The Night Crew

something that shouldn’t be here . . . we can’t tell what it is.’’
    The cop walked out on the porch, followed by a second one, and then Wyatt, jostling past them.
    Anna said, ‘‘Somebody moved a big flowerpot, and maybe put it over the side. I . . .’’
    Wyatt looked into the water: ‘‘Oh, Christ,’’ he said, softly.
    The first cop looked down into the water, then dropped facedown onto the seawall, reached into the water. Couldn’t quite touch whatever it is.
    ‘‘I’ll have to get in,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ll wreck my suit.’’
    ‘‘Put in for it,’’ Wyatt said.
    ‘‘Fuck it.’’ The cop peeled off his jacket, shirt and pants, put his shoes back on, and slipped over the side in his underwear. ‘‘Cold,’’ he said.
    Then he reached down into the murk, and just as quickly pulled his hand back.
    ‘‘What is it?’’ Anna said. She could barely breathe.
    ‘‘Not a body,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know.’’
    Wyatt exhaled, glanced at Anna. Below, the cop reached carefully through the water again, then said, ‘‘Plastic,’’ and lifted.
    The thing came out of the water, and Anna said, ‘‘Kayak. We were looking at the end of a kayak.’’
    Harper: ‘‘A goddamned kayak. That’s how he got in and out.’’
    Wyatt: ‘‘Shit. He’s not from here.’’
    ‘‘But somebody must have seen him putting it in, up by . . .’’ And Anna looked at Harper and said, ‘‘Steve Judge.’’
    ‘‘What?’’
    She grabbed him by the shirt, both hands, her face six inches from his: ‘‘Remember, out at the ranch? The woman, what’s her name? Daly? She said Steve Judge was up in Oregon running rivers.’’
    ‘‘But he was in Oregon,’’ Harper said.
    ‘‘What’s this?’’ Wyatt asked.
    Anna took a minute to explain, and Wyatt said, ‘‘Gotta check it.’’
    ‘‘He lives in Pasadena,’’ Anna said. ‘‘We’ve got an address.’’
    She found an address in her book, pulled the page and handed it to Wyatt.
    ‘‘Long shot,’’ Wyatt muttered, as he hurried back into the house.
    Another car arrived out front, and as they moved back inside, Anna called information, got the number for the Full Heart Ranch, dialed it. No answer. Dialed again. Still nothing.
    ‘‘If Steve’s the guy, we oughta go out to the ranch,’’ Anna told Harper.
    ‘‘Let the cops do it,’’ Harper said. ‘‘And it’s really a long shot.’’
    ‘‘What, send a deputy who doesn’t know what’s going on? He’d get lost out there, at night. The cops can surround his house in Pasadena, no problem, but if Steve’s the guy, and he’s up at the ranch, he’d see them coming a million miles away,’’ Anna said. ‘‘We know the road. We can go out there and park by the gate and walk in.’’
    ‘‘Anna, that’s crazy.’’
    ‘‘Well, what’re we gonna do?’’ she shouted at him. ‘‘He’s got Pam. He’s gonna kill her. We can’t just hang around here with two hundred cops. He’s not gonna be here, whoever he is.’’
    Harper looked at her, and the cops working in the house, and all the lights and cars, and said, ‘‘I’ll need a gun. We can stop at my place. It’s on the way.’’ They took the San Diego over the hill, moving fast. Anna said, ‘‘The name of the ranch in Oregon. Was it Cut River Canyon?’’
    ‘‘Don’t remember. That sounds good.’’
    Anna punched in the information number for Oregon, got an operator: ‘‘I don’t show a Cut River Canyon, but I show a Cut Canyon . . .’’
    ‘‘That’s it.’’ Anna muttered the number to herself as she redialed. The phone rang eight times, Anna muttering, ‘‘C’mon, c’mon,’’ and on the ninth ring, was answered by an irritated woman, who snapped: ‘‘Hello?’’
    ‘‘Yes. My name is Anna Batory, from Los Angeles. I talked to someone at the Cut Canyon Ranch who connected me to a man named Steven Judge. Are you the woman who connected me?’’
    ‘‘Yes. Do you know what time it is? Steven isn’t here . . .’’
    Anna interrupted: ‘‘Ma’am, somebody in Los Angeles has murdered at least three people in the last week and now has kidnapped a woman. And this is somehow tied to me. The police say he is stalking me. Mr. Judge’s name has come up a couple of times in the course of the investigation, but if he was really up at Cut Canyon when I called, then he can’t have anything to do with it.’’
    There was a long hesitation, and then the woman asked,