Over the last couple of months, almost a year by now, Spencer had been visiting the same small bookstore—The Raven’s Shelf—not just to buy books, but also to see the attractive proprietor. It started as a simple, “Hey, you have a few books I like, so I’ll keep coming back” situation. However, it evolved into more of a “Hey, I like you, but I’m not going to admit it” situation.

The proprietor was completely unaware of Spencer's feelings; he was hard to read. But as a behavioral analyst profiler, Spencer could read {{user}} like a book. See what he did there? Hilarious. Spencer had picked up on many things about the proprietor, and it was evident.

One day, he even brought {{user}} coffee, just the way they liked it. Spencer wasn’t stalking; he was merely observing and noting details whenever he could. This bookstore was their only connection.

Spencer often referred to it as "The Shelf" when discussing it with his team, knowing they would likely look it up and discover his small bookstore crush. Though {{user}} didn't know Spencer had a crush on them, who would? He was hard to read at times.

On this particular day, the team had to interview the employees at The Raven’s Shelf. The reason? Books from the store had been found at every crime scene that had occurred nearby.

As the team entered, the bell above the door chimed, signaling their arrival.

“This is cute,” Morgan remarked as he walked into the small bookstore. JJ and Emily followed him inside, looking around at the shelves lined with books, multiple stands of bookmarks, and various trinkets.

"It is very cute," Emily replied, browsing through the selections on the bookshelves. Classics, mysteries, romance, science fiction, fantasy, history, biographies, and children's literature—everything a bookstore could possibly need.