Dead Man's Hand by Richard Levesque

Author:Richard Levesque
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: paranormal crime, paranormal mystery series, paranormal zombies, paranormal and urban fantasy, noir mystery, paranormal urban zombie books, paranormal fiction series, paranormal creatures, noir fantasy, paranormal detective

Five

It was easy enough to find the spot where Drea’s van had stopped sending signals. The driver had taken his undead passengers from the heart of the city’s industrial zone and almost to its edge when things had gone wrong. A few more blocks and he’d have been in a more suburban area. If the zombies were loose, one or two might have made it that far already, but I doubted that was the case. If that had happened, there would have been reports by now. Helicopters with searchlights would have been crisscrossing the skyline, and the roads would have been blocked by squad cars and growling German Shepherds barely held back on leashes.

As it was, the street was quiet. Nothing crisscrossed the skyline but wires strung between poles, and the only growls I heard came from a pair of cats squaring off over territory in a nearby alley. I parked and got out of my car, walking along the dotted white line that ran up the center of the street. According to Drea’s data, her van’s GPS had cut out in the middle of this block, which made a car accident seem unusual. Either her driver had been incompetent when it came to strapping in his cargo or the Grommets had gotten to him and he’d had a meet-up somewhere along this street, at which point the GPS could have been disabled, the driver paid off, and the vanload of zombies taken wherever the Grommets wanted.

Several yards from where I started, I caught a glint on the pavement and stooped to get a closer look. A few dozen fragments of orange or yellow plastic were scattered around my feet. I picked up one of the bigger pieces, about the size of my thumbnail, and held it up to one of the streetlights. It looked like the kind of reflective plastic they use for turn signals on cars. A closer look at the pavement revealed some pretty fresh skid marks close by. It wasn’t proof that something had happened to the van, but I had to re-evaluate my accident theory.

I stood up and looked around, turning a full circle and then back again. Then a smile broke out on my face, and I crossed to the other side of the street. A little red car was parked there. It had a small dent in its front fender and the turn signal’s plastic lens was gone. When I got closer to it, I saw a scrape of white paint in the middle of the dented fender. And next to the dent, the car’s emblem read “Getabout.”

“Well, how about that,” I said to the car, patting its bruised fender.

After shining a light into the windows for any signs of life and coming up with nothing, I headed back to my car with my phone out and Pixel’s number already on the screen.

She answered on the third ring. “Ace! Have you got it worked out?”

“Not yet,” I said.

“This thing isn’t getting any fresher.”

“I’m sure.

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