Page 12 of Death Raiser

“Monica?” His voice came out raspy. The larynx had already started to break down. “Why did you do this? You know how much I hated the idea of this.”

If he hated it so much, he should’ve had the additional restrictions added to his will.

Monica hesitated and glanced at me. “Is he feeling pain?”

“Not at this moment, no. Reanimating is often disorienting, though.”

“But he can?” she asked.

“Can what?”

“Feel pain?”

I shrugged. “To an extent.”

Monica didn’t wait for an explanation. She stepped forward, drew her arm back and punched Johnny in the face. His head snapped back and a bone cracked. Instead of sitting properly on his neck, his head now listed to one side.

I rocked back on my heels and exchanged a look with Peter. He grimaced and shrugged. The laws were a little gray when it came to violence against a reanimated corpse. Some people had tried to go after clients in the past for desecration of remains, but the courts had thrown out every case so far.

“Fuck, Monica. What was that for?” Johnny wailed.

“What was that for?” Monica screeched the question back, hitting the corpse over and over again. “No. You meant to ask who that was for.”

I bit my lip.

“And so far, there’s Beatrice, Becky, Sarah, Michelle and Tara.”

Oh dear.

“Are there more?”

Johnny dropped his mouth open but didn’t reply.

“How many?” Monica demanded. “How. Fucking. Many?”

“A few.” He winced.

“Who?”

“I…I didn’t know their names. At least not all of them. Their names didn’t matter. It was always you. I loved you. I have always loved you more.”

Did he seriously say that? What a backward compliment. If Monica wasn’t already beating him to a pulp, I would’ve been tempted to take a stab at him.

“Why didn’t you just leave me?” she asked. “If you wanted other women so badly, why not free yourself? Why not free me, if you loved me so much?”

“Because I love you and I love our son. I love our family.”

“Did you think about your family while you were plowing through the entire catalogue of available, and not-so-available women of Victoria?” Monica asked.

Johnny flinched.

Monica took a deep breath and curled her hands into fists. “Are there any children I should know about? Is your estate going to be sued for child support?”

I frowned. Could the court even do that? A glance at Peter and his responding nod told me yes. Huh.

At least I knew why Peter was here. The possibility of additional heirs would make settling the estate trickier.

“No…no children.”

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