Chapter Ten

"You should go to him, lass," said Caroline, watching Jordan as she helped her aunt rewind some yarn for her knitting. They were sitting in the den, enjoying the warm summer evening.

Jordan had returned to Ireland after spending a month bouncing from city to city, trying to stay one step ahead of the DA. She had cut her waist length hair to her shoulders and highlighted it with blonde streaks. She had even purchased green contacts to disguise herself. She had run and lived in fear for a month. Then one morning she woke up in yet another seedy hotel and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and faced reality. She didn't want to live like this. God knows, she didn't want to go to jail for a crime she didn't commit, but she didn't want to live in fear and anonymity the rest of her life. She had boarded a train. She came back to the village. She had told Caroline and Kathleen everything – about her father, about Malden, about James….about the fact that she could be imprisoned for a crime she didn't do. They had agreed she could stay there…it was summer and she wouldn't have to teach again until fall…the university would gladly give her another teaching position. She could stay there and decide what she wanted to do…they would hide her the best they could and would tell no one she was there.

Then Woody had called Kathleen again. "It's over," he said, not going into a lot of details. "They've found Malden's real killer. Jordan's been completely and publicly exonerated. I made sure of it myself. Douglas Baker has been arrested on another crime…facing multiple charges. The new DA wants Jordan to come back and take up her position as ME…and I want her back….for me…If she contacts you, could you please tell her to call me?"

Kathleen had told Woody yes…if she heard from Jordan, she would pass it on. And she did. She told Jordan. Then she asked her cousin if she would go home…back to the States. Jordan had just stared at her and said, "I am home."

"Are you now, girl?" her cousin had asked, in her thick Irish brogue. "Seems to me there's a lot waiting for you on the other side of the pond. Especially that young man there. He loves you."

So now Jordan was pondering the same advice she had given Woody years ago…Home…was it right behind her or right in front of her? She really wasn't sure. Ireland had brought her peace of mind….serenity….a healing for her scarred soul. She loved the people and this place. It was a jewel among her memories.

But to put down permanent roots here…to live out the rest of her life here….that was a different matter. Marry some man named Sean or Patrick that she didn't love half as much as she loved Woody …teach the rest of her life…have children that would speak with a brogue instead of a Boston accent…All of that was scary.

However, if she went back to Boston, would she still be able to live in peace? That was her dream…finally, after all these years…to have peace…a normal life. For the first time since she was a young girl, Jordan new what she wanted…what she dreamed of having…a normal life…a peaceful Boston give that to her? The only way to know was to go back and see.

"Well?" Caroline asked, bringing Jordan out of her thoughts. "Are you? Going to him, that is?"

Jordan stood up and kissed her aunt on her cheek. "Yes. I am going back to Boston…but if things aren't exactly the way they should be…if I can't be left alone, if I can't have peace, I'll be back."

Caroline nodded. "You'll always have a home here, Jordan."

Jordan winced at the bright sunlight coming in the plane's window. She had nearly forgotten that in returning to the States, her day would literally be turned back in time. The plane was getting ready to land. She buckled and for a fleeting moment thought of Devan. She hadn't felt easy about flying since Devan's accident. She heard the screech of the wheels as they hit the tarmac. The plane had landed safely.

She had called Bill Crahen and verified what Woody had told Kathleen. Bill had filled her in on all the details…James…his confession….his suicide. Jordan had wept over the brother she never really got to know. She found some comfort in the fact that James did love her and in his own warped way was trying to protect her and be a good big brother. She had wept even harder when she discovered how her mother had died.

So now she had two closed chapters in her book of life. Malden's murder and her mother's. She was in a position, that if she could live in Boston in peace, now was the time to try it out. She told Bill not to tell anyone she was coming back to the city. "This is strictly a trial basis," she had said. "I may yet decide to take up permanent residence in Ireland and become an Irishcitizen."

"The new DA wants you back, Jordan," Bill had replied. "So does Macy. Your office is still empty….waiting on you. And Woody wants you back most of all."

Jordan got a rental car from the desk at the airport. I'd give anything to have my old El Camino back, she thought as she headed from Logan into Boston. She was planning to retrace her steps. It had been well over year since she had Boston soil on the bottom of her shoes. She planned to see just how adaptable that soil was once again to her roots. She drove by her Pearle Street apartment. She knew it had long ago been rented out, but she went up to apartment 311 anyway. She lightly touched the big red door, then turned away. In so many ways, that seemed like decades ago instead of just a year…that she lived here. She was a completely different person now than that young, tormented, impetuous woman that had resided inside. She sighed and got on the elevator and rode it down to her car.

Her next stop was the morgue. The butterflies in her stomach were churning as she arrived on her floor. Lily was at the front desk. Jordan paused. "May I help…Oh my God!' Lily exclaimed, coming out from around the desk to catch her friend in a hug. "Oh my God." Jordan felt tears coming to her eyes.

Lily's cries alerted Bug, who came out of his office to see what was going on. "Sweet Nancy," he said, taking Jordan out of Lily's arms and into his own. "God….you look good…what…are you back now? For good? Nigel…Nigel…come here…Come here now."

Nigel turned the corner and lost his breath. "Jordan…oh my….Jordan." And when Nigel grabbed her and swung her around, Jordan did lose it. The tears came. He gently wiped away the tears with his thumbs, holding her face in his hands. "Oh, girl….how we've missed you…Are you back for good?"

"What's going on?" a stern voice asked from behind the group. They parted so that Garret could see. He pulled his glasses off his face. "Jo?" He hugged her and she lost it again. Her mascara was in ruins. "You know, your office is open…available…please tell me you're back."

"I don't know," she replied through tears and Kleenex. "It depends on if this case is really closed like I've heard. I don't want to ever hear anything else about it. I'd like to try to come back on a trial basis…say three months. That would give me time to really see." Garret nodded. The new DA would be delighted.

"Does Woody know, love?," Nigel finally asked. He had assumed that she had gone to the detective first.

"No. I actually just got into town about two hours ago. I've been tying down some loose ends before I came here."

"I'll walk you over," Garret said. "And what the hell have you done to your hair?"

"Detective Hoyt? He's in the interrogation room with a suspect," Lois Carver told Garret when he asked where Woody was. "The Loring Case…"

"Can we watch from the observation room?" he asked.

"Sure. Good to have you back, Jordan."

"Thanks."

Jordan went into the observation room…to watch him. He still looked like the naïve detective from Wisconsin, but he was a shark. He could get suspects to trust him with his affable, good-hearted nature, but then zero in for the kill.

"From the sounds of this, he's going to be in there a while," commented Garret. "Want me to see if I can get him to come out?"

Jordan suddenly had an idea. "No…just tell him a woman wants to meet him at the Pogue. Don't tell him who, just tell him to show up tonight around nine."

Garret nodded, wondering what she was up to…but asked no questions. Jordan seemed a lot more sure of herself than when she left Boston over a year ago. Who was he to question that…or her?