The Night Beat

investigating The Pleasure Palace.”
    “Shouldn’t you and Jack be the ones to do that?” Ken asked. “You’re the only two who we could laughingly say have a reason to go in that isn’t related to the undead world.”
    As always, Ken had a point. A good point.
    H.P., Monty and Edgar were all nodding, as were the angels. “So, Ken’s right, as per usual. So, how do we stop the likely doppelgängers at Enforcement?”
    Gretel raised her paw. “Send me, Hansel and Ralph. No matter what they look like, the dupes don’t smell right. Close, but not close enough.”
    This was true. “Okay, let’s make that happen.” The three of them did an intense scratch and sniff on me and Jack, minimal scratch, maximum sniff. Then they took off.
    “Think they’ll be okay?” Jack asked me.
    “Probably better than we’ll be.”
    “Comforting. Remind me to make sure that, should we have kids, you leave the nurturing parts to me.”

Chapter 28
     
    I left Ken in charge of group divisions. He could do it as well as me, and I wanted to get into The Pleasure Palace and out again as soon as possible. However, Jack and I didn’t go alone. I insisted on taking Freddy and Sexy Cindy with us.
    They weren’t thrilled, at least if their grumbling as we walked out of the alley was any indication. “Okay,” I snapped once we were in front of the bridal shop. “Want to tell me why you don’t want this assignment?”
    “I told you, I don’t like that place,” Sexy Cindy whined.
    “Hell’s no fun, either, but some of us have to venture there on assignment. I’ll wager there’s not a lot of fun being had at Enforcement HQ right now, but you didn’t hear that team whining about it.”
    “We’re dead,” Freddy snapped. “And you want to take us in with you to someplace we never went anyway.”
    “You’re undead. It’s different and, by now, you both know it. Besides, I don’t care if you never went there before -- you’re going in there now to give me and Jack a believable reason to follow you.”
    “How are we going to be believable?” Sexy Cindy asked. “We’re undead.”
    “You don’t look it,” Jack said. “I can’t tell the difference between what you looked like alive and now. Your brain’s working better, but if no one in there knows you, Cindy, they won’t notice you’re not acting like a moron all the time. Same with Freddy. You haven’t been undead long enough to have that gray-around-the-edges look H.P. has. You look better than you have in years, but you still look like a bum.”
    “Uh, Jack? Maybe we’ll leave the nurturing of potential young to me after all.”
    Freddy sighed. “No, he’s got a point. The Indoctrination people --”
    “Beings. We’re beings. Of everyone with us now, Jack is the only person.”
    “Got it. You teach at the University on your off days?” Freddy asked with far more sarcasm than I thought necessary.
    “No. It’s just a big deal, okay? At least half of us were people, at one time, and we’re not any more. We’re beings. Only living humans get to be called people.” It bothered me that it still bothered me, after all these years, but it did. I’d been a person, and I wasn’t any more. I moved my mind off the past quickly. “So, anyway, you two need to wander in and look like you’re trying to get away from the cops. We’ll be pretty much right behind you.”
    “What have we done to get you interested in us?” Sexy Cindy asked, sounding a little less sulky.
    “We’re asking questions about Anthony Tomio,” Jack replied. “You don’t know anything, but you don’t want to be questioned, either.”
    They both nodded, looking unhappy. “Those expressions are good. Add in some fear, too. You know, just figure that if you can’t manage to do this one little assignment you’ll probably get to work with us a lot…and we’re both really hard on rookies.”
    “Wow, this unlife’s so great,” Freddy said. “We both feel really lucky.”
    “We should,” Sexy Cindy said in a low voice. “You saw the others.”
    He sighed and took her arm. “You’re right. We’ll head off and do our act, such as it is. Just don’t wait too long to come after us. Cindy’s not the only one who never wanted to go into that place.”
    Jack and I watched them hustle off. “What’s our plan once we get in there?” he asked when they were far enough away they couldn’t hear.
    “I think this falls under the ‘wing it’ line of attack. We know this is