The Night Crew

She hit the glass doors and went through the lobby like she was on a motorcycle. Two bellmen huddled at the reception desk with a couple of clerks, and one of the bellmen saw her and just had time to turn, to open his mouth and shout, 'Hey,' when she was past him. The elevators were straight ahead, and a brass plaque with an arrow pointing to the right said Stairs.

She took the stairs. Ran up one flight, two, then a man shouting again, from the bottom, 'Hey.' Third floor, not even breathing hard. A

She ran down the hall, now aware of her heart pounding in her chest, turned a corner past a niche with Coke, ice and candy machines, to another stairway. She pulled open the door, looked up and down, heard nothing and ran up to Five. She took three seconds, two long breaths, pulled off her headset, shoved it with the Nagra up under her jacket in back, held it with one hand and sauntered into the hallway. Halfway down, three older mensecurity, probablystood outside an open doorway. A dozen kids were scattered up and down the hall, a few of them talking, most just looking down at the open door. All the kids were dressed up, the boys in suits and ties, the girls in pink-and-blue party dresses, all with the stark white look of fear on their faces.

One of the security men looked toward A

My God, A

The girls in pastel dresses were looking at the door, the boys were looking at each other, all were frozen. A

Then A

A

'Did he jump?'

The woman, white-faced, looked at her, her mouth working, nothing coming out, then: 'Oh my God.'

A

A

'What happened?' she asked.

'I don't know. I think it was just kids, having a party. They were making noise, we could hear them ru

A

'I think he was coming in,' the man said. 'He turned and it was like he lost his balance and all of a sudden he jumped, like he was trying to make the pool.'

The woman turned to her husband. 'Jim, let's get out of here.'

A

The woman turned toward her. 'Yes, yes. Are you with the hotel? We'd like to check out.'

'You'd have to talk with the people downstairs. Are you all right, ma'am? What is your name?'

'Lucille. I'm all right, but the man, the boy, he. Jim, I think I'm going to throw up.'

She started toward the bathroom with her husband behind her, one hand in the middle of her back, patting her, and A

Hotel security was there in force, along with four or five uniformed cops. She stepped back, said, 'Madson, M-A-D-S-O-N, Tilly, Oklahoma, T-I-L-L-Y,' to the Nagra, then popped the recording tape and slipped it inside the waistband of her pants. She had two spare tapes in a black pouch on the carrying strap: she took out a spare, slipped it into the recorder. Hotel security usually didn't ask if they could have the tape, they simply took it, destroyed it, and apologized later.

A

The manager-type asked, 'What's wrong?'

'She saw the man jump, she's in the bathroom.'

The manager went by, into the Madsons' room, while the security man ran down the hall toward the elevators. A

Into the stairwell, down and around, and around, to the first floor. Pause, listen. Nothing. She stepped into the hallway, saw a sign that said Parking Ramp, and went that way.

Creek was standing fifty feet from the body. No blood, no movement, nothing but a hotel clerk and three cops walking reluctantly toward it. Creek saw her coming and made his open-handed 'Got anything?' gesture.

She'd pulled the headset back on. 'Quick quotes from a witness,' she said into the mike. They said there was some kind of party before he jumped, or fell, or whatever.' A

Creek nodded.

'I'm go

Jason came up and A

'I got his face all the way to the ground,' Jason said, with trembling satisfaction. 'He hit twenty feet away.'

'That's great,' A

'What?'

'"Jim and Lucille"1 don't have the lungs for it.'

'You got nice lungs,' Jason said; and his eyes seemed to loop. Stoned, or coming down. Too much of this lately; the last time she'd gone to pick him up, he'd been wrecked.

'Just yell the names, huh?' she said.

'Yes, Mom.'

Jason yelled, and after a minute, the Madsons came to the window and peered out.

'Get them?' A

Creek had the camera on the window. 'Yes.'

The Madsons went inside and Jason dropped the camera off his shoulder, his face suddenly somber.

'You know what?'

'What? Look, we gotta get.'

'I think I'm go

A

'No, no, no. I'm just having a little trouble dealing with this,' Jason said. He looked at the body.

'At what?' A

'I'm just. my head's fucked up,' he said. Then: 'A

He turned his knees in, so he was standing on the edges of his te

A

'It's nothing,' Jason insisted. 'You're probably done for tonight, anyway. You gotta couple of bucks?'

'Yeah, sure,' A

Thanks.'