The Night Crew

'Maybe he was lying,' Anna said.

'No. Christ, he was bragging about it. I asked him if he'd seen the kid who tried to fly off the Shamrock, and he was laughing about it in the elevator. You know what he told me? He sold to the kids because "That's my market". That's what he said, like he was some kind of toy-company executive.'

'Ah, God.'

'"That's my market", for Christ's sake. That was in his roomthat's when I hit him in the face. He was still smiling when he went down.'

'Jake.'

'I feel like I should have strangled the miserable little motherfucker,' Harper said bitterly, as they got to the car. He looked back up the street.

'I wish I'd killed him.'

'So why'd you want the ambulance?' He looked at her, shook his head: 'Because I'm fucked up.'

Chapter 15

Back on the street, moving quickly, Harper still shaky: 'You drive,' he said, tossing her the keys. 'I'm not functioning too well.'

'All right.' She opened the car, climbed in, adjusted the seat. As she pulled away from the curb, she heard the siren: There was usually a siren somewhere in the L. A. background, but this one was closing in. As they pulled away, she saw the flashing lights a few blocks down Pico, headed toward the hotel.

'Ambulance,' Anna said. She looked at Harper. 'If that makes you any happier.'

'I dunno.' They spent the next five minutes in a ragged silence, Harper staring out the passenger window, away from her. She took the time to think, working over the logic of a connection between Harper's son, a high-school kid from the southeast burbs, and Jason, a street kid from Hollywood and UCLA. Where was the connection? And it would have to be a massive coincidence.

The lightbulb went on.

'I've given you a hard time about this connection between your son and Jason,' she said. Harper turned toward her; he was still off track, almost uninterested. 'I couldn't see how there could be a connection. But I let you do all the thinking about it. I had too much other stuff to worry about.'

'Has to be a connection,' he said. 'The paper was torn, and it matchedI saw the two ends, I put them together.'

'There isa connection,' she said. 'It's been staring us in the face.'

'What?' Now he turned to her.

'When your son jumped, Jason was right there, almost underneath him. I didn't see it, because I was in the hotel, but Jason was close. A few yards away. He was hanging out before your son jumped, he was planning to ride with us all night. But right afterwards, he couldn't wait to get away from us. Like something had happened in that few minutes. Like he got some drugs.'

Harper thought about it, then closed his eyes and said, 'Goddammit.' And then: 'We've got to look at the tape.'

'You've seen it?'

'I saw it a half-dozen times before Ellen called and said it was Jacob. The tape was all over the TV, I didn't know, just some jerk flying off a building.'

'I'm sorry,' Anna said, aware of the hollowness of the sentiment: this was what she did. 'Look, I'm gonna call Louis. I never really looked at the raw tape. I was busy selling while Louis did the editing. I looked at Jason's at the time, but didn't see anything unusual.'

'So where does Louis live?'

She slowed, looked at him carefully: 'You sure you want to look at this stuff?'

'I have to.'

'If there's something on the tape, it means. I mean, there'd be no realconnection. So my problem wouldn't have any connection with yours. Or you.'

He smiled, just faintly, then leaned a little closer and patted her on the leg, just once: 'We'vegot a connection now. Whatever's on the tape. You're not sliding away that easily.'

Louis' apartment was a nerd's nightmareor maybe a dreama jumble of Domino's pizza boxes, empty Fritos bags, a fat blue plastic garbage can marked 'Aluminum only' with a backboard behind it, half-full of Diet Coke cans.

A projection TV sat in the middle of the front room, showing a severed power cord sticking out from beneath it, like a rat's tail. The longest wall was dominated by industrial gray steel racks full of stereo, computer and telephone equipment, all of which seemed hooked together.

Louis met them at the door wearing a ketchup-stained T-shirt, gym shorts and a stunned look. He'd been up all night, he said, working, and had just gotten to sleep when Anna called.

'I got the tape set,' he said. He kicked through some litter in the front room. 'You guys want some Fritos? I got some somewhere. I got coffee going.'

'Coffee,' Anna said. 'Wash the cups.'

'I already did,' he said, unconvincingly. He was back a minute later with the coffee, saw the cut cord on the projection TV and said, 'Oh, shit. I forgot about that. I'll have to put it up on a monitor.'

'What happened to the cord?' Harper asked.

'I needed a plug last night,' Louis said. 'I mean, it was convenient, and it's easy enough to put back on. If you'd rather see it on the big screen.'

'Monitor's fine, probably better,' Anna said. To Harper: 'You're sure you want to watch?'

'I'm sure.'

Louis pulled the drapes to sharpen up the monitor, and started the tape. He caught the last few minutes of the animal rights hassle, the guy knocked over by the pig, then a few random spacing shots inside the truck, then suddenly the bouncing run across the patio of the hotel. Anna caught a glimpse of herself running toward the entrance, and then the lens steadied, swung up and fixed on Jacob. They could see his face, a confused smile, the boy's head bobbing as the camera tried to orient itself.

'Aw, Jesus,' Harper said, involuntarily turning away, closing his eyes.

'Get out of here,' Anna said.

'Naw.' He turned back, transfixed, as Jason zoomed in on Jacob's face. The camera hung there, staying with the face, suddenly pulling back to get some perspective, then closing in again, getting tight, catching expressions. Professional, Anna thought: very, very good.

At one moment, Jacob looked as though he might be dreaming. At the next moment, he seemed confused, or happy. He reached out once and Anna thought, 'Here it comes,' but he leaned back, seemed startled to find a wall behind him, and Anna blurted, involuntarily, 'No, no.'

Harper stared. The kid started talking, maybe back to the window he'd climbed out of. The camera view pulled back: yes, he was talking to the window. He looked down at the pool, then back at the window. A pale schoolboy face appeared at the window, then a girl's face, then the boy again, and the kid looked at the pool again.

'He thinks he can make the pool,' Harper said.

The camera closed in on his face, and suddenly, Jacob shook his head, said something, and the first faint wrinkle of fear crossed his face. He turned to the window, and one hand went out, touching the wall behind him. He took a step back to the window, but his right leg had to pass his left, and there was nothing out there, and suddenly, he was leaning over empty space: he was falling, and at the last possible instant, he tried to jump, to propel himself out toward the pool.

Jason stayed tight, the face and the trailing body, so close, the feet almost behind the head as Jason stayed with it.

'Stop!' Anna shouted.

Louis cut the tape, looked at her.

'Back it up, rerun in slow motion. Look at his right hand.'

In slow motion, Jacob almost seemed to be swimming in the air. And at one point, a white, almost formless shadow seemed to pass out of his right hand. It stayed in view of the camera only for an instant, but it was coming at Jason, possibly passing over his head.

'That's the paper,' Anna said.

'You can hardly see anything,' Harper said shakily.

'There's something there,' Anna said positively. To Louis: 'Let's see Creek's stuff.'

Creek had been further away, going for a longer perspectivebut the paper coming out was clearer. The paper itself was no longer than a dollar bill, and only half as wide, and it fluttered, twisted, and landed behind Jason's leg.

Jason stayed with the body for five seconds, zooming close; and Creek was still on the scene when Jason turned, almost stumbled, looked down, looked up and around, then stopped to pick something up.