Chapter Three

From the bottom of my heart

Off the coast of Carolina

After one or two false starts

I believe we found our stride

And the walls that won't come down

We can decorate or climb or find someway to get around

'Cause I'm still on your side

From the bottom of my heart.

Everything had moved so fast that Lynn was almost afraid to catch her breath. She had flown out with Garrett to Boston the day after they had met at Crawdad's. She found Boston to be much bigger than Wilmington, of course, but in almost every other sense of the word, it was a familiar harbor town. Bridges, bays, eddies, and inlets...it was all there.

She had like the Massachusetts morgue. She was glad to see Stevie again. "See you've put on a few extra pounds," she had teased the younger woman.

"And I see you still haven't, Lynn," Stevie ribbed right back.

"When are you due?"

"Hmmmm, about the end of May."

"Well, at least you'll have him before the hot summer months," Lynn had replied. Both of her babies had been born in the fall....she carried them through the long, hot, humid summers in North Carolina.

"Lynn...this is sooooo Boston. It never really gets warm...There's only two hot days here. The Fourth of July and the day after."

"Yuck. And you like it here?"

"I have Nigel."

"And he's worth all the cold weather?"

"He keeps my feet warm," Stevie had grinned.

"And evidently other parts, too," Lynn had replied, ducking out of Stevie's office before she could chuck something at her.

Lynn had met Bug and Lily. Lastly, Garrett had introduced her to Jordan. "Nice to meet you," she had said when she met the young brunette.

"Same here," Jordan had replied. Lynn got the impression that the younger doctor was sizing her up...trying to see what she was made of.

After the tour and introductions, she had gone back to Garrett's office to talk with the chief ME. "The job's yours if you want it," he told Lynn.

"Okay. Let's quit beating around the bush. What's in it for me?"

Garrett had chuckled. He already liked the woman. She was knowledgeable, she was a diver, and she could more than hold her own against his tribe of younger ME's. She'll fit in nicely, he thought. And it will give me someone closer to my own age to work with. He scribbled a figure on a piece of paper and slid it across the desk to Lynn. She eyeballed it for two seconds. "Dr. Macy, you have yourself a new ME," she said, extending her hand.

"Good," he replied. "Welcome to Camp Chaos. And call me Garrett."

Things sped up from there. She had gone back home to Wilmington, submitted her resignation and gave Kathy a call. "I'm going for it," she told her friend.

"I don't think you'll be disappointed."

Lynn was quiet for a moment. "I hope not. I'm sort of looking at this as my last chance at redemption."

"Like I said, I don't think you'll be disappointed," Kathy had replied.

So, her life and belongings were boxed, bagged, tagged and loaded on a U-Haul. She had found a small house to rent close to the beach in Boston. Mark had come home and was going to help his mom drive it to her new home. They pulled Lynn's prized possession, her 1964 red Mustang convertible behind the truck.

Lynn thought telling Mark would be the most difficult thing in the world...that his mom was going to uproot and move to a bigger city up north. He was surprisingly understanding and encouraging. "It's great Mom. A chance to do new things, meet new people...and anywhere you are is home to me, so go for it."

He did raise an interesting point. "You do at least need to tell Dad..." She had dropped her ex a note in the mail to let him know any correspondence or issues should be given to her attorney who knew where she was at.

And when all was loaded, and the truck fueled up, Lynn made one more stop before heading out of town. She walked to St. Mary's, taking the footpath behind the church to a small cemetery. She stood by a small grave, motionless for several minutes, thinking and praying. Then with a brief pat to the headstone, she turned and walked away. She had memories...that should keep her for a while.

Lynn could you cover for me in autopsy two?" asked Garrett. "I've got to meet the DA about that body found at Logan last week in the employee locker room."

She looked up from her paper work and nodded. "Sure Garret. No problem." As new jobs go, she was settling in pretty easily. And that was a load off her mind. This was the first time she had changed jobs since her residency. Garrett had gone out of his way to make the transition easy for her, monitoring her only for a short while and then turning her loose. She pushed back from her desk and went into the locker room to change. She felt sorry for Garrett. The DA seemed like sort of a bitch...what was her name again? Oh, yeah. Rene' Walcott. She was kind of got the feeling that Garrett and Rene' had been a little more than colleagues at one time or another, but she could be wrong.

She made her way to the autopsy room and began to work on the body. As usual, time stood still for Lynn as she worked. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn't even hear Garrett come up behind her. "Hey," he said.

Lynn jumped, startled.

"Too much coffee?" Garrett teased. "You're jumpy."

"No....just didn't hear you come in. You scared me."

Garrett chuckled and pulled down his face mask. "Just wanted to see if you found anything interesting."

"Nah. As autopsies go, this one's pretty cut and dried. Man died of a stroke. His insurance company ordered the autopsy. Hardening of the arteries, heart damage .... All pretty typical stuff."

"Pretty boring?"

Lynn pulled off her face mask and snapped off her gloves. "No...just pretty typical. I don't figure you'll give me a really challenging case until I've proved myself."

"I'll probably have to let you and Jordan draw straws. She likes challenging, too."

"So I've gathered. She's really good."

"Yeah."

"Has she been in Boston her whole life?"

"She bounced around a bit. She's here to stay now. She owns a bar and works here."

Lynn let out a low whistle. "Busy lady."

"Yeah, too busy. Compound that with one Detective Hoyt, and you've got a lady that doesn't know which end of her is up sometimes."

"Detective Hoyt?"

"You probably haven't met him yet. He usually requests Jordan, for obvious reasons. Who have you met?"

"Other than the folks in the morgue, not really anyone. I haven't had time...getting settled and all. And I've been in the office mainly. You haven't released me for field work yet," Lynn said, pointedly.

"I get the hint, Lynn. I'll put you with Jordan next week. I know you were used to working on your own in Wilmington and soon you will here, too. Just need to make sure you know how we work here."

Lynn grinned at him. "I know, boss." She stopped by the ladies' locker room to change out of her scrubs. "Have a good evening, Garrett."

"Wait a minute....are you doing anything tonight?"

"Ummm...grocery shopping and laundry."

"Could I talk you out of that and coming with me to the Pogue?"

"The Pogue?"

"Jordan's bar."

"Sounds like a winner....let me get changed."