The Night Crew

me. There might be . . . something good in it.’’
    China brightened. ‘‘You got something good?’’ ‘‘Great lead,’’ Harper said, as they left the club. ‘‘Now what?’’
    ‘‘Bunny Films.’’
    ‘‘Anna, it’s ten o’clock at night.’’
    ‘‘So, we go bang on a door—maybe there’ll be somebody around. What else are we gonna do?’’
    ‘‘I could come up with something.’’ Behind them, in the club, a man leaned in the door of the women’s restroom and said, ‘‘Aren’t you China Lake?’’
    China turned and said, ‘‘Hey: You got anything good on you?’’
    The man shrugged, and unconsciously reached up to touch his cheekbone. ‘‘Probably,’’ he said. ‘‘I got a little of everything.’’
    ‘‘You do?’’ China brightened, the circles seeming to fade from beneath her eyes. She looked almost young enough to be her age. ‘‘I’ve been waiting for you.’’

twenty

    On the way out Sunset toward Burbank, Anna spotted a redhaired woman in a leather biker jacket and skinny jeans, leaning on a window, hands in her jeans pocket, smoking a cigarette: ‘‘Stop, pull over,’’ Anna said. ‘‘By that woman.’’
    Harper pulled over: ‘‘What’s going on?’’
    ‘‘How do you roll the window?’’ The window rolled down and Anna yelled, ‘‘Hey, Jenny . . . It’s Anna.’’
    The woman had been watching the car as it slowed, and now she smiled, flipped her cigarette up the street and said, ‘‘Anna. Where’ve you been?’’
    ‘‘Working. Come on, get in.’’ Anna turned around in the front seat, popped the lock on the back door. ‘‘We’ll get something to eat or something.’’
    The woman nodded and said, ‘‘Nice wheels,’’ as she slipped into the back seat. And Anna said, ‘‘Jenny Norden, Jake Harper. Jake’s a lawyer, Jenny’s with Lutheran Social Services.’’
    Harper’s eyebrows went up: ‘‘You’re pulling my leg.’’
    Norden grinned at him and said, ‘‘Nope. I’m a bornagainer.’’
    ‘‘Anna’s friends,’’ Harper said, as he pulled away from the curb.
    ‘‘I can’t believe you’re sleeping with a lawyer,’’ Norden said, tongue-in-cheek.
    ‘‘Who says I am?’’ Anna asked.
    ‘‘I do,’’ Norden said. ‘‘You’ve got that really clear-skin look.’’
    ‘‘What’s wrong with lawyers?’’ Harper asked the rearview mirror.
    ‘‘Nothing. I am one,’’ Norden said.
    ‘‘Yeah? You know the difference between a lawyer and a trampoline?’’
    ‘‘You take off your shoes to jump on a trampoline,’’ Norden said. ‘‘You know what the lawyer said when he stepped in a cow pie?’’
    ‘‘Oh my God, I’m melting,’’ Harper said. ‘‘You know the difference between a rooster and a lawyer?’’
    ‘‘A rooster clucks defiance,’’ Norden said, and Harper said, ‘‘All right, she’s a lawyer.’’
    ‘‘I told you that,’’ said Anna. Then she laughed, and her laugh made Harper laugh, and he asked, ‘‘What?’’ and Anna said, ‘‘I just got the clucks joke.’’
    ‘‘If you loved me, you wouldn’t laugh,’’ Harper said.
    Then Anna turned in her seat again and said, ‘‘Hey, Jenny! Do you know a guy named Dick Harnett, supposed to be in porno?’’
    ‘‘Sure—you’re doing a story that’ll ruin his life, I hope,’’ Norden said.
    ‘‘We don’t even know him—but we need to talk to him. I’ve got a problem.’’ And she explained it.
    Norden listened carefully and then said, ‘‘Anna . . .’’ stopped, turned to Harper and said, ‘‘You oughta get her out of here.’’
    ‘‘I’ve suggested that. She says she’s staying; so I’m staying.’’
    ‘‘That’s stupid,’’ Norden said. She leaned forward and pointed through the windshield. ‘‘See the place with the moon in the window? Let’s go in there.’’
    The Gibbous Moon was run by a pair of gentle, aging hippies who knew Norden; the place smelled of steamed vegetables, olive oil and coffee. The counterman called Norden by name; they found a booth, ordered coffee.
    ‘‘Dick Harnett was the producer on legitimate TV shows back in the sixties, but he was a sex freak and he started making some porno when that was hip, back around the Deep Throat days,’’ Norden said. ‘‘Then feminism came in and porno wasn’t hip anymore and nobody legit would touch him. He was scratching around for a while, but then video came along, and you know, he knew how to do that.