Touched by Death by Dale Mayer Read Free Book Online Page B

quickly, Jade never would have
believed it possible if she hadn't seen it herself. Before Jade could
back away the old woman grabbed her by the arm.
    "Danger stalks you. You see it but you don't
understand it. Careful. Or you will join those that have gone before."
She dropped Jade's arm and returned to her stool beside her cart.
    Jade froze. So shocked and horrified by the crone's
touch, she hardly understood what the old woman said.
    Meg grabbed her arm. "Come on," she hissed.
"Forget about her. Let's get back to the SUV."
    Susan snagged her other arm so the three walked back
linked together.
    "That was too weird," Meg said. "I'm
glad you got a doll, Susan. Good luck is just what we need."

***
    Jade had hoped the odd event would be over once they'd
left the market, only Susan mentioned it at dinner that night.
    "No way. She actually used those words?" Wilson stared at Jade curiously.
    "Yeah," Meg confirmed with a delicate shudder.
"That so upped the freaky factor."
    "This old lady never said a word to me the whole
time I was buying that thing, and she never looked at anyone except
Jade," Susan complained.
    Dr. Mike looked over at Jade, his gray eyes serious.
"She didn't bother you, did she? The Haitian culture is full of
various superstitions. Their belief system is littered with them."
    "It was kinda weird, although nothing I can't
handle," Jade said casually, cutting a piece of fish, hoping her
nonchalance satisfied their intense looks.
    "We need to find out what that phrase means."
    Marie, the hotel night manager walked in to make sure
everything was all right and to see if they needed anything. Bruce brought
up the old woman and her prophecies.
    After quickly crossing herself, Marie stared at Jade.
"Magrim. She is very well known. She is very wise. Very accurate.
Ms. Jade, you need to be careful." Crossing herself again, she
almost ran out of the dining room.
    Silence filled the room. Not a person clinked a fork
or spoke. Everyone stared at Jade.
    She was compelled to break the uneasy silence. "Great.
I always wanted to be famous. Hadn't planned on it happening this way."
    "Well, I don't believe in that stuff. The old
woman was just trying to scare you into buying one of her dolls."
    Jade brightened at Bruce's words. That actually sounded
reasonable. Everyone knew street sellers would do anything for a sale.
Everyone resumed talking at once. Thankfully several different conversations
took flight and the awkward moment passed.
    Dinner finished with coffee outside and an update
on the day's progress at the burial site.
    "So we should be ready to get started by about
ten. We have one reefer trailer set up to receive bodies already. The
lab trailer is to be delivered early in the morning. If the weather
is cooperative, we might be able to do some work outside. I presume
you've determined a system of some sort for working through the numbers?"
    "Somewhat," Meg answered. "Although,
that's going to be a work in progress."
    Susan asked, "What about DNA testing? I know
we'd hoped to find a lab here––"
    Bruce shook his head. "They can't handle it here.
We're going to ship the samples back to Seattle for testing."
    Sinking further into her chair, Susan winced. "I'd
hoped we'd get results faster than that."
    "We can only process as fast as we can, then
it's up to the lab. At least they'll go to a private lab."
    "Does Haiti have a databank of survivors' DNA
on a database? Some way we can test the dead against the living?"
    Stepping in, Dr. Mike said, "No. They don't have
that capability or the resources. Bruce asked the local authorities
to put out the word that anyone interested in locating their loved ones
needs to come and give samples. We'll have them shipped to Seattle,
typed and the results entered into a database, hopefully to match with
that of family members."
    "If we rebury all of them before we have the
results, they may have to be dug up again. That's not good."
    Bruce