The Night Beat

more agents infiltrating us, not less? Double-agents, like a good double-cross, were more the Prince’s side of things than ours, after all.
    “So, Monty’s a suspect,” Jack said shortly. “Who else?” He shot me a look I was familiar with -- he suspected someone near us of being about to try something.
    I considered who in the car Jack didn’t trust. The answer was easy. But I wasn’t going to accuse Ralph of being a double-agent right here and right now, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that if he was , we’d tell him that we suspected him, and that would mean we wouldn’t catch him, because he’d be on guard.
    So, I considered other options, while adding Ralph to my turncoat suspects list. None of the options, Ralph included, made me happy. But then again, finding out one of your friends is actually your enemy is never fun. “Clyde.”
    “Why?” Ralph sounded shocked. “He had to be rewrapped! How’s he a suspect?”
    “He runs Necropolis Enforcement’s day-to-day. And yet, the Adversary made it in without issue, did his thing, and escaped. I just think it’s a possibility that he had inside help, and if he did, then Clyde’s the best choice.”
    “The Count, too,” Sexy Cindy said, her voice low. “I mean, if you’re looking for who it would suck beyond belief to be on the wrong side. Martin and Black Angel One and Two, too. They were with us and angels can talk in their minds and all.”
    “Yeah.” The downside of knowing we had a deep cover operative about as deep as you could go meant the other side could as well. I’d been happier back in The Pleasure Palace.
    “All the angels, any angel, by those standards,” Freddy said, sounding dejected. “Even Jude. He’s supposed to be blocking the bad guys and yet all the minions are on the plane, right?”
    “Right.” I wanted to throw up. “Cotton.” Suggesting him didn’t give me any pleasure. “Though I think he’s unlikely.” But ghosts had the ability to follow you without your knowing it. Not for too long, but a short time could be enough.
    “Ken,” Jack offered. “He made the decisions about who to resurrect. And he screwed up Freddy and Cindy. Maybe he did that on purpose.”
    My stomach was in knots. “You have a point.” My friends and my two ex-boyfriends were suspects. Throwing up wasn’t an option, neither were tears, but it took a lot of work to prevent both. I couldn’t even trust everyone in the car, since Ralph was a suspect, though thankfully Jack wasn’t going to say it aloud right now, either. Freddy and Sexy Cindy, by benefit of being resurrected by Ken could also be considered suspect. I felt quite alone and surrounded.
    Ralph sighed. “Honestly, it could be anyone. Vic’s the daughter of the Adversary, Jack’s a human who’s adapting amazingly well…I could go on. I don’t think we have enough to know.”
    Ralph had a point. “True. So, we work under the mole assumption and stay hyper-alert, but until we have something more, no friendships are destroyed by quick-trigger accusations. Agreed?”
    The others all murmured their accord. We drove on, and I was sure the others felt like I did -- like the world had just shifted again into an even scarier and sadder place.

Chapter 46
     
    We arrived at the OLOC parking lot. Sure enough, there was our unmarked car, looking very police-like. It was getting furtive glances from the few humans wandering around. They were also clearly looking for the cops. No one had paid any real attention to us in the S-Class.
    “Let’s load the weapons into our, ah, borrowed vehicle.”
    “Hell with that,” Jack muttered. He went to the sedan’s radio. “Darlene, Detective Wagner. Any interesting news?”
    “Darlene is off shift, Detective. This is Susan.” There was something odd about how she said her name, but I couldn’t place what. I tried to remember what she looked like but couldn’t. Blonde, maybe.
    “Oh, right, sorry, losing track of time. How’re you doing?” Jack sounded friendlier than normal. I figured he’d picked up that he’d annoyed her in some way.
    “I’m good, thanks for asking. Are you still on shift?”
    “Yes, Detective Wolfe and I are both going to have to keep on rolling.”
    “Bummer.”
    “So,” I interjected, “what’s going on today and what went on last night that we might not know about?”
    “Last night was another quiet night. Nice change. Darlene told me the Chief is worried, though.”