by K E O'Connor
“Zombies rarely do,” I said. “Some of them rarely speak and then only in fragmented sentences. It’s hard to know what goes through a zombie’s mind. You do want to be sure that the zombie you love is happy?”
“Sure,” Colin said. “But I make her happy.”
“It’s best to be on the safe side,” I said. “Come to dinner. I’ll invite Zara and Selina, and we can have a nice time together.”
“I’m not sure,” Colin said. “Emma won’t want to come. She’s shy.”
It sounded more to me like Colin didn’t want to come to dinner. “I insist. We’ll do it next week.”
Colin stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I’ll get back to you after I’ve checked with Emma.”
I decided not to press him. I could understand why he was reluctant to be seen in public dating a zombie. “Let me know by the middle of the week so I can get food in and make sure the others can come.”
“Will do.” Colin’s gaze cut to me before looking away. “You aren’t going to tell anyone else about this?”
I wasn’t certain what I was going to do about this information yet. “I am interested in this group you’re in. How many of you are dating zombies?”
“What do you know?”
“Not much. I thought you were in a gaming group. You know, re-enacting old battles, that sort of thing.”
Colin’s expression was one of surprise. “Nope. There’s just a few guys who are exploring dating zombies. It’s nothing weird. We don’t dress up in strange costumes and swing swords around. Where did you get that idea?”
“I can’t recall. How long have you been with Emma?”
“A few months. Listen, Cassie, I’m not ready for the relationship to go public yet. Neither is Emma. We like our privacy. We don’t want people interfering.”
“It’s best not to hide it. Otherwise, Emma might think you’re ashamed of her.”
“No, it’s not that.” Colin sighed and his shoulders slumped. “It’s just that, well, when Bert found out, he wasn’t impressed. He told me to stop seeing Emma.”
“How did he find out?”
“He walked in and found us together in the warehouse. We were only kissing. Bert thought it was funny. He said I couldn’t get a real woman so had to resort to dating the dead.” Colin scowled at me.
“Some people are less accepting than others,” I said. “Most of Zee Town will be thrilled that you’ve found someone, and Emma has someone to look after her.” Although, I was pretty sure that like me, some would find it an unusual preference.
“They’ll think it’s a huge joke.” Colin narrowed his eyes. “Is that what you think? Do you think my relationship with Emma is ridiculous?”
“No! You have to do what’s best for you and also Emma,” I said, surprised by the venom in Colin’s words.
He took a step toward me. “Don’t lie to me.”
My heart thudded as I realized I was alone in a warehouse at midnight with an angry man who had a big secret to hide. A secret that he might kill for?
“Bert just kept laughing and calling me an idiot. One of life’s losers,” Colin said. “He didn’t get how much I love Emma. I’d do anything for her. I’m not mistreating her.” He advanced toward me a few more steps.
I swiftly backed up. “That’s good to hear.” I reached the door to the warehouse. “I should go. I’ll leave you to pack up and be in touch about our get together soon.”
Colin didn’t seem to hear me, his hands clenched into fists and his teeth gritted. “Bert kept laughing and prodding me with his fat finger, insisting that I find a hot-blooded woman and give Emma up. I’d never do that, no matter how much he teased me.”
“I don’t blame you,” I said. “Emma is lovely.”
“She is,” Colin said. “But if other people find out, they might force me to give up the woman I love.”
“They can’t make you do that,” I said.
“They can’t if they don’t find out.”
I licked my lips. “Is that why you killed Bert? He was threatening to reveal your secret?”
Colin scowled. “He always made fun of me.”
“And that’s a good reason to want him dead?”
“Bert didn’t get it.” Colin glanced to the side. “I tried to explain.”
“Colin, tell me what happened. Did you confront your brother on the golf course about Emma?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He inched closer.
My breath caught in my throat. Colin was the killer. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand.”
His breath rasped out of him. “What’s that?”
“Why bite Bert?”
Colin smirked. “You have no clue what’s going on.”
“Then tell me.”
“Why don’t I show you?” Colin lifted his chin. “Emma. Bite.”
I fell back in surprise as Emma emerged from the shadows. I lost my footing and hit my head on the ground.
Emma loomed over me, her teeth bared.
“Emma. Cassie is an enemy. She must die,” Colin said.
I shook my head. “Emma, don’t listen to him. We’re friends. I’d never hurt you.”
Her fingers wrapped around my wrist and she dropped on top of me. She sniffed my hair, her teeth grazing my throat.
“Bite her! Make her pay,” Colin yelled.
Emma froze. She sniffed me again, then tugged my scarred hand to her mouth. She licked the skin.
“What are you doing?” Colin moved closer. “Do what I’ve trained you to do.”
Emma licked me again. “Cassie a friend.” She kissed my cheek and slid away.
My breath shuddered out of me. I didn’t have time to move as Colin jumped on me and wrapped his fingers around my throat. “Dumb zombie.”
“That doesn’t sound much like love to me.” I gasped as his fingers tightened.
“You don’t get it. I can’t let you tell anybody.”
I grabbed his fingers and attempted to pull them from my neck, my head pounding where it had impacted with the ground. “I won’t tell anybody.”
“I don’t believe you,” Colin snarled. “This is private, between me and Emma. Bert was going to ruin everything, so I stopped him. Now, I’ll have to stop you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I can’t trust you to keep this quiet.” Colin was almost sobbing as his fingers tightened.
Black dots appeared in front of my eyes. Colin was stronger than me, and I had no breath left to fight.
Colin yelped and vanished from sight.
I rolled onto my hands and knees, gasping for air and my ears ringing. After a few seconds, I looked up to see where Colin was.
Two male zombies held him by both arms, their eyes wide and teeth bared. Emma stood next to them.
I struggled to my feet and coughed a few times, forcing air into my lungs. “Don’t hurt him,” I said to the new arrivals, Duncan and Matthew.
The zombies maintained their grip on Colin but didn’t do anything else, simply watched me as I continued to gulp down air.
Emma touched my arm. “Sorry.”
“Oh! Emma, I don’t blame you.” I hugged her, and she shivered. “Colin has mistreated you. He made you do this.”
She nodded. “Also made me bite his brother. Scary.”
I glared at Colin. Duncan and Matthew growled at him, shaking him roughly.
“You killed your brother and tried to frame Emma. Why?”
“Bert was going to ruin everything. I just want to be left alone. Left alone with Emma,” Colin said, his eyes fear-filled as he stared at the angry zombies restraining him.
“I don’t believe you. You’ve trained Emma to attack people. Is that what this sick little group of yours does?”
Colin slumped forward. “No! I mean, we do teach them things. Only to help them.”
“To help yourself.” I grimaced. Colin had the perfect girlfriend in Emma. She’d obey his every wish and keep him safe. Plus, she
’d take the fall for a murder he committed.
“It’s the first time in years that I’ve been happy and done something I’m proud of. Bert was going to spoil everything.”
“Bert was bitten by Emma thanks to you,” I said. “You can’t be proud of that. You risked this whole town. What if Bert had turned into a rabid zombie?”
“He deserved it.”
“Zee Town doesn’t.”
“Bert thought he was better than me. When he learned about the club and my involvement with Emma, he threatened to take everything away. I had to stop him. I hit him and got Emma to bite him so it looked like he’d been attacked by a zombie.”
“Emma could have gotten into a lot of trouble over this,” I said.
Emma stroked my arm. “You saved me.”
“Of course. I’ll always look out for you, and any zombie who needs it.”
Colin frowned. “I thought I could pin Bert’s death on a rabid zombie who’d slipped through unnoticed.”
“Placid zombies don’t bite humans. It must have been terrifying for Emma.”
Colin sniffed. “I had to do something to stop Bert. Emma will forget. I do care for her.”
Bert hadn’t been kind to his younger brother, and Colin clearly had feelings for Emma, but they were distorted and unhealthy.
“I’m sorry, Colin. I can’t keep this a secret.” I took out my cell phone and dialed Nick’s number.
“What are you doing?”
“The police need to know what happened.”
“Please, don’t separate me from Emma,” Colin said. “Can’t we say it was a zombie who killed Bert and leave me out of this? The group will stop what it’s doing. We won’t train any more zombies.”
“No. If we do that, the zombies will be hounded,” I said. “What you did to Bert was wrong.”
“What about Emma?” Colin choked out. “I can’t leave her alone. I’m all she knows.”
“She’ll be looked after,” I said.
Colin’s gaze went to the zombies on either side of him before he hung his head. “I didn’t mean to do it. I just got so angry.”
Nick answered his phone with a grunt. “This had better be a police emergency,” he growled down the line.
“It is. I know who murdered Bert Figgins.”
Chapter 23
I rubbed the back of my neck, my eyes aching from tiredness as I tried to find a comfortable way to sit on the plastic bench in the police station.
Nick had arrived at the warehouse five minutes after my call and arrested Colin. He’d taken a brief statement from me and attempted to get details from the zombies who’d helped me.
I’d kept quiet about Emma’s involvement, not wanting Nick to seize on her as the killer. Colin needed to confess. Then Emma would be in the clear.
Stool limped into the waiting room and rested his head on my lap.
I gently stroked his ears a few times and scratched under his chin. “How much longer do you think your dad will make me wait?” All I wanted was my bed. I was exhausted.
Stool whined in response and licked my hand.
The door to the station crashed open. Jen hurried through, a worried look on her face as she spotted me. “I came as soon as I heard. Colin Figgins tried to kill you?”
I nodded. “He was desperate to keep his twisted little club a secret, including his relationship with Emma.”
“Club?” Jen sat by my side and looked me over as if checking for injuries.
“Yes, it’s some sort of zombie training club.” I tilted my head. “How did you know I was here?”
“News spreads fast, especially when it involves my best friend uncovering Bert’s murderer and almost getting killed herself.” Jen hugged me. “I was so worried. You could have told me what you were going to do. I would have helped.”
“I did tell you about Colin’s unusual liking for zombies. But neither of us thought he was capable of this,” I said. “I do think he loves Emma in a weird sort of way. Love does strange things to a person.”
“It sure does,” Jen said. “It drives people crazy. I’m glad I don’t have anybody to go all weird about.”
“What about Alex?” I asked. “You like him, don’t you?”
Jen’s grip tightened on my shoulders. “Maybe, we’ll see. He’s lovely. You’re all I’m worried about right now.”
I smiled and leaned into Jen’s hug.
The door behind the reception opened. Nick walked through, rubbing a hand down his face as he did so. “You’re free to go, Cassie. I’ve got everything I can out of Colin for the night.”
“What has he told you?”
“He’s guilty. He confessed to hitting Bert. The blow killed him.”
I glanced at Jen. “And the bite marks?”
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Zombie. Colin told me he made Emma do it. Is that right? He said he told you everything. Why did you keep that a secret?”
“One guess.” I arched an eyebrow. “Emma had no choice. Colin’s part of a group training their zombie girlfriends to obey their every command. He even tried to get Emma to bite me.”
“Did she bite you?” Nick’s gaze ran over me.
“No! How many times do I need to tell you, placid zombies don’t bite.” But Emma had stopped herself from taking a nibble. She’d sensed something about me that made her disobey her owner. I had an idea what Emma discovered when she’d sniffed me and licked my scar, but that was something I wasn’t bringing up. “You aren’t charging Emma, are you?”
“No. She’s a victim, just like Bert,” Nick said.
I eased Stool’s head from my lap and stood. “Great. What about the two zombies who restrained Colin?”
“I’m keeping them overnight,” Nick said. “I want to see if I can get any more information out of them. They’ve shut down due to the stress, so I’m backing off.”
“I told you what happened. The story won’t change. They pulled Colin off me and saved my life. You should be applauding them as heroes.”
Nick sighed, the weariness clear in his eyes. “They aren’t in a cell. They’re free to go, but they’re sitting at the table in the staff kitchen, not moving. They both agreed to stay and help. When they get over the stress, I’m sure they’ll do just that.”
My tiredness and shock had frayed my temper. I had to believe Nick was doing his best to get this case resolved and keep everybody safe. “Well, that’s good.”
“Cassie, you need to rest. You must be in shock as well,” Jen said.
“I am tired,” I said. Although, I wasn’t certain I could sleep.
Nick caught hold of my arm just before I turned to leave. “You need to be more careful. You almost died tonight.”
I looked at his fingers wrapped around my wrist. “I didn’t mean to get into trouble.”
“Next time you go interrogating a suspect in a murder investigation, take me with you,” Nick said. “Or better still, don’t get involved. I told you to stay out of this case at least three times. Look what’s happened.”
I shook his hand from my wrist. “I solved a murder you couldn’t.”
He grimaced. “You almost died.”
“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t been fixated on blaming the zombies for Bert’s death.”
Nick frowned. “I can’t ignore the zombies because you have a strange affinity with them. It doesn’t make them immune from the law.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
We glared at each other in silence for a few seconds.
Nick patted his leg. “Come on, boy. We’ve got work to do.” He turned and left me in the reception with Jen, Stool by his side.
Jen tugged gently on my arm. “You need to go, too. It’s time for you to get some rest. In the morning, you might be less irritated by Nick.”
“I’m not irritated by him,” I said, gesturing at the closing door he’d walked through.
“You were doing a good impression of being just that,” Jen said.
“M
aybe I am frustrated. It’s like he’s trying to blame me for this whole thing.”
Jen guided me toward the exit. “No, he’s not. And when you’ve had a good night’s sleep and gotten over the shock of almost dying, you’ll realize that, too.”
“I do need my bed.” My feet felt like they were made of lead as I trudged out of the station.
“You’re staying at my place tonight,” Jen said. “I don’t want you alone after everything that’s happened.”
I nodded, feeling grateful. I didn’t want to be on my own. I let Jen guide me to her cottage, too exhausted to speak.
“Take a seat.” Jen pointed at the couch. “I’ll make us drinks, and you can tell me everything that happened.”
I settled onto the squashy green couch and wrapped a warm throw around my shoulders. I was shaking, my fingers cold and my head pounding.
I just needed to relax for five minutes, have a cup of tea, and everything would be fine.
***
My eyes snapped open. Panic snaked through me as I tried to figure out where I was. The events of the previous night flooded through my head and I gripped the throw tucked around me.
I was safe, on Jen’s couch, and covered in a blanket. No one was trying to strangle me. No zombie was trying to bite me.
I sat up and stretched my arms above my head. The sun peeked through a tiny gap in the curtains pulled across the window.
“You’re awake.” Jen walked through from the kitchen. “I didn’t want to disturb you when I got up. You looked so peaceful after you passed out last night.”
“Didn’t mean to. I must have closed my eyes for a few seconds and the tiredness took over.”
Jen sat in the seat opposite me, her blonde hair still a mess of bed scrunched curls. “I would have done the same if I’d worked crazy hours at the carnival, been attacked by a lovesick idiot, and rescued by zombies. How are you feeling?”
“Better now I’ve slept.” My fingers gently explored the lump on the back of my head. “I’ve got a few bumps and bruises.”
“Let’s get breakfast at the diner,” Jen said. “Laura’s been texting every hour to find out how you are. I even got a call from Nick threatening to check on you.”
“Breakfast sounds good.” I pulled myself to my feet and tried to smooth my rumpled clothing.