Zombies! (Episode 6): Barriers Collapse Read Free Page A

the answer.
     
    "Jamie, it's Anthony Heron. How are you?"
     
    Mijaro breathed. "We miss you over here, Anthony."
     
    "I miss the job," Heron answered with a laugh. Who the hell misses homicide? "What's up?"
     
    "I wish I had better news."
     
    Heron went cold. Even without any information, he knew it had something to do with Culph. The coincidence was too great. Culph gone for two days and homicide looking for him. He'd always considered the kid invincible.
     
    "Have you got a Francis Culph under your command?"
     
    Here it comes. "You know I do, Jamie. What happened?"
     
    "Is he at work?"
     
    "Um…no. You're looking for him?"
     
    "He's a suspect in a murder investigation."
     
    Heron shook his head sadly. "Jesus, Jamie, I thought you were going to tell me he's dead. He hasn't been to work since Saturday morning."
     
    "You mean for that church thing?"
     
    "Yeah."
     
    "You haven't seen him since?" Mijaro asked.
     
    "No."
     
    Her voice took on that dubious cop tone. "Are you sure?"
     
    "Don't treat me like that," Heron told her. "Do you think I'd lie to you? He's not answering his cell or his home phone either. I was going to go by there. What have you got?"
     
    "We've got a strangled woman found in her apartment last night. We checked around and got some video surveillance from outside one of the local bars. Culph was the last person seen with her."
     
    "Any forensic evidence?"
     
    "The lab technicians are working on it. We'll need a sample from Culph."
     
    If we ever see him again, thought Heron. "I'll let you know if I hear anything."
     
    "Okay, Anthony. Thanks. I wish I could say it was good talking to you."
     
    "Yeah," he answered. "Me, too."
     
    ***
     
    AT Sisters of Charity Hospital , the chief of emergency medicine signed off on another transfer to Arthur Conroy Memorial Hospital. It was the third transfer since he'd been on shift. As he put his name on the paper, Peter Ventura , he pondered that fact that he'd rather kill them all himself. He supposed that there was some important work going on at Arthur Conroy . He expected that the doctors there would eventually find a cure or at least a viable treatment for the disease. It was that expectation that kept him signing his name. Otherwise he'd rather just release them and then show up on their doorsteps when his shift ended. To date, he'd only done that once. The transfer hadn't gone through and the mother had taken her sick son from the ER. Peter had gone there armed with a taser and several surgical instruments. After stunning the mother, he'd put the boy out of his misery. It had been a defining moment for him. Prior to that event, his experience with the zombies had always been as a victim. He'd been trapped by them in the hospital, and then trapped by his own fear of them in his apartment. When he'd come back to work, the trauma had lingered for a long time, eating away at his resolve. Acting against Jason Benford had been cathartic. Somewhere inside, he still understood that a child had died, but that hadn't been his responsibility. What was his responsibility was that anyone who might have been bitten by the resulting zombie, such as his mother, was now safe.
     
    He realized then that he wanted to make more people safe.
     
    After stunning Melissa Benford and killing her son before his time, shortly before his time, he'd expected to be arrested. He hadn't hidden his identity and he'd been unwilling to take measures that would insure Melissa Benford's silence. That far, he could not go. He wasn't built for running so he'd just gone back to his life, albeit from a very different perspective. Now, three weeks had gone by and there were no police. No questions and no arrests.
     
    Glancing quickly at the televisions in the waiting area, he caught a glimpse of the news conference from that past Monday morning. It was Wednesday and they were still running it. Peter was no longer worried about the police coming for him. What worried him now was