Bosch nodded and dropped down to his haunches, still holding on to the car’s windowsill.
“Actually, I got the case right and you and I both know it. Your son jumped, and more than anybody, you know why. The only mystery left is why you asked for me. You know my history. I don’t lie down on cases.”
“You fool. I wanted you for exactly that reason. Because I knew that if they got even the slimmest chance, they would turn this into a play on me, and I thought you would have enough integrity to stand up against it. I didn’t realize you had your nose so far up your former partner’s ass that you couldn’t see the setup she was running.”
Bosch laughed and shook his head as he stood up.
“You’re good, Councilman. The right outrage, judicious use of off-color language, the planting of seeds of distrust and paranoia. You might be able to convince somebody with all of that. But not me. Your son jumped and that’s all there is to it. I feel bad for you and his wife. But the one I feel most sorry for is his son. He didn’t deserve this.”
Bosch stared down at Irving and watched the old man attempt to modulate his rage.
“I have something here for you, Bosch.”
He turned away to reach across the seat and Bosch had a fleeting thought of Irving turning back and pointing a gun at him. He thought Irving’s ego and arrogance were such that he could actually bring himself to do it and believe he could get away with it.
But when Irving turned back, he proffered a piece of paper through the window.
“What is it?” Bosch asked.
“It’s the truth,” Irving said. “Take it.”
Bosch snapped the document out of his hand and looked at it. It was a photocopy of a phone message form dated May 24 and addressed at the top to someone named Tony. There was a return number with a 323 area code and a handwritten message that read, Gloria Waldron complained that she got into a B&W cab at Musso-Frank last night and driver was obviously drunk. She had him pull over so she could get out. Could smell alcohol in the cab, etc. Please call for follow up.
Bosch looked from the photocopy back to Irving.
“What am I supposed to do with this? You could’ve written it up this morning.
“I could have but I didn’t.”
“So what happens if I call this number? This Gloria Waldron swears to me she called in this complaint and then you happened to mention it to Bobby Mason at Chad Irving’s party? It doesn’t wash, Councilman.”
“I know it doesn’t. It’s a dead line. Now. My community outreach officer Tony Esperante remembers calling her and getting the details. And I passed them on to Mason. But the line is disconnected now and look at the date, Detective.”
“I did. May twenty-fourth. What’s it mean?”
“May twenty-fourth was a Tuesday. She said she got into the cab at Musso’s the night before.”
Bosch nodded.
“Musso’s is closed Mondays,” he said. “The call — if there was a call — was bogus.”
“That’s right.”
“Are you trying to tell me you were set up, Councilman? By your own son? That you innocently passed information on to Mason without knowing you were doing your son’s bidding?”
“Not by my son, but by someone.”
Bosch held up the photocopy.
“And this, this is your proof?”
“I don’t need proof. I know. Now you do, too. I was used by someone I trusted. I admit that. But so were you. Up there on the tenth floor. You gave them the means to take the shot at me. They used you to get to me.”
“Well, that’s an opinion.”
“No, it’s the truth. And someday you’ll know it. You watch, they’ll come to you at some point and you’ll see it. You’ll know.”
Bosch handed the photocopy back but Irving didn’t take it.
“You keep it. You’re the detective.”
Irving turned and said something to his driver and the Town Car started to pull away from the curb. Bosch watched the smoked window glide up into place as the car moved back into the traffic lane. He stood there for a long moment, considering what had been said. He folded the photocopy and put it in his pocket.
40
It was almost 11:30 by the time Bosch and Chu got to the Buena Vista apartments on Tuesday morning. Bosch had called ahead and talked to Hannah Stone. She told him Clayton Pell was scheduled to report to work at the market at noon but she agreed to hold him at the facility until the detectives arrived.
At the front gate they were buzzed through without delay. Stone came to greet them in the entranceway. It was awkward because Bosch was with his partner and it was all business. He extended his hand and they shook. Chu did the same.
“Okay, we have you set up in one of the interview rooms, if that’s all right.”
“That’s perfect,” Bosch said.
He had talked to her on the phone for more than an hour the evening before. It was late, after his daughter had gone to bed. Bosch had been too keyed up from the day’s events to sleep. He had called Hannah and sat on the deck with the phone until close to midnight. They talked about many things but mostly the Hardy case. She was now more informed than anyone who had watched the news or read the Los Angeles Times.
Stone led Bosch and Chu into a small room with two stuffed chairs and a couch.
“I’ll go get him,” she said. “Should I sit in again?”
Bosch nodded.
“If it will make him more comfortable and get him to sign the document.”
“I’ll ask him.”
She left them there and Chu looked at Bosch with raised eyebrows.
“When I interviewed him last week, he would only talk to me if she was in the room,” Bosch said. “He trusts her. He doesn’t trust cops.”
“Got it. And by the way, Harry, I think she digs you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The way she was looking at you with that smile. I’m just saying. I think it’s there if you want it.”
Bosch nodded.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Bosch sat down on the couch and Chu took one of the chairs. They said nothing else as they waited. They had spent two hours that morning delivering the charging package to a filing deputy in the DA’s Office. His name was Oscar Benitez and Bosch had taken cases to him before. He was a good, smart and cautious deputy assigned to major crimes. His job was to make sure the police had a case before filing charges against a suspect. He wasn’t a pushover and that was one of the things Bosch liked about him.
Their package had been received well by Benitez. He just wanted a few things cleaned up or formalized. One of them was Clayton Pell’s contribution to the prosecution of Chilton Hardy. Bosch and Chu were here to make sure that this part of the case was on solid ground. When Benitez was told of Pell’s pedigree, he became concerned about his role as a key witness and whether he might try to work the prosecution for some sort of payoff, or might work the other side and be willing to change his story. Benitez made a strategic decision to put Pell on paper, meaning they should get him to sign a statement. This was rarely done because a statement not only locks the details of a story into place but also must be turned over to the defense in discovery.
A few minutes later Stone came in with Clayton Pell. Bosch pointed him to the remaining chair.
“Clayton, how are you? Why don’t you sit there? You remember my partner, Detective Chu.”
Chu and Pell exchanged nods. Bosch looked at Stone as if to ask if she was staying or leaving.
“Clayton would like me to sit in again,” she said.