1
My gun was digging into my back, so I shifted forward in my office chair. That was better; now it was just the comforting pressure of the inner-skirt holster, tucked away underneath my short royal blue suit jacket. Id stopped wearing my shoulder holster except when I was on an active warrant as a U.S. Marshal. When I was working at Animators Inc. and seeing clients, the behind-the-back holster was less likely to flash and make them nervous. Youd think if someone was asking me to raise the dead for them that theyd have better nerves, but guns seemed to scare them a lot more than talking about zombies. It was different once the zombie was raised and they were looking at the walking dead; then suddenly the guns didnt bother them nearly as much, but until that Halloweenesque moment I tried to keep the weapons out of sight. There was a knock on my office door and Mary, our daytime receptionist, opened it without my saying Come in, which shed never done in the six years wed been working together, so I wasnt grumpy about the interruption. I just looked up from double-checking my client meetings to make sure there wouldnt be any overlap issues, and knew something was up, and knowing Mary it would be important. She was like that.
Shed finally let her hair go gray, but it was still in the same obviously artificial hairdo that it had always been. Shed let herself get a little plump as she neared sixty and had finally embraced glasses full time. The combination of it all had aged her about ten years, but she seemed happy with it, saying, Im a grandma; Im okay looking like one.” The look on her face was sad and set in sympathetic lines. It was the face she used to deal with grieving families who wanted their loved ones raised from the dead. Having that face aimed at me sped my pulse and tightened my stomach.
I made myself take a deep breath and let it out slow as Mary closed the door behind her and started walking toward my desk. Whats wrong?” I asked.
I didnt want to tell you over the phone with all the clients listening,” she said.
Tell me what?” I asked, and fought the urge not to raise my voice. She was about one more uninformative answer away from getting yelled at.
Theres a woman on line two, she says shes your future mother-in-law. I told her you werent engaged to my knowledge, and she said that she didnt know what to call herself since you were just living with her son.”
I was actually living with several men, but most of them didnt have families to use words like son. Name, Mary, whats her name?” My voice was rising a little.
Morgan, Beatrice Morgan.”
I frowned at her. Im not living with anyone named Morgan. Ive never even dated anyone with that last name.”
I didnt recognize it from your boyfriends, but she said that the father is hurt, maybe dying, and she thought hed want to know about his dad before it was too late. The emotion is real, Anita. Im sorry, maybe shes crazy, but sometimes people dont think clearly when their husband is hurt. I didnt want to just write her off as crazy; I mean, I dont know the last name of everyone youre dating.”
I started to tell her to ignore the call, but looking into Marys face I couldnt do it. Id trusted her to screen callers for years. She had a good feel for distraught versus crazy. She give a first name for her son?”
Mike.”
I shook my head. Ive never dated a Mike Morgan. I dont know why she called here, but shes got the wrong Anita Blake.”
Mary nodded, but her expression looked unhappy. Ill tell her that you dont know a Mike Morgan.”
Do that. Shes either got the wrong Anita Blake, or shes crazy.”
She doesnt sound crazy, just upset.”
You know that crazy doesnt mean the emotion isnt real, Mary. Sometimes the delusion is so real they believe it all.”
Mary nodded again and went out to tell Beatrice Morgan she had the wrong number. I went back to checking the last of my client meetings. I wanted to make sure that no matter how long it took to raise each zombie, I wouldnt be too late for the next cemetery. Clients tended to get spooked if you left them hanging out in graveyards too long by themselves. At least most of the meetings were historical societies and lawyers checking wills, with the families of the deceased either long dead or not allowed near the zombie until after the will was settled in case just seeing the loved ones influenced the zombie to change its mind about the last will and testament. I wasnt sure it was possible to sway a zombie that way, but I approved of the new court ruling that families couldnt see the deceased until after all court matters were cleared up, just in case. Have one billionaire inheritance overturned because of undue influence on a zombie and everybody got all weird about it.
Mary came through the door without knocking, Micah. Mike was his nickname as a kid. Morgan is her name from her second marriage. It was Callahan. Micah Callahans mother is on line two, and his dad is in the hospital.”
Shit!” I said, picking up the phone and hitting the button to put the call through. Mrs. Callahan, I mean, Mrs. Morgan, this is Anita Blake.”
Oh, thank God, Im so sorry. I just forgot about the names. Ive been Beatrice Morgan for eighteen years, since Micah was twelve, and he was Mike to us. He didnt like Micah when he was a little boy. He thought Mike was more grown up.” She was crying softly, I could hear it in her voice, but her words were clear, well enunciated. It made me wonder what she did for a living, but I didnt ask. It could wait; it was just one of the thoughts you have when youre trying not to get caught up in the emotions of a situation. Think, dont feel, just think.
You told our receptionist that Micahs dad was hurt.”
Yes, Rush, thats my ex, his father, was attacked by something. His deputy said it was a zombie, but the bite isnt human, and its like hes infected with something from it.”
Zombies rarely attack people.”
I know that!” She yelled it. I heard her taking deep breaths, drawing in her calm. I heard the effort over the phone, could almost feel her gathering herself back. Im sorry, but when Mike left us he was so horrible, but Rush said hed found out that Mike did it to protect all of us, and that some of the people had their families hurt by these people.”
What people?” I asked.
Rush wouldnt tell me details, said it was a police matter. He was always doing that when we were married, drove me nuts, but he said that hed found out enough to know that other wereanimals in that group had their families killed, and Mike had to convince them he hated us, or they would have hurt us. Do you know if thats true? Does Mike want to see his father? Does he want to see any of us?” She was crying again, and just stopped trying to talk. She hadnt been married to the man for nearly twenty years, and she was still this upset. Crap.
I was remembering that Micahs dad was a sheriff of some flavor, and now his mom was telling me that somehow the dad had found out more about Micah and his animal group than I thought anyone with a badge, besides me, knew. Id had to kill people to rescue Micah and his group, and I hadnt had a warrant of execution, so it was murder. I was a little leery that Sheriff Callahan apparently knew more about it all than Id thought. I knew that Micah hadnt talked to his family in years, so how had his dad found out, and how much did he know?
It was my turn to take a deep breath and make myself stop being so damn paranoid and deal with the crying woman on the other end of the phone. Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Morgan, how did you know to call here? Who gave you this number?” Maybe if I made her think about something more ordinary shed calm down.
She sniffled, and then said, in a voice that was hiccupy, as she tried to swallow past the emotion, We saw Mike in the news as the head of the Coalition.”
The Coalition for Better Understanding between humans and shapeshifters,” I said.
Yes”and the word was calmeryes, and you were mentioned in several stories as living with him.”
I wondered if the stories had talked about Nathaniel, the guy who lived with us, or the fact that I was also dating” Jean-Claude, the Master Vampire of St. Louis? I almost never watched the news, so I didnt always know what was being said in the media about any of us.
Why didnt you call the Coalition number and ask for Micah directly?”
He said really awful things to me last time we spoke, Ms. Blake. I think Id fall completely apart if he said that again to me with Rush hurt like this. Can you please tell him, and then if Mike wants to see us, to see Rush, before . . . in time . . . I mean . . . Oh, God, Im usually better than this, but its so terrible whats happening to Rush, so hard to watch.”
Happening? What do you mean?”
Hes rotting . . . hes rotting alive and aware and the doctors cant stop it. They have drugs that can slow it, but nothing slows it down much.”
Im sorry, I dont understand. You mean that something preternatural attacked Mr. Callahan and now hes got some disease?”
Yes,” she said, almost a breath rather than a word.
But theyve seen it before, this disease?”
Yes, they say its the first case outside the East Coast, but theyve learned enough to slow it down. Theres no cure, though. I overheard a nurse call it the zombie disease, but she got in trouble for saying it. The older nurse said, Dont give it a name that the media will love. I heard doctors whispering that its just a matter of time before it hits the news.”
Why do they call it the zombie disease?” I asked, partly to just give myself time to think.
You rot from the outside in, so youre aware the whole time. Apparently its incredibly quick, and theyve only managed to prolong the life of one other person.” Her breath came out in a shudder.
Mrs. Morgan, there are questions I want to ask, but Im afraid theyll upset you more.”
Ask, just ask,” she said.
I took in a deep breath, let it out slow, and finally said, You said prolong. For how long?”
Five days.”
Shit, I thought. Out loud I said, Give me an address, phone numbers, and Ill tell Micah.” I started to promise wed be there, but I couldnt promise for him. Hed been estranged from his family for about ten years. Just because Id have gotten on a plane for my semi-estranged family didnt mean hed do the same. I took all the information down as if I were sure of his answer.
Thank you, thank you so much. I knew it was the right thing to do to call another woman. We manage the men so much more than they think, dont we?”
Actually Micah manages me more than the other way around.”
Oh, is it because youre police like Rush? Is it more about the badge than being a man?”
I think so,” I said.
Youll bring Micah?”
I didnt want to lie to her, but I wasnt sure the absolute truth was anything she could handle; she needed something to hang on to, to look forward to while she sat and watched her ex-husband rot while still alive. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, just thinking it was terrible. I couldnt leave her to watch it with no hope, so I lied.
Of course,” I said.
See, Im right, you just say youll bring him. You manage him more than you think.”
Maybe so, Mrs. Morgan, maybe so.”
She sounded calmer as she said, Beatrice, Bea, to my friends. Bring my son home, Anita, please.”
What could I say? I will . . . Bea.”
I hung up, hoping I hadnt lied to her.