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asphyxiated from the lack of oxygen in the freezer. She placed time of death at right around ten-thirty. From what Sam could deduce, someone had come into the restaurant, maybe pulled a gun on Carl and Daniel, ordered them into the freezer and locked them in. By the time Daniel’s father arrived at eleven-thirty, they were long gone.
    What bothered her most was the bag of cash that had been left sitting on the counter. Why hadn’t the perp taken it?
    “What’re you thinking, boss?” Freddie asked as he came into the conference room with sandwiches for both of them. His was an extra-large meat-lovers while hers was a small veggie. And she’d be the one to gain weight from the meal. Life wasn’t fair.
    “I’m thinking about the money.”
    “What money?”
    “The deposit bag full of cash on the counter at Carl’s. If someone came in there and forced them into the freezer, why didn’t they take the money?”
    “Because they weren’t there to rob the place?” he said over a mouth full of sub.
    “Who couldn’t use a couple thousand extra dollars?”
    “So you’re saying regardless of why they were there, they should’ve taken the money.”
    “Not so much should’ve. It’s just weird to me that they didn’t. Hell, I would’ve.”
    Her phone chimed with a text message from Nick. “Very fitting that you should turn the picture upside down since you’ve already turned my life upside down. Revenge is sweet, my love.” Sam’s insides went all fluttery. How many more hours until she could go home to him?
    “What’s with the goofy grin?” Freddie asked, bringing her back to reality. “Must be the husband. ”
    Sam snapped her phone closed and jammed it in her pocket. “We need to find out if Carl had any disgruntled former employees.”
    “How do we do that?”
    “We go through his office and see what we can find. Eat up.” She downed the last of her sandwich and chased it with a bottle of water, all the while wishing it were a diet cola. Nick’s doctor friend Harry had made her give up diet soda when she’d gone to him complaining of vicious stomach pains. She still hadn’t forgiven Harry for that diagnosis, even if it had cured her stomach ills. Stepping into the pit, she gestured for her colleague Detective Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales and his partner Detective Arnold to join them.
    “What’s up, Lieutenant?” Gonzo asked.
    Sam noticed he looked tired, no doubt from the late nights he was keeping with the infant son he’d recently learned he had fathered with an ex-girlfriend. The baby was now living with him and his fiancée, Christina Billings, who also happened to be Nick’s chief of staff. Sam loved the way her personal and professional lives kept butting into each other. Not.
    “I need a favor.” She told the detectives about the threatening card that had cropped up in the mail she’d received while she was away on her honeymoon. “I need some help going through the rest of it.”
    Gonzo and Arnold took a long look at the huge piles of cards on the conference room table and then glanced at each other.
    “I know, believe me. It sucks. But if someone is threatening a police officer and a U.S. senator, we can’t just ignore it.”
    “Well, we could ignore it,” Freddie added, flashing her his best ingratiating smile, “but because the police officer is our lieutenant, and because the senator happens to be her husband, we’re not going to ignore it.”
    “That’s not why,” Sam snapped. “We’d investigate no matter who was being threatened.”
    “Of course we would,” Freddie said, contrite. “Joke gone bad. My apologies.”
    “No, no,” Sam said. “I know you were kidding, and believe me, it burns my ass to have to devote department resources to something so stupid. Maybe we should just ignore it.”
    “We’re not ignoring it,” Gonzo said. “Go work your homicide. We’ll dive in here and see what we’ve got.”
    “Thank you,” Sam said, relieved that he got it.