The Night Crew

average murder. And this Sean was tied to the Jason guy, and Jason was tight with you.’’
    ‘‘All right.’’ And she knew him—but who was it?
    Harper and Creek were waiting in the lobby when Anna got out. Louis was wandering around with the truck, waiting. When Creek saw Anna step out of the elevator, he dug out his cell phone, pushed a speed dial, got Louis: ‘‘We’re ready.’’
    ‘‘Are you headed home?’’ Harper asked, as the three of them walked down to the exit.
    ‘‘I guess,’’ Anna said. She glanced at her watch. ‘‘The night’s shot.’’
    ‘‘Are you moving out of your house?’’ Harper asked.
    ‘‘No.’’
    ‘‘Then I’d like to come by and look around,’’ he said.
    ‘‘Bad idea,’’ said Creek.
    Harper turned to him: ‘‘Look, I used to do this for a living. I want to see where she lives—what the place is like. If the news is bad, I want you to help get her out of there. I’d just as soon she didn’t get carved up until I find the guy who did my kid.’’
    ‘‘That’s very sentimental,’’ Anna said.
    Harper shrugged: ‘‘I’ve got priorities.’’
    Creek was nodding: ‘‘And you’ve got a point.’’ To Anna: ‘‘Maybe I should stay over.’’
    ‘‘Good idea,’’ Harper said.
    Anna shook her head, said to Creek: ‘‘You’d drive me nuts.’’ And to Harper, ‘‘When he lays around the house, he lays around the house.’’ Nobody smiled at the old vaudeville line.
    ‘‘This ain’t a comedy routine,’’ Creek grumbled. Then: ‘‘Maybe we could get the cops to send somebody over, protection.’’
    ‘‘Fat chance,’’ Harper said. ‘‘You know how many serial killers are running around L.A. right now? Probably a halfdozen.’’
    Anna grunted, ‘‘Huh,’’ and glanced at Creek. ‘‘ Halfdozen?’’
    ‘‘No,’’ Creek said, following her thought, shaking his head. ‘‘We ain’t doing no story on that.’’ Anna sent Creek and Louis home in the truck. Louis was shook, having talked with the cops twice in two days, having had statements taken. Louis thrived in anonymity—sought it, treasured it. ‘‘Everything’s gonna be okay, right?’’ He was anxious, twisting a shredded copy of the L.A. Reader in his hands.
    ‘‘Yeah, for us,’’ Anna told him. ‘‘You guys take the truck, go home, get some sleep.’’
    ‘‘I just don’t want anything to happen to us . . . to you,’’ Louis said, eyes large. ‘‘I mean, if anything happened to you . . . what’d happen to me?’’
    ‘‘It’ll be okay, Louis,’’ she said, giving him a quick smile and a pat on the back. ‘‘I promise.’’ When she told him she’d ride with Harper, Creek took her aside to whisper furiously: ‘‘What the fuck is this? You don’t even know him, he could be, you know, the guy .’’
    ‘‘Nah, we know what he’s doing—his kid,’’ Anna said.
    ‘‘Oh, horseshit,’’ Creek said in exasperation. He added: ‘‘You started acting perky as soon as we met him outside the house, and now you’re starting again.’’
    ‘‘Perky?’’ That made her mad. She put her hands on her hips and started, ‘‘What are you . . .’’
    ‘‘Figure it out,’’ Creek said, and he stalked off to the truck. When he got there he turned and said, ‘‘And what about Clark?’’
    Smack.
    But he was in the truck and kicking it over before she could think of a proper reply. Harper drove a black BMW 740IL. The cockpit showed as many ant-sized instrument lights as a jumbo jet. A half-dozen golf putters cluttered the passenger side. Harper popped the passenger door for Anna and tossed the putters in the back.
    ‘‘Nice car,’’ she said, when he climbed in the driver’s side. Cars were about four-hundredth on her priority list of Important Things in Life.
    ‘‘Freeway cruiser,’’ he said, indifferently.
    ‘‘And you play a little golf, huh?’’
    He looked at her, cool, and said, ‘‘I do two things: I practice law, and I play golf.’’
    ‘‘I mean, like . . . seriously?’’
    ‘‘I’m serious about both,’’ he said; and she thought he was a little grim. Good-looking, but tight.
    ‘‘Chasing a little white ball around a pasture.’’
    He looked at her, still not smiling: ‘‘If golf was about chasing a little white ball around a pasture, I wouldn’t do it,’’ he said.
    She turned toward him, her face serious, touched his arm. ‘‘Would you promise me