I knocked on the door, at the bottom of the beautiful wreath—probably something Debbie had made—but there was no answer. I knocked again, and was about to go on the assignment without her, when she finally came out.
Her pretty face was flushed, and her clothes were messed up. I could guess that she and Terry had been fooling around. Her eyes were soft and half closed. She looked happy, as she ran her hand through her dark hair.
I hoped Brandon was wrong about Abe wanting to break up her marriage.
“You should have called,” she said to me.
“I tried. You didn’t answer. I guess you were busy, with the kids at school and all.” I smirked, couldn’t help myself.
She blushed a little more. “I’ll get my coat. Stay here. Terry is . . . in his pajamas.”
By pajamas, I guessed naked. I stayed where I was.
Twenty minutes passed—no Debbie. I was getting impatient with standing there waiting. I glanced in the living room with the fireplace, but didn’t see her. “Debbie?”
I cautiously checked the kitchen. Terry was bending over the table, staring at a piece of raw meat he held in his hand. He was stooped, his bare legs curiously bent as though he couldn’t straighten them. They were also densely hairy, more like an animal than a man.
Terry wasn’t paralyzed, as he had allowed Debbie to think. He seemed to have a problem standing upright, but that wasn’t the same thing.
As I watched, he started tearing at the meat, growling occasionally. Blood dribbled down his arms and chest as he gnawed away at it. There was a fierce look to his face, as though he was rending a living thing. I’d seen the same look on dogs’ faces that had been taught to fight in the ring.
I walked softly away, and back into the foyer. What the hell?
Debbie finally showed up with her perky smile in place. “Sorry. I realized I wasn’t dressed to go out.”
“That’s fine,” I told her. “Let’s go before Abe wonders where we are.”
“What have you been up to this morning?” She slipped her feet into white leather boots.
I watched her put on her matching white and black jacket. “I went out on an early call. Martin is dead. I’ll explain on the way.”
Debbie cried for a long time in the van, telling me about how sorry she was about Martin, asking me if I should take the day to mourn him.
“I don’t have that luxury right now. We can’t miss this pickup in case the killer is after this man too.”
“What about us?” she asked with large, frightened eyes. “Will the killer think to look for us?”
“I don’t know.”
We were quiet after that as the tires hummed on the mountain roads. The whole time, I was thinking about Terry. Was this why he didn’t smell like a zombie? What was he? Did Debbie know?
I put my foot into it. “You said Terry seems . . . different to you since the shooting. In what way?”
“He does.” She sighed. “The doctor says it will take time for his mind to deal with what happened. It’s not just his legs. We’re lucky he can walk at all since he had a bullet still stuck in his spine.”
I nodded, trying to find a way to ask the big question. “Has he changed physically? I mean, is he stuck in the chair all the time?”
“Oh no. He can get out for therapy, and for short times at the house. Just not for long. His legs are very weak.”
“But he has feeling in them? That’s great.” I turned a sharp curve in the road. “What about his appetite? Is he eating okay?”
“He’s eating fine, Skye. Is something wrong?”
“No. I was just wondering. I’ve known men who were shot on the job. They . . . changed a lot during their recovery.”
Did Terry’s change have anything to do with Abe helping Debbie keep him alive?
“He’s going to be fine,” she said with great confidence. “We’re going to have a wonderful life together for the next twenty years. The kids will grow up. Everything will be perfect.”
I wasn’t sure of that at all, but I kept it to myself. People have odd habits. Jacob said his father ate raw ground beef with peppers and onions. Maybe I was making too big a deal out of it.
I pulled the van into a concrete drive in front of a beautiful, two-story lake house. There was a new Mercedes parked there. This was obviously a zombie who’d used his time wisely. I hoped he was willing to give it up now that it was over.
“Don’t worry about us,” Debbie said as we approached the house. “Terry and I are okay.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it. Not everyone is so lucky.”
She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry you lost your husband, Skye. I wish you’d been lucky too.”
There was nothing I could say to that.
I rang the doorbell, and a well-dressed woman in an expensive pink suit appeared. She was wearing exquisite diamond earrings, but her face was blotchy and red like she’d been crying.
This was my morning for crying women.
“We’re here for Doug Wopack. Abe sent us.”
“Of course.” She sniffed, and stepped back from the door. “We knew you were coming.”
This was more like it.
We walked into the tastefully decorated home, and found Doug sitting on a sofa in front of a roaring fireplace.
He was a tall, well-built man, with salt and pepper hair. His gray suit was expensive, tailored to fit him.
A young woman and man were on either side of him—probably his kids. They looked a lot like the woman at the door. They were both holding his hands, and looked as though they had been crying too.
“Mr. Wopack. It’s time to go.” I glanced around the room, admiring the luxurious furnishings. The whole back of the house that overlooked the lake was made of glass.
“Yes.” He smiled, and kissed the two young people before he straightened his gray red tie. “It’s been a wonderful twenty years. I hope the rest of your life is exactly what you want it to be. I love you both.”
Mrs. Wopack, (I assumed it was his wife) broke down sobbing.
“Don’t do this, Olivia.” He held her hands after he stood up. “We knew this day was coming. Everything is in order. You know where all the paperwork is. Take care of the children. I love you.”
Would this be the way it would happen with Kate when it was time for me to go?
Only if I prepared her by telling her about my deal with Abe. It would be better for her to know—when she was older. Mr. Wopack had the right idea.
He hugged Olivia, and they kissed briefly before his two children ran to embrace their mother. Mr. Wopack was crying when he turned to me and Debbie. “What happens now?”
“We take you to Abe. That’s all I know.” I shrugged, and started for the door with an apologetic glance at Mrs. Wopack.
“No!” The young man, who had seemed so accepting of the situation, brought out a big Glock, and pointed it at me. “You can’t take him. I won’t let you.”
“Son.” Mr. Wopack tried to calm the situation. “You knew this was going to happen. We all did. Put the gun away.”
“You can’t leave, Dad. Everything will fall apart. They can’t make you do this.”
“I agreed to the terms when you were a baby. I’ve had my time, and used it to build up a good future for you and your sister. Now, stand back, and take care of your mother for me. Believe me, there is no way out of this.”
“I can kill her!”
The Glock came up in my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Debbie take a few steps back. Just what I needed in a partner. She was probably hoping he didn’t see her.
Mr. and Mrs. Wopack bargained and pleaded with their son. The daughter slid to the floor, sobbing. The whole situation was out of control.
I didn’t really see Debbie move again, but suddenly—there she was—behind Wopack’s son. She raised a piece of firewood in her hands from a stack near the hearth, and slammed it into the back of his head. He dropped to the floor.
“Thanks.” I
was surprised, and pleased, that she hadn’t left me hanging.
“Sure.” She grinned back.
“I’m so sorry.” Mr. Wopack picked up the Glock, and handed it to his wife. “Let’s leave now. I’m sure he’ll be fine later when it’s over.”
I took him at his word, and the three of us went out to the van. Mrs. Wopack followed us to the door, and waved to her husband as we pulled out of the drive.
“Does this ever get easier?” Debbie asked.
Chapter Sixteen
“No,” I mumbled under my breath as I glanced in the rearview mirror at Mr. Wopack.
He cried all the way to the mortuary. Not loud, sobbing cries—the kind where the tears quietly roll down your cheeks. He looked out the window at the passing scenery, and didn’t beg for another shot at life, or try to escape.
I hoped I’d be that way when the time came. I wanted Kate to remember me that way. It was possible that you didn’t know how you were going to react until you got that knock on the door. I wanted to be ready.
We reached the mortuary, and I backed the van up to the back door. Mr. Wopack got out, adjusted his suit, and shook hands with me and Debbie. He even thanked us for handling the situation with his son.
“I’m sorry that this is it for you.” I didn’t know what else to say.
He smiled. “You’re a zombie too, aren’t you? Do you have kids?”
“A daughter.”
“Make sure she’s prepared. Even though I thought we were prepared, it was still messy. But I think it will make a difference to them now that I’m gone.”
“Thanks. I’ll do my best.” I watched him walk into the mortuary, shoulders held back—head high—and shake hands with Brandon. I turned away, suddenly not wanting to know what happened next.
“Is that it?” Debbie asked. “My kids are due home soon.”
I glanced at my watch. “Oh my God—I missed career day! Kate is gonna kill me.”
Abe was there in an impeccable white suit with a black shirt. Before he went inside the mortuary, he said that was all for the day. He kissed Debbie’s hand, and asked after her husband.
“He’s fine, thank you.” She smiled at him like he was God himself come down to speak with her.
I turned away from that too.
All the evidence I’d picked up at the scene of Martin’s death was in my pockets. I concentrated on that. But without a crime scene lab, it was hard to decide what to do with it. I didn’t know anyone who could analyze that type of thing.
I took Debbie home. She chattered about a new quilt she was working on that would depict her family’s lives—including Terry being shot. She told me that she planned to add some small part about her making the deal with Abe too.
I wished her well with that, and hurried home. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain to my daughter why I hadn’t been there in time to talk about my career.
Of course, I’d been dreading that opportunity. I’d been going to talk about being a police officer, even though I wasn’t working as one. I thought I could do a good job with that, and it would be easier to explain than picking up zombies whose twenty years was up.
Instead, I was left with getting home after Kate. She was in the kitchen with Addie and Lucas, eating cookies, when I walked in.
“I’m so sorry,” I began. “I had to work through career day. I really wanted to be there, but my boss needed me.”
Kate didn’t even glance up. “That’s okay. Laura’s mom works at the zoo. She brought some animals with her. Everyone loved it.”
“That’s okay for Laura.” I sat at the table with her, ignoring Addie’s frown, and Lucas’s interested stare. “I really wanted to be there, Kate. Really. But when you work, you don’t always get to have the schedule you want.”
“You mean you had to pick up some dead guy for Abe, right?” Her brown eyes felt like a blow to my chest.
“I don’t think you understand what Mommy does.” I smiled at her. “You probably misunderstood when you heard me talking to Grandma. I just pick people up and take them places.”
Addie sounded like an engine letting off steam. Did she look more . . . real today? Her features were more clearly defined.
“It’s okay that you pick up dead guys.” Kate drank the last of her chocolate milk. “What do you do with them?”
This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with her—not yet anyway.
“When people die, they have to go to a place called a mortuary where they bury them. It’s very sad, and everyone cries. But I also pick up people who are alive, and take them places they need to go.”
“Like a bus driver?” She tried to understand.
“Kind of like that.” Changing the subject, I asked if she had any homework.
“Not tonight.” She smiled. “I was thinking that maybe we could go ice skating at the mall. Laura has gone every weekend since it started. This is the last Friday.”
Apparently, Laura was the new ‘it’ girl for this week.
“Ice skating it is.” I hugged her. “Go get your skates.”
“Thanks, Mommy.” She smiled at me. “Can Lucas go too?”
I studied him. “Sure. I guess.”
When she’d left the room, Addie grunted. “If you’d kept up better with what you were supposed to do, she wouldn’t have to manipulate you that way.
“Leave it alone. I do what I have to do.”
“And here I thought you were only alive to take care of her.”
“Addie, let it be. You and I both know there’s more to what I do than it seems. After all, you’re the one who introduced me to Abe.”
“Only because Jacob died on the road that night. Otherwise, he’d be here with Kate. And he’d have remembered that she needed him at school today.”
She vanished before I could say anything else I might regret. I don’t think she cared what she said. Her son was gone, and that was it. I was a poor substitute.
“Well.” Lucas cleared his throat. “It has been a fascinating day.”
“I’m sure it has. Find anything new about your problem?”
“Not to speak of. I remember nothing before waking up in the city right before I met you. It is as though I know who I am, but yet I am a stranger to myself.”
Great! That sounded like a long-term problem to me.
“Did you do something to Addie today?”
“Something?” He paused. “Oh yes! I did not do anything to her, as you say. It was more a matter of giving her some suggestions on being a ghost. She has no idea what she is capable of. She has been living a half-life since she perished. She is really quite powerful.”
Even better! That’s what I need is a powerful, disapproving mother-in-law.
“You really want to go to the mall?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “The mall sounds enlightening. Lady Kate was endeavoring to explain the importance of it, within the confines of society. I believe travel broadens the mind, do you not agree?”
Yeah. “Great,” I muttered. What I really wanted was some time to think about what had happened to Martin, and decide who I could find to help me analyze everything I’d taken from his house.
But I owed Kate. I should have found a way to be back in time for Career Day. Maybe I was dreading it so much that I forgot about it. I wasn’t sure.
We drove to the mall where they’d set up an ice skating rink outside in the parking lot over Christmas. People seemed to like it. Every time we went by, it was crowded. I’d never been much at ice-skating. Jacob had loved it.
I diligently put on rental skates while Kate put on her pink skates. She was out on the smooth ice way before me. I joined her, almost falling, and she smiled at me.
For a few minutes, we held hands, and skated around together. She had her father’s natural ease with the sport. I could manage to stay upright—Jacob had taught me that much. That was about it.
Lucky for me, it was all that was required. By that time, Kate’s friends had found her, and the three
of them were giggling as they skated together. Gratefully, I sat down on a bench, took off my skates, and watched.
It was cold. The stars were brilliant hard diamonds shining overhead. A tiny crescent moon peeked down at us. Traffic at the mall was brisk, despite being after the holidays. A steady line of cars went in and out of the large parking lots.
I’d never been what I’d consider as a deep thinker. Death, loss, and coming back to life had made me a different person. I’d always been curious about how things worked, and why people did the things they did. Now, I wanted to understand more about me and other people. Maybe I’d even become wise in the next eighteen years.
“Beautiful night.”
“Yes.”
“Hot chocolate?”
I didn’t immediately reach for the steaming cup Lucas held. “Did you conjure this up?”
“I wish!” He nodded toward the kiosk with the hot chocolate sign. “I have do concept of what is holding the liquid in with this cup. What is it made of?”
“They call it Styrofoam. I’m not sure what it’s made of.” I took the cup from him. “Where did you get money?”
“There was a mechanized creation in the city. When I touched it, green currency spewed out at me.” He showed me the wad of bills that were in his pocket.
“That’s stealing!”
“Is it?” He put the bills back. “I claim a stranger’s innocence, my lady.”
He was probably telling the truth. There was no point in making a big deal out of it anyway.
He sipped from the cup as we watched Kate and her friends skating. “She is a natural skater, is she not? Very graceful and sure of herself.”
I saw his green eyes following my daughter on the ice. I suddenly thought about his appearance coming at the same time as the zombies being killed. Was that a coincidence?
My first partner, an older man with twenty years on the job, had once told me that there were no coincidences. He said you just had to wait, and watch to see how the events were tied together.
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