1 Broken Hearted Ghoul Read Online Free PDF Page B

guessing you must be in your twenties.”
    “Thanks. I’m almost forty. Good genetics.”
    I couldn’t keep the amazement from my face. I stopped at the door to the coffee shop. “You look great. Zombies don’t age, I guess.”
    He separated himself from me, and pushed open the door. “Coffee first.”
    We got our coffee, and I bought a raisin bagel for Brandon. We sat in a corner of the shop as dozens of people walked in and out. The smell of strong coffee mingled with breakfast food and homemade bread.
    “We age a little. You can’t really tell it.”
    “Abe looks good for being more than two-hundred years old.”
    He sipped his coffee, and glanced around us. “It’s magic—his life force—that he shares every time he creates a new zombie. It’s what keeps him going.”
    I wanted to know more. “How does he share his life force? How does he get it back?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. You should ask him.”
    “Not that brave. Why do you think I’m asking you ?”
    “That’s what I thought.” Brandon snorted when he laughed.
    I told him about Debbie and her husband. Brandon chewed some of his bagel, and wiped his thin, white hands on a napkin before replying.
    “Like I said at the mortuary, zombies still do it, Skye. It sounds like Abe may be smitten with Debbie. He’s only been with a few women since I’ve known him. He’s very selective.”
    “That thing with her husband is weird.” I shook my head as I watched people around us. “If he’s not a zombie, and not human—what is he?”
    “Could be anything. It might not be Abe’s doing.” He leaned closer. “I don’t know a lot about magic, but I know it can go bad real fast. I’ve seen some things —”
    I waited, but he stopped and looked away. “Oh no. Come on. You can’t leave me like this!”
    “Sorry.” He finished his bagel. “All I can say is that I’ve never known Abe to be with a woman for more than a few months. The part about him being trapped by a witch in New Orleans is true. I think it made him a little reluctant to commit, if you know what I mean.”
    It was my turn to sip my coffee, and think about Abe and Debbie. Maybe he took her on just to keep her close, and had no intention of keeping her husband around for twenty years. He had saved Terry from dying, as he had me and Brandon. Why not just let him die, and then Debbie would be free?
    I asked Brandon what he thought.
    “This way, she belongs to him, even though she’s not a zombie,” he replied. “She’ll do whatever he tells her to do.”
    I didn’t want to push my luck, but Brandon might not ever be this chatty again. “What happens to people when their time is up? Why does Abe go through so much trouble to bring them back?”
    He swallowed his last bit of coffee. “What do you think? They’re dead.”
    “But are they buried or cremated? Where do they go? What happens to the life force magic?”
    “Where all dead bodies go. Back to the ether.” He grinned. “You know I think you’ve gotten more out of me than a cup of coffee and a bagel covers. You and me should go back to the mortuary. I’ve got an extra wide coffin that is really plush.”
    If I’d been considering using sex to get the truth out of him, that would have changed my mind. “I need to get on this next assignment that Abe wants me to take care of. I’ll see you later. Thanks for the info.”
    He winked at me. “Yeah. There’s always later .”
    I let him leave first. Brandon was okay . . . for a mortician. I still wondered about where the bodies went, and how the whole thing worked. I knew a little more about Abe, but Brandon was holding back.
    I had to stop thinking that way. I wasn’t a cop anymore, and asking too many questions could cause Abe to get rid of me before Kate was grown. I had to remember that.
    It wasn’t easy.
    I glanced at my phone to make sure there were no messages and then walked outside. The sun was rapidly heating up the day. People were starting to