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olives.”
    “Coming right up.”
    When she left, he shook his head.   “She thought I was trying to ask her out.”
    “I thought so too.”
    He waved me off.   “The equipment ain’t what it used to be, though the little blue pills certainly help.”   He gave me a wink.   “I’m trying to find someone for Ryan.”
    “Maybe Ryan should find someone for himself.”
    “He’s a social retard.”
    “Well, there you go.   You wanted to talk to me?”
    “Shouldn’t we have a few drinks first?   Place doesn’t really start hopping until after nine.”
    “At that point, we won’t be able to hear ourselves think.”
    The waitress returned with our drinks.   She set a beer in front of me and I tasted it.   Fat Tire.   I gave her a thumbs-up.
    “It’s my favorite,” she said, touching my arm and giving me a nice smile.
    “That makes it taste even better.”
    “I hope so.   My name is Dori .   Let me know if you need anything else.”   She gave me a wink.
    Walter watched the exchange and popped an olive in his mouth.   When she left, he shook his head.   “For a woman who’s supposedly off the market, she was pretty nice to you.”
    “She wants a good tip.”
    “Right.”
    “You were going to tell me about Zach.”
    “Oh, I could tell you about Zach.”   He took a gulp of his martini.
    “That’s why we’re here.”
    He sighed.   “You know those dead people who keep rising?”
    I nodded.
    He leaned across the table and spoke quietly.   “I’m pretty sure Zach’s the one who raised them.”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “The son of a bitch is a necromancer.”
    “I figured as much.”
    “You don’t seem surprised.   His wife?”
    “What about her?”
    “Let’s just say Tony Alamo had nothing on Zach.”
    “Really.”
    “Oh yeah.   Gina was murdered four years ago, but she still goes to church on the occasional Sunday.”
    “And you know this how?”
    “I saw him kill her.”
    “Go on.”
    Walter finished his drink and ate another olive.   “Zach thought he was alone with her when he drowned her in the bathtub.”
    “Really?”
    “That’s right.   I sent my spirit body back in time and saw it happen.”
    I leaned back in my seat.   “OK.”
    “I’m getting the distinct impression you don’t believe me.”
    “Spirit body?   Give me a reason.”
    “I was in the army.   Career military.”
    “And that means you’re honest to a fault?”
    “I don’t talk about this with most people,” Walter said and looked around.   “It’s super secret, highly classified.”
    “Right.   Well, you got a free drink out of the deal.   Shall I take you home?”
    He slapped his palm on the table hard enough to make the napkin holder with the condiments bounce.   People turned to look at us.   Walter didn’t care.
    “I’m telling you the truth.”
    “Super secret, highly classified?” I said.   “Come on, Walter.”
    “It was back then.”
    “I’ll pay the tab and take you home now.”
    “You ever hear of Project Stargate ?”
    “The remote viewing thing?”
    “Yeah.   We did some amazing things.”
    “From what I recall, that program had about fifteen percent accuracy.   You could do better than that by guessing at things.”
    “That’s what they told the media.   Those of us who could actually do it were nearly a hundred percent accurate.   But if the media knew there were real-life psychic spies able to astral project through time and space, I don’t know how well the public would take that news.”
    “So you’re going to tell me that ancient aliens hunted down our dinosaurs and Elvis slept with Bigfoot to give birth to Barack Obama?”
    “I see how you are,” he said.   “You have no problem with seeing people get raised from the dead, but you don’t believe I can release my spirit into the ether to see things.”
    “Look, Walter, I’ve seen some pretty weird shit in my day, but very little of the New Age crap turns out to be