The Night Crew

And he saw what was going to happen. He was one of the first big-time video-porn distributors.’’
    ‘‘So he’s rich.’’
    ‘‘No, no, after a while, it got so every college kid in L.A. was making a porno film with his girlfriend . . . amateur tapes. The bottom’s sort of fallen out of the market. I get the impression that most of those guys are on hard times.’’
    ‘‘He’s got this Bunny Films . . .’’
    ‘‘Yeah, pretending he has something to do with Playboy . He’s had a dozen companies, probably. He’s getting old, now—he’s still a freak, though, that’s the word.’’
    ‘‘A sleaze-dog,’’ Anna said.
    Norden blew gently on her coffee, then nodded: ‘‘Yeah. And the thing is, there’s always been violence around his films. He sort of gets off on the idea of sex by force. Maybe . . . I don’t know.’’
    ‘‘Maybe what?’’ Harper asked. ‘‘You think he might be the guy?’’
    ‘‘He’s not young,’’ Anna said to Harper.
    ‘‘White hair?’’ Harper asked.
    Norden nodded: ‘‘Big white hair. From way back—his first company was called Silver Fox Films.’’
    ‘‘How do you know all this? From Lutheran Social Services?’’ Harper asked.
    ‘‘I work with hookers—young girls,’’ Norden said. ‘‘Pull them off the street, try to get them out of the life.’’
    ‘‘Gets in fistfights in biker bars,’’ Anna said.
    ‘‘Hey, who doesn’t,’’ Norden said, raising her eyebrows as she looked at Anna.
    ‘‘Huh.’’ Harper scratched his chin. ‘‘And you know Harnett.’’
    ‘‘I know who he is—I’ve talked to him. He uses street kids from time to time and I’ve heard that he’s made a couple of videos with really young kids. So he’s on my interest list.’’
    ‘‘You think he might have hired somebody like Jason?’’ Anna asked.
    ‘‘From what you said, he’s exactly the kind of guy Harnett would use—somebody who wouldn’t cost him too much and does good work. Lot of kids from UCLA have worked for him,’’ Norden said.
    Anna said to Harper, ‘‘We’ve got to find him.’’
    Harper shook his head: ‘‘First we’ve got to get a look at him. I mean, if he’s the guy . . . you oughta know him.’’
    ‘‘Never heard the name,’’ Anna said, shaking her head.
    ‘‘You did that piece on street kids, you might of bumped into him and not known it,’’ Norden said.
    ‘‘That was six months ago,’’ Anna said. ‘‘This all jumped in the last week.’’
    • • •
    Back in the car, Anna called Louis and asked him to get a home address of Harnett. As Anna was talking to Louis, Harper asked Norden, ‘‘How’d you get into this? I mean were you . . . ever personally involved with . . . ?’’ He didn’t want to ask her if she’d ever been a hooker.
    She was amused: ‘‘No. I went to a Lutheran college in Iowa, and then to Guatemala to work with a mission. I came back and went to law school here in California—Berkeley— and joined Lutheran Social Services as a lawyer. I met some street kids, girls, and I decided I liked the mission work better than the law work. I still do some law . . .’’
    ‘‘And you’ve still held onto the religious aspect . . . even after seeing all the stuff on the street?’’
    ‘‘Oh, absolutely,’’ Norden said, nodding, her face serious. ‘‘I accept Jesus Christ as my savior, and I believe that he will return soon and judge us and lead those who deserve it to eternal life.’’
    Harper checked the mirror again, and decided she wasn’t joking.
    Then Anna hung up the portable and said, ‘‘Louis can’t find a home address. There’re five Richard Harnetts with unlisted phones in the two counties and they’re scattered all over the place.’’
    ‘‘We’ve still got his office address,’’ Harper said. ‘‘Let’s take a look.’’ And over his shoulder, he said to Norden, ‘‘Can we drop you somewhere?’’
    ‘‘Heck no. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.’’ On the way to Burbank, Harper made a quick turn down an alley, accelerated, and Anna said, ‘‘What?’’ as they whipped past the backs of a row of small stores.
    ‘‘Just checking,’’ Harper said, watching his mirror. ‘‘We know he was tracking us.’’
    They came out of the alley, crossed a street, and went right back into the continuation of the alley. At the end, Harper took a left onto a deserted residential street, then a quick right. ‘‘All right,’’