The Plot - CONTAINS SPOILERS
Righto, as I am creating this website I'm already on chapter 230-something and it keeps getting bigger. Add to the fact that I am prone to disappearing for months on end, I know that keeping up with the plot can be a challenge. So, every so often, I will try and keep you caught up here (and for this, I feel that the chapters may need to be re-read from my perspective. I will try to keep the details to the minium, but if you're only just starting to read this epic story, well, there will be spoilers - maybe for WTECS, and maybe for the show itself!)
So here goes, 600,000 words and counting, condensed into 7,000 or so...
We first meet Taylor in the middle of March 2006 aged 27. She’s a columnist for a small, but growing, newspaper, the New York Daily, where she writes a weekly piece on crime. She’s busy working on said column when her first ghost appears, Rebecca Landry from Carol Anne Lewis Prep school. The ghost wants help catching her murderer, although she is limited in what she can say or do – providing Taylor with clues she must try to decipher. She goes to the Crime Lab and meets the sceptical detectives, and although she helps solve the murder, they remain unwilling to accept that this help may have come from beyond the grave.
The most vocal opponent is Detective Don Flack – he clearly thinks she’s crazy – and the two of them butt heads. After a few weeks, she has become something of a common sight in the lab, and whilst she has managed to find an ally in Stella, the others are still reluctant to believe.
By the summer time, she has lost weight due to her dwindling appetite – the ghostly forms of the dead bodies in their murdered state are putting her off her food. She worked with Horatio Caine when he assisted Mac in capturing Henry Darius (chapter 8). However, after the case was finally closed, she discovered a secret about one of the team. Marty Pino, the assistant ME can see ghosts too, and thus, a friendship is formed. Unlike with Taylor, they help him to figure out COD in the more difficult cases. After Marty’s landlord doubled his rend, the two decide to share an apartment and he soon moves into Taylor’s.
Taylor, or Drew as Danny dubs her, next ghost is one that reminds her a little too much of herself. The ghost, Chloe, is a student at Chelsea University, and like Taylor is also a journalist, and it’s her hunt for a story that ends up getting her killed. Although a story has yet to put Taylor’s life in jeopardy, when she was in High School, back in San Diego, she was suspended from school for breaking into the principal’s office. She was, however, reinstated when she proved the principal had been stealing from the pool fund account.
Midway through the case she gets a call that her best friend, Maddy, is in the hospital, discovering that Maddy’s boyfriend put her there (chapter 16). Maddy, although of Cuban descent, moved to San Diego from New York when she was a child and the two had become firm friends. In an attempt to distract herself – Taylor is furious Maddy doesn’t want to press charges – she heads to one of the bars Chloe had been staking. When she heads outside to follow one of the football players, she discovers that she too has been followed – by Flack. Thankfully, the detective has his uses, and she kisses him to keep their cover. She’s also adamant that it’s a onetime thing. Taylor manages to give the ghost enough peace for her to move on – but it’s not because they find her killer. For the first time, the ghost has another wish – to see her story brought to a close and the drug dealers she had been following be arrested.
The next ghost also poses something of a problem (chapter 19), or rather, Taylor causes something of a problem when she traps Danny and herself in a panic room. The good news, however, is that by the time the murderer is caught, not only has Taylor managed to learn something about forensics and procedures by helping Danny, but Danny is also aware that there was something else in the room with them – a ghost. After they wrap things up, Danny helps Taylor explain to her editor that the reason her work never made it in on time, when she thanks him, Danny’s girlfriend, Cindy, gets the wrong idea and dumps him.
At an award ceremony (chapter 27), Taylor encounters her most difficult case to date, for several reasons. The first is because it is the first child that has come to Taylor as a ghost, the second is how she was murdered. The third is because the ghost is not actually a ghost, rather a split personality, and finally, the ghosts can hurt. Through the case, Taylor also meets Mama Severina – a witch doctor – who amongst her many abilities, can read Taylor’s aura, and offers her some form of protection.
A night off to get their minds off the horrors of the case, involving much alcohol, results in Taylor waking up in Flack’s bed, although he has been a gentleman and merely taken her back to his when they were both too drunk to remember where she lived. When the case closes, Taylor is suddenly aware of just how much evil lives in the world.
Suddenly, Taylor’s world is rocked when the ghost of her best friend appears in her kitchen (chapter 37). She knows straight away who it is – Maddy’s boyfriend. Only he can’t be found. After a phonecall tricks Flack away from Taylor, Pete breaks in and attempts to kill her. Taylor escapes out of the window and is finally rescued by Flack, but not before both are stabbed by Pete. The good news, aside from both Flack and Taylor being alright, is that The Powers That Be have bigger plans for Maddy. Their thanks to Taylor for the help she has done so far is for Maddy to stick around and help the spirits.
Taylor admits to Marty that she can see Maddy, when he bandages up her broken arm, after a particularly violent ghost attacks her. Unfortunately, the ghost that attacked her was one of the Brooklyn Bullets – one of the three major gangs in the city – and Danny isn’t happy that she is involved. After an argument with him, and a disagreement with Marty over Maddy, Taylor takes herself to a bar, where Flack (sent by Danny) finds her. He convinces her to come back to his rather than go to a hotel she’s insisting on doing because she thinks Marty won’t want to see her.
Her interest in the Bullets draws their attention to her, and whilst running she gets attacked. The team are mad at her because of her poor judgement – running through Central Park, alone, in the middle of the night is not a good idea. Although she is fine and the guy that did it caught, she learns something new from Maddy – that there aren’t just good ghosts, and the bad ones hurt.
Some time later, she is in the morgue, trying to find Marty, but instead finds Mac and Sid microwaving what turns out to be a strip of human skin to reveal a Tanglewood tattoo (chapter 53). It doesn’t take long for a body to turn up with evidence putting Danny at the scene. Mac asks her to distract Danny and keep him away while they prove his innocence, but while they are in a secluded coffee shop, Danny gets a call that his brother, Louie is in hospital. Lindsay soon discovers that the reason he is there is because he is the one that proved Danny had nothing to do with the murder – the price – he’s in a coma.
Danny is worried of the ramifications – Louie clearly knew something to get the information, implying that he had a hand in the murder – and the result of that might be jail time. Taylor admits that she has a brother who doesn’t speak to her, currently residing in prison. A Diver in the Navy, he returned home from active duty and ended up in a fight to protect his girlfriend, and ended up killing someone. He is currently coming up for seven years of his manslaughter charge.
Thankfully, Louie awakens from the coma, and Lindsay finally asks Danny out. Danny panics and ends up bringing Flack and Taylor along. Danny and Lindsay leave, leaving Flack to walk Taylor home. He admits that he’s surprised she’s so laid back in her relationship with Danny. It takes a second to work out what he’s on about, but Taylor informs him she and Danny have never been an item and never would. To prove it, she kisses him, although she instantly regrets it, later admitting to Marty that she actually likes Flack, but she can’t see how they could have a relationship when he thinks she’s crazy.
After a case where the suspect looks suspiciously like Flack, he picks up Taylor’s discomfort around him and tricks her into going on a date with him. The date is cut short when Danny rings – something is wrong with Louie – but not before Flack and Taylor admit they like each other. However, Taylor is adamant that nothing is going to happen between the two of them if he can’t accept that she sees ghosts.
Thankfully, the situation with Louie is only temporary and he’s back on the mend as Fleet Week rolls around (chapter 68). Unfortunately, while Taylor is enjoying time with her father, Captain Jack, a body of a marine is discovered. Luckily, she isn’t visited by his ghost, insisting on spending the little remaining time she has with him before he must return to the Middle East. And then a ghost of a police officer appears and Taylor knows she must help her, even though she’s barely seen her father in six years. The ghost is Aiden Burn, and she keeps appearing, her corporeal form repeatedly beaten and burnt. Thanks to Aiden’s help, Mac and Stella are able to lock him up. Taylor goes to visit him, only Aiden goes with her – and Pratt can see her – and knocks him out, much to the confusion of the supervising officer. After finding out that Aiden was protecting her life, Taylor gets a surprise when she discovers Aiden will be protecting her in death – she’s her Guardian Angel,
The Sunday after Aiden’s funeral, Taylor heads into work to get some writing done. Whilst there the fire alarms goes off. As she’s leaving, she is surprised to find Mac and Flack evacuating the building – there’s a bomb! Taylor realises that her colleague is still inside and won’t have heard the alarm because of his headphones. They go to get him, but they can’t get out in time and the bomb goes off (chapter 73). Taylor regains consciousness only to realise that she, Mac, Flack and Smith are trapped – and Flack has a gaping wound in his abdomen. They are finally freed and taken to hospital. Even though Taylor has a broken arm, she refuses to leave until she knows that Flack is alright. And then he appears in front of her with Maddy and Aiden
After a very heated discussion with The Powers That Be, Taylor wins her demands – that Flack’s soul be returned to his body. She refuses to leave his side, even when his parents arrive and ban her from his room. They believe it’s her fault he was in the building in the first place. Thanksgiving comes and goes, but it’s not until Christmas Day that he awakens. Flack Sr. has allowed his son to believe that Taylor hasn’t been to visit and he’s disappointed.
By New Year’s Eve, he is at his parents, resting in bed. After Stella sets him straight – that Taylor barely left the hospital, he heads to Taylor’s, ignoring the fact he shouldn’t be on his feet. He collapses at Taylor’s door and it’s lucky that Marty is home to patch him up. Finally he confesses to Taylor that he’s falling for her.
Through the winter months, they discover that Flack can see Maddy and Aiden, although he can’t hear what they’re saying, something that’s happened because he technically died.
Ghosts continue to appear, only now, things are a little more difficult as Mac has become very reluctant to have her at crime scenes.
By February, Danny has conscripted her to help shop for wedding rings for Lindsay. Valentine’s Day hits and it’s Taylor’s birthday. Instead of celebrating, however, she’s busy trying to help the ghost of Frankie – Stella’s boyfriend. The thing is, he’s telling her that Stella was the one that killed him. However, when Maddy and Aiden admit The Powers That Be have made a mistake, Frankie disappears, hiding in a body. The body of Mac. With a little help from Mama Severina, they exorcise Frankie’s spirit, sending him away. Unfortunately, in the process, Aiden’s once perfect white suit burns, the scorch marks becoming a permanent feature.
Captain Jack announces he has a birthday present for Taylor and tells her to expect something in the post. The ‘something’ is actually a letter from her brother’s attorneys containing a plane ticket to San Diego. She heads out there, with Flack, to visit him in prison (chapter 93). After telling him off for ignoring her for the past seven years, he tells her that their father has bought his car off him for Taylor because Chris needs the money. He’s just found out that his ex girlfriend (the one he ended up in prison because of) has announced he has a six year old daughter and he owes her child support.
Taylor takes the car and begins a very long journey driving it back home. Flack takes the first shift and while Taylor is sleeping, takes a little detour to Las Vegas. A few years back, he won an NYPD charity raffle – the prize being an all expenses paid, three night stay in Caesar’s Palace.
After a trip to the Hoover Dam and an evening picnic at the Grand Canyon. The next day, Flack and Taylor head up and down The Strip, exploring the many casinos. That evening, after eating at The Top of the World in the Stratosphere, as they are walking past the newest hotel and casino, Castenelli Heights, they witness an apparent suicide. The ghost of the body is this time, joined by Holly – a CSI who was killed in Vegas several years previously (chapter 97). She manages to help the Las Vegas CSIs, although it is initially only Greg who believes her although Nick and Grissom quickly accept the fact. She leads the Vegas team out in the desert, thanks to a ghost’s clue, to find a missing child. Things quickly go south when they are fired upon in the middle of nowhere, stuck in a sandstorm. Luckily the other members of the team work out where they are and rescue them.
The next stop on the journey home involves yet another detour – this time to Baton Rouge to visit Flack’s younger sister, Paige. They make it to their home where they meet her husband Damon, and their two year old twins Jesse and Elle. Paige informs Taylor that her parents don’t really speak to her because she ended up dating her Anthropology professor at Penn State, before having his children and then getting married. After a restful stay, they continue on.
It’s not until they hit Pennsylvania that they encounter car troubles. They pull over in a small town called Centralia – an infamous coal mining town with less than twenty inhabitants, standing on an underground fire that has been burning for several decades. After Flack insists they get the car checked out, they are told that repairs are needed and they decide to stay in the town’s only bed and breakfast for the night. As trouble has been following them all over the country, it’s no surprise they run into it here.
Whilst having a bite to eat in the only diner in town, they run into two ‘cops’ (chapter 105). Sam and Dean are rather insistent that Flack and Taylor don’t spend the night, however, as Taylor realises their badges say Missouri and the licence plate says Kansas, she doesn’t take much notice. It soon becomes apparent that they are something over than cops when they shoot a ghost as it’s talking to Taylor. Alarmed, she takes them back to the room where they tell Taylor and Flack that the reason the fire has been burning for so long is because of a fire demon. Taylor and Dean are captured by the townsfolk to be used as a sacrifice whilst Sam and Flack attempt to blow a damn in an effort to kill it. They make it out, destroying the town with the demon, and drop the few kids they managed to save, off with the authorities.
Taylor arrives back in New York only to find Louie working in the Morgue. Thanks to Mac, the outcome of his involvement with Tanglewood was a year’s probation (complete with a tracking device) and a supervised job in the morgue as an orderly. Marty has taken a job in St. Louis for a nine month placement and his replacement is a transfer who used to work with Hawkes called Peyton Driscoll, originally from England.
In the middle of dealing with a case involving a mermaid, Taylor is busy trying to cope with a new found celebrity status that came from the publicity shoot she had to take before heading to California. The case is quickly wrapped up, but not before Lindsay struggles with trying to understand why.
By April, there’s a new detective in town – Detective Angell. Meanwhile, Stella is still struggling with killing Frankie – wondering if she could do it again. Lindsay and Danny have broken up, and in an attempt to make them realise how much they like each other, Taylor sets Danny up with a SuicideGirl, Nixon, they met on a previous case. It’s good news for Taylor and Flack , as by June, they are making plans to move in with each other.
The next set of ghosts to head her way is members of the Døds Forbannelse, and some of them are not happy about her involvement (chapter 121). The Organised Crime Control Bureau (O.C.C.B.), headed by Keanu Ikaia. Eirik Teodor has been undercover with the Døds Forbannelse who informs them the drugs trafficking in the area has picked up. As the CSIs and the OCCB are making several arrests, there is a drive-by shooting and all hell breaks loose. Stella is hit and rushed to hospital, although she survives with a broken leg and a removed spleen, a member of the OCCB isn’t as lucky. Eirik is killed.
It doesn’t take long for Stella to be back on her feet, even if she is in crutches, and she’s insisting that she’s not being stuck on desk duty. And she’s certainly not being left out of a case with an alien. Sadly the case isn’t as exciting as it first seems, leading them to more drugs. When Maddy tries to warn Taylor that this case will have repercussions for Flack, Maddy is taken away to be replaced by Eirik. Mac discovers that one of Flack’s colleagues is dirty and comes to Flack, requesting his notebooks.
On top of this, Taylor gets a visitation request from Sassone. Against Louie’s advice, she goes to see him, her journalistic nature getting the better of her (chapter 133). It also seems that Flack is getting a very hard time of things thanks to Truby: His colleagues are leaving him unwanted presents in his locker.
It is about this time that Lindsay comes clean to Taylor as to why she ended things with Danny. She received a summons from Montana to testify in a case where she was the only sole witness (chapter 137). Her husband, sister and two friends were at college when somebody came in and shot them. Lindsay and her other sister, Katy survived the attack, although Katy suffered some complications and as a result, is still at them mental age of eighteen, unable to grow up. Lindsay doesn’t want Danny to know, so Taylor agrees to go back to Montana with her.
Whilst in Montana, Taylor is haunted by a ghost, she later finds out, is actually still in New York. Danny turns up, after some prompting from Nixon, and is surprised to see Lindsay has a twin, and is even more surprised to find out she was actually one of three. As he stays to support Lindsay (and eventually witness a guilty verdict), Taylor hurries back to help the ghosts. Lindsay says goodbye to her past, burying her wedding ring at her husband’s grave, and agrees to start again with Danny.
After a particularly tiring weekend, Taylor is in the lab when she is paged to reception. Waiting for her is a small child, accompanied by a pig (chapter 153). It’s actually her niece, Cordelia. Whilst she’s out shopping for supplies, Taylor gets mugged, breaking her wrist again in the process. As the doctor is putting the cast on, he mentions that he’s worried about Taylor being so underweight.
Marty dumps his girlfriend over a text and it’s Taylor who’s left to pick up the pieces – or at least listen to her rant. And she doesn’t even like Devon. And she especially doesn’t like Devon when she’s a ghost accusing Marty of murder. What’s more, Flack’s father, the NYPD narcotics legend, has pulled himself out of retirement to work for IAB – he’s in charge of Marty’s case. They barely managed to clear Marty of the murder, before Hawkes is being arrested and investigated for armed robbery and murder (chapter 159). They clear Hawkes too, although not without discovering that he was being set up by Shane Casey, who is finally safely locked up in prison.
Whilst Flack and Cordelia head upstate to a pig farm, Taylor heads to the office to talk to her editor , after discussing work, he offers his nephew’s house to rent from him. Taylor declines thinking it would be strange for the person to being paying her wages being the same person they go back to. She heads home, only to find her apartment on fire and Flack not answering his phone (chapter 164).
Taylor barely has time to be happy at the fact Flack is alright, before she is arrested by Flack Sr. In the process of investigating the fire, they have discovered cocaine recently hidden in the walls of her apartment. On top of this, she is questioned about the strange amounts of money going into her account. While on is completely legitimate – money from her brother to cover the costs of Taylor’s care – the other is coming from Sassone and Taylor knows nothing about it. And then there’s all the information Taylor has on the gangs on her computer. Finally, Mac frees her (but not before adding his two cents to Flack Sr.)
They move into Flack’s whilst looking for somewhere else to live, in the end, agreeing that they will take Alex up on his offer and live at his property – even if it is need of some work. Enjoying a game of scrabble, Flack proposes to Taylor. She accepts (chapter 171). Finally, the house is, while not completely finished in the decorating category, it is ready to be lived in.
Someone steals the GTO, but as she’s trying to deal with that, she bumps into an ex who wants to catch up with her. She arrives home to discover that he’s not the only person who wants to catch up – Sam and Dean Winchester have paid her a visit (chapter 175). It turns out that Sam had a vision – of her ex-boyfriend summoning a demon. The brothers managed to stop him, but not before he summoned the demon and possessed Dean. Together, Sam and Taylor managed to exorcise the demon from Dean. However, in the process, Flack witnesses a possessed Dean kiss Taylor and decides to move in with Danny.
Isabella Mendes, a diver with NYPD (and a spitting image of Maddy) is performing a routine dive to clear a car from the river. Taylor’s car has been found and she’s there to witness it come out from the water. However, when the trunk is opened, a body is found in it. The DNA results come back as Louie.
With everything that’s been happening in the lab, it has finally caught the attention of the FBI, specifically, one Agent Cory Reid (chapter 182). Cory has years of experience in gang activities in both Texas and New York. From her outsider eyes, it looks like the lab has been compromised and she cannot understand why a journalist has been running around unchecked for so long. Taylor and Flack get trapped in an elevator and, while she’s being haunted by Louie, finally managed to clear the air between them.
The gun that killed Louie is actually Taylor’s – it was stolen when her apartment was set on fire. Meanwhile, stuck in the elevator (orchestrated by Maddy and Aiden), Taylor is having a meltdown. Flack agrees to come home with her on the condition that she actually goes to see a psychiatrist and talk to a professional. He also decides that, although he can’t see Louie, Taylor clearly needs a break and he’s going to help Stella. After informing Maddy of this, Flack is granted a onetime deal, whereby he can not only hear Maddy, but he can hear and see Louie too. On top of that, Louie is capable of saying more than the usual repeated phrase, although what he can actually say is censored.
It comes out that this is all related to Tanglewood and the Brooklyn Bullets. The undercover agent Cory had – Antony Carlise, or his real name, Felix Bohr, was actually second in command of the Bullets and was trying to eliminate any remaining threat that Tanglewood posed. As well as causing a diversion by setting Taylor up, he also had Sassone killed.
Taylor finally goes to see a shrink, like she promised Flack. Only he’s an idiot, making her sing songs instead of actually getting her to talk about her problems. For Lindsay’s birthday the celebration takes the form of a country and western themed night out. Danny’s present to Lindsay? An engagement ring (chapter 188), but only after Lindsay proposes to him.
Thanksgiving poses a new challenge to Taylor as she has to relive it twice. The first time around the day ends with Mac being accused of throwing a suspect, Clay Dobson off a building. The second time around she’s determined not to let that happen. She succeeds, but Dobson throws himself off the building anyway.
Stella announces she’s pregnant (the father is Keanu who she has been seeing since she was in hospital with the broken leg), and it’s due about the same time as Lindsay and Danny’s wedding, but Lindsay wants her and Taylor to be bridesmaids with Katy anyway.
Cory, who has been demoted, is still trying to work out Taylor’s connection to Bohr. She’s determined to find out how he slipped though her screens and why it was Taylor, specifically, that he set up. She comes to Taylor and asks her if she will help her, perhaps by going through the extensive notes Taylor has made on the New York gangs. Taylor accepts and is even more surprised when she gets Flack’s blessing.
Flack, in the meantime, had arranged an appointment for her, this time with a reputable therapist – one that not only works for the department, but one who is also Mac’s niece, Gus Broussard (chapter 195). This appointment is a little more successful and for the first time, Taylor leaves feeling a little better, and a realisation that she has been able to see ghosts for nearly two years.
Taylor and Cory are making progress, establishing that Louie was killed because Bohr thought he would be able to work out his intentions and that would get back to Sassone. Taylor was stitched up at Sassone’s orders – with her constant, unauthorised presence in the lab, she would make any evidence compromised, including Sassone’s, ensuring his release.
Whilst Mac’s behaviour over Dobson is questioned in court, Taylor finds out that he has a stepson – Reed. The team also get a visit from a Philadelphian detective who had evidence from a ten year old cold case, that links to Stella. In between being a witness at Mac’s hearing (and wanting to hit the departmental investigator), she’s also trying to help Stella work out what her connection is to the case.
Sasha tells Taylor that she is coming to her Rock Star fancy dress birthday party and won’t accept a no for an answer – she’s even arranged for an outfit for Taylor. The outfit, Taylor is not amused to discover, is actually a replica outfit Christina Aguilera wore in her Dirrty video. The party, for that reason, is somewhat uncomfortable for Taylor, and she spends most of the night at the bar, even if she is drinking the non-alcoholic drinks. Whilst there, she is busy chatting with a guy dressed as Axl Rose. What she doesn’t realise until she wakes up chained to a bed, is that Axl is really Bohr’s brother – Reggie - and he’s spiked her drink.
Cory has found something in Taylor’s notes – her connection to Reggie – and she hurries to her house, only to find it’s too late. She and Flack head to the crime lab to see if Adam can find anything on Taylor’s computer. Whilst there, Danny discovers he has just been sent an email from his dead brother. In it is a delayed video feed of Taylor, chained to a bed. In a moment of luck, Taylor manages to escape, running into the sparse wood the building is located in. The CSIs manage to locate Taylor, running for her life in a warehouse, just as Reggie is catching up on her.
Up on a walkway, Taylor has a flashback to a dream she’s been having over and over, over the past few months – one where Flack ends up shot. At the last moment, she switches things, saving Flack, but getting shot herself as she gets caught in the crossfire. Reggie’s last act, as a ghost, is to push her over the walkway and plummet to the water below. Flack goes into the icy water after her, but by the time they get to the hospital, it’s questionable if they got her there in time.
Taylor’s spirit awakens on a beach, and for a moment, she feels completely at peace – questioning if she wants to stay there, or if she should go back. While Flack is told by the doctor she won’t wake up, she is having a conversation with Luke about her future (chapter 203). Flack , remembering a conversation he had with Taylor, decides what she would want would be to have the machine keeping her alive, turned off and she be allowed to pass on peacefully. He concedes and allows the doctor to turn it off, only Taylor has chosen to live. Whilst she doesn’t open her eyes, she continues to live without the help of the machines – something the doctors claim is impossible. Feeling guilty for giving up on her, when she never gave up on him, Flack walks out and doesn’t come back.
Taylor finally awakens almost three months later, having missed Christmas, New Year and her birthday. Although her brother is present (finally released from prison), and Sam and Dean Winchester have made an appearance, Flack is nowhere in sight. Even her mother and father are there, with Nicolette finally acknowledging her son and looking after her granddaughter.
Flack has spiralled into a dark pit of depression, making it his mission to track Bohr down, not caring who gets hurt in the process (chapter 206). He finally finds Bohr – though not before his new partner gets killed – and shoots him in cold blood. Danny and Lindsay find him drinking and tell him that Taylor’s awake.
It takes a week for Flack to finally see Taylor, and he finds her huddled in the corner, surrounded by a circle of salt. Her latest ‘gift’ from The Powers That Be is that she can now see ghosts. Everywhere. Not just ones that are bought to her, but the thousands that remain in the world. As far as she can tell, they don’t want to hurt her and most aren’t even aware that she can see them. Although she’s upset that he never came to see her, she forgives Flack for his absence.
Taylor gets a call from Nancy Wicker demanding she goes into work. Alex, her editor, suffered from a heart attack whilst she was in the hospital and he decided to retire to spend time with his daughter, hiring Nancy to replace him. Taylor realises pretty quickly that Nancy is something of a bitch. She’s demanding that Taylor be in the office Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm, and she now has to share her office with the ‘online’ crime journalist – Reed Garret.
On her way home from work, a ghost realises that Taylor can see her and begs her to help. She needs Taylor to help her. Thanks to Flack’s detecting skills, they work out that the ghost is from Philadelphia and the two head out there, meeting up with Valens – the detective who had worked Stella’s cold case. Although murdered, it’s the fact that Taylor is able to tell the man Charlotte loved how she felt about him that allows her to move on.
They get back home in time for Flack’s birthday which Taylor is claiming she has forgotten all about. As she goes to the back to check her funds for buying a new car, a man with a gun runs in, holding the place hostage (chapter 213). Mac, who has been sent in at the man’s request, is surprised to see Taylor there, but says nothing. Thanks to Mac, they are quickly released as he tries to prove the man’s innocence over a murder, allowing himself to be taken in exchange.
Back at the lab, Taylor discovers that Kendall’s replacement is none other than Chad Willingham – someone who used to work there before Adam started. Adam, meanwhile, has found a lead, and unfortunately for Flack, it’s his other sister, Samantha. Flack and Taylor track her down in a bar and have a chat about her involvement. For reasons Taylor can’t understand, Sam is the ‘golden’ Flack – even though she is the only one with no steady job, no real career prospects, and associates of questionable people.
Another change to the job description means that Taylor is no longer writing weekly columns – she’s now reporting the crime with Reed. Something she’s less than impressed about. Flack is also unimpressed at his job – Sinclair has given him a new partner. Grace Perry, a blonde transfer from somewhere.
Taylor finally gets the replacement for the GTO she’s been after – a 2007 Shelby Mustang. She’s had it all but five minutes before it’s stolen from right outside her house. The culprit is a fifteen year old girl, Riley James. With her parent’s dead and living in a foster home, Riley is heading down a sloping road, and it’s obvious that even the social workers have washed their hands of her. After knowing that she’s been at the station for hours, uncollected, Taylor insists that the girl comes back with them, opting to drop the charges, but instead allow Mac to deal out the punishment.
Meanwhile, bodies have been turning up all over the city and it looks like there’s a serial killer around. Taylor also discovers that where there’s a teenager, there’s also a parrot called Mikey who likes to quote lines from TV and the movies. While out shoping for things for Riley, they bump into Cory who is out on a shopping spree having just quit the FBI due to creative differences – the people in charge being nothing more than petty bureaucrats.
Taylor’s set on getting Riley into a private school in the fall – but when the ghost of a teacher from Nathanson Academy appears and the suspects look like the students, combined with the selection of drugs found, Taylor isn’t so sure (chapter 225). When Flack finds witnesses his superior, Gerrard, kill a man posing as a student because he raped his daughter, it hits home and he confesses to Taylor that he killed Bohr. For the first time, Taylor isn’t sure what to say so she tells him that whatever he decides, he has her support, although she thinks he won’t do it again.
Things with the Cabbie Killer are heating up, as is the kill count. Just as they start to make headways, Taylor gets told he had his next victim – Reed. Whilst Taylor is being properly introduced to Riley’s best friend – Chase Brighten, another kid from the orphanage who didn’t have the best first impression with Taylor, Mac manages to save his stepson. The Cabbie Killer case is wrapped up, just in time for Stella’s book themed baby shower (chapter 230).
The next surprise for Taylor comes from Marty who turns up at her home asking her to be his best man. Even more surprising is that it’s not for him to marry the woman Taylor thought he was seeing, but a man she had never seen before. Taylor is upset – not because her friend is getting married, but because he never told her and only gave her an hour’s notice. There’s something about the wedding that doesn’t seem right but she agrees to let it go.
They arrive home to find Flack’s younger brother, Sean, waiting for them on the doorstep. He’s just got back from several years travelling around Asia and Australasia, and he wants to pick up where he left off, joining the force. To help him get settled, Flack allows him to stay, telling him he can have the room that Marty had only just moved out of.
Taylor quits her job, feeling a great weight lift of her shoulders as she tells her witch of a boss where to go. The feeling is short lived as she is told that she won’t work on a paper in the state again. Whilst Taylor’s feeling a little lost, Flack is feeling like a confused jackass. His partner, Grace has died her hair black (and now resembles Taylor), because she split up with her boyfriend. Stella, on the other hand, is feeling pain. Whilst the rest of the team are in Montana for Danny and Lindsay’s wedding, she and Marty are stuck in an elevator and she’s in labor. As Danny and Lindsay say “I do”, she gives birth to a boy – Liam Martin.
Taylor arrives back in New York, only to have to leave again to head to Miami, this time to help the guardian angel who resides there. Speedle, who is also Aiden’s mystery boyfriend, needs some help setting his team back on track, especially his best friend who is struggling slightly.
While Taylor is helping him, Flack is having a visitor of his own in the shape of Louie Messer. Still looking like he did when he died, complete with half his head missing, Louie wants Flack to bring down the Irish Mob.
Taylor arrives home a day early only to find a semi naked Grace lying in her bed. Surprisingly, Taylor takes it well, finding the whole situation ridiculous, and as she waits for Flack to come home, she heads into the basement to do some laundry. Only, hiding in the basement are Riley and Chase. At first Taylor thinks they’re doing things they shouldn’t – sex and drugs, but they’re actually hiding from Chase’s recently discovered%
So here goes, 600,000 words and counting, condensed into 7,000 or so...
We first meet Taylor in the middle of March 2006 aged 27. She’s a columnist for a small, but growing, newspaper, the New York Daily, where she writes a weekly piece on crime. She’s busy working on said column when her first ghost appears, Rebecca Landry from Carol Anne Lewis Prep school. The ghost wants help catching her murderer, although she is limited in what she can say or do – providing Taylor with clues she must try to decipher. She goes to the Crime Lab and meets the sceptical detectives, and although she helps solve the murder, they remain unwilling to accept that this help may have come from beyond the grave.
The most vocal opponent is Detective Don Flack – he clearly thinks she’s crazy – and the two of them butt heads. After a few weeks, she has become something of a common sight in the lab, and whilst she has managed to find an ally in Stella, the others are still reluctant to believe.
By the summer time, she has lost weight due to her dwindling appetite – the ghostly forms of the dead bodies in their murdered state are putting her off her food. She worked with Horatio Caine when he assisted Mac in capturing Henry Darius (chapter 8). However, after the case was finally closed, she discovered a secret about one of the team. Marty Pino, the assistant ME can see ghosts too, and thus, a friendship is formed. Unlike with Taylor, they help him to figure out COD in the more difficult cases. After Marty’s landlord doubled his rend, the two decide to share an apartment and he soon moves into Taylor’s.
Taylor, or Drew as Danny dubs her, next ghost is one that reminds her a little too much of herself. The ghost, Chloe, is a student at Chelsea University, and like Taylor is also a journalist, and it’s her hunt for a story that ends up getting her killed. Although a story has yet to put Taylor’s life in jeopardy, when she was in High School, back in San Diego, she was suspended from school for breaking into the principal’s office. She was, however, reinstated when she proved the principal had been stealing from the pool fund account.
Midway through the case she gets a call that her best friend, Maddy, is in the hospital, discovering that Maddy’s boyfriend put her there (chapter 16). Maddy, although of Cuban descent, moved to San Diego from New York when she was a child and the two had become firm friends. In an attempt to distract herself – Taylor is furious Maddy doesn’t want to press charges – she heads to one of the bars Chloe had been staking. When she heads outside to follow one of the football players, she discovers that she too has been followed – by Flack. Thankfully, the detective has his uses, and she kisses him to keep their cover. She’s also adamant that it’s a onetime thing. Taylor manages to give the ghost enough peace for her to move on – but it’s not because they find her killer. For the first time, the ghost has another wish – to see her story brought to a close and the drug dealers she had been following be arrested.
The next ghost also poses something of a problem (chapter 19), or rather, Taylor causes something of a problem when she traps Danny and herself in a panic room. The good news, however, is that by the time the murderer is caught, not only has Taylor managed to learn something about forensics and procedures by helping Danny, but Danny is also aware that there was something else in the room with them – a ghost. After they wrap things up, Danny helps Taylor explain to her editor that the reason her work never made it in on time, when she thanks him, Danny’s girlfriend, Cindy, gets the wrong idea and dumps him.
At an award ceremony (chapter 27), Taylor encounters her most difficult case to date, for several reasons. The first is because it is the first child that has come to Taylor as a ghost, the second is how she was murdered. The third is because the ghost is not actually a ghost, rather a split personality, and finally, the ghosts can hurt. Through the case, Taylor also meets Mama Severina – a witch doctor – who amongst her many abilities, can read Taylor’s aura, and offers her some form of protection.
A night off to get their minds off the horrors of the case, involving much alcohol, results in Taylor waking up in Flack’s bed, although he has been a gentleman and merely taken her back to his when they were both too drunk to remember where she lived. When the case closes, Taylor is suddenly aware of just how much evil lives in the world.
Suddenly, Taylor’s world is rocked when the ghost of her best friend appears in her kitchen (chapter 37). She knows straight away who it is – Maddy’s boyfriend. Only he can’t be found. After a phonecall tricks Flack away from Taylor, Pete breaks in and attempts to kill her. Taylor escapes out of the window and is finally rescued by Flack, but not before both are stabbed by Pete. The good news, aside from both Flack and Taylor being alright, is that The Powers That Be have bigger plans for Maddy. Their thanks to Taylor for the help she has done so far is for Maddy to stick around and help the spirits.
Taylor admits to Marty that she can see Maddy, when he bandages up her broken arm, after a particularly violent ghost attacks her. Unfortunately, the ghost that attacked her was one of the Brooklyn Bullets – one of the three major gangs in the city – and Danny isn’t happy that she is involved. After an argument with him, and a disagreement with Marty over Maddy, Taylor takes herself to a bar, where Flack (sent by Danny) finds her. He convinces her to come back to his rather than go to a hotel she’s insisting on doing because she thinks Marty won’t want to see her.
Her interest in the Bullets draws their attention to her, and whilst running she gets attacked. The team are mad at her because of her poor judgement – running through Central Park, alone, in the middle of the night is not a good idea. Although she is fine and the guy that did it caught, she learns something new from Maddy – that there aren’t just good ghosts, and the bad ones hurt.
Some time later, she is in the morgue, trying to find Marty, but instead finds Mac and Sid microwaving what turns out to be a strip of human skin to reveal a Tanglewood tattoo (chapter 53). It doesn’t take long for a body to turn up with evidence putting Danny at the scene. Mac asks her to distract Danny and keep him away while they prove his innocence, but while they are in a secluded coffee shop, Danny gets a call that his brother, Louie is in hospital. Lindsay soon discovers that the reason he is there is because he is the one that proved Danny had nothing to do with the murder – the price – he’s in a coma.
Danny is worried of the ramifications – Louie clearly knew something to get the information, implying that he had a hand in the murder – and the result of that might be jail time. Taylor admits that she has a brother who doesn’t speak to her, currently residing in prison. A Diver in the Navy, he returned home from active duty and ended up in a fight to protect his girlfriend, and ended up killing someone. He is currently coming up for seven years of his manslaughter charge.
Thankfully, Louie awakens from the coma, and Lindsay finally asks Danny out. Danny panics and ends up bringing Flack and Taylor along. Danny and Lindsay leave, leaving Flack to walk Taylor home. He admits that he’s surprised she’s so laid back in her relationship with Danny. It takes a second to work out what he’s on about, but Taylor informs him she and Danny have never been an item and never would. To prove it, she kisses him, although she instantly regrets it, later admitting to Marty that she actually likes Flack, but she can’t see how they could have a relationship when he thinks she’s crazy.
After a case where the suspect looks suspiciously like Flack, he picks up Taylor’s discomfort around him and tricks her into going on a date with him. The date is cut short when Danny rings – something is wrong with Louie – but not before Flack and Taylor admit they like each other. However, Taylor is adamant that nothing is going to happen between the two of them if he can’t accept that she sees ghosts.
Thankfully, the situation with Louie is only temporary and he’s back on the mend as Fleet Week rolls around (chapter 68). Unfortunately, while Taylor is enjoying time with her father, Captain Jack, a body of a marine is discovered. Luckily, she isn’t visited by his ghost, insisting on spending the little remaining time she has with him before he must return to the Middle East. And then a ghost of a police officer appears and Taylor knows she must help her, even though she’s barely seen her father in six years. The ghost is Aiden Burn, and she keeps appearing, her corporeal form repeatedly beaten and burnt. Thanks to Aiden’s help, Mac and Stella are able to lock him up. Taylor goes to visit him, only Aiden goes with her – and Pratt can see her – and knocks him out, much to the confusion of the supervising officer. After finding out that Aiden was protecting her life, Taylor gets a surprise when she discovers Aiden will be protecting her in death – she’s her Guardian Angel,
The Sunday after Aiden’s funeral, Taylor heads into work to get some writing done. Whilst there the fire alarms goes off. As she’s leaving, she is surprised to find Mac and Flack evacuating the building – there’s a bomb! Taylor realises that her colleague is still inside and won’t have heard the alarm because of his headphones. They go to get him, but they can’t get out in time and the bomb goes off (chapter 73). Taylor regains consciousness only to realise that she, Mac, Flack and Smith are trapped – and Flack has a gaping wound in his abdomen. They are finally freed and taken to hospital. Even though Taylor has a broken arm, she refuses to leave until she knows that Flack is alright. And then he appears in front of her with Maddy and Aiden
After a very heated discussion with The Powers That Be, Taylor wins her demands – that Flack’s soul be returned to his body. She refuses to leave his side, even when his parents arrive and ban her from his room. They believe it’s her fault he was in the building in the first place. Thanksgiving comes and goes, but it’s not until Christmas Day that he awakens. Flack Sr. has allowed his son to believe that Taylor hasn’t been to visit and he’s disappointed.
By New Year’s Eve, he is at his parents, resting in bed. After Stella sets him straight – that Taylor barely left the hospital, he heads to Taylor’s, ignoring the fact he shouldn’t be on his feet. He collapses at Taylor’s door and it’s lucky that Marty is home to patch him up. Finally he confesses to Taylor that he’s falling for her.
Through the winter months, they discover that Flack can see Maddy and Aiden, although he can’t hear what they’re saying, something that’s happened because he technically died.
Ghosts continue to appear, only now, things are a little more difficult as Mac has become very reluctant to have her at crime scenes.
By February, Danny has conscripted her to help shop for wedding rings for Lindsay. Valentine’s Day hits and it’s Taylor’s birthday. Instead of celebrating, however, she’s busy trying to help the ghost of Frankie – Stella’s boyfriend. The thing is, he’s telling her that Stella was the one that killed him. However, when Maddy and Aiden admit The Powers That Be have made a mistake, Frankie disappears, hiding in a body. The body of Mac. With a little help from Mama Severina, they exorcise Frankie’s spirit, sending him away. Unfortunately, in the process, Aiden’s once perfect white suit burns, the scorch marks becoming a permanent feature.
Captain Jack announces he has a birthday present for Taylor and tells her to expect something in the post. The ‘something’ is actually a letter from her brother’s attorneys containing a plane ticket to San Diego. She heads out there, with Flack, to visit him in prison (chapter 93). After telling him off for ignoring her for the past seven years, he tells her that their father has bought his car off him for Taylor because Chris needs the money. He’s just found out that his ex girlfriend (the one he ended up in prison because of) has announced he has a six year old daughter and he owes her child support.
Taylor takes the car and begins a very long journey driving it back home. Flack takes the first shift and while Taylor is sleeping, takes a little detour to Las Vegas. A few years back, he won an NYPD charity raffle – the prize being an all expenses paid, three night stay in Caesar’s Palace.
After a trip to the Hoover Dam and an evening picnic at the Grand Canyon. The next day, Flack and Taylor head up and down The Strip, exploring the many casinos. That evening, after eating at The Top of the World in the Stratosphere, as they are walking past the newest hotel and casino, Castenelli Heights, they witness an apparent suicide. The ghost of the body is this time, joined by Holly – a CSI who was killed in Vegas several years previously (chapter 97). She manages to help the Las Vegas CSIs, although it is initially only Greg who believes her although Nick and Grissom quickly accept the fact. She leads the Vegas team out in the desert, thanks to a ghost’s clue, to find a missing child. Things quickly go south when they are fired upon in the middle of nowhere, stuck in a sandstorm. Luckily the other members of the team work out where they are and rescue them.
The next stop on the journey home involves yet another detour – this time to Baton Rouge to visit Flack’s younger sister, Paige. They make it to their home where they meet her husband Damon, and their two year old twins Jesse and Elle. Paige informs Taylor that her parents don’t really speak to her because she ended up dating her Anthropology professor at Penn State, before having his children and then getting married. After a restful stay, they continue on.
It’s not until they hit Pennsylvania that they encounter car troubles. They pull over in a small town called Centralia – an infamous coal mining town with less than twenty inhabitants, standing on an underground fire that has been burning for several decades. After Flack insists they get the car checked out, they are told that repairs are needed and they decide to stay in the town’s only bed and breakfast for the night. As trouble has been following them all over the country, it’s no surprise they run into it here.
Whilst having a bite to eat in the only diner in town, they run into two ‘cops’ (chapter 105). Sam and Dean are rather insistent that Flack and Taylor don’t spend the night, however, as Taylor realises their badges say Missouri and the licence plate says Kansas, she doesn’t take much notice. It soon becomes apparent that they are something over than cops when they shoot a ghost as it’s talking to Taylor. Alarmed, she takes them back to the room where they tell Taylor and Flack that the reason the fire has been burning for so long is because of a fire demon. Taylor and Dean are captured by the townsfolk to be used as a sacrifice whilst Sam and Flack attempt to blow a damn in an effort to kill it. They make it out, destroying the town with the demon, and drop the few kids they managed to save, off with the authorities.
Taylor arrives back in New York only to find Louie working in the Morgue. Thanks to Mac, the outcome of his involvement with Tanglewood was a year’s probation (complete with a tracking device) and a supervised job in the morgue as an orderly. Marty has taken a job in St. Louis for a nine month placement and his replacement is a transfer who used to work with Hawkes called Peyton Driscoll, originally from England.
In the middle of dealing with a case involving a mermaid, Taylor is busy trying to cope with a new found celebrity status that came from the publicity shoot she had to take before heading to California. The case is quickly wrapped up, but not before Lindsay struggles with trying to understand why.
By April, there’s a new detective in town – Detective Angell. Meanwhile, Stella is still struggling with killing Frankie – wondering if she could do it again. Lindsay and Danny have broken up, and in an attempt to make them realise how much they like each other, Taylor sets Danny up with a SuicideGirl, Nixon, they met on a previous case. It’s good news for Taylor and Flack , as by June, they are making plans to move in with each other.
The next set of ghosts to head her way is members of the Døds Forbannelse, and some of them are not happy about her involvement (chapter 121). The Organised Crime Control Bureau (O.C.C.B.), headed by Keanu Ikaia. Eirik Teodor has been undercover with the Døds Forbannelse who informs them the drugs trafficking in the area has picked up. As the CSIs and the OCCB are making several arrests, there is a drive-by shooting and all hell breaks loose. Stella is hit and rushed to hospital, although she survives with a broken leg and a removed spleen, a member of the OCCB isn’t as lucky. Eirik is killed.
It doesn’t take long for Stella to be back on her feet, even if she is in crutches, and she’s insisting that she’s not being stuck on desk duty. And she’s certainly not being left out of a case with an alien. Sadly the case isn’t as exciting as it first seems, leading them to more drugs. When Maddy tries to warn Taylor that this case will have repercussions for Flack, Maddy is taken away to be replaced by Eirik. Mac discovers that one of Flack’s colleagues is dirty and comes to Flack, requesting his notebooks.
On top of this, Taylor gets a visitation request from Sassone. Against Louie’s advice, she goes to see him, her journalistic nature getting the better of her (chapter 133). It also seems that Flack is getting a very hard time of things thanks to Truby: His colleagues are leaving him unwanted presents in his locker.
It is about this time that Lindsay comes clean to Taylor as to why she ended things with Danny. She received a summons from Montana to testify in a case where she was the only sole witness (chapter 137). Her husband, sister and two friends were at college when somebody came in and shot them. Lindsay and her other sister, Katy survived the attack, although Katy suffered some complications and as a result, is still at them mental age of eighteen, unable to grow up. Lindsay doesn’t want Danny to know, so Taylor agrees to go back to Montana with her.
Whilst in Montana, Taylor is haunted by a ghost, she later finds out, is actually still in New York. Danny turns up, after some prompting from Nixon, and is surprised to see Lindsay has a twin, and is even more surprised to find out she was actually one of three. As he stays to support Lindsay (and eventually witness a guilty verdict), Taylor hurries back to help the ghosts. Lindsay says goodbye to her past, burying her wedding ring at her husband’s grave, and agrees to start again with Danny.
After a particularly tiring weekend, Taylor is in the lab when she is paged to reception. Waiting for her is a small child, accompanied by a pig (chapter 153). It’s actually her niece, Cordelia. Whilst she’s out shopping for supplies, Taylor gets mugged, breaking her wrist again in the process. As the doctor is putting the cast on, he mentions that he’s worried about Taylor being so underweight.
Marty dumps his girlfriend over a text and it’s Taylor who’s left to pick up the pieces – or at least listen to her rant. And she doesn’t even like Devon. And she especially doesn’t like Devon when she’s a ghost accusing Marty of murder. What’s more, Flack’s father, the NYPD narcotics legend, has pulled himself out of retirement to work for IAB – he’s in charge of Marty’s case. They barely managed to clear Marty of the murder, before Hawkes is being arrested and investigated for armed robbery and murder (chapter 159). They clear Hawkes too, although not without discovering that he was being set up by Shane Casey, who is finally safely locked up in prison.
Whilst Flack and Cordelia head upstate to a pig farm, Taylor heads to the office to talk to her editor , after discussing work, he offers his nephew’s house to rent from him. Taylor declines thinking it would be strange for the person to being paying her wages being the same person they go back to. She heads home, only to find her apartment on fire and Flack not answering his phone (chapter 164).
Taylor barely has time to be happy at the fact Flack is alright, before she is arrested by Flack Sr. In the process of investigating the fire, they have discovered cocaine recently hidden in the walls of her apartment. On top of this, she is questioned about the strange amounts of money going into her account. While on is completely legitimate – money from her brother to cover the costs of Taylor’s care – the other is coming from Sassone and Taylor knows nothing about it. And then there’s all the information Taylor has on the gangs on her computer. Finally, Mac frees her (but not before adding his two cents to Flack Sr.)
They move into Flack’s whilst looking for somewhere else to live, in the end, agreeing that they will take Alex up on his offer and live at his property – even if it is need of some work. Enjoying a game of scrabble, Flack proposes to Taylor. She accepts (chapter 171). Finally, the house is, while not completely finished in the decorating category, it is ready to be lived in.
Someone steals the GTO, but as she’s trying to deal with that, she bumps into an ex who wants to catch up with her. She arrives home to discover that he’s not the only person who wants to catch up – Sam and Dean Winchester have paid her a visit (chapter 175). It turns out that Sam had a vision – of her ex-boyfriend summoning a demon. The brothers managed to stop him, but not before he summoned the demon and possessed Dean. Together, Sam and Taylor managed to exorcise the demon from Dean. However, in the process, Flack witnesses a possessed Dean kiss Taylor and decides to move in with Danny.
Isabella Mendes, a diver with NYPD (and a spitting image of Maddy) is performing a routine dive to clear a car from the river. Taylor’s car has been found and she’s there to witness it come out from the water. However, when the trunk is opened, a body is found in it. The DNA results come back as Louie.
With everything that’s been happening in the lab, it has finally caught the attention of the FBI, specifically, one Agent Cory Reid (chapter 182). Cory has years of experience in gang activities in both Texas and New York. From her outsider eyes, it looks like the lab has been compromised and she cannot understand why a journalist has been running around unchecked for so long. Taylor and Flack get trapped in an elevator and, while she’s being haunted by Louie, finally managed to clear the air between them.
The gun that killed Louie is actually Taylor’s – it was stolen when her apartment was set on fire. Meanwhile, stuck in the elevator (orchestrated by Maddy and Aiden), Taylor is having a meltdown. Flack agrees to come home with her on the condition that she actually goes to see a psychiatrist and talk to a professional. He also decides that, although he can’t see Louie, Taylor clearly needs a break and he’s going to help Stella. After informing Maddy of this, Flack is granted a onetime deal, whereby he can not only hear Maddy, but he can hear and see Louie too. On top of that, Louie is capable of saying more than the usual repeated phrase, although what he can actually say is censored.
It comes out that this is all related to Tanglewood and the Brooklyn Bullets. The undercover agent Cory had – Antony Carlise, or his real name, Felix Bohr, was actually second in command of the Bullets and was trying to eliminate any remaining threat that Tanglewood posed. As well as causing a diversion by setting Taylor up, he also had Sassone killed.
Taylor finally goes to see a shrink, like she promised Flack. Only he’s an idiot, making her sing songs instead of actually getting her to talk about her problems. For Lindsay’s birthday the celebration takes the form of a country and western themed night out. Danny’s present to Lindsay? An engagement ring (chapter 188), but only after Lindsay proposes to him.
Thanksgiving poses a new challenge to Taylor as she has to relive it twice. The first time around the day ends with Mac being accused of throwing a suspect, Clay Dobson off a building. The second time around she’s determined not to let that happen. She succeeds, but Dobson throws himself off the building anyway.
Stella announces she’s pregnant (the father is Keanu who she has been seeing since she was in hospital with the broken leg), and it’s due about the same time as Lindsay and Danny’s wedding, but Lindsay wants her and Taylor to be bridesmaids with Katy anyway.
Cory, who has been demoted, is still trying to work out Taylor’s connection to Bohr. She’s determined to find out how he slipped though her screens and why it was Taylor, specifically, that he set up. She comes to Taylor and asks her if she will help her, perhaps by going through the extensive notes Taylor has made on the New York gangs. Taylor accepts and is even more surprised when she gets Flack’s blessing.
Flack, in the meantime, had arranged an appointment for her, this time with a reputable therapist – one that not only works for the department, but one who is also Mac’s niece, Gus Broussard (chapter 195). This appointment is a little more successful and for the first time, Taylor leaves feeling a little better, and a realisation that she has been able to see ghosts for nearly two years.
Taylor and Cory are making progress, establishing that Louie was killed because Bohr thought he would be able to work out his intentions and that would get back to Sassone. Taylor was stitched up at Sassone’s orders – with her constant, unauthorised presence in the lab, she would make any evidence compromised, including Sassone’s, ensuring his release.
Whilst Mac’s behaviour over Dobson is questioned in court, Taylor finds out that he has a stepson – Reed. The team also get a visit from a Philadelphian detective who had evidence from a ten year old cold case, that links to Stella. In between being a witness at Mac’s hearing (and wanting to hit the departmental investigator), she’s also trying to help Stella work out what her connection is to the case.
Sasha tells Taylor that she is coming to her Rock Star fancy dress birthday party and won’t accept a no for an answer – she’s even arranged for an outfit for Taylor. The outfit, Taylor is not amused to discover, is actually a replica outfit Christina Aguilera wore in her Dirrty video. The party, for that reason, is somewhat uncomfortable for Taylor, and she spends most of the night at the bar, even if she is drinking the non-alcoholic drinks. Whilst there, she is busy chatting with a guy dressed as Axl Rose. What she doesn’t realise until she wakes up chained to a bed, is that Axl is really Bohr’s brother – Reggie - and he’s spiked her drink.
Cory has found something in Taylor’s notes – her connection to Reggie – and she hurries to her house, only to find it’s too late. She and Flack head to the crime lab to see if Adam can find anything on Taylor’s computer. Whilst there, Danny discovers he has just been sent an email from his dead brother. In it is a delayed video feed of Taylor, chained to a bed. In a moment of luck, Taylor manages to escape, running into the sparse wood the building is located in. The CSIs manage to locate Taylor, running for her life in a warehouse, just as Reggie is catching up on her.
Up on a walkway, Taylor has a flashback to a dream she’s been having over and over, over the past few months – one where Flack ends up shot. At the last moment, she switches things, saving Flack, but getting shot herself as she gets caught in the crossfire. Reggie’s last act, as a ghost, is to push her over the walkway and plummet to the water below. Flack goes into the icy water after her, but by the time they get to the hospital, it’s questionable if they got her there in time.
Taylor’s spirit awakens on a beach, and for a moment, she feels completely at peace – questioning if she wants to stay there, or if she should go back. While Flack is told by the doctor she won’t wake up, she is having a conversation with Luke about her future (chapter 203). Flack , remembering a conversation he had with Taylor, decides what she would want would be to have the machine keeping her alive, turned off and she be allowed to pass on peacefully. He concedes and allows the doctor to turn it off, only Taylor has chosen to live. Whilst she doesn’t open her eyes, she continues to live without the help of the machines – something the doctors claim is impossible. Feeling guilty for giving up on her, when she never gave up on him, Flack walks out and doesn’t come back.
Taylor finally awakens almost three months later, having missed Christmas, New Year and her birthday. Although her brother is present (finally released from prison), and Sam and Dean Winchester have made an appearance, Flack is nowhere in sight. Even her mother and father are there, with Nicolette finally acknowledging her son and looking after her granddaughter.
Flack has spiralled into a dark pit of depression, making it his mission to track Bohr down, not caring who gets hurt in the process (chapter 206). He finally finds Bohr – though not before his new partner gets killed – and shoots him in cold blood. Danny and Lindsay find him drinking and tell him that Taylor’s awake.
It takes a week for Flack to finally see Taylor, and he finds her huddled in the corner, surrounded by a circle of salt. Her latest ‘gift’ from The Powers That Be is that she can now see ghosts. Everywhere. Not just ones that are bought to her, but the thousands that remain in the world. As far as she can tell, they don’t want to hurt her and most aren’t even aware that she can see them. Although she’s upset that he never came to see her, she forgives Flack for his absence.
Taylor gets a call from Nancy Wicker demanding she goes into work. Alex, her editor, suffered from a heart attack whilst she was in the hospital and he decided to retire to spend time with his daughter, hiring Nancy to replace him. Taylor realises pretty quickly that Nancy is something of a bitch. She’s demanding that Taylor be in the office Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm, and she now has to share her office with the ‘online’ crime journalist – Reed Garret.
On her way home from work, a ghost realises that Taylor can see her and begs her to help. She needs Taylor to help her. Thanks to Flack’s detecting skills, they work out that the ghost is from Philadelphia and the two head out there, meeting up with Valens – the detective who had worked Stella’s cold case. Although murdered, it’s the fact that Taylor is able to tell the man Charlotte loved how she felt about him that allows her to move on.
They get back home in time for Flack’s birthday which Taylor is claiming she has forgotten all about. As she goes to the back to check her funds for buying a new car, a man with a gun runs in, holding the place hostage (chapter 213). Mac, who has been sent in at the man’s request, is surprised to see Taylor there, but says nothing. Thanks to Mac, they are quickly released as he tries to prove the man’s innocence over a murder, allowing himself to be taken in exchange.
Back at the lab, Taylor discovers that Kendall’s replacement is none other than Chad Willingham – someone who used to work there before Adam started. Adam, meanwhile, has found a lead, and unfortunately for Flack, it’s his other sister, Samantha. Flack and Taylor track her down in a bar and have a chat about her involvement. For reasons Taylor can’t understand, Sam is the ‘golden’ Flack – even though she is the only one with no steady job, no real career prospects, and associates of questionable people.
Another change to the job description means that Taylor is no longer writing weekly columns – she’s now reporting the crime with Reed. Something she’s less than impressed about. Flack is also unimpressed at his job – Sinclair has given him a new partner. Grace Perry, a blonde transfer from somewhere.
Taylor finally gets the replacement for the GTO she’s been after – a 2007 Shelby Mustang. She’s had it all but five minutes before it’s stolen from right outside her house. The culprit is a fifteen year old girl, Riley James. With her parent’s dead and living in a foster home, Riley is heading down a sloping road, and it’s obvious that even the social workers have washed their hands of her. After knowing that she’s been at the station for hours, uncollected, Taylor insists that the girl comes back with them, opting to drop the charges, but instead allow Mac to deal out the punishment.
Meanwhile, bodies have been turning up all over the city and it looks like there’s a serial killer around. Taylor also discovers that where there’s a teenager, there’s also a parrot called Mikey who likes to quote lines from TV and the movies. While out shoping for things for Riley, they bump into Cory who is out on a shopping spree having just quit the FBI due to creative differences – the people in charge being nothing more than petty bureaucrats.
Taylor’s set on getting Riley into a private school in the fall – but when the ghost of a teacher from Nathanson Academy appears and the suspects look like the students, combined with the selection of drugs found, Taylor isn’t so sure (chapter 225). When Flack finds witnesses his superior, Gerrard, kill a man posing as a student because he raped his daughter, it hits home and he confesses to Taylor that he killed Bohr. For the first time, Taylor isn’t sure what to say so she tells him that whatever he decides, he has her support, although she thinks he won’t do it again.
Things with the Cabbie Killer are heating up, as is the kill count. Just as they start to make headways, Taylor gets told he had his next victim – Reed. Whilst Taylor is being properly introduced to Riley’s best friend – Chase Brighten, another kid from the orphanage who didn’t have the best first impression with Taylor, Mac manages to save his stepson. The Cabbie Killer case is wrapped up, just in time for Stella’s book themed baby shower (chapter 230).
The next surprise for Taylor comes from Marty who turns up at her home asking her to be his best man. Even more surprising is that it’s not for him to marry the woman Taylor thought he was seeing, but a man she had never seen before. Taylor is upset – not because her friend is getting married, but because he never told her and only gave her an hour’s notice. There’s something about the wedding that doesn’t seem right but she agrees to let it go.
They arrive home to find Flack’s younger brother, Sean, waiting for them on the doorstep. He’s just got back from several years travelling around Asia and Australasia, and he wants to pick up where he left off, joining the force. To help him get settled, Flack allows him to stay, telling him he can have the room that Marty had only just moved out of.
Taylor quits her job, feeling a great weight lift of her shoulders as she tells her witch of a boss where to go. The feeling is short lived as she is told that she won’t work on a paper in the state again. Whilst Taylor’s feeling a little lost, Flack is feeling like a confused jackass. His partner, Grace has died her hair black (and now resembles Taylor), because she split up with her boyfriend. Stella, on the other hand, is feeling pain. Whilst the rest of the team are in Montana for Danny and Lindsay’s wedding, she and Marty are stuck in an elevator and she’s in labor. As Danny and Lindsay say “I do”, she gives birth to a boy – Liam Martin.
Taylor arrives back in New York, only to have to leave again to head to Miami, this time to help the guardian angel who resides there. Speedle, who is also Aiden’s mystery boyfriend, needs some help setting his team back on track, especially his best friend who is struggling slightly.
While Taylor is helping him, Flack is having a visitor of his own in the shape of Louie Messer. Still looking like he did when he died, complete with half his head missing, Louie wants Flack to bring down the Irish Mob.
Taylor arrives home a day early only to find a semi naked Grace lying in her bed. Surprisingly, Taylor takes it well, finding the whole situation ridiculous, and as she waits for Flack to come home, she heads into the basement to do some laundry. Only, hiding in the basement are Riley and Chase. At first Taylor thinks they’re doing things they shouldn’t – sex and drugs, but they’re actually hiding from Chase’s recently discovered%