Psychosis

Chapter 26- Blizzards In June

Isabel looked around the small house, watching as the two girls were taken out on stretchers. They would both need emergency medical attention, but besides that, they were both going to be fine. Just as they were going to be separated, one girl going to each ambulance, they looked at each other and smiled. One of them was in worse condition than the other, but they were both still able to smile. Isabel couldn't help but smile at that. They reached for each other and touched hands, neither wanting anything more than that at the moment. They were all each other needed at the time. Isabel sighed, going to the police SUV, knowing that the only thing left for her at that moment was to go back to the hotel, get her stuff, and head back to Quantico, only to get a new case the next day. She stopped when she felt a presence growing near, and once he was beside her, she kept her head down, wanting him to make the first move. Finally, he said something.

"Do you want to go get some ice cream?"

********************

"Ah, crap. The mortician called. I missed it. I'll call her back," Ciara said, before taking her phone outside of the station with her. For some reason, if she could make phone calls outside, she always would. She looked at her phone, amusement rising in her. She thought about how before she joined the FBI, she couldn't stand to make a phone call. The anxiety was too much for her. However, with Akilah's help and her own time spent, she had eased her anxiety and while personal phone calls still were nearly impossible for her, professional phone calls weren't as hard. After all, the person on the other end couldn't see her face, right? They could only hear her voice, and she could make that into whatever she wanted it to be. That, and she hadn't met a person yet who hadn't liked her Irish accent. She pressed the "call back" button, and listened to the dial tone, hoping the mortician would pick up.

"Hello?"

"Yes, Dr. Cle-ments? This is Agent Byrne from the FBI. I visited ye yesterday?"

"Oh, yes, Agent Byrne. I tried calling you earlier, but you must have been busy, I understand. But anyway, I have the contents of the two vic's stomachs, and... well, you won't believe what the only thing in their stomach was. It led me straight to their cause of death," Dr. Clements said, and Ciara blinked, knowing her face was confused. The contents of their stomachs?

"I see. May I ask what the contents of their stomachs were?" Ciara asked, knowing that if she didn't, Dr. Clements wouldn't tell her.

"Raw meat, and raw meat that obviously hadn't been cooled or frozen, at that. Now that you know that, can you take a guess at what the cause of death was?"

"Food poisoning, most likely caused by either E. Coli or Salmonella?" Ciara guessed, and Dr. Clements laughed.

"Hit the nail right on the head. Salmonella, to be exact. I checked, and it appears that your guy was feeding these two girls nothing but raw meat for the entire time he had them. I'm guessing he was trying to infect them with Salmonella, and once he started to recognize the symptoms, he denied them medical treatment and watched them decline. When you find the two missing girls, they will need medical treatment immediately," Dr. Clements told her, and Ciara nodded. She asked if there was anything else, and once the mortician had told her everything she needed to know, Ciara thanked her, and hung up, knowing she needed to share her information with the rest of the team. She walked back into the station, where JJ and Prentiss were explaining the details of the trip that morning. Ciara lowered her face to the floor and spoke up, something she had also been working on getting better at. The phone was ringing, and Ciara only assumed it was Garcia.