Late in the shift, Tracy looked up from her computer to catch her partner almost bouncing into the squadroom, and smiling like he'd won the lottery as he dropped into the chair across from her. "What put you in such a good mood? Did the tip pay off?"
"Yes... and no." Klaus's grin widened. "Let's just say that I expect good things to come from it." His expression altered as he suddenly became all concentration. "Lucard's probably still looking for a way to eliminate Jerry. We should probably put him under police protection for a while."
Vetter sighed, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms as she studied her partner. "The TV station already sprang for bodyguards, so he should be safe for now. What *I* don't understand is why you're so certain that Alexander Lucard had something to do with it."
Tracy thought Nick looked taken aback, but he glibly responded, "I should think that would be obvious. The tape at the station--"
"We went over this with Mr. Lucard!" Tracy's lips thinned in annoyance as she went on. "Someone is trying to frame him, Nick. Everything points to it; the broadcasting of the tape, the timing of the shots--"
"He's just trying to throw us off the scent, that's all," the other detective said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "What we have to do is find the shooter, and the rest of that tape." Klaus grinned as he ostensibly studied the file in front of him, silently chortling over his success in replacing Knight. His juvenile partner didn't suspect anything was wrong, and now Klaus was in the perfect position to complete his preparations for humiliating Alexander.
"I still think there's something you're not telling me." Tracy glared at her partner, who was humming under his breath as he thumbed through the file. "Where do you know Mr. Lucard from?"
"Um?" Klaus stopped humming, and glared back at her. "I never said I knew him. I don't know him." He irritably slapped the folder shut. "Don't ask me that. Why are you asking me that?"
"Because you're acting weird, Nick. Weirder than usual. You haven't even acknowledged the possibility that anyone else could want to kill Jerry Tate!" Tracy's voice rose as her partner's eyes narrowed and became cold. "I'm serious. We have to at least consider that someone else might have done this."
"Why?" Knight was staring at her in fascination.
Tracy blinked, caught off-guard by the stupidity of the question. "Why? Because that's our job, Nick. What do you mean, why? I can't believe--"
Nick's phone rang and Klaus answered it while tapping a pencil on the desk and glaring at Tracy, who was still glowering at him. "Knight here."
"Nick? It's Natalie. I have the results from the O'Brian autopsy here, and there's a few other things I have to go over with you. Can you come down here before the end of your shift?"
Klaus stopped tapping the pencil for a moment, his mind shifting into overdrive as he tried to grasp the implications of the call. "It can't wait? We're sort of in the middle of something here--" Who was Natalie? Well, an M.E., obviously. But his quick survey of Knight's life hadn't included any personal details; and he was on a first-name basis with this woman. Were they friends, as well as co-workers? This could get sticky... The pencil started tapping again, only faster.
"No, it *can't* wait." Whoever this Natalie was, she didn't sound like the type to take no for an answer. Well, he'd just have to wing it.
"Alright, I'll be there before my shift ends."
"Thanks. Oh, and Nick--"
"Yup?"
"I have a new protein shake for you to try. I think I got the flavoring right this time, too."
"Protein shake?" Klaus frowned at the phone, carefully controlling his confusion so his partner wouldn't pick up on it. Natalie seemed to take it as a protest.
"Don't be like that until you've tried it. It tastes like blood to me, so hopefully you'll be able to stomach it." Klaus dropped his pencil in shock as Natalie-the-M.E. kept talking. "If I'm right and your need for blood is partly psychological, maybe this will help."
"Really?" von Helsing responded weakly. "That's... great. Uh, gotta go, Natalie. I'll see you soon." He hung up the phone very gingerly, as if it were a bomb about to explode, then just stared at it for a few moments. "Tracy?"
"What?" Vetter was still annoyed with him, but right now that was the least of his problems.
"What do you think of Natalie?"
Tracy gave him another sanity-questioning look. "What kind of question is that?"
"A perfectly reasonable one," Klaus replied defensively. He had to know a bit more about this woman before he walked into her morgue. What was Knight into? Protein shakes? Blood taste? Had he confided that he was a vampire to this woman? Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as he'd thought it would be.
Tracy sighed and turned back to her computer, entering data without looking at her partner. "I like her. She's smart. Nice. A terrific M.E. Why she puts up with you though, I don't know."
"Puts up with me?" Klaus repeated in an offended tone.
"You have to admit, partner, you're kind of... eccentric." Tracy smiled, her mood lightening as she needled Klaus. "And moody. And overly intense. Did I mention you always think you're the only one allowed to be right?"
"Forget I asked," Klaus responded dryly. Great. Knight was a jerk. Whoever Natalie was, she couldn't be very interesting if she was hanging out with him. And if she knew too much about vampires--
He bounced up from the chair, humming under his breath as he headed for the door. It had been too long since he'd had a good excuse to indulge himself, and this just might be it. "I'll be at the morgue for the rest of the shift. See you tomorrow, Tracy. Oh, and Tracy?" Vetter glanced up from her computer inquiringly, and Klaus smiled wickedly at her. "I'm still right about Lucard. I'll prove it to you, just wait."
Tracy watched her partner bound out of the station and wondered if switching to decaff this week had been a wise decision. It was beginning to look like she'd need the extra jolt just to cope with Nick's new hyper side. "Great. Why did he have to become manic during this case?"