Psychosis

Chapter 41- Blood On Her Hands

Isabel looked around the room that she was stuck in, wishing her friend was there to bail her out this time. But the monster had locked her in before her friend could get to her, so now she was alone. She was going to have to face the monster alone without the girl that could actually fight them. Isabel could get into the monster's head, but that was about it. Maybe she could make a monster to fight the other monster. She looked to see if there was something to fight the monster with when suddenly, she felt something wet and sticky on her hands. She looked down to see blood covering her hands.

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Ciara looked around the round table room, which was a flurry of activity ever since it was revealed that Tayler Bunder was missing. Will had taken both Jack and Henry to watch them so the rest of the team could focus on their duties. Only Ciara and Morgan had actually met Reid's ex-girlfriend, but everyone could see just how much he still cared for her, and they were there to help find her. Ciara was glad she had met Tayler Bunder before the case had turned up, or else she never would have been of much help, due to her hatred of the name. She wouldn't have told them that, of course, as she still hadn't told Reid of it. She would have come up with some lie. Only one person in her life was able to see right through all of her lies, and they weren't currently in the room.

"Okay, Reid, how much of her past do you know?" Hotch asked, and Reid sighed, saying not much. They'd have to get the help of the parents to figure out this case because they knew her past. It was most likely that the stalker was someone from her past, even if Tayler didn't know it. Even if it was someone super insignificant. Either way, they were significant now. But suddenly, it wasn't necessary. Garcia ran into the room, holding two pieces of paper in her hand.

"I think I figured it out! I think I figured it out!" Garcia cried, and her shrill cry made Ciara clamp her hands over her ears. Just because she was moving forward when it came to touch didn't mean that her other senses weren't still extremely sensitive.

"What have you figured out?" Reid asked, desperation in his voice. It had been hours that they were working, and Tayler's parents hadn't gotten any ransom notes or anything to prove that Tayler was still alive. It had been Morgan who had originally suggested that maybe she wasn't, but Rossi had quickly, well, told him to shut up but had used more words. Reid was worried out of his mind and didn't need the possibility that Tayler was dead to cloud his mind. Even when his mind was clouded, it was still as sharp as a tack, but they needed his mind to be as sharp as a blade if they were going to figure this out. Well, once they heard what Garcia had to say.

"Tayler's parents had mentioned that they had kept some of the notes that the stalker sent her just in case they needed proof, so I took those and as I was using my special brand of techy genius to dig in her past, which I'm not very happy about, by the way-"

"By Allah, get to the point!" Akilah suddenly exclaimed, and Garcia looked over at her, a hurt look on her face. Suddenly, fear spread in Ciara's system. Akilah had had her purple water bottle all day. What if she said something to reveal the secret that Ciara had gone to such lengths to keep hidden? Would revealing the secret hurt Ciara, too, or just Akilah? Either way, she wasn't about to let either of them get hurt because Akilah couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. Anyway, I was searching through her past, and she had posted a picture of her job offer letter on Twitter. It was a hand-written letter, which I thought was weird, so I compared the two, and..." Reid then took the picture of the letter that Garcia had printed off, and laid it and the note side by side, carefully studying the two.

"The handwriting is identical."

"Who signed the letter?"

"Braeden Todd. And yes, I already looked him up. He's the personnel director of the branch of the publishing company that Tayler worked for. Basically, he's the one with all of the hiring and firing power. So, here's the real question: did he start stalking her before or after he hired her?" Garcia wondered, and Hotch spoke up.