Woody was sitting on two possible homicides. The first Harrison County has seen in years. He grabbed a ride back to the station from a black and white and briefed his captain. The families needed to be notified and further questions needed to be asked.
Woody felt alive.
In Boston, there were vastly more hopeless cases than detectives. Woody remembered working side by side with equally frustrated co-workers, each one of them running like a hamster on a wheel, getting no where fast...but unable to stop.
Woody's captain made sure he and his partner had more manpower than they knew what to do with. Woody delegated what he could while his partner pouted about being the senior officer and being undermined when the forensics where still inconclusive.
"I don't see why we have to put these families through this Hoyt. It's bad enough they have to live with the idea that they're loved ones killed themselves. Now we're going to smile and say there could be a remote chance that they could have been murdered."
"What a cheery thought. Christ, Manning! If you lost someone wouldn't you want some answers?"
After a few more bitter words, Manning washed his hands of the case said he'd concentrate on keeping the town of Derry safe while Woody chased his wild goose. If the newbie wanted to turn in his desk for a cruiser so be it. It wouldn't break Manning's heart.
Woody left the detective's office knowing the second this case was over he was going to ask to be solo. He tried, but Manning never got past the fact that Woody came out of nowhere. He'd been there long enough not to need a baby sitter anymore.
He checked his watch. Jordan and Dr. Franks should be done by now. He rounded the corner into the break room to grab a soda for the ride. He found Jordan grimacing into a coffee cup. His Boston PD coffee.
He remembered a time when he got used to Jordan "borrowing" his stuff. He also remembered when she stopped.
He missed wiping her lipstick smears off his coffee cups or reaching for his last bite of sandwich only to find it gone. He even missed searching for his secret stash of chocolate bars buried deep in his desk and finding nothing but empty wrappers.
He not only missed working with her...but he even missed being pissed off at her.
It felt good to watch her work earlier. Even when their personal lives stumbled off track, he still admired Jordan's knowledge and keen insight when it came to her job. He regretted the fact that he lost sight of that those last few months in Boston.
He stopped short at admitting he missed having Jordan and her expertise with him for the entire extent of an investigation. How many times did she find herself in trouble?
He suddenly saw her lying in that hospital bed. His stomach clenched in reaction. He needed to send her home. Out of sight out of mind.
If they were looking at Derry's first homicides in a quarter of a century he didn't want to have to worry about her trying to go off like she as in her home turf of Boston. He looked at the scar on her neck and didn't think his stomach lining could handle knowing the danger followed her around like some kind of albatross.
Jordan needed to go back where she belonged so he could concentrate on his job
On corner of her mouth curled up. "Why is it that the coffee tastes the same no matter what police station you are in?"
"Tradition I guess." he told her, his tone something of an apology.
Jordan dumped the contents of the cup in the sink and stowed the cup in Woody's cubby hole in the wall. Woody smiled at the faint traces of the hastily wiped off lipstick smudge.
"I want to thank you for your help Jordan. I know driving all the way down here wasn't fun. I'll make sure that you're hard work won't go unappreciated."
Jordan arched an eyebrow. "You sound like your packing me off."
"You went above and beyond Jordan. You saw what I had a feeling was there. I can't thank you enough..."
"...but you can handle it from here." she said mockingly.
"Well, yes. This isn't your job Jordan," he said flatly.
"Oh, so we're back to that," she snorted. "You just do your job Jordan and leave the police work to the police."
"Well...yes!" he interrupted, his jaw set.
She rolled her eyes and ignored his words with a boldness he had to respect, even if it drove him crazy.
Jordan had stopped by the station to do just that...Leave and let him do his job. Losing her baby made Jordan stop and take an inventory of her life. She found herself stepping further and further away from the chaos of the crime scene and keeping herself closer to the morgue.
She didn't miss the way he looked at her scar. She knew what he was thinking. It brought back the last time they saw each other...in that hospital room...like it was yesterday. They were both past their breaking points. She needed his support and he needed his space.
It was obvious how much had changed for him over the past year. What he didn't know is that she wasn't the same woman he left in that hospital bed.
Spending the day working with Woody again, she felt that old familiar rush of needing to have a front row seat in an unfolding mystery. She had to remind herself that this was Woody's new world and she was only there because he called Garret to get some advice. He didn't call her.
Woody's brush off hit her the wrong way. It felt almost like a challenge. Her body posture mirrored that.
Her fingertip drilled into his chest as she accentuated each word with it. "So you're going to make sure I get a nice little letter to put in my file and point me toward the highway! What if I want a piece of this?"
In the hallway Woody's co-workers were doing their best to ignore the raised voice in the breakroom.
"If you hadn't noticed we're about 1000 miles south of your stomping grounds. I'm grateful for help up to this point ...but you don't have any more authority here than a tourist."
Jordan had walked away from her own pile of work to drive nonstop to the middle of nowhere for a man that turned his back on her more than once. Jordan couldn't help but feel a little hurt. Her eyes flashed but her voice made the ambient temperature in the room drop by ten degrees.
"What are you afraid of Woody? Are you afraid you've gotten a little rusty and I might be able to piss a little high on the tree than you can?"
"No. I'm just plain afraid," he admitted quietly. "The last homicide I worked on you ended up in ICU fighting for your life."
"That's because we weren't working together," she said as if he was a dimwitted kindergartner.
"Go home Jordan," he said leaning forward giving her an I-mean-it stare.
"Not until you have a suspect in mind."
The room was suddenly too small for the egos present.
"Hoyt."
Woody jumped when he heard his captain's voice in the doorway. The man that hired him after a job interview over ribs and drafts in a local road house grabbed a coffee cup off the wall and filled it to the brim.
"I made a few phone-calls about Dr. Cavanaugh this morning. I liked what I heard. A pain in the ass...but a real go-getter. If the fine doctor here is offering her assistance I don't think it's in the best interest of the citizens of Harrison County to turn down her expertise. After all Hoyt, it was your idea to call her in for the consult. I don't need to remind you that you are under the microscope with this, Slick..."
Woody waited to roll his eyes until the man had left the room.
"Slick?" The sound of Jordan's smirk cut through the echoes of their earlier argument.
Woody gave her the look. "Don't...start."
"I think you're stuck with me."
"Jordan..."
He knew he was arguing with a wall. Jordan was like a pit bull at times...and just as ugly. Yet he couldn't deny he was looking forward to working with her one more time.
"Let's compromise. Just let me tag along for a day or two. I want to see where this goes..."
Woody really didn't have a choice. "Just remember your here in a totally unofficial capacity."
"Whatever you say...Slick," she smiled enjoying his discomfort.
The captain had people canvassing the school and the local hangouts. Woody opted to talk to both sets of parents...and the girl's boyfriend.
Three hours later they didn't know more than their young lady had broke-up with her long time boyfriend after she found she was pregnant. The boy is question was adamant he wasn't the father and only knew she had cheated on him with an older guy. At 17, everyone was older.
The boy consented to a paternity test. In Boston, they'd have a DNA test back in a day...here they were looking at weeks...unless they were willing to pay the lab is Savannah extra. The way the sheriff held the purse strings it didn't look like it was going to happen.
Jordan suggested doing a simple blood typing. In the end, the boy was telling the truth...His blood type didn't match the baby's. Woody requested the DNA test from the state lab anyway. Somebody was the father and right now it was the closest thing to a lead they had to go on. Hopefully they'd have a suspect before the test was back.
They left the girl's family and went to the first victim's. In was the same song, second verse. They said Ryan had his problems, but he never seemed suicidal.
Woody was torn whether to tell either family that they were looking into their child's death as a possible homicide.
As macabre as it sounded he didn't want to get their hopes up. With a suicide they had to look forward to a life time of questioning what they could have done different or blaming each other for not seeing the signs. A homicide can have a temporary galvanizing affect. Very temporary. Homicide opened the door to an entirely new set of blames.
In the corner of his mind Woody wondered if that was one of the reasons he left Boston. He knew what was ahead of them if he stayed. Would he and Jordan end up blaming each other for the baby's death?
Little did he know on the passenger side of his car Jordan was wondering the same thing.
Harrison County shut down every evening around dinner time. There wasn't much more they could do at this point. Woody suggested calling it a day.
"I know you're probably hot and tired, but why don't you have dinner with me tonight. I've got a couple of steaks in the fridge. We can have a few beers and talk."
"I don't know Woody. I know it's been a year but I don't think..."
"We can talk about whatever you want to. I miss just having someone to talk to."
"What about Ally?"
"Alice?" Woody asked, bemused. "Ally's a great listener but she'd rather have me rub her belly."
Jordan rolled her eyes in disgust. "You know what...just take me back to the motel. I'll grab something in town. You go...rub Alice's belly."
Woody blinked twice at Jordan's righteous tone and then laughed out loud.
"I don't see what's so funny."
"You."
"What?"
He tried to hide his grin but was unsuccessful. "Even after all this time you're jealous...admit it."
"I hate to burst your bubble Hoyt, but I gave up being jealous of you long before you left Boston."
"You are jealous."
She clicked her tongue. "No, I'm not."
"Are too."
Jordan gave him a look that said if he thought she was going to enter in the childish game of yes-you-are-no-I'm-not that he might as well pull the car over and she'd walk the rest of the way.
Woody gave her a self satisfied smile and said, "For your information Alice isn't my girlfriend. Ally's my dog."
AN: Thanks for sticking with me on this. I promise it'll start moving along now. :)
