Tangled Webs
Chapter 5
Rating: PG-13
The Crossing Jordan characters totally aren't mine ~ they belong to Tim Kring and Tailwind Productions.
Kaidlyn and her mom are my own creations and therefore they're mine.
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Author's note: Although I first introduced Kaidlyn in "Endgame," she subsequently appeared in person in "That Night" and in name in "Running." The timeline here basically follows after "That Night" and before "Endgame" though there will be some overlap and inconsistencies with "Endgame" ~ but since that one's so far from show canon now, we can just pretend, for the sake of this story, that it doesn't exist. :0)
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"Ok. Got it. We'll be there in a few minutes. Thanks Johnson." Eddie hung up the phone. "Alright, we've got another case. Come on," he said as he spun his chair to face the second desk they'd put in his office for Kaidlyn. Not ideal, but the whole thing was last minute.
She seemed not to have heard him.
"Kaidlyn!"
"What?" She jumped at the sharp sound of Eddie's voice which broke into her thoughts.
"You with me?"
"Yeah. What's going on?"
"We've got a case. Body found in an old apartment building."
"Oh. Ok." She grabbed her stuff and jumped up to follow him.
"You ok?" Eddie looked concerned as she passed him and he pulled the door shut. She'd seemed a little off all morning. Perhaps it was just adjusting to her new schedule and the work. But he was concerned. . .
"Yeah. I'm fine. Let's go."
They got into his car and as Eddie pulled out of the lot, Kaidlyn stared out the passenger window, lost in thought.
the night before. . .
"Hey sweetie! You've really gotten better at that," Jordan motioned to the guitar in her cousin's hands.
"Thanks. Want to sit down?" Kaid smiled up at Jordan.
"Sure." Jordan flopped onto the floor beside her. "How was the rest of your day?"
"Pretty ordinary. We finished filling out all the paperwork and Eddie dropped me off here," Kaidlyn shrugged.
"How'd you end up with him?" Jordan tried to keep her feelings out of her voice. After all, she was working at forgiving Eddie.
"I don't know. I guess he was the one they felt would be best to mentor an intern or something."
"Oh. Ok." Jordan flipped through the notebook holding chords and lyrics Kaid had in front of her.
"Uncle Max told me about what happened."
"What happened when?" Oh God, there were so many ways that sentence could be finished.
"What happened when he had to retire. The stuff with that serial rapist, and then the investigation IA led, and Eddie's part in that."
"Oh." Jordan felt her stomach tense at the memory. She knew now that it really was the best thing for Max, but it still hurt her to think of it.
"You ok?" Kaid looked at her cousin.
"Yeah." Jordan sighed, unsure of how to broach the subject she wanted to. "Kaid?"
"Yeah?"
"When we were driving earlier and you asked me about family secrets. . ."
"Yeah?"
"What did you mean?"
"Nothing really. I just. . ." Kaid was interrupted by Max calling them down to dinner.
They talked about all kinds of things work and school related at dinner. In the middle of dessert, Jordan got paged to a scene, so they never got to finish their conversation. Kaidlyn wondered why that question threw Jordan off so much and wanted to talk with her about it in more detail if they could ever find the time.
present day. . .
"Kaidlyn!" Eddie couldn't figure out where her mind was today. The day before she'd seemed so together.
"What? Oh, we're here?"
"Yes. We're here. Now come on." He led the way into the building.
When they got to the crime scene, he set about doing the normal canvas of the area. The uniforms explained the situation to him. Tragic really, a child playing with a gun shot his younger brother and killed him. While it seemed like an accident, there were plenty of questions to ask. Where were the parents? Was it really an accident? Why the hell hadn't they kept the gun and ammunition locked away in separate places like they should have?
A few minutes later as they were leaving the apartment, Kaidlyn looked at Eddie. "Oh, by the way. Uncle Max told me what happened."
"Really? All of it?"
"I guess so. About IA and the investigation. And his having to retire or be fired."
"And you still want to work with me?"
"What?"
"Your cousin had only recently begun to treat me civilly again. I just figured. . ."
"Oh come on. I am SO not like that!"
"What is it with that word?"
"What word?"
"SO ~ saying it like that. Is that some sort of genetic Cavanaugh vocal tic?"
"I don't think so. Why?"
"Because Jordan says it all the time."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Come on. We need to get back to the precinct. Paperwork is a never ending pain in my ass." As Eddie steered Kaidlyn down the hall, neither of them noticed that a door behind them opened and a head peeked out.
"Another one? I had no idea. . ." James Horton made a note to somehow contact this girl to talk with her. He wasn't sure who she was, but if she was a Cavanaugh, he wanted to talk with her.
. . .to be continued. . .