Friggin Zombies (14 page)

Metal shutters slid into place over each window and door, including the garage doors, slamming shut with enough force that we could hear it over Baby's rumble.

“Holy shit,” Connie exclaimed. “That's amazing!”

“Thank you, my Queen,” I bowed slightly. “Your Nerd lives to serve.”

She was still laughing as we pulled out onto the road and the gate closed behind us.

*****

If town had been a madhouse on Saturday it was an asylum on Monday. I will admit in hindsight we should have expected it to be worse. All I can say is that I had thought perhaps things might have calmed a bit once the initial panic was over. Clearly the initial panic was not over when we got to town Monday morning.

Baby didn't have any trouble negotiating the mess since most sensible people yielded to her in traffic. I managed not to smirk about it but it was difficult. Riding in Big Baby also gave us better vision in traffic since we were so high off the ground.

“I have to admit this monstrosity has its uses,” Connie grudgingly complimented. I'm assuming she was just miffed about having the climb in and out. Better a little difficulty than sorry though, right?

“She's awesome,” I nodded, weaving in and out of traffic as we headed for her office. There were three wrecks along the way, the drivers having abandoned the cars that were damaged too badly to continue driving. Apparently the police were no less busy today than they had been Saturday night. That couldn't be good.

Despite the traffic issues we made it to Connie's office without any real difficulty. The difficulty started when we got there.

The glass entrance door to her practice was shattered and the picture window in the waiting room was broken.

“Aw, hell,” Connie sounded more pissed off than anything. “That's a mess,” she sighed. She opened her door but I grabbed her arm before she could step out.

“Calmly now,” I warned. “For all we know whoever did it is still in there.” I could tell by the look in her eyes that she hadn't thought of that. “We'll check it out together and then see if we can get the police out here,” I told her. She nodded and reached into her bag, pulling her pistol. I hit the kill switch on my Baby to prevent anyone stealing her and climbed down, drawing my own pistol. The same one I had used to kill Methie with in fact. That was a sobering thought.

“Let's try not to have to shoot anybody,” Connie said as she met me in front of the rig. I nodded, starting to wonder if she could read my mind. I took a deep breath and stepped through the broken door frame, cutting the room with my pistol. The waiting room was empty and there didn't seem to be any damage other than the door and window. The security door to the patient exam and records area was hanging on the bottom hinge.

I nodded to the door and made my way over there, Connie following where she could cover me. That almost sounds like cop shit doesn't it? Truth is this was one of the things we trained for at the club once in a while. Even though we weren't professionals we knew enough to get the job done.

I entered the hallway and reached for the light switch. The lights flared to life in the hallway and Connie groaned at the destruction visible.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” she muttered. “What the hell do I pay the alarm company and taxes for?” I agreed but stayed focused. I'd been down this road once already. I made my way down the hall, checking each room as I went while Connie kept the hallway and our backs clear. It was slow going with office furniture and equipment laying everywhere. Whoever had done this had thoroughly trashed my doctor's office.

It took nearly ten minutes of careful checking to ensure that the clinic was clear and we were alone. As soon as we were sure of that Connie made a beeline to her drug safe. I imagined it had began it's life as a gun safe and been modified for medical use by the look of it. Set into the wall and anchored in concrete, the robbers had not been able to get inside the massive thing.

“Well, there's that, anyway,” she sighed, leaning against the safe. “Damn what a mess,” she added, looking around despondently.

“I'd guess that's why the place is trashed,” I told her, holstering my pistol. “They couldn't get what they were after and decided to tear the office up instead.”

“Bastards,” Connie muttered. “Look at my records!” she almost wailed. “This will take days to straighten out!” I sympathized with her but it was time to call the police in on this. I tried an office phone and was surprised to get a dial tone. I called the police direct instead of 911.

“Police,” a voice dulled by exhaustion answered after maybe seven rings.

“This is Shelton Drake,” I said. “I'm at Doctor Kane's office on Temple and she's had a break-in. Can you send an officer?” I wasn't expecting to get anyone to be honest and I wasn't disappointed.

“Inventory what's missing and we'll generate a report from here for the insurance,” the dispatcher said tonelessly. “I'm sorry, sir, but with everything that's happening that's about all we can do.”

“I understand,” I replied politely. “I assumed as much to be honest but decided we needed to call in to make sure.”

“Thank you for understanding,” the dispatcher said, her voice softening a bit. “Please be careful. Now that you're in the office they may return, especially if they think you have access to drugs.”

“We'll watch ourselves,” I promised and hung up. I looked at Connie who was still languishing over her medical records.

“No dice on the cops,” I said evenly. “And the dispatcher warned that whoever did it might come back since they couldn't get the drugs. If they think someone's here who has access they might try again.”

“I hope they do,” Connie muttered dangerously. She was seriously pissed off and I couldn't blame her.

“Are your records backed up on disk?” I asked and she shook her head.

“No,” she sighed. “I was going to transition into a new computer system later this year. Already had the set-up for it, just hadn't had the time. It's a lot of work to get all that turned over into computer records.”

“If things straighten out I'll help you,” I promised and she smiled at that.

“My very own computer nerd,” she said softly and I laughed.

“I need to do something about that door and window I guess,” I sighed. “Look, I don't want to leave you here alone but I'll need to go and get some plywood to close that up,” I indicated the broken window and door. “I suppose we might get lucky and get them replaced but I wouldn't hold my breath.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” she admitted. “Give me a few minutes to see what's missing, if anything,” she looked at her watch. “We won't be able to get into a hardware store before eight anyway,” she added.

“I'll start cleaning up the glass,” I nodded and she smiled again.

“I really appreciate that,” she told me.

“Hey, it's what I live for.”

*****

I gotta be honest, I hadn't expected any of Connie's staff to come in to work. I don't say that in any kind of bad or judgmental way, I just didn't expect it with everything like it was. It was dangerous just to be out, let along to be inside a doctor's office.

I also didn't think any of her patients would show up, either.

Wrong on both counts Drake.

Nettie Halliburton walked into the office at seven forty-five sharp just as I finished sweeping the last of the broken glass out of the waiting room. Nettie was a formidable looking woman. She wasn't quite as tall as Connie, but then Connie was maybe a millimeter under six feet. Halliburton was five-nine at a minimum and roughly as wide. Sorry, that's unfair.

It wasn't that she was fat. She wasn't. She was just. . .solid. Farm girl I guess. Tall, broad shouldered and just. . .solid. Best word I can come up with that's not going to sound ugly. She was probably in her late forties to early fifties.

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded as she walked through the broken door. Very direct person, Nettie Halliburton. I may not have mentioned that at first.

“He's my boyfriend,” Connie's voice drifted through the receptionist's window and once more I was the tallest man in town. I was her
boyfriend!
Hear that? Ha! I was about to smirk in typical male satisfaction when I realized that Nettie was still giving me the evil eye.

“So you got a name, boyfriend?” she asked just short of challenging.

“Ah, yes ma'am,” I nodded, any thoughts about smirking gone. Did I mention how formidable Nettie was?

“And?” an eyebrow shot up in impatience.

“Uh, Drake,” I replied. “Shelton Drake.”

“I've seen you here before,” her eyes narrowed at me and I nodded.

“Yes ma'am, you have,” I agreed. “I was here last Monday.”

“And now you're the boyfriend?” she snorted slightly.

“It's complicated,” I tried, shrugging.

“Nettie, enough,” Connie's voice came out of the office again. “I appreciate it but I can take care of myself. And he can take care of me, too,” she added and the smirk threatened to blossom on my face again. I stuffed it back down, not wanting to get on Nettie's bad side. Or maybe worse side. I hadn't actually seen a good side yet.

“What the hell happened here, anyway?” she demanded through the window, ignoring me completely now. “What a mess.”

“Someone broke in,” Connie told her. “Probably after the drugs and when they couldn't get them they tore the place apart.”

“Bastards,” Nettie snarled. She looked back at me.

“You gonna stand there all day or fix that door?” Very formidable woman, Nettie.

*****

After Nettie Halliburton's 'suggestion' I decided that it was time to get started. Connie needed to stay and now that she wasn't alone I could spare the time to run to the nearest place and get a couple sheets of plywood.

“Need anything else?” I asked, making a short list of things I needed to at least close her office up and seal out the weather. Nothing I could do would keep her from being broken into again.

“A Coke would be nice,” she admitted. “I don't usually drink soda regularly but I think I could use the sugar and caffeine today. Get me the one with sugar and not corn syrup. The Mexican Coke.”

“You know that statement could result in a DEA investigation.” That was what everyone called the 'export' soda, but I couldn't resist.

“Go!” she laughed, making a shooing motion. I looked at Nettie.

“Can I get you anything, ma'am?” I asked. Politely. Have I mentioned how formidable Nettie is?

“If you can find me about six storage tubs that would be great,” she surprised me. “I need something to put the records in while we're sorting them,” she added.

“Storage it is,” I nodded. “Back soon!” I called and headed out. As I was leaving a woman with two kids was getting out of a car in the parking lot.

“Is the doctor seeing patients?” the woman asked, looking at the damaged front.

“I think so, but I'm not positive,” I admitted. “The receptionist is inside,” I pointed. The woman nodded and pulled her children to her, heading inside. I climbed into Big Baby and was soon weaving through traffic again.

*****

So. Plywood. Usually not a problem, right? That Monday was not a usual day. I tried three places including Lowes before I found two, that is
two
sheets of three-quarters plywood at a local hardware store. By two I mean
last
two. Probably in the whole town. I managed to get two more sheets of one inch plywood which for some reason was not as popular. There were
four
sheets of that left.

Taking my plunder I weaved and bobbed my way through the traffic once more to Connie's office. I pulled into a steadily filling parking lot. I had moved two chairs into the front before I left so I'd have room to work and miraculously no one had moved or run over them. Sometimes you get lucky. I backed into the spot and got out.

I delivered Connie's Coke and Nettie's storage tubs, noting that there were several people in the waiting room now. I looked at Nettie.

“We're the only ones here,” she told me quietly.

“Anything I can do to help?” I asked.

“You can fix the window,” she snorted. Got it. Boyfriend not needed. Message received. I went.

I have no idea why I had my tool box in the truck other than I had placed some things inside when all this had started. By sheer luck I had my battery powered drill and saw combo. Every once in a while you get lucky. I had probably had a reason for putting the box in there when I did it, and then had promptly forgotten it. Regardless, I had it with me, thank goodness.

I used the two chairs that had reserved my parking place as sawhorses and pulled the first sheet of wood out. Measuring the window first, I cut one of the one-inch board to fit and covered what was left of the window with it, using wood screws to hold it in place. I used a lot of them, hoping that would slow down another intruder. Might not make any difference, but the longer it took me to do this, the less time I had to spend around Nettie Halliburton. Have  I mentioned how formidable Nettie is?

The door was a bit more trouble and it took me a while to work things out. I cut one of three-quarters boards to fit it and then drilled several holes around the edge. I then placed the plywood against the frame and drilled through those holes into the door. That took a while and I had to change the battery about half-way through it. Once finished I used some self tapping metal screws to attach the plywood to the frame. They would hold up longer than the door frame I was pretty sure. I remember looking at it and wishing I had gotten some paint. It didn't matter in the long run but. . .it felt incredibly right to be doing something like this for my lovely doctor. Like I was her hero. I know that sounds corny and I don't mean it that way, but it was like, she needed something done and I could do it, know what I mean? I wanted to make it look as good as possible.