Jordan's question was answered, and some, when they pulled in the motel parking lot. Woody told her to stay in the car even though he knew it was an exercise in futility.
The sun had gone down and it was completely dark, but it didn't take the high noon sun to see the damage that inflicted on her motel room. The bedding and her personal belongings were strewn around the room like a tornado has hit the room...but her laptop and all the equipment she brought was sitting, untouched, right were she'd left it earlier.
By the look of his face, Woody noticed the same thing.
"It wasn't a robbery..."
Woody's partner, Manning, flicked his cigarette butt out into the parking lot as he stepped in the room. "You were lucky you weren't here Dr. Cavanaugh. Whoever did this wants you outta town..."
"Why do you say that?" Woody asked.
"This," he smirked. Manning led Woody though the disarray to the bathroom. Jordan followed keeping her steps in theirs.
"I hope that lipstick you use isn't like that fancy stuff my ex buys...because our perp had some fun with it."
They all looked at the derogatory message scribbled on the mirror. Manning tapped his breast pocket for his cigarettes and added, "They're not very original but the message is pretty clear..."
"Who was the first on the scene?" Woody asked, his voice was calm, professional, almost without emotion. Jordan would believe it was true if she didn't notice the muscle in his jaw twitch.
"I was down the street and Mick's when the call came in," Manning said weaving his way outside.
Woody ignored the fact that his partner just happened to be taking calls while holding up real-estate at a roadhouse bar.
"Did anybody see anything?"
Manning shook his head and lit a match.
While Woody watched the tip of his partner's cigarette begin to glow and marking the days until he didn't need to ride with him anymore, Jordan was looking at the eaves of the building.
"Is there any surveillance cameras?" Jordan asked in general.
Manning picked a flake of tobacco off his tongue and snorted. "This is the Derry Motor Lodge...not the Four Seasons..."
Woody rubbed the back of his neck. For once the small town innocence that was so made the idea of Derry so attractive to him in the beginning was looking down right dangerous now.
Jordan looked across the two lane street to the brightly lit hospital where she had spent the better part of the morning. "But I bet they do," she said, pointing.
Woody missed the panic look on his partner's face, but Jordan didn't. She automatically took a step forward holding her hand out in front of her. Woody had seen this pose more times then he ever wanted to. It usually ended up with someone running...or someone dead.
"You didn't think about that did you sergeant," Jordan said carefully.
Manning's eyes spoke volumes even if his words said otherwise. "I don't know what you are talking about Miss Cavanaugh. If you'll excuse me. I think Hoyt here has everything under control. I'll just go across the street and see if I can get a hold of those parking lot tapes."
Woody watched the exchange with keen interest. He started doing the math of the last few days...no, the last few weeks in his head. He didn't like the way it was adding up.
"Let one of the uniforms get them.." Woody said taking his own step forward.
He reached for Jordan just as Manning took off across the parking lot. For a few minutes there was sheer chaos as the reality of the situation hit. Somehow Manning was involved in the murders. Woody pulled his gun as he pushed Jordan down behind one of the patrol cars parked in front of the motel room door.
His partner of eleven months stopped running when he heard a dozen firearms leave their holsters. He turned, but instead of holding his hands up he pulled his own weapon and held it loosely to his side.
He stood under the circle of the lone street light, casting him in a glow that was reminiscent of an interrogation scene in an old film noir. For Woody it was almost surreal.
"Let's talk Jeff," Woody called out. "Tell me what's going on."
Jeff Manning let out a snort and lifted his hand toward the cigarette in his mouth. He carefully pulled it out and flicked it away causing a shuffle of excitement in the uniforms that had him in his sights. Woody yelled for everyone to stand down and asked Manning the question again.
"Damn Hoyt. She was so fresh...and so hot," Jeff smiled almost manically. "I'd see her hanging out with her friends in front of the pizza place in those tight jeans and short tops. God...you can't tell me you didn't notice too..."
Woody suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He urged Manning to continue keeping an eye both on him and the rest of the officers on the scene. Some of the men were fathers of teenaged girls themselves. He could see some itchy trigger fingers...
"One night I followed her to a party up on the state property on the other side of the lake. She was having trouble with that little creep she was seeing. I brought along a few beers...and a little pot. I didn't mean for it to happen. The next thing I know she was all over me."
Woody doubted his side of the story was as black and white as Jeff was saying, but with the young lady dead there was no way to tell.
"A month later she comes to the office saying she's pregnant. I didn't need anyone hearing this conversation. I took her in the back. I thought it was empty. I tried to tell her she had to be wrong. Come on, she spend her legs for me...I'm sure she did for everyone."
Woody could her Jordan's gasp of indignation from where he stood. He cut her a glare that told her to stay down. For once she did.
"So what happened Jeff?" Woody asked as matter-of-factly.
"I told her I'd pay for her to get it taken care of. You would a thought I asked her to kill someone..."
Woody swallowed hard. He was half tempted to shoot him himself at that point. Instead he took a step forward. Manning lifted his gun. Woody put his hands up. "We're just talkin' here Jeff. Getting a woman pregnant isn't a capital offence."
Manning didn't lower his gun but he wasn't aiming it at anyone in particular. He start gesturing with it like it was an extension of his hand.
"How the hell do you know Hoyt? I can't imagine you ever losing control like that..."
"We all make mistakes Jeff. We have to make the best of the situation..."
"She wanted me to acknowledge I was the father and pay for it. I gave her lip service just to get her out of there so I could think. How the hell was I to know that that Ryan kid was in holding waiting for his folks to pick him up? He heard the whole conversation."
The pieces were all starting to fit together. Manning could see the realization in his partner's eyes.
"He tried to blackmail me. I played along for awhile. I made sure he was left alone by the department. He went to Jenny. They had me by the balls. He started wanting cash, drugs, anything I could get him. I knew it would never stop. I told him I meet him by the trestle..."
Woody cut him off. "Jeff you should be quiet no. We'll get you a lawyer..."
"What difference would it make? I did it. I didn't mean to push him. It just happened. I panicked. I knew he was a mixed up kid...He had a back pack with him. It had some school stuff in it. It wasn't hard to trace his handwriting and leave a note. I buried the evidence the dumpster behind the Piggly Wiggly."
"What about Jenny?"
"I called her and told her I wanted to come clean. I offered to marry her. She said her folks weren't home. She asked me to come over. I don't know. Maybe it was because I already is far gone I didn't have anything else to lose. I stopped by my uncle's place on the way over. He's had to put animals down on the farm before...it was just a matter of finding the right drug...I have you to thank for that by the way..."
Manning stopped and absentmindedly pointed the barrel of his gun at Woody. Woody was quick to remind everyone to stand down.
"Why are you thanking me?"
"You and your big ass stories about how they did everything from take down suspect to take a shit in Boss-ton. You used to make me puke. But you knew a thing or two about forensics and how to cover a crime... It was just a matter of covering her mouth and letting the drug take over. I had to make it look like suicide. Nobody would get suspicious of another kid gone. While she lay there paralyzed he just used her old man's fishing knife and cut her. Another copied note and I was free and clear."
For the first time since this started, Manning actually took aim with his weapon. He assumed the position with Woody in his sights. "Franks would have signed off and you would have looked like a fool. Just a little added prize. But you talked the sheriff in to letting this lady doc come in..."
"Even if Jordan hadn't of come...we would have figured it out," Woody said.
"Maybe, maybe not. But I couldn't take the chance."
Woody felt a trickle of sweat roll down his back looking down the barrel of the gun but he kept his stance neutral. There had been enough blood shed already.
"So you thought you could just scare her out of town?"
"I don't know...yes maybe. I just wanted it to end. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just lost control."
Manning's hand began to waver. Woody took one more step closer.
"Jeff..."
"Don't," Manning said quietly. "Don't make me hurt you too."
"Let's just put our weapons down. We'll go back to the office...and..."
"And what? You'll arrest me? That'll look good in your record won't it? You'll get a pat on the back and I'll go to jail to await my fair trial. Do you know what they do to police officers in jail Hoyt?"
"I'll do everything in my power to make sure you don't go in to the general population."
"Save yourself the bother Slick..."
Before anybody could blink Manning shoved his service revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Woody sprinted the last few steps but it was too late.
Jordan stood off to the side and watched Woody and the rest mingle in a stunned silence as the EMT's loaded Manning's body up in the ambulance for the ride across the street to the morgue. She offered to ride with him and offer Dr. Franks a hand, but Woody reminded her that she was a "tourist". She would have started a fight over his posturing if he wasn't shaking so hard.
She put her hand on his shoulder. "There was nothing you could do."
"We'll never know, will we?" he snapped. Jordan flinched back and Woody felt like the world's biggest heel. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."
"I know," She said reassuring him. She wrapped her slim arms around his middle and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry this happened."
Woody didn't care that half the department was watching them. After a day an a half of reassuring his colleagues that his relationship with the hot ME from Boston was purely profession he kissed the side of her head and wrapped his own arms tightly around her like she was some anchor in the storm.
As the scene was secured and her statement taken, Jordan noticed Woody grab the same officer that had followed in to town just 24 hours before. She didn't need to hear them talk to know Woody was arranging with the patrol officer to take care of her while he finished up the business that still needed to be done back at his desk. She wanted to go with him but there was nothing left for her to do. This was his job, his men...not hers.
Woody walked up to her fumbling with his keychain. "This is the key to my house," he said pilling off a brass key and placing it in her palm. "Rogers is going to take you back. I'll tried to get some of your stuff...but..."
"Don't worry about it. I know this is still and active scene."
"Make yourself at home...There's a spare toothbrush under the sink and the towels are in the closet. I only have the one bed but you're welcome to it. I doubt I'll be back before morning anyway."
Jordan noticed his hands had stopped shaking as the adrenalin was being purged from his system. All that was left was the exhaustion and disappointment. "Are you going to be okay?"
Woody's tired smile gave her the real answer even when he said he was fine. He held open the passenger side of Rogers' cruiser for her and tapped the hood before they drove away.
