We went to my apartment and slept--Mostly slept. Okay, slept a little--until mid-morning. Brand emptied my fridge while I made two phone calls. The first was to Jessica, who squealed with joy when I told her she could lead all my classes that day.
“Just go through the basics, have them pair up and practice. I know you can do that.” Better than I could, actually. Jessica had a knack for people-pairing. “This’ll be a good opportunity for students in other classes to get used to you leading.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much! I won’t let you down.”
“Of course you won’t. You’re still my best bet.”
I hung up and thought, Wow. I’m starting to like this teamwork thing.
My next call was to Amanda.
“DGI human, inhuman and subhuman resources, Amanda speaking.”
“Why are you answering your cell phone like that?”
“What?” Amanda yawned. “Oh, right, duh. This is my cell phone. ‘Cause I’m at work and I didn’t sleep much.”
“Shit. I was hoping you had the day off. I need you.”
“Yeah, well, some of us aren’t lucky enough to own our own businesses and have to punch the clock for a living instead.”
“Oh, fuck you. Running your own business is tougher.”
“Yeah, I know. I used to do that before you got me into a mess with DGI.”
“I did you a favor. You love being able to pull up more magic now.”
“Not the point, but whatever.”
“So can you at least stop by over your lunch break?”
Amanda yawned again. “Wait. Is this about the whole rave thing?”
“What else would it be?”
“With you, it could be anything. So is it?”
“Of course.”
“Well, good news then. I made my report an hour ago and I’m cleared to work on it.”
Well, shit. “Why didn’t you call me an hour ago?”
An exasperated sound in my ear. “Brand’s there right? You wouldn’t have answered.”
“I would—”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, no I wouldn’t.”
“That’s my girl. So, I’ll see you in half an hour.”
“Clear the traffic and get here sooner.”
“I’ll get there when I get there. I’m tired, Kelly.” She yawned again. “Though I could have a big mug of the old black magic.”
“Coffee?”
Amanda paused. “Suuure, you can call it that. See ya.”
***
Amanda parked in her customary two spaces.
“Bitch, how many times do I have to tell you? One car, one space.”
“Okay, here.” She tossed me her car keys. “Go move Cecil yourself. He misses you.”
“I’m not setting foot in your car.”
“He wants to sing you a song.”
“No.”
“Maybe you’ve heard it before?”
“Fuck, no.”
Brand started whistling the opening chords to The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
“Shut up, Brand. Shit, now it’s stuck in my head. I hate you both.” I glanced out the door. “Cecil, too.”
The car let out a short, sharp honk.
“You hurt his feelings!” Amanda stuck out her lower lip.
“I accidentally hit the lock button on the key fob.” I lobbed the keys back at Amanda. She lifted her index finger and they stopped mid-air, then gently floated to her hand.
“You did not. That button hasn’t worked in years.”
“Do you mind?” I looked behind me into the dojo where Jessica led the first class of the day. Luckily, she had everyone’s attention. “No magic. It spooks the mundanes.”
Amanda shrugged, walked past me and gave Brand a hug. “Hey, gorgeous. Love the whistling.”
“Why, thank you.” He hugged her back. “How’s Juke?”
“Juke’s fine. Very, very fine.”
“Tell him to call me and we’ll catch a Rockies game. Kelly won’t go.”
“Boring.” I opened the door to my office. “Can we get on with business now?”
Amanda and Brand followed me in and sat down. Amanda immediately started tapping on Mufasa’s fish bowl. “Nice fishy, fishy, fishy!” He flared crimson and darted at her finger with every intention of destroying it. I adore my fish.
While Amanda amused herself, I tried to decide how little I could tell her about the night before and still get her help. I didn’t want to assist DGI in any way shape or form, and anything that Amanda learned, she’d have to report to her superiors. I hated that she worked for DGI and the scumbag wizards that ran the company. It sometimes put up a wall between us, and certainly kept me from being totally honest with her. I shoved down the residual guilt I felt for my part in making her little more than an indentured servant to DGI. She seemed happy, at least.
Should I tell Amanda about Victor and Miranda? She might know the vampires had gotten involved. Or maybe not. They had an uneasy truce with the wizards, though the two groups often worked together. It was a cold war sort of thing. I decided to reframe the whole Hummer incident, leaving out the fact that the driver and passenger were zombies.
And then Brand said, “Guess what? We fought zombies last night!” Thanks, sweetie.
“Wait, what? Real ones? Like Walkers?” Amanda’s eyes got huge along with her smile.
“Brand, that’s enough—”
“No, smart ones, like in season one where they were opening doors and stuff but, well, smarter.”
“Like, 28 Days Later?”
“No, smarter. They fucking drove a Hummer.” Brand looked at me and remembered what else happened. His face reddened. “They, um, smashed up Kelly’s truck, trying to kill us.”
Amanda covered her mouth. “Oh my Goddess, that’s your truck outside? I didn’t even recognize it. Oh, Kelly, I’m so sorry. Zombies did that?”
“Yeah. And I need you to figure out who they were in life.” I took out the phone and pushed it across my desk. “I think this belonged to one of them, but it’s locked. Think you can get your hacker friend to open it up?”
“Sure, no problem.” Amanda picked up the phone and fiddled with it. “But, you said earlier that this is related to the rave business. What’s the connection?”
Oh, what the hell. I told her everything that happened. Well, almost everything. I left out the part where Victor came on to me while Brand was knocked out. I was still processing that myself.
“So, what part does the music play? Miranda didn’t take any drugs and she wasn’t at the rave.” Amanda passed the phone back and forth in her hands, an old habit. “Why were only some people affected and not everyone? And obviously there was no music playing when I checked out the warehouse, so why was I all horny for Juke?”
“That’s just you.” Brand smiled and winked at Amanda.
“There’s a connection between the drugs and the music,” I said. “The people in comas right now all vaped the same drug.”
“Yeah.” Brand’s easy smile went away. “Supplied by Eleventh Hour.”
“I’m sorry about Daphne.” Amanda put the phone down and covered Brand’s hand.
He glanced at me then looked down quickly. “Thanks. She’s an old friend.”
Watching his face, I ignored the dropping sensation in my stomach. Is this what jealousy feels like? It sucks. I hope this is the remnants of the drug and not me being stupid. “Eleventh Hour probably got her drugs from Tally’s, but we can’t confirm it without deciphering the receipt.”
Amanda went back to tapping the fishbowl. “How are you going to do that? You don’t even have it.”
“We have this.” Brand pulled out his phone and brought up the photo he took the night before. “Cool, huh?”
Amanda enlarged the photo and studied it. “You’re lucky it captured the writing.”
“Can you read it?” I asked.
“No.” She turned the camera. “I think you need a bigger Tolkien nerd than me for that.”
“I have someone better in mind.” I rummaged through my desk drawer until I found what I wanted. I took out a business card and handed it to Amanda.
She read the name at the top and smiled. “Oh, yeah, I remember him! Good choice.”
“Who?” Brand reached for the card and Amanda handed it to him.
“Amanda and I met a man a while back. He and his wife are…I guess you could call them researchers.” Amanda nodded in agreement. “They specialize in the paranormal. Especially Native American paranormal.”
“Sweet. Considering our zombies seemed to be of that persuasion.”
“Exactly.”
Brand read the card. “Doctor Colin Clave. Huh. Swanky address.”
“Can you do a magical trace on the card?” I asked Amanda.
“Why don’t you save her juice and we just go to the address?” Brand tapped the card.
“Because he doesn’t live there anymore. Even though I’d been to Colin’s apartment a couple days before, the last time I tried to reach him, the woman who answered the door said she’d been living there for years. She even let me in and the place was completely different.”
Brand tilted his head. “Did you say apartment?”
“Yeah. Refurbished old building in LoDo.”
Brand grinned. “This address is for a house on Long Road in Greenwood Village. Different swanky address.”
“What?” I took back the card. Sure enough, the address had changed.
“He might be home after all,” Amanda said.
I stood up. “Let’s go. We’ll drop the phone off with your hacker guy on the way there. Maybe Colin or his wife can translate the receipt. It’s our best shot.”