Chapter 4:
Major Disclaimer: Okay. I've driven through the state of Georgia...maybe a half a dozen times. Why did I pick Georgia? I don't know. It was about one o'clock in the morning when I to the point where I needed a place and Georgia sounded like a good warm place to go to and start over. As far as I know, there is no Harrison County or Derry, Georgia. The whole area is only in my head. Just remember...my version of suburban rural Georgia is a total 100 percent fabrication and I mean no disrespect in my portrayal.
It was just after one in the morning. Woody should have been home hours ago. He was sure Alice had left him a nasty message by now. She didn't like to be left home alone and made sure he knew it. Why he always seemed to end up with high maintenance women he never know. He checked his watch for the twentieth time in the last twenty minutes. He tapped a pencil on his desk in a rapid staccato waiting for the phone call he's been waiting for all night.
When Garret called earlier and told him he'd give him all the help he'd need Woody did a little happy dance in his head.
His partner was calling him a conspiracy theorist and his boss was begrudgingly sitting on the autopsy requests and their inevitable sign-offs until Woody, the former hot shot big city homicide detective, had got his second opinion.
Woody assumed Garret would just look at the police reports. Maybe he'd suggest some out of the norm forensic testing.
...maybe he was waiting for Macy to tell him that the Georgia humidity had boiled his brain.
He wasn't prepared for was Garret sending an ME all the way down to Derry to assist in the investigation.
...He was further blindsided when Garret later called and said Jordan was on her way. Woody wondered just how many rules the retiring CME was breaking.
He also wondered why Jordan was the one on her way. The last time he talked to her he planned it to be just that...the last time. He'd sat through enough AA meetings with Cal to know that the only way to stop the cycle of self-destructive behaviors was to make a clean break. He had a year to put his past screw-ups behind him.
Then why were his hands so sweaty?
Woody's partner thought the ME from Boston coming to Derry was going a little over- kill with the county's first suicides in ten years. Woody's captain was just excited to have someone who had experience with suspicious deaths was taking the extra step to request assistance. He didn't care if Woody was calling in Miss Cleo as long as it didn't come out of his budget. The local ME was the most excited. Dr. Franks was a retired surgeon that was more familiar with appendicitis surgery than a possible murder.
Woody stood up and paced his office. He didn't know how excited he was. Maybe Manning was right. Maybe after ten months of investigating nothing more serious than a stolen bass boat and occasional marijuana garden raid, Woody was just itchy for a good old fashion murder mystery. The first body that shows up and he fell into his old habits and dropped a dime on his friends in Massachusetts for help.
Was he just antsy?
He stopped and picked up the crime scene photos he had been studying all day. Two kids, that by all accounts ran in totally different circles.
Woody was more familiar with the male. He was a frequent flyer in the office. His juvie record was dotted with charges of possession, B&E, disorderly and few more. Nothing more than many of the young people in town.
When there is nothing better to do on a Friday night then to hang out in the Wal-Mart parking lot there was going to be some problems.
Derry was a farm town that was going through a renaissance. New industries were being drawn in, replacing farm fields and families were being seduced with the idea of moving away from the problems of the cities to the slower pace of Harrison County. The only problem was these same people brought their vices with them. It was one of the reasons Woody was hired.
The young woman he wasn't as acquainted with. Her family had been residences of Harrison County for generations. Woody had never met the girl in person but he remembered seeing her sitting on top of the homecoming float last winter. By the looks of the pictures that had to be around the time she got pregnant. Derry had more than it's fair share of teen pregnancies. Woody chalked it up to that Friday Night at Wal-Mart issue again.
He was about to check his watch one more time when his phone rang. He picked up before it could ring again.
The hair on Jordan's forearms was sticking up straight with the amount of caffeine she had humming through her system. She had picked up a great radio station just outside of Savannah and she had it turned up so loud that she was surprised blood wasn't dripping out of her ears. She was singing to an old Stones tune when she saw the sign that said Welcome to Harrison County.
That was when she also realized she had picked up a tail. The rack of lights on the roof said she was being followed by one of the locals. She double checked her speed, never missing a note with Mick. The last thing she needed to do after not talking to Woody in almost a year was to ask him to fix a ticket.
Woody hung up the phone and left his office locking the door behind him. He loitered around dispatch for a minute before he wandered out to the parking lot. He was leaning up against the front portico of the building when he saw Jordan's black SUV pull in. The uniform he asked to contact him when he saw a Massachusetts license tag tapped his blue lights when he saw him. Woody waved in greeting as the car just cruised on past back to patrol.
Jordan pulled up in the fire line and turned off the engine. Carlos Santana's distinctive guitar was cut off in mid rift. She rested her arm from the open window frame and gave him a two fingered wave.
"Hey..."
Even in the harsh parking lot lighting and after a long road trip Woody noticed she looked good. Better than he remembered.
He could remember a time when he thought his world could have easily started and ended with her face. But that was a lifetime ago.
He pushed away from his spot against the entryway into the building and walked slowly over to where she was parked. What do you say after a year? He spent the better part of the day thinking about just that.
His well rehearsed speech flew out of his brain when she gave him a slow, lopsided smile.
"You made good time."
Jordan looked at the litter of water bottles and energy bars wrappers she had collected over the last 18 hours. She only made the necessary stops.
"How the hell did you find this place? It's not exactly on the beaten path..."
Woody stopped a few feet anyway from the driver's side door and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"...That was the point," he said looking toward the darkened town. "How have you been Jordan?"
Jordan waited a beat before answering. "Good. I've been good."
"You look good," he smiled scratching the day old stubble on his chin.
Jordan grinned knowing she looked like death warmed over.
"I'm sure you're tired," he added. "I checked you in at the motel near the hospital."
Woody reached in his back pocket and pulled out a keycard. He stepped closer to the SUV holding it out. His eyes flicked to her neck.
The bug-filled glow of the street lamps washed out her features too much to see the scar he knew she had. Jordan noticed his look, her hand fluttered at the steering wheel before she took the card from his hand.
"Dr. Franks wants to start the autopsies first thing," Woody unconsciously nodded off in the direction of the hospital.
Startled, Jordan said, "They're not done yet?"
"He wanted to wait for the pinch hitter I called in from Beantown..." Woody chucked. Jordan's lips twitched instinctively knowing that those weren't Woody's own words.
"Then I'd been get some sleep so I can daze and maze," she replied as if saying 'so I can perform like a caged bear.'
"Doc Franks isn't a bad guy Jo. In fact, he can't wait to meet you. Apparently he saw you speak at a coroner's convention a few years ago..."
Woody didn't add that Dr. Franks thought Jordan had about the worst delivery of any speaker he'd ever heard...but she seemed to know what she was talking about...and she didn't look bad in a pencil skirt suit.
Woody pointed at his old Chevy that was parked a few feet away "If you follow me, I'll lead you over to the Motor Lodge."
The motel and hospital was a few blocks over from the police station. Jordan had a feeling she had passed through the only street lights in town. The Pairview Regional Medical Center was smaller than the name implied. Its core was a generic two story building that was probably originally built a half a century ago.
Time had changed the original architecture as new additions and faculties had been attached through the years. In the day light, Jordan could probably name the decade each change was made. Each change had been designed in the style of the era which made for a crazy patch look to the complex. All in all it looked in well repair and not suffering from the trap of managed health care and rising costs that have crippled many of the nation's rural hospitals.
Derry had some money somewhere. On the drive down I-95 she thought she was heading to some backwoods Mayberry but was pleasantly pleased to discover a nicely developed community.
She quickly augmented the assessment when she saw a farm tracker parked on the side of the road. She was still in Mayberry. It was just a Mayberry on steroids.
Jordan flipped on her turn signal when she saw Woody had done the same. The Motor Lodge was lit only by the big neon sign out front and a single street light. The parking out had a sprinkling of cars and trucks all coated in a fine coat of dew making Jordan well aware of the hour.
In a town like Derry they probably rolled the sidewalks up at sunset. Even the tourists were tucked neatly in bed.
Two days...max, and her happy ass was going to be back in Boston where she belonged.
Woody pulled over, under the street lamp, and pointed out his window to a parking spot on the corner of the building. Apparently the darkened room in front of it was hers. Jordan pulled in and put the SUV in park.
She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she didn't have anymore driving to do for awhile before reaching for her bag and popping the back hatch. Woody had her suitcase out before she had climbed out of the driver's seat.
"What's all this?" Woody asked looking at all the equipment boxes and crates.
"Loaners from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts..." Jordan smirked.
Woody's eyebrow disappeared in his hairline. "I'm taking it Garret is enjoying his last few weeks as the man in charge."
"Taking advantage more like it," Jordan replied pulling the key card out of her pocket.
Before she could slip it in the lock, Woody took it out of her hand and opened the lock himself. He efficiently strolled in the room turning on every light and checking out the bathroom. He dropped her bag on the edge of the bed and opened the mini fridge next to the dresser.
"I put some bottled water and a few snacks in here earlier. If you need anything else just let me know and I can pick it up tomorrow."
Jordan nodded and looked around the plain, but clean room. The double bed looked so inviting, she almost fell face first into it.
Instead, she grinned from the doorway and said, "I'm sure I'll be fine..."
"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you in a few hours. The doc wants to start about 9. I'll pick you up about 8 and we'll get some breakfast."
"Can you make it 7?" Jordan asked. "I'd like to take a look at the scene reports before we start."
"Sure," Woody said rubbing his neck.
"That is unless you have something else..."
Jordan didn't know what his situation was. He could very well have someone sitting at home waiting for him now. From some reason it prickled her road-weary nerves. She didn't want to think about it.
Woody cleared his throat. It was uncomfortable standing in the motel room with her. The last time they were in a room like this, alone in the middle of night...he was helping her take her clothes off.
"No, seven is fine. I'll see you then. Good night Jordan."
"Good night Woody..."
As he turned to leave Jordan stopped him. "It's...good to see you again."
After a moment of awkward silence he said, "You too...I really need to...it's late...Ally's home alone..." Woody pointed at his illegally parked car.
Jordan smiled and Woody left. She watched him driving away knowing he was going home to someone. This was his world now. She didn't expect him to live in it alone.
What they almost had was over a lifetime ago.
She locked the door and turned off the lights saying, "Garret could have told me there's an Ally..."
