by K E O'Connor
Stool lifted his gaze from his dog biscuits and stared at Zara as if he thought she should be doing that to him.
“We need to count the wellies today to see if we need more for the Spring Fling.” I looked over at Zara. “Can you get the ones out the back?”
“Welly throwing is fun.” Zara ambled to the back room. “Never win anything.”
Zombies were generally uncoordinated. Their muscles grew weak from lack of use, and they lacked the fine motor skills of the living. Perhaps it was time I introduced a zombie only welly throwing competition, but that would mean segregating them at the event. I liked keeping them integrated and involved. Zombies and humans could be happy together.
“You never know, this could be your lucky year,” I said as Zara returned to the room with an armful of wellies.
We did a count and discovered forty-three wellies. We needed more. People were happy to donate their wellies to the event, providing they got them back. We only ever lost a few each year, usually when a contestant got their aim wrong and ended up hurling the welly into the sea.
Zara nodded, her gaze on the wellies as if willing one of them to win her a prize.
“Let’s start at Bill’s store,” I said. “He sells wellies and might have a few pairs he’d be willing to donate.” Bill’s store sold just about everything, from nails to knickers.
I pulled on my coat and had just put on my gloves when the bell over the office door clanged. My best friend, Jen Sharp dashed in, her wild blonde curls a tangled mess around her face and her breath coming out in gasps.
“What’s the emergency?” I asked as she stood there, her hands on her knees, getting her breath back.
Jen looked up, her blue eyes wide. “You’re not going to believe this. A tourist is dead!”
Chapter 2
My mouth fell open at Jen’s surprise announcement. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Jen swiped her curls from her face.
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know,” Jen said. “They’re from out of town.”
“How did they die?” I asked.
“I can’t answer that,” Jen said.
“Are you sure someone’s dead? You don’t know a lot about it.”
Jen grinned. “I definitely know somebody has died. I saw Selina rushing past the salon and ran out to see what’s going on. She’d just taken a call from Nick. He’s asked her to help with the body.”
“I wonder what happened.”
“Why don’t we find out?” Jen said. “Selina will let us in on the gossip. We could drop by her clinic. Weren’t you talking about having a bad headache?”
“No, I don’t often get headaches,” I said.
Jen laughed. “I think you need to get one. Selina needs a reason to let us into the clinic so we can find out what’s going on.”
“You have the headache,” I said. “Or maybe your piles are playing up.”
Jen gave a shriek of laughter. “My piles are fine. Come on, you’re usually the first to want to know about a murder.”
“Murder! You didn’t say it was a murder.”
“Because it might not be. We won’t know until we go look.”
I shook my head. I didn’t know why, but this death was something I wanted to stay away from, not that I was ever attracted to dead things. “I’m busy right now. I’m on the hunt for extra wellies.”
“The wellies can wait,” Jen said. “Or send Zara out to get them. You’d like a good welly hunt, wouldn’t you?” She looked at Zara.
Zara nodded. “Lots of wellies.” She pointed to the heap on the floor.
I looked at my desk. I did want to find out what was going on, but I also didn’t want to annoy Nick by, what did he call it, poking my nose into police business. Our recent, uneasy truce had held for some time. I quite liked the fact I wasn’t constantly arguing with him.
“Don’t you want to know who died?” Jen asked.
“Maybe later,” I said. “I need to concentrate on the Spring Fling.”
Jen sagged forward as if my lack of enthusiasm had knocked the wind out of her. “It’s no fun going on my own.”
“You mean, you’re worried that Nick will tell you off for interfering if he catches you asking questions?” I smiled at Jen. “I’ve been there and done that, you get used to it.”
Jen’s eyes narrowed. “That’s why you’re not going. You don’t want to bump into Nick and have him complaining.”
I’d been rumbled. “It’s not that. In fact, we’ve been getting along fine.”
Jen slapped her hands against her thighs. “You’re avoiding him because you like him?”
I glowered at her. “Get out of here. Find out about this death and report back to me. No more mention of me liking Nick or I’ll ban you from the Spring Fling.”
Jen held her hands up as she backed away. “Fine, but you’ll have to treat me to a muffin as compensation for doing the dirty work and risking getting my wrists slapped by Nick.”
“You’ll get your compensation,” I said. I might even treat myself to some of that compensation. Laura’s muffins were delicious.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Jen sped out of the office and along the road toward Selina’s clinic.
As I watched her go, I couldn’t squash the nervous feeling in my stomach. My fingers massaged the scar on my left palm through my glove. I’d had this scar for years, and it still itched at times.
Stool moved to my side and leaned his weight against my right leg, emitting a gentle whine as he did so.
I reached down and petted his head. “There’s nothing to worry about, boy. You’re safe in here.” I did feel safe inside the office. With my favorite three-legged guard dog by my side and Zara sitting calmly in the corner, work was a haven for me. It kept me grounded and gave me a purpose.
I looked over at the window full of trinkets and realized they helped, too. Maybe it was just the way the light glistened off them, but they soothed the mind. Whenever I looked at one of my trinkets, they gave me a sense of calm.
“Someone’s dead,” Zara whispered.
“So it would seem.” I turned from the window and returned to my desk, the desire to hunt for wellies vanishing.
“No more wellies?” Zara asked, her gaze tracking me across the room.
“I want to finish a few more trinkets first.” I pulled off my gloves, shrugged off my coat and set to work. My mind couldn’t focus on anything else as I waited for Jen to return.
Three mugs of tea later, and I’d completed five new trinkets. They lay proudly on my desk. My fingers ached from all the tying and bending of wire, but it was worth it. My mind was soothed, and I’d stopped fretting about news of the death.
Stool lifted his head from his paw, his gaze on the door and his ears pricked.
“Is somebody coming?” I asked him.
He staggered to his feet and limped toward the door.
I stood and opened the door, checking outside. No one was out there. Stool most likely needed a doggy comfort break or had decided to go back to his actual owner. “If you’re leaving, go straight to Nick. No dawdling in alleyways or rooting through the bins for leftover fish and chips.”
Stool looked up at me with an expression of disdain on his face, as if thinking, I’d never do such a thing.
I knew he did. I’d seen him walking around town with an empty sandwich wrapper stuck to his head. He was a committed scavenger.
Stool hurried out. I was relieved to see him heading in the direction of the police station.
“Cassie!” Jen called from the other end of the street. She was running in her haste to get to me.
“What did you find out?” I asked as she sped into the office.
Jen glanced fearfully into the street. “I don’t want to believe what I’ve heard.”
“What did Selina tell you?” I gestured to the seat by my desk.
Jen sat but leaped up straight away and paced across the room. “It can’t be true
.” She wrung her hands together as she continued pacing.
“What happened? How did the tourist die?” Her anxious pacing made my nerves jittery.
“Selina couldn’t tell me much.” Jen slowed her pacing. “She’d only seen the body on location and was waiting for it to come to the clinic.”
“What’s so bad about this body? It wasn’t death by natural causes?”
“There’s nothing natural about this death.” Jen shook her head. “Cassie, I can’t believe this is happening, not in Zee Town.”
I stepped into Jen’s path and grabbed her shoulders to prevent her pacing. “Tell me what happened.”
She took in a deep shuddering breath and met my gaze. “Nick thinks the death was caused by a rabid zombie.”
Chapter 3
“I don’t believe that.” My hands fell from Jen’s shoulders and a shudder of horror ran through me. “Nick has to be wrong. We don’t have rabid zombies in Zee Town.”
“Selina agrees with him,” Jen said. “She only saw the body for a few minutes before it was taken away, but she’s convinced a zombie made the attack wounds. Selina said there were bite marks on the flesh.” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around her middle.
“They’re both wrong. They have to be.” The shock of Jen’s words spun through my head.
“Have we got a rabid zombie in Zee Town?” Jen whispered. “We’re not safe.”
“No, this can’t happen.” I started my own pacing. “We’re safe here. We have our border patrol. Archer would have alerted the town if there was a problem.” Archer Rhinehart ran the town’s border security. He worked closely with Nick to ensure Zee Town remained safe and free from rabid zombies.
We were lucky. We had great natural defenses around the town, with the sea at our back, woods and hills on one side, and the rest covered by a border patrol who monitored human and zombie traffic in and out of town.
“Selina was convinced, though,” Jen said. “And she knows her zombies.”
“Sit down.” I guided Jen to a chair, noticing how pale she looked. “Listen, everything will be fine. Even if the worst has happened and we have a rabid zombie in town, we’ve got a great security team. They’ll stop the zombie getting anyone else.”
“What if the zombie bites other people? More people could turn into rabid zombies?” Jen’s bottom lip wobbled. “We can’t let that happen.”
“That won’t happen. You know your zombie history. It’s a virus. Not everyone who gets bitten changes.”
“Viruses mutate. What if this rabid zombie has a new strain of virus? One we’ve not encountered before.”
I swallowed my concern. We needed more details. “Let’s go to Selina’s and get all the information. She’ll put your worries to rest. Nick must have overreacted.”
“She kicked me out,” Jen said. “The body arrived and Selina didn’t want any distractions. She needed to check the victim before making a decision about the cause of death.”
“So, she’s sure about the zombie bites?” I asked. “Remember when Nick thought Bert Figgins had been bitten by zombies? It turned out not to be true.”
“Selina was convinced,” Jen said. “She mentioned teeth marks.”
“If that’s true, the town will make changes to ensure everyone’s safe until we get the situation under control.” I patted Jen’s knees, ignoring the slight tremble in my fingers.
“Yes, we know how to handle this,” Jen said. “Maybe I got the information wrong. I was panicked by what she told me. Then she made me leave. I could have gotten things muddled.”
I nodded. “Zara, I’m leaving for an hour or so. I’m locking the door behind me. Do you understand what you’ve heard from Jen?” Placid zombies disliked rabid zombies as much as humans did. Zara wouldn’t want to encounter a rabid zombie. It never ended well when the two met.
Zara gave a small shake of her head. “No rabid zombies here.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Just in case, stay inside until I get back.” I scooped the trinkets, my wallet, and keys from the desk, and placed them inside my oversized purse.
“Stay here,” Zara said.
“Yes, I’m sure it’s nothing. You’ll be fine here.” I hoped my words reassured her. I grabbed hold of Jen’s hand. “Let’s see what we can find out from Selina.”
Once outside, I buttoned my coat and pulled my gloves on. I linked my arm through Jen’s elbow, and we hurried to Selina’s clinic.
Much like me, Selina lived for her work. So much so that she lived in the apartment above the clinic, so she could be on call at all hours of the day and night.
I tried the door to the clinic and found it locked. That was unusual. Selina had patients every day. I knocked on the glass and we waited.
“I bet she’s out the back with the body,” Jen muttered. “She’s probably canceled her day patients so she can focus on the zombie attack.”
“Possible zombie attack. Let’s wait a moment and see if she comes,” I said. “She might just be making a mug of coffee.”
“No, this is serious,” Jen said. “Selina doesn’t shut the clinic in the middle of the day unless there’s something urgent that needs her full attention.”
No one answered the door, and despite knocking several more times, there were no signs of anybody inside.
“Let’s try around the back.” Selina had a back entrance to the clinic. She used it to bring in serious injuries or bodies on trolleys.
We hurried around to the back of the building and along the narrow cobblestone alleyway until we reached the double doors of Selina’s clinic. One of the doors wasn’t fully closed. I eased it open and peered inside.
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Jen said, nerves pitching her voice high. “What if the bite victim came back to life as a rabid zombie and attacked Selina?”
“If that unlikely scenario has happened, we need to get inside and help,” I said. “You were the one keen to find out what’s going on. Don’t chicken out on me now.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Jen said. “We should find ourselves somewhere safe to hide until the threat has disappeared.”
“We don’t know for sure if there’s a real threat to worry about.” I inched inside the door. “It could be a rumor. Or Nick and Selina made a mistake.” I hoped they had, and we could all laugh about this over muffins in the diner later on.
The light over our heads flicked on and we both jumped. Selina stood at the end of the corridor, her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
“I thought I heard somebody talking,” Selina said. She was dressed in a white lab coat, her gray hair scooped up under a plastic hat and disposable gloves on her hands.
“We knocked on the front door,” I said.
“I’m not open today,” Selina said. “I’m sure Jen told you why.”
“Is it true?” I walked along the corridor toward Selina. “Have we got a rabid zombie in town?”
Selina let out a sigh. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep away from this mystery. You may as well come in. I’ve done my preliminaries on the body.”
“And what’s the verdict?” My mouth went dry as I waited for her response.
“I think, unfortunately, my first conclusion is the correct one,” Selina said.
The blood drained from my head. I rested a hand on the wall for a few seconds. There couldn’t be rabid zombies in Zee Town. This was a haven. We were protected here.
“It’s a shock for all of us,” Selina said quietly.
I looked over my shoulder. Jen was waiting by the door. I gestured her toward me.
She crept forward but paused. “Is the body safe to be around?” Her gaze was on Selina.
“Nothing’s going to come back and bite you if that’s what you’re thinking,” Selina said. “You can take a look if you like. You need to get gowned up, so the body doesn’t become contaminated.”
“Pass,” Jen said. “I’ll believe anything you tell us. I don’t need to see the body.”
; Selina’s gaze moved to me, an amused smile on her lips. “Are you interested in seeing the body?”
I shook my head so hard my ears rang. “No, I don’t want to do that.”
Selina grinned. “I’ve just put the kettle on to boil. There are cookies as well, if you fancy some.” She turned and walked through the door in front of her.
I grabbed hold of Jen’s hand again. We walked along the corridor, through the clinic and into Selina’s office, definitely not looking at the covered body on the trolley we passed. The clinic was all clean lines. Nothing was out of place, and everything was white and gleaming. Selina was a dedicated doctor, with an obsession for zombies. It was a handy obsession to have given where she lived.
Selina came into the office from the kitchen and placed a tray with mugs, a large teapot, and a plate of cookies on the desk, before settling in a dark green chair. “I need to do more analysis, but it seems we have a genuine zombie attack to deal with.”
Jen yelped, and I realized I was gripping her hand too hard. I let go and muttered an apology. “Are you sure it can’t be anything else? Could it have been a dog bite or a wild animal attack?”
Jen nodded. “Yes, a wild animal bite could look similar to a zombie bite.”
We were clutching at unlikely causes of death. We didn’t have any wild animals in Cornwall, unless you believed the myths about the wild cats on the moors.
“Stop looking like two frightened rabbits and sit,” Selina said with a sigh. “I promise you, the rabid zombie isn’t in this building, and the body on the trolley isn’t getting up to try to eat us.”
I eased into a seat. Jen followed and sat next to me. “Does Nick know how the zombie got into town undetected?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Nick’s in full on police efficiency mode right now.” Selina lifted the lid on the teapot and stirred the contents. “He’s looking at the crime scene and has other officers out searching. I believe he’s also been in contact with border patrol. They’re arranging a sweep of the town to see if they can find the zombie who did this.”
“They’ll find the zombie quickly,” Jen said. “It could already be over and we have nothing to worry about.”