For those of you who have been following this thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoy. I run so far with a story then that darn brick wall runs into my face. Ouch. Again, I don't own any of it save the characters that I create...
One Week Earlier
Woody had been having a rough day. He was in hot water with the DA for not having any leads on the serial killer, he had spilled his coffee twice and was now on the last of his spare shirts in his desk drawer. He had spent most of his day stuffed in his office filing paper work for six of his other cases.
"At least those cases were solved." He thought aloud. Woody leaned forward on his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. This case was getting to him, no doubt about it. Normally he would have asked Jordan for more help, but the friction between her and Alexis was taking a toll on him. He didn't like playing referee and Jordan was giving him a cold shoulder. He had tried reasoning with her but that didn't go so well.
When he explained things to Alexis she was a bit more receptive. In fact she had invited him out for dinner earlier in the week just so that they could catch up on the last few years. But she had made a point to tell him that he would need to make a bigger effort to talk with Jordan in order to patch up any misunderstandings. It had been a nice relaxing evening that night. Nothing exciting really, just laughing and talking. He wondered if they would spend anymore nights like that together. A knock on his office door interrupted his thoughts.
"Woody?" Jordan's head popped in through the door frame. Without saying anything he waved her into the office. "Nigel found something for us. All the girls had their braids tied with the same type of rubber band. He tracked them to a series of stores near A. K. Connections. And Bug is helping to track down the other guy involved in Colin's accident."
"What other guy?" Woody looked up at her.
"Colin hit another car and the driver in the car was paralyzed. I want to check him out."
"Why, Jordan?" He stood from his desk and approached her. "What kind of information could he possibly have?"
"Well, he may be really pissed off at Colin and wanted revenge."
Woody looked at her skeptically. "Jordan, I don't think that a guy who can't even stand on his own would go around exacting revenge on a dead man."
"Maybe he wants to get even by hurting Alexis." Jordan answered trying to convince
Woody.
"Jordan, you think that a guy involved in a car accident wants to seek revenge on a
widow by killing innocent clients of her business? Do you really think this guy could even subdue and overpower these women then kill them?" Woody continued. "That doesn't make sense."
"He could have hired someone to do it for him." She countered.
"Now you are really reaching Jordan." Woody said as his phone began to ring. He reached for it watching Jordan throw her hands up in frustration. "This is Hoyt."
"Woody, it's Alexis." Her voice came through the phone with excitement. "I think that I figured out what those notes meant. Do you think that you would have time to meet me and take a look at a few things?"
"Yeah, where are you now?" He asked reaching across his piles of paper work for a pen and paper.
"I'm just heading home right now." She answered. "I want to check something out, but I am pretty sure that I am on the right track."
"Okay, I'll meet you there. I've got the address. Just go home and stay there." He stood up reaching for his coat and started to usher Jordan out the door. "And do me a favor, lock the door until I get there."
"Why?" she asked.
"Please, just lock the door and wait for me." Woody ordered her.
"You always were too protective over me. Alright, I'll wait until you get here." She relented.
"Good, I'll be there soon." He placed the receiver back on the cradle. He put on his jacket and placed his cell phone into his pocket then walked toward the office door.
"Who was that?" Jordan asked pushing the doors to the precinct wide open and stepping into the steady fall of rain.
"That was Alexis. She said that she thinks she found something."
"Great. Let's go. I'll drive." She said as she searched for her keys. Woody reached out to take her arm.
"No," He said "You are staying here to work on one of your leads with Nigel. I don't have the energy or the patience to play referee." Jordan glared defiantly at him.
"C'mon, I'll play nice. Look, you don't think that I'm right about the other victim, so
let's try it your way first. Besides I really don't feel like standing here getting wet all night." Woody studied her for a minute. He closed his eyes.
"Fine, you can come with me, but I drive. Don't make me regret this Jordan." He said as he led her to his car.
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As they drove to Alexis' home, Jordan told Woody more about the braided hair on their victims and what Nigel had found. She explained that Nigel had narrowed down the store locations and that she hoped that she would have a chance to visit the stores that night.
"Jordan do you realize how difficult it will be to find someone who purchased rubber bands from any of those stores? It's impossible." Woody was answered with a typical Jordan Cavanaugh grin.
"Not if Nige is working on it." She looked out the windshield, watching the blades shift back and forth over the glass. She waited for him to say something further, but instead of speaking he turned the vehicle onto a quiet street lined with small houses. He pulled up to a medium sized two story home with a grassy yard and turned off the engine. A stone path led from the drive way to the front porch. Jordan could see a Alexis through a lit window moving about one of the rooms.
"Remember, you said you would play nice." Woody warned as he reached for the car door.
"You can trust me." She assured him. Woody looked at her. "Really, Woods, you can." He gave her a meaningful look and climbed out of the car. Jordan followed close behind. She would try to at least avoid starting any fights for his sake. If she didn't she was sure that Woody had give her an earful on the way back to the precinct.
By the time Woody and Jordan got to the door Alexis was there to greet them. "You have great timing. I just finished the spaghetti. Come in and get out of this weather."
She ushered them inside. Jordan was greeted with the smell of spices that were filling the room. She looked around at the house. It was modestly decorated with the occasional picture of family and friends on the walls and bookshelves. She saw that Alexis had started a fire in the fireplace making the room cozy and warm. The candles that were placed around the room created a soft glow. A short distance from the fireplace on a dinning table the scene was in organized chaos. Next to the laptop were several books laying open and papers were spread out.
"Come on over and take a look at what I found." She walked toward the mess on the table and picked up a book. She handed it to Woody. "See where I have marked the pages?" She pointed to several pages with post-it tabs with arrows drawn to various names.
"I was working on some accounts that had clients who wanted to find out the origins of their family names. Sometimes that can be tricky, other times it is very easy to find them." She said over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. "Many times name origins are tied to geography, place names and such, like where the family came from. Other times it is tied to occupations or jobs. Usually this is the case with surnames."
"You mean like the name Smith or Johnson and such?" Jordan asked looking at the book that Woody passed to her.
"Exactly." Alexis answered returning to the room with three place settings and several plates and arranged them on the other end of the table. "However, surnames as well as first names could also come from nicknames. Or they might come from a description of certain traits that a person had. Of course there are so many variations on millions of names that many of them can mean similar things." She flipped open yet another book and handed it to Woody. "Read that." She said pointing to a name in the middle of the page.
Jordan looked over Woody's shoulder and read the line that she was highlighted in the book. "PAULA: Latin in origin: small or petite."
"I also looked up the names of the other victims." Alexis said turning toward her laptop pulling up a list on the screen and started reading to them. "LORNA: ancient English: lonely or alone. MIRIAM: Hebrew: variation of Mary: sorrow or bitterness. And MALLORY: French: lacking good fortune, bringing bad luck." Jordan looked at Alexis.
"So you're saying that the victims were chosen because of the meanings of their names? Do you think that means something?" Woody asked.
Alexis let out a long sigh. "That is where I am stumped. It could be just a coincidence, it could be that they were chosen because the killer thought that their names were of some significance. I really don't know."
"You couldn't tell us this over the phone?" Jordan said. Alexis looked over to Jordan.
"I suppose that I could have, but I usually work best when I am bouncing ideas off of others. So I thought that since you would most likely be working closely with Woody on the case anyway, I thought that maybe we could all sit down and figure some of this out." She walked into the kitchen once more leaving Jordan and Woody momentarily. When she returned she held a pitcher of water and three glasses of ice in her hands.
"You might as well make your self comfortable." Alexis said pouring a glass and handing it to Jordan. "We may be here for a while."
Jordan slowly took the glass and looked toward Woody who was already taking off his jacket. "Okay then," he said settling into a chair. "So the first question is does the name meanings have anything to do with killer or was this just a coincidence?"
"I've been thinking about that." Alexis poured a second glass and handed it to Woody before pouring one for herself. "It could be the names themselves mean something to the killer and that the women were targeted because of it. I suppose it is also possible that because the women had traits that their names described. Something else I would like to know is why this guy is why he feels the need to leave notes with the victims. It seems to me like he wants to be caught. That the fact that they were all connected through my business could mean that the killer had a connection to me or my business, or maybe one of my employees." She left the room one last time returning with a steaming bowl of pasta and a pot of sauce.
"So you believe now that the killer has a connection to you after all?" Jordan asked. Woody glanced at Jordan as if to scold her but Jordan chose to ignore it. Alexis nodded setting the dishes onto the table.
"I was hoping that I would be wrong, but let's face it. I would prefer to say otherwise, but I can't find any other was to tie the victims to one another and from what Woody has told me he hasn't either." She answered as she began to dish out the noodles.
"Is this your World Famous Polish Spaghetti?" Woody pointed at his own plate as Alexis gave Jordan her helping of pasta.
"Woody," She said smiling and dishing out her plate next. "Focus first, eat second." Woody smiled back and began to twirl the noodles around his fork.
"So," he looked first to Jordan then to Alexis. "We need to figure out how and why you are connected and how this person was able to get the information about these women. Their phones numbers, where they were staying. Maybe it was something about them seeking out their families."
"That's why I was hoping to bounce some ideas around." Alexis settled into her chair. "Either I'm the one the killer is really going after, or the women are simply connected through me, but that seems unlikely."
"Something else that I can't put my finger on is why the victims had their hair braided as they did." Jordan added.
"What do you mean?" Alexis asked.
"All of the victims had their hair tied in a neat braid. It can't be a coincidence. " Jordan explained. "The rubber bands used to hold them all came from the same chain store, Corda Office Supply."
"That's where I get most of the general supplies for the office." Alexis set her fork down. "It's within walking distance so if I ever run out of anything I generally head right over and pick it up. But how do you know that they came from that store?"
"We don't." Woody answered. "But if you go there regularly it may be a way to track this guy down."
"I don't know if it will help, but I can get the receipts of any sales purchases from the office. Maybe that could help." Alexis offered.
"It couldn't hurt." Jordan answered turning her head to the window as the rain pounded. "Wow, I haven't seen a fall storm like this for a while."
"You should visit Wisconsin some time in June." Alexis grinned as she glanced at the same window. "This is child's play compared to the storms we would get around home. You could sit at home and watch the lighting crackle across the sky or listen to the roll of thunder for hours. We used to get quiet a few tornados out of those storms, too."
"Can't say I miss those." Woody said before stuffing a fork full of pasta into his mouth. Alexis laughed.
"Neither can I. But there are a few things I do miss." She said starting in on her dinner. "I do miss those silly little county fairs and such. You know with the 4H Clubs and cotton candy, hot dogs and those game booths. It sounds so stupid, I know, but I always liked just hanging out with our little group and laughing. It could get a little interesting once the guys started dating, and tagging their dates along. But it was a simple fun."
"Hey, speaking of fun, you remember that year we rigged up the remote control car with a water pistol and then took it to the fair?" Woody asked.
Jordan sat and listened to Alexis and Woody talk about their days growing up in the Midwest. Alexis would gesture while she described things and mimic people playfully as Woody would laugh at her cheerfully. Jordan couldn't help feeling a pang of regret for not asking Woody about his youth more. He knew so much about her past and the events in her life, but she suddenly felt that she knew nothing about him. She felt a pang of regret knowing that even after several years apart, Alexis and woody still seemed to have a strong connection. She wondered silently is she could ever have that with Woody or if she would even get the chance to find out.
As dinner started winding down Alexis began clearing the table. Jordan pushed back her chair and followed her into the kitchen with a few plates. "That was pretty good." She told Alexis setting the dishes next to the bubble filled sink. "Why is it called Polish Spaghetti?" Alexis studied Jordan for a moment before answering her.
"Thanks. Mom made it once with Kielbasa instead of hamburger. Thus was born Polish Spaghetti." She plunged her hands into the water and began so scrub the plates. "Cooking was always an event in our house because Mom insisted that everyone participate. Between Mom and Woody I had a lot of cooking lessons." Jordan nodded her head.
"Woody has a knack for cooking." She said.
"I take it he has proven his skills to you then?" Commented Alexis as she rinsed off a few plates.
"Uh, yeah, actually. He made me his spaghetti once when we worked on a case together." Jordan leaned against the counter as Woody brought in the last of the pans from the table. Alexis smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, he likes to use that one to impress the ladies." She teased.
"I do not!" Exclaimed the detective. "We were supposed to cook together but Jordan was busy at the computer."
Alexis dried her hands on a towel and looked over to Jordan grinning. "For as long as I've known him, he would use his charm and cooking skills on girls every chance he gets."
"Tell me about."
"Hey, could you two stop talking about me like I'm not here!" He whined.
"Jordan, the stories I could tell you." Setting the towel on the counter she walked back toward the table. "But I guess those could wait for a bit. I think it's time we get cracking on this." She gestured towards the table top.
Woody marveled at the fact that the two women had gotten along so well. He started to follow her into the living room. Jordan followed him close enough to whisper in his ear before passing by him. "Told you I could play nice."