𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟏𝟐𝟕

"𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

     EMILY walks into the round table room, holding her phone to her ear. She listens to the rings on the line and pleads for her old friend to answer.

"Hey," a voice answers.

"Tsia, it's Emily, where are you?" Emily asks as she turns her head to see if anyone is coming into the room behind her.

"Bois du Boulogne," Tsia replies.

"Well, that's a significant change of address," Emily says as she furrows her brows.

"That's not the only change," the woman chimes. "I got engaged!"

"Wow, so you and Jeremy are gonna..." Emily tries to find the words as she forces her voice to sound optimistic. "That's great!"

"Emily, what's wrong?" Tsia asks, knowing her friend too well.

Emily changes her voice, giving up on the act. "Have you heard from Sean?" she asks.

"Yes, he's been calling for days," Tsia says.

"But you haven't talked to him?"

"I don't work for him anymore. I'm out," Tsia stands her ground.

"So's Doyle," Emily tells her. Tsia pauses and there's no sound on the other end of the line. "Sean thinks we're all in danger, but I was the only one who had any personal connection to him."

"As far as Doyle is concerned, Lauren Reynolds died in a car accident," Tsia reminds her. "Jeremy and I made sure of that. Okay? I want to hear you say it."

"Lauren Reynolds is dead," Emily says as she nods her head, although she quickly turns it as she hears someone walk into the room.

"Sweetie, trust me. You died and we're all good," Tsia assures her.

"Okay. Just be careful and give Jeremy my love," Emily warns her quickly. "Bye."

Emily hangs up the phone and sees Spencer in her peripheral vision. She puts her phone in her pocket and takes a deep breath.

"Who's Lauren Reynolds?" Spencer asks.

Emily turns her chair around to face him and stutters for a moment. "She was a friend of mine."

"How'd she die?"

"A car accident," Emily replies and listens to Spencer apologize.

Although, she's saved by the team walking in. "Good morning," Rossi announces as Derek, Penelope, Aaron, and Ashley all walk in behind him.

Emily eyes Spencer, wondering if he would tell anyone else on the team. He shouldn't have heard the name in the first place. She needs to start being more careful around them. The more they know, the more they are in danger.

—
𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥
𝘴𝘺𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘳𝘬

Emily leans back in her seat as she looks over the files again and again, trying to find some sort of lead. The case seems to be moving slower than usual. They don't have a lead yet and they've already had to stay one night. She doesn't want to stay another, only wanting to get back home to her daughter.

Speaking of, Emily's phone rings and she looks at the caller ID to find Noah's name.

"Hey," Emily chimes. "What's up? It's kinda late for you to be calling, isn't it?"