Disclaimer: Crossing Jordan stuff still belongs to TK and NBC. Ausus Productions was created by KSuzie. And everything about Carri Hillard and the Hillard family was created by me.
Author's Notes: Carri is a character featured in both Ranger Scrolls and Legacy. This is not a series crossover. I wanted to do another story with her and Jordan so I plucked her family out of their world and put them in Jordan's. This will be the only character I ever write about in a Second Chances fic that I am going to be picky about. If you like the character and were interested in writing using her, please talk to me first.

Crossing Jordan: Second Chances
"Hollywood"

The Boston morgue was unusually quiet. Which was a good thing as not many bodies had come in that day. The man riding up the elevator that morning was excited as it meant he may be able to ease back into the swing of things. He stood there tapping his foot until the doors swung open and he stepped out into the morgue’s lobby.

He was greeted by the receptionist as he headed through the double doors and into the morgue, before he was rushed by staff members. "Dr. Macy it’s good to have you back." Nigel said as he was the first to approach him

"It’s good to be back." Garret replied. Anything was better than sitting in bed recuperating, even if it was working at a morgue.

"Garret." a familiar female voice called out

Garret looked over in time to embrace the woman who was approaching him. "Hey Jordan. Have you been staying out of trouble?"

Jordan flashed him a smile. "Oh of course." she said in a tone that suggested otherwise

"Hey Dr. Macy." Bug said smiling at him as he walked over. "Good to see you up and moving again."

"Thanks Bug." he said as he looked over his staff. "So where’s Kate?"

"Right here." she replied as she came around the corner. "I was just finishing clearing out your office."

"Great." he replied. He was thankful to be able to get his mind off of the plane crash and the surgery and the recovery. He knew Kate had handled the job while he was gone, but he was sure he had paperwork and other stuff waiting for him, which suited him just fine. He smiled at everyone. "So what are you guys doing goofing around out here? Isn’t there work to be done?"

Everyone muttered some sort of agreement as they hustled off in different directions. Garret smiled as he made his way toward his office. Two things surprised him as he entered. The first was the giant welcome back basket that his staff had left on his desk. The second was the woman sitting in the chair waiting for him.

"Lily, hey, what are you doing here?" Garret greeted

Lily stood and turned toward her old friend as she returned his greeting with a hug. "I’m glad you’re back." she said

"Thank you." he replied gesturing for her to sit. Lily took a seat as Garret went around the desk, putting the basket on the floor before taking a seat himself. "I assume you’re not here just to see me."

"Actually I was here about a possible opening for a grief councilor." Lily replied smiling at him

"I thought you didn’t want to get back into this line of work." he replied. He was curious as to what changed her mind.

"I didn’t." she said firmly before smiling at him. "That was until two weeks ago when I volunteered to help with the Davis case. Being here, being with those people... I really got through to them, I helped them. That’s what this job was all about. And I miss being able to do it."

"What about Maddie?" Garret questioned

"My neighbor, she’s retired. She absolutely loves Maddie and they get along so well. She said she’d watch her during the day if I wanted to go back to work." Lily told him. It was nice of her to want to do that. Lily thought it had something to do with the fact that she was lonely and missed having her own children and grandchildren around. They had all moved out of the area within the last few years.

"Well the job’s yours if you want it." Garret replied smiling at her. There was no way in the world he would tell Lily she couldn’t have her old job back.

"Great." she replied smiling at him. "When can I start?"

Garret smiled back. "Is today good?"

"Today’s great." she replied as she stood. "Thank you Garret."

Garret nodded and watched her walk out of the office just as he saw Matt Seely come rushing by with an irritated look on his face. So much for the quiet day at the morgue.

Shortly after lunch on that same day, a brunette woman walked into a hotel in downtown Boston rolling her luggage behind her. She smiled at the man behind the desk as she headed for the elevator. It finally opened and she walked in, pressing the button for the twelfth floor.

She sighed as she leaned against the wall of the elevator. She had just arrived in Boston a few hours ago and had been nothing but irritated. She was anxious to get her room key from her parents and put her stuff down, and then see why they made her fly across the country to begin with. She was already missing her home in Los Angeles, including her boyfriend and her friends, the beach and even her work. Although this little trip was work related.

Her father wouldn’t tell her over the phone. He didn’t even want her to meet him at his home in New York. He said there was something important that he wanted to show her and she and her brother had to come to Boston to see it.

The elevator dinged as it arrived on her floor and she grabbed her luggage and walked out, going down the long hallway until she found the right room. She stopped and knocked on the door, waiting for someone to open only there was no answer. "Mom, dad." she called out

She sighed as she knocked again before pulling her phone out and calling her dad’s cell. She could hear it ringing on the inside of the room but noone picked up. Quickly she tried her mother’s cell and got the same results. She couldn’t help but feel a little worried as neither of her parents ever went anywhere without their cell phones firmly attached to their hips.

Leaving her luggage, she went back down to the lobby. "Hi. My parents are in 1215 and they were supposed to be there when I got here but I guess they stepped out. Could you give me a key?"

The man looked up and smiled at her. "Name?"

"It’s under Jonathan Hillard. I’m Carri Hillard." she said as she dug out her ID and laid it on the counter

"Thank you Miss Hillard." he replied as he quickly made her a key card

Carri took the card and rushed back toward the elevator. The wait felt like forever as she stepped on and went up to the twelfth floor once more. She headed over to her parents room and used the key to let herself in. The light on the door flashed green and she opened it and walked in.

Nothing she had ever seen or done could have prepared her for what happened next. As she turned the corner she saw her parents lying on the bed covered in blood. She collapsed to the floor as tears started to fall. Hands shaking, she reached into her pocket for her phone and dialed 911, then went to check on her parents.

Woody stood in the hotel corridor. He had just arrived on scene and from what he had heard it wasn’t pretty. One look into the room confirmed that as there he found the male and female victims, each with gunshot wounds to the chest. He walked back out into the hallway and talked to one of the officers. "Who called it in?" he asked

The officer pointed to the girl sitting on the floor leaning against the wall. "She did." he replied

Woody approached her and bent down to her level. He noticed she was covered in blood. "Excuse me." he said. She looked up at him and although tears were sitting on her cheeks he could see a flash of hatred in her eyes. "I’m Detective Woody Hoyt. And you are?"

"Carri Hillard." she replied

"Miss Hillard, can you tell me what happened in there?" he asked trying to figure out what she knew

She glanced at him as though he was a moron as she replied. "Well detective, it appears as though someone shot my parents." she said harshly

The woman’s tone was not lost on Woody. "Anything else you can tell me?" he asked. He could tell she was angry but he wasn’t completely sure why. Her attitude made him wonder if she knew more than what she was letting on.

"I know about as much as you do. I just got in from LA, I came to their room and I found them like that." she snapped. She was tired of the detective already. She didn’t have any information to give him, he should’ve been out there searching for the killer not screwing around with her.

"Carri!" a male voice called out from down the hallway

Woody looked up as she jumped up and ran to the man calling her name, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. "What happened?" he asked

"Someone shot mom and dad." she replied willing herself not to start crying again

Woody jumped up and walked over the duo. "Excuse me." he said as both parties looked toward him. "Who are you?"

"Josh Hillard." the man replied

"This your sister?" Woody asked pointing toward the girl in his arms. He nodded and Woody continued. "I’m going to have to ask that you stay close by. We’ll have some more questions for you later."

"I’ll be in my room." Carri said bitterly as she walked back toward her suitcase. She reached into her pocket for the key that she had taken out of her parents room before the police came. She wanted desperately to throw the clothes she was wearing away and wash her parents blood off of her.

As she turned back around, she ran into someone. "I’m sorry." she muttered

Jordan looked down at the girl who was covered in blood. She assumed she had something to do with the case. "It’s ok." she replied stepping in front of her for a moment. "What’s going on?" she asked trying to figure out what the girl was doing

"Let’s see I found my parents dead now I’d like to go wash off the blood." she said a little more harshly than she intended. This woman hadn’t done anything to her, but she was already tired of the questions.

"I’m sorry." Jordan replied with a level of sincerity in her voice Carri hadn’t heard from anyone else around there. If anyone knew what it was like to lose a parent it was Jordan. She always sympathized with people whose parents had died. Although she still had one parent, but it wasn’t like they were on the best of terms. "I’m Jordan Cavanaugh. From the ME’s office." she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. "If you need anything you can call me." she said handing the card over

"Thank you." Carri said flashing a smile for the first time all day

Jordan watched as she walked off and joined a man down the hallway. Woody walked away from the duo and headed in her direction. "Something is odd about her." Woody said as he walked into the room

"She just lost her parents. She’s grieving." Jordan replied as she followed him in

"She’s angry." Woody pointed out as he led Jordan to the bodies

"Yeah well I would be too if I came in and saw my family like this." Jordan replied. Jordan figured if it was her, her sorrow would last about five minutes before she went for revenge.

Woody shrugged and figured he’d worry about it later. For now they needed to finish processing the scene and get the bodies examined so they could move them. "So what do you think?" Woody asked as Jordan stood over the bodies

"I think we’ll find that both victims died from gunshot wounds." Jordan said giving him a look. Woody rolled his eyes and she turned back to process whatever she could.

It didn’t take long to get the bodies ready to go back to the morgue. As everyone started to leave the scene the room emptied. The last officer left, shutting the door behind him. Noone would know that the room held a tragedy if it weren’t for the police tape that covered the door. *****

Woody walked into lab later that afternoon. As he came in Nigel spun around in his chair and gave him a sly smile. "So we’ve got a celebrity case?" he questioned already well aware of the answer

"Apparently Jonathan Hillard is some sort of producer." Woody replied. He didn’t pay much attention to what happened in Hollywood other than the tabloid celebrities. He didn’t care to, which is why he hadn’t heard of Jonathan Hillard and only vaguely heard of his company Hilltop Productions.

"He’s an amazing producer. Worth a lot of money." Nigel had done his homework when he heard about the victims. A lot of what he watched on TV was done by the Hillard family.

"Can you tell me anything interesting besides that? Like when he died or who killed him?" Woody questioned

Nigel grinned and spun back around toward his computer as Woody leaned on the back of his chair. He had arrived shortly after Jordan and had retrieved a lot of evidence. "I can’t tell you who killed them. I can tell you they were killed by a .22, and that they’d both been dead about an hour by the time we arrived. I can also tell you that the only other evidence of anyone being in there was of their daughter, Carri. There may be something on the laptop you brought in, but I haven’t had a chance to check it yet."

"What do we know about Carri?" Woody asked as he stood straight up and crossed his arms. Something about here still didn’t sit right with him and he wanted answers.

"She’s the hostess of one of my favorite cable television shows. She owns her own company, Ausus Productions, a branch off of her fathers." Nigel replied. Woody gave him a look and he continued. "Anything else I’d have to hunt for."

"Well let’s get started. I need everything you can find about her, her brother and her parents." Woody replied. Nigel nodded and Woody headed off to see Jordan in autopsy to see if there were any better answers there.

An hour later Woody had enough information to want to bring Miss Hillard in for questioning. He headed over to the hotel and knocked on her door. A few seconds later the door opened and she stood there putting one hand on her hip and staring at him.

"Have you found some answers?" she asked as she looked him over

"Possibly." he replied as he flashed her a smile. "It would help though if you came to the police station to talk to me."

She glared at him. "What for?" she asked

"Just to answer a few questions." he replied as he continued to smile at her. For someone whose parents were killed that morning she was looking quite calm and collected.

"Can’t you just ask here?" she questioned the irritation growing in her voice. The last thing she wanted to do was be dragged down to the police station to answer questions. She had spent the last few hours getting cleaned up, then talking on the phone with her boyfriend and her closest friends and retelling the story over and over. Now all she wanted to do was visit with her brother. There was a lot going on and a lot they had to think about.

"It would work better down at the station." he said trying to sound assuring

"Whatever." she replied. She took a step back and let the door go, not bothering to guide it as it slam shut in the detective’s face. Quickly she gathered her things and reappeared at the door, allowing Woody to lead her out of the hotel and to his car.

It was a short ride to the police station. When they arrived Woody took her into one of the interrogation rooms. He gestured for her to sit across from him as he took a seat at the table.

"So Miss Hillard, you took a private plane here?" Woody asked as he looked over the records he had in front of him

Carri’s defenses shot up as she already didn’t like the way this was going. "Yeah."

"And you arrived in Boston at ten am, and left the airport around ten thirty." he continued

"Yeah." she said giving the same one word answer

"Then you found your parents dead around one?" he questioned. She nodded and he went on. "So then where were you between ten thirty this morning and one this afternoon?"

Now Carri knew she didn’t like the way this was going. "Why does that matter?" she snapped although she had an idea. "Am I a suspect?"

"Well I have to tell you as of right now it doesn’t look good for you. You can’t account for your whereabouts at the time of your parents murder. Yours are the only prints or hairs we found in the room. And then there’s the issue of this enormous trust fund you inherited the moment your parents died." Woody said tossing a piece of paper in her face

"What?" she said almost in a growl. "That’s absurd. I was hanging out in Boston when my parents were killed, I was the one that found them which is why my prints are everywhere, and as for my trust fund, well you obviously didn’t do your homework. I make more than enough money on my own."

"You have a relatively expensive house in Los Angeles"

"Every house in LA is expensive. Especially the nice ones." she snapped cutting him off

"Nice car, nice house, nice things, a lot of world travel, and a boyfriend you seem to be helping out a lot. That can add up quickly." he pointed out. She did have money but it seem as though lately she had been draining her savings pretty fast. It wouldn’t be long before she would need that trust fund money.

Carri clinched her fists under the table. Yes she had nice things and liked to travel, but she still wasn’t living above her means. As for her boyfriend, he was a karate instructor and had two schools of his own. She had helped him to open two more, one in New York near where she used to live and another in northern California. It did take a chunk out of her savings but it didn’t bother her at all. With all the deals she had rolling in, money was never an issue. "These are all nice theories but do you have any real evidence or can I go?"

Woody glared at her. She wasn’t being very helpful and she was right, nothing he had could prove anything. Unless Nigel could come up with something useful, he’d have to let her go. He had another officer who was going to bring her brother in and he was going to question him as well. He had a credit card receipt for a restaurant at the time of the murder, but he could’ve been in on it or suspect his sister. Of course there were thousands of other possibilities for the murders, but until new evidence surfaced this was all he had to go on. "Fine. But stay close." he warned

"I plan on it." she replied as she stood forcefully and walked out of the interrogation room, slamming the door behind her

She was irritated by the incompetence of the detective. She had no reason to kill her parents. If the police couldn’t help her come up with anything better, she would find someone who would. Her thoughts drifted to the medical examiner she met in the hotel. She had been the only one who sounded like she cared. Maybe she would be able to help.

Mind made up, Carri headed out of the police station and made her way to the morgue.

Lily was standing at the front desk of the morgue as the elevator dinged yet again. She glanced up as she always did, only to realize she recognized the brunette who was walking through.

"Can I help you?" the secretary asked as she marched right up to the morgue doors

"I’ve got this." Lily said as she walked over to the woman. "I’m so sorry for your loss." she started as she gave her a sympathetic smile. She immediately recognized Carri Hillard as she had seen her show on television. She saddened to see that her parents were rolled into the morgue earlier in the afternoon.

"Thank you." Carri replied, finally feeling like she was among people who cared

"I’m Lily Lebowski. The grief councilor here. Is there anything I can do to help you?" she asked thinking about how nice it was to be able to claim the position of grief councilor once again

"Actually I was looking for Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh." she replied. "Would you know where I could find her?"

"Yes. Right this way." Lily said as she held the door to the morgue open. She waited for Carri to walk through then followed her in, letting the door shut behind them. Lily led her toward the left, past the break room and down to Jordan’s office.

Lily stepped into the office first and Jordan looked up from behind her desk. "There’s someone here to see you." she said

"Who?" Jordan questioned peering through the doorway. She watched as Carri smiled at her before entering her office.

"I’ll be in my office if you need me." Lily said as she headed out of Jordan’s office and made her way down the hall

Jordan looked at Carri oddly for a moment. "What are you doing here?" she questioned

"You said if I needed anything I could get in contact with you. Well I need something." she said simply

"What makes you think I’m going to help you? You are Woody’s top suspect." Jordan said as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair

Carri rolled her eyes. "Please he’s trying to build a case against me on a trail of evidence that means nothing. He doesn’t have anything better and he’s either too incompetent or too lazy to be searching for anything."

Jordan tried not to let personal feelings for Woody surface as she picked up on Carri’s clear irritation with him. "Fine. If you didn’t do it explain the evidence."

"Fine." Carri replied as she took a seat in a chair across from Jordan. "I took my parents plane. I got here this morning a lot earlier than I was supposed to. I asked the pilot not to tell my parents when we left. They weren’t expecting me until one. I needed to waste time so I went to Boston Commons. I stopped for burgers. I checked out some of the sites." Carri started as Jordan looked at her curiously. "Look I don’t know about your relationship with your parents but mine... Don’t get me wrong, I loved them to death. My mother and I, well we didn’t always see eye to eye. In fact I’d almost go as far to say she hated every lifestyle choice I’d ever made. Pleasantries never lasted long with us. And I was mad at my parents for dragging me out of LA to come to Boston of all places for reasons they wouldn’t tell me. So I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see them any sooner than planned."

Jordan tried not to smile as she thought about how she had run from LA back to Boston and had no intention of moving back to California. She started to think about what Carri was saying and it made sense. She understood being at odds with family. Her prints in the room were easily explained which only left one major question. "What about the trust fund?"

"Please I don’t need it. Your detective seems to think that since I own a lot of nice things and enjoy traveling that I need the money. I know I put a huge dent in my savings lending money to my boyfriend. But he opened two new karate schools to go with the two he already had. The money was a loan, he plans to pay it back. Not like I care. I have a steady income of a relatively large size. Not to mention I’m getting ready to sign a new production deal that is going to make me millions. Although you won’t find that out anywhere as it’s going to be hush hush right up until the ink dries." she explained hoping that Jordan could understand. She watched as the medical examiner looked her over before she continued. "Look my parents are dead and I didn’t do it. I’m going to find out who killed them with or without your help."

There was a few seconds of silence and Carri was starting to wonder if this was a bad idea before Jordan spoke. "I’m in." she said looking up and making eye contact with the woman sitting across from her. The more she thought about Carri’s situation, the more she thought about how they were a lot alike. It had been years since her own mother was murdered, and although the leads were more than cold she still had a desire to find her killer. "Let’s figure out who killed your parents." she said as she stood and headed out of her office with Carri close behind

Nigel sat at the computer as images were flying through on the screen. He was still trying to crack into the laptop that belonged to the Hillards. It wouldn’t take long to come up with a password, and he would have already been in if it weren’t for the other projects Woody wanted him to undertake.

The door to the computer room swung open and Nigel looked up. "Hello." he greeted flashing Kate a smile

Kate gave him a smile back as she walked over and stood beside him. "I was hoping you could lend a hand on a case I’m working on. I want to get everything processed fast before Seely drives me crazy."

"Yes he does have a tendency to do that." Nigel replied as he turned back toward the computer screen

"So what, is that your way of saying you’ll help?" Kate questioned giving him a look which was wasted as he didn’t turn away from the computer

"No." Nigel replied missing a second, dirtier look from Kate. He paused for a second before spinning to face her. "What it means is that once I’m finished with this laptop if you still need me I’d be happy to help."

"Thanks." Kate replied as she glanced at the computer screen. "This is for the Hillard case?"

"Yes. We’re trying to figure out what exactly Mr. Hillard was up to. Gather some more evidence." Nigel replied

"Against the daughter?" Kate asked. She had heard everything that had been going on with the case, although she found it strange as everything didn’t seem to be adding up.

Nigel nodded. "Assuming she’s the killer, yes."

"Well if she is the killer, you had better find something better than what you have now." Kate pointed out

"We have good evidence. She has no alibi, her prints were all over the room, and she’s got a huge trust fund coming her way." Nigel replied as he looked up at her and smiled

"She found her parents dead, hence the prints. She’s rich so no need for the trust fund. And maybe she was avoiding her parents, which is why no alibi." Kate replied glancing down at Nigel. She noticed him scowl so she smiled at him.

"You just love to burst my bubble don’t you." Nigel said as he turned back toward my computer. The door to the room swung open and Nigel continued. "Besides I’m going to crack this computer and we’ll find all the evidence we need."

"Maybe I can help with that." Jordan said as she entered

"What’s she doing here?" Kate questioned as she glared at the woman who entered with Jordan

Nigel spun around to see what was going on and was surprised to see Woody’s number one suspect standing there. He anxiously awaited Jordan’s answer.

"She’s here to help catch a killer." Jordan replied

Kate looked at her curiously and shook her head. "This place is crazy." Kate said as she brushed past Jordan and headed out the door. She had more important things to do than to hear about what kind of mess Jordan was about to get herself into.

"Jordan are you sure this is a good idea?" Nigel questioned glancing from one woman to the other

"I didn’t do it." Carri pipped up

"See. She didn’t do it." Jordan confirmed. "So what have you got?"

Nigel knew better than to argue with Jordan so he turned back toward the computer. "I’m still trying to break into the computer."

"Maybe I can help with that." Carri said as she stepped forward. Nigel paused his program before leaning back and gesturing toward the computer. Carri walked up to it and a few seconds later everything was booting up. "Dad was simple. I can guess most of his passwords." she explained

Nigel smiled at her. "She stays." he said. He had learned over the years to trust Jordan’s instincts. Not to mention that with her help, his work time would be cut in half.

"Great. So where do we start?" Jordan asked

"Right this way." Nigel replied as the trio crowded around the computer

Lily walked into the break room and headed first for the refrigerator, opening it up and pulling out a container full of strawberries and a bottle of water before sitting down next to Bug. She smiled at him as she cracked open the bottle of water and lifted the top off of the strawberries.

"So how is your first day back?" Bug asked as he smiled back at her

Lily shrugged. "I haven’t really been able to help anyone yet. There’s only three bodies in today, which is a good thing. But for two of them the grieving family is suspect and too busy trying to catch a killer to worry about crying anyway. The other we haven’t been able to track down next of kin for yet."

"I’m sure you’ll get to put your talents to good use soon." Bug replied. She was right, there wasn’t much for her to do on that particular day.

"Thanks." she said smiling at him and placing her hand on top of his as she let out a sigh. "I just hope it’s all worth it."

"Of course it will be. You love this job and you love helping people." Bug reminded her as he turned his hand over and squeezed hers.

"Yeah but Maddie... I hate leaving her all day." Lily said. She thought she could do it, but this was the first time she’d spent that many hours away from her daughter and it was hard. She had called to check on her and she was doing fine, but she still missed her.

"Maddie will be fine." Bug assured her. "And soon we’ll go home and spend the rest of the night spoiling her to death."

Lily laughed. Bug was right, and it was nice to hear him say it as it always made her feel better. "I take it you won’t be working late tonight."

"Not if Boston stays calm." he replied. He hadn’t been assigned to either of the two murders. He had spent most of his day finishing some work on old cases and only had a few things to tie up before he could leave. He was hoping that nothing would come in until his shift was over.

"Good." Lily said flashing him a smile. "So what, another hour?" she asked

"About that." he replied. He scooted his chair back and went to stand. "Only if I get back to work."

Lily picked up a strawberry and took a bite off of the end of it. Upon swallowing she grinned at him. "Alright then."

Bug gave her hand one final squeeze before he headed out of the break room, leaving Lily alone with her thoughts.

Nigel was working hard at the computer with both Jordan and Carri leaning over his shoulder. He was trying to find something, anything that would indicate why the Hillard’s were killed.

"What’s this?" Nigel asked opening a program

Carri leaned over and put in the password as she explained. "Dad uses.... used" she corrected herself and paused for a moment, absorbing the fact that he would never use the program again. "He used it to keep track of his projects."

Nigel opened up a list of what he had going on. There were three folders, two of them that correlated with the name of a production company, one for Hilltop Productions and one for Ausus Productions. He first clicked on the Hilltop folder, which was chocked full of subfolders with project names on them. He then looked at the Ausus folder, which didn’t include much.

"Aside from my favorite show, it doesn’t look like you have much going on." he commented

"I’m glad you like the show." she said first with a smile. "And we do have a lot going on, just dad never had enough time to keep up with it. My computer’s jam packed with stuff."

"What about the Boston folder?" Jordan asked. The production folders were all well and good, but they had died in Boston and the third main folder on the list was labeled Boston.

Nigel clicked on it and found one huge file listed underneath it. He opened the file and started to glance through it. "Looks like Boston was supposed to be a giant joint venture between Ausus and Hilltop. Your father wanted to do documentaries, dramas, the works."

"That wouldn’t get him and his wife killed." Jordan pointed out. There had do be something else there.

Nigel looked up at Jordan, a new wave of concern crossing his face. "This might." he said as he looked back down toward the computer. "Everything he had planned was surrounding the bayview warehouse district."

"What’s that?" Carri asked as Jordan and Nigel exchanged looks

"It used to be one of the areas where the mob roamed freely. There were a lot of different families out there, and I’m sure the area has a lot of stories to tell. They lived, worked and partied all around the district. The cops finally cleaned it up ten years ago. I could see why your dad would want to tell that story though, it would be very entertaining." Jordan explained. She could remember the stories her own father came home with about what happened in that area years and years ago.

"How would that get my father killed if it’s been abandoned for ten years?" Carri asked slightly confused

"Rumor has it that a man named Daniel Green is trying to reboot the place, start doing business there again. The cops haven’t been able to catch him." Nigel started explaining as he turned toward her. "Your father hired an investigator to dig up everything he could about the old warehouse district and go down there and do some snooping around to get him a feel for a place and see if he could find anything interesting."

"And if Daniel really is working down there the investigator may have seen things he shouldn’t. If he passed them on to your father....." Jordan said letting her voice trail off as she looked at the computer and read the notes. The investigators name was Robert Reece. Something about that sounded familiar. "Hey Nigel, can you look up the investigator."

"Sure thing." he replied. He scooted over to another computer and typed up the mans name. "Looks like he died a week ago. Cause of death gunshot wound in the chest. It was an apparent home break in and robbery. There was no evidence and no suspects. Coroner involved was Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh."

"That wasn’t a robbery." Jordan said as the details of the case started to come back to her. She had thought at the time that something was strange, but there was a lot of people who wanted to kill him and no evidence of the person who did so the case was pushed aside. "Nigel can you look and see if any of Reece’s information is on Hillard’s computer?"

Nigel smiled at her. "And I thought you were going to ask me to do something hard." he said as he went back over to the computer. He started digging into the hard drive and searching for the files. "It looks like he has tons of stuff. Images, reports.... but it was all deleted around twelve thirty pm today."

"After the murders." Jordan said aloud, although both Carri and Nigel were aware of that. "So the killer entered, shot your parents.... then what? Broke into the computer?"

"More than likely dad had it on. It was his lifeline, he used it twenty four - seven." Carri told her

"So he just went into the system and deleted everything. And now without what your father had, we don’t have any proof of who would want to kill him." Jordan said. She was irritated that after all this, she was stuck back at square one.

"Not necessarily." Carri replied. "Dad was pretty anal about backing everything up. He would have kept a memory stick. Do you have his things?"

"We have the clothes he was wearing and his briefcase because it had some blood on it, but that’s it." Jordan replied

"That’s all I need." she said with a smile

Jordan quickly led her over to trace and pointed her to the briefcase. It was sitting on the counter from where Jordan went back over it looking for anything to help her. She handed Carri a pair of gloves and Carri went over and put in the code and popped the lock.

She paused for a moment, as on the top of the briefcase were two envelopes, one with her name on it and one with her brothers. She lifted hers up and smiled before going to open it.

"I know this is hard, but we need to concentrate on the case." Jordan said stepping up beside her and putting a hand on her shoulder

Carri broke open the envelope and looked in side. "Actually," she said as she dumped the contents into her hand, "I think this helps."

Jordan looked down at the flash drive that was sitting in Carri’s right hand. It would make sense that if her father wanted this to be a joint project, he would pass on the information he had collected to his kids. She took it out of her hand and rushed it back to Nigel, with Carri hot on her heels.

Nigel quickly plugged the flash drive in and pulled it up. Sure enough it was filled with the information that the investigator found. The first half of the files were the history of the place, accompanied by some older photographs. The second half was about his exploration of the district. This was where the details got juicy. There were pictures of people going in and out, pictures of crates full of guns coming in, people doing drugs. And one very clear picture of Daniel Green shoving a knife into another man’s chest.

"I don’t understand. Why would Reece have given this to my father and not gone to the police?" Carri asked

"Reece was broke." Jordan said as she remembered more details. That was something that didn’t add up about his death, that someone would kill and murder a man who had absolutely nothing. "If he gives them to your father he gets paid. Turn them over to the police, and he risks Green finding out and killing him."

"And dad just sat on these?" Carri asked in disbelief. She couldn’t imagine that her father would have a picture of the murder without turning it over.

"According to your fathers notes he refused to pay Reece for turning his head to the murder. He was going to go to the police once he knew that both of his children were safe in Boston and could be protected." Nigel explained

"Green must’ve realized what was going on and gotten to him first." Jordan said

A tear slipped down Carri’s cheek and she batted it away with irritation. "Do we have an address for Mr. Green?"

"Yes but...."

"I think we should go pay him a visit." Carri said cutting Nigel off. Jordan smiled and nodded. Daniel Green was well overdue for a talking to.

"You should wait for Woody. This isn’t a good idea." Nigel warned as the two girls headed out the doors. "You could get yourself killed." he said but the point was lost as the doors swung shut and they disappeared.

It didn’t take long for Jordan and Carri to arrive in front of Daniel Green’s mansion. They parked beside the house and got out. Carri paused to stand at the end of the driveway. "So what are we going to say?" she asked. Carri had absolutely no authority and Jordan’s was limited to that of a medical examiner, which was not much of anything.

"We’re just going to go, have a little chat." she said as she stood beside Carri. She looked over at her and flashed her a smile before walking up the driveway.

Carri matched Jordan stride for stride as they headed toward the front door. Jordan rang the bell as Carri crossed her arms over her chest. It didn’t take long before Daniel Green opened the front door.

He looked them over as he opened the door. He wasn’t sure if he had the pleasure of two hookers or if it was some door to door saleswomen. "Yes?" he asked gruffly

"Hi." Jordan said giving him a smile. "I’m Jordan and this is Carri. We just came to talk."

"About?" he asked his patience already thin

"Dead people." Jordan said rather cheerfully

As Daniel was about to slam the door in their faces he suddenly put two and two together. Carri was the daughter of that producer and now she was standing on his doorstep to ask questions. She must’ve known too much. "Come in." he said as he stepped aside. Jordan and Carri entered and he looked at him. "So are you hear to tell me my loved ones have died?" he asked as he walked off and they followed

"Actually we came to talk about my loved ones that have died." Carri said flashing him a smile

"Sorry. Don’t know you. Don’t care." he said as he gestured toward one of his men. That was all he needed to hear to know that she did in fact know too much.

"I think you do care. Or you did anyway. Enough to murder Mr. and Mrs. Hillard." Jordan corrected him

He stopped and spun around looking at them. "You two obviously aren’t cops, which means you’re just fishing."

"I hate fishing." Carri said giving him a smile. "We have a lot of reasons why you’d want them dead."

"Everyone has reasons for murder, doesn’t mean they’d actually do it." Daniel pointed out

"You would. I mean come on, we’ve seen the pictures along with most of Boston." Jordan said trying to bait him

Daniel laughed. "If there were pictures and that were true, the cops would be here not you two bozos."

Jordan noticed the .22 sitting on the side of Daniel’s belt. It could quite possibly be the weapon that killed Carri’s parents. They didn’t think this all the way through, they were just acting on impulse. The best thing to do would be to get Woody to get back with an arrest warrant for the murder in the picture then they could search him for the murder of Carri’s parents. "You’re right. We were fishing. Obviously we were mistaken. So if you don’t mind us, we’ll be going." she said

"No." Daniel replied giving her a smile. "You won’t." he added as two men came up behind them. They chloroformed the girls and they both collapsed and Daniel ordered them to stick them in the trunk so he could take them to the warehouse and take care of this mess.

Woody walked into the morgue and headed straight for Nigel. He hadn’t produced anything useful on the case and he was hoping that Nigel had. He sighed as he entered the computer room and found Nigel sitting in one of the chairs.

"Anything?" he questioned looking at him and hoping for something

"Actually Jordan, Carri and I think we’ve solved the case. They went to talk to the killer." Nigel replied with a slight frown on his face

"What?" Woody questioned. He wasn’t sure if he was more angry with Jordan for letting Carri work with her or for thinking she could go talk to a killer alone. "Who is it? I’ll need to get over there."

"Daniel Green." Nigel said. Woody shot him a look that was both worried and angry. "I tried to stop them but they wouldn’t listen to me."

Woody barely heard those words as he grabbed his cell phone and frantically dialed Jordan’s number. There was no answer so he hung up and dialed again. After two more tries panic set in. "I have to find her." he said hurriedly as he rushed out of the room and down the hall, placing a call for backup as he exited the morgue and headed out

Jordan and Carri came to slowly. Looking around they realized they were tied together in the floor of a building that was probably in the bayview warehouse district. They were surrounded by lackeys, and standing above them holding a gun was Daniel Green.

"Glad to see you’re awake." he said giving them a smile. "Now let’s get down to business shall we?"

"What business?" Jordan snapped

"Obviously the police don’t know anything. But tell me, who else knows about the photographs? About me killing your parents?" Daniel asked eying Carri

"You bastard!" she exclaimed lashing out at him with her free leg and kicking him in the shin, causing his leg to buckle

Daniel took a moment to stand up straight again before thrashing Carri across the jaw with the butt of his gun. "If you don’t tell me right now I’m going to put a bullet in your head."

"And what? If we do tell you you’ll let us go free? I don’t think so." Jordan said, earning herself her own smack across the jaw

"Do you think this is a game?" he asked waving his gun around from one to the other

"No I don’t. I think you did this to my parents before they died. To Reece before he died." Carri said glaring at him

"Reece was useless. It took us a week of going through his things to figure out who he snapped those pictures for." Daniel said with a half smile. "You’re parents claimed they didn’t tell anybody. Your father was strong, watching that first shot go through his wife wasn’t enough for him to give you up."

Carri went to kick him again but this time Daniel was prepared and he took her leg and beat it back. "Now who do I have to put bullets in to get you girls to talk?"

Jordan looked him in the eye. "You can kiss my ass." she said. There was no way in hell she’d send this maniac after Nigel, and it didn’t seem like Carri was going to give him up either. Besides they were going to die one way or the other. At least if Nigel could get the word to Woody justice would be served.

Jordan heard the gun click and her body tensed up bracing for what was next. Jordan closed her eyes just as someone yelled "police, freeze!" She heard a gunshot as she opened her eyes back up, and Daniel Green was laying on the ground with blood oozing out of his arm, the gun falling out of his limp hand.

Jordan glanced at Carri as Woody came rushing over. "He was going to pull the trigger." she said almost in a whisper. She found it hard to believe with the arrival of the cops that the man was still willing to kill one of them.

The rest of the officers started cuffing Daniel’s workers as Woody called for an ambulance while kicking Daniel’s gun away. He flipped him over and cuffed him, leaving him laying on the floor before going to untie Jordan and Carri.

He looked them over for a brief second. Both girls looked a bit shaken up and would probably have bruises from their adventure but were otherwise ok. He smiled at Jordan before throwing his arms around her and giving her a kiss. "Thank god your ok. I can’t believe you did something this stupid." Woody said pulling back and glaring at her. She gave him a smile and he continued. "Ok I can believe it but that doesn’t make it right."

"How did you find us on time?" she asked

"Nigel said you thought Green was the killer. He was rumored to work out of here so we figured we’d start with the warehouse and hope we were on time." Woody explained. They had thought about going to his house, but he seriously doubted that if he was going to kill someone he’d do it in his own home.

The ambulance arrived and brought a stretcher in for Daniel. Woody glanced from Jordan to Carri. "You two need to get checked out."

"I’m fine." Jordan assured him as she looked over toward Carri

"Me too." Carri replied giving him a smile

Woody sighed. He couldn’t force them to get checked out even though he thought it would be for the best. "Fine. Let me take you both back to the station."

"Ok." Jordan agreed and Carri nodded. She stood and Woody put an arm around her. She smiled over at Carri as the trio walked back to Woody’s car and climbed in so they could head back to the police station.

The next afternoon Carri stood in the morgue with her brother, trying to make the final arrangements to get her parents bodies flown out. They were sitting in the conference room with Lily as Jordan and Woody came walking by.

"Are we interrupting?" Jordan asked as the duo entered

"No we were just about finished." Lily replied smiling at her

"I’m sorry about the accusing you of murder thing." Woody said apologizing to Carri

"It’s alright." Carri replied. He saved her life so she figured might as well let the whole murder accusation thing slide. "Thank you." she said a few seconds later as she looked up at Jordan. "For helping me find my parents killers." she added

"Every victim deserves justice." Jordan replied. "And it was my pleasure to help you give that to your parents."

"The information that Reece gathered, we’re going to use it. We’re going to make the shows in our parents memory." Carri told her. She and Josh had talked at length about it. Nigel told her that her fathers notes indicated that after the police were involved, he still wanted to run the shows on the old district. That’s why he had called his children out there, so they could go look everything over and find a good starting place. They figured it was the least they could do to honor her fathers memory.

"If you ever want any good stories let me know. My father was a Boston cop for years so I’ve heard everything." Jordan offered. She still thought the shows would be interesting, and she figured she could finally put some of her own father’s stories to good use.

"Thanks." Carri said flashing her a smile. She just might have to take her up on that.

"So are you flying your parents back to New York?" she questioned

"Australia." Carri replied. "Mom wanted to be buried with dad and he wanted to be buried on his family’s grounds in Australia."

Jordan smiled and nodded. There wasn’t too terribly much else to be said here. "Well good luck. With everything. And I’m sure I’ll see you for the trial." she said

Carri nodded and smiled as Jordan took Woody and exited the conference room. "So Jordan did you actually learn your lesson this time? About, you know, doing your own police work?"

Jordan looked at him, the amusement clear in her face. "Of course not."

"Worrying about you is going to drive me crazy." Woody replied looking down at her and smiling

"I thought I drove you crazy a long time ago." Jordan replied as she leaned up to give him a peck on the cheek

"Jordan!" a male voice called as it approached

She turned to see Garret walking over to her. "Hey Garret, what’s up?"

"I need you with me. Mass fatalities." Garret replied

Jordan shrugged and looked up at Woody. "Back to business as usual." she said. She gave Woody a smile before taking off with Garret to work on the latest case to come through the Boston Medical Examiner’s office.

The End

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