[𝟐] 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 - 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨

𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐄

"Frankly, we could use this time to review these resumes." I replied and Emily nodded.

"Well, if we're good here, I need to take the day off-campus. Is that a problem?" She asked. I can't believe Emily and I have control of this now.

"No. Not at all." Emily replied. Tara looked back to me and I nodded with a smile. As long as we're good here, there's no need to worry.

"Thanks." She nodded and walked out.

Emily and I shared a look before turning our heads to Garcia. "Is she-" I started.

"Don't. She has sworn me to secrecy." Garcia replied.

I held my hands up defensively. "Okay. Fair enough. Never mind."

"Alright! Twist my arm. I'll tell you. Follow me." Garcia relented. I didn't even say anything. Emily and I obeyed and followed her out. We knew what was coming now.

We walked into the conference room. She had literally everything in a presentation like we do for cases.

"Let's face it. We don't really know much about Dr. Tara Lewis. We know she's an army brat who was raised all over the world. I know, because she told me yesterday that her mother died of breast cancer when she was in college, and that her dad was honorably discharged, and he started an auto-repair shop in DC. But, what I just learned is that her most complicated family relationship is with this guy." Garcia went on and pulled up a picture. "Gabriel, her younger brother, every bit as smart as Tara. He got a 1600 on his SATs, and he didn't go to Yale, despite having a free ride."

"Huh." I let out. That's interesting. I didn't have the heart to tell Garcia Emily and I already knew about all of this.

"Instead, he got involved in a bunch of get rich quick schemes bordering on fraud. Apparently Tara, while bailing him out of bankruptcy, said, look, Gabriel, this cannot happen again. And then he turned his back on her. Scandal? Enter, or rather, re-enter, the father. He's distraught that his children are feuding. He wants them to patch things up so they can be a family again, and today, Gabriel is flying in. Him and Tara agreed to meet at a coffee shop. They're going to swallow their pride and maybe, just maybe, they will put the past behind them. Sweet, right?" Garcia kept going.

"Yeah-" Emily started but was cut off.

"No, it's terrible because what if he asks for money? What if she can't say no? What if she gets caught up in his whirlwind of manipulation?"

"Did she put it that way?" Emily asked.

"No, I did. But I can't help but be super vigilant when it comes to people I love. I'll go through all the worst case scenarios. I'm vigilant like that." Garcia went on.

Spencer and JJ then walked in. "What's going on?" JJ asked and looked at the screen.

"It's Gabriel." Spencer replied.

"Oh." JJ let out.

"How do- how did you guys know-" Garcia asked, taken back.

"Uh, she told us about him when she first joined the team." JJ replied. I was holding in a chuckle.

"He flew in this morning, probably looking for money." Spencer muttered.

Luke and Rossi then walked in. "Hey. Is there a case?" Luke asked before looking at the screen. "What's Tara's brother's picture doing up?" He then asked.

"Well, he's in town." JJ replied.

"He must want money." Rossi added.

Garcia slammed the remote down. "Come on. The new guy? He know? How come I was the last one to know?"