Chapter Two

The Green Hotel

There was only one black and white unit at the seedy Green Hotel when Woody pulled up in front of the building. Pitiful little for someone still so innocent, he thought as he climbed out of his cars, mounted the steps, flashed his badge at the clerk, and followed the old man's pointing finger up to room 302. "What do we have?" he quietly asked one of the uniformed officers who was standing in the tiny room, as far away from the makeshift crib as he could get.

"Dead infant…not sure how old….no ID anywhere to be found."

"What was the name of the person who registered for the room downstairs?

"A Miss Jane Smith…" the young rookie rolled his eyes.

Woody knew what the man meant. A Jane Smith was as good as a Jane Doe anytime. "Has the ME's office been called?"

"Yeah…they're on their way."

Woody took a deep breath and walked over to the tiny, portable crib that had been set up in the corner of the room. There, looking like it was still sleeping, was a baby…its tiny lips and nails just turning blue…the only tangible sign that an infant that should have been so full of life was so … lifeless.

Kids. God knows he loved them. Wanted a few of his own one day. Hopefully before too long. Any case that involved children, babies, toddlers, teens…got next to him. Whether it was a reaction from his own neglected, cold childhood, the inheritance of an equally cold and distant father, or perhaps the fact that he had always wanted his own children, he wasn't sure. He just knew that any injustice brought to a child raised his hackles and shortened his sjprt temper even more.

But from what he could gather, this baby hadn't been abused…there were no marks on the neck that would indicate manual strangulation….or marks anywhere else that would show beatings. The baby looked like it had simply died in its sleep. He would know more as soon as…

She came into the room. Jordan was the answering ME. And it was clear that she hadn't been told it was a baby. She headed for the bed and looked puzzled when she found no body. "Over here," Woody called out to her softly, loathe to disturb the peace in the room. The baby may not have been asleep, but it did look like it was resting.

"What do we have?" Jordan asked, still keeping her eyes cast downward as she pulled a pair of latex gloves. Garret hadn't told her Woody was the answering detective. But then again, Garret may not have known…She sent up a silent prayer that she would be able to keep it altogether while working with Woody again…and that he would at least be civil.

"A baby…."

Jordan's gasp of disbelief was audible. And Woody watched her face blanche. "I know…this is hard," he told her, automatically reaching out his hand to steady her. "Deep breaths…okay? Deep breaths…."

Jordan nodded, her whole attention focused on the tiny infant in front of her. He or she….was so little….the perfect fit for a pair of arms…instead, it would be a cold bed the baby found from now on. She sucked in one of those deep breaths that Woody recommended and moved closer to the crib. "Oh God," she sighed, pulling her hair back in a sloppy pony tail.

"I know…just hang in there, Jordan. If anyone can bring this baby justice, it's you." Woody's voice held a note of conviction she hadn't heard in a long time. She shot him a brief glance, but his blue eyes were telling her nothing.

Taking another deep breath, Jordan reached into the crib and gently turned the infant over. Then she began a cursory exam. "Rigor's not set…so death was in the last 10 to 12 hours, I'd guess. There's no apparent markings that would indicate strangulation…." She gently pried the baby's mouth open. "And nothing that would indicate poison." Unfastening the tiny sleep suit and then the diaper, she continued. "And it's a female..." Woody could have sworn Jordan's face got whiter, "Roughly three months of age, I'd guess…"

Woody grimaced. "Anything else?"

"Not that I can tell you right now…Let me get her back and do an autopsy…I can't tell right now if she's s victim of perhaps shaken baby syndrome…or SIDS … or something else."

Woody nodded and took stepped away from the crib as the morgue attendants brought a tiny body bag. He swallowed hard as even the tiniest bag the morgue had engulfed the baby. "When can you let me know…" he asked Jordan, without taking his eyes off the little girl.

"I'm going back and get started now," Jordan answered, turning away from the now-empty crib, wondering how someone could abandon their child at all… even in death…of course she had seen a lot of parents abandon their kids while they were alive. She was in no position to talk.

"And you'll call me…"

"As soon as I know something…" she replied, beginning to walk out of the bleak and empty hotel room.

But her eyes told him something was quite normal…whether it was the age of the infant or working with him again, Woody wasn't sure. "You are all right with this, aren't you?" He stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Yeah…sure….I just have never…never liked cases that involved a child being hurt…or worse…"

Woody nodded. At least that was one thing they could agree on.

"Garret, can I talk to you a minute?" Jordan paused at the door of the chief ME's office.

"Sure, come on in….I know that look. What's on your mind?" Garret replied, carefully giving Jordan more than just a passing glance. The expression on her face alarmed him. Her eyes were wide, and if Garret didn't know any better, he'd swear she was scared.

"Did you know that I just got called out on one of Woody's homicides?"

"The death at Green Hotel? I knew the Boston PD had phoned in a suspicious death and requested an ME, and that you were next up. But I promise I had no idea it was Woody's call. Has he done or said something else that's upset you?" Through the office grapevine and conversations with Jordan herself, Garret had learned about Woody's actions at the hospital after the detective had been shot, and like the other morgue staff, Garret had become protective over Jordan concerning Woody. "Because if he has, I can and will remove you from his case."

Jordan shook her head. "No…Woody's not done a thing wrong this time, Gar. As a matter of fact, he was a true gentleman today. I do want to be removed from the case, but Woody has nothing to do with it."

Garret looked at her quizzically. If it wasn't Woody, then why…..

Catching his expression, Jordan knew Garret wasn't aware of the specifics of the homicide call. "The suspicious death….Garret, it was a baby… a little girl...about three months old."

He sucked in a deep breath. "No problem. I'll hand it off to Bug."

Jordan nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate it." She suddenly let out a deep breath, her shoulders sagging. To Garret, she looked totally defeated and exhausted.

"You okay?" he asked, getting up from behind his desk and coming over to pull her into a tight hug.

"Yeah…I'm fine. But…I do want to be kept in the loop about the baby…I didn't see anything that would point to a murder, but…"

"Not a problem." He lightly kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off? Between a baby and Woody…." He felt her stiffen in his arms just a little, then sag against him again. He knew the battle was waging in her…the desire to maintain her professional veneer verses the part of her that needed to be a woman. "It's kind of slow here, anyway."

"I think I will, if you don't mind…" she pulled away to look in his eyes…just to double check the truth behind his statement. Evidently she was satisfied. "But I'll be back first thing tomorrow."

Garret smiled softly at her. "I would expect no less."

"Let it go, Hoyt," Garret's voice called out angrily across autopsy.

"I just don't understand. Why'd you pull Jordan off the Baby Doe case? She was the answering ME….this won't look good if anything has to go to trial," Woody answered, now fuming after finding out that Garret had removed Jordan as ME on his homicide case and instated Bug in her place. Not that Bug wouldn't do a good job….it's just that Jordan had been the responding ME and knew the background of the situation ….what little there was of it. And while Bug was good…well….he wasn't Jordan.

"It was my call…she asked to be removed and I approved the transfer."

Woody ran his fingers through his hair and swore under his breath. "Son of a bitch…."

"Let it go, Hoyt." Garret warned the detective again.

"I just don't get it…Jordan seemed fine at the crime scene. If she can't handle working with me, then maybe…maybe she should transfer out to another morgue. That would save me a lot of time and headaches in the long run…."

"Dammit, Hoyt. I said let it go…and I meant it," Garret finally roared back at him. "Don't flatter yourself….you had nothing…nothing to do with Jordan's request to be removed from this case. Get it? Nothing. Lots of female ME's have a hard time dealing with homicides that involve infants. Believe it or not, Jordan is no different. She was afraid this would bother her to the point she wouldn't be able to handle her other cases or be objective on this one. She's more sensitive than you could have ever known…and maybe a little more so now." He gave Woody a pointed look.

Woody locked eyes with Garret and for a few seconds it was as battle of wills across the room of autopsy one….Bug and Nigel watched from the sidelines with slightly open mouths, not daring to breathe as the silent war raged between the two men, both of whom deeply cared for Jordan in so many different ways. Finally, it was Woody that said "uncle." Turning to Bug, he asked, "Can you get the baby's autopsy done by tomorrow?"

"With some luck and the tox reports coming back quick…"

Woody nodded before he turned on his heel to leave. "Good. Just get the reports to me as soon as you can. I don't like these types of cases left open too long."