Death Warmed Over - By Kevin J. Anderson Page 0,46

a cinder-block wall:

CHANEY & SON

BODY SNATCHERS FOR HIRE

At first glance the place looked as if it had gone out of business long before the Big Uneasy, but as I studied it with greater care, noted the precisely arranged old trash along the walls and the weeds that grew up between stones and chinks in the wall, I suspected that this ramshackle look was a cultivated appearance. It looked too pat, too staged.

When I edged closer, I accidentally kicked a dented beer can, making a clatter. (Have you ever seen a graceful zombie?) The two men whirled, and I melted into the shadows. I held my breath, metaphorically speaking. Where was an easily startled alley cat when you needed one? Eventually the men moved on.

Brondon Morris and Harvey Jekyll walked up to a rectangle of plywood hung on hinges, a makeshift door. Jekyll rapped on it with his knuckles, and the hinged plywood swung open, spilling yellow glow into the night. Both men shielded their eyes from the glare.

A large figure loomed in the doorway, a linebacker-sized human wearing a business suit. Behind the door guard, I spotted dozens of men inside the warehouse. I heard a buzz of conversation. A party where no one seemed to be having fun.

The door guard recognized the two new arrivals and stepped aside to let them into the warehouse. Before closing the plywood door, the big suit scanned the darkness, though he couldn’t possibly have seen anything with his eyes accustomed to the bright interior lights. He yanked the door shut.

I crept up to the Chaney & Son warehouse and discovered that the windows weren’t just boarded up: They had been packed with insulation, so that I could hear only faint muffled voices coming from within, no actual words. I approached the plywood door, hoping to discern words through the crack, but again no luck. So I melted back into the dark and waited for hours, watching, just to see what might happen.

Just before dawn, the door opened again and three disguised men emerged, scuttled around the corner, and disappeared down another street. I didn’t recognize them. Two more nondescript men left in a different direction, then another trio, and the rest came out by pairs. I counted twenty attendees at the mysterious meeting, but with all the hats and upturned collars, I had no idea which ones were Brondon and Jekyll when they left. The perfume salesman must have traded his loud plaid sport jacket for a trench coat.

The burly doorman was the last to leave. He turned off the lights, shoved the plywood door shut, then fixed two padlocks in place.

Miranda Jekyll would find this very interesting. I decided to dig into the background of the Chaney & Son building, see if I found any connections to Harvey Jekyll.

Preferably something illegal.

CHAPTER 20

Robin met me as soon as I came into the office next morning, wearing that cockeyed optimist smile of hers, along with a clean gray pantsuit; her dark hair was pulled back in a thick neat braid. She looked fresh and ready to take on the world, full of energy, even though I knew she’d been up most of the night.

In addition to sharing office space and splitting the lease, we each had a small apartment upstairs, a cramped place not much bigger than a coffin; we could have knocked down the adjoining wall to make the combined room as large as a walk-in closet, but the building owner wouldn’t allow it. Robin and I spent most of our time at work anyway; I’d never been much of a homebody, either before or after death, and Robin slept on the client sofa in her office as often as she crashed in her own bed.

In law school, she had been able to pull all-nighters: study, write a term paper, go to class in the morning, take an exam, hang out with friends in the afternoon, and party at night. I remember when I was that young, and that alive. McGoo and I had done it ourselves when we were in college. My “all-nighters” were different now.

Triumphant, Robin held an envelope in her hand. “It took me two hours, but I made Judge Hawkins see the light. You’ve got your restraining order.” She often walked a fine line with the judge. Intent and cheerfully obsessive, she didn’t realize that she could become a downright pest. But she usually got her way.

Sheyenne appeared, floating right through the wall. “I flitted to the courthouse and