The Night Crew

A

'A

'I need to see this,' she insisted.

'Why?' he asked, exasperated.

'Because. So get dressed.' Because she was storing it up. Because she was holding on to these crimes, all these insults, squeezing them into herself.

She drove: Jake was so reluctant that she finally got the keys and climbed into the front seat, and he caught up and piled into the passenger side, and she took them over the hills and east into Glendale. On the way, she called Wyatt, got switched around, and was finally left with a promise that he'd call her. He did, five minutes later:

'Where are you?'

'On the way.'

'I don't think you should.'

'I can identify her,' A

'On the way.'

'See you there.' And she rang off, before he could object.

'There', was a cluster of vehicles with light bars, a half-dozen men looking down a highway embankment: something she saw every night, now harsher in the light of day.

Wyatt hadn't arrived yetshe didn't recognize any of the cops at the scene. They waved her on down the road, but she stopped, and when the cop came up, she said, 'We're supposed to meet Detective Wyatt here, from Santa Monica. He's on the task force: I talked to China last night, the woman you think is down there. He wanted me to see if I could identify her.'

'Okay. just pull up to the head of the line.'

She drove up past the last car and turned to Harper: 'Are you coming?' she asked.

'Yeah. You better leave the gun in the car, though. They'll spot it and take it away from you.'

'Good thought.' She took the gun out of her jacket pocket and pushed it under the front seat. 'Let's go.'

China was halfway down the embankment, wrapped in the dress she'd been wearing the night before. She'd landed on her face, apparently, but the gravel on the embankment hadn't done any real damage. It'd cut, but there was no blood to run; the cuts looked like scratches in beeswax.

A

'Yeah,' A

'Do you know next of kin?' the young cop asked.

'No, but. I could find out.'

'Anything you could get, we'd appreciate.'

'Yeah.' She never looked back at the body, but she held the image of China's face to her heart. Squeezing it. Filing the memories with the hate.

'Do you want to wait for Wyatt?' Harper asked, as they got back to the top of the embankment.

'What for?' A

'Not fair,' Harper said, as he followed A

'Fuck fair,' she said.

'All right, princess. So now what?'

'We gotta go back to my place, so I can get my car. I don't want you ferrying me all over the place.'

'A

'I know, I know, but I want my car,' she said. And she added, 'I'm sorry, Jake. But China.'

The midday traffic wasn't too bad, and they made it back to A

'I better come with you.'

'Nope. I'm doing this on my owndon't worry, I'll be okay.' She took in his face, softened, and said, 'Listen, I just want to drive around a while, by myself, and get my head straight. And see Creek at the hospital. I'll be careful. I've got this.' She patted the pistol in her pocket.

'Goddammit, A

He took her shoulders and kissed her, insistently; she let herself relax into the kiss, held it for a moment, then pushed him away. 'Hold that thought,' she said, 'I'll be back.'

He came out to watch her go, and just before she did, she ran the window down and said, 'He might have tracked us out hereso be careful yourself.'

'It's all private property, and people are pretty insistent about that. He'd have a hard time sneaking in, during the day, anyway,' Harper said. 'But I'll watch.'

A

'A

'Hobie?'

'Come on up; we're having margaritas.'

'Aw, I'm on my way to see Creek.'

'How is he?' She could just see the top half of Hobie's moon face past the shingles on a dormer.

'Better, I guess. They said he had to sit still for a few days, but one of these days he'll be up.'

'That's great.'

'Listen, this jerk, this killer, the cops think he might be tracking me. If you or Jim see anyone around, take down some tag numbers, huh? I'm carrying my cell phone all the time, you've got the number.'

'Give it to me again.'

She gave him the number, and started out again, down the one-way street that took her out of the canal district, and out to the hospital. Watched the rearview mirror. Nothing that seemed furtive, nothing that seemed consistent. But A

Of course, once he saw which way she was going, he might figure that she was heading for the hospital. There wasn't much on-street parking, he'd figure her for the ramp. She worked it out: and when the hospital came up, she turned in at the ramp, found a place on the third floor.

Put her pistol in her main pocket, her trigger finger wrapped around the front of the trigger guard so she wouldn't accidentally fire it. Checked the mirrors, got out and walked self-consciously to the hospital entrance.

She saw no one who seemed out of place, who seemed to be watching, who seemed at all interested in her.

Except Creek. When she walked into his room, Creek was on his feet, like a bear in a dressing gown, trailing plastic lines that went to a saline bottle hung from a three-wheeled pole. Pam Glass sat in a chair by the window, knitting.

Creek turned as A

'I'm getting better,' Creek said, but his voice was a croak, and his face still seemed gray.

'The doctor told him to,' Glass said, answering A

'They're sure that's okay?' A

'They think it's great,' Glass said. 'As long as he doesn't overdo it.'

'"Overdo" is his middle name,' A

They discussed it for another fifteen seconds, A

'You're not that responsible,' A

'Where's Harper?' Creek asked. 'He's supposed to be watching you.'

'I had to get away for a little whileI'm being careful,' A

Glass nodded: 'The actress. Brutal. They added a half-dozen guys to the task force, and there's go