Disclaimer: I don't own anything with Crossing Jordan.
A/N: Sorry more writer's block. I'm having a hard time keeping up with three stories. I know I said I'd try to update on a regular basis and it's been a month but it was a serious case of writer's block. I'm really sorry. I think I'm going to end it here, unless you see a reason for me to continue. I think I've wrapped everything up. Let me know if you feel there is more that needs to be said.
Secret Past
Chapter 21 – Never too late
They arrived at the small beach house. Jordan felt her body ease as the tension washed away like the waves on the shore. She stared out over the sapphire water and could smell the salt that permeated through the air. She pulled Emily's car seat from the car and carried it inside while Emily slept peacefully. She gently placed Emily in the little crib. Then she went back outside to help Woody unpack. She watched him, his muscles rippling beneath his blue shirt. A smile played at her lips and she called to him. "Hey Woods, unpacking can wait but I can't."
He turned to look at her, perspiration apparent on his face. He smiled at her and clicked the lock on the keychain remote. Then he followed her inside and into the master bedroom. He kissed her then and she melted into him. His tongue caressed hers and his hands explored her gentle skin. She moaned as one slid beneath her shirt. They tumbled to the bed and Woody removed his shirt. Then he removed Jordan's. Jordan straddled him and his hands slid up her bare chest. Then Woody flipped her over and started undoing her pants. She returned the favour. Once they were both naked they pulled apart and Jordan looked into his ocean blue eyes, desire burning deeply within them. "Come with me," he whispered.
She followed him into the bathroom and into the shower. The water gently streaming down their hot bodies. They came together then and Jordan let out a moan as he sunk into her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he too moaned.
Once it was over, they climbed out of the water and smiled at one another. Then they tumbled into the bed and held each other. Jordan felt at peace for the first time in months. "I'm going to finish unpacking," Woody said before he kissed Jordan gently. She smiled and found her black terrycloth robe. Then she wandered out onto the deck and stared out over the water.
The sun's fiery rays danced across the sapphire waves. A gentle breeze grazed Jordan's skin and it felt good under the blazing sun. She sat down in a chair and closed her eyes as the heat enveloped her.
She woke up to Woody's hand brushing against her cheek. Emily was in his arms. "I think someone is hungry," he said with a smile. Jordan opened her arms to her infant and allowed Emily access to her breast.
She turned to look at Woody, he was mesmorized by the ocean that was before him.
"What do you say we move out here?" he finally asked.
"What? We can't live out here?"
"Jo, we're only about twenty minutes from work. It'll just take a little longer to get there each morning."
Jordan could tell he'd thought a lot about this. "I don't know Woody. I don't like being so far from town."
"We're not that far away, there's even a doctor's office 5 minutes down the road."
Jordan had always loved the beach house. Her and Woody bought it when they first got together. They fixed it up and spent most of their weekends there before they had Emily. They had neglected to visit it, since Emily had made her way into the world.
"Jo we love this place, imagine spending our lives here."
"Yes but, the house in town, it's my house. It belonged to dad, it's all I have left of Dad and of Mom," Jordan said as tears filled her eyes.
Woody felt guilty as he digested Jordan's words. "Jordan, I know these last few years have been hard for you, hell they've been hard for all of us. I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with and if that means keeping the house in Boston, then we'll keep it." Woody yearned to pull Jordan into his arms and hold her until she stopped crying, but in a lounge chair with a baby between them was a little too difficult.
Jordan studied Woody's face as he stared out into the water. The sun lit up his features and his blue eyes sparkled, matching the waves that crashed against the shore.
Emily finally pulled away from Jordan and looked up into her mother's face. A smile broke out across her little face and her blue eyes smiled too. Jordan couldn't get over how much she looked like Woody.
XXXXXX
Framus sat peacefully at her desk and sipped her cup of coffee. She was reading through the Smith file when she heard someone clear their throat. She looked up to see Garret standing in her doorframe. "I'm still not telling you Garret," she said as she looked back down at the file before her.
A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I'm not here to harass you. I'm here to apologize." She looked back up and stared at him.
"Oh, well then go ahead."
"Jordan came to see us at the morgue before her and Woody left. She told us what happened to her. At first I was hurt that she kept it from me, that she couldn't tell me. The more I thought about, the more I realized how selfish that sounds. That was a very traumatic event for her. I am glad you were there for her. That you knew the right way to handle things."
She nodded her head and tried to smile in return. "Yeah, well. I'm just glad she got out when she did. I'm glad I found her when I did."
"I'm sorry for harassing you. You were right, it is up to Jordan to tell me. I guess I just felt left out."
"Sometimes after a traumatic experience, it feels better to talk to someone that doesn't know you as well. Someone who hasn't formed an opinion of you. Telling you would have been the hardest part."
"Why do you know so much about this?"
"We all have things in our pasts who make us who we are. Some for the good and some for the bad. I know what it is like to go through something that affects your whole outlook on life. It hurts to tell the people closest to you because their opinion matters most."
"I can understand that," Garret stated honestly. Framus returned her gaze to the file and she could feel Garret's gaze upon her.
"You worked the original Smith case right?" she suddenly asked looking back up.
"Yeah, I worked it with Woody, before Jordan came back from maternity leave."
"The knife was found in the backyard, wrapped in a baggie?"
"That's correct."
"Something is very off about this case. I'm not ready to close it. I want to see the wife's body again."
"Why?"
"Just take me through the autopsy please."
"Okay, well come over to the morgue then."
XXXXXX
Framus stood by the door in autopsy one. She watched Garret and Bug wheel in the body. She looked at the white scaly skin that had once probably been soft and lifelike. She looked at the brown hair that if it was brushed out, would frame her face and give it a softer look. The eyes were closed and there was stitches holding her chest cavity together. "How did she die?"
"She was stabbed in the back. She was washing dishes at the kitchen sink. Her husband then dragged her into the foyer. She was left there. He cleaned up the kitchen and made it look like someone broke in. Then he left and called the police pretending he had found his wife this way."
"You proved this completely."
"Yes, that is exactly what happened."
"You searched the house? You didn't find it strange that he buried the knife rather than hiding it in one of his secret safe's?"
"He probably thought we would look there but that we wouldn't look in the garden. One of the dog's found it."
"Okay, well the clothing that was worn for killing his parents was covered in his brother's DNA but his fingerprints were the only one's on the safe. Therefore, he was the only one that could have put them there."
"Why don't you go talk to him?"
"That's where I'm going now."
Framus disappeared out of trace and ran towards the elevator. She ran into Bug who was just exiting the elevator. "Good morning Detective," he said politely.
"Morning Buggles," she said. He noticed she wasn't smiling this time when she said it. Her face looked determined and worried.
"Is everything all right?" he asked with concern.
"I'm fine," she muttered as she walked past him. He never realized how little he knew about her.
"Would you like to get some coffee?" he blurted out.
She looked up at him and he noticed how tired she looked. Tears welled up behind her eyes. "No."
"Roz," he said using her first name for the first time in years.
The doors slid closed before she could respond.
XXXXXX
She arrived at the jail and made her way inside, demanding to speak with Zach Avery. She was given the right to enter. She hadn't noticed how small the man seemed last time. The orange suit swallowed him whole. "I'm Detective Framus, Boston PD, we met the other day. Your brother was arrested for the murder of your parents. Is there anything you would like to tell me?"
He stared at her and she watched him digest the news. His eyes clouded over. "Katie killed them."
"That's forensically impossible. His DNA is all over the clothes that were covered in their blood. However, what's most interesting is that they were hidden in your safe. The safe that had only your fingerprints on it."
He glared at her. "You don't understand. My parents weren't saints. They were horrible people. My father hurt my brother and me and my mother let it happen. She looked the other way, hiding in her bottle of vodka and numbing herself with her valium. She was a witch. A manipulative witch."
Framus stared at him. Her mind flooding back to her own broken childhood. Her own abusive father and her mother, who looked the other way. Tears burned at the back of her eyes. "I do understand," she admitted. "But why kill your wife?"
"She didn't understand. She threatened to call the police once she found out what we'd done. She didn't understand. The look in her eyes, pity and fear. She didn't understand," he mumbled. He no longer tried to look serious, his eyes filled with tears and he broke down and cried. "She should have understood."
"Even though your parents hurt you, why kill them?"
"I didn't. I drove my brother over. Then I helped him hide the evidence. I didn't kill them. I couldn't kill them. Even though I hated them. I couldn't kill them."
"But you could kill Katie?"
"I had to, to protect my brother."
"Your brother needs help."
"Too little, too late as far as I'm concerned."
"It's never too late for a second chance." Roz stood up and walked away, tears still burning her eyes. "Never too late," she repeated and she was right.
