Zombie Patrol by Elizabeth Basque, J. R. Rain

observatory was more homey. But he was informed that they spent more time sleeping at the zoo bungalow than at the observatory. It was a strange way to live, indeed.
    “ Well, we can always hope,” Agent Number One surmised.
    “ Hope for what?”
    “ That her father can’t lie as well.”
    * * *
    The Agents in Black strolled away as casually as they’d come. Anna and Jared watched them go.
    Jared whistled. “What was that all about?”
    Anna just shook her head.
    “ You should call your dad,” said Jared.
    Should she? Anna knew her father was trying to help Uncle Joe and his friend. She didn’t want to interrupt that. And she felt she’d done a pretty good job with these men.
    “ Anna.” Jared brought her back from her thoughts. “What’s going on?”
    She closed her eyes. She’d seen her father do this when he had a decision to make, and she’d picked up on his technique through intuition. She held her eyes closed and focused within. She weighed which felt better inside: Telling Jared or not telling Jared.
    After a moment, she looked into Jared’s eyes and started talking.

Chapter Eleven
    It was noon when I arrived at the observatory.
    I wasn’t officially on duty, but I wanted to see Carla, who was sometimes assigned to the observatory. The thing about Carla was that we connected on a different level than the other cops I came in contact with. That, and she was damn cute. Mostly, I thought to myself, I trusted her. Considered her a friend, in fact. Perhaps even more than a friend, but that might just have been my imagination.
    She was also fun to be with, and she respected me as a single father. I tried to keep our conversations light, but lately, I’d confided in her about Anna growing up. Carla knew Anna, too. Anna came with me on my routes several times a week, and spent a lot of time at the observatory. She liked Anna.
    I hadn’t really been involved with anyone since the divorce, mostly because my trust in women in general had deteriorated since parting ways with my ex-wife.
    But Carla…Carla was different. I hoped.
    I spotted her patrol car near the main parking lot. I had to admit, my heart skipped a beat. I also looked at myself in the rearview mirror. Yeah, I looked like shit. No surprise there. Not after the night I’d had. Anyway, there was nothing I could do now but try to hastily flatten my wayward hair.
    That was what I was doing when I saw her patrol car door open. Oops, she’d been inside the whole time, undoubtedly watching me make a fool of myself. She stepped out as I got out of my vehicle. We instinctively headed for a quiet spot in the parking lot overlooking the northwestern hills, where I could see the HOLLYWOOD sign in the not-too-far distance.
    As we leaned on the wooden rail, she looked over at me and said, “You look like crap.”
    “ Can’t say the same for you.”
    “Why, Mr. Ranger, if I didn’t know better, I would think you just gave me a compliment.”
    “It’s been known to happen,” I said. “Once or twice.”
    She was about to laugh, but didn’t. Instead, she looked at me sideways, squinting. Cops—good cops, anyway—often know when something is wrong. They’ve learned to pick up on just about anything that might save their lives, honing their sixth senses to a fine edge. Like I said, the good cops. And Carla was a damn fine cop. Then again, I might have been a little biased.
    After a moment, she said, “Something’s wrong, but it’s not Anna.”
    I blinked. She was good, but I didn’t know she was that good. “ How do you know?”
    “ You’ve never had a problem talking to me about her.”
    I nodded. She waited. Like I said, she was good. A couple wandered by, holding not-very-discreet brown paper bags. We ignored them for now, although I made a mental note to find them later and flush them out of the park.
    At the moment, I was trying to decide whether I knew Carla well enough to tell her what I’d done. That is: I was holding my deranged