1000 Miles From Nowhere
---- CHAPTER FOUR ----
---- Two Days Later - Boston, MA ----
As Garret walked down the hall towards Nigel's office, he looked up at the map on the glass with the dots. Nothing. No dots anywhere past Pittsburgh. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, and looked at Nigel's empty chair. There was a note taped to the computer screen, which simply read:
Running Urgent Tests
DO NOT TOUCH
-Nigel
He had to admit, you didn't mess with Nigel's computer. Especially when they were running trace on Jordan. For the past two days and nights, they'd gotten nothing. No hits at all, not even a withdrawl from an ATM or anything. Nothing. It was like she'd fallen off the face of the earth. Garret leaned close to the screen, lifted the paper to make sure no new dots had popped up, then went back into his office and shot a glance at the guitar that was now sitting on a stand next to his desk. He'd wanted it closer to him and had gone back to her apartment, found the stand, and brought it in. He sat in his chair and looked at it, trying to figure out what she was up to, where she was headed, anything.
"Talk to us Jordan. Let us know you're okay." He muttered softly to himself, concentrating on the guitar. "We're worried about you Jor." Garret found it to be a bit strange that he was sitting talking to her guitar, but her guitar was a part of her, and it felt connected somehow. "Let Nigel find you. Just an ATM or a damn coffeeshop. He's worried sick Jordan, you know he is. He's not sleeping good because he can't stop thinking about you and if you're alright." He sighed softly and leaned back, looking at it. "Just let us know you're okay. Anything. Hell, give us morse code or smoke signals and Nigel will find them right about now."
Garret stared at it for another minute, before dropping his head back and shutting his eyes.
"Oklahoma! Oklahoma City!!" Nigel came tearing down the hall with a piece of paper in his hand and flung himself into Garret's office.
Garret just snapped his eyes open and stared at the guitar.
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---- Oklahoma City, OK ----
Jordan counted out the cash and slipped it into her pocket as she walked away from the ATM, heading back to the El Camino. She slunk into the seat and sat for a minute, staring at the machine stuck in the wall of the bank. She laughed softly and shook her head as she pictured the scene back at the morgue. Nigel was yelling, Garret was stressing, and they were trying to figure out where they were going to find her next. If it weren't for the ATM, they would still think she was somewhere near Pittsburgh, or halfway to Cuba by now. But now they knew she was in Oklahoma.
She rolled her eyes as a man in tight jeans and a white t-shirt whistled at her as he walked down the sidewalk, and after promptly flipping him the bird, she started up the El Camino and sighed as she let it warm up for a minute. The sun was just starting to set, and she had to admit that she felt just a little bit homesick. She missed Garret, missed Nigel...missed Lily and Bug, and even missed Sydney. She missed Woody too, but he wasn't home anymore. He'd left to Kewaunee and was gone for good.
As she pulled back onto the road and headed for the freeway, she slid her sunglasses over her eyes as she drove into the golden glow of the setting sun. She had to admit, it was sorta nice out here. Flat, and full of miles of empty field, but nice. Peaceful. Deep down she felt an urging to turn around and head back to Boston, but she just had to keep driving away, without looking back. And that she did. She had enough cash to get her pretty damn far, and she smiled. It'd be awhile before Garret and Nigel heard from her again.
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---- Boston, MA ----
"ATM in Oklahoma City. She took out two separate withdrawls. That's probably as much cash as she could get." Nigel looked at Garret. "She knows we're tracking her."
"Of course she does. If she didn't she'd be a fool. She's using cash, using fake names at hotels...she knows Nigel. She just doesn't want us to find her." He sighed softly, leaning his elbows on his desk. "Why would she be running west?"
"Maybe a relative...?"
"No. She's never told me of any relatives besides her grandmother." Garret thought to himself. "Maybe...maybe she's going to California. Back to L.A., the morgue out there? She probably had friends from when she worked out there." He paused. "She went out there to get Woody too. Maybe they're going to meet there?"
"Possibly. I'll go refine the search for cities west of Oklahoma City and target within a 24 hour drive. She seems to be sticking to the major highways." Nigel nodded. "You want me to call Los Angeles?"
"No, I'll do it. After I put in a few more calls." There was one call he had to make first, before anything else. "Thanks Nige."
"Welcome Dr. M." Nigel turned and left without saying another word.
Garret watched through the windows of his office as Nigel placed another dot on the map taped to the glass, then smiled when Lily rushed up, out of her office to see where she was now. "Jordan, I swear if you only knew how much we all missed you, you'd be home in an instant." He sighed softly and then picked up the phone, before asking for information in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.
"Sheriff's Department, please."
"Hold for one moment."
Garret nodded as the operator clicked off and the number was automatically connected.
"Kewaunee County Sheriff Switchboard."
"Ah, yes, I'd like to talk to the chief there, please."
"Your name sir?"
"Dr. Garret Macy, Chief M.E., Boston Medical Examiner's Office."
"One moment sir, we'll connect."
Garret nodded as he was put on hold, rubbing the back of his neck softly while he waited for the line to reconnect.
"This is Sheriff John Cmeyla. What can we do for you Doctor Macy?"
"I need to get in contact with a Detective Woodrow Hoyt. He just recently transferred to your department from Boston, and I need to followup on some details on a case. Do you have a way I can get in touch with him sir?"
"Let me transfer you to Hoyt's desk."
"Thank you Sheriff." Garret was slightly surprised, this was easier than he thought. He waited for the line to reconnect again.
"This is Hoyt."
"Woody."
"Doc! Hey!" Woody's voice sounded happier than Garret thought it should sound. "What made you track me down all the way up here?"
"She ran Woody. Where is she?" Garret sighed softly and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. "She's gone. Three days ago. She took off after the night at the Pogue. She left a letter saying she hurt you and that's why she was leaving. Where is she going?"
"No clue Doc. She said some horrible things to Devan, I told her she had issues, and I left. My resignation was already approved by the Chief and everything. I'm done with Boston." Woody paused. "Why would you think I knew where she was going?"
Garret sat in silence for a moment. "Because you're...you're you. Woody, where is she going?"
"I don't know Doc. Frankly, I don't care."
"WHAT?!" Garret roared into the phone and jumped to his feet, his eyes locking with the rest of the staff looking at him in shock. "What do you mean you don't care?!"
"I don't care Doc. I'm done with Boston, I'm done with Jordan, I'm done with dealing with her shit. She wants to take off and run, you guys can handle finding her. You've done it before, you can do it again."
It took every shred of self control for Garret not to strangle Woody over the phone.
"I'm done Doc."
"No shit Hoyt." Garret snapped. "You know what else you're done with. Me. Nigel. Everyone else in Boston you thought you were friends with. Every connection you had in this town is GONE. You hurt Jordan and then don't give a damn, I have half a mind to come to your little hometown and kick your ass. You can mess with me Woody but the second you entered Jordan's life you were on thin ice. And you just fell through it. And I'm not gonna drag your sorry ass out." He barked at him angrily. "You mess with Jor and you're done. You. Are. Done."
With that, Garret slammed the phone down in the receiver and looked at the now full hallway outside his office. "GET! I don't pay you to stand around!" He snapped, pleased as the hallway cleared and people scattered. He sank into his chair and his eyes fell to the group photo they had taken on Bug's birthday. It was all of them gathered in the conference room, together, with a cake, balloons, and a camera.
Devan's mother had made them each a copy of the photograph after her daughter's death - sort of a way to remember her and to let the people at the morgue know how happy she had been at her job in Boston. He smiled slightly at all of them and then shook his head. A week ago, none of this was like this. Everything was normal.
Garret really liked things when they were normal.
TBC.
A/N - Sorry if this is sorta short, but five will be up soon, so it'll make up for it. I promise.