She sighed. Her salmon shirt now sported a big spot of coffee on her belly. Danielle tried to press napkins against, but it was of no use.
"Oh! Do we need to pick a baby bib too Howell?" Clawson grinned at her. He put his shopping basket at the counter beside her cup. "Do we need anything else?"
Energy drinks, check; Some biscuits, check; Bottles of water, check; Crosswords? Danielle reached inside the basket and pulled the small crosswords magazine. "Clawson, really?"
"Look Howell, we will have to spend the whole freaking night doing absolutely nothing. And you aren't a very cheerful talkative gal, are you?"
Danielle rolled her eyes. "We should be one hundred percent focused, you know?"
They headed for the checkout and paid for their groceries. Danielle took the small plastic bag and thanked the cashier.
"Remember the stakeout we did on that armadillo?" Clawson went around the patrol car and got in the driver's seat.
Danielle got into the passenger seat. "Yeah, two months ago. Counterfeiter. Was supplying false coins to the underground, right?"
"Exactly." Clawson turned on the car and checked the mirrors. "Do you remember how long we had to wait until he attempted to deliver that case of coins?"
"Twelve hours?" She stored the bottles and the cans inside the glove compartment. She picked the crosswords magazine and threw it on Clawson's lap.
"Twelve freaking hours." Clawson started to drive, but 5 meters and the car was already stopped in the heavy traffic. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me… why are we on the streets this hour of the day?"
"Hot damn, you are cranky today." Danielle picked the case file and opened it. "Gabor Garras, 30 years old ocelot, arrested four times for possession of both drugs and a stun gun. He's been trafficking in the docs for at least six months and the IB thinks that they figured his routine of resupplying."
"So. We are going to do IB's job?" Clawson tapped his fingers on the driving wheel as the car nudged slowly forward.
"We are going to investigate a criminal to try and locate his supplier. Yes." Howell closed the file and placed it in her lap. "And oh! We have to get back to the precinct to get my car."
Clawson looked at her puzzled and then to the front of the car. "Ah… we are in our patrol. Right." He flipped the left turn light on with his fingers. "So… that means you are driving for tonight?"
"Of course, it's my car." Howell stretched on her seat.
Once out of the heavy traffic the ride was much smoother towards precinct one. Once there they grabbed their groceries and dropped the patrol keys at the armory. They headed into the garage and it's lines of cars.
"So, where is it? Is it a wagon or something boring?" Clawson glanced at Howell, looking for a reaction.
She coyly smiled. "Nope, not boring" She picked up her key chains remote control and pressed unlock. The lights of a black opaque sedan flashed. Howell skipped towards the driver's door.
Clawson raised an eyebrow. "Lobos Interceptor. Really? Aren't we compensating for something here?" Clawson headed to the passenger's seat, his partner occulted by the black mirror like glasses.
Howell unlocked his door in the panel, once he opened the door he stopped for a second, marveling at the white of the inside.
"Is this shark leather?" Clawson passed his hands in the car panel, feeling the roughness of the white material.
"Yeah." Unceremoniously Danielle turned on the car, switched gears and started to drive.
"Why don't we go out after work again?" Clawson reached for the seat belt and locked it.
"You are way too talky." She stopped and waited for the garage doors to open. Once they were open just enough for the car to pass, she drove out, fast and precisely.
Clawson opened the glove compartment and started to store the cans there, Howell let go of the gear stick and signaled "no" with her index finger.
"Ok, car rules. First rule, the glove compartment is not for anything that spills, there's a fridge in the center console. Second rule, don't spill anything. If you do, you will clean it with your tongue. Third rule, if you scratch any bit of leather I'll bite your head off. Are we clear?" Danielle's expression was grave, waiting for a response.
"Wow, ok mom." Clawson sighed. "So we are not going to eat anything in here the whole time?"
"Not inside the car."
"Howell… I'm yellow. If I get outside the car there isn't a chance that no one will see me." Clawson pointed at his fur. "Not everyone is bland gray like you."
"Too bad, so sad." She stopped the car and got out, the sky was starting to turn orange by now. Danielle opened the door for Clawson. "Come, I'm paying dinner tonight."
"What?" Clawson looked out of the car, a simple dinner flashed his neon lights. "Le Port Souris?
Is this a fancy place?"
"Oh no, don't worry. It's from a friend of my family. It's very cozy and has the best ratatouille in town." Danielle opened the restaurant's door for him. "Come in!"
"Any chance I can get shark in here?"
A set of rat faces looked toward Clawson, expressions of confusion and disbelief at his sight. At several small tables along the wall small forks were dropped and gasps were made. A small rat dressing a white chef's coat jumped of a bigger size counter and screamed "Danielle! Ma petite louve! How are you?" He ran and hugged her leg, pulling her down by her brown pants.
Danielle knelt and exchanged kisses with the small energetic rat, a happy smile on her face. "How are you Jacques? How is your family?"
"Oh Papillon, bigger than ever, happier than ever! And look what the wolf brought in, a jaguar! Is he your companion?" He covered his mouth in surprise. "Does Jochen knows about this? How is the old fleabag?" He started to walk back towards the counter, signaling them to follow.
A cloud passed by Danielle's expression. "Dad is… fine. And Clawson is my partner at the force."
"Oh this isn't right Danielle! Such a beautiful lady as you without a husband!" With two agile hops he was back up the counter. "That's not proper! No, no, no." He picked up a way too big menu for his size and handed it to Clawson. "Here Mr Cat, I know what Dany eats, what will you have?"
"Oh… do you have shark? Or any kind of fish?" Clawson reached for the menu but the rat threw it away laughing.
"Do we have any fish? Ho! You will have the best sardines of your life mon ami! Just wait a couple of minutes!" He hopped on the shoulder of a brown horse and pointed to a silver door. "To the kitchen! Avant!" The horse attendant rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen.
Clawson turned to Danielle, an uncomfortable expression on his face. "He is… very intimate with you."
Danielle smiled, she seemed a whole different mammal. "Oh yes! Jacques has known me since I was a small pup. I even worked here as a teen!"
"You? Danielle Howell? Cooking?" Clawson slapped the counter. "I would pay to see that!"
"Oh, no! I was the cashier actually. No one dared to not pay their bills back then and they always gave fat tips." Danielle leaned over the counter and shouted towards the kitchen. "Hey Jacques! How are the tips nowadays?"
A shout came back from the kitchen. "Oh Danny! You know my clients! A bunch of rats I tell you!" A few moments passed and the horse came back out of the kitchen carrying two plates, Jacques at his shoulder.
"For the madam a ratatouille and for the gentleman a scabèche. Bon appetit." The horse made a small reverence after serving the plates. The rat jumped off his shoulder, onto the counter.
"Mes amis, have a fantastic meal. I have other customers to attend, but I'm just a howl away!" And off he went towards the tables.
"I've never saw you so…" Clawson started to pick at his plate with his fork.
"Talky?" Danielle forked chunks of her meal and started to chew, reveling at the thin slices of vegetables.
"Cheery." He bit a sardine in half and started to chew. "This is great!" He chewed some more and swallowed. "Why haven't we ever eaten here before?"
"Oh, this is a special place for special situations." She forked another chunk of food in her mouth. "Like having a grumpy partner worried that he'll not dinne."
'Oh, you!" Clawson smiled.
They finished dining and got back to Danielle's car. They drove in quiet content as the night fell. Danielle stopped in the street, facing a bar. The badly lit plaque read "Worlds' End".
Clawson took their camera and positioned it over the car's panel. "Our ocelot is supposed to operate here?"
"That is the intel we have, at least." Howell turned off the car and lit a cigarette. She glanced at Clawson and opened her window a bit, letting the smoke out. "Now we wait."
A small fennec fox hopped off a bus. Danielle wouldn't have paid attention to him, were not for the baseball bat he carried. That's odd. She thought.