The
Zombie
Chronicles

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Finished works:
   Billions
    ---
   Outbreak
    ---
   Undead
     Advantage
    ---
   Found
    ---
   About a Woman
    ---
   Short Stories

Works in Progress:
   TZC2: Discovery

Works on hold:
   Zombie Nation
    ---
   Zombieboy

Found

Chapter 12

“Well?”, demanded Kaylee, still sitting on the floor. Brian sat up and pulled his pants together, which thinking of how to tell Kaylee what he knew.

“Sit up here with me, okay?”, he gestured to the seat cushion beside him.

Reluctantly Brian refastened his pants. Kaylee pulled her shirt together, sensing the news was not only important, but also romance killing.

“What?”, Kaylee asked.

“They found a match for the guy at the mausoleum. It was Theodore Roderson, Stacey's ex-boyfriend.”

Kaylee took in a sharp breath, “What? I mean Mrs Harrison saw him at the service, he killed her and then went to the service?”

“I know, I know, stranger things have happened in the past, it may have been an emotional killing, spur of the moment thing and he felt remorse afterwards, enough to come to the funeral. Walt is trying to get someone in to run the prints they lifted off of the letter with our database, and of course we will check the DNA we found at the crime scene with Theodore's too.”

Kaylee tried to stay in control, however as she though back on the day the memories of all that she had gone through since New Year's eve came flooding back, a lone, fat, wet tear slide down one cheek, soon joined by another out of her other eye. Brian reached out and pulled her close, holding her in a warm embrace until she had calmed down.

The evening ended with a small, chaste kiss and Brian vowed to call her tomorrow if any news came in, before he left, he asked if he could take her application with him, adding a small bit of levity to what had become a somber mood in their parting.

On Sunday Brian did call, just to say that the department had not called anyone in to check the fingerprints, Kaylee hinted that he could come over, however the weather had once again realized it was supposed to be winter and it was snowing again. Kaylee was disappointed, though not surprised when Brian declined to come visit. Instead Kaylee found herself watching her downstairs neighbor's kids, a ten year old boy and his 9 year old sister, while the couple went out to get some of their ration cards filled from the local grocery store. The kids were very subdued, exceptionally well behaved and Kaylee had a couple of her neighbors drop by during her baby-sitting. Mrs Harrison was the first, telling her if the kids caused any problems at all to just knock on the wall and she would be right over, her other neighbor came by about a half hour after that with much the same message and some snacks for everyone. Kaylee and the two pre-teens were were deep into their second game of 'Aggravation' when the parents returned. They invited Kaylee down to dinner in payment for her time. By the time dinner ended Kaylee was tired enough to go to bed, she barely kept her eyes open for the nine o'clock news. She was glad she had, there was a story on her and Stacy's attack, news had been leaked to the media that a suspect was going to be arrested soon, it was a quick blurb with a flashed picture of her and Stacy put on the screen, and it came as a complete shock to her.

A mix of emotions ran through her mind as she prepared for bed, eventually she decided that there was nothing she could do about the news and the investigation and she dropped off to sleep.

The next morning was a busy one for Brian, the local newspaper and the local news channel had sent reporters over to speak with him. After conferring with his boss and the department's media liaison with a district attorney present, the group decided to issue a short written statement and the liaison would take some questions by the television reporter on camera.

Before the department released the written statement or consented to a press conference, Brian was on his way with four other officers to make the arrest. The five policemen were dressed in heavy bullet proof vests, Kevlar helmets and carried large Kevlar body shields. Brian was the only one not carrying a large, bulky shield, he was armed with one of the two shotguns in the group. His part in the whole arrest was to make sure any evidence was not destroyed and that Theodore was taken in as quickly and quietly as possible. The motives for the killing was something Brian still didn't think fit. Stacey and Theodore had been broken up for over two years, with no contact between them after the relatively painless separation. The house Theodore lived in spoke of money, the grounds were at least an acre in size and the house was a three story stone structure that was across the street from a small lake. The courtyard and driveway which led from the street were cobblestone, the drive was plowed, though Brian noticed there were no tire tracks on the icy packed snow. At the door they were met by a servant, labor was cheap, however Brian had the idea that the man playing the part of a butler had been employed here for a long time, he also had the impression that the man had some experience dealing with the police in this situation. A perusal of Theodore's police record showed he had been arrested for drug possession twice in the past year. These days there were not clinics and damn few prisons, Teddy got off with fines and private rehabilitation. The drug of choice was said to be heroin.

Heroin, Brian puzzled out, How in the hell could the guy get heroin now? Yet the arresting officers were clear on that and the court records showed he had done time in rehab to get over his heroin addiction.

The butler finished viewing the search warrant and admitted the police into the house, he led them personally upstairs to Theodore's bedroom, which was dark, shrouded against the relatively modest light of the cloudy day. On the bed lay Theodore Roderson, asleep, sweating and very, very naked. Before Brian spoke he looked Theodore over, no arm wound, that was the first thing he noticed, the body was laced with fat too, the white paunch was unattractive and riddled with cellulose swirls, Theodore's pasty thighs were also huge, swollen with fat.

Not what I would expect from someone addicted to and battling heroin., Brian spoke, “Theodore Roderson? Wake up.”

The man stirred, his eyelids fluttered and he said in a slurring voice, “Go 'way, I said noon, its too early.”

“Mister Roderson, I am Brian Nelson, with the Des Moines Metro Police Department, you need to get up please and please get dressed.”

This got Theodore's attention, his eyes crept open enough to notice the men standing in his room. He did not let out a cry of surprise or embarrassment, he did grab the sheets and pull them around his mid-section in a quick attempt at modesty.

“Wha-what? Who are you?”, the man stammered.

“Mister Roderson, I am Brian Nelson, with the Des Moines Metro Police Department, please get dressed, you need to come with us.”, replied Brian.

“Why? What is going on?”

“Please mister Roderson, get dressed. One of my men will have to observe you while you are dressing, please get dressed now.”

Theodore rolled out of bed, exposing his ample behind to the officers, one of whom let out a stifled groan of disgust. Brian awarded him with the duty of following Theodore to his bathroom room to keep an eye on him while he got dressed. The bathroom door remained open and Brian called in, “Please do not take anything in your pockets, other than your wallet and make sure, absolutely sure you have nothing in your wallet that could be illegal or used as a weapon.”

The sound of pissing through the open doorway drowned out Brian's last words, soon enough Theodore came back through to the bedroom to gather clothing to dress in, he did not dress in the bedroom. As Teddy was getting dressed the butler motioned for Brian's attention, gesturing him to come into the hallway. Brian left the room to stand in the hallway where he was confronted by an older man in a suit, the man had to be in his late sixties, his head was bald with wings of white hair over his ears, he had a white mustache and watery blue eyes hidden behind bifocals.

“You are the arresting officer?”, the man demanded.

“We are not arresting Theodore yet, not unless we have to.”, this was Brian's decision, he had the ability to arrest Theodore if he would not come in voluntarily, after seeing the shape the suspect was in Brian wanted to not arrest him if possible. It could have been that Kaylee did not see things correctly in the alleyway that late night, the blood recovered from the frozen ground indicated the perpetrator of the crime had been wounded. After seeing much of Theodore's body, Brian had not spotted any wounds, definitely no arm wounds, even a month later a stab wound would still be evident.

“Why?”, the man curtly demanded.

“You are his father? Mister Roderson?”, ask Brian.

“Yes. I am his father, and I can act as his legal representative until our family lawyer clears all this up. And you are?”

“Detective Brian Nelson, Des Moines Metro Police Department. As I am sure you are aware I am only required to show you the warrant we have.”, Brian handed the warrant over to Roderson senior, who took it and skimmed down the legalese until he came to the reason why his son was being taken in.

“Hmm, I had expected another drug charge, this is far more serious. May I speak with my son?”, as an afterthought he added, “As his legal representative until another can be acquired?”

“Certainly, we will not stop you, however we will not delay in bringing him in either, if you want to be present during questioning you will need to follow us to the police station.”

“Understood.”, turning towards his butler he said, “Jerry, will you please see that the car is fully charged and get it warmed up for me?”

The butler responded, “Right away sir.” before turning and heading down the hallway towards the stairs to the ground floor.

Roderson senior called into the bedroom, “Teddy?”

A great sighing sound came out of the bathroom, “Yeah dad?”

“Please request from these officers that they do not question you until your attorney is present, for the moment I have taken it upon myself to act in that capacity, I am certain Mister Halloway will take over for me soon after we arrive at the police station. Please request this now, in my presence.”

Teddy came out of the bathroom fully dressed, though his feet were bare and his hair was in greasy disarray. He looked at his father for a moment, then mumbled, “I do not wish to be questioned until my attorney is present.”, then in a strong voice, “What am I arrested? What is this for?”

The look on the old man's face was startling, he hadn't been expecting that question, he recovered quickly and said, “They are taking you down for questioning for the murder of Stacey Olson. They have the power to arrest you, if you do not go voluntarily.”

“What?!”, Teddy exclaimed, “Why?”

“Please Mister Roderson, do not start asking questions or discussing this here, wait until we are down at the station and everything will be made clear.” Brian said, “I trust you will come peacefully? I would rather cuff you in the front than the back.” Dumbly Theodore nodded his assent. He pulled on a pair of socks and sturdy, ankle high shoes before getting handcuffed.

Brian gave the station address to the senior Mister Roderson and the troup of men departed in the two cars they had arrived in.

Once at the station Brian brought Theodore to the clinic on site for drawing blood, as stipulated in the warrant and then up to a conference room for questioning. After a short wait, they were joined by Roderson senior and a very short time after that by Curt Halloway, who took over as Theodore's acting attorney. Brian had withheld questioning until Halloway was there, something he didn't have to do and some detectives would not have done. However Brian was not feeling too confident about his case, the lack of wounds had him disturbed. During the ride back Brian had ridden with the officer he had assigned to watch Theodore get dressed, the officer was a bit piqued about have had to watch the man dress, however he answered Brian's questions clearly and professionally. He had not seen any signs of wounds on Theodore's body, not any fresh scars or bandages. He had noticed track marks on the man's arms, and behind his knees, it was the officer's opinion that some of the needle tracks were fresh, within two days old.

The time in the station was enough for Brian to start the DNA comparison in the database and to look up a specific person to compare the data with. Theodore Roderson had been hospitalized during his last arrest, therefore his DNA was already in the database. The computer had matched on his hospital record immediately, Walt or Flo would confirm the preliminary match the computer had found, however it looked like the blood in the alley belong from Theodore.

Questioning was not a simple process, Halloway would confer with Teddy on just about every question, advising him to answer cautiously or not at all. Around noon sandwiches were brought in for everyone along with a note from Flo indicating the DNA found in the database was a 100% match with that taken out of the alley on New Year's day.

Brian read the paper, excused himself to go eat at his desk and called Flo up.

“Hey the blood is a match for the guy we have in custody.”, Brian said.

“Theodore Roderson's? I was with Walt on Saturday when he found the picture match. That's good right? Just arrest him, get him to trial and take him out back and shoot him. We don't have time to waste on murderers these days.”

“There are a few problems. We got a good look at Teddy's body this morning when we picked him up, he has no recent wounds, nothing to account for his blood in the alley. There were signs of recent drug activity though, needle track marks, any chance the blood in the alley could have come from someone shooting up before going to a party?”

“From injecting, what heroin? In an alley?”, Flo laughed, “Not unless they ended up in the hospital that night, we had taken samples of the blood, yet missed the third person's, the girls bled a lot, we didn't even think there could be someone else's in there. When we went back though there was a good bit of the perpetrator's mixed in, I am not sure how we missed it the first time, we were fortunate in a lot of ways, that it got colder and froze the blood in place, that we don't do clean up like before Z-day and that Kaylee woke in time to tell us the perp had been stabbed. The amount of blood from the guy was not substantial, however it there was more than what would have come from a needle prick. Like I said, unless he really messed himself up somehow, that is not how the blood got there. Plus, it was mixed in, not underneath, if it had been it probably would have been frozen. Probably Kaylee is right, I think there was another person there and I think Stacey did stab them, there was enough blood for that.”

“Okay, thanks Flo, I just wanted to be sure.”, after hanging up with her Brian called another officer to arrange for Kaylee to come down and try to pick Theodore out of a line up.

Going back to the conference room after lunch Brian decided to take a chance. He didn't think Theodore had murdered Stacey or nearly murdered Kaylee, however he suspected he knew something.

“Teddy. I know you know something about what happened that night. I know it.”, Brian slid the results of the DNA match over to him and his lawyer, “Still something tells me you didn't do it, I want to believe that, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. What do you know?”

The lawyer looked the DNA match over, the lawyer leaned in to whisper to Teddy quietly. Brian slammed his hand down on the table, raising his voice he said, “God damn it! What the hell are you guys doing? With this I could have you tried and convicted in a day, we all know it, and here you are playing cute!”

Curt Halloway, looked up, then said, “You are trying to deny my client my advice?”

“Your client has not even been arrested yet! I don't think your client did anything, I just want to know what happened!”, raising a finger and pointed at Teddy, Brian continued, “Was he in the alley that night? Does he know what happened? This...”, Brian picked up the DNA report, “Says he was there, he left his blood behind.”

Curt nodded to Teddy who said, “I don't know anything, I wasn't there. Really I was clubbing like everyone else, I was at The Organ Grinder for awhile then at Nexus, the old Spaghetti Factory place, then I went home.”

Shaking his head Brian responded, “I do not believe you. I think you know something.” Brian slid a piece of paper over to Teddy and Curt, “Write down every where you went on New Year's Eve, from the time you got up in the morning on the 31st until the time you went to sleep on the first. Don't leave anything out.”

Teddy reached for the pencil with shaky hands, and started writing. Brian stepped out into the hall then over into the viewing room to consult with the assistant district attorney, he was surprised to find his boss there ast well. His boss held the nominal title of 'Captain', she was a short woman who had lost a lot of weight in the past two years. She had dark curly hair going towards gray and walked with a pronounced limp, even worse than Brian's. Hers was from genetics, her hip joints had started to fail when she was in her mid thirties and two years before Z-day she had gone in and had both hips replaced. Like many people she had been handed a death sentence when the world economy collapsed, getting immuno-suppressant drugs was problematical these days, Brian was certain she dealt with raiders, sending them into the zombie infested towns to raid pharmacies for a dwindling supply of the drugs, even this would not hold out for long, the drug's shelf life was not going to last much longer. Still Captain Jane Baston put on a happy face and managed to get in to work each day, she was good at her job, a natural at putting round and square pegs into their proper holes. The assistant district attorney was one Brian also knew and had worked with before. Jeff Stivers was in his mid forties, he had been thin before Z-day, now he looked like a scare crow, his old suit was baggy in places and Brian could see his belt was cinched up beyond what it was designed for. He still had a full head of hair and his six foot two inches of height only made him tower over most people. His pale blue eyes were still clear and shone with intellect. He spoke as Brian came in, “You'll have to watch that lawyer privilege thing, they can mistrial for that sort of thing, you are safe, Theodore hasn't been arrested yet. We were wondering why?” At this last bit he had nodded at the paper Brian still carried with the DNA results.

“I don't think he did it. We need to get him to a doctor and have him checked out for wounds.”

Jane spoke up, “If not him, how did his blood get in that alley? A frame up?”

“Sure, maybe, but why? We don't know anything about this guy yet, only that he isn't sporting any stab wounds and his blood was found in the alley that night.”

“So the lack of wounds makes you think he didn't do it? Maybe he has scars, Jeff, can we ammend the warrant to a search of his body?”

“Two years ago, no, now? Maybe, usually we can't use evidence like that against the person, they have a right against self incrimination. Maybe you could ask in such a manner as to clear his name? Especially if he is not yet under arrest.”

“Do it, but if he tried to leave arrest him, he is a suspect and I agree with you detective, I don't think he did it and I think he is hiding something.”

Brian went back into the conference room, Teddy was finished writing and said, “I am pretty sure that is everything, I went out New Year's Eve, we hit a lot of bars and I came home, no murder at all.”, he smiled weakly. Brian looked over what he had written. “There are no names of your friends here Teddy, who were you with?”, he slid the paper and pencil back across the table.

Teddy grabbed the pencil distastefully, “I don't know if I can remember everyone...”

“Try Teddy, try hard. If everything checks out with your story, it only helps you, right? There are a couple of other things you can do to clear your name, if you agree.”

Teddy nodded eagerly, “Sure anything, I didn't do it.”

His lawyer protested weakly, “Well within reason...”

“First, we suspect whomever did commit this crime was stabbed. Possibly more than once, if you wold consent to be examined by our department physician it would help verify your story. Second, we have a polygraph machine, if you would let us ask you a few questions about that night, it would go a long way towards clearing your name.”

Curt spoke up quickly, “The physical would be fine, the polygraph will be fine as long as the questions stay focused on verifying that my client had nothing to do with what happened in that alley.”

Brian was surprised, normally polygraphs were denied, he had only thrown that in there to make the physical seem more reasonable. I should have asked for more, he thought.

“Well, okay then, I will go and line this up, I am sure the DA will be in here with a list of questions for you two to go over.” Standing up Brian left the room and went to speak with Jeff and his boss.

“Did I do that right? I wasn't expecting them to accede to the lie detector test.”

“Sure that is fine, his lawyer is there and they are taking it to attempt to clear his name. Think for a minute though Brian, who else do we have lined up for this? Any other suspects?”, Jeff asked.

“No. No and that is okay.”, Brian replied smugly.

“What? How so Brian?”, Jane asked him, Jeff nodded questioningly as well.

“It is okay because his blood was found in the alley; he knows something and we have our first lead into the case. When I started running this down things were not looking good, for a long time we had nothing, you know the old adage, if it isn't solved in the first forty eight hours, the chances of solving go way down. Now, since Z-day, we do not have the resources to investigate cold cases, hell for the department I am about it, and that is only because of my disabilities.” He held up his hand in a stop motion as Jane started to interrupt, “No, it is okay I do earn my pay. However we are both realists too Captain. Without this break the case would have been like the dozens of other murders I have sitting unresolved in my pocket computer. This one, I can solve, I can feel it.”

“Okay Brian, that is just fine, it is, as you said, what we pay you for. Jeff, should you and I discuss the questions with Theodore's attorney now?”

When the assistant d.a. and his boss had left Jeff experienced a craving for a cigarette. Now where did that come from? I quit smoking ten years ago, barely after I started.

While Teddy was in getting his physical and taking a 'rule-out' polygraph Kaylee arrived. Brian spoke with the desk sergeant to arrange for a line up after the polygraph was finished, Teddy did not have a choice on a line up, it was mandatory.

“I hope I don't screw this up.”, Kaylee confided in him as he was walking her towards an interrogation room close to the line up.

“Screw it up? No, no it is not that hard, you can't screw it up, you either recognize him or you don't. It really has no bearing on the case. Sure it would help, but we have other evidence and given your injuries that night no one would expect you to pick him out of a line up, so it won't hurt the case either.”, Brian gave her a reassuring smile, she responded with a quick grin of her own.

“Okay, if you say so.”

“I do, you will be great, don't worry about it.”, privately he knew he could not confide in her yet, not about what he knew or that he suspected the guy had not been there at all.

Soon enough the sergeant knocked on the door and said it was time. The three of them went into the viewing room, where the captain, Curt Halloway and the assistant d.a. were waiting for them. Brian introduced Kaylee to each of them in turn, after the introductions the capatian pressed an intercom button and told the sergean to send the men from the line up in. Five men filed into the room opposite them behind the one way glass. Theodore was the second from the right. Smiling Brian recognized a couple fellow officers and two civilian workers who had been drafted into the line up as well. None had the girth that Theodore had, but most were in the same height range. He turned to Kaylee and watched her face as she looked over the candidates.

“It is alright honey, just look at them and if any of them look familiar let us know. We can have them step forward or turn from side to side if you would like, just let us know.”, said the captian.

“Well it certainly wasn't the fat one”, Kaylee muttered under her breath, “and the others don't seem tall enough. Their faces are not the same, not as long, not as lean. I don't recognize any of them.” She continued to examine the men closely for another minute or so then turned helplessly towards the small group who was watching her and said, “No, it wasn't any of them, I know it, none of them did it. Are there more to look over?”

“No Miss Simmers, I am afraid not, this is everyone we have right now.”, replied the captain leaning forward a little bit she pressed a button and said, “Thank you sergeant, please walk the line out now.”

“I feel like I failed somehow.”, began Kaylee.

“Don't, I told you, this was no big deal, okay?”, reassured Brian.

“That is all we needed you for today Kaylee, can I have one of the officers give you a lift home? It is the least we can do for your time.”, asked the captain.

“Oh, sure, that is all? It seems I just got here.”, turning to Brian she asked, “Have you had lunch yet? Want to get a bite somewhere?”

The captain and the d.a. Shared a look, and Kaylee couldn't help but notice even the other lawyer looked slightly amused. Brian tried to remain professional and answer, “I have already eaten, thanks, I can tell you a decent place to get a bite though, if you want?”

Kaylee seemed a little flustered, realizing she must have put Brian off, but not quite realizing why. She just nodded and said, “Uh, okay then. I guess I will take that ride home then.”

Brian's face flushed but he said nothing. The captain looked at him though, a look that said, “We'll talk later” and then graciously escorted Kaylee down to the ground floor to get her a ride home.

After the women had left Curt and Jeff looked at Brian and Jeff said, “Are you involved with her detective?”

Brian didn't want to lie, so he settled for a half truth, “I think I would like to be, she is a sweet woman, she didn't deserve to see her friend killed or to get caught up in this.”

Curt surprised him by saying, “Well you are not scoring points by turning her down for a bit to eat, even if you ate already.”

“Are saying I should get involved with a witness for the case I am investigating?”

“Me? Oh I don't mind, my client passed the lie detector screening, he has no wounds, healed, scarred or otherwise on his body and he was not identified by the lone witness to the crime. Its not me you need to worry about, its whoever gets caught for this crime. Its his lawyer you need to worry about asking you personal questions about your relationship with the key witness.”

Brian flushed even more, but nodded curtly, bringing a sharp laugh from Jeff, who said, “It isn't forbidden, just frowned upon. Don't make her more of a victim by compounding her life with a fling. Like you said she is sweet and definitely vulnerable right now, you are the guy assigned to bring her assailant to justice.”

“Yeah, yeah I hear you. Its just...she is nice, I haven't met anyone nice for a long time, most want a quick fuck and then they are on their way.”

The men shared a strange look together, each pondering in how much things had changed since Z-day. The ratio of men to women had shifted dramatically, it hovered around two or three women to every man, a great ratio of men who wanted only to sleep around, harder for women who wanted a long term relationship or a traditional family. The social implications had not been fully felt yet, the few sociologists where were still around had put forward the idea that society would never recover. As if it could since Z-day, for Christ's sake we have man eating zombies running around, nothing will ever be the same and society will never go back to being 'normal' again., thought Brian.

The three remained quiet for the rest of their short walk to the interrogation room, with Brian and Curt heading in to sit again with Theodore and Curt going in to observe behind the one way glass.

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