Chapter Seven

Nothing. All the lab equipment in the morgue and the Boston PD were coming up with nothing. Not a finger print…not a lead…nothing. Lois had sent uniformed police officers and detectives out within a half-mile radius of Jordan's apartment to question any possible witnesses. No one had seen or heard anything. "You can't tell me that some guy sprayed a girl with Propobuoxin III and loaded her into another vehicle and no one saw anything," Woody had said, incredulously, "at five in the afternoon….when rush hour was starting?" Things were not adding up.

Lois sighed. "Who is Jordan's next of kin?" she had asked.

"Max."

"Get him to file a missing person's report. Then we can get her all over the news….and have everybody looking for her."

Reluctantly, Woody found himself going over to the Pogue. How was he going to tell Max that his daughter, his only child, was missing….and had been missing, but they weren't sure for how long. The phone records had come in. There had been no calls either to or from her apartment phone in the past two days. The calls she had made from her cell phone were all business related…families she was notifying…detectives she was passing along information to…all the incoming calls had been business, too…except for one. And Lois was having that traced down now. If Jordan had been snatched while she was leaving to go to work, this call occurred roughly an hour and a half prior. He pushed the door open to the bar.

"Woody," Max said, talking over the din of the bar patrons. "Little early tonight, aren't you? Bad day?"

"Yeah, Max. Real bad. Can I talk to you a minute?"

"Sure…sure…tough case?" The young detective often would discuss particularly difficult cases with the former Boston PD homicide detective. Max often provided an insight that Woody didn't have. No wonder Jordan was such a good investigator. She got it honest.

"It's a tough case…it involves Jordan, Max."

"What has she done now…I tell you, Woody, I don't know what Garret is going to do with her…"

"No… Max. It's….it's…Jordan's missing, Max."

"Missing? How? Has she run off again?"

"No…no…it's nothing like that. She didn't come in for her shift tonight. Nigel called her cell phone and her apartment phone. No answer. We went to her apartment, she wasn't there. We searched her truck, to find the door open and her pocketbook and cell phone on the seat. No word from her at all."

Max went completely white with shock. His relationship with his daughter had been on the skids…he didn't know what was going on in her life. "Any ideas? Do you know what…"

"We know Jordan was being watched….stalked." Woody went on to tell Max about the cards….about the man in the parking deck…about the hair cut. Max went a little paler with each word.

"She said nothing to nobody?" he finally managed to get out.

"No one but Lois, and only about three days ago. The best we can figure, the guy had been following her for at least three months, but she didn't report it. We need you to come down to the station and fill out a missing person's report. That way, we can get her picture out there, in front of everyone….all the police, the sheriff's department, highway patrol….everyone."

Max nodded. "Let me get my coat."

Jordan felt herself being hoisted over the man's shoulder and carried somewhere. Bracing herself for the worse, she figured he was taking her into the back room of the tiny building they were in. She was surprised when he opened the door and took her outside…but her heart fell again when he trudged over to an outbuilding…he pushed the door open, and sat her on the floor. Her hands and feet were still tied together. There was enough light to notice that the floor of the building had been ripped up. There was a hole dug out, and in it was a box. A big, wooden box. Big enough for someone to lie down and even turn over in.

The man grinned at her. "I think a few days of select isolation may make you more receptive to my ideas," he said. "I'm going to put you in here…" he pointed to the box, "and cover you up. You'll have a flashlight….water….some food. You'll survive….In a few days, I'll be back. Your batteries will have burned out by then….and we'll see just how anxious you are to get out of that box….exactly what you will do to get out of that box."

Flashes of Digger ran through Jordan's mind. No… He couldn't do this to her….That had been the worse case Jordan had ever worked on. It had been the only one that would send her mind careening into nightmares….It had taken her months to get over it. If she ever did. "No…please…." She said.

"No can do, sugar. You'll be fine. I promise. And with that, he lifted her one more time and put her in the box. Laying her down, he pulled a gun from the back waistband of his pants. "I'm going to untie you….and if you make a move, I'll shoot. So be a good girl." He cut her ropes with a knife, and before Jordan could even react, he slammed the lid on the box. She heard him begin to nail it shut.

"Look….I'm considered an officer of the court. When they catch you, there's going to be hell to pay for this," she said.

She just heard him laugh.

"If you let me go, I'll walk away from this and forget it…they'll never know. You have my word."

Nothing….just more hammering. She offered a few more suggestions, but he never replied….just kept hammering….nailing the lid shut and then replacing the floorboards. Finally Jordan heard him close the door and lock it.

She was alone….in the box….underground….in the dark.

Max had filled out the missing persons report. Garret had supplied a recent picture of Jordan. It had been scanned into the system and alerts had gone out. Lois was still questioning her fellow co-workers.

"She's not mentioned anyone….anyone new…that may be bothering her…or made her feel uneasy?" Lois asked.

They all said no. Sydney hadn't been working long enough to know Jordan well at all. And the truth was, Garret, Nigel, and Bug had pretty much lost contact with her since she began working the graveyard shift weeks before. And even when she was on regular rotation, she seldom talked to them any longer on a personal level. She kept everything strictly professional. Nigel was shocked at himself….shocked at how little he now knew about a person he once considered his best friend.

Lily could offer no more information, either. At one time, she and Jordan would chat about dates….men ….clothes. But no longer. Before Jordan started the graveyard shift, she would come in, go straight to her office, and go to work. She even ate at her desk….or out on the run, doing errands. She no longer chatted with Lily, other than giving her a "Good Morning" or "Hey, Lil, how's it going?" Now that Jordan was working nights, Lily never saw her. She knew nothing.

"Was she seeing anyone at all that you could tell…any suspicious phone messages….anyone new that you would believe in her personal life calling the morgue?" Woody had asked, a little more desperate with each passing minute.

"No, Woody….I don't think she's dated anyone….since…since…."

He ran his hand through his hair. "Since our fight."

"Yeah."

Emmy backed up Lily's story. Other than the cards that had been coming into the morgue at regular intervals, there had been nothing unusual.

Lois finally called Woody over to her. "Hoyt, I hate to have to do this to you, but we're going to have to ask you for a sample of your DNA."

"Mine? Why?"

Lois shrugged. "You know procedure….you two were a couple and you two had a fight. It was common knowledge. Although I know you didn't do anything to hurt Jordan, if we do run into some DNA evidence, we will need to clear you of any wrong doing. So I'm going to have to ask you to give a sample."

"Sure. No problem."

"And a few other questions….when was the last time you were in Jordan's apartment?"

Woody thought carefully. "Not recently at all….probably six months ago at the least."

"She ever in yours?"

"Yeah…but again, it's been at least six, seven months. She was in my office a month or so ago…"

Lois nodded. "One more thing, Woody. I know this is personal….but for the record…and just in the worse case scenario…when was the last time you and Jordan had sex?"

Woody swallowed hard. As much as he and Jordan had flirted and teased with each other….most folks assumed…but it hadn't reached that point. "We never had….our relationship just wasn't there yet…that was going to be a huge step for both of us if it ever happened."

Lois patted him on the back. "Thanks for your honesty, Woody. Nigel will collect the DNA for the lab. Hopefully we'll have her back in a few hours…."

"Yeah…hopefully." He gave Lois a weak smile.

"And when we do….you can make it up to her."

He hoped so…he fervently hoped so.