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Morley didn’t say another word as they walked out of the I.S.F. medical center. Neither of them spoke at all as Morley brought him back to the A.I. registration desk, where Nick got his badge back, along with his gun and two full magazines.

Morley followed him, also without speaking, as Nick went and got a shoulder holster out of requisition for the gun, and a new headset.

Morley still hadn’t said a damned thing twenty minutes later, after they left the station and walked to a police pool vehicle. Nick was still drinking the coffee.

Coffee didn’t do much for vampires, but, despite his sniping at Morley, he supposed he appreciated the normality of it.

“I guess it’s too much to expect an apology,” Nick grunted, taking a final sip of the coffee before tossing it in the trash near their assigned car.

“Apology?” Morley let out a disbelieving sound. “For what? Doing my job?”

Nick heard the tone there though and gave him a half-smile.

“Okay, old man. I forgive you.”

“Old man my ass,” Morley grunted. “Two hundred year plus vampire can take his ‘old man’ projection shit and shove it up his ass.”

Nick chuckled for real at that.

He regretted it once he had. A stab of pain immediately reached his head.

When he looked at Morley that time, the human looked sympathetic.

“Bastards,” he commented simply. “Fucking bastards.”

Nick grunted, feigning indifference.

“You said it,” he commented. “Not me.”

When he slid into the passenger seat of the car, he glanced at the senior detective.

“Murder scene?” he asked.

Morley gave him a sideways look, then a bare nod. He was already backing the car out of the designated spot, after swiping the ID reader with the implant in his arm. The car started up immediately.

“Jordan’s meeting us there,” Morley said, aiming the car’s nose for the outer gate.

Nick grunted. “I guess the coast is clear.”

“That was for your benefit, Midnight.”

Nick looked at him. He dropped some of the sarcasm from his voice.

“I figured.”

They passed through the security gate after Nick and Morley’s implants got scanned again. Morley pulled them out onto Third Avenue, heading north. Nick glanced out the windows at the sky and the surrounding buildings. It looked and felt like it had been dark for at least a few hours, which meant he’d been in that damned I.S.F. center for longer than he’d realized.

“Anything new on the perp?” Nick asked.

“No.”

Nick glanced at him, hearing something in his tone.

“Nothing?” Nick pressed.

Morley’s mouth tightened. He looked like he might want to say more.

After another few seconds of thought, he seemed to shrug it off.