The Night Crew

'How do I know this isn't some kind of, of, arrangement? That he's a policeman?'

'If you would like, you could call the Santa Monica Police Department on your own. I'll give you the area code, you can get the number from informationand they will transfer you to Lieutenant Wyatt.'

'Oh, God. Okay, I'll call Santa Monica.'

'Wait five minutes,' A

A

She said, 'Jake, I know you do. But he's probably in Pasadena, anyway. This is just something that we can cover better than the cops could. If the cops even decide to go up to the ranch, it'll take them three or four hours to get a SWAT team over there. trying to talk to Ventura, trying to figure out where it is and how to get there. They'll have to get maps and all that stuff. There's no way Pam'll get out alive: he's nuts, he's itching to kill her. There's no way they'll even find him, until it's too late. And if he gets out, where's the evidence that he was even there?'

'There'd be some prints in your car, his behavior.'

'But that won't get Pam out.'

The phone rang in her lap and she picked it up, ready to switch it on, already hearing Wyatt's voice, when Harper swatted it out of her hand. 'No, no,' he said urgently. 'What if it's him?'

But there was no second ring. Then five seconds later, it rang again. She didn't wait for the third time, but said, 'Hello?'

Wyatt said, 'You were supposed to wait for the third ring.'

'No time,' A

'What's happening? Where are you?'

'We're ru

She explained the circumstances, and Wyatt said, 'You think they did something weird with the call?'

'It's not weird, if you're wired right,' A

'All right, I'll talk to her.'

'Are you heading for Pasadena?'

'We're on the way, but we're still getting people together.'

'Good luck. And gimme your number.'

Wyatt dictated a number; A

A

'You know how?'

'I can figure it out.'

'Just feed them in the bottom, there's a release just in front of the trigger guard.'

'Think it's enough gun?' A

'It's an old Ruger forty-four,' Harper said. 'It'll do the job.'

They slewed out the end of his driveway, Jake driving with both hands as A

A

He rang off, looked at A

'That was him.'

'Yeah. No number.'

'Shoot.'

'Call Wyatt, tell him, see if they got a record of it.'

A

He glanced at the car clock, then said, 'Half an hour, maybe.'

'Got to be a few minutes faster than that,' A

He nodded, and A

'Hello? Hello?' He shook his head, clicked off, handed it back. 'Check up call,' he said. 'He was calling to see if the phone was busy. To see if we turned right around to call somebody.'

'No dummy,' A

'Crazy as a loon, but not stupid,' Harper said.

'Drive faster,' A

'Most likely a wild-goose chase,' Harper said.

'Most likely,' she said.

She waited another minute, then tapped Wyatt's phone number in. 'Yeah?'

'We just got a call from the guy, within the last minute or so, if you're doing a trace.'

'Nothing's working, but I'll check,' he said. 'The woman from Oregon called: you were set up. He was somewhere down here when you called for him.'

'All right. We're building a picture, and he fits,' A

'Better'n that. I just talked. Jesus watch out.' Wyatt broke away, speaking to somebody else. 'Just missed a goddamn truck by about an inch,' he said, talking to A

'Bullshit.'

'Yeah, I know. Anyway, I asked her when she'd last seen him, and she said she saw him this morning. And I asked if he showed any signs of injury from a fight.'

'His cheek,' A

'Exactly,' Wyatt said. 'She said there was something wrong with his cheek and she looked at it and he got madshe said there was a bruise covered with makeup. He told her he'd been bitten by a cat that he supposedly was trying to pick up.'

'Goddamn, he's the guy,' A

'He looks good: and we're getting some people together up in Ventura, heading out to that ranch. We'll be ready in a couple of hours.'

'Right,' A

'A

'Can't hear you,' A

She punched the 'end' button: she would not be told at this point to wait for a few hours.

'What?' Harper asked.

'He's the guy,' A

'But he might not be at the ranch.'

'Oh, he's there,' A

She bared her teeth, and Harper stared at her for a second, then jerked his eyes back to the dark road. A

The ranch was pulling her in.