"How many fingers do you see, Danny?" Jack was kneeling on the floor in front of his friend, assessing his condition.
"Three fingers, Jack," Daniel replied with a sigh. "But then, it's always three fingers."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, whenever you ask me how many fingers, it's always three."
Jack looked at his friend, then at his fingers, and then back at Daniel again. "Ok, smart guy, how many fingers this time?"
"One, Jack. And don't you think that's kinda crude, with a lady in the next room?"
Jack smiled and then gave Daniel a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You're fine," he said. He had already checked Daniel's pupils and had found them to be equal and responsive.
Jack was no doctor, but he had seen enough head wounds over the years to know what was serious and what wasn't. He also knew what a concussed Daniel was like, and this was no concussion.
"You go on the most interesting dates, you know that?" He got up slowly, using the armrest of the sofa as a support. "And Carter was right. She's pretty."
Daniel considered giving Jack his best glare, but he knew from experience just what that facial expression would cost him; so he just grimaced and put his head back down on his knees.
Just then Sabrina walked in from the kitchen. "I couldn't find an ice bag, but I did find some frozen peas in the back of your freezer." She handed the bag of peas to Daniel, who gratefully placed it on the back of his head.
"Come on, big guy; let's get you up off the floor." Jack put his hand under Daniel's elbow and helped him up onto the sofa. "So…this isn't your first break-in of the evening." Jack settled into an easy chair on the other side of the room while Sabrina took a seat next to Daniel. She had cleared the sofa of artifacts while they were waiting for Jack's arrival.
"No, it's not…And let me say right now; this is turning into the day that wouldn't end…"
"I can imagine," replied Jack. He glanced at the broken glass that was still on the floor. "Any idea what they were after?"
"Which time?" Daniel's eyes were closed and his exhaustion was evident. He leaned his head against the back of the sofa, one hand still holding the frozen peas in place. "This can't be a coincidence." He and Sabrina had already filled Jack in on their, or his suspicions anyway, regarding her cousins.
"Do you think we should've called the police, General?" asked Sabrina.
"No, I think you did the right thing. I've got the manpower to look into this myself, and I can also look into the break-in at Catherine's. Oh, and it's 'Jack'." He smiled reassuringly at Catherine's niece. "Why don't we sleep on this and get a fresh start tomorrow?"
"Amen to that." Daniel picked up a pillow from the end of the sofa and prepared to stretch out there for the night.
"Oh, Daniel?…"
"Yes, Jack?"
"That's where I was going to sleep." He raised his eyebrows and looked innocently at Sabrina, who was getting up and making room for Daniel's feet. She froze, and then looked to Daniel for guidance.
"Sabrina's taking my room. And you really don't need to stay here. I doubt they'll be coming back tonight."
"You don't know that for sure. And if something did happen, you wouldn't be much help right now. And Generals don't sleep on the floor…" The answer was so obvious. Sometimes Jack just wanted to smack his friend.
"Daniel, why don't you just come and share a bed with me? I promise I'll stay on my side…" Sabrina was grinning good-naturedly.
Daniel smiled tiredly in spite of his headache. "Okay, Jack. That sounds like a plan." He pushed off slowly from the couch and then motioned for Sabrina to follow him down the hall.
"Hey, I tried to warn you not to buy a house with just one bedroom…"
After Daniel and Sabrina left the room, Jack pulled out his cell phone and started making calls. Before long, he had started the ball rolling. While they slept, his men would be monitoring the Denver site and checking into the backgrounds of Sabrina's cousins.
This could've ended here very badly tonight. He wondered if Daniel knew just how lucky he had been. Well, now he had the power of the US Air Force behind him, whether he wanted it or not.
He thought he remembered seeing some pieces of plywood in the basement when he had helped Daniel move in. He brought one back upstairs and used it to cover the broken window. Then he checked the locks on the doors and lay down on Daniel's couch. Now, if he could just get some sleep.
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When Daniel woke up the next morning he was aware of two things almost immediately: First of all, his head still hurt, but not as much as it had when he had gone to bed. Secondly, something was tickling his nose.
It took him a few moments to identify that something as Sabrina's hair. While they had started out on opposite sides of the bed, Sabrina hadn't been able to keep her promise.
During the night she had migrated over to his side and was now snuggled in close to him, her head on his shoulder and her right arm draped over his abdomen. Their feet were tangled together and there was no way he was going to get out of bed without waking her up; so he just lay there a few moments, enjoying the closeness and the memories that it evoked.
How many mornings had he awakened just like this; with Sha're in his arms, using his chest as her personal pillow. What usually had followed was both playful and passionate, and Daniel smiled at the memory. Sometimes he felt as though Sha're's husband had been a different person altogether, someone he could never hope to be again.
As his mind started to wander, so did his concentration…Yep, it was definitely time to get up. He slipped his arm out from underneath Sabrina's head. She stirred slightly and then settled. He slipped quietly out of the bed.
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"Good morning, Daniel. How's the head?" Jack greeted his friend from his spot at the kitchen table, the morning paper spread out before him.
"Better," Daniel replied as he squinted against the harsh morning light. "Do I have any Tylenol?"
"Yeah, there's a bottle over here next to the sink." Jack had given his friend three pills before he went to bed. No doubt they had long since worn off.
"Great…Do I have any coffee?"
"Yeah, look behind you. Is there anything else I can do for you, my liege?"
"Yeah. You can make this whole nightmare go away."
"That's why I'm here, my boy. While you and the lovely Sabrina were blissfully unaware," Daniel rolled his eyes. "I've been busy." Jack was looking extremely pleased with himself. "I brewed coffee…I made breakfast…" He indicated a platter of bacon and eggs sitting on the counter behind him.
"You went shopping," Daniel ventured. He certainly didn't keep bacon and eggs on hand.
"I did that, too," agreed Jack, "and I still found time to get some information on the relatives."
"Oh yeah?" Daniel poured himself a cup of coffee, used it to wash down some more Tylenol and joined Jack at the table. "What did you find out?"
"Well, first of all, Catherine was loaded. I guess you probably knew that, but you might not have known just how loaded." He could tell he had Daniel's attention, so he kept going. "Her estate is worth about one hundred and twenty million, and with very few exceptions, it's all going to Sabrina."
"Yeah, well, I knew that part. What about her cousins?"
"Well, I still have some contacts with the FBI, and I got them to do background checks on the Langford 'boys'."
"Sounds like an outlaw gang from the Old West."
"Actually, you're not far off." Jack pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "Geoffrey Langford has started five different businesses in the last fifteen years, all of which he's run into the ground."
"Evidently not much business sense there."
"Exactly. Evidently not much gambling sense either."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, he's lost a bundle over the last eighteen months, in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. And by bundle I mean close to half a million."
"Ouch!"
"Ouch, indeed. He lost his house and his wife left him."
"Well, it sounds like he could certainly use an infusion of cash." Daniel walked over to the stove and served himself some bacon and eggs. "How about his brother?"
"Ah, yeah. Phillip Langford, age forty-seven; been in and out of trouble over the last twenty years. Spent at least five of those years as a guest of the Illinois Department of Corrections."
"Oh, really? These eggs are good, by the way. What did you put in them?"
"They're 'rumbled' with tarragon."
"I don't have any tarragon." Rumbled?
"You do now, and quit changing the subject. Don't you want to know why he was in prision?"
"Okay, shoot."
"Exactly."
"Come again?"
"Armed robbery, Danny. Evidently Geoff is 'the good child'. Phil held up a jewelry store in broad daylight and apparently wasn't bright enough to wear a mask. The security cameras had him dead to rights. He served five years of a ten-year sentence."
"Charming, charming family. What about Cousin Barbara?"
"Barbara's the only one who doesn't seem to have any skeletons in her closet. Evidently she's just what she appears to be: a middle-aged widow." Jack looked thoughtful. "But she does have a lot of debt…all of them do."
"So they all needed Catherine's money."
"Oh yeah."
"Any of the three have any children?"
"Let's see…Geoff has two children, Geoff, Jr. and…Cathy. Subtle, huh?" Daniel smiled to think that Geoff had thought Catherine would fall for something so transparent. Jack continued. "They live with their mother. Phillip doesn't have children. Five years in the pen will put a crimp in that."
Daniel looked askance at his friend, trying to decide if he meant that as a joke. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "What about Barbara?"
"She has one daughter…Gretchen... and a son," he scanned his notes for a name, "James. They're both in their late twenties."
"I wonder why they weren't at the dedication."
"She lives in Europe…Stockholm. James lives just outside of Denver. My guess is they couldn't afford to come."
"Why didn't somebody wake me up? It's almost eleven." Sabrina was wearing the same clothes she had slept in the night before and didn't look any more awake than Daniel had.
"I figured you needed the sleep. You want some breakfast?" Daniel got up and went to the living room to get an extra chair.
"Yes, I'm starving. Did we eat dinner last night?"
"You know, I don't believe we did." He joined Jack at the table while Sabrina fixed a plate and poured some coffee. "Jack was just giving me the background on your relatives; an unsavory group, if you don't mind my saying so."
"Well, let's just say we don't exchange Christmas cards, okay? I've been thinking about this, though. There's no way they could've made it back to Colorado before we did."
"Yeah", said Jack, "but with the amount of money involved, they easily could've hired someone, both in Denver and here."
"Have you heard anything from the Denver police?" asked Daniel.
"Yeah, some kid—sounded like he was about sixteen—called about an hour ago. They haven't found anything missing yet, and so far the fingerprints are all accounted for. Oh, and you got a call from a Captain Renegar in homicide."
"Oh, good. Detective Lewis must've mentioned my concerns to him."
"Your concerns?" asked Jack.
"Daniel thinks Aunt Catherine might've been murdered." Sabrina had put her coffee cup down and was looking at her folded hands.
"And I take it you don't."
"No…I don't." she answered. "I think she was just…I think it was just her time, that's all."
Sabrina seemed upset, so Jack directed his next comment to Daniel: "Renegar feels the same way. He says they took her death very seriously, considering her stature in the community; and it was a clear case of heart failure, brought on by a massive heart attack. He said the autopsy was conclusive."
Daniel looked perturbed. "I know I'm not making any sense, but I just have a gut feeling that all this is connected somehow." He sat for a few seconds, seemingly staring into space, thinking…always thinking. "Sabrina, do you have Catherine's lawyer's number with you?"
"Yeah, it's in my purse. Hold on and I'll go get it." They both watched as she headed in the direction of the bedroom.
"What are you thinking, Daniel?"
"I'm thinking I want to find out exactly when Catherine made her last will, and who, if anybody, knew about it."
Sabrina came back in the room and handed him a business card. "Morgan Peterson. He says he's been her lawyer for fifty years. I'm going to take a shower, see if I can't wake up."
Daniel smiled. "I know the feeling. The towels are in the hall closet."
While Sabrina was in the shower, Daniel called Morgan Peterson's office. The elderly lawyer was unavailable, but his secretary told Daniel that he wouldn't be able to get that kind of information over the phone, anyway. He'd have to come to Denver and bring Sabrina with him. Evidently she also needed to sign some more papers, so it wouldn't be a wasted trip.
"Fair enough," said Daniel, to no one in particular.
"What's fair enough?" asked Jack as he dried his hands on a kitchen towel.
"We're going to have to go back to Denver, it seems. The lawyer says he needs to talk with us in person."
"Great! I love Denver."
"Who said you were invited?"
"Oh, come on. Who could pass up the opportunity to stay in a spooky old Denver mansion, and maybe solve a mystery or two?" Jack could be such a kid sometimes.
"I thought you were in the middle of packing."
"Oh, that's mostly done, and I don't leave for Washington for another week. Come on, Daniel. It'll be like old times. You know Carter's thinking about taking a job in R and D over at Area 51. This might be our last chance to hang with her."
"Well, ultimately it's up to Sabrina—it's her house; but as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier."
"I'm out of the bathroom, if anybody wants their turn in the shower." Sabrina stuck her head in the living room. She was wearing the robe Daniel kept hanging on the back of his bathroom door, her head wrapped in a towel.
"Do you think she's trying to tell me something, Jack?"
"Hey, I wasn't going to say a word; although I did warn you not to buy a house with just one bathroom."
-------------------------------------------
After a quick shower and another dose of Tylenol, Daniel felt like a new man—a new man with a headache, anyway. He walked into his living room to find Jack and Sabrina, along with two airmen from Cheyenne Mountain. Daniel had met them before but couldn't remember their names. "Hi…guys…" was the best he could do.
"Roberts and Crenshaw are here to dust for fingerprints. Get back to work, kids."
"Yes, General," replied Crenshaw. "Hi, Dr. Jackson. Sorry about your break-in." Daniel didn't know how to reply to that, so he just smiled ruefully.
As the two airmen resumed their work, Daniel noticed that Sabrina was wiping ink from her fingers. This was the second time she had been fingerprinted in as many days. He gave her a sympathetic smile and then sat down on the couch next to Jack.
"Did you talk to Sam?"
"Yeah, she wants to come. Remember, she's known Catherine longer than we have—well, longer than you and me anyway." Jack smiled at Sabrina.
Sometimes Daniel tended to forget that Sam had worked on the Stargate Program long before he had. Of course it hadn't been called that then. But he knew that they had worked together, and he knew that she had loved and admired Catherine as much as he had. Of course she would want to be a part of this.
"Was she still on base when you talked to her?"
"Yeah, she's working on some sort of top secret research project with Dr. Lee. She didn't say what."
"Jack, you're her boss. I thought you knew everything." Daniel couldn't suppress his smile. Jack wasn't exactly the hands-on commander that Hammond had been.
"Well, apparently not that."
"I'm going to call her and see if she'll bring my laptop with her when she comes." That made more sense than leaving Sabrina alone while he went to the base to retrieve it himself.
"You're not going to try to work in Denver, are you?" asked Jack.
"No, actually it has to do with Catherine. After my part of her collection was delivered, I took pictures of every item and stored them in my laptop. I thought they might come in handy."
"That's funny. I did the same thing," said Sabrina. "I've got them stored on a flash drive."
"Do you have it with you?"
"It's in my purse."
"Okay, maybe we can compare notes and see if we can figure out what these guys are after. The only thing we have in common is that Catherine left both of us part of her collection."
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Sam came over about 5:30 that afternoon; with Daniel's laptop, an impressive amount of electronic gadgets, an overnight bag and Thai food, her take-out of choice. After brief introductions they settled down in Daniel's living room to eat their dinner, his kitchen table being way too small to accommodate four. The plan was to leave for Denver sometime after they ate and then to coordinate both investigations from Catherine's house.
While they ate, Daniel filled Sam in on what had been happening the last few days. She was dismayed to hear Daniel's theories about Catherine's death, but surprisingly took Sabrina's side as she absorbed the rest of the story. Catherine did have a bad heart, after all.
"Did Catherine die at home or in a hospital?" she asked.
"She died at home," Sabrina answered. "Her gardener found her lying on the couch in her living room after he kept getting a busy signal on her phone and she didn't answer the door."
"So she died sometime the night before," observed Daniel. "I know Catherine had a security system, complete with cameras. Did they show anything unusual?"
"Not according to the kid I talked to this morning," said Jack, gesturing with his fork as he talked. "He said that was one of the first things they checked after the break-in. The cameras had been disabled."
"They had been disabled last night. What about the night Catherine died?"
Sabrina turned pale. She looked at Daniel with a pained look on her face before answering. "It never occurred to anybody to check them then. We thought Aunt Catherine had died of natural causes."
"Carter, that's your assignment when we get to Denver. Check those security tapes for…"
"March 15th," Daniel supplied.
"As in 'beware the ides of March'?" asked Sam.
Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. "As a good friend of mine would say…indeed."