The Night Crew

The cop slammed his car door and led Harriett into the building and out of sight.

'How long ago?'

Anna looked at Norden: 'Must've been, what, a year? Since the shooting?'

Norden nodded: 'About that. The guys who ran the place were always in trouble with the cops, and the shooting was the last straw. I think they were open for a couple more months, and then they were out. There's another place there now.'

Anna said: 'Well. When he comes out, I'm gonna let him see me. See how he reacts.'

Harper frowned: 'If he's the guy, he's nuts.'

'But there're cops all over the place. What's he gonna do?'

The phone rang in her pocket, and she fumbled it out. 'And if he's the guy, it'll freak him out. He'll show us something.'

She pushed the button on the phone and a woman's voice squeaked, 'Anna Batory?'

'Yes?'

'I'm dying.'

'What?' She looked at the phone. 'Who is this?'

'China Lake.' The voice seemed distant, weak. 'I'm dying.'

'What.' She was sputtering, and Harper and Norden were looking at her curiously.

Then a man's voice, rougher, familiar: 'She's dying, Anna. And it's your fault.'

Anna closed her eyes and squeezed the phone. 'Nono.'

Harper, alarmed, said, 'What?'

'It's him.'

Chapter 21

'Listen to her.' The man's voice was like a snake's, a hiss of pleasure.

Jake had bolted from the car, was running down the street toward the cop car at Harriett's building.

Then the woman in Anna's ear: 'Anna, he stabbed me,' and, less certainly, 'It doesn't hurt much, but I can't move.'

'Where are you?'

'She's around, that's where,' the man said. 'I saw you tonight. What are you doingare you looking for me? If you're looking for me, I'll tell you what, that's not a good idea. I'll cut the top off your goddamn head off and eat your brains.'

The voice was right: the voice was the man in the parking lot, the man who'd shot Creek. Anna listened so hard it hurt, listened for anything in the background that might help her, other voices. Nothing but the hiss of the phone.

'Anna, are you there?'

'I'm here,' she said.

'You're not very talkative.'

'I amlooking for you, you asshole; and this better be a rotten joke.'

'Or what?' He laughed. 'What're you going to do?'

'I'll kill you,' Anna said.

'Oh, you'll kill me? You hear that, China? She's going to kill me. Here, you wanna talk?'

China's voice was a whisper. 'I can't see; I'm getting really cold.'

'Let her go,' Anna screamed. 'Let her go.'

'No. She's gonna die,' the man said casually. 'You know why? Because I needed a woman, especially after what you did the other night. You cut the shit out of me, Anna. I'm all fucked up.' And just off the phone, 'You're gonna die, aren't you China? Look at the blood already.' And back to the phone: 'She's dying; it's draining right out of her. I cut her legs. It's really purple, the blood, you'd think it'd be redder.'

'You fucker,' Anna shouted, and without thinking, she threw the phone like a baseball, and it bounced across the blacktop, shedding its battery, flipping and bouncing along. Norden said, 'What, Anna, what'd he say.?'

But Anna was already running after the phone. She scooped it up, and the battery, jammed the battery back in, said, 'Hello?' Pushed the send button, said, 'Hello, hello, oh, Jesus.'

Nobody there. She stood there with the phone in her hand, looked at Norden, then turned around to look down the street at Harnett's building. A cop hurried out of the building, followed by Harper. As they scrambled to the cop car, Harper turned to look toward her. Anna spread her hands, a gesture that said, Gone.

'Can't be right,' Anna moaned. She was kneeling on the front seat of the BMW while Harper cranked it back down toward Sunset. Wyatt would meet them, way out of his jurisdiction, bringing along a couple of L.A. homicide cops, BJ's was still open, people in black climbing the stairs toward the party room. Anna tore through the main floor, peering at tables; eyes followed as she checked each one, and a bartender said, 'Hey.' and finally she caught a waitress and asked, 'Have you seen China Lake?'

'If she's here, she's probably back in one of the bathrooms, that's where she usually is,' the woman smirked.

Anna burst into the women's restroom, and two women standing by the counter spun to look at her, one still with a touch of powder cocaine at her nose. 'Christ.' One of the stalls was closed, and Anna banged on the door, 'China, is that you?'

'No, go away,' a woman's voice, shrill, not China.

Anna went back out, saw Harper striding toward her, Norden in his wake. She went on down the hall and pushed into the men's room. A guy was standing at a urinal and Anna said, 'Have you seen China Lake?'

The guy tried to shrug, then said, 'What's that?'

'Damn it.' She went back into the hall and Harper caught her and said, 'Nothing?'

'No.'

'She's not upstairs,' Harper said. He put both hands on his head, trying to think, and a bouncer came up behind him and said, 'You guys got a problem?'

'Yeah,' Anna said. 'Have you seen China Lake? Or seen her with anybody?'

'What's the problem?'

'We think a fruitcake grabbed her. She could be in serious trouble,' Harper said. He was using his cop voice, and the bouncer said, 'You know, she was here an hour ago. I think I saw her going out, she was alone. Let's go ask Larry.'

He led them back through the club, to the front, and the; stairs leading up to the party room. The doorman at the top' looked down, and the bouncer yelled, 'Hey, Larry, you seen China?'

'She left.'

'Did she leave with anyone? You see anyone?'

'She was by herself, far as I know.'

Anna asked, 'Did you see a guy in here with a bandage on his face? Right by his eye? Or maybe a big bruise?'

He shook his head: 'Nobody here like that.'

'You think you could have missed it?'

'No way. Thing like that, a guy's probably a troublemaker. We keep our eye out for troublemakers.'

The outside door opened behind them, and Wyatt came through, followed by two men in suits. The bouncer spotted them and said, 'Shit,' and looked up the stairs at Larry and made a quick throat-cutting sign. Larry stepped out of sight.

'She's not here,' Wyatt asked, coming up.

Anna shook her head: 'No. She's gone.'

'Could be a joke,' Harper said. 'Louis wouldn't.'

Anna looked at him as though he were crazy, and said, 'No, Louis wouldn't. Jesus, Jake, this is the guy.'

'You're sure?' Wyatt asked.

'I'm sure: I knew the voice,' Anna said.

'Had you heard it beforeother than at the parking lot, when he jumped you?' Wyatt asked.

Anna held her hands to her temples, as Harper had: so hard to think, so little time. Or no time at all. 'I think. I don't know, I'm getting confused. But when he was talking to me in the parking lot, God, it seemed familiar. Not like everyday familiar, but I knew the voice.'

'Face to face, or on the phone?' asked one of the L.A. cops.

The phone? She hadn't thought of that.

'God, I don't know. I talk to a hundred people every night, running around. I don't know.'

Harper chipped in: 'The guy on the door didn't see anyone with a bite on his face. Says he would have seen it.'

'All right,' Wyatt said. He seemed weary, almost too tired to deal with it. 'Let's see if anybody here saw China leave with someone. We got a couple of cars coming.'

'That's all?' Anna asked. 'That's all we can do?'

'Can you think of anything else?' Wyatt asked.

'I'm outa here.' She stepped toward the door, but Wyatt caught her arm.

'Look, we finally got something going on thiswe're pulling together a multi-department task force to track this guy,' he said. 'We're gonna need you. We need to set you up where we can watch you.'