Page 68 of Grave Danger

“Not even when I’m wearing these fancy gloves?” Cody wiggled his fingers at her, then considered his hands. “Hey, these make my hands look like that Hamburger Helper guy.”

Tracey made a strangled choking sound then turned for the door.

“Tracey, wait,” Demmy said. Cody wanted to smack the back of his head for causing her to stay in the room. When Tracey had fixed him with her dead-eyed stare, Demmy cleared his throat and continued. “I could really use your help. You know these books and resources better than anyone. You could save us a lot of time if you’d stay and help. Just for a little while.”

She released what sounded like a long-held breath filled with pain and suffering, and clasped her hands in front of her. “I assume you’re here to research the living dead, or zombies.”

“So, you’ve heard the rumors,” Demmy said.

“Who hasn’t? Believe it or not, the library is a gathering place just as much as Margie’s Diner or that squalid little bar The Hollow Leg.” She looked at Cody before continuing. “People in town know about the mayor. Some claim to have seen him in the woods or in their yards. A couple of people said they’ve been chased by him. There’s also an old woman in the area, maybe a couple of them based on the descriptions and the clothes they’re wearing.”

Cold swept through Cody, leaving him feeling clammy and slightly nauseated. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered. “You’re so calm about it all. Have you told the sheriff’s department about all this?”

“I’ve been in constant contact with Lucia about everything I’ve learned, yes.”

“Oh. Sorry. She just hasn’t said anything about any of this.”

Tracey gave a short, sharp laugh and looked between them. “Did she deputize the two of you or something and not put out a town bulletin? Why would she share this kind of information with either of you?”

“I think we’re getting off track,” Demmy said, like always putting himself in the middle to avoid a confrontation. “Do you know of any resources that can help us learn more about what might be happening?”

“Fine.”

Tracey let out another sigh before turning to a small card catalog in the corner Cody hadn’t noticed before. Demmy moved up beside her, and Cody shook his hands out, hoping to fling off at least some of the residual anger over Tracey’s attitude. There was a table and chairs across the room from the card catalog, and he sat so he could watch Tracey and Demmy at work. He removed the gloves and wiped his sweaty hands on his shorts.

As he listened to them talk, he was glad to hear Tracey had dropped the majority of her attitude. Demmy had stuffed the gloves in the front pocket of his shorts, and the fingers drooped out as if exhausted. Demmy’s voice had an excited lilt as he talked about the books and the dead up and walking around town. Cody hadn’t heard him like this very often, and definitely not when they talked about their business or the critters they were hired to catch. This version of Demmy was excited and focused on the moment.

Demmy laughed at something Tracey said as she held up a card from the catalog, and Cody nearly fell out of his chair. The tone of the room had definitely shifted. He watched Demmy turn toward the shelves and pull on his gloves, leaving Tracey to continue looking through the card catalog. They talked to each other, Tracey calling out Dewey decimal numbers and titles and Demmy calling back suggestions of his own from within the shelves.

Cody had never been inside this room, and seeing Demmy so lit up about the place made him feel conflicted. On the one hand, he loved to see Demmy so engaged and obviously excited. But a different, and, he admitted to himself, more insecure and childish part of himself, felt hurt he had been left out of this part of things for so long. True, he hadn’t shown an interest and hadn’t asked to come to the library and help Demmy do research. That had happened for many reasons, most of them stemming from his aversion to Tracey Mumm. But still, it would have been nice to have been invited.

Demmy appeared from one of the aisles, holding a short stack of books. He set them on the table in front of Cody and smiled.

“This should help,” Demmy said.

Cody responded with a tight smile and reached for a book.

Demmy and Tracey both shouted, “No!” and Cody yanked his hand back, looking between them with wide eyes.

“What the fuck?” Cody said.

Demmy made an apologetic face and handed Cody his gloves from the tabletop. “Sorry, but you need to wear these before you touch any of the books.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry.” He looked around Demmy to Tracey who stood glaring from the card catalog and waved the gloves. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Look, I’m putting them on, okay? All good.”

He tugged on the gloves, wiggled his fingers a few times, then took a book off the stack. Demmy sat across from him and selected another book, carefully opening it and gently turning pages.

“What are we looking for?” Cody whispered, mimicking Demmy’s slow and careful movements. The pages felt thicker than those in a modern book, but brittle. And the words were all written by hand. How old was this thing? He closed the book and inspected the cover. It didn’t look like human skin…

“These books are very old, so they won’t use the term zombie. Look for any mention of the living dead. Oh, or they might be referred to as the risen dead.”

“Okay.” Cody looked through a couple of pages, squinting at the hand-printed words. “So no table of contents or appendix, huh?”

Demmy smiled at him across the books. “Sorry, no. Welcome to the fun of research.”

His blue eyes shone like neon, and Cody wondered if he himself would ever feel the same level of excitement about the monster cases they continually stumbled into. If not excited, maybe at least less anxious and angry about them taking one on.

“I could think of better ways to spend our day off.”