Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Crossing Jordan.

When Angels Cry

Chapter 5 – You're Lily!

"I want to see the body." That was the first thing Lily said as she entered the morgue and saw Nigel. He looked at her and with sympathy said, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea luv."

"Nigel this isn't up for debate, I work here I can go right in there and see his body if I want to. I was hoping you would go with me."

Nigel wasn't sure what to do, he truly cared about Lily and wanted to respect her request but at the same time he couldn't stand to see her hurt. He looked into her eyes, they were blood shot and her cheeks were tear stained. He didn't know how to handle the situation and Jordan hadn't arrived yet because each morning she would visit Woody and take him his favourite coffee. He was so used to Jordan telling him what they should do to handle the situation.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather wait until the funeral?" Nigel finally said.

"No, I want to see him now so I can believe it is true. I feel like I need to say goodbye."

"All right Lily, but if anytime you need to leave just let me know."

Lily nodded and Nigel walked with her into the crypt where Seely's body was being held. Nigel opened the drawer and removed the sheet from his face. Luckily Jordan had done a good job of cleaning up his face and neck so he just looked like he was sleeping peacefully. Lily looked down into his expressionless face. She felt the familiar burn behind her eyelids and leaned into Nigel as her silent sobs became louder. He held her for what felt like eternity but had really only been 3 minutes. Slokum entered the room, "Excuse me, Dr. Townsend what are you doing?" It was obvious he hadn't noticed Lily crying into his chest. "Oh, Ms. Lebowski, umm, I will give you both 5 minutes."

Nigel almost fainted at the fact that Slokum had done something nice for once. He held Lily tighter and whispered, "Come on Lily why don't we go get some coffee and talk?"

Lily nodded and Nigel helped her out of the room. "Bug, do you mind closing the drawer in the crypt?" Bug had no idea what he was talking about but nodded and went in anyway. Bug couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Lily had turned to Nigel instead of him. He closed the drawer and was about to leave when Framus entered. "Hey Buggles, where can I find Jordan and Nigel?"

Bug was beginning to feel completely left out. Framus wanted to see Jordan and Nigel, Jordan and Nigel went to see Lily, Jordan and Nigel were at the crime scene, he was beginning to feel he didn't belong. "Uhhh, Jordan hasn't arrived yet, she's always late because she visits Woody each morning and Nigel is with Lily."

"Why would Lily show up for work today? They should have told her to stay home."

"They did, Lily is a rather determined woman."

Framus smiled and left the room where she ran into Slokum. "Detective Framus I am trying to be patient but I haven't seen you once wear your visitor badge. It is protocol now please put it on or I will not allow you to stay here."

"Jeez, all right it's in my purse." Framus reached in her purse and pulled out the badge. She took of the backing of the sticker and secured it on her shirt. "Is that better?"

"Yes, don't let it happen again."

Just then Jordan arrived. "Framus did you get the file?"

"Yes I got it, I was hoping to see you and Nigel about it but I hear he has his hands full with Lily."

Jordan looked concerned. "If you go to my office I will meet you there."

Jordan entered the staff room where Nigel and Lily were sitting. Nigel was patiently sipping his coffee but Lily's remained untouched on the table. Lily sat staring down at the floor and didn't say a word when Jordan entered. "Hey Nige, Framus needs to see us." Jordan said softly like she was afraid to disturb Lily in her dreamlike state. Nigel glanced up at her. "Can it wait Jordan, I'm kind of busy." Jordan looked at Lily, she hadn't moved since Jordan had entered.

"Lily, are you sure you don't want to go home?" Jordan asked softly. Lily looked up her eyes had begun a fresh flow of tears. Her face was swollen, red and puffy. "No Jordan, I need to be here. I have notifications to make. Go ahead Nigel, you and Jordan need to work before Slokum comes in here. I'll be fine, I have work to do."

Neither Nigel nor Jordan knew how to respond to what Lily had said. Lily stood up and went out to her desk where she could begin making her notifications.

Nigel followed Jordan into her office. Framus looked up she had been quietly reading the file and sitting on Jordan's couch when they came in. "Okay, Sam Johnson, arrested March 27th 1996 for smuggling drugs across both the Mexican and Canadian Borders. Johnson and his 2 comrades Jason Heiffer and Lance Palmer beat the officer on scene detective Kevin Smith into submission. There were several witnesses to the assault and all testified in court."

"If he beat an officer into submission, why is he out already?"

"I am not finished. He was convicted of trafficking illegal substances, assault causing bodily harm and resisting arrest. However he was given a plea bargain. His jail time would be significantly reduced if he gave up the names of the people he was smuggling the drugs for. He did so and was released from prison, November 18th 2001."

"So the question is, what is the significance of 'Snake' a.k.a. Sam Johnson to detective Seely."

"Exactly, I also pulled information on all the different cases Seely has worked on in the past week to see if I could discover why he needed to contact Snake."

Slokum knocked on the door. "I am 5 seconds away from terminating the both of you. We have 5 bodies from the shooting that haven't been completely autopsied and yet once again I find the 2 of you sitting in Dr. Cavanaugh's office drinking coffee. Is there some sort of side project you are working on here? Shouldn't you be working detective Framus?"

Framus spoke first, "Sorry sir, I was asking them for information so I could continue with the investigation. They are really grilling me down at the station to find every bit of information I can so we can arrest this guy."

"That is no excuse, everything you will need from us will be in the reports. Now you 2 GET TO WORK."

Jordan and Nigel got up and wandered quickly to their designated areas. Jordan removed Seely's body once again and re-examined the wound. There was nothing new and she put his body back and moved onto one of the other victims at the scene. She removed the body and checked the ID tag. He hadn't yet been ID'd. Jordan checked his wound. Nigel walked in. "Have you checked the bullets from each body?"

"Not every body had a bullet. The one you have there didn't die from a gun shot because there is no bullet in his body. Only 2 of the 4 bodies had bullets. The other 2 died of something else." Jordan looked confused.

"Where's Bug," she asked. She wanted to know what he had found in the autopsies.

"He is running tox screens on each victim to see if there are any similarities. However, I have something to show you."

Jordan followed Nigel into trace where he pulled up a picture of the crime scene. "Okay, I have re-created the scene. This is John Doe # 1, whose real name was discovered as Peter Michaels age 47, divorced. This is John Doe # 2, identity still unknown. This is John Doe # 3, whose real name was discovered as Gordon Chamberlain age 41, married to Abigail Chamberlain. This is John Doe # 4, identity still unknown. Now Michaels was one that wasn't shot. Bug said he died from asphyxiation. So someone had to be close to him in order to suffocate him. Now # 2 was shot and it seems our shooter was on a 35 degrees angle to him. He was shot in the side where it shattered his rib cage and hit the heart and yes the bullet matched the one that killed Seely. Now Chamberlain was also shot but the shot that killed him was from a different gun because the bullets don't match. Also Chamberlain was shot straight into the forehead from a pretty good distance. Now #4 wasn't shot he was stabbed repeatedly in the neck, head and chest. Therefore the killer would also have to be near him. What do you think?"

"Very thorough Nige. I am going to work on lifting prints from Peter Michaels since he died from suffocation there is a good chance the killer left finger prints."

Jordan went back to work checking bodies for fingerprints. Trying to connect any of the bodies but always coming up short. Then Nigel came running in quite excited. "I have found #2's identity. He is Charlie Glutton; I found his picture in the missing person's listings. Charlie Glutton, 57, is married to Irene Glutton and he went missing only 2 days ago. I am having Lily call all of their next of kin's and I am still working on finding #4's identity." With that Nigel whisked out of the room and Jordan stared down at #4. He was the only one left to be identified and he was much younger than the others were. He looked to be about 25. Jordan tried everything but she couldn't find his identity. She was beginning to get rather frustrated when Lily came to the door. "Seely's parents are here and I was wondering if you could join me in the conference room."

"Uhh, yeah Lil' I'll be there in about 5 minutes." She put the body back and cleaned up. She changed quickly so Seely's parents wouldn't see her blood – stained scrubs.

She met Lily in the hall and the 2 entered together.

"Mr. and Mrs. Seely, I am Lily Lebowski and this is Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh."

Mrs. Seely's eyes lightened, "You're Lily?"

"Yes, I am."

"Matt talked so much about you. He said you were really sweet to him. He really liked you."

Lily fought back the tears as she responded, "I liked him too, I just wish I could have gotten to know him better."

Mr. Seely piped up, "If you liked him so much why wouldn't you ever go out with him?"

"Harold this isn't the place. I'm sorry honey. Harold isn't taking this so well. Please you can call me Charlotte."

"It's alright, actually I was planning to go out on a date with him yesterday before…before… excuse me."

Lily ran out of the room. Jordan spoke up, "I'm sorry she shouldn't be here today but she didn't know what else to do with herself. Is there anything that you would like to know?"

Charlotte spoke again, "How did it happen?"

"When your son arrived at a crime scene there was a gunman waiting for him and as he stepped out of the vehicle he was shot."

"Did he suffer?"

"No, his death was quick and painless."

"Thank – you, doctor."

"As soon as we are finished with the autopsy we will allow you to sign Matt's body out and you can make the proper arrangements. I'm sorry for your loss."

Mr. Seely spoke again, "Yeah me too."

Jordan walked them to the elevator and then went to find Lily. She found her back in the staff room staring at the floor.

"Lily do you want to talk about it?"

Lily didn't look up she was ashamed with herself for not being able to handle the situation. She continued to stare at the floor and cry. Jordan walked over and sat beside her. "I know its hard to lose someone, you should go home, I think myself or Nigel can handle the notifications."

"No, I have to be here to meet the wives of the other victims. They'll be arriving any minute." Jordan was concerned but she knew she couldn't make Lily leave.

"Okay, well I have to get back to work so I am going to leave you here, if you like you can lay down in my office."

Lily just nodded as Jordan left and leaned back to cry again. She looked at the clock 1:45, her day wasn't even half over. She decided to just stay there until the other families arrived and she lay back to rest.