The Night Beat

actor or he was seriously pissed. I hated to vote that way, but I went with the seriously pissed option. I got a lot of things from him, but not lying.
    “He around for us to talk to?” I asked without much hope of hearing a yes.
    “No. Said he had family stuff to take care of. Took the rest of the week off.” Ishtrallum looked around. “You want to tell me what’s going on that I’ve been set up to take the fall for?”
    “Can’t say if you’re set to take the fall. However, in addition to Abaddon and Apollyon, we probably have some doppelgängers wandering around.”
    “Does it get any better than this?” he asked of nobody in particular.
    “Probably, but we don’t know yet. Where does Nero go, in his off hours?”
    “He wanders. Has a place in the high-rise district, usual pit in the Levels. No idea if he goes into Necropolis Proper, however.”
    He didn’t. Nero was on our Watch List. There were certain beings who it always paid to keep several eyes on, and he was one of them. However, we’d failed, big time, since we were supposed to be keeping eyes peeled for him in Prosaic City, too. “Is he using some sort of disguise?”
    Ishtrallum shook his head. “Not that I know of. But he’s good buddies with the warlock who spelled this place. Why?”
    “I work this beat and had no idea he was around.” Hey, I could admit when I screwed up or didn’t know something.
    “You didn’t know I was around, either,” Ishtrallum mentioned.
    “Yeah, but you keep your nose clean from all you’ve said. Nero? Let’s be real.”
    “True.” He swiveled around slowly, looking at his patrons. “You know, not that I’m desperate to get you out of my business, but you might want to talk to the folks next door and down the street.”
    “At the pawnshop and the Salvation Center?”
    “Yeah. They may have something for you.” Ishtrallum gave me the wide, snake-smile. “Might make you feel better about missing all this, too. Then again, maybe not.”
    Jack gave Ishtrallum his card. “If you remember anything, spot anything, or Nero shows up, call.”
    “Oh, will do. I live to stay on the side of right and justice.”
    “Sarcasm is such a lovely trait in a lesser snake-demon.” I motioned to Sexy Cindy and Freddy that it was time to go. They got up quickly and sidled next to Jack.
    “Just one of the many services we offer here. Don’t let the door hit you and all that. However, should you want a relaxing time when you’re not on a case or trying to stop the end of all the worlds, feel free to come back. Free drinks and reduced price food for our fine folks in uniform.” With that, Ishtrallum slithered off.
    “Interesting, ah, being,” Jack said.
    “Yeah. Well, I don’t smell or see Nero here, so we might as well try the pawnshop.”
    “You sure we’d see him?” Jack asked. “If he has a spell on him, maybe we wouldn’t.”
    “Good point. In which case, this place reeks, I’m fighting to stay in human form and not go into ‘eat them all and let Yahweh sort it out’ mode, and we have a lead, however weak, from our beloved proprietor.”
    “Let’s get out of here,” Sexy Cindy said. “I wanna toss my cookies and I ain’t got no cookies to toss.”
    I noted her vocabulary was shifting back into street-hooker. Association was powerful, and she was too newly undead to fight it without help. I didn’t wait for consensus. I strode to the exit and onto the street. Happily, the others were right behind me.
    This part of town was dingy and dirty and so was everyone in it, but I took a deep breath once I was on the sidewalk. It stank, yeah, but not like The Pleasure Palace stank. I didn’t doubt Ishtrallum was raking it in -- I just didn’t want to have to go back there, for any reason. Sadly, I figured my luck wasn’t going to run that well, so settled for not going back in right now.
    I took a quick look up and down the block. A whole lot of nothing going on. A couple of cars pulled into the parking lot, one cruddy, one in good shape. Their drivers and passengers got out and wandered into The Pleasure Palace. They didn’t act like they knew each other and they also didn’t act furtive going in.
    “I want to crack down on this place so badly I can taste it,” Jack said. “You know, I’ll bet there’s some spell on the doorway, though. Because when we left, I wanted to go right back in. But now that we’re a few feet away? Nothing. Well, revulsion, but nothing you wouldn’t