Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, The Night Watch starts with three detectives assigned to a stakeout job. Ritchie McCallister is the young clean honest one, who feels compelled to look after his partner Paddy Ahern. Ahern is an average cop, who has a habit of taking a nip from the bottle at times. Walter Sheridan is the third detective. Hes a wise ass, who only looks out for himself. The stakeout is the apartment of a bank robbers wife. One night the robber returns, and Sheridan and Ahern nab him. The guy has the money with him, so Sheridan kills him making it look like self defense. Hes really after the cash, and he convinces Ahern hes doing this to protect him. Sheridan throws the body along with the loot into the trunk, with plans to retrieve it after the night is over. Things go quickly wrong for Sheridan and after a failed attempt to silence a female witness, he ends up killing Ahern. The second half of the novel involves the manhunt for Sheridan. McCallister, distraught over Aherns death and the attempt to kill an innocent girl, stalks Sheridan throughout the apartment development area with the assistance of other policemen.