Eighteen: You Can Run, But You Can't Hide.

11x21 | Devil's Backbone.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

      "Two years ago, 12-year old, Adam Morrissey vanished on his way from school from Franklin, Virginia." Garcia presented the case to the team at the BAU room. "At the time, he was living with his mother, who had just gone through a bitter divorce."

"I remember this," Rossi spoke up. "His mother and local authorities believed he was abducted by his father and taken to Mexico."
Garcia nods, "Yes. And then three months after that, 13-year-old Jimmy Bennett went missing from Richmond, Virginia, 75 miles away. He was in foster care because both of his parents were drսg addicts. He had run away once before, so police assumed that it happened again."

       "The cases were thought to be unrelated until last night." Hotch told.
       "That is when prison guards at Fletcham Correctional Center intercepted an incoming package containing the clothes both boys were last seen in." Garcia shows the photos of the articles of the clothing on the screen.

       "DNA samples from skin cells found on the clothing were confirmed to match the missing boys, so we know the items are authentic." Hotch told. "And there's dried blood on the clothes. That's not a good sign." Tara comments.

"Who was the package being sent to?" Reid asked, to which Hotch answers with, "Antonia Slade." Julia looks up at the mention of her name and she looks at the photo of the lady. She'd never seen her before, but she had heard of her.

         Rossi comments in, "You don't say."
        "She was a serial killer captured 15 years ago, right?" Tara asked.
       "The Runaway Killer," Rossi nods. "She was a clinical social worker and she started this Runaway hotline in order to lure her preferred victims, young teens, to her home."

        "Gideon was on that case," he then points to Julia. "And so were your mother and father." Julia looks up, nudging her head towards the screen, "So, that explains why she sounds familiar."

Reid looks down at the file in front of him. "It says here that she lived with her long-time lover Phil Garmin, who shot himself when police arrived. They found 9 bodies-- 5 girls, 4 boys-- wrapped in plastic, encased behind the drywall of her basement. All the victims had been shot in the back of the head." He explained and Julia shook her head, "That's terrible."

"It drove Gideon crazy that she never talked about the murders after her arrest. She never explained why she did it." Rossi told. "And she never has." Hotch added.

"Any information on the package itself?" Julia asked. "The package was postmarked in Roanoke. The return address was the prison. When police went to question the post office, no one could recall who sent it." Garcia stated.

"Okay, I'm going to ask the obvious question here," JJ starts. "But do we really think these boys are still alive? Based on the clothes, I'd say it doesn't bode well."

"Well, there is the timing of the package. I mean, why send it now, two years after the kidnappings, if the boys have long been dead?" Reid questions. "Someone could be trying to replicate one of Antonia's crimes." Julia suggests.

"The boys were too young when they were taken, but they'd be the right age now. What if Antonia's orchestrating this entire thing from behind bars?" Tara questions. "Pretty risky for someone who's been arrested for years. If she is, responsible for the crime, that is, what made her act now?" Julia wonders aloud.

"We need to talk to her." Hotch tells and so he and JJ first decide to go and talk with her first.

       They'd discovered she was in solitary confinement and they were also told she had certain requirements for wanting to speak with her. The requirements beings only one agent at a time. Hotch had tried speaking with her first but got nowhere with her. She instead wrote a taunt to him on her notebook and tore the paper out to crumble it up and toss it over his way.

        He'd brought it back to the BAU when he realized what it was. "'All work and no play makes Agent Hotchner a dull boy.'" Reid read aloud. "She's got some balls, I'll give her that." Julia said, noting to the fact that she found her boss scary and would never ever write something like that about him.

        "She's always refused visitors until now. So why play a mind game?" Reid wondered. "To be honest, did she really have a choice with us showing up? Maybe her silence was a form of protest." JJ suggests.
 
        "It could be a gender bias. And Hotch represents the establishment. Plus, I'm sure she hasn't forgotten that the BAU put her away." Reid explained. "And with that, she doesn't really have a reason to help us." Julia nodded.

       "It could simply be about power and control." Hotch said.
       "Now, that's true," Tara nods. "I mean, she chose victims she could easily dominate, and even after she was arrested, she withheld information to maintain control."
       "So she needs to feel important." JJ concludes.

       Hotch looks down at the paper and looks as if he's thinking to himself. Tara decides to speak up on it when she notices it. "What are you thinking, Hotch?" She asks.

"She was writing in a notebook when I walked in. And after I introduced myself, she turned the page and wrote this." Hotch explains.

Julia then nudges her head at Hotch. "Could I see that?" Hotch hands the evidence to Julia as she reaches for her cell phone and turns the flashlight on and places her phone on the desk and squints as she tries to retain what she's exactly trying to do here. "Yeah, there's an imprint of what she was writing before on that note. I see little indentations here but I can't make out what it says." Julia told as she looks down at the table.

"Could you figure it out?" Hotch wonders and Julia shrugs, "Yeah, but I'd need the lab to help. I can't work with just a phone flashlight." Hotch then nods at her, "Get that to the lab."

Julia grabs the evidence and heads down to the lab unit to analyze it. At least her evidence specialty is being put to good use here.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

It'd taken a little over a few hours for the lab to decipher what exactly Antonia had written on that piece of paper. During that time, Hotch had decided to send JJ to talk with Antonia, but that turned out to be a bust, trying to get into JJ's head about her needing to take charge and asking her if she'd gotten the same amount of respect as Hotch did as team leader.

Julia had decided she wanted to speak with her, hoping that maybe she'd get some answers regarding the piece of paper she was analyzing. And she'd hoped that she'd get somewhere with her. But she didn't exactly know what she was about to walk into.

          Antonia was sitting in her cell, facing away from the bed, jotting something in her notebook. It hadn't seemed like she noticed Julia in the room yet. "Antonia? I'm Agent Cortez, I'm with the BAU." Antonia's head peeks up as if she recognizes the last name anywhere. It was the name of the woman who put her away.

        "Cortez?" Antonia turns her head. "Any relation to Eve Cortez?" Julia looks down at the mention of her mother and nods anyways. "She's my mother, yes."

        Antonia turns her head, looking at the woman finally. "Well, I'll be damned." She scoffs and Julia tenses, knowing she may use that to get into her head, like how she seemed to get into JJ's head. "What can I do you for, Agent Cortez?"

Julia nudges her head towards the notebook. "What are you writing there?" She asks. Antonia closes the book, "I believe that's for my eyes and my eyes only."

"I find that hard to believe," Julia crosses her arms. "You're in a prison cell. Nothing you do is quiet." Antonia looks at the woman, curious. "You writing to somebody?"

Antonia walks towards the bars. "This about that little piece of paper I gave to the head honcho in charge?" She questions and Julia shrugs, "You tell me."

Antonia turns back to her bed as she shakes her head. "You are just like her, you know," She tells and Julia raises a brow. "Your mother. Had a way with words, trying to get me to slip about something. You get that from her?"

Julia swallows and she shrugs, "I get compared to her a lot, actually." And it wasn't a lie. Julia often got told that she resembled her mother and Eve often dismissed it, it was the one thing that stuck with her for life.

Antonia looks at the woman, sitting on her cot as she looks up at Julia. "I bet you do. Same job as her and everything. You ever wonder if you're gonna live up to the family name? Does the fear linger at the fact that maybe you won't be as good as her?"

"See, I was a therapist. A lot of people I talked to often compared themselves to their parents. That nagging mother or beer-drinking father and most of them turn out to be exactly like them. So, Agent Cortez, what I'm saying that you're halfway there with a job she worked in. And tell me, did you get this job because you worked, oh, so hard, for it? Or because the powers that be were just colleagues with your mother and she nudged in the right direction?"

Julia swallows once more, the lump getting bigger and bigger in her throat. She tries her best to hold it together and to not lash out on this Chucky's son lookalike.

"I actually heard about happened to your mother. And your father. Arrested, right? Gotta admit, never thought your mother had the balls to cover up a kidnapping. Kudos to her. But, Agent Cortez, does that stick with you? That maybe one day, you could suffer the same fate as her? Like I said, you're halfway there. If I were you, I'd start questioning my every decision on this team and wonder, 'is it me saying this or is it my mother?'"

"You have no idea who I am," Julia managed to speak out without it sounding like she was letting the woman's words take over. "I'm nothing like my mother. In fact, this wasn't my first career choice. See, I'm a forensic specialist, meaning I look over evidence and analyze investigations. The paper you gave us? There's indentations of a letter. A letter I'm trying to analyze now. So either tell me who you were writing to or I'm just wasting my time."

Antonia shakes her head, chuckling as she turns her back away from the bars. "Guess you're right," Antonia said as Julia turns towards the door. "That was your father that was speaking just now."

Julia closes her eyes and she prays for her chin to stop quivering as she hears the loud beep and exits the cell. The nerve of that woman! She knew what Hotch and JJ were talking about now. And before she heads back to the bullpen, she gets an alert on her phone and gets news about the imprint on the paper.

She'd quickly headed to the lab as she simultaneously messaged Rossi to tell them about what she had just received from the lab. JJ, Reid, Hotch and Rossi all followed in the lab shortly after Julia had gotten there and put the analyzation on a bigger screen for the team to look at on a projector.

      "'When I think that proof alone will never beat faulty logic, I bleed twice, once for myself and once for the others who suffer beside me. So I rely on the sound of rain to relieve the monotony of my days.'" Rossi reads out loud from the screen and turns back to the team. "I gotta say, it sounds pretty innocuous."

        "Well, one thing is certain. She's writing to someone. She wouldn't tell me who but when I'd asked — well, demanded — she chuckled, like I'd had no idea." Julia stated. "So, her letters are leaving the prison somehow." JJ added.

       "There's something strange about this," Reid comments. "The language feels stilted and too formal."
       "It could be a code." Hotch suggested.
       "I agree, although it's more likely a cipher with a symmetrical key." Reid said.

       "You think you could break it?" Hotch asked. "Not yet. I'm gonna talk to her." Reid decides and Julia scoffs as she tells him, "Good luck. She's a stone cold bitch."

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

         As Julia was in the kitchenette, she'd grab another cup of coffee. It was very much needed after dealing with Antonia Slade.

        Her words still lingered in the back of her mind. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that Julia often compared herself to both of her parents. And she'd been doing it a long since she took this job. She'd often remind herself that she was nothing like them but one of her biggest fears was that she would. She could run as far as she could from her past, but she could not hide.

        As she took another sip from her mug, Reid had approached the kitchen sink, frantically scrubbing at his hand with a sponge and soap, muttering to himself. "Reid?" Julia asked. "You okay?"

         Reid didn't look at her and he had that furrowed brow look going on. "She... she spit food in my hand." He told, still frantically scrubbing at the memory. "Oh, ew!" Julia scrunches up her face at that.

        After five minutes, Reid is still scrubbing and Julia had to physically pry him away from the sink. "Here," she reaches in her pocket and gives him a mini-hand sanitizer. Spencer looks down at the mini bar. "What's this?" He asks.

       "Hand sanitizer," Julia responds. "And I have plenty of these so just keep it. You need it more than I do." Spencer looks down and the scent on the label was black cherry. So, that's what made her smell so good. "Yeah, I bought like a whole box worth of these and I take them with me everywhere I go, I know you have that germ thing so... I invested."

        "Oh, uh, thanks." Reid tells, putting some of the hand sanitizer on. "Anything for the sexiest man alive." She teased with a small smile on her face.

         "Reid," Hotch's booming voice spoke, causing both Reid and Julia to whip their heads towards their boss. "What'd you find?"

         Julia follows beside Hotch and Reid as they all head to the BAU room and Reid discusses what happened. "She wrote 'CH' in my hand, but there's no one in the mail or visitor logs with those initials." He told. "We were talking about the letter at the time, so it could have something to do with the cipher."

        As they walked into the office, JJ and Rossi were coming from the other side with news. "Hey, so we checked with the Roanoke Post Office. We showed them photos of Antonia's Virginia based fans. Still nothing." JJ informed.

      "Let's think about the unsub," Rossi starts. "We know he's one of her followers. It's plausible he sent the clothes to impress her."

      "He kidnapped the boys just to get her attention?" Hotch wondered. "We talked about someone trying to replicate one of her crimes." JJ said. "She never held two boys captive for a long period, though." Reid retorted.

       "No, but Antonia picked up two boys at the same time. One of whom escaped." Julia points to the board. "Hector Ramon," Rossi nods. "He and another runaway he befriended, Sam Meckler, called a hotline one night when the temperature dropped below freezing."

         JJ looks at the file. "Yeah. It says Hector described her as a loving mother at first." She reads the auto-captioned call report.
       "When did he escape?" Reid questioned. "Three weeks after they arrived. His friend, Sam was too scared to leave with him and ended up being Antonia's last victim." JJ stated.

       "We need to talk to Antonia again, but I think we've been approaching this wrong. It's time we use her rules against her." Rossi told.

        Julia turns as she hears footsteps behind her and sees Garcia walking into the office. "I just talked to the prison. They're looking at inmates and personnel who've had regular contact with Antonia Slade." She informs. "Anyone catch their eye?" Julia asks.

       "One guard in particular," Garcia nods. "Orel Wilbur, has had more contact than anyone. He's picked up extra shifts in units where Antonia has been held, and this week he volunteered to fill in for a sick guard in solitary."

       "That can't be a coincidence." Reid comments and Julia agrees, "No, it cannot." With that, the two decide to go and be the ones to question Wilbur when Hotch had decided to bring him in.

       Soon enough, the man was sitting in front of the two. Julia leaned against the window with arms crossed as Reid paced in the room. "Antonia Slade sent mail out of prison that was never logged. Someone had to help her do that." Reid started.

       "We have video footage of you outside of her cell yesterday, and it looks to me like you purposely blocked her view of the camera. Was that so she could slip you a letter?" Reid questions as he stands in front of him now.

       "It's not what you think," Wilbur responds. "The letters were all harmless. I read them. I wouldn't send them if I thought they were dangerous."

       "Then, who were the letters for?" Julia asks, going to stand next to Reid as she questioned him. "Different men," the man answered. "Her fans, I guess."

       "Why did you help her, then?" Julia asked. "Do you like her, romantically?" Reid added.
       "No," the man said. "I'm not one of those sickos who idolize her."

       "Well, then why do it? What do you get out of the deal?" Reid questions.
        "It's complicated." The man hesitates.
        "I think I can keep up." Reid retorts.

        Okay, that should not have been as hot as that was. Focus, Julia, focus!

       "Antonia has a lot of influence in the prison." The man tells. "Other inmates respect her. They're also scared of her." Reid mutters to himself.

       "Do you know what I think?" Julia speaks. "I think there is another inmate that you do like, and Antonia protects them as long as you send her mail." She tilts her head forward at the man. "Am I hot or cold?"

       Reid leans forward intimidatingly as he follows, "Yesterday you sent a letter. Who was it for?"

      "John Smith." The man answers and both Julia and Reid exchange a look at that. Well, that narrows it down.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

          After telling the team what they'd discovered, Tara and Rossi had decided to go and speak with Antonia together. Antonia seemed to have a liking with Tara and wanted to speak with her longer, especially since she'd interviewed serial killers. She intrigued her.

       "It's important for Antonia to feel dominant. She establishes this by setting precise rules." Rossi told. "It means she wouldn't engage in a long-term relationship with the unsub if he wasn't submissive or detail oriented enough to follow these rules." JJ added.

      "Her former partner, Phil Garmin filled that model perfectly. He was an accountant, who according to acquaintances, was robotic. After he met Antonia, he had no other social contacts." Reid told.

      "So the unsub we're looking for is very similar to Phil, a loner who is emotionally dependent on Antonia and waits for her direction. She says 'jump', he asks 'how high?'." Julia stated.

      "Okay," Garcia's voice peeks up as she walks into the room. "I have managed to narrow down the John Smiths in Virginia from 2,780 people down to 1,900 by eliminating anyone over the age of seventy and anyone under the age of eighteen. But I still need more parameters."

      "John Smith has to be a pseudonym," JJ said. "The guard said that Antonia wrote to different men, but what if it was the same man using different aliases?"

      Julia raises a brow at the suggestion. "That's possible, but it doesn't hurt to keep looking. Garcia, try single men who live alone and have a profession that requires attention to detail." Rossi said.

      "Such as Healthcare, science, math. Anything of that nature." Julia nods at the woman and Garcia nods back, "Forging ahead with surgical precision."

      It'd taken a few but Julia had finally broken the cipher, with Reid's help, obviously. So, they'd sent for Rossi, Hotch and JJ to inform them of what they'd uncovered.

     "I thought that Antonia had written the initials 'CH' in my hand. What he actually wrote was 'C' plus plus, which is a programming language that uses hexadecimal code, or Base 16, now, that means that the unsub is most likely a programmer or at least someone who works with computers. Anyway, using an ASCII chart, you can translate between hexadecimal code and character equivalents, but the interesting thing is the entire letter isn't the message. The actual message is hidden in a single sentence that's indicated by the number underlined in the date." Reid explains, pointing a laser pointer towards the date.

        Okay, it's hard to pay attention when someone like Reid is teaching you hexadecimals or charts or whatever. I'd like him to teach me a few— Julia! Focus!

        "So the fourth sentence." JJ concurs and Reid nods, "Exactly. 'When I think that truth alone will never beat faulty logic, I bleed twice.' Now, if you count the letters in each word, you get a hexadecimal code which can then be translated into characters."

       "Kid, just tell us what it says." Rossi tells.
       With that, Reid cuts to the point. "'Atone full moon'."

       "Atone on the full moon?" JJ asks. "The full moon is tonight." Hotch speaks. "At exactly 10:36 pm, which means we have less than 5 hours." Reid informs.

      "The unsub's gonna kill those kids." Rossi told. "We have no idea where he is." JJ tells. "Yeah, but Antonia does." Julia added.

      "We have to give her what she wants." Hotch says. "I'll let Tara know." Julia nods as she pulls her cell phone out, hoping she'll have access to it by the time Hotch does what he needs to do in order for Antonia to be released into their custody for the time being.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

           She'd wanted a transfer to Kentucky. They were on their way there now, by jet, with Antonia. Reid, Julia, Rossi and Tara had been with her, deciding to watch over her and hoping they'd get answers.

Tara had sat with her as Rossi, Julia and Reid were in the kitchen area, hearing the conversation between Tara and Antonia go down. "So is this the private jet for all inmates or just me?" She'd asked Tara. "Well, you're not special, if that's what you're asking." Tara responded.

"I don't want you to think that I'm ungrateful for this prison transfer, so I'm gonna share something with you," Antonia said. "The man you're looking for is trying to duplicate the circumstances of the two boys I crossed paths with."

Tara nodded, "Yeah, we figured that out already. You told us you'd give us his location if we transferred you."
"I don't know exactly where he is at the moment." She'd answered.

Rossi turns to Reid, "Other than mentioning the Bluegrass Hills, did she talk about any other connection to Kentucky?" He asks. "She told JJ she grew up on a farm." Reid said.

"She said she wants to go home, but somehow, she doesn't strike me as the sentimental type." Rossi comments. "So, then why the transfer?" Julia asked.

"What if that's where the unsub is?" Reid figures out and Julia is quick to read his mind, "She wants to witness the murders." She turns to the woman and looks at Tara, who gives her a look telling her she had it covered.

Antonia continues with her badgering with Tara. "You single, Dr. Lewis?" She asked. "Why do you want to know?" Tara questioned back.

"Just wondering if there was anybody you shared everything with. I think you're like me. Nobody really knows us." Antonia said.

They both say something in German and Reid catches onto it, Julia does, too, but she doesn't know German at all. If only I'd paid attention in high school, goddamn it.

"He's bringing the children to Kentucky, right outside Lexington." Antonia informed and Julia locked eyes with Tara and Julia nodded, quickly sending a text to JJ about what she'd found out.

Reid, Julia and Rossi walk towards the seats where Antonia and Tara are as Rossi gets off the phone with Hotch. Reid sat down on the couch as Julia leaned towards Antonia's seat. "Where's Claude Barlow going?" She questioned.

"Oh, good, you know his real name. I wasn't quite sure what he goes by these days. It's always changing." Antonia said.

"It's 9:41. We don't have time for games." Reid told.

Yes, sir— JULIA!

"There's no address where Claude is, but I can take you there. However, I do have one more request." Antonia said, making Rossi and Julia exchange a look as well as Reid and Tara.

And Antonia's request was that she didn't want the chains on if she was helping. And that was something they were going to need to run by Hotch. So, Rossi called him for confirmation.

"Undo my chains, Agent Rossi," Antonia said, holding her arms up. "Look at me. I can't run away."

"Why is it so important to you?" Reid questions. "A little taste of freedom. Probably the last one I'll ever have." Antonia decides. "And if we don't?" Julia asks.

"Well, you can take me straight to the new prison. I'll leave the heroics to you." Antonia tells and they wait for an answer from Hotch. And they get an answer once Rossi speaks up, "Understood."

Reid takes out the key of the handcuffs from his pocket and Tara nods at him, pulling her gun out and pointing it towards Antonia. Reid unlocks her chains as Tara spews out, "Don't get comfortable. My Glock's gonna be on you the entire time."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Antonia smirks.

When the jet finally lands, the agents put their vests on and lead Antonia out of the jet as they head towards the SUV car. "Well, you got your wish. Where to?" Rossi started.

"Take Highway 60 and head east." Antonia tells and they walk towards the vehicle.

"This is so exciting, I feel like one of the team right now." Julia opens the car door for the woman. "You shouldn't." Tara retorts back.

Antonia turns back to Reid, "Maybe I can replace Agent Morgan."
"Just get in the damn car." Julia tells as Antonia climbs in the middle seat as she gets in the spot next to her and slams the car door. Tara is on the opposite side of her as Reid is positioned in the passenger's seat and Rossi's in the drivers' seat.

        They begin to drive until Hotch calls Reid. "What do you have, Hotch?" He asks. Reid then announces, "There's a possible address for Claude Barlow. 8879 Rincon Street."

      "The New Days Clinic? He's not there." Antonia told. Julia looks ahead at Reid as he looks over at Rossi. "Pull over. We need to turn around."

        Rossi pulls the car over. "You better keep going. I'm telling you, he's not at the clinic. We used to take walks during our sessions. I'm taking you to his favorite place." Antonia told.

       "Guys, it's 9:55." Tara reminds, meaning they don't have a lot of time to negotiate.

       "If you go to the clinic, you're gonna miss saving those kids." Antonia said. "Maybe that's been your intention all along." Rossi said.

       Antonia ignored him, pointing ahead at the road. "Just ahead there's a dirt road on the right. You better take that road." There's a pause and everyone is conflicted on what to do.

       "How do we know you're not playing us?" Julia decides to voice and Antonia simply looks ahead, "If you all thought I was coming here to witness the murders, why would I be going to so much trouble to miss it?"

       Okay, she had a point there. Julia hears as Reid decides, "We're gonna keep going, Hotch."

       They arrive at the destination and Reid and Rossi decide to investigate as Julia and Tara stay behind with Antonia. Julia hopped out of the vehicle when she saw Reid come back and Reid turns his attention at Antonia. "Show us where you would take Claude."

      "Let's go." Tara says as she opens her car door and Antonia climbs out through the one Reid opened. "There's a trail -- Devil's Backbone." She informs.

       Julia is behind a few officers and Reid and Antonia is behind her with Tara behind Antonia. She leads them through the trail until finally they hear Claude's voice and what sounds like a child struggling.

       Reid and Julia are quick as they hold their guns up to the man, who's holding Adam hostage. "Claude Barlow, FBI, drop the weapon!" Reid shouts.

     "Where's Antonia?" Claude questions and Julia holds her gun up towards the man, "Let the boy go and we'll talk." She tells.

      "Did you bring her?" Claude questions. "She led us to you in order to stop you. Put the gun down." Reid orders and Claude freaks, "Shut up! Where is she?! Antonia!"

       "We don't want to hurt you, Claude. Don't give us a reason to!" Julia warns as Reid adds, "Let Adam go."

        Claude stares down Reid as he tells, "He's dead unless I see her." Reid and Julia exchange a glance and Reid turns back to Tara and nods, bringing Antonia out from where they were.

       "Hey, Claude." Antonia greets to the man, who looks at the woman in surprise. "You came." Antonia walks over to him and nods, "I want you to listen real carefully. I got something to tell you. But first..." She ushers Adam out of Claude's grasp and he runs towards one of the officers.

        "It was all for you. I did everything you said." Claude tells. "I know." Antonia nods and she gets closer to him and whispers something in his ear and he has a distraught look on his face and Antonia walks back towards Tara and Julia.

         And Julia almost misses it as she sees Claude puts the gun he was using to hold Adam hostage with to his own head and Julia and Tara try to go and stop him but unfortunately aren't successful as Claude pulls the trigger on himself. He lands in the water behind him and Julia swallows, wondering what in the hell did Antonia whispered to him. It didn't matter and she wasn't gonna get that transfer to Kentucky anyhow.

        Although it wasn't an ending Julia wanted, she was happy that two boys were able to reunite with their families and watched at the bullpen as she saw Adam and Jimmy hug their parents with Tara, JJ and Reid.

      "Jimmy Bennett's father beat the odds and actually got off drugs. He's petitioning the court to regain full custody." Reid informs the three and Julia smiles, "That's good to hear."

      "There's still one thing I didn't understand," JJ said. "We know Antonia told Claude to send the clothes, which then got our attention, but why now?"

       "The boys were getting older. He couldn't hold them much longer." Reid said. "And don't forget boredom. I mean, she had a really exciting couple of days there. Not to brag, but we are more scintillating company than most inmates and guards." Tara said and Julia nods, "Copy that."

       "I overheard the arrangement you made with Antonia in German," Reid said, nudging his head towards Tara. "You promised to tell her the truth after the case was over if she helped us out. You gonna follow through?"

       "Hell, no," Tara said, putting a small smirk on Julia's face. "Look, of all the serial killer types, the ones I find most dangerous are the hyper-intelligent ones that get off more on the mind games than the killing. They're like vampires ready to suck your soul dry and file your information away for a rainy day." Tara explained.

        JJ shrugged, "That's Antonia."
      "Well, we got what we wanted from her. I say we move on." Tara decides and Julia nods as she adds, "And good riddance. I swear to God, that woman's gonna haunt my dreams."

guys one more episode and we're done with season 11 AHHHHHH
idk how to feel about this ACK- 😱
i've spent like two months writing s11 😭 it feels surreal that i'm going to be ending it soon

anywayssss
thank you for reading
this could've been a whole lot better but ugh oh well
i'm so excited for my plans hehehehe 😈
i hope you enjoyed this
i love you all!
-mya <33