The Night Beat

choice.”
    “And the two scary chicks didn’t?”
    “Um, I think it was more, at the time, when they died, that they wanted to fit in.” I was reaching. I had no idea what Black Angel Two’s mindset had been at the time. They’d died centuries apart and more centuries before me, but over time had worked hard to become one of the two top Angelic Enforcer teams. Considering that Black Angel One had been together far longer, and had died closer together, all things being equal, Two’s rise was very impressive.
    “Fit in where?” Jack shuddered.
    “With the other angels. And, what’s wrong with you?”
    He shook his head. “I grew up thinking angels watched over us. I never want something like that watching over me.”
    Miriam was next to us. Angelic thing. One moment there, the next, here. They moved fast, that was all, but it was freaky the first few hundred times it happened. She looked Jack right in the eyes. “You must tread carefully.”
    “Sorry, didn’t mean to insult you,” Jack said.
    She shook her head. “I don’t care what you think of me. But your soul is in jeopardy.”
    “Because I’m a human?”
    “No,” Miriam said slowly. “Because you no longer want to be.”
    And then she was gone, back next to Martin and Magdalena, her back to us.
    Jack looked at me. “Really? The most attractive undead species? Compared to what, Dirt Corps?”
    “No, really. More than vampires, even.”
    “Um, I’m not really attracted to Amanda, but I’d take her in a heartbeat over Black Angels Charm and Charmer.” He looked around. “They’re going to be working with us for the rest of this case?”
    “I think so. Don’t worry, maybe Black Angel One will drop in, too.”
    “More ‘hot chicks’?”
    “No, they’re male. Brothers.” Considered the hottest things with two wings, too, but I decided not to mention it.
    “I can’t wait.”
    “You’ll have to,” Monty said. He’d played dead while this was going on, but I knew he’d taken it all in. “Black Angel One spent all day trailing Tomio for, as near as we can tell, no reason. They’re resting, but I believe they plan to join us in a few hours.”
    “Good, I’m sure we’re going to need them.” I decided to let Miriam’s comment about Jack’s soul wait. We had to plan our course of action. I’d have time to find out what she meant -- about his soul as well as him not wanting to be human -- later. “Ken, what’ve we got?”
    Ken came over to us and the others followed. “Nothing much. Amanda and Maurice are as bored on their trailing detail as they were last night and Black Angel One was all day.”
    “No one’s found any of the doppelgängers? Not one?”
    Gretel shook her head. “We put out an ABA. Nothing.”
    “ABA?” Jack asked.
    “All Being Alert.” I heaved a sigh. “So, all the false trails led here. What happened with the people who died at the scene last night?”
    “They’re still interred,” Monty answered. “Nothing different about them.”
    “The living victims are exorcised,” Martin offered. “But, as I’d suspected, it was a waste of effort. The traces were all external, only. Left to confuse and delay.”
    “But why? The Prince’s side hasn’t done anything now for going on twenty-four hours. And with doppelgängers wandering loose, you’d think something would have gone down by now.”
    “Are we sure we have doppelgängers at all?” Jack asked.
    I shrugged. “No. We’re not sure the Prince or his stronger minions are on the human plane, either. But if they’re not, what’s with all the divide, conquer and confuse tactics? It’s not like doing that would cause us to take monitoring off the normal entryways or stop watching the usual suspects.”
    “Everything seems normal, on all the planes,” Magdalena said. “Even in Hell.”
    Martin nodded. “Undercover agents report no unusual activity, other than the incident from last night, which appeared to be an attempt to impress the boss that went wrong.”
    “Our agents think Slimy acted alone and there was no one else on the grassy knoll or, in this case, in the creepy alley?”
    “As far as they can tell,” Magdalena said. “As far as anyone can tell, we shouldn’t be gathered here, trying to find doppelgängers. Or anything else, for that matter.”
    The group started discussing the situation, options, theories. I let it wash over me and didn’t add in. Neither, I noted, did Miriam. She still had her back to the rest of