Chapter Three

Nigel had run the DNA tests. He had hated to do it, but he was forced.

Forced to do something against his will…forced to submit to a person with more authority…forced to run a test that could ruin his friend.

He didn't want to do it. He told her he didn't want to do it. She said she understood, just go ahead, run the damn tests, and the hell with the outcome.

So he did. He ran Malden's DNA against traces of an unknown DNA source found in the police car that James had driven the night he jumped from the apartment building into the river. There was enough of a match to verify a genetic relationship between the unknown DNA and Malden. The DA had declared that Malden was James' father. The links were quickly coming together to forge a chain in the DA's case. If Baker could link Max and Malden together…he would have a case. If Malden was James' father, then there was a chance that he was also Jordan's father. That would give Max double motive for wanting Malden murdered– keeping all the money for himself and the fact that his wife had a long-time affair with Malden and fathered the children he thought were his.

So what was next? A DNA sample from Max and Jordan. That proved harder. Malden's and James' DNA samples were already in police custody. It would take a court order to search Max's old house for a trace of genetic material as well as a court order to force Jordan to give a DNA sample. There was no way she was going to voluntarily give one.

And right now the DA would be hard pressed to get a judge to sign off on either order.

Nigel had sighed with relief. He was afraid the nightmare that would keep him awake at night would be of him pulling a DNA sample from Jordan against her will and processing it. Instead, the dream that kept him up was one of Jordan running…afraid, alone, and vulnerable…away from everyone that loved her and that she loved.

It was this vision that kept Nigel up nights…kept him pale…and kept the dark circles under his eyes. While Bug and Lily were just as emotionally torn apart about what the DA was doing to Jordan, Nigel felt had a personal hand in launching her from Boston….against his will, to be sure, but nevertheless, he felt as if he himself put her on a plane and shipped her out of her hometown. He had nearly searched for her himself … thoroughly this time, and not the general search that Garret had asked for earlier…out of concern. Came really close to doing it a couple of times. Garret knew what he had been thinking. "Ignorance is bliss sometimes, Nige," he said, in passing one day. Nigel knew what he meant. If he didn't know where she was at, he could honestly say he didn't know to the DA, if questioned. Even pass a lie detector test, if necessary. Then the DA would have to find her on his own.

And he would give anything to bring her back…His heart broke for Jordan. She was just getting her life together…keeping up with the Pogue and her work as an ME, finally building a relationship with Woody. Slaying the demons that had tormented her for years…and then this. He missed her more than he could put in to words…but it was better that she stay wherever she was at for now.

But maybe, someday, she could come home….at least that's what he hoped.

Jordan arrived at the university and went to her office. She didn't have to teach for a couple of more hours, but she had some tests to grade and needed to go over her lesson plan for the dissection lab this afternoon.

In many ways, the line between being a teacher and an ME had blurred for her. She still worked with bodies, but now it was cadavers. She was giving another group of up-and-coming doctors her knowledge and hopefully implanting some of her intuition with them…but she hadn't worked with detectives or helped solve a crime in six months or longer.

She missed her old work. She missed her friends. She missed Woody. But she was trying hard to build a new life for herself here, in Ireland. She couldn't see herself ever returning to the States…to Massachusetts…to Boston. That part of her life was now a closed chapter. She was desperately and deliberately trying to recreate herself in her new surroundings.

Outwardly, she was being very successful. She was a popular professor at the university. She had quickly earned a reputation for being fair, but tough….and extremely knowledgeable. The students liked her for her quick wit and her dedication to them. The dean liked her because she was on time, prepared, and didn't mind working extra hours. Caroline's neighbors liked her because she would run errands for them and always took time to speak to them…not like some "Yanks" who would just breeze by them without so much as a hello.

Kathleen had tried to fix her up with a couple of the local boys. "It's not good that a young one like you sit at home on Friday nights," she had commented. Kathleen had introduced her to John and Patrick….two young men in Dublin who were very nice…she had a good time with them…going to the local pubs, dancing…but if the truth was told, she would rather sit home in her room on the weekends and read, watch a little TV, or remember. Remember working with Nigel and Bug. Lunches with Lily. Talks with Garret. Life before Baker became the DA in Boston.

Remembering how it felt kissing Woody.

Leaving family was difficult…and that's what her co-workers were at the morgue…her family. They were all she had after Max left. She thought time and space might ease make the loss she felt. It hadn't.

Especially where Woody was concerned. They had just started really dating when she had to leave. They had just started really understanding each other. He had told her about his parents…his revelations had both shocked and enlightened her. Now she knew why he understood her so well. Their losses nearly mirrored each other's. It had allowed her to finally open her heart to this man who worked so hard to protect her…knowing he wouldn't hurt her. Unlike the other men in her life, he would be there … always.

And he had been. Up to the end. Until she reached the point she knew she would have to leave in order to protect him. That last night, she had showed up at his apartment, crushed, nearly completely destroyed emotionally by Baker. She had knocked, and he answered the door, took one look at her shattered form, and pulled her into his apartment. He had dried her tears and held her…made love to her until the wee hours of the morning.

She knew what she had to do before she even got to his apartment. As a matter of fact, the airline tickets had been in her purse. Her packed suitcases were waiting at her apartment. She came to tell him goodbye, but in the end, realized it was better for him all the way around if he didn't know she was leaving…if she told him she was going, he would want to know where. And he didn't need to know that. The DA would be all over him, then. And she couldn't bear that thought. No. She had to keep everyone she loved and loved her in the dark.

So after he was finally asleep, she had gently untangled herself from his arms, swiped a pair of his sweat pants and a Boston PD t-shirt to wear home, tenderly kissed him one more time, and let herself out of the apartment.

She knew he would wake up in a few hours and realize she was gone…and begin to call…and then search for her. She only had a few hours to do what she needed to. She had gone back to her apartment and changed into jeans and a blouse, and threw his sweat pants and t-shirt into her carry-on. She called a taxi. She went by the morgue to leave her resignation and cell-phone on Garret's desk, took the few personal effects out of her office, and then went to the airport. The only person in all of Boston who knew exactly what she was doing was her lawyer, Bill Crahen. Bill had even purchased her plane tickets for her….in a fictious name with cashso the Boston PD and Baker couldn't trace them back to her.

So she had left for Ireland. Left the life she had known and loved back in Boston. And left her heart in Woody's apartment. She was a popular figure in this part of the country…but a lonely one. Somewhat solitary…somewhat sad…but strong in her own subtle way.