When the Dead Speak

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

By the time Sam finished her phone call to the Crime Lab and glanced over the daily log, Jake and Frank were already halfway through with their lunch. On the table in front of them were the pictures from Preston's safe.

"Just make yourselves at home," Sam spit out. "Go through the mail in my mail box while you're at it."

"The gym will be fine for starters, thanks," Frank said.

"There's not much here. Exactly what were you hoping to find?" Jake asked.

She gave a shrug of her shoulder in response and took a sip of iced tea.

"Who hired you? Do you have any idea what would happen to your career if you were caught?" Jake tossed the pictures toward the end of the kitchen table.

"I work alone." She threw her napkin on the table and stood up saying, "You ruined a perfectly good dress."

"Dress? What about my tux?" Jake argued. "And we can also talk about my bruised ribs."

"Sounds more like a bruised ego," Frank mumbled.

"And what about Preston's computer?" Jake continued. "What did you print off of it?"

Sam explained the menu and how Preston seemed to be unusually interested in something he had typed after receiving a call.

"Do you know who called him?" Jake asked.

"No," Sam lied. Setting her plate in the sink, she added, "If you were half as good of detectives as you two claim to be you would have noticed something interesting on the videotape. You keep focusing on my being where I shouldn't have been rather than focusing on Preston having something he shouldn't have."

"If you mean the pin, we already noticed it," Frank replied. "They may be close, but we don't know for sure if it connects Preston with the deceased."

"I held it in my hand. The same visions were there as when I touched King Tut in the lab." She looked into their skeptical faces. "I know this sounds crazy to you. But all I can tell you is what I sensed."

Jake walked over to the counter. "What exactly did you sense when you touched King Tut?"

Sam explained the vision of lightning bolt shapes, the smell of gun powder, screams of battle. The men were silent for a while.

"Why don't we stick with what we know right now. The pin that a presumed murder victim held is the same as a pin owned by our state representative," Jake said.

"Weelll, let's not exclude everything," Frank said slowly.

"Finally, someone with flexibility," Sam whispered, loud enough for them to hear.

"I prefer logic," Jake clarified.

Sam jabbed her fists onto her hips. "Let's try this for logic. Preston had something to do with King Tut's murder. And once we get an I.D. on the victim, I'll shove the logic right down your throat."