Dead Man Running (3 page)

"
I told
you
to come over here.  What the hell made you bring her?
"
Elias point
ed
toward the young woman, who
wa
s backing away from the corpse.

"
Hey, you didn't tell me squat.  You just told me to get down here.  I thought you wanted to meet with Wiley. 
And
I thought Jan could help
so
I
picked her up on the way
.
"

"
You damn well know t
he only thing Wiley meets here is a warm pussy.  What the hell is on your mind?
"

Chi ignore
d
the question as he walk
ed
over to the body.
  "
What happened here?
"

"
What do you think?  The old man busted a nut and his heart at the same time.
"

"
What about the girl he was banging?
"

"
You don't want to know
,
"
Elias said. 
He approached Jan
Sugerfoot
.  The attractive woman, still dressed in her dark conservative church skirt and white silk top, was visibly shaking.

"
Listen, Jan, Reverend Wiley
died
. 
Of natural causes.
  We just can't let the press or Mrs. Wiley find him here.  Will you help me?
"

The young woman nod
ded
her head.

"
Good.  Just stand over here like a good little girl and I'll tell you when we need you.
"  He guided
the woman to stand in the corner. 

Meanwhile, Chi
stared at
the corpse
.

"
What the hell are you doing?
" Elias asked, his voice brimming with barely controlled anger.

"
They say your soul comes out through your eyes.
"

"
What?
"

"
When you die, your soul comes out through your eyes.
"

"
That's crazy.
" He looked around the room at the still cowering Jan, the impatient
but not lifting a finger
Mookie.  "Am I the only one who wants to get this
body
out of this room?
"

"
You telling me you don't believe in life after death?
"

As Elias shook his head
Mookie raise
d
his hand.
  "
I do
," he said.

"
Shut up, Mookie
," Elias said.  "We have to get his body out of here,
to
somewhere more appropriate."

"
I think it'd be cool if I could catch his soul before it left
,
"
said Chi.

Elias sighed.  Chi, his good hearted but slightly dim best friend, was trying his patience. 

"
Then what?
" Elias asked.

"
I don't know.  I'd find some white dude and sell it to him.
"

"
Yeah, Justin
Bieber
or those guys from
The Big Bang Theory
.
Those boys could use some soul," Mookie said.

"
Shut up Mookie!
" Elias said.  "I don't want to hear any
more talk about souls."  He fixed his hard brown eyes on Chi.  "
We need to wrap the body up and take him out the back way.
"

"
Do you know how much this mother weighs?  The three of us can't carry him
,
"
said Chi.

"
Yeah, the two of you can't
," said Mookie.  He reached for his back and began to rub.

"
Too bad he can't walk out of here on his own
," Chi said with a smile.

"
Why don't we just get someone to put some voodoo on him and he can walk down the stairs by himself
," Elias offered
with a smile
.

"
Now you're talking, boss
," said Chi
.

Elias stare
d
at Chi.
  "
I was joking, you idiot.
"

"
Too bad, I know just the man
," Mookie said.
  He stroked his hairless chin.

"
The man for what?
"
asked Elias.

"
His name's Hamid.  He's a sorcerer.
"

"
You been w
h
ipping and w
h
opping too much
man.  You're saying that you know somebody who can bring him back to life?
"
Elias asked.

"
Well, not life exactly, but close enough.
"

"And you know this how?"

Mookie looked away, around the room, anywhere but at Elias.

"Had him bring back one of my high earning girls. 
Managed to make a few more dollars off her until the smell got too much."

"
Long as he can walk down those stairs, I don't care.  I ain't lifting nobody.  I was a pall bearer
a while back
.  Man,
once
we got th
at
fat ass
stiff in the ground I felt like jumpin
'
in after him
. 
My arms hurt real bad.
"  Chi rubbed his arms.

"You two done?"
Elias asked.  "
I can't believe you know somebody who does voodoo."

"
This is
Harlem
, nigger's paradise.  There's somebody who does everything here.
"

A soft, sweet voice joined the conversation.  "
I think we need to
call Mrs. Wiley, let her know
.
"

The three men look
ed
back toward the corner, where Jan
stood
.
  "
She deserves to know her husband is dead, doesn't she?
"

Elias pointed a
long slender
finger in Jan's direction. 
"
Listen, if I wanted your opinion,
little girl,
I would have asked for it.  Now, stay out of this and let the grownups
talk
.
"

"
I was just saying...
"

Elias put his index finger to his mouth.
  "
Shush.  The noise we are hearing is a little girl about to lose her job.
"

Chi stepped between Elias and Jan. 
"
Job?  What job?  Without Wiley, we're all out of work.  We were less than two weeks away from the election.  Damn, less than two weeks away from another two years in this sweet job.  Man.  If he could be brought back, that would save all our
asses
.
  We can leave his dead ass on the ballot.  Who would know?
"

"You think a dead man can be elected to Congress?"  Elias asked.

"If he be black
, a Democrat
and running in
Harlem
, damn straight he can," said Chi.

Elias walked away from the rest, stared at Wiley's corpse.
  If they
could
bring him back long enough to win the election, Elias could take over afterward.  He could either be the power behind the zombie on the throne or take the seat himself. 

Congressman Elias Turnbull.
  He liked the ring of that.  Intellectually he knew zombies didn't exist but his greed was willing him to give it a try.

"You know I'm right, E," said Chi.

"
He can
win if he's vertical
, just let me call my boy
,
"
said Mookie.

Silence filled the room.  It was abundantly clear that his lazy associates were not going to lift a finger to carry the
stocky
Wiley until this crazy idea was fully played out. 
And
maybe
it would work.  Stranger shit than zombies have found their way to
Harlem
.  Think Al Sharpton.

"H
e can do it?
" Elias
asked Mookie.

"
Sure can!
"

"
How much?
"

"
Five
grand
is standard for reanimation
.
  I thought everybody knew that."

"Apparently I've been traveling in the wrong circles. 
If he brings him back, tell him I'll give him t
en
.
"

"
Bet.  I'll call him ov
a
.
"

Another hour
passed
with
Mookie, Elias, Chi and Jan
remain
ing
in the room. 
A sheet covered the dead body
. 

There
wa
s a knock at the door.  Mookie walk
ed
over and look
ed
in the peephole.

"
It's my boy
," he said
.
  He
open
ed
the door.  In walk
ed
a bald, elderly man, with a long beard,
swarthy
skin
and slight buil
d
.
  Mookie quickly shut the door behind him.

"
What the hell is this?
" asked Elias.

"
This is my boy,
Hamid
.
"

"
You're joking, right?
"

"
Nah, E.  He's the real deal. 
Magic
, the black arts, this man's the
shit
.
"

"
Young man, you doubt my powers?
"
Hamid
asked.

"
Yeah.  I was kind of expecting someone, you know, black. 
A
Haitian
or some shit. 
Maybe wearing some chicken bones around their neck and holding a
fucking
goat.
"

The small man held his ground, his one good eye staring down his tormentor.  "
Y
ou think black people are the only ones who know
the black arts
? 
Arabs
have been doing
magic
for
centurie
s.
  It was our magicians who faced off against Moses and the Hebrew God."

Elias sh
ook
his head.
  "From what I heard, Moses won."

"The winners get to write the history, young man,"
Hamid
said.

"E, the man got a point," Mookie said.

Elias turned toward Mookie. 
"
If I let this man do his thing, will you help us carry him out
?"

"
Yeah, but we won't need to carry him
,
"
Mookie replied.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," Elias thought.  He addressed
Hamid
: "T
en
grand if you make this stiff walk, nothing if you don't." 
Hamid
nodded and Elias found a wall and watched.

Hamid
stood at the foot of the bed and raised his hands above his head.
  His lips mouthed spells silently spoken. 
He removed too vials from his jacket, opened Wiley's mouth and poured the fluid down his throat.  He stepped back and raised his arms again.  "
Rise, Ben Wiley.  Rise!
"