. Its sturdy branches and thick leaves made it the perfect spot for a peeping tom to spy from. 

Even JJ, who had been scanning the area with binoculars, had missed him. Jack had only spotted the figure thanks to the night vision on his Barrett sniper rifle.

From his first visit to the villa, Jack had scoped out potential spots a voyeur might use to spy on the house, and this oak tree had always been a top contender.

The man, who had been trying to remain hidden, glanced down and saw Jack pointing the large sniper rifle at him. Terrified, he screamed, "Don't shoot! I'll come down! I'll come down!"

"Wait, it's you again?" Jack recognized the trembling man climbing down the tree. It was the same paparazzo they had encountered at the art exhibit.

As soon as the man was on the ground, Jack yanked the camera from his hands and flipped through the photos on the screen. He nearly burst out laughing.

Earlier, Jack had regretted missing the chance to capture someone's first kiss. Now, it seemed the opportunity had fallen right into his lap.

The paparazzo, Joe Martinez, panicked as Jack scrolled through the pictures. "Hey! Hey! That's my personal property! You have no right to take it!"

"Are you sure about that?" Jack flashed his badge, then twisted the man's arm behind his back, cuffing him while reciting the Miranda warning. 

"Joe Martinez, you're under arrest for the suspected murders of Willy Melman, Natalie Lane, and Chloe Harris."

"What?!" Joe's voice broke, incredulous at the accusation.

"We found a ton of voyeuristic photos at your house, including ones of Lila and Natalie Lane. Your walls are covered with their schedules," Jack explained.

He patted the man down but found nothing except a wallet and some keys. 

"Jack? Is that you?" Reid's voice came through both the earpiece and from inside the house.

"Yeah, it's us. We caught ourselves a suspect," JJ said, flipping through the paparazzo's camera with a mischievous grin.

"I'm just trying to make a living, not some murderer! All paparazzi follow stars! I saw Lila Ayche's potential early on, so I followed her. These photos would've sold for big money once she became a big star!" Joe Martinez whined.

Jack knew Martinez likely wasn't the killer. Rossi and Hotchner had found more than just photos of Lila in his house—there were shots of plenty of other celebrities, too. And it was unlikely Lila would press charges for invasion of privacy. Celebrities and paparazzi had an unspoken relationship: paparazzi wouldn't cross certain lines, and stars usually wouldn't sue unless it was truly egregious.

Jack was mainly arresting him as a scare tactic and to keep him off the streets for 24 hours. With this annoyance out of the way, he could focus on the real investigation without distractions.

As Jack dragged Joe toward the front of the house, they found Reid outside, soaking wet and looking like a drowned rat.

"Ah-ha!" Jack exclaimed with mock delight.

Reid, wiping down his gun with a towel, looked sheepish. "If I said I accidentally fell into the pool, would you believe me?"

"Actually, we've got photos to prove it," JJ teased, holding up the camera. She playfully let Reid snatch it from her hands.

Reid hastily opened the memory slot, only to find it empty.

"Uh-uh, not yet. These are evidence," Jack said, waving the memory card teasingly.

"Jack, please!" Reid pleaded, looking like a high schooler who had just been caught making out by his parents.

"Don't worry. I'll have Garcia make you a copy for your scrapbook," Jack said, greeting Lila, who had now come outside in a robe, much more composed than Reid.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" John jogged over, out of breath. The LAPD patrol car had parked farther away, giving the scene some space.

Jack filled him in, handing off the paparazzo for John to take back to the station. Just as Jack was about to head back to his vantage point for surveillance, Reid stopped him.

"Something's off about that photo collage," Reid said.

"What collage?" Jack asked, confused as he and JJ followed Reid back into the house. They stopped in front of the large piece of artwork dominating the living room wall.

"Oh, this one? 'Life is blurry and difficult,' I remember," Jack said, recalling Lila's earlier description.

The collage was a two-meter-long and one-meter-wide piece made from various photos, all cut into different-sized vertical strips, then rearranged randomly and glued together.

"I think I spotted Lila's face in there. I need to take it apart and reassemble it to be sure," Reid explained.

"How did you manage to think of that while making out with a beautiful woman by the pool?" Jack asked, feigning disgust.

Reid, unfazed by the teasing, thought back to the moment. "For a second, my mind went completely blank, like I was witnessing the Big Bang—everything was bright, colorful chaos. Then I remembered what Lila had said about abstract art: 'Don't think too much, just feel it.' That's when I realized this collage might be hiding something."

Without another word, Jack and Reid removed the frame, while Lila and JJ cleared space on the kitchen's marble island for them to work.

In under ten minutes, Reid had reassembled the dozens of randomly placed photo strips.

Once complete, the collage revealed a collection of photos and posters spanning Lila's life since college.

"That's my family's house in the Texas countryside. Here's my first stage performance at Juilliard, my debut movie poster, my university graduation, and of course, my favorite flower—the pink anemone," Lila said, biting her lip as she stared at the collage, her eyes filled with both nostalgia and growing fear.

"Who gave this to you?" JJ asked.

"Patrick Denly, my godmother's business partner," Lila replied.

Jack looked at Reid in surprise. "Your high school buddy?" Could the stalker really be him?

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