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Disclaimer....nope, I still don't own CJ or the characters....
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I watched Andrew walk back to his bike. My heart was racing and I forced myself to take a deep breath. I congratulated myself on my restraint and walked up to my apartment, alone.
X
I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. With the combination of Guinness, lack of real food (four potato skins don't count as real food, in my opinion), and lack of sleep, I was not feeling too well. On top of all of that, I was almost a half hour late getting up, having not heard my alarm.
"God damn it," I grumbled as I threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt. I hurried to the kitchen and took four aspirin, and then hurried to the car.
Even though I was already late I stopped by a little bagel shop and got a giant cup of coffee and a bagel before going to the office.
I stepped off the elevator and, of course, immediately ran into Garrett. "Uh. Hey Garrett," I said.
"Jordan. Late again, I see," he stated.
"Yeah. Have to make up for being early yesterday," I said. "Can't have you thinking that's going to be a regular thing."
Garrett rolled his eyes. "A guy was brought in an hour ago, killed in a car accident. He was weaving before he hit a telephone pole. I need you to do the autopsy; Nigel and Bug are both on calls. It's shaping up to be a busy day."
I nodded. Until there was any more information on the Carlson and Beasley cases, there was nothing more I could do about them anyway. With a sigh I headed to my office, hoping my headache would go away soon, otherwise it would no doubt be a long day.
X
And a long day it was. One after another bodies were brought in. I kept expecting to see another young girl, but there wasn't. By the time the day was over I was exhausted and my headache had stuck with me all day.
I was in my office, staring down at the Carlson and Beasley autopsy reports, trying to keep my eyes focused when there was a tap on my doorframe. I looked up to see Nigel hovering in the doorway.
"Hey, Nige. C'mon in," I said, waving a hand towards the chair that sat across from my desk. Nigel Townsend was my best friend in the office. We had gone out a few times, realized that we made better friends than anything else and had settled comfortably into being just friends.
"Jordan," Nigel said as he sat down, looking awkward as he folded his tall frame into the small chair. "How are you doing, luv? You've looked a little peaked all day today."
I sighed. "I'm alright," I said. "Just have a hangover headache that won't go away and I'm frustrated with the lack of evidence on those two cases," I said, knowing he'd know which cases I was referring to.
"A hangover?" Nige asked. "You went out partying and didn't invite me, eh? What, you go with Woodrow and didn't want me crashing the party?"
I shook my head. "No, I didn't go with Woody."
"Ooh," Nigel said, raising his eyebrows. "And who did you go with, pray tell?"
"Just a guy I met yesterday. We just got a drink, played some pool, no big deal," I said casually.
"And what is this guy's name?"
"Andrew Lloyd," I said. "He's an accountant."
"An accountant?" Nigel laughed. "Oh, luv, you must be bad off."
"Nigel!" I said, throwing a pen at him.
"Joking, joking," he said, holding up his hands. "Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah, it was fun," I said.
"And what does dear Woodrow think of all of this?"
I shrugged, ignoring that annoying little voice again. I figured it was probably my conscience, but I had never listened to it before so why start now? I thought. "I don't know what he thinks about it. Who I date is none of his business."
There was a pause. Nigel looked at me thoughtfully. "Oh. Right, then. So, you gonna go out with the accountant again?"
"Yeah, I think so. We had fun. He has a Harley."
"Oh, well, by all means, he must be a keeper," Nigel said with a grin.
"Oh, shut up Nigel," I said.
"Can I take you out for a bite, luv?" Nigel asked. "You look like you need to eat and go to bed."
I smiled ruefully. "Yeah, I think that's the best idea. I'm too tired to focus anymore."
Nigel waited patiently as I gathered up the autopsy reports and put them away. My office was a mess, but there was no way I was staying any longer, so I just grabbed my jacket and followed Nigel to the elevators.
We met at one of those 24 hour diners that serve cheap, fast, greasy food. It was a quiet meal, since not only was I tired and had a headache, but I was preoccupied with the murders. When we were done we headed our separate ways and I went straight back to my apartment and crashed.
X
Two days went by quietly, at least as quietly as days can go by when you cut up dead people for a living. My day off was Sunday and despite the fact that I wanted to work on the murders, I stayed home and lounged around and caught up on sleep. Garrett had told me when I left late Saturday night that I was by no means to set foot in the office on my day off.
I didn't hear from either Woody or Andrew all weekend.
Monday morning dawned with cold, drizzly rain. When I arrived at the office Nigel, But and Lily were standing around the break room eating Krispy Kreme donuts and drinking coffee.
"Busy I see," I stated, taking an original glazed and pouring a cup of the stale coffee that was an office staple.
"Not too busy yet, luv," Nigel said through a mouthful of donut.
I bit into my donut just as Garrett came into the break room, looking solemn. "Jordan," he said. "There's been another murder."
The room fell silent at his words.
"It's confirmed that she graduated from Burke High, her husband found her this morning. He claims to have been out of town for the weekend, came back this morning and found her body."
"What's her name?" I asked, my voice tight.
"Lisa Smith, maiden name Donovan."
I felt my face drain of color even as I tried to keep my expression neutral.
"You knew her," Garrett stated, looking at me carefully.
"Yeah, I, uh, I knew her," I said.
Lily walked over to me and put her hand on my arm. "Were you close?" she asked.
I shrugged. "We were friends," I said.
"Oh, Jordan, I'm sorry," Lily said sympathetically.
I looked at Garrett. "I'll go on the call," I said.
Garrett shook his head, "I'm sorry, Jordan, but I can't let you go."
"What?" I said incredulously. "You have to, Garrett."
"No, Jordan, I don't," Garrett growled. "The press is all over this, they're calling the killer the Burke Alum Killer. If they see you at the scene and connect you to the vics things could get ugly. Nigel, I want you and Bug to go."
"You can't do this, Garrett! I'm the lead ME on this case," I said, my voice raising.
Looking guilty Bug and Nigel slunk out of the room, and Lily made her escape right behind them.
"Come to my office," Garrett said, and I followed him down the hall, fuming. Garrett sat at his desk and I sat in a chair across from him, arms folded and glowering.
"DA Wolcott has already been on the phone with me about this. She's furious that you did the second autopsy. She wants you off this case."
"Garrett!" I said loudly. I stood up, my hands clenched into fists at my side. "She said if there was a misstep. I haven't done anything, you can't take me off of this case!"
"Jordan, I said that she wants you off the case, not that I was taking you off of the case. Calm down," Garrett said.
Sheepishly I said, "Oh. Okay," and sat back down.
"She's going to be all over this, Jordan. It looks like we have a serial killer on our hands. And all of the victims went to high school with you, were friends of yours. I'm not sure that I disagree with her that you shouldn't be the lead ME on this case."
"But..." I said.
Garrett held up his hand. "But I don't agree with her that you should be off the case. You are a damn good ME, Jordan. You care more, put more of yourself into your cases than anyone else. Which is the exact reason I don't know that you should be any closer to this case than you are already."
I digested his words. "Why, because I knew the vics?" I asked slowly.
"Yes," Garrett said. "And because I know what happens when you get too drawn into a case that's personal."
I digested that, thinking of the many different instances he could mean by his words. I sighed. "So what do you want to do?"
"I want you to assist the autopsies. I want you to go by the book, do your job and leave the investigating to the detectives. Detective Hoyt is lead detective, I'm sure he'll keep you in the loop as much as he can. I don't want you to set foot in this latest victim's home, understand? Wolcott is going to be in the middle of this, I don't want there to be problems."
I gritted my teeth angrily. Garrett had a particularly stubborn look on his face and I could tell that any further arguing would be futile.
"Fine," I said.
"Now, I'm sure you have paperwork you need to catch up on. I'll make sure Nigel lets you know when they're ready to start the autopsy.
I nodded. "Fine," I said and turned and stalked out of the room.
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