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“Yeah, and her creepy manservant was just as into it.” Clarabell gave an exaggerated shudder. “He’s got a few wires loose, if you ask me.”
“More than a few,” Cody said as he leaned in the kitchen doorway. He raised his eyebrows at Demetrius. “Ready to head out?”
“Where are you guys off to?” Oliver said.
“We’re actually going to see your grandmother,” Cody said. “Want me to give her your love?”
Oliver made a face. “It sounds really inappropriate when you say it like that.”
Cody smiled. “I know.”
“I may tag along behind you. I haven’t seen Grandma for a few days.”
“I expected as much,” Cody said, then turned and walked through the dining room. “The truck leaves in a few minutes.”
“I’m going to stay here and go over our notes,” Clarabell said. “See if I can narrow things down some more.”
“And eat more of our food?” Cody said.
Everyone ignored him, and Oliver said to Clarabell, “I’ll look over my notes once I get home and text you if I think of anything.”
Demetrius stopped in the bathroom to brush his teeth and pee, then followed Cody out the door and to his truck. As they drove through town, Cody hummed along with a song on the classic rock station while Demetrius used his phone to access the Herald website and searched for articles about missing persons. There were a couple of small articles about the sheriff’s department looking for information about some people, one in May and the other mid-June, but those could have been related to the zombies.
“What are you looking up?” Cody asked.
“Missing persons mentioned in the Herald.”
“Just your average online news search,” Cody said.
“Yeah, I know. There are two that I could find, a man and a woman. But they’re from the beginning of the summer, so…”
“Might be zombie-related,” Cody said. “But there’s always a first at the beginning of a pattern.”
Demetrius looked at him. “That was very profound.”
Cody gave him a side-eye. “You don’t have to sound so surprised by it.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Uh huh.”
Not long afterward, Cody pulled up at the curb in front of Eileen’s condominium. She and Dieter were sitting on the porch, Eileen puffing small wisps of smoke from her pipe.
“My favorite client!” Dieter exclaimed as they approached.
“We’ve talked about this, Dieter,” Cody said. “I’m your only client.”
“And so you are,” Dieter said with a deep chuckle. He stroked his white goatee. “What brings you by?”
“I wanted to share some information Demmy’s been collecting over the years.”
“A collector of information?” Dieter turned his sharp gaze on Demetrius. “I would expect nothing less from a small business owner, and the romantic partner of my favorite client.”
“Oh, um, thanks?” Demetrius said.
“You going to go see Amelia?” Eileen said, taking the pipe from her mouth.
“I was going to if Dieter and Cody don’t need me.”
