Author's note: Sorry for the long delay with the newest chapter. Alas, I don' t own Crossing Jordan. (Sigh) Otherwise I would be a few dollars richer and a few story lines closer to our favorite pairing. I am a little slow with the writing but comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Present

Pushing her dark hair out of her face she took a split second to make her decision. She stepped into the road and began waving her arms back and forth above her head. The approaching headlights momentarily blinded her as the vehicle slowed. Allowing her eyes to focus she could make out that it was a late model pick up truck. It came to a stop a few feet in front of her. The driver' s side door open and she could see a small figure step out. She let out the breath that she had held in as she heard a woman call out to her. She took several ragged steps toward the truck, as a white haired woman came toward her with her arms open wide.

"Are you alright dear? Did you car break down or something? Goodness, you're shaking like a leaf. Come on into the pickup." She heard the woman say to her as she guided her into the passenger side of the vehicle and helped her slide into the seat.

"Thank you ma'am. If you could please get me to a gas station or something, I need to get to a phone." She told the older woman as she climbed into the truck and slid behind the wheel.

"Call me Laura. I've got a cell phone right here, honey. A young girl like yourself should have one." Laura handed her the phone and pulled the car onto the road. She shivered as her fingers attempted to dial the number.

"Guess I should have kept mine with me, huh?" She held the phone to her ear and waited for the connection.

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One Week Earlier

Jordan stepped out of the SUV and walked toward the familiar yellow tape. She hesitated momentarily when she noticed Woody talking with another officer on scene. Two weeks had past since there fight at the pub. Two weeks that Jordan spent avoiding Woody as much as possible. Which hadn't been difficult since they both were preoccupied with going over the case. She knew that Woody had gotten the warrant to obtain records from A. K. Connections and that he had been going over them looking for a break on the case. To Jordan's disgust they hadn't found anything that would be of any use. No employees with shady dealings or pasts. In fact most of the employees were grandparents with a lot of spare time. Two weeks of frustration. Two weeks with no leads or any new victims. She had thought that he had quenched his desire for killing. At least until now. Taking a deep breath she walked toward the front entrance of the home.

"Detective," Jordan said cooly."Care to fill me in on what I'm going to find inside?" Woody looked at her briefly then finished speaking with the other officer before addressing Jordan. He studied her for a moment before speaking.

"Promise to play nice?" He asked. Jordan said nothing choosing instead to look him square in the eye. Shaking his head he opened the door for her and followed her in."Mallory Mitchell. Age 23. Her neighbor came by for a visit and found her here then called 911." Woody said as Jordan came upon the petite woman sprawled out on her sofa. Jordan set her bag on the coffee table and began to pull on the latex gloves."It looks like our killer is at it again." Woody continued to narrate as Jordan began to examine the body."There was no forced entry. Looks like she was strangled as well. And another note with her, it saidshe brings bad luck" .

"Maybe she should have had a rabbit's foot." Jordan said dryly. She looked over the young woman laying one the sofa, her dark brown hair pulled neatly into a braid. "Woody, do you see how her hair is braided? The other victims had their hair braided. Why didn't we notice this before?" Woody kneeled next to her.

"I don' t think it occurred to anyone. Do you think that Nigel or Bug could find anything?"

"I won't know until we get her back to the morgue." She said sighing as she stood."Give me a couple of hours and I will get you what you need. In the meantime I think you need to call Ms. Kelly and have a talk with her." She looked over her shoulder at Woody.

"You still think that Alexis has something to do with this don't you?" Woody glared at her.

"I don't know, Woody. But I do know that she and her business are the only thing that connect these women." Jordan stepped around the girl as she pulled off her gloves."Maybe there is something that connects these women that even she doesn't know about. We need to talk with her."

Woody sighed and nodded."Alright. I' ll let her know that we need to meet with her again. In the meantime you find out what you can about our latest victim."

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"Nigel, did you find anything for me?" Jordan asked walking up behind him.

"No trace hairs or fibers in the braid."Heanswered pulling up the results on the computer screen."Standard rubber band around the braid. I looked at the other victims and they had the same style braid and band. This particular brand was manufactured by Corda Corp. and distributed to office supply stores throughout the country." He said pointing to the results.

"So what did you find for me, Nige?" Jordan asked.

"Is that all I am to you? An endless source of information and knowledge?" Nigel asked his smiling dropping slightly.

"Don't forget a source of constant annoyance." They turned around to see Bug walking into the room.

"Good to see you too, Bug." Jordan smiled as he walked over towards them."Seriously Nigel, did you find anything else that could help us?

"Right."He turned sharplyback to the computer."I tried looking into the dealings of the company itself, but the company is still fairly young. Nothing there. So then I tried to find stores that Corda Corp. distributes products to. Specifically office supply stores." He swiftly typed in a couple of key strokes."They distribute nationally to supply store and depots, but I did find something rather interesting. Corda Corp. recently started to open their own stores." They all watched the monitor as several red dots appeared on a map of the greater Boston area.

There are 112 office supply stores in Boston. Nine are Corda Office Supply stores. But," he said holding up one finger."Three stores are located near the murder victims, and two of those stores are located within a 5 mile radius of A.K. Connections. Voila!" He hit a few more key strokes on the computer. Several green dots appeared on the screen. Nigel beamed at the two of them.

"So what?" Bug said breaking Nigel's smile."There are office supply stores all over. Just because the company has stores located near by doesn't mean that those are the only stores where those rubber bands could have been purchased."

Nigel glowered at Bug."These particular bands came from a new batch that the company has just started to produce. A higher grade elasticity. This new and improved grade is found only in the company's own chain of stores. This is the only place our killer could have got them."

"Great work Nige." Jordan patted him on the shoulder."Now we just have to figure out how this connects the killer, his victims and Alexis."

"We're using her first name now?" Nigel teased. Jordan rolled her eyes.

"Is that why you had me go over Colin Kelly's autopsy report?" Bug looked again at the screen."You think that she killed him or something?"

"I just wanted to cover everything" Jordan answered.

Well I don't think that she could have. I remember that we had to wait a day for her to fly in from somewhere so that she could ID his body. Besides, he was driving his car drunk and he hit another vehicle and he paralyzed the other guy." Bug flipped through several papers."Here, see for yourself."

Jordan took the papers from him and looked them over."Nigel, could you track down the man who was involved in the crash?"

"The poor bastard that Kelly hit?" He asked as his fingers started to glide over the computer keyboard.

"Yeah, him." She said."And get me the printout of those rubber bands so I can get them to Woody."

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Alexis stretched her arms over her head and yawned. She had been up most of the night before working to finish a file for one of her clients and she was feeling the effects. Her secretary Maxine had been feeling ill so she was out and one of her assistants was on vacation leaving her to take on a few more hours. Not that she minded, it kept her occupied and her mind off of other things. Mainly the fight that she had with Woody and Dr. Cavanaugh. She couldn't understand why the doctor continually accused her of having something to do with it. It also bothered her that she couldn't find anything herself that may connect the victims other than the fact that they were her clients. She had handed over every records that she had to the police and still nothing could be found.

Standing up, she began to gather the papers on her desk to file away. Normally she liked to keep her office tidy, but the days were catching up with her. She pulled several files off of the first pile. She opened the first manilla folder glanced over it and placed it in the cabinet. She did the same with the second file and a few others until she came across one that caught her eye. The client had requested that besides the lineage, she would like information regarding the origins of the family surnames. Alexis studied it momentarily taking in the file.

Slowly she closed the file and set it onto her desk. Her forehead crinkled as her mind started to race. She turned back to her bookshelf, searching the titles until she found the book she was looking for. She wasted no time snatching her bag from its resting place and throwing the book into it as she headed for the door. She deftly pulled her phone from her bag and dialed the number as she reached for her keys to her car.

"Woody, it's me. I think I found something."