Connie came out of the office and looked at the Lexus.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Stephanie ran over a zombie,” Lula said.
Connie looked at me. “Really?”
“I ran over something. I guess it looked like a zombie.”
“Bummer,” Connie said.
“Yeah, it’s a problem on account of you don’t want to piss off a zombie,” Lula said. “Am I right?”
I pulled the rag off the car and tossed it into the back seat with the rotisserie chicken. “See you tomorrow.”
“Hope so,” Lula said. “Remember, in case they come to get you, you have to shoot them in the brain, so you should put some bullets in your gun.”
I gave Lula a thumbs-up, and I got back into the Lexus. Lula was right about the rag. It didn’t smell good. When you combined it with the chicken it was a total gag. I called Morelli and asked where he was.
“Home,” he said. “And I can actually spend the night here unless someone finds a headless body.”
“I’m on my way,” I said. “I have something to show you.”
“I have something to show you too.”
“We might not be on the same page.”
“Work with me,” Morelli said.
Ten minutes later, I walked into Morelli’s house, and Bob galloped in from the kitchen to greet me. He got to the middle of the living room and stopped. His nose twitched, hackles rose on his back, and he growled. The only other time I’ve heard him growl was when he stole a Virginia baked ham off the table and Morelli tried to get it back.
Morelli came up behind Bob.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “What’s that smell? Did you run over another outhouse?”
“I ran over a zombie.” I held the rag out for him to see. “This is what’s left of him.”
“What’s in the other bag?”
“Rotisserie chicken.”
Morelli grinned. “That’s a killer combination.”
“I thought you might want someone to examine the cloth.”
“And the chicken?”
“Dinner.”
“I like it,” Morelli said. “I’ll put the zombie attack dog in the backyard.”
I followed him into the kitchen and put the piece of cloth into a plastic baggie while he carved the chicken.
“Tell me about the cloth,” he said.
I washed my hands and set the kitchen table with plates and silverware, and Morelli brought the chicken to the table.
“I took some chicken to Ethel this afternoon, and when I stepped out of the double-wide I heard creepy growly moaning sounds coming from the woods. I looked into the woods, and I saw two sets of glowing red eyes that were attached to two bodies that looked human. The bodies were in shadow, and I couldn’t see any details, but it freaked me out enough to want to get out of there.”