Page 40 of Zombie

I wanted to puke. I never wanted to be anything like my biological father, and of course naturally I had chosen a job where I did in fact know how to “slice and dice” bodies so they were untraceable.

She looked out at the crowd of men and then back at me. “Give us some insight on how we can run our operation more effectively.”

I really thought I was going to vomit right in front of everyone. I took a deep breath before answering.

I licked my dry lips and took a moment to center myself. “First, you need to be more creative when disposing of the bodies. They should not be intact, if you will. If you’re dumping the parts in the river, they should be weighed down so they don’t wash ashore as quickly. That means it will take longer for them to be found, which means they’ll be more decomposed and more difficult to analyze if they are discovered.” Everyone looked at me as if I was giving them a golden ticket to the Wonka factory.

“Perry, Phil, you will be in charge of starting this up. I will look at new locations to start putting pieces, so it slows the feds down,” Sarah said. I hated to say it, but she wasn’t dumb. Ricci had groomed her well. “Also, the auction is in three weeks, so we need to make sure our product is in tip-top shape.”

A ringing started in my ears, tuning out the rest of what Sarah was saying. She didn’t know that I knew about her involvement with Badger’s sister, and now I had only three weeks to make sure that she didn’t disappear forever.

TWENTY-NINE

LENNIE

My fingers danced on the keyboard as I tried using my analytics software to find Sarah. Now that we knew that she was responsible for the letters and taking Badger’s sister, I was being extra vigilant with my time. I wanted so desperately to find Sarah and bring her to justice.

I was hyper-focused on my screen when my phone dinged with a text.

BOHDI: Hey, any chance you have a minute to chat?

I narrowed my eyes at the text. Did he want to talk about our hookup? I thought I’d made it clear to him that I wasn’t interested. But something about his text made my hackles rise.

ME:

Sure, what’s up?

BOHDI:

Dinner tonight at Pablo’s? I’ll explain everything there.

I agreed to dinner. Hopefully he didn’t want to talk about our relationship more, but if he did, at least I would have a chance to set him straight. We worked out a time to meet, and I went back to typing on my computer.

Another text pinged on my phone, and I huffed at the interruption. When I saw the name on my phone, my frown turned upside down.

DANTE:

Do you want to get together tonight?

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of hanging out with Dante more, at the chance to get to know him more deeply.

ME:

I can after I get dinner with Bohdi.

I saw the bubbles on the phone light up before disappearing. Why did I tell him I was meeting Bohdi? He probably thought it was a date and he was sloppy seconds. Then again, screw him if he thought that way. Bohdi was my friend. A text from Dante stopped my spiraling thoughts.

DANTE:

Okay, where are you guys going?

Without thinking twice, I told him the time and place.

Later that night, I was sitting across from an unusually grumpy Bohdi. I took a bite of taco and continued to fuel the conversation, only getting small responses in return.

Something was clearly bothering him, and I wanted to know what was going on. I was talking about the latest book I was reading when Bohdi finally snapped and cut me off.

“You know I saw Zombie lurking outside your condo the other night like a total creep, right?”