The Night Beat

officers.
    However, the moment we were alone with the Chief, we got the superior glare of disapproval. “You know you’re not supposed to become involved with your partner.”
    I did my best “innocent puppy has not piddled on the rug” look. “What do you mean, Chief?”
    The Chief was short and stocky, pretty much all muscle and coiled energy. I’d never been able to figure out how anyone had managed to convince him to take the highest desk job available on the force. He always seemed like he was ready to trot over to the holding cells and beat a confession out of the perps, probably all at once.
    He glared at me. “I mean you two have crossed the line.”
    “How do you figure?” Jack asked calmly.
    The Chief rolled his eyes. “I’d say it was the fact you both look guilty, but really, how stupid are you?” He pointed to the video monitor screens to the left of his desk. To the one trained on the parking lot, in particular.
    “Oh.” Well, I felt stupid. And forgetful. Hey, a lot was going on.
    “It’s not a normal situation, and you know it,” Jack said.
    “Fine, whatever. What’s actually going on, now that we can, I assume, all stop acting?”
    “You could have told me you knew a long time ago.”
    The Chief shrugged. “I didn’t want you getting sloppy. If you had to fool me and Wagner, then you were going to fool anyone else you came across. As this morning has just proven, the moment you got to stop pretending you also got stupid and careless.”
    I tried to apologize and yawned instead. Widely.
    “Vic got hurt tonight,” Jack said. “She had to go the hospital in Necropolis Enforcement.”
    “I’m fine. My kind heals fast.” Under most circumstances, anyway. However, much as I didn’t want to admit it, while stifling another yawn, I was dog-tired.
    And not hiding it well, if the Chief’s reaction was any indication. “Go home and get some sleep.”
    I considered our options. There were a lot of options, of course. But all the vamps were out now that the sun was up. The Black Angels were top-notch, so were Hansel and Gretel. Monty and Edgar, too. So if something were going down with them, I’d know soon enough. Ralph I wasn’t so sure about -- he had a tendency to make high-level decisions without asking first -- but he had Dirt Corps with him, and they knew better than to keep Monty in the dark about anything. So, all trails covered. But we had four cops and two hookers in the hospital and they needed to be sniffed, at least.
    I shook my head. “Can’t. Need to question the survivors and make sure they’re not carrying something…extra with them.”
    “Is there anyone else you can trust with it?” The Chief didn’t look like he was going to take no for an answer.
    I gave it a shot anyway. “No. How about this? Jack and I go take a look at City Hospital. If everything seems secure, we’re fine and heading home. If we’re not sure we have a possession, I’ll have Enforcement assign a tail. If things are bad, I have a feeling that’ll wake us both right up. Okay?”
    “No, but I’ll take it. I want you two extra-vigilant and I want you, Wolfe, to stop relaxing. You’re still undercover, and I expect you to stay that way. As for you,” he glared at Jack. “You watch yourself. You’ve already overstepped your assignment and put yourself and your partner in danger.”
    “I know the rules,” Jack said. He sounded tired, too. “There are always reasons to break them.”
    The Chief snorted. “Oh yes. Of course there are.”
    “We don’t have the ‘no partnering with your significant other’ rule in Necropolis Enforcement.” We didn’t. We also didn’t have the “no partnering with your sibling, parent, family member, ex, or wannabe lover” rule, either. Point of fact, we didn’t have the “no partnering with your unlifelong enemy” rule, either. In Necropolis Enforcement, the main rule was “whatever works”. In some cases that was great. I’d have done a lot to get a rule that allowed me to never work with Ralph, though. But no such luck. My wrist-com beeped, and sure enough, it was my least favorite werewolf on the line.
    “Vic, trail’s gone dead.” Ralph sounded tense and disappointed.
    “For real or because it was time to go dead?”
    “I think the latter. But we’ve got nothing.” There was something in Ralph’s tone that made the hair on the back of my neck rise.
    “Where, exactly, did the trail die?”
    “Right in the middle of the