Chapter 10

"Yeah, well, I don't know why we need to do this tonight anyway," she almost muttered.

But, Woody, who was standing right on the other side of the door heard her. "It's because he wants to spend some time with us before the baby is here. I'm sure he remembers how hard it is the first several weeks with a new baby to get out anywhere. Also he wants to have LaVon meet the whole group. She's never done one of these unsolved cases, has she?"

Jordan opened the door to find him almost nose to nose with her. Woody backed up as she answered, "Heck no! Don't you remember?! The last one of these that we did, she was one of the characters! I sure hope that no one mentions that to her!"

"The only one I can think of with little enough tact to do that is your Aunt Meredith, and she won't be there."

"Thank heaven for that! I still want to take a heavy object to her head for what she did to AJ!"

"Jordan you do remember that I am a police detective, don't you?!" Woody inquired.

"Ummm, yeah…so?"

"What you are talking about doing to your aunt is a crime!"

"So?! Haven't you ever said that you wanted to kill someone without really meaning it?"

"No," he told her, and as they headed to the door he added, "The only one I've ever said that about was Clark Palmer…and I meant it."

That ended the conversation quite completely and the ride to her dad's bar was made in silence.

Not unexpectedly, they were the last ones to arrive. Max rolled his eyes when the finally came in and asked what they wanted to drink. Woody asked for a beer and Max was about to strongly protest when Jordan said she would have one too.

Before he could protest, she held up a hand to stop him, and explained, "The doctor said that an occasional beer was fine at this stage in my pregnancy. If I plan to nurse, the hops in the beer aids in milk production."

Max looked around at the others to see if anyone would confirm her statement. He was surprised when it was LaVon that spoke up, "That is true Max. I was told the same thing when I was carrying Tuyen."

"Alright then," he conceded and went to get the drinks.

At the table, where Jordan and Woody had taken their seats, Lily eagerly said, "I didn't know you had decided to nurse the baby! That's wonderful news!"

Jordan looked a little cross as she replied, "I haven't made up my mind yet, but I wanted a beer. Pop doesn't need to know any different!"

Woody just shook his head as the others looked on in surprise.

Max returned with the drinks and they all settled down as their parts were being handed out.

The rolls that had been assigned were:

Nigel would be playing a younger Max that had investigated the case when it happened.

Bug would be playing Max's partner, Steve Jenkins.

Garret would be playing a cab driver, David Rollins.

Woody would be playing an unidentified Marine.

Lily would be playing Magnolia (Maggie) Orly.

LaVon would be playing Maggie's sister, Petunia Orly.

Max had taken the part of Maggie's son.

Jordan had then been given the part of the unidentified kidnapper.

"My partner, Steve and I got the call on a late August afternoon. It was a blistering hot day and we had to be dressed in suits and ties. We were called in to a shooting in front of the entrance to the airport. When we arrived we found a woman dead from a single gunshot to the heart. It wasn't until hours later that we found out there had been a kidnapping as well."

To be continued…