She smiled happily and leaned back in her chair again. “Exactly.”

“I think you should ask one of the other animators at Animators Inc.”

“But you’re the only one that everyone says can raise a zombie that thinks and looks and acts alive.”

I shrugged. “There are one or two others in this country who can do it.”

She shook her head, the expensive haircut bobbing as she moved. “No, I’ve checked. You are the only one that everyone agrees can guarantee that a zombie will be completely lifelike.”

I had a bad thought. “What do you want your late husband to be able to do one last time, Ms. Zell?”

“I want him to be alive one more time.”

“Sex with a zombie, no matter how lifelike, is still considered a crime. I can’t help you do that, not legally.”

She actually blushed under the nice makeup. “I have no intention of doing that with him ever again, and especially not as a zombie. That’s… that’s just… disgusting.”

“Glad we agree on that.”

She recovered, though I had shocked her; nice to know I could. “Then you will raise Chase from the dead for me?”

“Maybe.”

“Why won’t you just do this? If it’s the money, I’ll double your fee.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a lot of money.”

“I have a lot of money. What I need is my husband back among the living for a few more minutes.”

I couldn’t tell you what it was that went through her eyes just then, or why I didn’t like it. I’d spent too much time around bad people not to look for it in most faces, and I had my share of clients whose lies had created some really awful nights. I’d even had one client who had me raise a husband that she had killed, and he had done what all murdered zombies do-killed his murderer. Until he throttled the life out of her I couldn’t command him to do a damn thing. Things like that had made me suspicious of the stories that the nice people across my desk told me.