Matt tucked his shirt into his pants. Jodi put on a pink satin robe and tied the sash into a bow. She kept facing the mirror, watching him getting dressed.Matt zipped his pants and then bent down to pick up his gun holster. He put it around him. He glanced up at her and caught her looking at him through the mirror. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he fastened his belt. She turned her head. She had to do it. It was for the best, the best for him. “We can’t do this anymore,” she spat out.He smiled. “Jodi, I promise I won’t come here in the middle of the day like this again.” Jodi squeezed her eyes shut, willing to black out what she was about to say next. “No, I mean, it’s over. I don’t want to see you anymore unless it’s by accident.”Dead silence.She slowly opened her eyes and turned around to look at him. Matt’s jaw was tight. His eyes were almost as big as quarters.“It had to end sometime. We both knew this couldn’t last forever,” she pushed out of her mouth.“Did we?”She could te

The weekend had been hell for Matt. He had barely slept or ate. When he had slept, it was on an old cot in the station’s basement. He couldn’t bear going home to an empty house with nothing but his thoughts. His thoughts of Jodi. Telling her – admitting to her - that he loved her and her not responding. Her silence in that moment was worse than the things she had said before that moment. Matt shook his head like he could shake away the memory and the feelings of that rejection.He looked at his watch. It was almost 7:30 on Monday morning. Patty would be coming in to start her shift on the switchboard. The student receptionist would be coming in at eight and Williamson would be coming in to relieve Goldman, who had worked the night shift. Dalton was on leave.Matt sat in his office going over case notes. Matt and Williamson had tried the phone number they had gotten from D.J. Jones days ago. It was disconnected. They had run the plate numbers that Dex gave them of the truck that took J

The next day at Garvey’s, Jackie had a morning meeting in the bar with all the employees. Jodi couldn’t be there because she was sick. She had gotten sick the day after her and Matt broke up. She could barely get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Jackie was afraid Jodi had the flu or pneumonia. Jodi wouldn’t take any medicine because she was afraid it would hurt the baby. She had said it was okay to tell George about the pregnancy. Other than George, the twins didn’t tell anyone else. Jackie couldn’t believe their luck when a nurse practitioner, who was a guest for the weekend, had overheard her and George talking about Jodi being ill. The nurse had been more than happy to examine Jodi. She had said Jodi just had a bad cold and the fatigue and weakness were symptoms from the pregnancy and the cold. What they needed to watch for was a fever. If Jodi spiked a fever, the nurse had said to get her to a doctor right away. More than likely a doctor would

Matt parked outside of the DA’s house. He cut the engine and looked out the window. Lawrence stood outside the front door. Matt waved. Lawrence tipped his hat to him. Matt smiled. He was proud of his men. They’ve all gone above and beyond.He checked his watch. It was three hours and fifteen minutes before curfew. School was out, but he doubted Jacobs’s kids went to school today. Before he could get out of the car, his cell phone rang.“Kirby,” he answered.“Hi, Sheriff, it’s Williamson. Hope you don’t mind me calling your cell. Thought you could hear the information better that way.”“That’s fine. Whatcha got for me?”“Carter ran that guy’s mug shot. We got an ID on our John Doe. His name is Peter Francis Beauford, nickname Ghost. He just finished doing eight years at Florence State Prison for sexual assault.”Matt was surprised by the bio. “How did he go from assault to murder?”“It wasn’t that big of a jump. Before he went away for assault, he was arrested for killing a kid in a fi

Matt was coming up on Bonnie’s house. Williamson was walking down the steps of Bonnie’s porch. He was eating a sandwich and had two sodas stuffed under his arm. It looked like he was carrying an open Ziploc bag of chips.Williamson spotted the sheriff’s car and dropped everything he was holding. Matt stifled a laugh. What the hell, Williamson deserved to be fucked with a little before he dropped the bomb about Marty. Jacobs had been right, Williamson’s mouth had been full.Matt parked the car and cut the engine. He slowly got out of the vehicle, giving himself time to get the smirk off his face and convey the seriousness he wanted to portray.“Evening, Deputy Williamson,” Matt said as he put on his Stratton.Williamson didn’t move. He practically stood at attention. “Sir, what are you doing here?”Matt got closer to him. Was that lipstick on his lips? He wanted to laugh. “I know you said you had everything under control, but I wanted to see for myself.” Matt looked down at the content