Hello everyone!

A big thank you to: traceyh, Agel15, Kacie20 and jtbwriter for the reviews. I appreciate ya, you guys keep me motivated! :) I've been on a roll the past few days.

An FYI..the time frame of this story is somewhere in Season 2, after Jordan and Woody go to California, but before things get really involved with her brother and all of that.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Crossing Jordan. Dang it.

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It took me twenty minutes and every once of persuasion that I had to get Woody to let me stay. In the end it was probably only because I told him that it was Nigel's day off and Macy was out of the office and if he waited for someone it could be hours that convinced him to let me stay.

"Jordan," he said in his best stern detective voice, "You know that this could be considered a conflict of interest. This makes two of your friends that have ended up dead."

I looked up from where I was crouched on the floor next to the body. "Neither of them were exactly what I would call 'friends'. More like acquaintances. I haven't even seen her since high school. The last time I even heard from her was when I got a wedding invitation years ago."

"I know, but DA Wolcott already..."

"Oh geez, Woody. You know she has it in for me," I said disgustedly.

"I know that, Jordan. But she is still the DA, and I still have to answer to her."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "But I was the ME that got the call, so it's fine. Relax."

Woody heaved a large sigh. Then he decided to drop it and asked, "So what's the TOD?"

"Approximately five a.m.," I answered.

"Five a.m. And the Carlson woman was killed at about two a.m." Woody stated. "And there's no forced entry here either."

It didn't take me long to find out that this case seemed identical to the Carlson case. I found almost no forensic evidence. Her chest was a mass of stab wounds; a bloody kitchen knife that matched a set in the kitchen lay a few feet from the body. Again, she had not been raped, but she had been badly beaten.

I stood up and sighed loudly. "There's nothing more I can do here," I said. "We'll have to get the body to the office and get an autopsy done."

Woody nodded. "Let me know if you find anything."

"Yeah. You too," I said as I turned to go back to the van.

"And Jordan?" Woody said suddenly.

"Yeah?" I said, turning around.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Sure, Woody. I'm fine," I said.

"Okay. You can call me, you know. If you need to talk or anything," he said, his eyes serious.

"Thanks farm-boy," I said lightly, punching him in the arm.

As I turned to walk away and saw him sigh and shake his head.

X

An hour and a half later I was slipping a pair of scrubs on over my clothes, preparing for the autopsy of Andrea Beasley. Bug had been more than a little startled to hear that, once again, I knew the victim. Not to mention the fact that the MO was the same as with the Carlson case. Bug didn't think I should be doing the autopsy, but he was in the middle of one, Garrett hadn't gotten back from strangling his daughter yet, and we were a little short staffed, so there wasn't much that he could say.

"I don't like this, Jordan," Bug had said in his typically monotone voice. It was hard, really, to tell when Bug was upset about anything, but a certain inflection in his voice said he was not pleased.

"I know, Bug, but you called me, remember?" I said.

"Yes, but I didn't know that you knew the vic."

"I know, but it doesn't matter. We were friends in high school, I haven't seen her in like fifteen years."

Bug had just sighed and given up, as I knew he would. He wasn't the most confrontational of people.

By the time I had finished the autopsy I was so frustrated that I thought I just might explode. Once again I had found absolutely nothing.

After I cleaned up I took off the scrubs and went back to my office. I sat at my desk and spread all of the information that I had on both cases out on my desk. Woody called to report that there was no new evidence of yet, and to give me the details of Amanda Beasley's life that they had uncovered.

Nigel was right. There was no such thing as a perfect murder. Somewhere, somehow, there was more evidence. How to find it was another story.

Both of the women had gone to Burke High, the same high school that I went to. They were the same age, had graduated the same year. I had no idea if they had still been in contact. Lindsay hadn't mentioned Andrea when we had talked, but that didn't mean anything.

Other than their ages, the high school and the fact that they had been friends in high school, I could see no other similarities I the two women, at least on the surface.

Lindsay Carlson had been single, never married. She had a good paying job as an administrative assistant in an accounting firm and she lived in an upscale apartment complex. She had been slender, with long red hair and green eyes.

Andrea Beasley had been recently widowed, worked nights at an airline, doing reservations. Her husband had a small amount of life insurance and she was still paying off the small house, which was in a middle class neighborhood. Andrea was slightly overweight, had blonde hair and blue eyes.

What was their connection? I wondered. Or was it just a coincidence that they had been friends in high school?

I was so lost in thought that when there was a knock on my door I jumped, startled.

"C'mon in," I said and Garrett walked through the door.

"Another friend of yours, I hear," he said, getting right to the point.

"Been talking to Bug again, eh?" I said lightly.

"Yes, he told me," Garrett said. "Did you find anything?"

I sighed. "No, nothing. It's almost an exact copy of the Carlson murder. Beaten, stabbed to death with a knife from her own kitchen. No forced entry, no defensive wounds. Nothing, Garrett."

Garrett's brown furrowed with thought. "There has to be something. Why don't you track down Woody and go over the autopsies with him, go over the CSI reports."

I nodded. "Sure thing, boss," I said. Garrett nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, and Garrett...."

"Yes?" he said.

"How'd things go with Abby?" I asked.

Garrett took a deep breath. "As well as can be expected when dealing with an emotional seventeen year-old."

"That good, huh?"

"Well, I grounded her indefinitely."

I winced. "Is she speaking to you?"

"No."

"And how long until Maggie gets back?" I asked.

"Another week."

"Ouch," I said. "Well, good luck."

"Yeah, thanks Jordan," Garrett said sarcastically as he turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

I shook my head and stood up. I gathered both autopsies, went to the copier and made copies, returned the originals to the crypt and tucked the copies into a folder. I went back to my office to grab my jacket and was ambushed by Lily as I hurried to the elevator.

"Hi, Jordan," Lily said as she popped around a corner, as if she had been waiting for me.

"Hey, Lil," I said as I kept walking down the hall towards the elevator.

Lily walked next to me, hurrying to keep up. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"To find Woody. I want to go over the autopsies with him, see if they found anything new," I replied.

"I was wondering if you wanted to grab something to eat before you go."

I turned around, my mouth open to tell her no, thanks, when I saw the look on her face.

I could see how concerned she was for me, and my rejection died on my lips.

"Well, I'm kinda in a hurry," I hedged.

"I know. It can be something quick."

We had reached the elevator and I hit the down button. "Sure, Lily," I said with a sigh. I was actually pretty hungry and if I was going to stop to eat something, I might as well go with Lily. Let her counsel me and get it over with. Kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes.

"So I heard that you knew Andrea Beasley," Lily said as we stood in line at Alphonso's, a little deli just down from the office.

"Yeah, I knew her in high school. Haven't seen her since, though," I said. Without warning I remembered the three of us, Andrea, Lindsay and me, along with some other friends, at a dance in high school, laughing and having a good time. We had been young and full of dreams. Who would have thought things would end up like this?

"Are you okay?" Lily asked when I said nothing more.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine," I said automatically. My standard answer to everything.

"It's okay to be upset you know," Lily said quietly.

"I'm not upset, okay?" I snapped. "Not like that. I'm just upset that there's not more evidence."

Lily looked down and I immediately felt bad for ripping her head off. She was just trying to help.

"I'm sorry, Lil," I said with a sigh. "I'm just frustrated."

"That's okay, Jordan," Lily said quietly. "I just want to be there for you if you need to talk."

"Yeah, okay. I'll remember that," I said with a falsely bright smile.

We had reached the front of the line by then and we placed our orders. Still feeling guilty I paid for Lily's lunch, despite her protests.

When we were finally seated with our lunches, Lily with an eggplant sandwich, me with a turkey melt, I was starting to get edgy. I wanted to talk to Woody. I wanted to go back to the crime scene. I wanted to do something.

I took a deep breath, though, and ate my lunch, trying not to act as agitated as I was.

It didn't take us long to eat, and then we stood up. "Thanks for lunch, Jordan," Lily said as we walked towards the door.

"No problem," I said. I was just about to go through the door when Lily said, "Hang on, I left my phone on the table. I turned around and watched as she darted back to our table, picked up her phone and hurried back. I turned around to open the door and ran smack into a guy that was already going out the door.

"Oof," I said as I collided with the guy. "Oh my God, I'm sorry!" I said as the guy staggered back a step and tried not to drop his sandwich and drink.

The guy grinned down at me. "Hey, it's alright," he said. "It's not often that I'm run over by a gorgeous woman."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I said. Then I gave him a surreptitious look out of the corner of my eye.

He was hot, no doubt about that. He was tall and lean with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. He had sky blue eyes and a charming grin. He was dressed casually in a pair of faded jeans, a white t-shirt and a black motorcycle jacket. There was something vaguely familiar about him.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

The guy raised an eyebrow and I immediately realized that no matter how innocently I meant it, that sounded very much like a cliché pickup line.

"I don't think so. I think I'd remember someone as gorgeous as you," he replied with a laugh, tossing back an equally cliché response and I laughed.

"My name's Andrew Lloyd," he said, looking at me intensely.

"Jordan Cavanaugh," I said. "Oh, and this is my friend, Lily Libowski," I said, motioning towards Lily who was watching the exchange amusedly.

"Hey," Lily said with a bright smile.

"Nice to meet you," Andrew said. "Both of you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Lily said. Then she glanced behind her. "I think we're holding up the line."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that," Andrew said and he held the door open as we walked outside into the brisk autumn day.

"I've gotta get back to the office," Lily said. She gave me a subtle, pointed look. "Talk to you later."

"Yeah, thanks Lil," I said.

Lily gave a little wave to Andrew and walked off towards the office.

"Hey, Jordan," Andrew said as he stood in front of me. "Would you like to go to get a drink tonight?"

"Uh," I said.

Andrew looked deflated. "You have a boyfriend, of course," he said. "No problem."

I thought briefly about Woody, about our steamy little make out session in the middle of the Mojave Desert not too long ago. Boyfriend? Not that I was aware of. Did I want him to be my boyfriend? Was our lack of a relationship due entirely to my fear of commitment and fear of rejection? That was a can of worms I had no intention of opening up.

"Nah, I don't have a boyfriend," I said, shoving down the little feeling of guilt that was trying to make itself known. Woody had never discussed wanting a relationship with me, I had nothing to feel guilty about. "A drink sounds great."

Andrew smiled, "Great!" he said.

We exchanged phone numbers and planned to meet at the Pogue, my dad's bar. I didn't tell him it was my dad's bar, though.

"I'm glad I ran into you, Jordan Cavanaugh," Andrew said with another charming grin.

"See you later," I said, smiling. He definitely was hot.

Andrew turned and walked down the street opposite of where I was going. Where was I going?

To the precinct, I thought, cursing myself for getting distracted. I started walking, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket to call Woody. Hopefully he was still there.

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