Author: Bob

The call came at about mid-morning. Hargrave asked if I could bring Sammy and meet the sergeant and Stan at Stan’s farm. Twenty minutes later, the dog and I pulled up in front of the barn.

Only about a quarter of the house still stood. What had been the back corner of the old four-square rose up, charred, with burnt rubble around its base. Much of the ruins had collapsed into the basement. The gray of the smoked outer walls was just a little darker than that of the clouds.

A couple of trucks from the sheriff’s department sat in the drive. Stan stood with some deputies near his own truck, having a conversation with them. I recognized one of the deputies as the one behind the reception desk on the day I first met Stan. The old farmer looked like he did the other day, except for the bandage on his right hand.

I slid out of the driver’s seat; cold air flooded past the collar of my coat and down my back, giving me a chill. Crossing to the passenger side of the van, I let Sammy out. The poor old fellow half climbed and half fell to the muddy ground. Once out, he sniffed. The scents gave him energy.

Before I knew what he was doing, Sammy ran in the direction of Stan. The liveliness of the dog surprised me.

Stan saw him and, growing his own wings, rushed over to meet his old friend.

Everyone stopped to watch the man and his dog reunited, with Sammy leaping up and Stan kneeling down. I wouldn’t have guessed that either was capable of that.

Hargrave approached me, his hands in his pockets. “Thanks for coming out,” he said.

“Glad to do it.” I nodded toward Stan and Sammy. “What’s the status?”

“We reached Mary Sweigart. She wasn’t sure about having a dog in the building, but finally decided it would be okay. We’ll be headed that way when we leave. Stan will take his own truck. It looks like the bad guys got to it and stole anything not locked down.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know who these bad guys were, but I really wanted something unpleasant to happen to them, and I usually didn’t think that way.

“One more thing,” he continued. “Would you mind going along? It might be nice if you could make the introductions since it was your idea.”

“Sure,” I said, “I would be happy to.” Something in the back of my mind thought it was odd for law enforcement to be getting a strange civilian involved with stuff, but I wasn’t sure what. It didn’t matter. I liked Stan and Sammy, and would probably like Mrs. Sweigart if I got to know her. Was it odd that I didn’t have any friends of my own? Not worth thinking about.

By this time, Stan, with Sammy alongside, came up to me to shake my hand. “I can’t thank you enough, Timmy.”

I shook his hand, trying to be mindful of the bandages.

“You took in Sammy, and the deputy here says you’re the one who suggested me a place to stay. All that for some old man you only just met. That’s a real saint there,” He kept shaking my hand.

“I’m glad I could help,” I said, trying to wind down the shake and extract my hand. “I’ve been in a bad spot myself before and it was others who helped, so I kind of understand.”

He stood there grinning.

I started to feel really uncomfortable, so I decided to change the subject. “Have you had a chance to call your insurance company yet?”

“No,” he said, “I’ll have to give them a call Monday. I should be a little more settled by then. I don’t see no point in rebuilding unless my son or daughter want to. The fields are still rented out and the buildings are past using for anything. Farming has just changed too much.”

I could see his point. With industrial agriculture over the past decades, the old family farms had slowly died out. It was like with the corn cribs. When combines became a thing, there was no need to store corn still on the cob. The kernels could dry in the big metal bins and the old cribs could collapse to form nests for meth rats.

Glancing over the farm, it was easy to see that the buildings would be hard to salvage. Age, weather, and disrepair had pushed them past the point of no return. The house had been the last reason to be on this farmstead, and now junkies had done what time couldn’t.

What was that? Something looked wrong.

I moved away from Stan and the sergeant and a little closer to the feedlot Stan walked me through on my last visit.

Yes, that was definitely wrong.

“Sergeant? Have your people checked on that?” I pointed toward the old graveyard.

Hargrave moved next to me and tried to follow my pointing finger. “What do you see?”

“In the graveyard,” I said. “I see something black.”

“Black? What kind of something?” I noticed that he motioned for the other deputies to come over.

I strained to see better but couldn’t. “I don’t know what it is, but I have a bad feeling about what it may be.”

As a group, we made our way toward the burial ground. The deputies kept a lookout on our surroundings as we went, their hands near their guns the whole time. This was unnerving all of us. The quiet of rural Iowa didn’t help at all.

Even the light wind stopped, leaving no noise at all. The almost constant whisper of the moving air through weeds and fence wires disappeared, leaving a nothingness. Being November, even the birds were gone.

As we approached the graveyard, my worry proved valid. The black thing I had seen was a pile of rich, dark topsoil. The same material that provided life-giving sustenance through farming meant something else in this antiquated graveyard, something terribly wrong.

We stopped at the fence that marked the boundary between consecrated and banal ground. From there, we could see that one of the graves stood empty. The marker stone, still in its place denoted the start of the hole in the ground. Chunks of rotted wood protruded from the mounded earth on each side, letting us know that whoever had despoiled the grave had reached the coffin within.

We all stood perfectly still, not even breathing.

Thoughts rushed through my head. Who would do this? Why would they do this? Were there any signs of cult activity? Was the body still there? If not, where was it?

Hargrave tapped me on the arm to get my attention. “Any ideas?”

Okay, it was time to get serious. If nothing else, I was sure the sergeant hadn’t made up his mind about me and was perfectly willing to believe I was involved somehow. Being professional and helpful was my best bet.

“Just speculating,” I said, “but we have bad guys who make drugs and burn down farm houses. They may have dug up a grave just to look for gold. You know, jewelry, teeth, that sort of thing.”

Hargrave nodded his approval. “That would make sense. We will have to check it out.” He motioned to one of the deputies, the one I recognized from the desk. “John, take a look. Try not to step on any recognizable footprints or any other evidence. See if they got to the body.”

John pressed his lips together and swallowed while staring at the grave. I got the impression he was not happy about his new assignment. Taking a deep breath, he stepped closer to the fence and then over it.

Scanning the ground before him, he carefully made his way to the disturbed earth. Once noticed, there was an obvious path where the grass had been stomped down. The path led from the corner of the graveyard closest to the old corn crib right up to the violated grave.

Deputy John carefully approached the black soil, and leaned to get a better look into the hole.

Hargrave called out, “Did they get to the body?”

John righted himself and responded, “What body? I can see parts of the coffin, but there’s no sign of a body there.”

“Damn it,” Hargrave muttered. “Alright,” he called to John, “Come on back, but be careful.”

While John came back, the sergeant gathered the rest of us back together. “So here’s the plan,” he started. He pointed to me, “You and Stan go on back to town and get Stan settled in his new place. I’ll check in with you later.” Then he turned to the two deputies. “The two of you stand guard out here until I can get someone to relieve you. This is now a crime scene, but it’s a little beyond our usual area. I’ll put a call into DCI and the state archaeologist.”

Stan looked puzzled. “Archaeologist?”

“Yep,” said Hargrave, “when dealing with any human remains more than a hundred years old, the state archaeologist has to be involved. It’s good too. They may not know much about our crime scene techniques, but they know all about the old stuff. Their expertise will see things we wouldn’t.”

John and the other deputy didn’t seem happy with the situation. “Better go get the thermos,” said the one that wasn’t John, and John started a jog back toward the trucks.

Stan, Sammy, and I also headed back toward the vehicles. I thought I heard Hargrave tell the remaining deputy to stay on his toes because “these guys” were violent. I assumed he meant the bad guys and I agreed with his assessment. They had already shot at an old farmer and burned his house down around him.

A few minutes later, and I was headed back to Mrs. Sweigart’s apartment building, with Stan and Sammy’s pickup following behind. At least that wouldn’t be too dangerous.

Leaving the farm should have put me at ease, but it didn’t. I could deal with meth heads digging up a corpse to steal gold teeth or something. What bugged me was why they would take the entire body.

Maybe the remains were still there but the deputy couldn’t see them. More than a century of interment would rot most of a body. If the vandals crushed or scattered the rest, it would not look like a body. If the state archaeologist found the rest of the remains, it would make me very happy.

If the body really was gone, though…

I spent Thursday in uneventful research and planned the same for Friday. A lunchtime phone call disrupted those plans.

“Hello, Mr. Hunt,” said the now familiar voice of Sergeant Hargrave. “Would you be able to meet me at the hospital? I’m at room 314.”

“Sure, I’ll be right there.”

We only had one hospital in the county, so I knew which one he meant. What I didn’t know was why he wanted to meet me there. Was it Mrs. Sweigart? Was it one of the kids?

I grabbed my coat and headed out into another cloudy November afternoon.

There were only four floors in the newer part of the hospital; two in the old wing. Of course, the old wing was once the new part. The original had just been a doctor’s house in the late 1800s. The current iteration was about the fourth or fifth. Like most rural Iowa counties, we were lucky to have this.

The visitor parking lot never held many cars in its relatively small space. Puddles gathered in the potholes. I parked, walked around the low spots, and went through the main entrance. The automatic doors swished open. Heated air rushed down and past me, carrying the scent of disinfectant and flowers. Natural defenses closed my airway for a moment.

Making it through, I continued to the reception desk. “Hi, I need to find room 314.”

The woman behind the desk, probably into her fifties, looked up at me, lost her smile, and looked to her left.

I looked to the same place and saw a deputy.

I hadn’t seen this one before. In his thirties, probably, and a little portly, but I had no doubts about his abilities. As he approached, he placed his hand on top of the holster of his side arm.

Wanting to deescalate the situation, I introduced myself. “I’m Timmy Hunt. Sergeant Hargrave asked me to come down.”

The deputy stopped, but reared back just enough to look down on me in a threatening way. “Do you have any I. D. on you, sir?”

“Sure, it’s in my wallet.” In a slow and deliberate fashion, I retrieved my wallet from my right front pants pocket. Digging out my drivers’ license, I presented it to the deputy.

He looked it over thoroughly, both front and back, and handed it back to me. “Follow me,” he ordered. Then he turned and marched back the direction from which he came.

We walked to the elevators; he pushed the “up” button. We stood awkwardly, waiting for the elevator. At least he had removed his hand from his weapon.

After a tense elevator ride to the third floor, he guided me down the hallway and around a corner where we found the sergeant.

Hargrave nodded to my escort and said, “Thanks, Mark. Go back to the front to see if anybody else shows up.” With Mark heading back, Hargrave motioned me closer.

He leaned in to speak softly. “A couple of days ago, you reported a possible meth lab on the farm of Stanley Loffland. We investigated and you were right. Last night, they apparently came back.”

All the strength drained out of me before my conscious mind could even piece together what he was saying. They came back and they hurt Stan and that’s why we were at the hospital. Stan was on the other side of that door.

The sergeant must have guessed what I was going through; he put his hand on my upper arm to steady me. Good thing he did. I felt like I would fall over. The sudden firmness of his grip also snapped me back to the moment at hand. This was not the time to make this about me; I needed to be strong for Stan. The same Stan I didn’t really know and only met once the other day. I was too much of a softee.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.

Hargrave sort of smiled, at least half of his mouth did. “Sure, he’s going to be fine. He had a little smoke inhalation and minor burns on his arm. The docs say he’ll be able to leave tomorrow.”

That was enough of a relief to take me to the next level, the questioning level. “What happened? Do you know who did it?”

“All we know is this,” he answered. “Last night, about nine o’clock, Mr. Loffland called nine-one-one saying someone was trying to break in. On the call, there was the sound of a couple of gunshots, and then the call ended. When the deputies arrived, the house was engulfed in flames.

“Mr. Loffland said he could see three of them in the yard and that one of them fired a pistol toward him, hitting the house. Loffland fired his shotgun in their direction and they scattered. The next he saw of them, they were throwing cans of something at his front porch. Before he knew it, the house was on fire.”

All I could do was lower my head and shake it from side to side. Some morons decided to shoot at an old man and burn his house down for no good reason. Honestly, I never understood how that gets into people’s brains.

Sure, I knew about social classes, group identities, and addictions. My own father did all kinds of things because of his alcohol problem. What about these guys, though? Were they on meth? Did they do this just to feel powerful, like they weren’t small in a big world? I just didn’t get it.

None of that mattered at the moment. Stan was the issue. “How can I help,” I asked the sergeant.

Hargrave’s smile was friendly while also suggesting that I just walked into his trap. “I’m glad you asked,” he said. “Mr. Loffland said you got on really well with his dog when you visited. He is concerned, and I agree with his concern, that leaving the dog at the farm would be a bad idea. Since we are still trying to reach Mr. Loffland’s family, he suggested that you might be able to take care of the dog until Mr. Loffland is released from the hospital tomorrow.” He finished by tilting his head slightly and raising his eyebrows in an ‘are you going to do it?’ expression.

My mind raced through all the things back at my place that may pose a threat to a dog. Most everything sat behind locks, so that wouldn’t be any trouble. There was some space outside for activities needing to be done outside. Sammy seemed to be an old, low energy dog. The only problem would be if I needed to run off on an investigation.

It was only for one night. What’s the worst that could happen?

I felt like I jinxed myself by asking that.

“Sure,” I answered, “I’ll be happy to look after Sammy. Where can I find him?”

“He’s being kept at the sheriff’s office. It didn’t seem safe to leave the old boy out at the farm.”

That was settled then. “Great, I’ll swing by and get him when I leave here. Though I probably need to swing by the store and get dog food or something. What about Stan. You said he can leave tomorrow. It’s probably a bad idea to go back to the farm. Where’s he planning to go?”

The sergeant nodded. “You’re right about the farm. There’s not enough of the house to live in. We’re hoping to reach his son and daughter to see if they have a place for him.”

I remembered Stan saying that his kids lived out of state and that he hadn’t heard from them in a while. Even if they could give him a place, it may take a few days to get things together. An idea popped into my head.

“Sergeant, if it’s going to be a while before his kids can get him settled, I might have a solution. You know that apartment building out on Field Street? The one where you arrested those kids the other day? I think two of the apartments are empty and you also arrested the handyman who helped out around there. Mary Sweigart owns the building and says she’s had trouble getting any tennents. She might be willing to let Stan stay there, especially if he can look at some of the little things that need fixed.”

Hargrave seemed to ponder that for a moment before deciding that it was an option to keep available. I gave him Mrs. Sweigart’s phone number.

I was about to leave when something else popped into my head. “One more thing, Sergeant. I saw on the news that Johnny Franks was suspected in some burglaries in addition to breaking into Mrs. Sweigart’s apartment building.”

He held up his hand, palm forward, to stop me. “I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation.”

“I get that,” I said, “but I have a sort of peripheral concern. He will probably figure out that I’m the one who called you guys. Do you think I’m in any real danger? Should I be taking extra precautions?”

He looked into space for a moment while mentally modeling the scenarios where great harm befell my person and what I could do to make sure I died pleasantly. When he came back, he said, “That’s a possibility. I wouldn’t worry too much, but if you notice him in your area more than you think is normal or if he shows up, give us a call.”

“Thanks, I will.” And with that, I left.

I thought about where to get dog food. The grocery store near downtown was small but had plenty. It started life as a one room place with a wooden facade, probably predating the Iowa Grocery Industry Association. Over the decades, it kept pace right up to the supermarket trend. There, it stopped, so much of it still looked like it was from the early 1970s. I wasn’t sure I wanted to navigate a whole store just for one day’s worth of dog food. That also left out the new chain superstore on the edge of town.

I finally settled on the convenience store. Ignoring the tempting scent of coffee and donuts, I found the dog food. Fortunately, there wasn’t much to pick from, so I just grabbed a couple of cans and was on my way.

At the sheriff’s station, I identified myself and explained what I was there for. Sammy sat on the floor behind the reception desk. The deputy got him up and out through the security door.

“Hey there, Sammy,” I said, trying to be upbeat. Some T. V. show or other said that dogs would follow the emotional lead of those around them.

He perked up a little upon hearing his name. With what energy he could muster, he plodded over to me and sniffed my leg. That must have gotten his attention because he made the effort to lift his head to look at me.

I knelt down to scratch behind his ears. In addition to the scent of large dog, there was the hint of smoke. “Good news, Sammy,” I said, “You get to stay with me tonight.”

His tired expression suggested he had no idea what I was saying but that he didn’t have the energy to pursue it further.

I signed some papers to denote that I took custody of Sammy. Then the poor old fellow and I headed out to the van.

Up until then, I hadn’t given any thought to where Sammy would ride. The back had plenty of room, but it also had plenty of tools and other pointy things.

In the end, Sammy let me know. Once he figured out that we were travelling in the van, he walked to the passenger side front door and stood patiently. I guessed that Stan probably let Sammy ride in the cab of his pickup and Sammy had just learned to expect this. It was okay by me.

I opened the passenger door and helped Sammy in. He sat on the floorboard with his forepaws on the seat. Once comfortable on the floor, he settled his head on the seat and prepared for the ride. Making sure his tail and legs were safe, I closed the door and went around to the other side to find my seat.

The trip home was uneventful. I had to open the passenger door when we got there, but Sammy got himself out. He also figured out what the lawn was for, so that solved one issue. Then we went in.

I wasn’t sure how Sammy would react to all the weird things in my place. He ignored most things as he sniffed around. Then he changed.

The growl surprised me.

He stood, braced as he had down on the farm, and bared his teeth at an amulet hanging on display on the wall.

The amulet was just a trinket, made of some kind of coral and gold. A chain held it up inside a small shadow box. I never thought much about it.

“What’s wrong, Sammy?” I asked.

Sammy barked twice, and resumed growling.

I wasn’t sure what the dog saw, but it seemed to be just that amulet. I took the shadow box off the wall. It was small enough, I could hide it in a desk drawer.

Sammy’s wild eyes followed the movement of the shadow box from the wall to its new hiding place. As soon as the drawer closed, Sammy calmed down.

The poor dog walked across the room toward the couch. He sniffed the rug in front of the couch before spinning a few times and settling down. Within minutes, he was asleep.

I sat at my desk and, very slowly, slid the desk drawer open. I could see the amulet very clearly. Why would it upset the dog? A friend gave it to me a few years earlier, but I couldn’t think of all the details. It would require research.

I got up promptly at six o’clock just like always. Not having a real job, it would have been easy to fall into the slovenly, lazy pattern most people assumed I had. I knew that was a bad path to take, so I treated my hobby like a real job and tried to maintain professional hours.

Anyway, a few shakes of the head and some blinking of the eyes, and any memory of a gray face with black, hollow eyes faded away to wherever dreams go in the morning.

After calisthenics, breakfast, and a shower, I was ready to go. It was my practice to document every investigation in great detail. Where I went and when, as well as who I interacted with. I even kept track of the mileage driving to and from. Again, had to run it like a real job.

By the time I had them filed and cross referenced in my database, making the formal reports took all morning. It was good to have computer skills. That left me with lunch, posting the reports on the website, and it occurred to me that I should warn Rick that I had sent someone his way.

“Hi, Rick, it’s me, Timmy Hunt,” I said into the phone.

“Hey Timmy, what can I do for you today?” He was always offering to do things for people, which was his polite way of asking for business. He was a nice guy and did the best he could for his clients, but he needed to make his own money too.

I decided to keep it short. “Hey, Rick, I just wanted to give you a heads-up. I gave your number to a woman named Mary Sweigart yesterday. It seems that she doesn’t know how to handle money since her husband passed away. Now she has a house and an apartment building to take care of and isn’t doing a great job at either. Sounds like she could benefit from your services.” Okay, maybe not that short.

Rick chuckled. “You always run into all the sad stories. At least it’s good for business. I’ll look for her call. How are you doing?”

One of the things about Rick being a nice guy was that he genuinely cared about people, especially his clients. He handled my money really well and I doubted that I would ever be broke, but he worried that my zombie sideline was maybe not psychologically healthy and that I might be better off with a more traditional business or career. It was probably odd that my financial advisor was one of the few people in my life who worried about me.

“I’m doing okay,” I said. “Expenses are down and the merchandise sales on the website are more than enough to keep the site running.”

“Well that’s good,” he said. I heard the concern and slight disappointment in his tone. “Have you thought of any ways to expand your zombie-themed empire for a better revenue stream?”

“No,” I chuckled, “not yet. If I think of something, I will definitely let you know.”

We said our goodbyes and I went on with the rest of my day.

In most cases, I rewrote the reports for posting on my website. Visitors to the site liked to read what I had been up to, or that’s what the web traffic reports said. For each report, I left out the real names and addresses of the persons involved. I also tended to leave the results more vague and the language more sensational. The most popular of the so-called cases read like they could still be signs of a zombie presence. Telling the readers blatantly that the zombie turned out to be a drunk guy wasn’t going to attract them to the site or sell them any of the merchandise that paid for the site.

It was a little after two o’clock when the phone rang.

“Hello, Mr. Hunt,” said the familiar voice. “This is Sergeant Hargrave of the Abish County Sheriff’s Department. I’ve got a few questions. Can I get you to come down to the sheriff’s station?”

The call caught me off guard, but my be-nice-to-cops defense mechanism kicked in. “Sure,” I said, “when would you like me there?

“As soon as you can get here would be good.” The words were very polite, but the tone carried a bit of command.

“I’m on my way then,” I said. “It should be about fifteen minutes.”

With that, I was on my way back to the sheriff’s office. Second time in two days, what were the odds of that?

Then a thought struck me, I hope Stan and Sammy were okay. A quick flash of the two of them lying on the ground and full of bullet holes popped in my head. A shudder ran up my spine.

I shook my head. No, that wasn’t it. There had to be something else. It seemed more likely to involve Johnny Franks. I called in the dunk guy report and gave my name. If they talked to him, he would have said he already talked to me. Why didn’t I mention that when I made my call? What was I trying to hide?

The whole drive to the office had worries, fears, and wild scenarios running wild through my brain. It was a relief to get there.

The big window had a different deputy at the desk this time. I explained that Sergeant Hargrave had called me. The deputy shared some muffled yelling in the direction of the sergeant’s office and then told me to come through.

As I passed the heavy door, Hargrave stepped out of his office to greet me. “Thank you for coming down, Mr. Hunt. I’m hoping you may be able to help clear some things up for me. Come on back.” He motioned the direction of a hallway that led further into the station and then started walking.

I followed him down. He seemed friendly enough, but I wasn’t sure why he couldn’t ask questions in his office like last time. It set my heart rate up a little.

We walked past a small waiting area, basically an alcove in the wall, with several chairs, then down the hallway lined with doors to various offices.

Despite the general upkeep, it was obvious the front part of the building was old. The plaster walls had been patched repeatedly and carried who knew how many layers of paint. The yellow varnish on the wood trim and baseboards cracked and crazed. It looked like someone replaced the light fixtures, probably back in the eighties. Even though the main scent in the air was coffee, there was a faint hint of ancient cigarette left from the days when that was allowed.

The plaster gave way to drywall and newer lights, to be followed by cinder block walls awash with white paint. He led me through a metal door in this section. The room was dark, but I could see a wood table and a couple of wood chairs. It looked like an interrogation room from a cop show on T.V.

He closed the door behind us and then crossed to the wide wall on the side of the room. I hadn’t noticed at first, but there was a window with a shade pulled down over it. Hargrave opened the shade to show another room on the other side, this one lighted.

“Are these yours?” he asked.

The other room looked the same as this one, complete with table and chairs, but those chairs were occupied. At least three of them were. What did they call themselves? Revenant Rangers? I rolled my eyes and let out a heavy breath. “No,” I answered, “but I kind of know who they are.”

Hargrave let the shade close again and then he sat in one of the chairs. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

Without thinking, I sat down across the table from him and started my tale. “I was called out to look into some noises in a basement. While I was there, these boys recognized my van and stopped to ask if they could help.”

“Why would they recognize your van?” he asked.

That disrupted the flow of my story, but I recovered quickly. “They said they were big fans of my website and recognized the logo. They want to be zombie hunters.”

He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

I was used to the skeptics, but it was still uncomfortable. I decided to get to the good part. “At that moment, they were making my client uncomfortable, so I asked them to go wait by their car until I was finished. They did that. I finished up and then I had a talk with them.”

“And what did you tell them?”

I inhaled deeply to have enough air to give a long, uninterrupted description. “When they said they wanted to hunt zombies, I told them that it was too dangerous and that they should limit themselves to reading about it. I also told them that I had gone to college and, exaggerating a little, said that I was highly trained. With that settled, I gave them a couple of harmless souvenirs from stuff in the back of the van and they left.”

He just sat, looking at me.

My mind went back to something I read about the easiest way to get someone to keep talking was to just look at them expectantly until they became really uncomfortable and would talk just to break the tension. It was working because that tension was really building. The only problem was that I didn’t have anything else to say.

He shifted the tilt of his head to the other side. It was subtle, but there. “Is that the last you saw of them until just now?”

“Yeah,” I started, then, “no, wait. On my way home, I stopped at the convenience store to get something to drink. When I pulled out to leave, I’m pretty sure I saw their car go down the street headed west.”

“Headed in the direction of Field Street?” he asked.

“I think so,” I said. Then I froze. I didn’t want him to see that I froze, but I definitely froze. Mrs. Sweigart’s apartment building was on Field Street.

I think Hargrave was about to say something, but a knock on the door interrupted. The deputy from yesterday’s front desk popped his head in. He looked at me for a moment and then turned to the sergeant. “Got something for you,” he said. Then he looked back at me.

Hargrave tapped the table firmly with the index and middle fingers of his right hand. “Sit tight,” he instructed, “I’ll be right back.” He rose from the chair and exited with the deputy.

It was time to sit and try to remain calm. That wasn’t happening as well as I wanted. The kids had gone back to Mrs. Sweigart’s place and got themselves into trouble on a zombie hunt. In police custody, they talked about me and now me, the weirdo, was going to be in hot water for contributing to the delinquency of a minor or something.

Breathe in; breathe out. I needed to calm down.

Unless the boys lied about something I couldn’t disprove, my story would hold up fine. At most, I would get a stern talking to by Sergeant Hargrave. Then, if I was around when the kid’s parents showed up, they would glare at me and tell me to stay away from their children. The boys would be told to stop going to ‘that site’ and maybe get grounded. It would all be unpleasant, but that’s all the further it should go, probably.

Hargrave came back in, shut the door, and sat down. This time he had his notebook and some papers. He shifted a little to get comfortable, not a good sign, and prepared his pen for note taking. “Tell me about this client you were visiting,” he said.

I assumed that he would get everything out of me eventually, so my best bet was to be as upfront as possible. “Mary Sweigart owns the little apartment building over on Field Street. She had been having trouble with noises in the basement and asked me to take a look. I didn’t find anything other than signs of some mice. The real problem was the outside cellar door. Someone had broken the lock a couple of times.”

Hargrave stopped writing and looked up at me. The expression suggested that broken locks should have figured more heavily in the story. Lesson learned.

“So, I talked with her and one of her tenants, a woman named, hold on.” I fished my own notebook out of my pocket. “Her name was Edna, but I didn’t get her last name. She had a small bite on her leg that looked like it might be a mouse bite. I strongly suggested that she seek medical attention.”

Hargrave made a couple of slight nods as he finished writing in his notebook. “Tell me more about these locks.”

I made a show of looking at my notes more thoroughly, hoping that he would trust me more for some reason. “I only saw parts of one of the locks. It was on the ground near the cellar doors. I didn’t touch it or anything. It was a padlock and it looked like the round part where you put the key was sticking out the bottom in a weird way. I figured that was how it was broken, but I don’t know much about locks.”

He made a few more scribbles before his next question. “Did you charge Mary Sweigart for your services?”

There was still the worry about a scam. It was reasonable; I had seen my share of scams. “No, I didn’t charge her anything. I did give her the name of a financial advisor. She said she’s struggled with money since her husband passed away, so I figured she could use the help.”

I could hear movement in the other room. As people moved out into the hallway, I heard what I assumed to be a mother expressing her displeasure at having to come to collect her teen son at the police station. It suddenly felt much more comfortable to be in the small, dark room being interrogated by Sergeant Hargrave.

While we waited for the hallway show to migrate toward the front of the building, Hargrave looked through some of the papers he brought in with him. “It says here you made a nine-one-one call last night.” His expression suggested that I should tell him about it.

Again, spilling everything seemed the best course of action. “Just before I left Mrs. Sweigart’s apartment building, I saw someone walking toward the back. It didn’t look like any of the tenants, as far as I knew, so I went to see what was going on.”

He kept writing.

“When I got to the back,” I continued,”I found Johnny Franks. He does maintenance at the apartment building as a favor to Mrs. Sweigart. At that time, though, he was very drunk. He confessed that he was the one who broke the locks and was going into the basement. He said he did it to get away from his mother who lives with him.”

Hargrave interrupted, “Why did he break the locks instead of just using the key?”

“I asked him the same thing. He said he left the key at home and didn’t want to face his mother just to go get it. He said he replaced the locks, so it was okay.” I paused a moment for some reason; it just seemed like a good place to do it. I figured it gave the sergeant enough time to finish writing.

“Anyway,” I went on, “I had him promise that he would make a duplicate key and keep it someplace safe that was not at home so he could stop scaring Mrs. Sweigart and her renters. Then he begged me not to tell, and I assured him I wouldn’t, even though that seemed like a bad idea. I asked him if he was going to be okay, and he said he was going to sit and rest a bit and then go home.”

Hargrave finished the current lines and waited for the next part.

I decided to wrap it up quickly. “I left but then started worrying that if Johnny passed out there in the cold he would freeze by morning, so I made the nine-one-one call to have him checked on.”

That seemed to satisfy the sergeant on that matter at least. “It’s probably a good thing that you did. They found him passed out behind the building, so you probably saved his life.” He sat the papers down, flipped back a page in his notebook to review, and then returned to the current page. “Why do you think Mary Sweigart called you about the disturbance instead of calling law enforcement.”

I had hoped he would skip over that detail. “I have no idea, really. I’m not even sure how she would have found my website; she doesn’t seem the type. I have a guess or two, but they would just be guesses.”

“What would those guesses be?”

I really didn’t want to get Mrs. Sweigart into any trouble, but we seemed to be past that point. Maybe it would do some good. “My first guess was that the apartment building isn’t in a really good state of repair. Since she relies on the income from the building but doesn’t know how to bring it up to where it should be, she is probably afraid of being cited and having the building shut down. That’s my best guess.”

Hargrave looked up from his notebook. “So there isn’t a graveyard out back or any strange symbols anywhere?”

“Not that I am aware,” I said. “I really just think she needed somebody to come out and reassure her, but didn’t want anyone official.”

That seemed to satisfy him.

He gathered up his things and stood. “I appreciate you coming down, Mr. Hunt. I hope you will be able to avoid attracting anymore helpers and that you will continue to refer non-zombie activities to the authorities.” Though the words seemed just a tad jovial, there was still that warning just under the surface. That was a neat trick; I would have to look up how to do that.

He led me back to the front of the building. Two occupants sat in the waiting area. The first was a girl, probably in her mid-teens. She wore all black pants, shirt, coat, and makeup. We didn’t have many goths in the area, so she stood out.

The person sitting next to her was the older of the Revenant Rangers. He leaned in with the clumsy flirting skills of someone his age. When he saw me, he perked up and pointed. “That’s him! That’s Timmy Hunt, the zombie guy.”

The girl looked up at me. She tried hard to keep expressionless, but there was the slightest hint of curiosity. Just what I needed, more kids trying to join the troop.

I pointed to the boy. “Let’s see, you’re, uh, Jake, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he replied, way too overjoyed at being remembered. He pointed to the girl. “This is Sarah. Some pervert tried to get too fresh with her so she cut him and he ran off. We both have to wait until our parents get here before we can leave.”

I felt bad for the boy’s parents if this was what he was like all the time; he had way too much energy. I also thought that if their parents didn’t come in soon, it was likely that Sarah was going to cut him too.

Still, I should at least put on a good show for the deputies. I looked down at Jake with my best stern expression. “Didn’t I tell you fellows to stay out of trouble? That investigating zombies should be left to trained professionals? So now I find you here because you got yourselves in trouble.”

The boy’s expression changed as he deflated a bit. “Sorry,” he said, “We let our curiosity get loose and weren’t thinking right. I hope we didn’t mess up anything you were doing out there?”

I wasn’t good at being the bad guy, but I tried a little more. “You be sure to stay out of trouble from now on. And that goes for your friends too, so pass it along.”

“I will, I swear it.” He held up his hand in a swearing position.

I nodded acceptance. “Good,” I said and turned away.

Sergeant Hargrave let me out through the secure door. As I left, I heard Jake telling Sarah, “I got my own car.”

I drove home and finished the website version of my reports. By the time they were posted, it was nearly six o’clock. I turned on the T. V. news while heating a can of soup.

I liked to keep track of the events of the day, but I never paid too much attention. I couldn’t do anything about most of the things in the world. I mean, I still voted on election day and stuff like that, but most of the time they didn’t need me in the way.

This time, however, something caught my attention. It was just a name: Johnny Franks.

The anchor woman read on, “… suspected in a string of burglaries over the past several months. Police arrested Franks last night behind an apartment building on Field Street. The initial arrest was for public intoxication and resisting arrest. He was found near a broken lock that matched broken locks at other crime scenes. We’ll have more as this story develops.”

Oops. As I stirred my small pot of soup, I wondered about all that. Was it just a coincidence that Johnny broke locks the same was as the other thieves or was he the thief? If it was just a coincidence, I was going to feel really bad about calling the cops on him. On the other hand, maybe he was the thief. I didn’t really know him, so I wasn’t in a position to judge.

It occurred to me that Mrs. Sweigart no longer had a handyman, and she really needed one. That could go poorly for her.

I poured the soup from the pot into a bowl. Very little scent rose up because it was just a cheap, vegetable soup. I could afford better, but didn’t want to spend money unnecessarily. Still, it was important to keep to the routines of civilization to avoid becoming a complete slob.

Poor, poor Mrs. Sweigart.

Grabbing a spoon and carrying the bowl to the table, I sat down to eat.

And stopped.

Something occurred to me. Whether Johnny was a crook or not, he would probably figure out that I narced on him. He probably would not be happy about that. He was pretty big and looked rough.

I just sort of stared into space for a bit.

My soup got cold.

A silhouette in the form of a large man, stooped over at the shoulders, staggered in a zigzag path until it vanished behind the building. The street light didn’t extend far enough for me to see any other details, and the low November clouds made things worse.

My pulse raced and my fingers squeezed tight on the steering wheel of the van. I told Mrs. Sweigart I would follow up on things, but didn’t expect to find anything. Now this.

Grabbing my flashlight, I prepared to go check. Stepping out of the van, I realized how much the temperature had dropped since I first arrived. It seemed the wind had picked up too. That’s why a shiver went up my spine and my teeth chattered. Yep, it had to be that and nothing else. I forced myself to breathe slowly. Every exhale turned to fog in the autumn air. Every inhale burned the inside of my nose. Time to go.

I ran as quietly as possible to the side of the building. The muddy yard had grown crisp in the cold, making a crunch with almost every step.

Once at the side of the building, I slowed to be more careful. Pressing close to, but not touching, the building hid my own silhouette. Unkempt grass grew tall next to the wall, crunching more than the mud.

I finally reached the corner. This was going to be the dangerous part. Or the stupid part. Probably dangerous and stupid. Mostly stupid. I took a couple of slow breaths to steady my nerves and then looked around the corner.

The man-shape loomed over the cellar doors. It seemed to lean against the counterweight pole.

It was confrontation time, brave zombie hunter.

Turning on my flashlight, I stepped from behind the corner and toward the thing. I didn’t move too far since I still wanted to be able to run away if needed. Using my best authoritarian voice, I demanded, “What’s going on here?”

The man thing raised its head and managed to turn unsteadily to face me. The unshaven face seemed a bit reddish. A light change in the night breeze blew past him and brought the scent of alcohol and sweat. The eyes squinted, but that could have been because I was shining a light into them.

He raised his outstretched hand to block some of the light and uttered, “What?”

“You heard me,” I continued. “Who are you? What are you doing there?”

“Uhm,” he muttered. “I, uh, I work here.” His slurred speech suggested that he drank here too.

Again, just some guy and not the undead. I really didn’t need to deal with this crap; the police were for the living, I should only work with the dead. Anyway, I already started it so I had to finish it. “Work here? At this time of night? You got some I. D. on you?” I kept the light in his eyes hoping that if he didn’t see me he might think I had more authority than I really did.

“Yeah,” he said. His hand dropped as he reached for the wallet in his pocket. He wore a heavy, brown coat that should be warm enough, but was otherwise in jeans and work boots. I guessed he was in some sort of construction or other outdoor labor field. He struggled to pull the wallet out of his pants pocket and then dug out a drivers’ license. “This is me. I’m Johnny Franks.”

That matched my suspicions, but confirmation was good. “You’re Sheryl Franks’ boy, aren’t you? The one Mary Seigart hired to do repairs?”

Being recognized seemed to perk him up a bit. “Yeah, that’s me. I’m here to fix, uhm, something.” He pointed toward the cellar doors.

It was time to drop some of the charade. “Well, Mr. Franks, I’m Timmy Hunt. Mrs. Sweigart hired me to investigate the break-ins of her basement. I was just in the basement and didn’t see anything that needed fixed and she didn’t mention needing anything fixed. What are you really doing here?”

He seemed to realize two things. First, he figured out that I wasn’t a cop, so he wasn’t in as much trouble as he could have been. Second, he realized that he was going to have to explain why he was breaking in. It probably helped that he was drunk.

“Okay,” he started, “I wasn’t going to steal nothing or anything. I just needed a place to hang out for a while. I can’t go home yet.”

Intriguing. “Why can’t you go home?” I asked.

He hung his head down and swayed a little from side to side. “It’s my mom,” he answered. “Since she moved in she’s been driving me crazy.” There was a stronger whiff of alcohol on the air.

I hadn’t known that Sheryl was living with her son. When Mrs. Sweigart said Sheryl lost everything, she must have meant everything. That explained why Johnny needed to find a place to stay, but it didn’t answer all the questions.

“Are you the one who broke the lock?”

He looked away. “Yeah,” then added, “but I replaced it with a new one.” He paused for a moment and added, “I’m gonna replace that one too.”

The first part of the mystery was solved, but it brought more questions. “Why didn’t you just use your key? You do have a key, don’t you?”

Again, more averting of the eyes, presumably from embarrassment. The breeze tousled his hair, but something else caused the excessive blinking. “I left the key at home and didn’t want to face my mom.” He swayed more and thought for a moment while something filtered through his brain. He asked, “You’re not going to tell Mrs. Sweigart are you?”

That was a complex question. Obviously I needed to tell her something, and pointing out that her tenants and building were safe was an important part of that. She also needed the free labor from Johnny, so getting rid of him would place an extra financial burden on her. On the other hand, I was facing a large, drunk man in the dark behind a building on the outskirts of town, so some tact was warranted.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” I told him. “Can you promise me that you will get an extra key and put it someplace you can get it so you don’t have to break the locks? If you can do this, so there’s no more broken locks and the tenants aren’t complaining anymore, then this can all go away.”

The chance of escape took a circuitous route through his brain and almost brought a smile to his face, maybe; it could be hard to tell what drunk people were thinking. Still, he nodded excitedly. “I can sure do that,” he said. “I’ll get a copy of the key tomorrow.”

Hopefully, by then he would remember that the door needed a new lock as well.

With that all settled, it was time to get myself out of the situation and finally on my way to my bed. “Are you okay for now?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” He made an attempt at a dismissive wave with his right hand as he grabbed the counterweight pole with his left. “Yea, good, I’m just going to sit here a few minutes and then I’ll be on my way.”

I felt bad for him as I watched him attempt to sit cross-legged on the ground next to the door. The pole helped; without it he would have rolled onto his back and been stuck like a turtle.

Then another ethical issue popped up. Johnny wore a coat and was himself bulky, but it was a cold, November night and it was only going to get colder. If he passed out where he sat, he may not wake up in the morning. On the other hand, the cold might sober him up faster.

The wise thing to do would be to call the police to swing by and look in on him, but that led to a host of other potential problems. They could arrest him and cause him trouble with whatever job he had. Since he was taking care of his destitute mother, a job loss was serious. If the police ask why I was there or if they noticed the broken lock they might investigate further into the apartment building. They may want to know why Mrs. Sweigart didn’t call them to report a break in, which was a very suspicious thing to do.

“Alright,” I said, “Just don’t be out here too long. It’s a cold night and you don’t want to freeze to death.”

He made a half wave again. “I’ll be alright. I just need to sit for a few minutes. It’ll be okay.”

“Okay, then,” I said as I turned. “Just remember what we discussed.”

I walked back to my van and got settled in for home. I chose not to review any more emails; those could wait for the morning. With the van started, I drove away.

Halfway through town, the ethical dilemma nagged on me enough to make me stop. I pulled into a convenience store and parked. I hated being ethical. I wondered if that was why my father drank, you know, to turn off the ethics.

I cracked the driver side window hoping that some fresh air might help. The wind came in crisp and cool, but carried the scent of dirt and petroleum that you always get anywhere gas is sold. It also told me I parked downwind of the dumpsters.

The convenience store lights stabbed through the windshield, adding a sort of nighttime harshness to my setting. Night always did that anyway, but harsh commercial lighting brought its own seediness to the situation. It told you that you could easily go down a dark path that so many had travelled before, or you could choose to do the right thing.

The right thing was going to keep bothering me until I did it.

Putting off the inevitable, I went in to purchase a bottle of pop. The transaction complete, I returned to the van and picked up my phone. A quick web search gave me the non-emergency number for the sheriff’s office. The town was too small to have a police force of their own, so they contracted with the county to have the sheriff do all the work. I chose the non-emergency number because it didn’t have all the tracking stuff and this wasn’t exactly an emergency. I didn’t need to be recorded doing the right thing.

I dialed the number.

After a couple of rings, the voice on the other end said, “Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”

Crap! I forgot about it being after hours. There wouldn’t be anyone answering the non-emergency number at this hour and the calls got rerouted to the emergency line.

“Uh,” I started, “I, uh, don’t know if this is an emergency, but I saw someone lurking behind the apartment building over on Field Street. He looked like he might be drunk.”

The woman on the line asked for the exact address, so I gave it to her. Then she asked the question I dreaded, “And what is your name?”

So much for not getting involved. I gave her my name and the rest of my particulars. I let her know I was driving home when I saw the man, which was almost true, and that I waited to call until I could park someplace safe, also somewhat true. She thanked me for reporting the incident and assured me that someone would look into it.

I shouldn’t have felt so uncomfortable about any of it. I did the right thing. If Johnny died or got seriously ill from hypothermia or something, it would have been wrong. Mrs. Sweigart’s frail nerves wouldn’t have been able to take it. There would have been an investigation at the apartment building. I just hoped the police didn’t cause her any other trouble.

It had been an adventurous day with two interactions with law enforcement. In both cases, I was doing the right thing as a responsible citizen. So why did I feel so guilty? I decided it must be a societal thing. I’ve heard other people talk about getting nervous about their driving when they see a cop car even if they aren’t driving wrong.

As a kid, I only had a few interactions with the law. My father got arrested for drunk driving a couple of times and he complained about cops then. There was the incident in New Orleans where the local cops helped get me back to my class group after I got separated and, well, anyway. Then there was the day the police told me my parents were dead; but I was a freshman in college by that time.

I needed to get home and get some sleep. The cool air coming through the window felt nice, so I left it open. I backed out of my parking space and shifted into drive.

A truck from the sheriff’s department flew down the street in the direction of Mary Sweigart’s apartment building. That was good service and my part was done. My conscience could leave me alone about it.

Before I could get any further, the Revenant Rangers sped by in their car, going the same direction as the sheriff’s truck.

Nope, not my problem. I’m going home.

I walked toward the waiting boys. They all leaned against the back of a mid-nineties Corolla until they saw me approach. Then they stood upright and moved to a line on the sidewalk like soldiers awaiting inspection.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “It took a little longer than I expected.”

“That’s okay,” said the middle one, “We know you got important work to do.”

Sure, I thought, I’ve been doing important work all day. I really wanted to finish up with these fellows and get home. I may even consider going to bed at a reasonable hour. “So what can I do for you guys?”

They seemed to straighten even more and puff up their chest.

“We’re here to help,” the tall one said.

Not what I expected. “Help with what?”

That question was not what they expected. They seemed momentarily confused.

The tall one finally answered, “With your zombie hunting.”

“Yeah,” said the middle one. “We’ve read everything on your site and as much other stuff about the undead as we can.”

“You can count on us!” said the red-headed one at the end.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Based on the emails I got, I knew many of the site’s visitors were kids and many of them really wanted to fight zombies and other monsters. Most of the time, they had only movie or video game knowledge. I assumed the majority would grow out of it, at least enough to become semi-productive monster-geek citizens. It never occurred to me that some of them might show up to join the fight in person.

I had to let them down, but I didn’t want to crush their enthusiasm. In the big scheme of things, the world did need more zombie hunters. I couldn’t do it all by myself. However, a bunch of minors tagging along and getting hurt was not good for business or anything else.

I put my hands on my hips in the standard ‘take charge’ pose. “Let’s start with your names. Who are you?” I pointed to the short, red-headed one.

The red-haired one stood to attention. “I’m Logan Young.”

I nodded acknowledgment. “Great. Nice to meet you, Mr. Young.” I turned to the middle-height, blonde kid. “How about you?”

Like the first, he stood to attention. “I’m Zachary Burmeister, but everybody calls me Zach.”

“Thank you Zack,” I said before turning to the last one. “That leaves you.”

Unlike the others, he grinned and offered his hand to shake. “I’m Jake Tomlinson. It’s my car.” He nodded back toward the car.

I shook his hand. “That’s great.”

Then came the tough part; the let down. “Listen, guys, I really appreciate the offer of help, and there are plenty of times I could use it. But zombie hunting is a dangerous business that takes place at all hours of the night. I really don’t think your parents would approve if I let you guys tag along. Then there’s all the liability insurance and the legalities. Maybe when you’re over eighteen we could work something out, but there are a lot of barriers to having you guys along. I hope you understand.”

The small one, Logan I think, seemed to take it the hardest. His head hung to his chest and his shoulders slumped. The others had at least stopped beaming about the whole meeting, but were otherwise holding up.

The tall one, Jake, nodded slightly. “We get it,” he said. “We run into those kinds of obstacles all the time. Still, we’ve done a lot of reading and we could probably hold our own.”

“You probably could,” I said. “But remember, there’s a lot more to zombie hunting than just finding some and chopping them up. There are different kinds of zombies. There are people who want to create zombies and they have to be dealt with too. Then there’s all the other things. Remember, I went to college before I started all of this.” There was no need to mention that I only went for one year before dropping out and that I was a business major at the time.

I wanted to do something to cheer them up, at least a little. “Hey, come on to the back of the van; I got something for you.” It occurred to me that an adult man shouldn’t say things like that to a group of boys, but it was meant in the best sense.

I led them around to the back of the van and popped the doors open. They gawked at all the things I had inside, though it was just mostly regular tools, closed boxes, and a few strange talismans. To the young mind, everything was a delight.

One of the boxes held pamphlets that I often gave out with my services. I dug out a few copies of Signs of Zombie Activity and Wards Against the Undead. I gave each a copy of both booklets. “Here you go. Hopefully this will help you prepare in case you do run into zombies.”

They accepted them with all the enthusiasm of kids getting presents Christmas morning. Well, two of them did. Logan still seemed pretty bummed about the rejection. Still, he accepted the literature. Maybe the excitement of his friends would make him feel better.

“Thanks,” said Zach, I think it was Zach, the middle-height one.

“Yeah, thanks,” Jake added.

I closed the van doors. “Not a problem. I really appreciate you guys stopping and for visiting the website.” Pointing to the pamphlets in their hands, “You’ll have to let me know if you see something suspicious.”

That got a chorus of “we will” as we walked back toward the front of the van and their car. I hoped they would take the hint as I got into the driver seat of the van. “Have a good night, now, and be safe.”

They seemed to catch on. Clutching the little booklets, they migrated to Jake’s car. A moment later, they powered away into the night.

The attention both flattered and annoyed me. Obviously, it’s always good to have fans of your work. However, it was late and my day had turned up nothing of the undead variety. The closest thing to death was me, because I was dead tired. I wanted nothing more than to get home and get to sleep.

So naturally, a lumbering hulk shambled toward the back of the apartment building.