Chapter 16
FORTIFIED with food and more gin than was probably good for me, I headed back down to the south side. I had stopped off at my apartment to pick up Daisy with the intention of getting her some food after chatting with Brenda Sanderson. Hey, a zombie dog has gotta eat.
As I was loading Daisy into the car my cell phone rang. It was Ellen Boyd.
“Is anything wrong?” I asked, noting the fear in her voice.
“I’m not sure,” she answered.
“Have you seen the spirit again?”
“No, it’s not that,” Ellen replied slowly. “It’s Tanner. He’s been acting peculiar.”
More peculiar than when I’d met him? “How do you mean?”
“It’s hard to put my finger on it. He just has these moments when it’s like he’s not even here. Like he’s listening to something in his head.”
Daisy, on the passenger seat, gave me a plaintive bark to let me know she was ready to roll. “Do you feel you’re in any immediate danger?” I asked. I wanted to get down to Gimber Street to finish up the Sanderson case so I could concentrate all of my efforts on Ellen’s problems.
“No,” she replied. “He’s at work right now and won’t be home until late.”
“I’m finishing up a case right now,” I told her. “Would it be okay if I stopped by first thing in the morning?”
She said that would be fine, so I rang off and started down the road, Daisy growling softly in anticipation of adventure by my side.
BY THE time I pulled up in front of the house on Gimber, it was getting dark. No kids were digging or fighting in the yard. I could, however, hear yelling from inside the house. Home sweet home.
A short, rather rotund woman with a haggard face answered my knock. She didn’t look like she’d been happy for years. With that many people living in a small house, who could blame her?
She looked at me and then past me to my car. I’d left the passenger window mostly open so that Daisy could get some air. She didn’t need it, being dead, but she seemed to still expect it. Besides, leave even a zombie dog in a car with all the windows rolled up and some animal activist is sure to walk by and give you hell. In the fading light Daisy’s eyes almost glowed red. I could see the surprise in the woman’s face.
“Who are you?” she asked. She only gave me the briefest of glances before returning her attention to the car and Daisy. Really, it was as if she’d never seen a zombie dog before. Some people.
“I’m looking for Derek,” I said.
“Derek!” She had to yell loud to be heard over the din in the house.
From inside someone shouted back, “What?”
“Someone here wants to see you!” Before Derek even came to the door she vacated her watch, giving one last shuddery glance at Daisy. Maybe she went to quiet some of the kids. If so, she failed. The door remained open so I peeked inside. In the living room several kids were seated right in front of the television set watching cartoons. With all the hollering going on, I wondered how anyone could hear what SpongeBob was saying. I also wondered if the kids ever slept, as it was getting late and tomorrow would be a school day for them.
After a few minutes, a young man appeared. He wore torn jeans and an unbuttoned baseball shirt. His blond hair was trimmed so short that at first I thought he was bald. “Yes,” he asked, glaring at me.
“Derek Schneider?” I asked.
He looked me over and apparently came to the conclusion that I wasn’t a threat. He was pretty muscular and had a good ten pounds on me, so he was undoubtedly right. He nodded.
“My name is Duncan Andrews. I’m actually looking for Brenda Sanderson. I have reason to believe she might be staying here.”
He immediately tensed up, squaring his shoulders. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, you, for one thing,” I said. “If she wasn’t here, you’d have said who wants to know or given me a flat out denial that she was here. As it is—”
I didn’t see the punch coming. That’s what I get for enjoying the sound of my own voice. Derek slammed his right fist into my gut, doubling me over. As I bent he hit me again, this time with a nice left hook. If my body wasn’t screaming from the jolt of pain, I might have admired his technique. As it was, I fell back, landing on my keister in the dirt. I was shaking the cobwebs out of my brain and trying to scramble back to my feet when I saw a small blur go by me. It wasn’t until I heard an agonized yell from Derek that I realized that Daisy had bolted from the car and was even now attacking Derek. When the mental fog lifted, and I could actually see clearly, I saw Derek hopping on the rickety steps, trying to dislodge the dog that had clamped onto his calf. With a tearing of cloth Daisy managed to bite a large chunk of his flesh. She gobbled it happily.
I got to my feet, holding my aching jaw. Derek had both hands covering his wound and was cursing up a storm. Blood was gushing all over his hands. He hadn’t had all that much color to begin with. Now his pallor resembled that of Robbie on a sunny day.
“That dog bit me!” Pain made his voice come out as a squeak. “I think it wants to eat me!”
Indeed, Daisy was watching him carefully and licking her chops, wondering if another taste of Derek might be in order.
A smallish young woman with extremely large breasts came bounding out of the house. She threw her arms around Derek and shouted, “Oh, baby, are you hurt?”
I’d found Brenda Sanderson.