Jordan opened the front door to her apartment and an unpleasant surprise: May O'Mallory. Today, the master thief sported a jogging outfit, and a purple wig; she was in her early fifties. During the course of her long career, Max nor any other police officer could ever even come close to catching her. Federal agents fared likewise.

"May O'Mallory I presume?" Jordan cautiously stepped forward.

"No your grandma. Come in, I'm not gonna kill ya. It's not my 'M.O' " She lounged on Jordan's couch sipping a drink from a shot glass.

"I've heard a lot about you…." Jordan told her coolly.

"Yeah…..I usually visit your father, but I don't want to deal with that self-righteous shrew he's shacked up with" The thief sighed.

"Not to mention the fact that a federal judge lives there too." Jordan retorted, hiding her surprise about the fact that May used to visit her father.

"Oh please, if I can visit your father, who was a cop, a judge is a piece of cake." May rolled her eyes.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Jordan asked sarcastically.

"I want you to send him a message for me."

"Why should I?"

"Good question……" The thief paced around. "Just tell him to back off"

"Off what???" Jordan squinted her eyes.

"He knows" the thief shrugged.

"Again why don't you tell him yourself" Jordan repeated.

"What do you want me to say?" May shrugged curtly "That I know some deep dark secret about your mother and that I'll tell you if you help me?" May sharpened her sarcastic tone. "What do you think this is, a soap opera?"

"Bitch! How dare you!!!" Jordan's face turned red, illuminating her enlarged and darkened pupils. All the repressed pain, anger, and hurt came up. She walked closer to the woman, barely keeping herself from striking her. "Go to hell!"

"Actually, that was what I'm going to say." the woman conceded, with a sigh, and pulled something from the pocket of her sweatpants. "Though my feud with your father will go to deathcon 99"

Not unlike a junkie about to get a fix, Jordan grabbed at the object; a gold pendant of the Virgin Mary, holding the infant Jesus, above three men in a flimsy boat, who were about to drown during a large storm

"This belonged to her" Jordan said breathlessly. " Dad bought it from some poor woman, whose husband was outta work . She's the virgin of …tin or something." The pendant seemed to bring her mother back. Quickly she turned it over. "It even has her initials.

"Copper…actually. I used to have 'associates' in Miami who wore silver dollar sized versions of those things made of eighteen carat gold." The gossipy tone belied the reality of May's manipulation. Max's refusal to tell Jordan much made her putty in the thief's hands, especially now that she could back up her promises.

"Where'd you get this? You know something about what happened to my mom?"

"No, I took it when I bonked your father" May retorted. " Of course I know stuff. Just don't mention this deal to him."

"Sure." Jordan's obsessions had metaphorically locked her good judgment in a dark dungeon within the deep crevices of her mind.

"And the message has to be in terms of action" With her machinations in place, May could be more demanding.

"Sure, I know just the thing" Jordan knew a few things that she could threaten her father with as a bluff.

Soon, May left; it was past eleven at night. Jordan left soon after, trying to see when would be a good time to go see her father, as she didn't want Maxine nor her family questioning anything. Wanting to guise it as a regular visit, she went to the house, hours after arriving at Hartford.

"Jordan? Great to see ya!" Amy cooed, in some loose clothes. as she opened the door. "We're about to have dinner." She noticed the circles under Jordan's eyes.

Soon, father and daughter said their hellos, and dinner started. All three of Maxine's children, daughter- in- law, and two grandchildren were there.

"What brought you all the way here?" Maxine asked, whilst serving herself mashed potatoes.

"I …wanted to see my dad." Jordan told them. dishonestly, getting herself a piece of pork chop, decorated with specks of oregano. "You found a way to keep him outta Boston" she teased partly in complaint, and partly in jest, grabbing a platter of wild rice from Vincent.

"Is it true you cut up dead people?" Lauren, Amy's young daughter asked. She had long brown hair, and sat next to her chagrined mother. Everyone else widened their eyes as well.

"Yeah. Sometimes, you need to check why…the person died." Max explained.

"But she's a real doctor?"

"Yeah. I should know, I paid the bills" he quipped with a smile, as Maxine laughed. Then continued to explain. "For example, sometimes, people die because they get too much medicine or the wrong one altogether. So, there exist special doctors like Jordan to look into those things" Max did not want to get in a discussion of homicide investigations with the young child.

"It's really sad for a person when they don't know the why or how of the death of someone they love" Jordan hinted.

"Sometimes, things aren't meant to be known" Max simply told her, swiveling his fork, and making patterns with his food.

"Oh for God's sake, Jordan!" Maxine scolded with anger, irritation, and concern for Max.. "Go air out your…tantrums on the Jerry Springer show! I won't stand for it here!" The social worker could be biting and sharp in her words when the mood struck her.

"Yeah maybe my real father was a four armed, fire-swallower." Jordan angrily retorted, slamming her fork.

"Jordan…." Max tried to be patient, despite his anger. She knew his buttons.

"Amy, how would you like it if there was stuff about your father's death that your mother knew, but would not tell you?"

"Well…uh…I'd understand…." Amy flubbed, uncomfortably; she didn't want to admit that she too would demand answers. "Given that I'm a mother and all.. .." Maxine glared at her lack of conviction .

"Bullshit!" Jordan yelled.

"Honey, why don't you go and do your homework?!" Amy ordered her daughter through clenched teeth.

"Fine" Deciding to listen from the stairwell, the little girl sighed and complied reluctantly.

"Meet me outside!" Jordan ordered, with fury as she got up from the table.

"Maybe you should continue your visit another time." Max's Bostonian accent thickened in his anger. He hated it when Jordan brought up the whole issue about her mother's murder.

"I'll be waiting!" Jordan huffed as she left and went to the front porch, slamming the front door with a slam that sharpened in the awkward silence, causing everyone to wince.

Max merely stared at his food.

As Jordan sulked, and pouted on the old, wooden bench she saw someone come to the door.

"Hi!....." The man greeted awkwardly. He had blue eyes, and brown hair. "I'm Sean Potter, Maxine's …boss. Is she home?" Sean found himself attracted to Jordan, who wore a simple outfit of jeans and tee-shirt. For him, seeing her compensated well for the discomfort of having to disturb Maxine at home. "And your…..?"

Jordan raised her eyebrows, and sighed in disbelief. "I guess the department isn't the only place recruiting young."

"Well..uh…she never really liked the supervisor gig." He told her lamely.

"She's in a crappy mood" She informed him, cynically "I had a fight with my dad during dinner."

"Oh….you're Max's daughter!" It was all he could think of to say, and felt like an idiot for doing so.

"Yep. Why do you wanna talk to her?"

"Something came up…..that's all I can say." Sean had gotten the call when while doing some much needed paperwork in his office. Soon, they both heard some heavy footsteps.

"Jordan!" Max bellowed, with rage, "I thought I said…..oh hi Sean…."

"I need to talk to Maxine." Sean told him, wondering why father and daughter had fought.

"Is it about the Kimberly case, isn't it?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Let's just chalk it up to experience shall we?" Max told him, trying to be matter-of-fact. Sean had been referring to a certain Jane Kimberly who had gone into foster care after the mysterious murder of her mother. To this day, the poor girl had been obsessed with uncovering the mystery.

" Is it some kid who's mom was murdered?" Jordan asked, taking the hint very well.

"No……." He gave Sean a stern look, as if to say 'play along or else!'. As a cop, he had perfected this to an art form. "She's a chronic runaway, who likes to shoplift." The last think he wanted was for Jordan's obsessions to be wound up yet again.

"Look,…I just need to see Maxine." Sean didn't have the heart to lie to Jordan by playing along. Besides, he figured that Max's implicit threat could be seen as a mere bluff.

"Come in" Max growled, then came in himself, after giving Jordan a dirty look. Then he announced the new guest's presence ."Maxine! Sean is here."

Sighing, she went to greet him. "Yes?"

"It's about the Kimberly case."

Her eyes widened.

Discreetly, the three went somewhere private to talk.

"She's run away to catch her mother's killer."

"What?" While runaways were a routine worry for Maxine, the idea of a teenager trying to catch a murderer scared her.

"Did the foster family suspect anything?"

"No"

"According to the police report, her older half brother had been a major suspect" Max put in. He sometimes helped Maxine with her cases. "Any idea where he lives?"

"No…"

As they talked, Jordan decided to leave. Perhaps she should spy on her father before making threats. Quickly, she got into a hotel room, and booked a car at a rental office located on the lobby. Then she bought some wigs.

The first few days of this endeavor consisted of following Max to the supermarket, the nearby school, where he went to pick up Lauren, Maxine's office and other mundane routines. The fourth day proved to be a failure when as she watched for him to return to his car, Max, to her embarrassment, knocked loudly and with rage on the driver side window.

"What the hell are you doing???" He yelled, feeling betrayed.

"Uh...sitting in my car…it's a nice day." Jordan retorted as she opened the window.

"Did you think that I wouldn't notice??"

"You're up to something shady dad, and I know it!" Jordan bluffed.

TBC