I think this chapter is a bit lame, but it's hard to write with a house full of holiday guests! Sorry! :-)
Hope everyone had a great Christmas.
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A week later, Reed hadn't called. She hadn't really expected him to. That was just the way things had always been between them. He was every bit as stubborn as she, if not more so.
Woody hadn't called either. She had thought he would, or at least hoped he might.
She hadn't been able to stop thinking about that night. The kiss, his confession. A week later it was still staggering.
So now, it was truly over between them. It had been her doing the first time, and she was living to regret it all over again. Now, every shrink's admonition that she couldn't run from her past forever was being proven to her in spades.
Work was some solace. She had signed up for double shifts all week and found she could distract herself to some degree. And then as she drove home or finally closed her eyes to sleep the sharp pain began to find its way back into her consciousness.
What if she hadn't lost the baby? What if he had asked? What if she had said yes? What if? What if? What if? Her mind reeled.
She stared down at the body on the autopsy table in front of her, wrapped in the comforting solitude. It was a young woman, about the same age as herself.
Garret entered the room and breezed by her.
"Whaddya got?"
"Caucasian female. Nancy Parker. Age 36. Fell down the stairs on her way to breakfast while her husband and two kids watched. Cervical fracture at C3. Spinal shock. Died almost instantly."
Garret shook his head grimly. "Such a fine line between a few nasty bumps and bruises and lying in the morgue."
Lily came through the door. "Here's that file you asked for on Nancy Parker. Is this her? So sad. I was just talking to her husband. He's devastated."
Nigel came in the room just then, whistling happily to himself. So much for solitude.
"Look who's back from vacation," Garrett muttered.
"Rested and ready to work. I know you all missed me terribly." He was cheerful. She couldn't take cheerful.
She could see out of the corner of her eye, that he was looking over at her with a mischievous smirk.
"I heard you and our old friend Woodrow made quite a splash at your big shindig last weekend," he said teasingly.
"Ha Ha."
"Yeah, you give new meaning to the words 'crashing a party.'"
"Nigel, you're bad..." Lily chastized with a laugh.
"Okay, enough with the puns." Jordan opened the file and began to skim through it.
"What's wrong, luv? Am I driving you crazy?"
"Back off, Nige. I've got a scalpel, and I know how to use it."
"Touch-y. We'd better tread lightly with Jordan. She might go on a crying Jag." Nigel snickered to himself.
She slammed the file down on the counter then and without speaking, pushed the doors to the autopsy room open and stormed down the hallway.
There was a beat before anyone in the room spoke.
"Was it something I said?" Nigel asked sheepishly.
"She is coming back, isn't she?" Lily leaned out into the hallway.
"I'm sure she's just taking an early lunch," Garret said reassuringly. But he knew Jordan, and her return was nothing he could count on with any certainty.
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She didn't come back after lunch. At the end of her shift, she still hadn't returned, and Garret remained in his office, hoping that she would wander back in. But he feared the worst.
The phone rang, and he picked it up on the first ring.
"Macy..."
"Garret, it's me."
"Jordan! Where the hell are you?"
"I'm fine. I'm coming back." There was a pause. "I'm coming back this time. I promise."
"You want to tell me what this is about?"
"Look, I'm sorry, Garret. I know I'm supposed to fill out some form in triplicate to request vacation, but I'm asking for a few days off."
"Tell me where you are, Jordan." He strained to hear any background noise that might give him some clue as to her whereabouts.
"Don't worry. I haven't crossed state lines. You don't need to call the feds. I'm just..somewhere I can clear my head," she said, more to herself than to Garret.
"Jordan, does this have anything to do with what Nigel was saying in the autopsy room?"
"What's that, Garret? I can't hear you. My battery is going."
"Jordan, what is..."
She was gone.
He sat for a moment, his forehead creased with worry. After some thought he thumbed through his rolodex, picked up the phone and dialed number.
"Hoyt here."
"Detective, I'm glad to see you haven't changed your cell phone. This is Garret Macy from the M.E.'s office."
"Dr. Macy, long time no hear," Woody said with surprise.
"We'll have to save the pleasantries for another time. It's about Jordan. I need your help."
There was a brief pause. "Okay..."
"She was taking a real ribbing from Nigel this morning about your little joyride Labor Day weekend, and all of sudden she took off running. We haven't seen her since..."
He interrupted with urgency. "Is everything okay? What can I do?"
"She just called. I know she's still in Massachusetts. She said she was going somewhere she could clear her head. I got the impression it was somewhere she's been before. I thought you might know."
There was another small silence. "Yeah. I do."
"Great. If you can give me the specifics, I thought I'd head out there and check up on her. I don't know...she hasn't been herself lately."
"If it's all the same to you, Doc, I think I'll go myself. Thanks for the call," he said evenly.
Woody quickly hit the red button on his cell phone before Garret could speak again.
"Who was that?" Kristi asked with apprehension. Woody looked at her across the dinner table.
"Dr. Macy from the M.E.'s office. They have some questions about an old homicide case I was on a few years ago."
"Oh. I see." She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin.
"I, uh, need to get down there and review the file with them. They've got some new evidence, and I need to answer some questions." He cringed inwardly and rose from the table, hoping it all sounded more believable to Kristi than it did to him.
"Oh, really?" Apparently, it didn't. "You're going now? In the middle of dinner?"
"I'm sorry, Kristi."
She looked down at her plate and appeared to be working very hard to muster up some tears.
"Oh, it's okay. It's not very good anyway."
"Kristi, it's fine."
"No. No. I was trying to make a nice dinner for us, but you've got to go, so it'll just get cold," she said in a whiny sing-song.
"It's fine, Kristi. Put it in the fridge, and I'll eat it when I get back."
"It won't reheat very well. But that's fine."
He stood and watched her for a moment, glumly poking at her food. He knew he was supposed to reassure her that her meal was delicious. He knew he was supposed to sit down.
"Then throw it away," he said.
He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair. She sat motionless there at the table with those big, shocked eyes.
"I'll call you later," he said gently and headed out the kitchen door. He could see her through the window as the eased into his car.
He knew there would be a tearful confrontation whenever he returned. He swallowed hard and considered going back inside for a brief moment. She was his fiancee. She was his first priority. He watched her, staring straight ahead with her hands folded primly in front of her.
Then he turned the ignition key and began the familiar drive to Jordan.