I pushed away from him. "You wish."
He eyed me up and down, eyes glittering with laughter. "If you dress up like that every night, I might leave Katie for you. If that skirt was any shorter, it'd be a lamp shade.''
Even with the teasing, I was glad to see him. "How long have you been back on full duty?"
"Not long. I saw you on the news with your boyfriend."
"News?" I said. I'd forgotten about the media blitz Jean-Claude and I had walked through.
"He sure was pretty for a dead guy."
"Shit."
"What?" Dolph asked.
"It was national media, not just local."
"So?"
"My father doesn't know."
Zerbrowski laughed. "He does now."
"Shit."
"I guess you'll have that talk with your father after all," Dolph said.
There must have been something in Dolph's voice or my face, because the humor faded from Zerbrowski's face. "What's up, you two? You look like someone stepped on your puppy."
Dolph looked at me. I looked at him. "Philosophical differences," I said finally. Dolph didn't add anything. I hadn't really expected him to.
"Okay," Zerbrowski said. He knew Dolph well enough not to pry. Me alone, he'd have bugged the hell out of me, but not Dolph.
"One of the nearest neighbors is a serious right-wing vampire hater," he said. That got our attention.
"Explain," Dolph said.
"Delbert Spalding and his wife Dora sat on the couch, holding hands. She offered me iced tea. He objected to me saying that Robert had been murdered. Said you couldn't kill the dead." Zerbrowski dug a wrinkled notebook out of his suit pocket. He flipped some pages, tried to smooth the page down, gave up, and quoted. "Now that someone has destroyed that thing, the woman should abort that monster she's carrying. I don't believe in abortion normally, but this is abomination, pure abomination."
"Humans Against Vampires, at the very least," I said, "Maybe even Humans First."
"Maybe he just doesn't like living next door to a vampire," Dolph said.
Zerbrowski and I looked at him.
"Did you ask Mr. Spalding if he belonged to either of the hate groups?" Dolph asked.
"He had HAV's newsletters scattered on his coffee table, gave me one."
"Great," I said, "evangelizing hatemongers."
"HAV doesn't advocate this kind of violence," Dolph said.
The way he said it made me wonder what mailing list Dolph was on. I shook my head. I wouldn't believe the worst of him just because he didn't like me dating the walking dead. A few months back, I'd have felt the same way. "Humans First does," I said.
"We'll find out if Mr. Spalding is a member of Humans First," Dolph said.
"You also need to find out if the Spaldings have any magical talent," I said.