Don't Wake the Dead

by C. C. Wood

  I grinned at him. “No need to get so angry on my account. I’ve gotten used to his attitude. A lot of people in town share it.”

  Mal shook his head in disgust. “I’m sorry, Zoe.”

  “It’s just a part of my life,” I replied with a shrug.

  “Have you ever thought about moving?”

  “Too many ghosts. The greater the population, the greater the number of spirits. Teri may get on my nerves from time to time, but she doesn’t bother me much. In the city? I really would end up needing medication.”

  Mal nodded. “That makes sense.”

  The waitress returned with our food and we dug in. I could feel the disconcerting sensation of eyes staring at me.

  “Look, I don’t mean to pry, but there’s a guy in the corner and he can’t seem to stop staring at you. Do you know him?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I saw him when we came in.”

  “Is he local?”

  “Not that I know of,” I answered. I didn’t elaborate that I might not know who the man was, but I did know what he was. I only hoped he decided to leave before we finished our meal.

  Unfortunately, luck was not on my side. Mal insisted on paying for lunch, stating that it was a business expense. As we left the restaurant, I sensed the eyes of the man following me.

  I thought I was going to escape unscathed, but it appeared that my luck had decided to take a vacation that day.

  A few feet from the car, I heard rapid footsteps approaching from behind me. I turned to find the young man from the restaurant bearing down on me.

  “Can I help you?” I asked tautly, hoping he’d take the hint from my tone of voice.

  Like most of his ilk, he seemed deaf to the warning in my words. “You’re different,” he declared.

  Mal’s phone rang and he was too busy talking to hear what was happening.

  I walked toward the man. “Yes, I am, but I don’t appreciate you yelling it out on a public street.”

  He looked around, then back to me. “Oh, sorry.” The man inched closer. “What are you? You seem like me, but…not.”

  “I’m human,” I answered.

  He shook his head. “No, you’re not. Not totally.”

  I flinched at his words. “I am,” I insisted.

  The man entered my personal space, inhaling deeply. “You’re not, but you’re not like me either.”

  “No, I’m not a ghoul,” I stated. “Now back up.”

  “But there’s something about you. You…glow.”

  I hesitated then. This was the first time a ghoul had said that to me. “What?”

  “You’re beautiful. Like an angel. And the light you shine…”

  “Hey! What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  At Mal’s shout, the ghoul’s head jerked back and he stared as Mal stormed around the front of the car.

  “Get away from her!”

  I watched, speechless, as the ghoul retreated, lifting his hands.

  “I meant no harm,” he said, looking at me. “I only wanted to talk to you. I’m sorry.”

  He tripped over the curb as he whirled and hurried off in the opposite direction. Mal moved to my side and watched him leave.

  As soon as the ghoul was out of sight, he asked, “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, right?”

  “I’m fine,” I assured him.

  “I thought you said you didn’t know him?”

  “I don’t,” I muttered. “But I know what he is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I sighed. “I think it’s time for your next lesson in the supernatural.”

  Chapter

  “So he was a ghoul?” Mal asked incredulously. “I’m not even sure I understand what ghouls are.”

  “Well, they look human enough, but they need dead flesh to survive. Most get by with animal carcasses like deer or fowl, but they occasionally need, uh, human flesh. Otherwise, they start to lose their, uh, normal appearance.”

  He grimaced at my words. “Where do they get it? The human flesh I mean.”

  “Where would you go?” I asked.

  His upper lip curled. “Do they at least cook it first?”

  I shrugged and sat down next to him on my couch. “I don’t know and I’m not gonna ask. There are some things I don’t need to know.”

  “So, ghouls are attracted to you? Even the females?”

  “Well, I know the males are.” I paused. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a female ghoul.”

  Mal nodded, taking in all this information rather well. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “So, is there anything else I need to know about you?” he asked. “Are you going to call up a vampire or resurrect someone next?” His tone was light, almost teasing.

  “No. Now you know everything.”

  “And I’m guessing you didn’t tell me about this before because you were afraid I would think the same thing your illustrious sheriff does.”

  I nodded.

  “Well, after some of the things I’ve seen over the past few years, you don’t have to worry about that,” Mal assured me. “Most people think I’m a crackpot myself.”

  I smiled at him, grateful for his easy acceptance of things that my own mother refused to acknowledge. He returned the grin, shifting so that his shoulder brushed mine. His face seemed to loom closer and I realized he was leaning forward.

  He was going to kiss me. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted it. Badly. But I also knew better than to get involved with someone who paid my salary, even if it was temporarily.

  My gaze dropped to his lips and thought, What the hell. It’s just one kiss.

  Before our lips made contact, Teri floated into the room. “Mal and Zoe, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes Zoe with a baby carriage,” she singsonged.

  I jerked back, surprised by her sudden appearance.

  Mal blinked at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I murmured, shifting back into the corner of the sofa. “I, uh, just realized that it would probably be a bad idea to, uh…” I trailed off.

  “Kiss me?” he asked, mimicking my motion and settling back into his corner.

  My face felt as if it were on fire, so I knew it was likely bright red. “Um, yes.”

  He lifted his arms so that one rested on the back of the sofa and the other stretched across the arm. “Why?”

  “Well, to start, you’re basically my boss now.”

  Mal shook his head. “Not really.”

  I frowned at him. “You pay my salary and delegate my assignments. That sounds like the sorts of things an employer does.”

  “You’re not my employee, Zoe,” he argued. “You’re more like a…partner. Just like Stony and Blaine are my partners.”

  “But you don’t pay Stony and Blaine,” I elaborated. “You pay me.”

  Mal sighed. “They won’t let me pay them because they say it doesn’t feel like work and they live off their trust funds. At least for now. If we get picked up by a network, then they’ll take a salary. Right now, they want me to put all the profits back into the business.”

  “It still wouldn’t be right, Mal. We have to work together.”

  “Only until the end of the month,” he pointed out. “This is just temporary.”

  At his words, my stomach clenched. I only had a short time left to work with these people who understood me and accepted me. Then it would all be over.

  “Unless you’ve changed your mind about making it more permanent,” he said.

  Was that what I wanted? The last few days had gone by so quickly that I couldn’t be sure.

  “I need a little more time before I decide,” I hedged.

  Mal smiled at me. “About the job or about me?” he asked.

  I stared at him, weighing my thoughts carefully. “Both,” I answered.

  “All right. You have a couple of weeks to decide,” Mal stated. “Now, we need to get back to work.”

  He
shifted gears so quickly and easily that I felt almost miffed. My body was still buzzing with attraction, yet he calmly picked up his laptop and went back to searching the internet for more information on Hank Murphy.

  It reaffirmed my belief that it was best if we didn’t get involved. I gathered that Mal, Stony, and Blaine traveled a great deal. Mal probably had a girl in every port. Well, in every town.

  I got up to get a drink from the kitchen and felt Teri follow me.

  “I screwed up, didn’t I?” she asked. “I didn’t think you were actually going to kiss him.”

  I stuck my head in the fridge and pulled out a soda. “It’s cool, Teri. You didn’t screw up anything.”

  “But he was going to lay a lip lock on you and I interrupted.”

  “It was a bad idea to begin with,” I insisted, taking a sip of my drink.

  “If you say so,” she quipped. “If it were me, I’d still be on that couch trying to get my hands on every inch of that hunk of sexy man.”

  I sighed and grabbed another soda from the fridge. “Well, you’re not me, Teri. I have to be smart. The only person who’s going to take care of me is me. I can’t go around playing tonsil hockey with every cute guy I meet.”

  “Fine, fine. I give up. You act like you’re fifty years old. All you need are a dozen cats.”

  “Shut up,” I grumbled.

  Teri shook her head and faded through the wall.

  With a heavy sigh, I grabbed both drinks and carried them back into the living room. If Mal could put aside the almost kiss so easily, so could I. At this point it was a matter of pride.

  Besides, this wasn’t about me or my hormones’ insistence that they liked Mal. This was about poor Hank Murphy and his murder. He deserved justice and he’d asked me to get it for him.

  Chapter

  By the time Mal left for the evening, I’d spent hours online researching Hank Murphy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot to find because he’d died before the local newspaper started their webpage.

  Mal and I decided to meet at the library the next morning and see what we could find in their archives. After that, we’d have to figure out a new game plan.

  I’d just entered the kitchen, trying to decide what I wanted to eat for dinner when my cell phone rang.

  It was Jonelle.

  “Girl, I realize you have a glamorous new job in television, but I haven’t heard from you in a week. That’s not good friend behavior.”

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I’ve been distracted.”

  She laughed. “I’m not surprised. All that testosterone would distract me too. Speaking of testosterone, what’s up with you and Mal going to lunch together today?”

  “Nothing,” I replied. “We were working and got hungry.”

  “Working on what?” Jonelle’s voice took on a mischievous edge.

  I sighed. “Not what you’re thinking about. God, you and Teri are the most sex-obsessed people I’ve ever met.”

  “Please. You’re just saying that because you’ve forgotten what sex is like. As soon as you break the seal, you’ll be the same way.”

  Because I knew she was probably right, I changed the subject. “Something weird happened when we were coming back from The Baker Hotel last night.”

  I could almost hear Jonelle roll her eyes. “Oh really?”

  “I saw a ghost on that deserted Farm to Market road you showed me as a short cut.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t see him on the way to Mineral Wells, but on the way back, he was there. Have you heard any rumors about a ghost on that road?” I asked. Jonelle was quiet for a long moment and suspicion tugged at my thoughts. “Jonelle? You knew he was there didn’t you?”

  “I wasn’t sure because I never saw him, but I’ve been hearing things at the salon. Weird stuff happening, like cars dying or a patch of fog on an otherwise clear night. No one else has seen him, but they talk about how spooky it is.”

  “So it’s not really a short cut? You set me up?”

  “No, no. It is quicker to go that way, but I hoped that if the rumors were true, you’d see the ghost or whatever it was. I don’t know…” she trailed off. “I guess I thought it would be nice if you could help someone who needed it.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “Well, that’s what Mal and I were working on today. I saw him last night and we stopped to talk to him.”

  “So what’s the story?” she asked.

  “Apparently, he was run off the road in 1996 and survived the accident. Someone killed him afterwards, but did a good enough job that the police must have thought the injuries were from the wreck.”

  “Holy shit. That sucks. Does he have any idea who did it?”

  “No. He knows it was a man, but that’s about it.”

  “Wow, this is so cool! Talk about a cold, cold case. You’re like a cross between a ghost hunter and a private dick.”

  “Jesus, let’s not use the term private dick ever again, okay?”

  “What? I like it. Can I call you a dame?”

  “No.”

  Jonelle laughed. “You’re spoiling all my fun.” She paused. “You know what? I want to help. I’m off work tomorrow. I’ll swing by in the morning with coffee and donuts and we can brainstorm.”

  As much fun as that sounded, this was my job at the moment and I wasn’t sure that Mal would appreciate it.

  “Uh, well, I have to run it by Mal first,” I hedged.

  “That’s cool. Text me later and let me know what he says.”

  “Jonelle, I’m not sure he’ll like—”

  “Please just ask him, Zoe. Please. I want to help.”

  “All right. I’ll ask, but don’t be mad if he says no,” I stated.

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  We said good-bye and hung up, but not before Jonelle asked me to talk to Mal once again.

  I stared at my phone. Deciding to bite the bullet and get it over with, I texted Mal.

  My friend Jonelle heard stories about Hank Murphy’s ghost. She wants to tag along tomorrow. Is that okay?

  While I waited to hear back from him, I felt Teri enter the living room. She perched on the couch next to me.

  “So you’re gonna help some guy you don’t even know figure out who killed him?” she asked.

  “I guess so.”

  Her face fell. “But you won’t help me find my killer,” she murmured.

  I hadn’t even thought about that. Abruptly, I felt like an asshole.

  “You never told me you wanted me to find him.” It was a shitty excuse and we both knew it. I sighed. “I’m sorry, Teri. If that’s what you want, then I’ll start as soon as I’m done working with Mal and the guys.”

  “Really?” she asked, her expression clearing.

  “Yes.”

  She studied me. “So you’re definitely quitting after the end of the month?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Teri just nodded and faded away without another word.

  I frowned at the television after she left, unable to focus on the show onscreen. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.

  Well, that wasn’t true. I did know what I wanted. I just didn’t know if it would be good for me. I wanted to keep working with Mal and the guys. I’d only recorded two episodes with them, not counting the episode they did at my house, but I loved it. It was fun and it felt…right. For once, I felt like I fit in, like I wasn’t being watched with sidelong glances and judgment from my coworkers.

  But there would be plenty of weird glances and judgment from other people if I continued to work with them. Could I handle that?

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could.

  Even if I decided it was worth the risk, I was sure that my mother would have a problem with it. She would make my life very difficult.

  When I’d called to cancel Thursday night dinner last week, she’d seemed pleased when I told her it was for a temporary job that had the possibility of becoming permanent. I’d managed
to get off the phone before she could push for details about what type of work I was doing.

  I knew she would disapprove, but I wasn’t sure if that was enough to dissuade me. For the first time in my life, I was doing something that I loved and getting paid for it. I was also good at it, if Mal’s encouragement was anything to go by.

  Our relationship wasn’t the best. Was I willing to make it even more contentious because of my career choices?

  And why was I worrying so much about what my mother thought? I was twenty-seven years old. It wasn’t as if this job would affect my mother in a negative way. It was just a job. Why was I obsessing about her reaction?

  The answer was simple. Though I knew I would always disappoint her, I couldn’t help but try to win her approval. Even if it was never going to happen, I constantly felt the urge to try.

  Maybe it was time to give up on that dream and start looking for one that made me happy.

  My phone dinged and I picked it up to find a reply from Mal.

  Yes. I’d like to knw what rumors she’s hrd. Plus xtra eyes make rsrch fstr.

  It took me a minute to make out all the words since Mal seemed to have an aversion for vowels in his text messages.

  Great. What time should she be here?

  He replied, 8 a.m. Lbry opens at 9. Brkfst b4.

  I laughed. Jonelle wasn’t a morning person. She wasn’t going to appreciate the hour, which she considered to be the crack of dawn.

  See you then. Jonelle’s bringing coffee and donuts.

  SWEET. Gdnite.

  I shook my head at his atrocious texting grammar. Good night.

  I decided to head to bed. It seemed I had an early morning in store for me the next day.

  Chapter

  I awoke to the scent of coffee. Nose twitching, I yanked the pillow off my head, wondering where it came from.

  “I thought that would wake you up,” Jonelle teased, waving her hand over the top of the coffee mug.

  My mouth watered at the scent of the rich brew. She had gone to the next town over to Jericho Donuts. They had the best coffee and baked goods in the county.