Chapter Five

And it had been a long year for Jordan. While her reputation was restored professionally, the Slash and Dash killer was taking up more and more of her time…to the point where she was nearly working only part time at the morgue and spent the rest of her time working with police in various states trying to find the murderer. The victims now led a trail from Maine to Georgia. She was spending more time on planes than she liked.

For the first time in her life, she was the expert on one killer. And the media spotlight often focused on her. Nigel had teased her and bought her a pair of sunglasses, proclaiming that Jordan had "gone Hollywood." Garret had called her the next Henry Lee.

And she would have given it all up just to have Woody back home. Reporters often asked her if she was working this case in conjunction with the lead detective from the Deborah Brady case…the first Slash and Dash victim. She would quietly answer "No." The lead detective had been Woody. And she didn't know where he was at.

He was gone…and evidently had lied to her as one month led to another and then another and there was no sign of him. His chief said he had taken an indefinite leave of absence, and she did inquire enough to find out that he had sublet his apartment for several months. After that, adhering to his request, she made no effort to find him.

It hurt. He left her. She knew what he said…that he was questioning everything…them, his job…himself. But as time passed, she couldn't help but wonder if he had found the answers to his questions and those answers didn't include her in the equation. She found that cynical shell she was spinning around herself just got a little thicker. Her faith in her fellow man and life itself diminished just a little more.

But somewhere in the darkest corner of her heart, she held out hope that he would come back…that he would return and things would be like they were before the Brady case. When he would hold his fingers through her hair….kiss her.

Make love to her.

But as the weeks continued to bleed into months and then yet another year, that corner of her heart got darker and smaller. If you weren't her dad or Nigel, you really couldn't find much of a place in her life. Even Garret found it difficult to maintain a close relationship with his favorite ME. She remembered his doubts about her…Jordan found it impossible to work with Rene' and quite often refused to on professional grounds. A point no one would argue with.

And so her life continued…working at the morgue and spending time with her father at the Pogue….all the while the Slash and Dash killer providing the backdrop that so drastically changed her life in ways she considered for the worst. If they ever caught the killer, she wanted to see him or her face to face…to confront the person that had so altered her own life she nearly didn't recognize it any longer. This Slash and Dash killer had morphed her professional career into one she had never dreamed of, while dashing her personal life on the rocks of regret. Whoever this killer was, she hated him.

She never had the slightest clue it would be the killer that would bring her life back full circle. But it happened. One day in June a call came into her voice mail from a sheriff's department in North Carolina…in a little county called Alamance….it seemed they thought they had the latest victim of the Slash and Dash killer.


North Carolina was a state of extremes. On one hand you had the larger cities, such as Charlotte, who were brassy and sophisticated…then you had the university areas such as Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh that boasted not only some of the East Coast's finest academic havens, but also the Holy Grail of ACC basketball. On the other hand you had the counties nestled back in the Appalachian Mountains that still had difficulty getting electricity and running water.

Somewhere in between lay the tiny county of Alamance, nearly midway between the mountains and the beach. The county seat was a small town called Graham, complete with a real courthouse square and Confederate Solider monument. If you didn't know better, you'd swear you could see Andy, Barnie, Opie, and Aunt Bea on the courthouse steps, thought Jordan, as she was being driven to the sheriff's department. Her plane had landed in Greensboro, about thirty minutes outside Graham. A deputy was there to pick her up.

It was difficult to believe that a crime and heinous as a serial killing could touch such a charming place. But Alamance County lay on the main highway corridor that the killer was favoring – the I-85 link. A body had been found lying in the kudzu by some early morning hunters. The sheriff had taken one look at it, ran it through the national computer systems and came up with the hunch it could the Slash and Dash's latest victim. He had promptly contacted Jordan.

The car pulled up into the parking lot of the tiny sheriff's department and Jordan went inside, glad to be out of the stifling North Carolina humidity and into the cool air conditioning. A large man greeted her as soon as she came through the office doors. "Hi my name is Roger….Roger Dennings. I'm the sheriff…I'm the one who called you."

"Good to meet you…Why do you think this latest victim was the Slash's last kill?"

"You get right to the point, don't you? That's good….Let's just say we don't have too many unusual killings in this part of the state…it's mainly your standard knifings or shootings…not a whole lot different from any other homicide. This was different….the way the victim was tortured and then killed….the bruising pattern on the chest…the fact that she was a past prostitute….the way the body was dumped…and where the body was found…along the main highway that goes up and down the East Coast…I thought this murder fit the description pretty good. And given public hysteria is what it is…I wanted it either ruled in or ruled out as soon as possible."

"When can I get my hands on the body?"

"Tomorrow. Our main ME office is in Chapel Hill. I'll have one of my deputies take you and our other expert over in the morning."

"Other expert?"

"Yeah. I ran him down, too." The sheriff took Jordan by the arm and led her to his office. "I believe you two know each other."

Jordan glanced over at the sheriff's couch. There was Woody.