AfterNet 01 - Good Cop Dead Cop

about the voices I keep hearing, Munroe. They keep telling me to ditch you and find a real partner.”
    Munroe chose to ignore her. He often wished for a way to do a sotto voce comic grumble via the terminal interface.
    Yamaguchi’s driving quickly brought them to the performing arts center and they began their usual argument about parking. She wanted to park in the center’s parking garage.
    “It’s up to $10, Linda. Besides, there’s always parking on 20th Street.”
    “Yes, if I want to walk six blocks in a dress and heels when it’s 20 degrees outside and I’m already late. And it’s windy, too,” she added, slyly.
    “Is it? Oh yeah, well then we wouldn’t want you to walk that far.”
    She smiled and hoped Munroe wouldn’t notice. Like many disembodied, Munroe hated wind. He said that moving through a strong wind for him was like walking through molasses. Of course, it was windy and the wind chill probably brought the temperature down to minus something, so she definitely wanted to park in the garage.
    She found a spot in one of the lower levels that suited her small Honda del Sol and quickly parked, almost cutting off the SUV behind her. “Stupid monster car,” she muttered, sotto voce .
    “See, only 6:30. Plenty of time.” Munroe ignored her and waited until she got out, then he exited while she waited.
    “I’m out,” he told her.
    They left the parking garage and went down a level to the main gallery of the center. Luckily the air was calm and they made their way through the crowd heading for any one of four events that night at the center. Munroe had to dodge the people and several times lost her, but he found her waiting for him by the main entrance to the concert hall.
    “OK?” she asked.
    “OK,” he answered. “You go in and I’ll try to sneak in.”
    “We can try the handicapped entrance.”
    “No, I’ll try to rise above it, if you’ll excuse the pun.”
    “You’re excused. Meet by the coat check.”
    She went inside while Munroe waited by the doors for a small lull, which never happened. So he rose above the crowd and squeezed in above the heads of the people. Luckily, he made it without being crushed. He remained above the crowd after he entered until he caught a glimpse of her at the coat check. He lowered himself back into the crowd, feeling slightly winded.
    It was still 20 feet to the coat check and it took Munroe a minute to arrive, just in time to see her being handed the ticket for her coat. She turned back and looked into the crowd. Munroe saw the dress, a dark wine-red number with tiny straps that almost revealed an indecent amount of cleavage but still managed to leave her looking elegant. The fabric formed an enticing fold or band around her breasts and when she turned around because someone bumped into her he saw the dress exposed a lot of her back. She had a wrap the same color as the dress but it hung low behind her. She turned back to look for Munroe again and now he noticed that it was her hair that kept her looking elegant. Instead of her usual ponytail, her long, black thick hair fell straight down and then curved inward at the ends, adding a touch of modesty as it concealed her breasts.
    Munroe always knew Yamaguchi was pretty but he’d only ever seen her as a cop and had always assumed she was kind of hippy, but now he realized that was a false impression caused by her equipment belt, her vest and the unflattering police uniform. My partner is a fox, thought Munroe.
    He also never realized how short she was. She was only five foot two, but as a cop, she carried herself with authority. Standing in heels, her new height slightly unnerved him. He searched for the terminal’s field but couldn’t find it, then remembered she’d put the terminal in her handbag, which she was holding in her left hand.
    “That’s some dress, Linda.”
    She smiled when Munroe’s words came to her through the ear buds.
    “Thanks, Alex.”
    “Something different with your hair, too.”
    “Got rid of the highlights.”
    “Your mother?” he asked, knowing her mother disapproved of anything that took away from her Oriental features.
    “Well, partially. Well, OK, yes, it gives her one less thing to complain about.”
    A few of the people around her started looking at her, and an older woman said in a stage whisper, “Some people have no sense of the appropriate.” Yamaguchi’s eyes lowered and she backed away.
    “The old broad say something?” asked Munroe,