Sara frowned as she perused the newly unearthed, dessicated body in front of her. She glanced over at Nick and cocked her brow. "They buried her in a pile of sand. That sandstorm last week removed a good bit of the pile."
Nick grinned and snapped a photo. "Who's your mummy?" He moved closer. "She's laying on her purse; I see straps."
Sara looked around. "Whoever buried her went to a lot of trouble getting here."
Nick nodded. "Yup. Probably figured she'd stay buried, and even if she didn't, nobody would be around to find out."
Sara looked thoughfully at a nearby rock formation. "You gotta love hikers. Without them a lot of bodies would never be discovered."
Nick smiled but said nothing. Sara very well knew of his love for the sport. "So, Sara, how's old Greggo doing?"
She swallowed hard but otherwise didn't react. "You'd know better than I would, Nick. I really didn't talk to him before we left the lab. Too busy getting my stuff together for our desert adventure."
Nick chuckled. "You two are together; I know it, so you can go on and admit it. I thought we were friends, and here you are trying to keep something this big a secret from me."
"He TOLD you." Sara's eyes flashed. "I cannot believe this. He SWORE he'd keep his mouth shut..."
Nick laughed out loud. "And he did. You, however, YOU just told on yourself. You and Sanders' lovely artwork on your neck. I knew it was someone; I took a good guess, and you admitted it." No way Nick was admitting to his role as a catalyst in their courtship.
"You asshole!"
"Will you just calm down! This is just me, your old buddy Nick, the guy you should have told first thing. I'm not going to tell anyone; I just wanted to know." His voice softened. " I'll kick his ass if he isn't good to you."
Sara smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. "
Nick smiled. "You do that. Tell him I'll tie his skinny butt in a knot if he doesn't treat you like a princess." He turned and squatted next to the mummified corpse. "Now where's Dave Phillips when you need him?"
"So, what do we have? One very dessicated female body, and a purse containing ID, credit cards, and quite a bit of cash." Sara looked at the plastic card in her hands. "We need to confirm it, but it would appear that our mummy is one Barbara Jensen, age 44, of Reno. And since the license expired thirteen months ago, it's likely that Ms. Jensen has been deceased more than a year."
Nick shrugged. "Let's check Missing Persons." He hit a few keys on the computer and broke into a brad grin. "Barbara Ann Jensen of Reno Nevada, missing since January 14th of 2000. Fifteen months, Sara. It fits."
"So, I'll call for dental records, see if we can get something of hers for DNA comparison. "
"You just do that. The samples from your mummy are processing even as we speak - and might I say that I am never, ever going to eat beef jerky again." Greg slid in next to Sara and silently mouthed 'Hey, baby.'
Sara shook her head. "Okay. So at least we have an idea who she is. We still don't have a clue what happened to her."
"Au contrare, Ms. Sidle; I beg to disagree." Greg was smirking as he spoke, his brown eyes alight with emotions totally unrelated to the case before them. "Our dried-out friend had a lethal amount of oxycodone in her system, and even if she'd survived the initial crisis she would have expired from liver failure within a few weeks. She had a massive amount of acetaminophen in her as well."
Sara's eyebrows rose. "Percocet."
"Or its generic twin. " Greg's arm brushed hers as he edged closer. "She had on board some serious drugs. The levels were way too high for an accidental overdose."
"Maybe she was poisoned. Killer could have put the pills in a drink, maybe in food."
Sara shook her head. "No way. Acetaminophen is really bitter. No way she would have missed the taste."
"Not with the amount she had in her system." Greg frowned. "She'd have had to take at least thirty pills to get those tissue levels."
"Probably not suicide. I doubt she buried herself under a big pile of sand."
Greg shrugged. "All I can tell you now is what was in her blood. Get me something to compare it with and maybe I can tell you who she was as well."
Sara shot him a brief grin. "Thanks, Greg. This is surprising, but helpful."
"Good. I was definitely going for surprising yet helpful." The door swung shut behind him.