Page 81 of Grave Danger

Demmy saw him from the corner of his eye and turned. He closed the distance between them and delivered a sweet but lingering kiss.

“I’m sorry if I take over too much,” Demmy said when he pulled away. “It’s something I’m working on changing.”

“Let’s talk about it more later, okay?”

Demmy nodded, and they stepped out of the truck. Agatha was talking with Ollie and Dave, and he wondered if she was telling them about his snarky comment.

“Hi there,” Cody said as they walked up. “What’s got you sneaking into cemeteries on a lovely day such as this?”

“We were out running errands, and Oliver mentioned checking out something here at the cemetery, so I thought I’d tag along,” Dave said, then grinned. “We saw the police blocking the main gate and parked on the shoulder down the road and hiked back. What the hell happened here?”

“Zombie uprising,” Demmy said.

Ollie and Dave asked a lot of questions, which they both answered to the best of their abilities. Dave finally ended with, “You’ve been through a lot since the funeral. I’m guessing there’s been no word about the Cadillac?”

Cody snorted and shook his head. “She lost them somewhere on the way to Harriettville. Fucking ninety years old and she gives the sheriff the slip.”

“Aren’t you the luckiest guy in the world, to have that car for your very own.” Dave’s grin widened to a smile.

“Smart ass,” Cody muttered.

“Oliver,” Agatha said, turning everyone’s attention to him. “What have you found?”

Ollie pushed his round glasses up his nose then ran his hand through his red-blond hair. “Well, I started thinking about when I’d come out here before, you know? I followed the creek downstream until I met up with Cody, and then we were attacked by that woman who we learned later was buried not too far from the mayor.”

“We know all this, Ollie,” Cody said. “Why are we here now?”

“I started wondering about what might be upstream from this place, and I wanted to walk along the bank for a while.”

“So you guys snuck past a police barricade to go on a hike through the woods?” Cody said.

“No, I brought Dave and I out here to go on a hike through the woods,” Ollie said. “Agatha had texted me about Jugs and the deputy you guys drove to the hospital, and I told her we were out here and wanted to show her something.”

“What did you want to show me?” Agatha said.

“More empty graves.” Ollie waved toward the slight rise behind him. “A lot of them.”

“How many is a lot?” Demmy asked.

“A dozen?” Ollie looked up at Dave who nodded.

“There are probably nine of those lying back at the crime scene,” Cody said.

Thunder rumbled again, a long, drawn out sound like a brewing argument between Olympian gods. Cody looked up at the clouds and checked the time on his phone. “It’s four in the afternoon. If we’re going to check out what’s upstream, we should go now.”

Ollie and Dave started walking across the cemetery. Agatha clicked the button on her key fob to lock her truck, pocketed her keys, and set off after them. Cody looked at Demmy and nodded.

“Let’s go,” Cody said.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. It’s just a walk in the woods, right? What could go wrong?”

Demmy shook his head and smiled. “I can’t believe you actually said that.”

“Me either. It’s like I’m asking to be punished.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for when we get home.” Demmy took his hand and gave it a tug. “Come on.”