Chapter Six
The same shock that Jordan was sure registered on her face mirrored itself in Woody's. He was no more expecting to see her than she was him. She quickly regained her composure as Denning showed her around the tiny sheriff's office and the room that she and Woody would work in. All of the evidence his deputies had gathered had been put in there, along with the initial autopsy reports from the ME in Chapel Hill. After some brief initial conversation with Denning, the sheriff turned everything over to them. "Make yourself at home…bathrooms are down the hall to the left, break room is on the right. When you want lunch, there's a great barbeque place down the street." And with that the sheriff turned and left them alone.
"Gee, fancy meeting you here," was the first thing out of Jordan's mouth.
"Um. Yeah. Roger Denning was pretty persistent. He called the Boston PD and couldn't find me…but evidently he had enough friends in high places that he was able to track me down. He did some tall talking, but he persuaded me to come here," Woody replied. There was an awkward pause between the two of them as they pretended to survey the evidence. "I guess we need to clear the air about some things before we start working together again."
'I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with Roger bringing you here. I didn't know you were going to be here until I showed up," she finally said, after another awkward pause.
"Would that have prevented you from coming – me being here?"
"No. I've been helping out in a lot of these cases."
"So I've heard." Woody stepped closer to her. Jordan automatically stepped back until she hit a wall in the small room. She nervously crossed her arms over her chest. "From what I can tell, you're the leading expert on the Slash and Dash," he continued.
She let out a humorless laugh. "So they say. Hell of a field to be an expert in."
"Yeah. I guess Denning feels that if he has both of us together, he can get to the bottom of the killings."
"We weren't able to do that in Boston. What makes him think we can do that now?"
"Time. Time and more evidence, I guess." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, I just don't want you to be uncomfortable working with me again. I know it's been a while since we've seen each other…"
"You told me you'd be back in a month or so. Did you not check your calendar? It's been two years, Woody. And no word from you."
"I know. It's just….after a while, it got easier to not call you…I knew you had probably gotten on with your life…and I was still trying to figure mine out. I didn't want to interrupt anything."
She snorted. "So you didn't think I wouldn't even want to know if you were alright?"
Woody hung his head. "I really didn't know. After the Brady fiasco, I was questioning everything."
"I know." Jordan straightened her back and pulled away from the wall, her arms still crossed as she stepped closer to Woody to confront him. "I just want to make three things perfectly clear. First, I didn't run this time….you did. Second, I have no problems working with you again. The more people on this case that know how the killer thinks and works, the quicker it will be solved and everyone's lives can return to normal. And third," she tapped her finger on his chest. "I honored your last request."
"My last request?" He looked at her, his blue eyes puzzled.
"You asked me not to try to find you. I didn't and haven't. If Roger Denning found you through the Boston PD or whomever, he did it on his own without my help."
It was an awkward afternoon, Woody reflected, later that night, lying on his back in the bed of his hotel room. Around five, he and Jordan had called it quits for the day and a deputy had driven them to a hotel where they had reserved rooms. Adjoining rooms….although he was sure Jordan would make sure the door between the two was kept tightly shut. They had been promised a rental car the next day. Evidently Sheriff Denning anticipated they would be working closely enough together to not warrant getting two rental vehicles.
She's changed. She's more cynical…tougher…than she was before the Brady case. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He tried flipping on the TV in order to try and distract his thoughts. He heard water running in the other room. She must be getting a shower. He could remember a time when they'd occasionally do that together….a long time ago. He swallowed and worked harder to pull himself away from thoughts of her….and them.
After the Brady case, he had decided he needed time…what happened, although it seemed to some that the events were just coincidence, shook him. He had learned something about himself during that investigation – he needed stability. Something and someone he could count on in his life to always be the same.
The fact that Jordan had been suspected of pilfering evidence….and the reality that she was jailed for it threw his world into a tailspin emotionally. Jordan's history had made her a ready suspect for the offence. And the Boston PD was ready and willing to imprison her on little evidence. Both events shook Woody's confidence in the two things he held dear….Jordan and police work.
Could he live without one or the other? Could both somehow peacefully coexist?
And if he had to choose between the two, could he?
Police work was all he knew how to do. It was all he ever wanted to do.
But he loved her.
He sighed and rolled over, flipping the TV off. She had barely spoken to him at all today. He may not have to decide between the two after all. Jordan may have made the choice for him.
