Sabrina Woods

Although everything around me was spinning, I unlocked the car door and put my small girl into her car seat. My baby twirled a strand of  red hair around her tiny finger as she innocently smiled up at me. I tried to smile back at her as best as I could, but my  heart was pounding so hard against my chest, I was trying to catch my breath before I passed out.

Once I finished buckling Hallie into her seat, I quickly closed the door and got into the drivers seat.  My fingers curled around the top of the steering wheel and leaned my forehead against my arms, trying to catch my breath.

in, out. in, out. it's okay, you're okay.

I felt a fresh wave of tears fall down my cheeks and sat up, angrily wiping them away. I never liked to cry, let alone in front of anyone, and I couldn't seem to rid the pink that touched my cheeks from embarrassment as I thought back to everyone in the BAU office staring at me. I reached into my purse and grabbed my inhaler and took two puffs. My breathing began to regulate and I hoped I had stifled my oncoming panic attack.

they have to believe you. they will.

"Hopefully before I'm dead," I muttered quietly to myself. With a heavy sigh, I turned the key into the ignition and  peered up into the rearview mirror. My eyes landed on Hallie's bright blue ones in the reflection of the car seat mirror, making me smile. I nodded once and put the car in drive, checking my surroundings.

"We're gonna be okay, Hallie," I whispered to her. "We will."

* ੈ✩‧₊˚

Once I pulled into the driveway of my home, I leaned back in my seat, my hands rubbing at both eyes until I was seeing stars. I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in almost thirty-four hours, and felt I might not ever.

After receiving the letters, I couldn't keep my eyes closed. I tried to tell the police over and over again years ago about the letters, and they still didn't believe me. Not even sixteen years later, when they've started up again.

"You're not listening," I groaned, following detective Lahey down the police stations hallway, my head down as I shuffled through the old letters. "Something isn't right about these." 

It felt like I had been walking and talking for miles, trying to show him the dates and signatures on the letters.

The detective abruptly stopped, making me bump right into his chest.

A harsh sigh escaped his lips as he grabbed the letters out of my hands. "Sabrina, Ray Barlow is in jail. He must've been writing to your sister before the murder-why is that so hard to believe?" He asked, still holding the papers.

"I-"

"It's not. It's not hard to believe that Barlow might have been stalking Sam, and followed her home for spring break that week to your parents house. It just doesn't make any sense for you to worry about this kind of thing. You're eighteen, you just graduated high school, why don't you focus on doing what your parents would've wanted, hm? " his eyes never left mine as he folded the letters in half and set them  on the front desk counter. "Why don't you stop trying to play Nancy Drew and let your family rest in peace." He gave me a brief nod and turned back around towards the center of the station.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I snatched the letters from the desk. I quickly walked out of the station and tried to think about what to do next.

Maybe Lahey was right- what if Barlow had been stalking Sam and she just didn't say anything to us? To me?  Why did Sam keep the letters in her dorm room months after receiving them?  Why did I have to be the one to find them while packing up her stuff?

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to make sense of them. Lahey had to be right. The letters stopped as soon as Sam died... what other explanation could there be?

I shook my head, angry that even fifteen years later no one believed me. I got out of my car and pulled Hallie out of her car seat. She giggled and wiggled her arms around as I held her, my frown instantly uplifted as I playfully nuzzled my face in her neck.

I brought all of our stuff inside the house, placing Hallie near her toy chest in the living room.

"Hey, how did it go?" Michelle asked as she emerged from the bathroom. She shook her wet hair out into a towel and quickly kissed Hallie on the head as she walked past her to the couch.

I rolled my eyes and slumped into the seat next to her. "Just like last time," I sighed, my hands making their way back to my eyes and rubbing circles into my sockets. "No one is ever going to take this seriously. Not until I turn up dead."

Michelle smacked my arm. "Don't say shit like that," she gaped, adjusting herself on the couch so her legs rested in my lap. "You aren't going to turn up dead. Nothing is going to happen to you. I bet you it's just a harmless prank by someone who you pissed off in high school. It's nothing to worry about."

I lolled my head to the side to look at her, biting the inside of my cheek. I didn't want to argue with her, I didn't want to insist on the gut feeling I had that they made a mistake. I didn't want to tell her that I kept reliving the day I packed up Sam's dorm room and found the hidden letters, threatening her. I didn't want to think about the pain Sam must've gone through for all that time, leading up to her death. I didn't want to keep thinking about the possibility of still having a family, if Sam didn't come home that week. I didn't want to wonder what would have happened if I wouldn't have snuck out that night.

I decided not to say anything. Instead, I looked back over towards Hallie and watched her fiddle with the small toys that littered around her.

"What time do you have to go in to work?" Michelle asked softly.

I looked down at my phone, seeing it was nearing 9AM.

"Soon." I replied with a sigh.

"Well, you better go get ready then." she laughed, shoving my shoulder forward.

I nodded and moved her legs off of my lap, taking one last glance at my daughter before heading to my bedroom to change.

Spencer Reid

"Garcia was able to pull up the old records of the murders of Ray Barlow, and it's actually quite interesting- none of his victims received letters, except one," I explained to Morgan. "They never found the letters to Sam Woods until almost a year later when her sister, Sabrina, brought them to the police station after packing up Sam's belongings."

Morgan nodded his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "What was the police's response to the letters?" he asked.

"Relatively nothing- In fact, the only reason why it was logged was because Sabrina asked to talk to Barlow about the letters; when the detective on the case said no,  Sabrina caused a scene in the building on purpose so they would record the encounter." I answered, my eyes looking back over the case file I had printed out.

Morgan leaned over to see the pages. "Are there copies of the letters in the file?" he asked.

"No, they didn't keep the pages because they said they already had the guy who did it, and didn't need them." I replied. My mind was running over possibilities of copies and irate at the fact the police were doing such a terrible job.

"Looks like we're gonna need to see those letters." Morgan raised an eyebrow at me while he pulled his phone out, dialing his favorite technical analyst as we walked towards the exit.

* ੈ✩‧₊˚

Morgan and I walked up to the large building that matched the address Garcia had given us to find Sabrina. With my sunglasses on, I peered up at the tall building and counted the eight floors.

Once inside, we walked to the front desk and showed her our badges.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid and this is SSA Derek Morgan," I said to the receptionist. I took note in her immediate poster change upon seeing Morgan, and I noticed his small smirk. "We're looking for Sabrina Woods... is she here?"

She nodded quickly as she typed something on her computer. "She's in with someone right now but I'll page her to let her know you're here," she said. I nodded thankfully and took a seat in the lobby area, thinking back to the scene Sabrina had made only hours ago in our lobby.

It was only a few minutes later that a door opened down the hall, and a young child emerged, followed by Sabrina. She bent down to meet the boy at eye level and inaudibly spoke to him with a smile. He nodded his head and laughed a little, running towards our direction and into the arms of his mother.

Sabrina walked towards us, her appearance much different than this morning. Her long auburn hair now styled half up/half down, a black blazer paired over a white blouse and matching slacks. Her under eyes no longer looked swollen and sunken, now covered in concealer, along with light black eyeliner outlining her eyelids, accentuating her bright green eyes.

"I'm Sabrina Woods. How can I help you?" She smiled, her eyes meeting mine for the second time that day. Recognition registered in her expression and the smile slowly left her face.

I cleared my throat as I extended my hand to her. "Um, hi. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid and this is SSA Derek Morgan, with the FBI. We sort of met earlier," I watched confusion cross her face as she cautiously took my hand and shook it. "I wanted to ask you a few questions... is there somewhere we can talk privately?"

She nodded slowly, her eyebrows still pulled together in confusion as she led us back to her office. She took a seat at her desk and gestured for us to sit. I took a quick look at the door before closing it behind me, seeing the engravement on the heavy wood:

SABRINA WOODS, LCSW

I took a seat in front of her desk, Morgan pulling the opposite chair close as well.

"Sabrina, I wondered if you'd allow me to read the letters you found in your sisters things fifteen years ago?" I asked her. I wasn't the best with small talk, without including facts and numbers and right now didn't seem best to try.

Her eyebrows furrowed once again, her arms crossing over her chest. "Why? Agent Rossi didn't seem to care, why would you?"

I cleared my throat and scratched the back of my neck as I tried to delicately explain my reason without dredging up any false hope for her.

"I'd like to read them, just to see if there's any pattern between the ones she received and the ones you did. Maybe a fresh pair of eyes is all the letters need," I said, my eyes trained on her to gage how she was taking my words. "I know you tried to get them logged into the system all those years ago, but unfortunately the police department neglected to do so."

She scoffed and yanked open a drawer in her desk, pulling out a stack of letters. "Typical," she muttered, her eyes trained on the brown desk as she handed them to me.

I quickly scanned over the first one, happy to have finally gotten a peek at the letters.

october 31
you've stolen from me. halloween isn't the only day you should be frightened.

november 25
the day for giving thanks has left me empty because of you. i'll never be full.

december 25
there are no gifts to give because of what you've stolen from me.

I read over them carefully as I thought back to the other victims and their case files.

"Do you mind if I take these back with me? I-"

"Go ahead," she interrupted. "I've been trying for years to get people to believe me."

"Do you have the other letters that you've recently received?" Morgan asked as he took a look at the other letters.

She opened another drawer that held the same purse she had at the office, and pulled out the other letters. She handed them to me and gave me a small smile.

"I know you're not trying to get my hopes up, but thank you. I feel like I've been playing Nancy Drew all by myself here." she sighed.

I nodded again, this time my eyes never leaving hers.

"I'm not sure if there's anything to this case that might have been missed all those years ago, but I can promise you, we will do all that we can to make sure you are safe and your family has been given the rightful justice they deserve."

She smiled again, this time it seemed genuine.
"That's all I've ever asked for."

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
AUTHORS                                    NOTE.

hey guys!!! thank you SO much for all of the love on the last chapter, I really appreciate it! it definitely encourages me to keep going. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

PS- we're going to pretend this is present day criminal minds which is why the letter is dated in 2010. <3

▀▀▀▀▀
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀