Chapter 8: How Crazy Is Crazy, Part 2

"So, she was an ex-girlfriend?"

"More like a wannabe girlfriend," Pranthi said.

"Unfortunately there have been a few incidents, attacks, as well as illness like you had," Dan said. "Your tip about the fungus has saved a lot of lives. Gave the hospital a jump on the tests. We tracked down all the walkers to get them treatment."

"The conversation sort of popped into my head as zombie Kevin was chugging down my IV. Just not soon enough for some," Pranthi wiped her eyes again. "I liked Kevin. He wasn't an asshole. He didn't expect that a photo contract meant he could try to get into my pants. Not that I've had that problem a lot. Most guys run away puking when they see my legs." She looked at Dan as if daring him to say something trite.

"I'm watching your eyes too much to pay much attention to your legs."

"Not bad," Pranthi rolled her eyes. "Though, you may want to make sure the cure is complete before taking me out to dinner. It would be a downer if I went zombie while eating the salad and you had to shoot me in the head."

Dan laughed and Pranthi joined in. She reminded him of his kid sister. Tough as nails on the outside, funny as anyone he'd ever met and soft-hearted when you got to know her.

"I have to ask who you had contact with after the incident."

"Denise and Matt at the Journal. A taxi driver who took me from the Journal to my apartment. Frank, the concierge, the paramedics who brought me in."

"Any physical contact?"

"I don't like being touched." Pranthi closed her eyes for a moment. "We passed around my tablet, I paid the taxi driver. No skin to skin, except for the paramedics bringing me here."

"Here," Dan handed her his card. "If you think of anything else, call me."

She placed the card on the table.

"Be careful with this woman, Dan," she said as if the card put them on first name status. "She checked out all my photos. Maybe she wanted to see if she was in any of them. Then she infected me anyway. This is one out-there nutcase."

"Was she in any of the shots?" Dan lifted his notebook again.

Pranthi shook her head.

"I'll pass that on to my superiors," Dan stood and put his book away. "Thank you for your time."

He stopped and took a deep breath when he got outside the room. Get a grip, constable. She's a witness, not your kid sister. The sergeant will have your badge if you aren't careful.

He consoled himself by planning how he was going to find out about this mystery woman.

He'd underplayed the damage this fungus thing had done. Half the people at the walk had been infected, more than half of those had died. As far at the CDC could tell, anyone who touched the zombie or the girlfriend, or got blood on them. A few of those had gone berserk attacking whoever was closest. Everyone registered for the walk had been called in for treatment. The anti-fungal stopped the cases of illness and the attacks. It might have been worse. The CDC had people like Dan out tracking all contact any of the walkers had with other people.

After he dropped the suit, gloves and mask in the bin, Dan decided the next people he should talk to were zombie man's friends at the university where he'd been an MBA student. He checked his notebook for the name of the man, and chided himself that he hadn't asked half the questions he'd planned. Another time.

The radio news was still all about the zombie fungus as Dan drove from hospital to university. They reminded people of the symptoms and told people to get treatment from their doctor or a walk-in clinic. He hoped the city had enough anti-fungal treatment. They interviewed a zoologist who talked about ants. Too creepy for him, he turned the radio off. Traffic was light so he made good time.

Student services people helped him track down a couple of the zombie's friends.

"Hey, can't help you, man," one said. "Fred bragged about this hot science chick who had it bad for him, but he never dated anyone smarter than him. Never mentioned a name."

At least I have confirmation she exists, sort of.

He talked to a few others, but they all said the same thing in different words. The only difference was the women had more sympathy for the science chick. He thought about going over to the science building to check around, but decided he'd rather be chewed out for missing an opportunity than for letting a suspect know they were after her.

On his way back to the station, Dan stopped at a coffee shop to organize his notes. When he had his thoughts lined up on paper they didn't look as convincing as they had in the hospital, but he tracked down the lead detective anyway.

"Nice work," Detective Leanne Oester said. "Keep it up and you'll be writing your exam in no time. We looked at the tablets on the guy for forensics, but didn't check the files. Thought they were his." She nodded in dismissal, so Dan finished his shift filling out paper work.