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“I guess that’s comforting.”
“Not to me. The department is working overtime to keep this out of the press, and the mayor is on everyone’s ass to find the idiot who’s doing it.” His expression softened, and he gently touched my cheek with his fingertip. “Your eye looks awful.”
“Zero Slick hit me with his protest sign.”
“He’s an asshole. Do you want me to bring him in and charge him?”
“No. I’ll take care of it. You have your own problems.”
“Cupcake, you’re my problem.”
“I don’t want to be your problem. I want to be your sex goddess.”
This got a smile out of Morelli. “You’re all that and more.”
I gave him a small kiss and a smile. “Gotta go. Probably I won’t see you tonight?”
“Not likely.”
“Okeydokey then,” I said, relieved that I didn’t have to address the Diesel issue.
Lula was waiting on the other side of the crime scene tape. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Homeless man is dead.”
“And? There’s a lot going on for a dead homeless man.”
“He might be missing his brain.”
“Say what? Holy crapola. It’s the zombies, isn’t it? They came and sucked out his brain. I knew it. I could feel something was happening. I told you, right? I was creeped out. I knew they were roaming around. I bet they wanted my brain, but it wasn’t available, so they went somewhere else.”
“Zombies aren’t on the short list for the police. They’re thinking more lunatic.”
“They don’t know nothing. This here’s the work of zombies. Anybody could see that.”
I didn’t know which was worse . . . a criminally insane cannibal or a hungry zombie. Hard to believe that either existed.
“This neighborhood seems to be congested,” I said to Lula. “I’m thinking we change direction and look for Johnny Chucci.”
“Whatever. I’m a flexible person. There’s probably zombies lurking here anyway. Now that I’m thinking about it I can feel them looking at me. You probably want to take some evasive action when you drive out of here.”
“You think zombies can drive?”
“I’m thinking it’s possible.”
“Can they only drive forward?”
“I don’t know,” Lula said. “That would be one of them zombie mysteries.”
I hung a U-turn and drove to the Burg. Johnny Chucci’s mother lives in the Burg. His sister lives in the Burg. His two brothers live in the Burg. His ex-wife lives in the Burg. If Johnny was back, sooner or later, he’d be in the Burg, if not to live at least to visit.
“I guess you know Johnny Chucci,” Lula said.
“Not personally. He’s a couple years older than me. Grandma Mazur knows his mom. She sees her at bingo and the funeral home sometimes. I know about the family from Grandma Mazur.”
“Your granny knows everything,” Lula said. “When I grow up I want to be just like her.”
I passed the Chucci file over to Lula. “The family addresses should be listed. I know where the mother lives. I can’t remember the others.”
