February Night

Chapter 37

"There's a serial killer in New York that is murdering nursery teachers", he quietly explained. Lucy stared at him while she tried to figure out what he was trying to tell her. Couldn't he just come to the point?!

"Nursery teachers...", Lucy murmured while she paced through the room. Tessa was a nursery teacher...Her eyes widened when this thought stroke her suddenly. She stopped in her moving and turned around to face Luke. He was standing there broken-hearted and seemed to not want to tell her what he just had to right now.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy. But Tessa-"

"No!", Lucy interrupted her brother and made a step back, away from him. "No", she whispered as she could feel tears filling her eyes instantly. She didn't fight when Luke came closer again and wrapped her up into his arms. Lucy buried her face in his chest and her fingers clawed into the fabric of his shirt. Her heart felt as if it had been shattered into a million pieces within seconds and when her knees started to get weak, not able to carry her any longer, Luke kept holding her tight. He brought her to one of the chairs so she could sit down. Spencer rushed over to them too, kneeling in front of Lucy. He had been waiting outside and when he heard Lucy cry, he just had to get in. Now he put a hand on her knee and rubbed it gently to console his girlfriend. He had no idea what he should say to her. She had just lost her best friend in the most terrible way. There were no words to say right now.

"Listen, we need to fly to New York to solve this case", Luke quietly told his sister. Lucy just nodded. She took some deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. All her tears didn't help Tessa anyway. She was...dead. Murdered. Murdered by some psychopath, by some serial killer that wouldn't stop murdering until the FBI caught him.

Lucy looked up at Spencer and then at Luke. Her eyes were slightly red, her cheeks wet from all the tears. "I'll join you", she quietly said, her voice shaking.

"Lu, you can't just come with us", Luke told her calmly. "We've got work to do there, we need to find that killer. I don't want you to be there."

"I know that you have to catch him, Luke. And you can't tell me what I can and what not. I'm an adult, I can decide myself. And I...I want to come to New York with you, guys. I need to be there; don't you understand that?" Lucy said, calm as well. She didn't have the energy to freak out more. But she was now standing up from her chair again. They would go on arguing while the rest of the team was watching them quietly, if Luke wouldn't give in anytime soon. But Lucy ignored the other team members, even Spencer. She needed to explain why she had to be there too and couldn't stay back here. "Tessa was my...my best friend and I can't just keep sitting around here and wait for you to finally come back! I need to be in the city!" Lucy's voice grew louder and new tears were now falling from her cheeks and Spencer went over to gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Lucy...", he started, but she didn't listen. She pushed away his hand and kept staring at her brother.

"Please, let me come with you." She was begging now and sighting, Luke glanced over to Emily. The unit chief slightly nodded.

"Alright", Luke said, another sigh leaving his mouth. He had put his hands into his hips and came closer again. "But you have to promise me that you stay away from that case. You can visit our parents when we're there but you need to let us do our job and find the killer." His voice was calm as he talked and he cupped his sister's cheeks, whipping away her tears. She nodded.

"I promise." Her voice was shaking again and she felt so heartbroken, she had no idea how to hold herself together anymore at that point. Her best friend was dead. She had been killed for no reason. Tessa had been one of the best persons she had ever had the pleasure to get to know. She had been such a huge part of her childhood, of her teenage years, well of her whole life. And now she was gone just like that. Lucy swallowed hard and took a deep breath to hold the tears at bay this time.