“I believe you!” Quinn told her. “Honestly. I’m sorry.”
“Is there a zombie nun?” Kathy asked him.
He nodded. “Battery ripped out it, all boxed up—per Colby’s instructions,” Quinn said.
“Ah.”
“But I’d like to know where the rest of them are—they were sold at auction.”
Sandy smiled suddenly. “All right; I’ll look into that first thing in the morning. And in return….”
“Yes?”
“You’ll keep me up on what you learn.”
“It’s a promise,” Quinn told her.
“Maybe, if I hang with you—I’ll get to make it to detective,” she said.
“I promise,” he repeated. He would keep her up—he just wasn’t going to tell her that there just might be blood on the fingers of the thing he’d chopped up and put in boxes. He didn’t intend more people to die in Key West while he was ridiculously being held by Detective Mason.
“Okay, then, well—where are you going now? I’m supposed to be watching you until you head back to Colby’s and are in for the night.”
He grinned. “I’m meeting Danni at a bar off Duval. Then,” he assured her, “I’m going to Colby’s to get some sleep.”
“Okay.”
“You coming to the bar?”
“No—I’m going to get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, Quinn. And I’ll have your information for you.”
He watched her head north on Duval and then he grinned and fell into step beside her. She glanced at him questioningly.
“The bar is that way, toward Front Street,” he told her.
She shrugged and smiled. “You’re not a bad companion, Quinn.”
Apparently, he wasn’t. When they reached her corner, she asked him to come down the block with her to her house.
“You know I’m a cop. I’m a pretty brave girl, really. But, I wouldn’t mind you seeing that I get in and lock my door,” she told him.
“There’s always safety in numbers,” he said.
“It’s not because I’m a woman.”
“Hell, no!” he assured her. And he smiled. “There’s plenty of times when a woman has my back. You’ll meet her tomorrow.”
Sandy smiled and nodded. “Cool,” she told him.
He watched her until she had opened her door and stepped in and turned back to wave.
He waved back and hurried on.
Now, it was growing late.
***
“Zombie Nuns of the Apocalypse was considered low budget,” Andrew explained to Danni. “But that was low budget by Hollywood standards. Less than a million. I managed to raise a couple hundred thousand, though, to be honest, I won my first film festival short with a little ten-minute number I called The Babysitter is a Vampire. I shot that on my allowance,” he explained. “I was still in high school.”
“And it’s still good—you can see it on Youtube,” Vanessa said.
“I’ll definitely look it up,” Danni promised.
The cast and crew of Lucinda really needed to get to their lodging for the night—if they did indeed intend to work the next day. So far, they’d used her as an excuse for another two rounds.
She’d seen Sasha practice her maniacal store mannequin and she’d tried very hard to be suitably impressed and frightened.
Vanessa had done accents for her.
Joe Tybalt had shown her a few Ninja moves.
Thankfully, she saw Quinn at just that moment. She jumped out of her chair, nearly knocking over the beer she had made a point to do nothing but sip at all night.
“Quinn!” she said, hurrying over to him.
Joe and Andrew looked a little awkward as they rose to meet him. They might be tall and good-looking, but Quinn still seemed to tower over them. He had no pretensions to anything; his hair was short and easy to care for, he was natural in all aspects—and yet she thought proudly that, in any crowd, he stood out as the one to watch.
She introduced everyone; handshakes and hellos went around.
Andrew said they were about to call it quits but offered to buy Quinn a drink. Quinn thanked him and told him he was fine. Andrew went to pay their bar tab and Quinn managed to be casual and easy while talking with the cast and crew members—and explaining that he and Danni had to go, too.
“Yes, that’s right, you’re Colby’s friend—and you’ll be heading up to see Kathy!” Vanessa said. “Give her our love, will you? How did that girl manage to get hit by a car?”
“I still don’t really know what happened,” Quinn said. He glanced at Danni.
Well, that was the truth! They didn’t understand at all what had really happened yet.
“So, you’re working here?” Andrew asked.
Quinn shrugged casually. “I’m a P.I. in Louisiana. Have some friends here—I’m doing a little research on my own.”
“Oh, my God!” Vanessa exclaimed. “So, do you know? Do you know anything?”
“I know that the police don’t believe in a zombie nun attack,” Quinn said simply.
“Did you see the bodies? Were they awful? I mean, other than the sharks, there are no animals around here that—that kill people,” Sasha said.