The Night Crew

'I am, too.'

'No.' He shook his head. 'If I've got to run you downand I couldand carry you back to the house, I will. You're not going to run on the beach. I couldn't keep up with you, and that's something he may have been watching you do. If you want to run someplace else, I'll take you there.'

She put her hands on her hips: 'Now you're messing with me.'

'Damn right,' he said. 'What do you want for breakfast?'

She ran on the beach, but not on Venice Beach. Harper drove her to Santa Monica, parked on the bluff across from an art deco hotel, and they walked down an access stairway, across the highway, and onto the beach a few hundred yards from where Jason had been found.

'I didn't see any cops following,' Anna said.

'That's good,' Harper said. 'But they're there.'

She ran most of a mile north, turned, ran back past him to the pier, then back. The beach was nearly empty, and Harper could see her all the way; and she could see everyone around her.

'Not the same,' she said, when she got back. She was barely breathing hard. 'I felt like I was wearing a leash.'

'Gonna have to do for a while,' he said. He mussed her hair, kissed her on the lips, and put her in the car. The feeling of being on a leash had been unpleasant; the feeling of being squired about was not. 'We're not trying to run your life,' Harper said. 'We're just taking care for a few more days.'

'Did you think about Clark?' she asked. She'd told him about Creek's phone call.

'I'll talk to Pamthere are a few checks we could get done right away, through the cops, without talking to Wyatt. See if he had any problems with the police back east. I can get credit reports, see if I can find a guy to look around Harvard.'

'That'll take forever.'

'Not with computerswe'll have most of the paper in an hour or two,' he said. 'Getting a guy to look around Harvardwe could hear something tomorrow, if I can find the right guy'

'I don't want him to know about it,' Anna said. 'He won't feel a thing,' Harper said. 'Still. Ah, God.'

'Up to you.'

On the way back, she decided: 'Go ahead with the calls on Clarkbut you know what? I want to see him. Let's see if we can find him.'

'Today? We oughta get some paper on him first.'

'So you said it'd take a couple of hours; so do it. We'll go look at him tonight.'

'What about going out with Coughlin?'

'I'm thinking about putting him off. He's a good guy, but I don't think it's gonna work.'

'Wyatt seems to.'

'Maybe Wyatt's not thinking about him as much as I am,' Anna said. 'If you put yourself in his shoes, why would he follow me on the job? There're cops everywhere I go. There are two guys with me everywhere I go. I'd more expect him to try my place, or your place. Follow us when we're alone, like at the driving range.'

'Or at the beach, this morning.'

'Except that we've got escorts,' she said. 'Unless.'

'Unless what?'

'Unless he's lost interest. I just can't understand this thing, why he'd be so interested in me.'

Harper looked at her. 'You don't understand because your mind isn't fucked, and his is. Maybe he's still got enough control to lay back, just long enough to loosen you up, and get you thinking that you can go out on your own again. And when you do, he'll be there.'

'Yeah?' The thought scared her, but the fear wasn't blinding.

Because when he found hershe'd have found him.

Chapter 24

Anna called Wyatt to tell him that she wouldn't be going out with Coughlin that night. Wyatt wasn't in, but she left a voice-mail, and added that she'd be at the hospital visiting Creek. Pam Glass was already at the hospital, and Anna called to ask her about an FBI check on Clark.

'I could do it in a few minutes, from here; I'd need his full name and date of birth,' she said.

Anna gave her the information. 'Get it as quick as you can. I'm coming down to see Creek.'

'I'll have it by the time you get here,' Glass said. 'We have a new room, by the way.'

Anna took the new room number, and when she got off the line, Harper said, 'Do you think you'll be okay on your own? You've got the escort out there.'

'I'll be fine,' she said. 'Where're you going?'

'I've gotta make it down to the office, sign some paychecks. Make some calls back to Boston.'

'Remember.'

'Yeah. I'll go easy.'

Anna never saw her shadow on the way to the hospital. She knew they were there, because she'd called to tell them she was leaving. Which car they were, or van or truck, she could never decide. Inside the hospital ramp, she saw no one: but she kept her hand on the pistol in her jacket pocket as she walked to the entrance.

'Paranoid,' she thought, as she went through the doors.

Creek was outside the new room, walking down the corridor in a flimsy white hospital gown. Anna caught him just outside his room and put her hand through the slit in the back of the gown and squeezed his butt. Creek jumped, then limped into the hospital room, while Anna followed, laughing.

'Goddamn sexual harassment from the boss,' Creek told Glass, who was reading the style section of the LA. Times. 'And I'm hurt.'

'Be brave,' Glass said.

'Like he'd never grabbed a butt,' Anna said.

'I do it in a spirit of tenderness and multiculturalism,' Creek said indignantly.

Anna, watching him in amusement, suspected that he was actually offended. She momentarily considered an apology, then decided that he'd have to live with it. No apologies.

Creek sputtered, 'I'd never just sneak up on.' and then his eyes went past Anna, and she turned.

Wyatt, wearing his raincoat, stepped into the room. 'Hello.'

'Hey.'

'I came to see if I can change your mind,' he said to Anna. His eyes drifted toward Glass, who was sitting on a chair next to Creek's bed, her bare feet curled beneath her, looking frankly domestic.

'I don't think so.'

Wyatt brought his eyes back to Anna, and they squared off.

'I can't order you to go, because you're a civilian,' Wyatt said, grimly patient. 'But the shit is gonna hit the fan pretty soon, when the media get this. When the word about China Lake gets out, they're liable to drive this guy out of sight. We've gotta work everything we can, while we can.'

'It's not working,' Anna said flatly. 'If he comes after me, it won't be on the job.'

'He doesn't have to come after you,' Wyatt insisted. 'All he has to do is cruise you. And if we keep you out of sight, except when you're workinghe's gonna cruise you. He's gonna want to see you. We ran a dozen cars last night.'

'And got nothing,' Anna said.

'But he'll come.'

They went on for a few more minutes. Wyatt pressing, Anna resisting, until Glass said, 'If you saw me in the truck. I could be Anna.'

Anna and Wyatt both turned toward her, and she uncurled her legs and stood up. 'We're about the same size and weight, and our hair color's the same,' she said. 'I could get a pair of wire rims at Woolworth's and take the lenses out. I'm not doing anything now, except listening to Creek pissing and moaning.'

Anna looked at her, then at Wyatt, then back at Glass, tilted her head. 'If you're willing, that's a possibility.'

Wyatt was sceptical, but finally agreed: 'If that's the only way we can do it. Damn it, though. What're you gonna do, Anna?'

Anna smiled, just a turn of the lips: 'Jake and I have been trying to spend a little time together, in peace and quiet.'

'Oh.' Wyatt nodded. Behind him, Creek rolled his eyes.

When Wyatt had gone to call the task force leader, Anna asked Glass, 'What'd you get on Clark?'

Glass shook her head: 'Nothing. He had his driver's license suspended for three speeding tickets in three months. That's it.'

'Yeah, I knew it,' Anna said. 'He's out of it.'

'He's not out of it,' Creek insisted.

'Creek.'

'Let's see what Jake gets,' Creek said.

They talked for a few more minutes, then Wyatt returned: 'It's all set, but Pam has gotta get to your place without being noticed.'