Disclaimer: The characters from Crossing Jordan belong to Tim Kring and NBC Universal.
Authors Notes: I wanted to write a fic and bring in my favorite tv show, Crossing Jordan. If you’ve seen it and you like the show, I hope you enjoy the fic. If you don’t like the show, then don’t read it. As far as my series goes, this is just a story having nothing to do with the essential plot. So if you don’t want to read a Crossing Jordan crossover, none of this is going to carry over into other fics so you don’t have to worry about it. And if you’ve never seen Crossing Jordan, I hope you read it and enjoy. This is my way of plugging a good series that has had its ups and downs with NBC. So if you like the characters, you can check the show out on Wednesday’s at 9 starting next Wednesday. This takes place in the current Crossing Jordan timeline.
Power Rangers Zeo
“Visitors From Boston”
It was a cold early December morning in Boston as medical examiner Jordan Cavanaugh sat at her desk examining evidence that they had collected from cases. Not that it was really her job to catch the killers. She had done her job. Examine the bodies, gather evidence, create a story from what she found. Perhaps it was her desire to find closure and serve justice for the victims that drove her to catch the bad guy. In this case, she was well aware of what was driving her to find the killer.
The man they were looking for was a serial killer. Five women in Boston had died so far. And he wasn’t just picking any women. He was going after college women. So far he had killed one girl from MIT, two girls from Harvard and two girls from Boston College. All the girls had been raped and tortured before they were murdered. Jordan’s heart went out to these girls. She had to find out who hurt them. But so far, they didn’t have much to go on. It had been a long time since the last murder. The other ones were relatively close together. They tried to pick out his type. All five girls were around the same age, same body types. But past that there weren’t many similarities.
Jordan sighed as she looked up at the wall zoning in on a single spot. She was so far off in her own little world that she never noticed Detective Woodrow Hoyt enter her office. “Earth to Jordan.”, Woody said as he stood in front of her and smiled
Jordan snapped back into reality as she looked up at Woody, who seemed to be in a good mood that morning. “How can you be so happy when this guy is still walking around?”, she asked as she held up the file that she had been looking through that morning.
Woody leaned on her desk and sighed. “We’ll find him Jordan. But you know as well as I do that the trail is cold. Five murders in two weeks and then nothing for almost the past month. Bug spent a week re-analyzing the trace that was found off the bodies and they still have nothing.”
Jordan slammed her palm down on the desk out of frustration. “There has to be something. Every killer leaves something.”
“He hasn’t left anything. Yet.”, Woody pointed out. “Besides if he’s like any other serial killer he will kill again. And he will start to get sloppy. And we will catch him.”
“So what we’re just supposed to sit around here waiting until we get the call? What about the girl, his next victim? Are we really going to let him take another young girls life?”, Jordan asked
“It’s not that I don’t agree with you, but what choice do we have? Without evidence, without any idea of who this guy is or what his motive is or how or where he operates, we have nothing.”
Jordan was about to respond to Woody when Nigel Townsend stood in the doorway and leaned into the office. “You guys might want to come take a look at this.”, he said as he motioned for them to follow
Jordan and Woody exchanged a look as they jumped up and followed Nigel to the employee break room, where grief counselor Lilly Lebowski along with Dr. Mahesh “Bug” Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamurthy, and the Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Garret Macy were sitting watching the television. All three turned when Nigel returned with Woody and Jordan.
“What’s going on?”, Jordan asked as she looked at the news cast
Lilly looked at Jordan and reached over to turn the television up. Jordan and Woody watched as the newscaster relayed the story about the dead female who was found on the campus of UCLA early that morning. Jordan and Woody exchanged glances as the newscast went on. “Is it him? Is it our guy?”, Jordan asked as she looked around the room hoping for an answer
“I called the LAPD as soon as we heard. They said that the girl was missing for two days before her body was dumped last night a few hundred feet from the some of the campus buildings.”, Garret spoke
Jordan cut Garret off before he could continue. She saw the picture of the girl that the newscasters had shown. She was similar in appearance to the other girls. “This has to be him.”
“Or a copycat.”, Woody pointed out
“Well either way I had them email the crime scene photos. If it’s our guy, we’ll know.”, Garret replied. He hoped that it wasn’t, but at the same time if it was maybe they could catch him. And he would almost rather know that it was him instead of some psycho copycat.
Nigel thought for a moment. “Well maybe the photos are here already.”, he said as he turned and walked off. Jordan and Woody were quick to follow him. Garret looked over at Bug and Lilly, who got up and went after Nigel as well. Garret quickly got up and followed his staff. If it was the killer, he wanted to know.
As Garret entered the lab Nigel was working on the computer. “The images are here.”, Nigel said as he started to pull them up. “My God.”, he whispered as the crime scene photos flashed up on the screen above him.
It only took one look for the staff to realize that this was their guy. The placement of the body was the same, they could already see some of the same fractures and bruises that they had found on the other victims.
Lilly brought her hand to her heart and curled her fingers into a ball. “That poor girl.”, she said as the realization of what was going on had come over the staff
Jordan stared at the photos for another moment before she turned and walked off. “Where are you going?”, Garret called after her
“To get a plane ticket to LA.”. she replied as she walked out
Garret sighed. As her boss she should at least clear these things with him. But this time he wasn’t going to argue. They had witnessed what this maniac had done in Boston, and if he kept to the same pattern he would kill four more LA area college girls within the next two weeks.
Woody watched Jordan walk out and he turned to follow. “I’m going to talk to the captain. I’m going with her.”, he said as he left, leaving the four morgue employees to look at the photos, hoping that this time around they could catch the bastard.
Twenty-six hundred miles away two young girls sat on the couch in their living room watching television on a Sunday afternoon.
“So do you want to go out?”, Kimberly Heart asked as she curled her legs up underneath her and made herself comfortable
“Sounds good.”, Carri Hillard replied as she leaned against the arm of the sofa and continued to flip through the channels. “Besides it doesn’t look like there’s much on tv anyway.”, she said as she continued to channel surf
As she scanned through one of the news channels, the words breaking news caught her attention. She paused to see what was going on, to see if it was important. The girls were tuning into the news story just as Jason Lee Scott walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. “I’m on my way to Angel Grove to see Emily.”, he said as he stopped behind the couch. They didn’t answer, and he didn’t expect them to as he saw what it was that they were watching.
“Earlier today on the campus of UCLA a woman was found murdered. The girl was a junior at the campus and was reported missing two days ago.”, the reporter said as he started the story and got the three rangers attention. “Police here have been in contact with the authorities in Boston, who believe that this murder was committed by the same man responsible for the deaths of five college students in Boston.”
“I remember hearing about that.”, Kim said as the reporter paused
The reporter continued. “The police are urging girls, mainly local college students, to be very careful of their surroundings. Try to stay in common areas, try not to travel at night, and never travel alone.”
The news reporter then went on to go over some of the details of the case, but the trio had already heard what was important and Carri resumed flipping channels. Jason looked at the pink and yellow rangers. “You know that includes the two of you too?”
“Don’t worry about us.”, Kim said as the two girls had already brushed off the newscast and moved on
Jason sighed and took the remote out of Carri’s hand, turning the television off. The two girls turned around and looked up at him. “I’m serious. Just because you have the power doesn’t mean you’re protected from serial killers.”
“Powers or not, we’re not your average college girls.”, Carri pointed out. And she was right. They did know how to fight and if they were somehow stripped from all their powers the next day they would still know how to defend themselves.
“I’m not doubting your ability. I’ve scene both of you fight tengas and vampires and other monsters un-morphed. But at least they’re predictable. He could sneak up behind you and drug you before you even had a chance to react.”, Jason said trying to get his point across
“Since when did you become so overprotective?”, Kim questioned as she tilted her head sideways and gave him a strange look
“Hey if you two decide you have the ultimate plan to destroy Callisto and you go off looking for her, that’s one thing. At least you know what you’re getting into. With this you don’t. I just don’t want to see anything happen to either of you because you brushed off a warning from the police like it was nothing.”, Jason replied
The girls could feel the sincerity in his voice. Carri sat up and smiled at him. “How about this. We promise to be completely aware of our surroundings and be extra cautious if you promise not to worry.”, she said as Kim smiled and nodded in agreement with what Carri had just said
“I think I can agree to that.”, Jason said as he smiled at both of them. He handed Carri back the remote and turned to the door. “I’m off.”, he said as he headed out. He could leave feeling a little better. At least the girls had heard him out and had understood. He knew where they were coming from, and now they knew where he was coming from. Jason heard them say goodbye as he left the apartment, taking off for Angel Grove.
Jordan swung through the doors of the Los Angeles morgue in a huff. Woody couldn’t help but smile as she went off on a tangent. “You would think that he could forget about this silly restraining order. But no, now we’ve wasted valuable time that we could have used for examining the body.”, she said, the he referring to the chief medical examiner of the Los Angeles office, and her former boss.
“Well Jordan to be quite honest if you had kicked me in the nuts I would still be pretty pissed about it too.”, Woody replied still smiling. His smile dissipated as they approached the body.
The duo looked at the body, then looked up at the man working over it who extended his hand. “Dr. Gregory Watkins.”, he said
Jordan quickly shook his hand. “Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh, and this is Detective Woody Hoyt.”
Woody shook his hand and greeted him. The man pulled his hand back and looked at Jordan. “The Jordan Cavanaugh.”, he said with a smile. “Well when they told me that people from Boston were flying out to continue their hunt for the killer, well I never expected I would get to meet you.”
Jordan just smiled and resisted the urge to make a smart ass comment back. She had never met this man before, but stories traveled fast around the LA morgue. “So what have you found out about the body?”, she asked getting straight to the point
“He chloroformed her to get her. Then she was raped, but there was no evidence left behind. Cause of death is strangulation.”, Gregory explained
“Same is our cases.”, Jordan said although she was sure everyone in the room was well aware of that already. “What about trace?”
“Not too much. Mostly evidence of where she was dumped.”, he replied. Woody nodded, as that’s all Bug could come up with from what they found. Gregory continued. “We did, however, find a strange fiber on her clothing and some trace under her nails. We’re running everything now to see what we can come up with.”
“He was very clean in Boston. He made sure nothing was on the skin or clothes which would point to him. Which means he may think he’s getting away with it so he’s slipping up.”, Woody said as a million ideas started running through his head
“Which means the bastard is getting sloppy.”, Jordan replied. “And we’re going to catch him.”
Woody nodded and excused himself, as he went to follow up on some of his thoughts, leaving Jordan in the autopsy room to look over the body for herself.
Later that evening, Carri and Kim found themselves playing volleyball in the park near campus in the sand pit they had constructed. It was a beautiful evening and made for a nice night to play, especially considering they were with two of their favorite people in the world.
“Thanks for coming out here to play with us.”, Carri said as she watched Kim serve the volleyball over the net
Tommy Oliver dove for the ball and bumped it up, while Rocky DeSantos spiked it and smiled as he watched his girlfriend dive for it and miss. “We’re sorry in advance for the beating we’re about to give you.”, Rocky said for a smile
Kim picked up the volleyball as she raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Cocky Rocky.”, she replied throwing it back. “It’s just no fun to crush your hopes and dreams from the start.”
“Now look who’s talking trash.”, Tommy said as he caught the ball and walked back to serve it. He laughed as he thought about how the girls had insisted that they play girls versus boys. And how they insisted on wiping the floor with them. Tommy lifted the ball in the air and served as the game continued.
A few minutes later, it was six-five in favor of the boys, with the girls showing no signs of backing down. Carri held the ball and was getting ready to serve when something moved out of the corner of her eye. Well not just any something, as she realized once she heard the squawking. She turned around with the ball in her hands. “Hey tenga, catch!”, she yelled as she threw it as hard as she could
The bird caught it like she knew he would, and as he looked down at the ball to try and figure out what was going on, she kicked him square in the face. The tenga dropped the ball and flew backwards, then several other tengas emerged and stood beside him, and her three friends quickly converged beside her.
“Zedd trying to ruin our fun. Who knew.”, Kim said as they all stood in fighting stance
“Let’s make this one quick.”, Tommy said, looking at the others who nodded. “Ninjetti, falcon!”
“Crane!”
“Panther!”
“Ape!”
The four Ninjetti stood there ready to take on the tengas, then they attacked. The fight was nothing more than the usual. Zedd probably just sent them down there because he hadn’t come up with a monster or a good plan in a while. It didn’t take too long before the tengas were gone and the rangers were in plain clothes again.
Carri leaned down and picked up the volleyball. “Now where were we?”, she asked as she and Kim walked back to their side of the court
Rocky and Tommy exchanged glances. When the girls invited them to come out, they thought it was great. They could hang out and casually mention the campus wide alert that went to everyone’s email about a serial killer in town. Tommy mouthed the words later to Rocky as then went back to the court and started to play again.
Time went by, and finally the sun set behind them and the lamps in the park started to come on. As darkness settled, the girls won their second game in a row.
“Should we call that the match?”, Rocky asked as it was getting hard to see
“Since we’re up two-one, I would say yes.”, Kim replied as the girls celebrated their victory
After a few minutes of gloating, the girls stopped and turned to the boys, smiling as they went over and put their arms around their boyfriends. “You guys want to come back to the apartment for a while?”, Carri asked
“You know I would love to.”, Rocky said as he put his arms around her and gave her a kiss. “But I have a paper due in the morning and it’s a huge part of my grade so I need to finalize it.”
“Yeah I’ve got some work to do too.”, Tommy said agreeing with Rocky. “But we can walk you girls home.”
Kim smiled as she gave Tommy a kiss. “It’s a sweet offer but we’ll be fine.”
“Did you girls get the campus alert email?”, Rocky asked. The two girls looked at each other and shrugged. They had both gone out that afternoon and hadn’t stopped to check their email. Rocky continued. “Apparently some psycho killer from Boston is in LA. Killing college girls. They said to be careful at night.”
“And not to walk alone, which we aren’t.”, Carri quickly cut in. “We heard it on the news and Jason already lectured us.”, she said giving Rocky a smile hoping to ease his mind
Tommy and Rocky looked at each other and Rocky shrugged his shoulders. If Jason had already said something, all they would be doing would be irritating them by repeating it. “Well we just wanted to make sure you girls were safe.”, Tommy said
“Don’t worry about it. One guy can’t take out the two of us.”, Kim told him. “And we’ll call you guys when we get there. We promise.”
The boys knew that was as good as they were going to get it, so they said their goodbyes and took off. The girls turned and walked in the direction of their apartment. They were chatting when they heard the bushes rustle. Carri swore under her breath and Kim jumped as a squirrel came scampering by.
“Ok, so we need to not think about this serial killer thing. Or else every noise is going to drive us crazy.”, Kim said as they continued to walk
“Yeah you’re right.”, Carri agreed. After Jason made a fuss about it and the boys brought it up, it was hard not to think about it. But since there were two power rangers walking together, she didn’t think anybody would stand a chance against them.
“I just hope they catch the creep.”, Kim said as her thoughts were drifting in the same direction as Carri’s were
The two girls continued to try and talk to keep each other company as they made their way back to the apartment. After an uneventful walk back, they called the boys and tried to spend a relaxing night at home.
Jordan met with Woody the following morning. She took a sip of her Starbucks coffee and looked at him as he was reading a piece of paper in the file. “So?”, she asked
Woody looked over at her and smiled. “And good morning to you too Jordan.”, he said as he snapped the file closed and started walking off. Jordan quickly followed. “Guess what?”
“It’s too early for guessing games.”, Jordan replied as she made a face
“Fine.”, Woody said as he stopped to turn to her. “Under her nails were traces of a soil used only for gardening, and found only in certain parts of LA. And the fiber they found? It’s from a late eighty’s model Ford. That fabric was used in the trunks of two of their models, the Tempo and the Taurus.”
“So you’re saying the girl took a ride in the trunk?”, Jordan asked
“Yep.”, Woody replied. “And once you are ready, we are going to meet the LAPD at the gardens to see if we can find any evidence.”
“Well what are we waiting for?”, Jordan asked as she turned and walked quickly for the exit
Woody paused for a moment before turning and trying to hurry to catch up.
Jordan and Woody spent their afternoon collecting soil samples of gardens. They sent them back to the lab and left an officer to guard each potential crime scene while they ran the samples. Although the soil was the same, each had small differences and only one would be an exact match to the soil found under the victim’s nails.
After the soils were ran and the comparison started, the duo finally found their match. They quickly called the LAPD and sent all the officers they had guarding gardens to the one they knew was right. Jordan and Woody arrived minutes later and looked over the garden. Woody sighed. “Of course it had to be the biggest one.”
“Let’s get started.”, Jordan said as she walked in. Woody spent a few moments talking to the people in charge of the LAPD investigation before joining her.
They searched the garden for what seemed like hours with no results. Jordan turned the corner and noticed a plant that looked like it had been stepped on. She followed it to see sets of shoe prints. “Hey Woody, I think I found something!”
Woody quickly rushed over to Jordan’s side as Jordan pointed out what she saw. Woody looked at the two sets of footprints. “It looks like one male and one female.”, he said as he checked them out. “And I think they entered right here.”, he said pointing to the edge of the garden that was only a few feet away. “It makes sense if they came from UCLA. There are apartments on the other side of that water that are for college students.”, he said pointing to the small man made pond.
“They probably crossed the bridge and cut through the garden.”, Jordan said as she looked where Woody was pointing
“So let’s find out where they were off to.”, Woody replied
The duo followed the footprints. Jordan stopped at one pointed and pointed to the indentations in the dirt. “The female footprints stopped. But it looks like she fell. That would have been where her knees and hands were.”
“That explains the dirt under her nails.”, Woody replied looking forward. “The footprints stop here.”, he said as he motioned to the other end of the garden. “It looks like they went through the trees.” Woody turned towards one of the nearby police officers. “Excuse me.”
The officer turned around and Woody saw he had his attention. “Where does that patch of trees exit?”
“Near the road.”, the officer replied
“Where he probably had the car waiting.”, Jordan said as she stepped out of the garden and headed over to the trees. “Come on, there may be some evidence over here.”
Woody followed her, hoping to find some clue as to what happened to the girl from UCLA.
Carri found herself sitting in the campus library later that night. She had a huge project to finish. With the semester winding down, she wasn’t left with much time to get it done. She stretched and looked at her watch. It was getting late and she had definitely done enough for the day.
She packed up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, then quickly exited the library. She turned towards the apartment and started walking. She sighed as she realized she was probably going to get an ear full when she got home. It was dark and here she was walking across campus alone. In her defense, it wasn’t like there was anyone to walk with her. Tommy and Rocky were at their dorm, and Jason, Billy and Kim were all at the apartment.
There was a path that cut through the trees and led her off campus and kept her close to the apartment. Of course, she could always go around the dark wooded area, but it was late and that took longer and all she wanted to do was get back. She couldn’t help but feel a little nervous as she approached the path. She started walking, keeping her head up and trying to stay alert.
She was concentrating so hard on not being snuck up on, that she didn’t see the object blocking her path. She tripped and hit the ground hard. As she pulled herself up, she turned to see what it was that she had tripped on. A look of horror came across her face as she realized it was a human foot, most likely a woman’s foot. She peaked around the bush that was hiding the foot to confirm her fears.
She closed her eyes and sat down on the cold dirt path. She thought for a moment and took a few deep breaths, then opened her eyes and searched through her stuff for her phone. Hands shaking, she dialed 911 and reported the incident. She stayed seated on the path until the authorities arrived. Within a few minutes, the place was crawling with police officers.
She was asked to stick around and answer questions. As the police thought of things to ask, they did, and her answer was always the same. She had no idea who the girl was, where she might have come from, and how she got here. She looked up as a brunette stood up after looking at the body. Some other crime scene people scooted in where she had once stood and started taking pictures and gathering any on site evidence left in preparation to move the body.
The brunette looked at Carri and started to approach her. Carri sighed as the woman got near. “Look I’ve told you guys what I can. I was coming home from the library and I tripped over her. I don’t know how much more help I can be.”
The woman flashed her a smile. “No, it’s not that.”, she paused and stuck her hand out. “Jordan Cavanaugh, from the Boston Medical Examiner’s office.”
“Carri Hillard.”, she replied taking the woman’s outstretched hand. “I heard on the news that the Boston authorities were going to be involved.”
Jordan nodded her head yes. “Look, I know it’s not really any of my business, but a young girl like you shouldn’t be walking around out here at night by yourself.”
Jordan made a face as Carri brushed her off. “Look, Ms. Cavanaugh,”
“Jordan.”, she said cutting her off
“Jordan.”, Carri continued. “I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine. And right now, all I want to do is go home.”
Jordan sighed as she turned. “Woody!”, she yelled as he turned towards her. She motioned for him to come over. Woody approached and Jordan smiled at him. “I think she’s ready to leave. Are you guys done with her?”
“Yeah, she’s alright to go.”, Woody replied
“Great. I’m going to walk her home. You want to swing by and pick me up?”, she asked
Woody nodded. “Let me just finish up here. They’re getting ready to take the body back to the morgue. I’ll come get you then we can go back.”
“Alright.”, Jordan said as Woody walked off
Carri was starting to feel annoyed. “Look, Jordan, I can assure you that I will be fine walking home by myself. He’s not going to be dumb enough to attack with all the cops around.”
Jordan sighed. Although at one point she may have been right, now Jordan wasn’t so sure anymore. This was two murders in as many days, faster than he had ever operated in Boston. Which means their killer was probably getting cocky and having too much fun with what he was doing. He might love the opportunity to nab this girl while she was walking away from the police. “Look, I know you don’t think you need me to walk you home,” Jordan started. And she did understand. Jordan was probably the last person in the world who should be giving the advice don’t be overconfident, let me help you. “The reality is, we don’t know what this guy is going to do. And I’ll feel better if you let me walk you home.”
Jordan watched as Carri impatiently tapped her foot. After a dragged out few seconds she finally gave in. “Alright.”, she said. The truth was, she didn’t know what this guy was going to do. And she was already going to hear an earful when everyone found out what happened, the least she could do was ease everyone’s minds by letting someone walk her home.
“Good.”, Jordan said with a smile. “So which way do we go?”
Carri said nothing as she turned and started heading back in the direction of her apartment with Jordan at her side. The silence that formed between the two of them as they were walking became unbearable, and finally they both spoke at the same time. Carri motioned for Jordan to go ahead.
“If you knew about the killings, and the police warnings, why did you walk home by yourself?”, she asked
“Truthfully?”, Carri asked. Jordan nodded and Carri continued. “I thought about it before I left the library but I didn’t want to bother my friends... who are probably going to kill me when I get home... but not only that, I donno, I guess I wasn’t worried about it.”
“You mean to tell me that there’s a killer on the loose and you weren’t scared at all to walk through that dark wooded area?”, Jordan asked in disbelief.
There wasn’t much that scared Carri. Spiders scared Carri. Serial killers, not so much. Besides if being a ranger has taught her one thing, it was how to handle tough situations. So she never really worried about it. Not to mention that if she was going to worry about getting killed a serial killer would be pretty low on the list compared with names like Archerina and Gasket, Rita and Zedd, and Callisto. That was her explanation. Not that she could actually give that explanation to the woman standing beside her. “I know self defense.”, Carri said. She knew that wasn’t really a good of an answer as the real answer, but it would do.
Jordan looked at the young girl and started formulating an argument in her head. Before she had a chance to say anything, Carri changed the subject and started asking her questions about the case, which Jordan didn’t have any answers to. And even if she did, most of it would be classified information anyway. Carri started asking Jordan about her work, which were questions she could answer. Finally the duo arrived at an apartment building. Jordan walked Carri all the way up to her place before she said goodnight and watched her enter, listing for the lock to catch behind her before she left.
Carri sighed as she put her stuff down, then looked over at her three friends on the couch watching the tv very intently. “Hey.”, she said as she started to walk that way
“Carri, we were starting to worry.”, Jason said as he, Billy and Kim turned to look at her. “They found another body.”
She sighed as she slumped down into the recliner and got a good look at the newscast. “Actually, I found the body.”
“What?”, all three said almost simultaneously. Kim frowned at her friend. “Well are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine.”
Jason glared at her. “So how exactly did you find the body?”
“I was walking home from the library...”
“By yourself?”
Carri nodded in response to Jason’s question. “Look I just didn’t want to bother anybody.”
“Carri I would have been happy to come meet you and walk you back. So would have Billy or Tommy. And you know Rocky would have done it in a heartbeat.”
“Jason’s right.”, Billy said as he smiled at her. “You didn’t have to walk home alone.”
“Well...”, she said not sure how to justify herself. Then again, she could give these guys her reasons. “Look if I was going to be worried about getting killed, I would worry about the people whose hit list I’m on. Whose list we are all on.”, she reminded them. “And to be honest I think I have a better chance of one of them trying to kill me before a random psycho killer.”
The boys looked at each other then looked at her. She was right about who wanted to kill her more, to kill them more. But still as the old saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Jason sighed. “Just next time, call us, ok?”
“Promise.”, Carri said as she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. The group of four sat in the living room chatting for a little while longer before they were all off to bed.
The next afternoon, Kim met Tommy for lunch at one of the tables just outside of one of the food places on campus. “Hey.”, Tommy greeted as he sat down a tray of food in front of her, then one for himself before giving her a kiss and sitting beside her. “How are you?”
“Good. Classes have been kind of dull today, but other than that...”, Kim said smiling at him and letting her voice trail off as she reached down for a sip of her drink
“I heard about what happened last night. With Carri.”, Tommy said. Jason had called him early that morning and told him what happened.
“Does Rocky know?”, she asked. Tommy nodded. “Is he upset?”
“Kind of.”, Tommy replied. “He’s glad she’s safe but he doesn’t think she should have put herself in that situation to begin with.”
Kim thought for a moment before she looked up at Tommy and spoke. “I can see where she’s coming from.”, Kim said. “We’re strong women who don’t worry about these things. And anytime the fear of dying young ever crossed my mind, I certainly never thought that my murderer would be human.”
“I know that. And Rocky does too. But there’s a killer out there looking for women to be his next victim.”, Tommy pointed out. He reached over to Kim and put his hand on top of hers. “And I would die if anything happened to you.”
Kim leaned over and gave him a kiss. “You have nothing to worry about I promise.”
Tommy smiled at her. He didn’t want to say anything but the truth was, he was going to worry. This was the love of his life. Every time she stood beside him to fight evil he cringed. Not that he in any way doubted her abilities as a ranger. He’s just always been afraid that the day would come. The day when evil launched an attack so horrendous that they wouldn’t be able to stop it. That they would loose friends, teammates. That he would loose her. And he hated that this thought crossed his mind each time they went into battle. Would this be the day? Would Zedd finally get the upper hand? And he did worry more about her dying in battle than dying at the hands of a killer, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. And he couldn’t help but worry about that too.
Kim smiled at him and touched his hand, pulling him back into reality. Tommy smiled back. He was done worrying for now and talking about it, he was going to change the subject. “So the semester is almost over. Have you guys decided what you are going to do yet?”
“I think Carri and I are going to stay in LA for the first few days of the break. Jason is going back home though.”, Kim replied
“What about the holidays?”, Tommy asked
“We’ll be in Angel Grove for Christmas.”, Kim assured him
Tommy smiled at her. “My family already said you’re welcome to come for Christmas dinner.”
“Thank you Tommy.”, Kim said as she grinned at him. She hadn’t given Christmas much thought yet. Although she and Carri had already starting shopping for it, the actual day she hadn’t planned. She knew if the Hillard family was staying in town this year, that she and Carri would have dinner with them. If not, the girls figured they would decide then.
“You going to stay in Angel Grove for New Years too?”, Tommy asked
“Actually Carri and I have been looking into where the best parties are going to be in LA, and we think we’ve found a place.”, she replied. “We figured everyone could come, and Kat and Emily could come up. I think Billy is working on finalizing his plans to spend the holidays in Europe though so he’ll be the only one missing.”
“Sounds like you’ve got everything figured out.”, he said as he smiled at her. “Now we just have to make it through finals.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it.” Kim had taken some particularly tough classes this past semester, and wasn’t looking forward to any of her finals.
Tommy grinned as he started working on his lunch. After some time passed of eating and small talk, both were finished. Tommy stacked the tray’s together and put all of the trash in a pile on the top tray. He stood up and held his hand out to Kim. “Want to go for a walk before class?”
“I’d love to.”, she said as she extended her hand out and grabbed his. Kim stood up and walked with Tommy to dispose of their lunch trash, then they headed off around campus.
Jordan stood impatiently in the morgue that afternoon. “Do we have anything that can actually help us?”, she asked slamming a scalpel down in frustration.
“Jordan calm down.”, Woody said as he put a hand on her shoulder. She gave him an odd look and he took his hand off before continuing. “We’ve still got the stuff from the last murder. And they’re running trace now.”
“Yeah but none of that seems to be doing us any good.”, Jordan reminded him. This was the killers seventh victim, and if they didn’t find him soon there would be an eighth.
“Here’s the results back on the trace.”, one of the lab tecs said as he walked in and held out a piece of paper
Jordan snatched the paper out of his hand before Woody could take it. She spent a few minutes looking it over. Her eyes suddenly lit up. “This gives me an idea.” She quickly thrust the paper into Woody’s hands and took off.
“Jordan! Jordan where are you going!”, Woody said leaning out the doors to the autopsy room and calling after her.
“I’ll be back.”, she said as she exited the building
Woody sighed and looked at the sheet. There may be some leads he could look at there, but nothing to get as excited over as Jordan did. He just hoped she would call him before she got herself into trouble.
That same night three figures sat at a lab table finishing up that night’s work. “Are we done?”, asked Tommy
“That’s the end of our little experiment.”, Mollie Monroe pointed out
Carri sighed. “Yeah but we still have to answer the questions.”, she replied as she looked around the room. “And why are we the last ones out tonight?”
Tommy smiled. “Because someone couldn’t keep from running her mouth all night.”
Carri made a face and stuck her tongue out at him as they went to answer the questions. The follow up questions were fairly easy, and a few minutes later they were done. Tommy went up to hand the instructor their lab and then he escorted the two girls out of the room. “Either of you ladies need an escort home?”, he asked smiling at Mollie then eyeing Carri
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m meeting Abs downstairs.”, Mollie said as she smiled. “I’ll see you guys later.” And with a wave of her hand, she was off.
“You?”, Tommy reiterated looking at Carri
“Thank you for the concern, but Rocky should be here any minute to walk with me.”, she replied smiling at him
“Alright. Well I’m headed back to the dorm then to get some work done.”, he said. The duo said goodnight as Tommy headed off.
Carri leaned against the wall and waited for Rocky. Ten minutes went by and their lab instructor came out and locked the door. Carri smiled and said goodnight to her. She sighed as she looked at her watch and realized what time it was. She tried to call Rocky, but got no answer so she hung up and tried again with the same results. Five more minutes went by and she tried again and still got no answer. Carri waited another five minutes before trying one final time. As she hit the end button on her phone she realized what time it was. If she didn’t hurry up and leave, she was going to miss Friends. And she and Kim always watched Friends.
Carri decided to give up on him, since he was late and she was impatient. She quickly took off out of the lab building and headed in the direction of her apartment. With in a few moments, she found herself near the same spot she was in the previous night. She took a deep breath and decided to march on through. As she got closer, she noticed that near where she found the body the night before there was a flashlight bobbing up and down. She stopped in her tracks. “Who’s there?”
The flashlight turned towards her. “It’s Jordan. From the Boston ME’s office.” Jordan recognized the young girl. The same girl that she had told the previous night not to walk out here alone. Of course, Jordan couldn’t say anything as that was precisely what she was doing. Only because the trail she had followed earlier had led her right back here. She was positive that there was evidence to nail this bastard at the crime scene that had been missed the previous night. She was going to collect it and rush it back for analysis.
Carri let out a sigh of relief as she realized who the person was with the flashlight. “What are you doing out here?”, she asked as she started to get closer
There was no response from Jordan. Carri saw the flashlight fall and catch her in the eyes, temporarily blinding her. As she readjusted her eyes to the darkness, she called out Jordan’s name. She got no response as she walked over to the light. Jordan hadn’t fainted, as there was no body there. But Carri could see what appeared to be her heels being dragged away. Reason escaped her and instinct took over as she ran off following the marks. It only took her a few seconds to find the man who was dragging her.
She got a look at height and body build, but that was about it. He was dressed in black head to toe, including a mask and gloves. The man saw her as she approached, but she didn’t give him time to react as she took her backpack and slung it at his stomach. The textbooks and the library books that were in there were enough to knock the wind out of him temporarily, causing him to drop Jordan.
The man reached in his back pocked and grabbed a pocket knife, slashing it wildly in the air. Fortunately he wasn’t very good with it, and in an off balance moment Carri grabbed his left hand. He was already stumbling towards a tree, and she planned on smashing him into it. As she swung his arm the glove he was wearing started to come loose. She dug into the skin to make sure she didn’t loose her grip as she rammed him into the tree. The man staggered back and took a minute to get his bearings. He was getting ready to come after her again when he heard a male voice calling someone’s name.
Carri recognized the voice who was calling out to her. “Over here!”, she yelled
The man stared at her for another minute as he heard the footsteps approaching. Out of fear of being caught, he turned and fled. Carri turned and caught a glimpse of Rocky as she was reaching into her bag to grab her phone. She quickly dialed 911 and reported the situation, then knelt down beside Jordan.
Rocky knelt down beside her and turned her towards him. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I know I shouldn’t have left. But you were late and you weren’t answering and if I hadn’t been here she’d probably be dead by now.”
Rocky saw her shaking from the rush of everything that just happened and he pulled her in and hugged her. He was in the library and had lost track of time, and he didn’t realize she had called until it was too late. By the time he got to the lab building, she was already gone and he had a good idea where she had taken off for. Home. He was lucky to catch up with her. He couldn’t believe what had happened here. He admired her for having the courage to face down a killer to save this woman’s life. But more than anything he was relieved that she was ok.
Carri leaned into Rocky’s chest and took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. A few minutes later flashlights came bobbing their way. She recognized the man taking the lead as the Boston detective from the night before who was friends with Jordan. “Over here.”, she called out as she sat straight up
Woody rushed over to Jordan’s side and was quickly followed by the paramedics. Rocky and Carri stood up and moved out of their way. They spent a few minutes taking vitals and just as they started to get ready to move her, Jordan slowly came to.
“Jordan thank God.”, he said as she started to get up. He put a hand on her to motion for her to lay still.
“He chloroformed me.”, Jordan said as she looked around and tried to assess the situation
“Who he?”, asked Woody
“It was our killer, it had to be.”, she replied. As she started to remember what she was doing right before it happened she started to panic. “Where’s Carri?”
“Right here.”, she replied from behind Jordan
“Carri called it in.”, Woody told her
“What exactly happened?”, Jordan asked as she ignored Woody and sat up, turning back towards Carri
“I caught the guy dragging you off.”, she replied. She paused a moment before continuing. “I hit him in the stomach with my stuff and he dropped you. Then I grabbed his wrist and slammed him into a tree.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”, Woody asked
She shook her head no as Jordan processed what she was saying. “Wait a second you grabbed his wrist? As in his skin?”
“Well not intentionally but his gloves slipped and I did dig my fingers into his arms.”, she replied
Jordan jumped up and took a moment to steady herself as she was still woozy from the chloroform. Then she grabbed Carri’s arm and led her back to her kit. She knelt down and grabbed some items, then stood back up. “Woody could you get me some light.”
Woody walked over and aimed the flashlight where Jordan was pointing. Jordan quickly scraped under Carri’s nails and sealed what she had found. “She got his skin Woody. This means we have DNA.”
Carri turned her head towards Rocky and smiled. “See. And you thought that French manicure was useless.”
Rocky couldn’t help but smile as Jordan finished up. He looked over at the detective. “Can I get her home now?”
Woody thought for a moment. He had an account of what happened. And Jordan had DNA, which was better than anything Carri could give them verbally. “Yeah. Just let me get your number so I can call you if we have any questions.”
She nodded and gave him her phone number, then collected her things and let Rocky lead her back to her apartment. For the second night in a row, as she walked in all eyes were on her.
Kim got a good look at her friend. She had taped Friends for them and was watching TV with Jason and Billy. It was weird for Carri not to make it on time, as that had become their ritual. “What happened to you?”, she asked as she noticed her friends’ unusually messy clothes and out of place hair.
“I can tell you but you’re not going to be too happy about it...”, she replied, voice trailing off as she once again collapsed in a chair
Jason raised one eyebrow and looked over at Rocky, whose expression indicated that it was her story to tell. Jason looked over at Carri who sighed heavily before starting to tell her story. “Rocky was late getting me so I kind of headed home on my own. I ran into Jordan, the medical examiner I was telling you about. The serial killer grabbed her and I went after him.”, she paused and looked at the room. She saw Jason about to protest so she quickly defended her action. “He was going to kill Jordan. I stopped him and Rocky scared him off when he got close... I scratched him. We got his DNA.”
Jason really didn’t have much to say after that. Billy smiled at her as he thought she had done a great thing. “If they have the killer’s DNA on file, you may have just given them his identity. You may have just saved other women from the same fate.”
“Yeah. Well the police are doing all the work. I just got lucky. It was a stupid thing to do I know but I didn’t know where Rocky was and I just wanted to get home... and I probably shouldn’t have gone after the killer I don’t know what would have happened if Rocky hadn’t shown up when he did.”
Jason thought for a moment. “Leaving on your own was stupid. But regardless you didn’t think twice about stopping the bad guy and saving that woman’s life and that’s not stupid. I think we all would have done the same thing. That’s what being a power ranger is all about.”
Carri looked around the room as the others nodded in agreement. “Thanks guys.”, she said as she smiled at them. She stood up and started to walk off. “I think I’m going to go get ready for bed.”, she said
As Carri walked off, Rocky went over and took her seat. He waited until she was out of earshot to speak. “I hope they can use that DNA to catch this creep.”
“Yeah I’ll feel better when he’s behind bars.”, Kim replied. “I mean, she’s not the only one who has been doing something stupid. I’ve seen girls all over campus walking by themselves. Including me.”, she confessed. She knew how Carri felt. How most girls on campus probably felt. With finals and papers and every thing else going on, she didn’t want to stop her friends to make them come escort her. The severity of the situation never really hit her. Sure the thought would cross her mind when she was walking alone. What if he was out there? But then again, there are thousands of girls on the USC campus, not to mention girls at the other LA area schools, so what are the chances that he would be after her?
“I guess none of that matters. You girls are safe and they are one step closer to finding their killer.”, Jason pointed out. Of course in a way it really did matter. But he was never going to win that argument with either one of them. They knew the potential consequences of what they were doing when they would take off alone. In a way they all went through the same things by being a power ranger, morphed are not. They knew the potential consequences of being rangers. But the good far out weighed the bad. And the more Jason thought about it, the more he thought that if you compared serial killers to monsters, they weren’t all that different. Maybe the girls decision to walk alone really didn’t matter. After all, they had as much of a chance of a Zedd and Rita ambush or a vampire attack that would be deadly as they did of a serial killer attack. And noone though it was so bad to be by yourself in anticipation of those situations. If something happened, it happened.
“Well once this is all over we can all go back to our normal routines.”, Billy pointed out
Kim half smiled. “Yeah. Sleep, study, and save the world.”
Rocky thought on what Kim had said. Although saving the world was part of their normal routine, they hadn’t done much of it lately. “It’s weird we haven’t had to fight a monster recently.”
“I hope that doesn’t mean they are working hard on a new plot.”, Jason replied
“I hope that doesn’t mean they’re working hard with Callisto on a new plot.”, Rocky added. For them to be this silent for so long, who knew what was going on.
“There’s no indication that she’s in the galaxy.”, Billy assured him. “Besides we’ve heard rumors that she’s not as interested in us right now since she thinks Carri is dead.”
“I guess you’re right. I just hate not knowing what Rita and Zedd are up to.”, Rocky replied. It had been nice to know that Callisto thought Carri was dead. That was one less thing he had to worry about.
“I’m not worried about it. Rita and Zedd have tried to take over the world and we’ve always been there.”, Kim pointed out. It was almost to the point where nobody was afraid of their threat anymore. Even the citizens of Angel Grove worried less, knowing that every time a monster showed up the rangers were there to take it down.
There was a few minutes of silence as everybody thought about what Kim said. Finally Rocky spoke. “Well,” he started as he stopped to look at his watch, “I’m going to talk to Carri for a few minutes, then I need to get out of here to do some work.”
The others watched as Rocky got up and went towards the bedroom, leaving them all there off in their own thoughts.
Jordan arrived back in the morgue early the next morning. They had been working hard all night processing the DNA and running it through the system. There were no hits in LA and Nigel didn’t come up with anything in Boston, so they expanded the search nationally. Jordan sighed and stood next to the computer, watching as it ran through names looking for a match.
“A watched pot never boils you know.”, Woody said as he walked in and stood beside her
Jordan looked over at Woody and smiled. “Then why did you come in here to look at the computer?”
“Because I want to catch this bastard just as bad as you do.”, Woody replied as he smiled back at her
“You think we’ll...”, Jordan started. She was going to say get a hit but she stopped short when the computer beeped at her. “We have a match?”, she asked half excited half skeptical
Jordan and Woody both leaned in and looked down at the computer. Sure enough, the DNA sample had come up with a match. “Robert Saunders.”, Woody read the name out loud
“It looks like he’s in the computer for an attempted rape in Colorado.”, Jordan said as she read the information. That’s how killers usually start. With something small, then they work their way up.
“And it looks like he’s the owner of a 1989 Ford Tempo. I’ll contact LAPD, have them put out an APB. We’ll get his name and picture circulated, along with the make, model and tag number of his car.”
Jordan smiled for the first time in almost two months. They had finally cracked this case. It looked like the victims were going to get their justice after all. And nothing could make her happier.
That afternoon, Jason, Carri and Kim all sat in their apartment trying to relax after an eventful last few days. Kim smiled and stretched. “We should watch Friends.”, she said
Jason made a face and looked at her. “I should go work out.”, he replied
Carri laughed at him then smiled over at Kim. “We’ve been sitting here for ten minutes and already you want to throw him out?”
Kim said nothing in response as she giggled and leaned back into the couch. The trio got comfortable and the girls temporarily forgot about Friends as they sat back and relaxed. Just as they got comfortable, there was a knock at the door. Everyone looked at each other as Jason jumped up and volunteered to get it. He opened the door and saw a woman standing there. The woman smiled at him before she spoke. “Hi, I’m looking for Carri Hillard.”
Carri heard her name and tried to peer around Jason to see who was standing there. She thought she made out the figure as she got up and walked over. Jason moved out of her way as she stood in the doorway. “Jordan, hi, what are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?”, Jordan asked
Carri nodded and moved out of the way, gesturing for her to come in. As Jordan walked in Carri motioned to her two friends. “These are two of my roommates, Kim and Jason.”
Jordan smiled and said hello as she flashed them a quick wave, which Kim and Jason returned. Then Jordan turned to Carri. “I thought you might want to know that the DNA you got gave us results.”
“So you know who the killer is?”, Carri asked as Jason and Kim muted the television and turned their attention towards the conversation
“Not only do we know who it is, but we caught him a little while ago.”, Jordan replied with a smile
“Really? Are you sure it’s him?”, she asked
“He confessed to the murders. Told specific details about the killings that only he would know.”, Jordan replied
Carri thought for a moment. “So why did he come after you? I mean, that just didn’t seem like a smart thing to do.”
“I had gotten too close. The questions I asked yesterday and some of the evidence I found, he knew it was just a matter of time before I caught him. He knew you were there, he just didn’t think that a college girl would have enough courage to go after him.”
Carri smiled. “Well I’ll bet that’s the last time he underestimates a woman.”
“Trust me he’ll never have the chance again. They want his trial to take place in California since they have the death penalty. I don’t think the Boston DA is going to have any problems with that.”, Jordan replied as she smiled back at her. She paused for a moment before she spoke again. “I never did get a chance to thank you, by the way, for saving my life last night.”
“It was nothing.”, Carri replied. She didn’t want Jordan making a big deal out of it, as it wasn’t to her. She and her friends saved more lives every day than Jordan will ever realize.
“Well,” Jordan started as the silence settled between them. “I just wanted to let you know. Woody and I are going to be flying back to Boston soon.”
“Well it was nice meeting you.”, Carri replied as she heard their communicators go off. She shot a look in Jason and Kim’s direction.
“Nice meeting you too.”, Jordan said. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too.”, Carri replied as she started to usher her toward the door. “Not to throw you out, but we have somewhere to be soon.”
Jordan smiled and nodded as she let Carri usher her out. She glanced at the trio who had been sitting in front of the television and were probably off to do something fun. She missed being that age and having no responsibility. She watched as Carri closed the door behind her before she took off out of the building.
As Jordan left Carri turned toward the others. Jason quickly responded to the page. “Go ahead.”
“Guys it looks like Zedd has sent down more tengas.”, Billy informed them
“Tengas? Again?”, Kim asked. That was all they had seen of the duo recently was their tengas.
Carri shrugged. “Well it looks like we’re back to our boring, normal, everyday lives.”
Jason smiled at her. “I wouldn’t exactly call them boring.”, he replied as he stood up. “Ninjetti, cougar!”
“Crane!”
“Panther!”
And with that the three ninjetti’s went off to join their friends to save the world from Rita and Zedd’s evil forces yet again.
The End